Peacemaker7

Introduction

Welcome to the first ever attempt at a massive multiplayer game story on Football Manager. There have, of course, been other multiplayer game stories. The hugely successful - and indeed first ever real large network game - The Ultimate Championship Manager Story (UCMS).

There were also other, rather rubbish, spin-offs from that but they are not worth mentioning and will never be mentioned again. Which is fine by me.

The first incarnation of the UCMS was based in England (booo) and was a hugely successful game long before anyone even knew the Online Forum existed. Because I don't think it did. UCMS 2 moved to Italy, with limited success and UCMS 3 was supposed to be based on the moon but I don't think it ever really got off the ground.

For this incarnation of an FMS stories network game we have decided to start in the French National. The full leagues of Scotland and Netherlands are also running to give players a bit more freedom to move around and hopefully increase the enjoyment of the whole thing.

The game is running on FM 07 db 7.0.2

Session times are (all current British times) 7.30pm - 11pm Wednesday and 2pm-5pm Sundays.

This thread is to be used for story purposes only . If anyone wishes to be considered for inclusion in the game, or has any other questions about the game please post them in the Other Thread Of course comments on the actually story are still welcome as always.

There will now follow a list of Rules & Guidlines.

Peacemaker7

Rules & Guidelines

1. All must players start in the French National Ligue.

2. Any player who joins 'mid season' must choose a team from the bottom three non-player managed clubs.

3. Players may move to any club of their choosing in the future

4. Players may not take International jobs during the Club phase of the project

5. Players must obey all intructions regarding game play as directed by the host

6. When matches are being played, do not call up match reports for any games

7. All players will be required to have MSN and no player should enter the game without the permission of the host

8. You may view other players matches if you are not involved yourself, but you must not in anyway hold up the game.

9. All players are required to contribute to the story thread that will accompany the game on the FMS Forum at least after each session. Failure to do so will result in dismissal from the game.

10. Attendance at all sessions is not compulsary but please inform the host of your non attendance for any session(s) so we don't sit about waiting for you

11. All session will start on their alloted time, if you're late you're late we won't wait for you.

12. When leaving the game, players should set their manager on holidays

13. There will be opportunity given for Tactics and Transfers usually before each session begins. The save file will, hopefully, be kept after each session on a server and will be accessible for all players which should help with T&T and also story writing

14. In line with above, all players should attempt to play the game as speedily as possible out of respect for their fellow players. The host can and will force continue people who are too slow, and may even kick players who are slow in the extreme. Kicked players will have to wait for the hosts permission to return

15. The match should be viewed on key highlights with the 2d speed bar 1-click below fastest speed and certainly no slower

16. Manager passwords are banned to ensure that the game can move on when a player cannot make a session.

17. Players should set their experience to "professional footballer" when first joining the game.

18. No player may take a club at a higher level during the first season of play.

19. If a player is sacked and is unable to find a new job he may add a new manager at a club below the lowest manager in the game during the T&T session following that one in which he is sacked , providing this does not occur during the last hour of the game session.

20. If a player is sacked during the last hour - or resigns to avoid this - the he cannot add a new manager until the session after next.

21. There will be a preseason tournament - called the MONG cup - played between all human managers, instead of friendlies. The setup will be 2 groups of 4 (assuming all 8 people play) with the winners playing each other over two legs for the cup and the others also playing two legged play offs.

22. If a player you wish to sign is contracted to another human-managed club, you may only bid for him if he is transfer listed, or if the other manager agrees via a group or private MSN chat. You may not try to unsettle players at other human-managed clubs.

23. You MAY NOT declare an interest in another human manager's job - not even if that manager is given a vote of confidence.

NO friendlies - other than those of the preseason tournament - should be arranged.

Any other rules and guidelines will be added as and when nessecary. Any discussion of these rules should take place in the other thread as indicated.

Raptor

Haven't played online for a long time. Do we still need to ban manager passwords to ensure we can move when someone's missing?


And T&T is a Raptorâ„¢

Peacemaker7

But you could be right, may as well add it in and since my editing powers were stolen, you can do it :p

Panpardus

Clermont

It had been a poor season which seen us relegated from the Second League, just 10 wins and 8 draws we had for our 38 points which seen us occupy 18th spot and the last of the relegation spots for the 05/06 season. I had to put my hand up and take part of the blame as a player and a coach I hadn’t done enough for the team, although injuries hadn’t help

I managed to play 13 games last year, yes the good old unlucky 13 as some would say, a broken ankle early in the season hampered my pre-season and start and then an snapped achilles which put me out for the rest really dogged me and at 32 I decided to call it quits at the end of the year, it was my fourth year at the club having joined in the 2002/03 season when they were promoted to League 2.

My playing career seen me start out in Australia playing in the local competitions in Western Australia with Perth SC and Joondalup but some good results seen me get noticed and then I played in Perth Glory’s first season in 96/97, while travelling around Europe in the off season with the girlfriend of the time we fell in love with France and decided to stay, I tried out for Auxerre but told I wasn’t really good enough so I then went to Troyes which was an hour up the road, they took me on, and in my first season I did quite well playing 20 odd games, my second season was better playing in every game bar 5 and it was also the year we gained promotion to League 1 which was a huge deal for the club. Three more seasons I played there 99/00 to 01/02 to which we did pretty well 14th in the first year up and then 7th the following two years, in my last year manager Alain Perrin said they didn’t need my services anymore so my contract was not renewed.

It seemed I wasn’t in high demand and my girlfriend who I had come to France with and was now my wife wanted to come back home to Australia anyway, so we were in the middle of packing when my agent rang and said that Clermont was interested in getting me down for a trial, it went pretty well and the interview with then manager Hubert Velud seen me added to the senior squad, Clermont had just come up from the National division.

Two 14th places were pretty good for the club in the first two seasons which we were expected to go back down I played in all but a few of our games in those years and Hubert sensing my good coaching talent told me to get a few badges, I was appointed player/coach for the 04/05 season but Hubert had a disagreement with the board and left to coach Cherbourg back in the National.

We had a horror season really under new manager Olivier Chavanon who didn’t get on with the players at all, caused friction and tried to change to much too soon we were lucky not to be relegated, he was replaced. Me and my wife also went through some hard times that year and we split up, her returning to Australia and me staying on in France and once again I had the role player/coach for the 04/05 season, this time with new manager Marc Collat, well as I said we had a poor season, I had injuries and we were relegated. I also hung up my playing boots at the end of the year like I said, the body wasn’t what it use to be.

Claude Michy was the new chairman the year we got relegated and he’s pretty well known as a sporting entrepreneur in these parts, he loves his club and we got on pretty well in the year I knew him, he wanted me to stay on as coach in the 06/07 season with his new man Didier Ollé-Nicolle but he couldn’t guarantee me a job if Didier didn’t want to work with me, it wasn’t an ideal situation so I declined, what I didn’t expect though was for Didier to step down from the position just before pre-season had even got underway citing family reasons, he had seen massive changes to the club with a lot of personnel being turned over, It didn’t even look like the Clermont of last year.

Claude was again at my home, this time it was a proposal for me to take over the helm outright, he was a passionate man who loved the club and with his guidance I could see the club going places, so with that in mind I accepted the position and now here I am.

Terk

Pau FC

“We are not a big club. We have been in the National league for many years now.� Pau’s chairman, Jacques Le Coadou, was giving me a tour around the club’s modest Stade du Hameau . He had been recommended to me as a good man to work for, and so far I wasn’t finding any reason to disagree with that. “We have to share with the rugby club, Section Paloise, but we do the best we can.�

I wasn’t long in the management game, indeed my experience totalled about the ninety minutes since I’d arrived at the ground, but I was determined to make a career out of it. At thirty-four years of age my hugely unspectacular playing career – the highlight of which was the fifty-two matches I played for Bradford City in the mid-nineties – had come to its natural end, and I was left with no income and only a small savings account. My motivation, like most even if they won’t admit it, is the money.

The majority of my career had been spent in the second and third divisions in Scotland. It felt at one point liked I’d played for each and every club at that level, but counting back there were only actually seven. As a not-very-talented midfielder, I failed to really settle into a regular game anywhere, and moving up and down the country became commonplace.

That said, I had at least made a living out of it, something that many people never manage to do, and it had, at least in the short term, provided me with a career once what little pace I ever had finally deserted me. Pau certainly looked like a good place to start, I just had to hope I was a better manager than I had been a player.

Peacemaker7

Vannes Olympique Club

Vannes Olympique Club, est un club français de football fondé en 1998 par fusion du « Véloce Vannetais » et du « FC Vannes » (ex-UCK). Le club breton évolue cette saison en National.

Le Véloce Vannetais était un club omnisports qui fut fondé en 1892. Il faut toutefois attendre le début du XXe siècle pour voir la création de la section football. Le second grand club vannetais était l'UCK Vannes, fondé en 1946 qui se transforma en FC Vannes en 1991. Les deux clubs évoluent en même temps en Division 3 durant les années 1980, enregistrant de solides recettes Ã* l'occasion des derbys.

Les deux clubs connaissent ensuite des difficultés pendant la décennie suivante et la fusion s'opère en 1998. Le club est finalement monté en National Ã* l'issue de la saison 2004-2005. À noter le parcours en coupe de France 2007 où le club atteint les quarts de finale (défaite Ã* Marseille 0-5).

HD

Paris Football Club

Welcome to gay Paris.

How gay?

Gay enough to call a goal a butt and a scorer a buteur.

That gay?

Indeed.

It seemed Raptor had done me wrong once again.

Amaroq

Nîmes Olympique

What do Éric Cantona and I have in common?

We both scored exactly two goals for Nîmes Olympique.

There the similarities end.

His came in 1991, shortly before he was catapulted to superstardom at Old Trafford.

Mine came in 2005, at the end of a journeyman's career that had seen me all over Western Europe.

It had all started so brightly...

I was highly regarded when I came up through the Ajax youth system, sure to break through into the Dutch national side. We won the Under-21s Cup my first year with Ajax, and at the age of nineteen I was starting for Ajax 2, on the verge of glory. I started several years thereafter for Ajax 2, but I never could make the step up into the first team. Looking back on it, I think I took my early successes for granted, never realizing the amount of work required to reach the highest levels. I was more interested in the wine and women, who had always loved my good looks and blonde locks.

The highlight of my Ajax career, I'm afraid, was making my debut in the 1989-90 season finale. We'd already clinched the title, so I got to come on as a substitute. It would be the only match I ever played for my boyhood side; the cheers of the crowd still ring in my ears as though it were yesterday.
A season on loan to NAC Breda went well, including my first professional goal, but the next year it was Ajax 2 again. With playing time diminishing as younger prospects pushed me aside, my days in Amsterdam were clearly numbered.

A move to England seemed like the fresh start I needed, but I struggled with the weather, the pace of the game, and the culture. First at Millwall, and then at Reading, I arrived with a flash of promise only to languish on the bench and in the Reserves, seemingly injured every other month. Even if I did play just twelve matches in 94-95, I'm still mad about the streamlining of the Premiership which denied us promotion!

I finally broke in with regular appearances at The Circle, but Hull City were dire in those years; relegation to the Conference was a real possibility. Through grit and determination more than skill, we held on, retaining our place in the league. My knees were already feeling the toll of the harsh sport, and my looks joined my youth in distant memory as I had my nose broken twice, and two teeth knocked out. At least I established a reputation as a hard-tackling defender to steer clear of, and scored a few goals to boot.

That brought me a January move to Belgium, where I spent a season and a half struggling to help keep recently-promoted K.V.C. Westerlo in the top flight. We were successful in our relegation scrap both years, to my pride - in fact, outside of the one appearance for Ajax, those were probably the best years of my life. Nil-nil draws were our bread and butter; there was no glamour, and the women steered clear of my battle-scarred countenance.

Next followed a term in Germany as a rotational player for Borussia Mönchengladbach during their two years outside of the top flight. No sooner did the celebrations of promotion in 2001 cease than I learned that I was surplus to requirements; management doubted I had anything to contribute in the Budesliga.

Finally, I arrived in France, where I spent three seasons at Clermont-Ferrand in Ligue 2. At first I got regular appearances, but I was aging and injuries took their toll on my seasons, with progressively fewer appearances. I discovered a talent for mentoring younger players, and I suspect it was this which earned me the captain's armband - the one time in my life - on my very last start at the Stade Gabriel Montpied.

A player/coach offer tempted me to Nîmes Olympique, the only French club that has fallen two divisions below their top-flight status. I enjoyed an Indian summer, coming up on corner kicks to head home those two goals, my first in seven years - though to be fair, the Championnat National is hardly an impressive division.

Halfway through my second season, however, the inevitable final injury occurred, and at the age of 37, I hung up my boots for good.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Year GP Goa Side86-87 (16 0)(Ajax Under-21s)87-88 (24 0)(Ajax 2)88-98 (27 0)(Ajax 2)89-90 (23 0)(Ajax 2)89-90 1 0 Ajax90-91 30 2 NAC Breda (loan)91-92 (18 1)(Ajax 2)92-93 9 0 Millwall93-94 6 0 Millwall93-94 7 0 Reading94-95 12 0 Reading95-96 38 2 Hull City96-97 37 0 Hull City97-98 17 1 Hull City97-98 12 0 K.V.C. Westerlo 98-99 31 0 K.V.C. Westerlo 99-00 19 0 Borussia Mönchengladbach00-01 16 0 Borussia Mönchengladbach01-02 29 0 Clermont02-03 19 0 Clermont03-04 16 0 Clermont04-05 23 2 Nîmes Olympique05-06 14 0 Nîmes Olympique----------------------------- 306 7 Totals - senior</pre>
Three hundred and six matches, seven goals, a dual Holland/France citizenship, a twice-broken nose, two bum knees, a tarnished Under-21s Cup medal, and an empty bachelor's pad was all I had to show for twenty years in the professional game.

That, and a job.

I was promoted to assistant manager for the remainder of that 2005/06 season, and when Régis Brouard stepped down the following summer, chairman Jean-Louis Gazeau named me, Jan Amaroq, manager, in the name of continuity.

Nîmes Olympique.

France's sleeping giant.

HD

The Road To Paris

I've been a lot of places, seen a lot of faces and done things I couldn't really admit to on a public forum. I've killed a man, though that wasn't my fault and may have been in a dream. I've taken drugs, I've drunk myself blind, slept with a lot of women I shouldn't have and one midget. I married a horse once, but that wasn't legally binding. I've lived in big houses, tents, benches, beaches. I've watched a thousand sunsets and most of them alone.

Along the way I've made friends, enemies, money, lost twice as many, twice as much. I've wandered aimlessly, travelled purposefully, hitchhiked, driven, flown and sailed. Throughout my odyssey I've had one constant, and that's my love of football. A love that led me to America, Korea, Brasil and Wales, to Germany, Spain and, now, to France, to Paris. To the city of lovers, where romance oozes from every pore, unless you're in the wrong neighbourhood, in which case it's as dark as any other hell on earth you may have experienced.

It was to one of these neighbourhoods I was drawn, sucked in by the bohemian dream of love for all, torn free by my personal love for football and thrust into the professional game in as fragile a state as you could possibly imagine. This was not another hallucination, this was my waking life and it was very, very wrong.