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Author’s Note
This was never adopted as an official challenge and I can’t recall when it was submitted for consideration, nor who originated the idea. All I know is that I liked the sound of it enough to note it down with the intention to give it a go sometime. I am running FM2005 with the 5.0.5 data update and all leagues from England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The Challenge
All it took was one trip to Northern Ireland for your life to change forever. A useful young footballer who was being considered for National Team honours at one point, your career was ended in the July Parades in Belfast when some drunken slob broke a bottle over your kneecap. The glass shards wound up severing a ligament, and effectively ending your career. Fortunately, your club was kind enough to keep you on in a coaching role, and in the past five years you have shown that you have considerable potential in the managerial field. So much so, that your agent has solicited three offers from Division One clubs asking for your services as manager next season. The three clubs that had come calling on you were Finn Harps, Kilkenny City, and Dublin City. You know you will accept an offer, you just haven't decided which yet.
Step 1: Conquer the League Boy With your lowly First Division club, you must win the Irish Premier Division with a club consisting solely of Republic of Ireland players.
Step 2: Victory Parades not Orange Order Parades After proving your dominance in your homeland, you decide to show those Northern Irish players just who the better nation is. You accept a job in Northern Ireland with any team. Your goal there is simple - win two straight Northern Irish Premier Division titles with a starting eleven that features at least five Republic of Ireland players.
Step 3: Scottish Successes Your next step is to head to Scotland. You can start with any team who offers you a job provided they aren't in the Premier or First Division. The goal again is to stock your starting eleven with at least 5 Republic of Ireland players and lead your team to Europe.
Step 4: London Calling Start with any club in England, provided they aren't in the Premier League. With at least 3 first team players from the Republic of Ireland win the Premier Division and go onto win the ultimate prize - The Champions League. In the Champions League Final you must have at least four players from the Republic of Ireland in the squad; one must be the captain.
Along the way at any point in the scenario you must also take the Ireland job and qualify for either the European Championships or a World Cup.
Catches Changing jobs in Scotland and England is acceptable. It isn't in the first two stages.
Your assistant manager must always be the same nationality as you. If there is a Scottish assistant at the team you join in Scotland, you must sack him and find a replacement. If there is no willing replacement you go without an assistant - tough luck.
If you are fired, you move back a step. If you're fired trying to win in Scotland, you need to head back to your Stage 2, or if you are fired in England you need to go back to Stage 3.
Decision Time After spending five happy years as a coach I then had three managerial job offers to consider, all surfacing at more or less the same time, and all from Division One clubs back home in Ireland. And now I had to make a decision. I took my mobile phone from my pocket and hit the speed dial for my agent.
“Hello Tommy, I’ve decided – it has to be Kilkenny. Call Mr. Reidy and tell him that I’m his man. Give me a call back when you’ve outlined a deal and we’ll meet to sign the contract”.
In truth it had been an easy decision to make – even though Kilkenny City had finished bottom of the First Division for the last two seasons the lure of managing my hometown club was irresistible. For I was born in the small city of Kilkenny almost 30 years ago and I called it home for the first 17 years of my life before I left to seek my fortune as a professional footballer. And now I was going back. Back to Kilkenny County, in the southeast of Ireland, sandwiched between the counties of Waterford, Wexford, Tipperary and Carlow.
The city itself is known for the many beautifully restored medieval buildings and has a population of some 24,000. The football club has had two short spells in the Premiership, each ending in immediate relegation. With a single First Division championship to their name their trophy cabinet is not exactly full. But what the hell, everybody’s got to start somewhere and Paddy Feeney is going home!
So Here We Are Sunday 20th February 2005 was the date that I officially took charge at Kilkenny City Football Club. I already knew from my meeting with Chairman Liam Reidy when I signed my contract that the club was in debt and that there were no transfer funds available. His objective for our first season was to bring in some new players to start to rebuild the squad. The club is situated at Buckley Park, a compact stadium that will hold 6,000 people, most of whom have to stand. The training complex is pretty decent, certainly much better than I had first expected.
My arrival coincided with a pre-arranged warm-up at home to Premiership side Cork City, the first of several friendlies scheduled prior to the official start of the season on March 19th. The first person I met was my Assistant Manager Brendan Rea and I made it clear to him that today I would purely be an observer and that he would take charge of team selection and tactics for this match. The 36-year-old was also on the playing staff as a centre back and as I knew that we had quite a young squad it was clear that his experience on the pitch would be useful.
Brendan then introduced me to the rest of the backroom staff. First I met the two coaches, Tony Scanlon and Paschal Bergin and then chief scout Tony Ward. Next I was introduced to a very attractive red-haired Irish girl by the name of Vivienne Keller, being told that she was our Physiotherapist. “I’m not sure that I’m in favour of a lady Physio” I told her.
Her green eyes flashed with anger and she retorted “Don’t you think that us girls are up to such a manly job then?”
“Not at all” I replied. “It’s just that you’re so beautiful that the lads will be queuing up to be on the treatment table and I’ll never be able to get eleven of them out on the pitch.”
When she realised that I was teasing her, a shy smile lit up her face and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “Sure, I should have known you’d be an Irish charmer right enough.”
Next stop was to call in to the changing rooms where the players were congregating in preparation for the forthcoming match. I allowed Brendan to introduce me to the group and then I explained that I would just be observing and that he was in charge of playing affairs today. I finished my brief remarks by saying that I was looking forward to working with all of them over the course of the season, wished them luck for the match and then left to take a seat in the small stand.
Brendan sent them out in a standard 4-4-2 formation and my biggest surprise was when I saw my Assistant Manager lining up on the right of midfield. I was sure he told me he was a centre back! They put in a creditable performance against Premiership opposition, losing 1-0 to a goal after 30 minutes. I had asked Brendan to get as many of the lads out on to the pitch as possible and I scribbled quite a few pages of notes as I watched my new team in action.
The next day I convened a meeting with the backroom staff and we squeezed into my small office sipping coffee and waiting for Vivienne to arrive. After quarter of an hour I had had enough waiting and excusing myself I went out to look for her. I found her in the treatment room working on one or two of the players who were stiff after yesterday’s game.
“Vivienne” I called to her, “we’re all waiting for you in my office”.
She looked up startled and responded “I’m sorry Paddy, when you called a staff meeting I didn’t think that I was invited.”
“Why ever did you think that?” I asked.
Breaking off from her work she walked over to me. “Well I was never involved in any backroom meetings last season and I assumed that it would be the same arrangement this year.”
“Not at all” I said, surprised by what I had heard. “You’re a key member of the staff and I certainly want your input on any team discussions. You work with the players every day and I need to know your take on things. Can you join us now please?”
“Of course. Just give me two seconds to finish up here and I’ll be right with you.”
Once Vivienne arrived we spent some time examining the squad list and talking through the strengths and weaknesses of the players.
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | David O'Neill | GK | IRL | 34 | £1K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Declan Mahon | SW/D C | IRL | 21 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andrew Cosgrove | D R | IRL | 19 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Paul Leahy | D R | IRL | 23 | £1K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Eric McCormack | D L | IRL | 20 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ronan Stanley | D L | IRL | 21 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pat Trehy | D L | IRL | 33 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter Curran | D C | IRL | 19 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Aidan O'Sullivan | D C | IRL | 20 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Brendan Rea | D C | IRL | 36 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pat Scully | D C | IRL | 34 | £1K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Hayes | D/M C | IRL | 23 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Brian Mallon | D/M C | IRL | 24 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Damien Coogan | M C | IRL | 20 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ian Earley | M C | IRL | 20 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pádraig Drew | AM L | IRL | 24 | £1K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Michael Comerford | F C | IRL | 24 | £1K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Keith Maher | S C | IRL | 21 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | Damien Raggett | S C | IRL | 22 | £1K | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| | John Shanahan | S C | IRL | 21 | £0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
I then summarised our discussions and clarified the various action points that had been agreed.
“Right, it’s clear that we have some reasonable strength in defence, with the obvious exception of a second keeper, and we’re not too bad up front. We need to strengthen the midfield, especially on the wings – I don’t think that anyone wants to see Brendan playing on the right wing again.” This raised a laugh from everyone, my right hand man included. I then addressed Scout Tony Ward directly. “There’s your shopping list Tony – only problem is I can’t give you any money so it’s free signings, unattached players and loan deals I’m afraid.”
“No surprise there Paddy” he retorted. “I’ll start with the PFA list and then get on the blower.”
“Great. Tactically, I’d like to work on some kind of diamond formation as we discussed as I feel that it will help us both defensively and in attack.” I turned to the coaches. “Tony, Paschal, I want you to come up with some ideas for training drills and schedules that will start to familiarise the players with the change in formation. Vivienne, can you work with the guys to make sure that we include the right sort of physical conditioning as well. Brendan and I will work on refining the tactics that we want to use and deciding who plays where and what specific jobs we want them to do. OK, we have a plan of action so let’s all go and get started.”
A Frantic Fortnight I was now just two weeks into my new job but it had been a very busy fortnight indeed. The club had been a hive of activity as Tony Ward worked overtime to fill my shopping list, the coaches beavered away on a new training schedule and Brendan and I brainstormed tactics and formations. Our single scout had somehow managed to bring in a number of trialists and also presented me with a good shortlist of free-transfers and loan signings. We played two further warm-up games against Premiership sides gaining a creditable 0-0 draw with Bohemians and losing 3-1 against Shelbourne. Of course the results themselves were not terribly important – the benefits were establishing a degree of match-fitness for the players and letting me see how our tactics worked and how the lads gelled together.
At the end of the fortnight we had added 7 new players to the squad, secured a second physio to work with Viv and added a couple of modestly paid helpers to the scouting team. On the playing front we had picked up three unattached lads, secured the same number of free transfers and agreed one season-long loan deal.
Our successful trialists included Brian Lynch, an 18-year-old left sided midfielder, goalkeeper Gavin Morris and teenage midfielder Darragh O’Brien. We picked up two players free from Dublin City University, versatile forward Martin McGlue and adaptable midfielder Stephen Campbell. We also signed central midfielder Alan McNevin from Kildare County and loaned midfielder Mark McGowan from DCU for the season.
A week later we played our final warm-up game, travelling to non-league Mullingar Athletic where we gained a confidence-building 4-1 win. As our first competitive game approached I had settled on the tactics and formation that I wanted to play and I was pretty sure of most of the names in my starting eleven. I had moved away slightly from my original idea of a diamond as I felt that our wide midfielders were not really good enough to make that work effectively. Instead I decided to play with a narrower three-man midfield but with each player looking to break forward to support the strikers. The back four would be protected by a 4th midfielder who would be given more of a ball-winning role.
I wasn’t too impressed with what I’d seen up front, with the notable exception of Michael Comerford, and I took the opportunity to bring in another striker on loan, Kevin Hogan joining his teammates from DCU.
As far as personnel were concerned I was happy with my first choice back four but I hadn’t fully settled on my midfielders and strikers. Gavin Morris was number one choice between the sticks with the experienced pairing of Brendan Rea and Pat Scully in the centre of defence. Paul Leahy was chosen at right back with Ronan Stanley on the left. John Hayes got the nod over Brian Mallon in the DMC position, although I wasn’t fully convinced by either of them. I would start with Mark McGowan, Alan McNevin and Stephen Campbell as my midfield trio although this could well change as the season progressed. Michael Comerford was a certain starter up front and new boy Kevin Hogan would be his first partner but I certainly expected to ring the changes in this area.
*Laughs* Great minds think alike Bob. I had actually restarted this challenge (Dublin City- the one I have played with twice in the challenge), but had not gone too far before another idea took hold. I will be rooting for you- I have had a blast with this 'unofficial' challenge twice now
Cheers Faramir - let's hope it is great minds thinking alike rather than fools seldom differing!
The Season Begins My first game in charge fell, quite coincidentally, on the day of my 30th birthday – March 19th 2005. Our opponents were Finn Harps, one of the early favourites for promotion and, ironically, one of the clubs that I had rejected to take charge at Kilkenny. To say that we were outplayed would be quite an understatement and had centre forward Kevin McHugh been a bit more accurate in front of goal then the 1-0 defeat would have been much more embarrassing. Our cause was hardly helped when John Hayes picked up his second yellow card after an hour. Keeper Gavin Morris and captain Pat Scully put in performances that were worthy of mention but it was a poor start to serve up to a surprisingly large crowd of over 3,700.
We looked a lot more convincing the next weekend at home to Cobh Ramblers as the players started to get a bit more used to the system I had asked them to play. Alan McNevin scored twice in the 4-2 win with Michael Comerford and Mark McGowan also opening their accounts.
Moving into April our results were mixed – we won two of our five league games, losing the remaining three. We also lost the opening game in our League Cup group and went out of the Leinster Senior Cup in the 1st Round. I used the Cup games to ensure that the fringe players in the squad saw some playing time but I tried to stick to a consistent starting eleven in the league, injuries permitting. It was clear that we had a pretty strong midfield and our first choice trio of Alan McNevin, loan signing Mark McGowan and Stephen Campbell. When Campbell suffered strained knee ligaments early in the month 16 year old Darragh O’Brien was drafted in and scored on his debut. Apart from that veteran centre back and club captain Pat Scully and right back Paul Leahy were the only others to stand out. We had a clear problem up front with none of our striking options looking very effective. In fact of the nine goals that we had scored all bar two came from the midfield, a problem that I wanted to rectify if possible.
Our 2-1 defeat at home to Galway United at the start of May prompted me into a switch of keepers, Gavin Morris making way for Davis O’Neill. The second string had another run out at Athlone Town in the League Cup but the 1-0 loss was enough to end our interest in that particular competition. A surprise 4-0 win at Kildare County gave us a confidence boost and then on the same day that Campbell came back into full training we completed the signing of the experienced Ray Kenny on a free transfer from the team we had just defeated. I wanted to try him out in the holding role in front of the back four hoping that his know-how would give us more security in defence. Our lack of firepower was apparent in the 0-0 draw at Athlone Town and although Michael Comerford scored in our 2-1 defeat at home to Sligo Rovers it was just his 2nd goal in 11 starts.
As the summer continued I began to feel more and more settled back in my hometown. Despite the demands of the job I was still able to make time to renew a few old friendships, spend some quality time with my family and discover a surprising number of cosy pubs and decent restaurants. On a number of my dining experiences I was accompanied by various members of my backroom staff as I worked on building a good team spirit. On more than one occasion my only companion was head Physio Vivienne Keller and I found her company very stimulating, both professionally and personally. Of course I told my self that my interest was purely work-related but I had to admit that she was by no means unattractive. Our relationship settled into one of mutual professional respect with some gentle teasing now and again.
If things were going well off the pitch then it was not quite so rosy on the playing front. June brought two wins and two defeats as we sat marooned in mid-table still having lost more league matches than we had won. Despite our indifferent results I was still encouraged by the way the players were sticking to their task and I was sure that with a little more luck on our side we could start to get a few wins. I was gradually establishing a rapport with the players, indulging in some light-hearted banter during training sessions, for if there’s one thing that an Irishman loves it’s the craic.
Spav - thanks for the support. Jeff - thanks for the info, it's a good challenge.
Things Are Looking Up We saw some improvement in July, two wins and a draw in our four league games moving us to within a point of 4th place. At the end of the month we welcomed the visit of Premiership side Shelbourne in the 2nd Round of the Senior Cup and came within five minutes of holding them to a goalless draw in a brave performance.
It wasn’t all sweetness and light however and one or two of the lads were less than happy about not getting any first team action. Winger Padraig Drew was the most vocal of the bunch and took to skipping training on occasions to signal his displeasure. He was also one of our higher earners so when Deal Town came in with a £1,000 bid I was more than happy to accept and was glad to see the back of him. I would have loved to bring in some new blood myself and over the months I had been working with the scouting team to draw up quite a nice little shortlist of lads that I thought would offer us something. Sadly none of them were prepared to consider a move and the only interest we got was from players that seemed no better than the ones we already had.
August saw us remain unbeaten but with four of our five games ending in draws we found ourselves in 5th place in the table. We were creating chances and I was convinced that if we had had a decent finisher then we would have won all of those games and could be well in the hunt for promotion. Our unbeaten run carried on through September with three wins and a draw and included an impressive, if unexpected 4-0 victory at runaway leaders Bray Wanderers. This run of form was enough for me to gain the first award of my managerial career as I was named the First Division Manager of the Month. With five games remaining we sat in 4th place but were six points behind Sligo Rovers who occupied the final promotion spot.
To try to make up for our generally poor finishing in open play we had been working hard in training on our dead ball routines, particularly corners, and we did seem to be scoring a few more goals as a result. In October we only played twice but won both of our games and with three matches remaining we closed to within four points of Sligo. We would face them in the penultimate game of the season but even if we won then we had to rely on them dropping points in one of their other two games if we were going to grab the final promotion place.
November started with a trip to Athlone Town and with less than 60 minutes on the clock we had established a 4-0 lead and were looking very comfortable. In the 64th minute the home side pulled a goal back but I figured that it would be no more than a consolation. When they scored again three minutes later I was a little more concerned and when their third went in five minutes after that I was distinctly worried. Fortunately we made the game safe in the 85th minute but the 5-3 scoreline was rather too close for comfort.
And then the day arrived – Saturday November 12th 2005, the same day that the Irish national team played the first leg of their World Cup playoff at home to Norway we faced the visit of Sligo Rovers. A win would take the fight into the final game of the season – any other result would seal promotion for the visitors. To be honest it was a long way from the thrilling encounter that some expected, neither side wanting to take too many risks. Thankfully with Alan McNevin simply outstanding in central midfield, the only goal of the game came for us, Michael Comerford scoring his 10th of the season midway through the second half. There was more good news for Dublin as the national team managed a 1-0 win at home to Norway, captain Roy Keane scoring the only goal ten minutes before half time. The second leg finished with the scoreline reversed and it took a penalty shootout to decide the tie, Clinton Morrison scoring the decisive spot kick to send the Irish through.
The Freedom Fighter Challenge 
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