[gillesam]

Following on from successsful FM06 & FM07 clan games, the HAM Clan returns for a third installment.

It was decided that we would start north of the border this time in the SPL, with the Old Firm initially off limits. The starting line up was as follows:










You can follow our progress on our website - http://hamclan.gillesam.net/

[Andy H]

Good luck lads, always nice to see an SPL clan game up and running.

[Shelsey]

Arter a random draw I was given Falkirk. Falkirk will be an interesting challenge as they are a lower mid-table team who could potentially slip into a relegation battle.

After a look at my squad I decided it was best to see how the squad perform in the first half of the season before deciding whether to make transfers in January.

We started the season against Gretna and played awfully as we lost 3-1.

We then had games against the old firm, both of which resulted in defeats, putting us bottom of the pile after three games.

Then we picked up our form with our Austrian stiker Roman Wallner picking up a hatful of goals as we beat St. Mirren and Hibernian and won two cup games against lower league sides.

Between times we lost to Motherwell and Dundee United.

As it stands we are in 10th place in the SPL with 6 points.

[Sw1ftY]

After a random draw i was appointed manager of Motherwell, A fairly mid-table positioned club who have had there off season every few years finishing near bottom of the league.

With no transfer budget i went on the hunt to loan some players or to sign some free transfers but had abo****ly no luck at all with the other human managers grabbing there signature at the last minute.

In the end this is what happened:

Players In:
None
Players Out:
David Nixon (On Loan)

After a few fairly good results in the friendlies we got to the 1st Match Day against St. Mirren it was a fairly one sided match with St. Mirren winning 2-0 until late in the game i managed to pull one back.

Results:
Motherwell 1 - 2 St.Mirren
Motherwell 2 - 0 Inverness
Motherwell 2 - 2 Kilmarnock
Motherwell 2 - 0 Ayr (League Cup 2nd Round)
Motherwell 0 - 2 Gretna
Motherwell 2 - 2 Hearts
Motherwell 0 - 1 Aberdeen
Motherwell 1 - 0 Alrdrie Utd (League Cup 3rd Round)
Motherwell 2 - 1 Falkirk
Motherwell 1 - 1 Rangers

Upcoming Fixture: Dundee United.

The win over Falkirk and draw with Rangers were two of my unexpected Results.

The Falkirk game seemed to be going all my way, I was leading 2-0 until the 60th minute when Falkirk scored and i feared a comeback, I managed to hold onto the lead until the 86th minute when it looked like Falkirk had equalised but were denied the goal and i went on to win the game 2-1.

As it stands we are in 7th Position with 9 Points.

[gillesam]

I was unveiled as the new manager of my hometown team, St Mirren. I obviously had a fair idea of where our short comings were and I looked to sort these. I signed a couple of players permanently and 7 on loan. Our cause wasn't helped when we lost John Potter, defender, for 6 months with a broken leg.

My first game in charge was at home to Matt's Motherwell. After an even start Kean gave us the lead after 20 minutes. We played better for the rest of the first half but couldn't add to our lead. Motherwell were reduced to 10 men at the start of the second half. Mehmet doubled our lead with 20 minutes to go. Well pulled one back late on before being reduced to 9 men. We weren't troubled after this and we ran out 2-1 winners. Rangers away followed and this was really a case of damage limitation. We went 2-0 down after only 4 minutes and I feared the worst. We regrouped and pulled one back just before half time from a Miranda free kick. 2 late goals from Rangers meant we lost 4-1.

Harrop's Inverness were out next visitors. We went behind to a dodgy penalty midway through the first half. Mehmet equalised just before half time which was the least we deserved after dominating the first half. We had the better of the second half but couldn't find a way through and had to settle for a 1-1 draw. It was a local derby next when Morton visited in the League Cup. After going behind early in the first half Kean equalised to make it 1-1 at the break. We had plenty of chances to win the game before Fangzhuo scored with 10 minutes of extra time remaining to give us a 2-1 win.

Back to the league and we were away to Jack's Falkirk. We played poorly in this game and lost 3-1 with Kean getting our goal from the penalty spot. Celtic at home followed, another case of damage limitation. We made things even harder for ourselves when Iuliano, on his debut, was sent off after half an hour. Celtic took the lead on half time before scoring again at the start of the second half. Kean pulled one back but Celtic scored in stoppage time to make it 3-1. Dundee United away was next. We produced our best performance of the season so far. Goals in the first half from Fangzhuo & Bjarnason saw us comfortable 2-0 winners.

We travelled to Gary's Kilmarnock next. A Miranda free kick saw us go in 1-0 up. We dominated the second half and goals from Martin & Kean saw us win 3-0 up. It was League Cup next when Rangers visited. A stunning first half performance saw us go in 4-1 up with a Bjarnason hat trick and 1 from Kean. Bjarnason scored in the second half before Rangers pulled one back but we held on for a stunning result, 5-2. We looked to build on this result when we played host to Hearts. We produced another stunning display winning 5-3 with goals from Kean, Bjarnason, Miranda, Fangzhuo & Kean again. We have made a good start to the season that sees us in 5th place after 8 games.

[GAZMANGOLF]

I took over Kilmarnock and originally thought I had a decent squad,however that was the first of many judgemental errors I have made so far.Although starting reasonably well save for a 7-1 thrashing by Celtic on the opening day,things turned seriously downhill when 3 other managers teams gave some serious football lessons in two 5-1 defeats and a 3-0 whitewash.
I decided to really step up the training and a different tactical outlook has brought a slight upturn in fortunes but we are still miles away from where I thought Id be.
Getting players in is also proving very difficult,Ive decided to cut my wage bill and try to bring in cheap youngsters to build for the future as the current playing squad is short of quality,hopefully some of the players Ive pinpointed will actually end up signing.Really enjoying it though and glad to be back in the fold!

[liamstack151]

Sorry I do hope you dont mind me posting a brief message in your thread!! (I'm an ex member) Been a long time!! Glad to see the clan is still going strong! If ever there is an opening I'd love to come back! Have a nice new job that actually permits me to play reguarly now and at any time! Anyway good luck with the season to all!!

Liam

[gillesam]

Monday's session started away to stan's Aberdeen. Kean gave us an early lead before Aberdeen struck back and went in 2-1 up. We pushed on in the second half looking for an equaliser but couldn't find one even after Aberdeen went down to 10 men and we lost 2-1. We looked to bounced back at home to CK's Gretna. 2 goals in the first half from Fangzhuo put us 2-0 up at half time. A goal late on from Bjarnason sealed a 3-0 win. It was away to toon's Hibs next. We struggled in this game and were soundly beaten 4-1, with Kean getting our consolation.

It was back to back games against Motherwell, with an away game in the league up first. We lost 3-0 but played far better than this would suggest. Poor finishing and poor defending cost us dearly. It was League Cup duty when Motherwell visited 4 days later. We played well in the first half but couldn't break the deadlock. Motherwell scored at the start of the second half before Murray equalised 10 minutes later. Just before half time in extra time Murray scored again to put us into the lead. We held on for the rest of extra time to win 2-1.

Rangers were the visitors as we returned to league duty. We struggled and went 3-0 down. Fangzhuo pulled one back to make the final score 3-1. Harrop's Inverness away was next up. A first half double from Bjarnason put us 2-0 up at half time. A Dargo strike with just over 15 minutes left sealed a 3-0 victory. Falkirk at home followed. We controlled this game from start to finish. Second half goals from Kean and Miranda saw us run out 2-0 winners.

The session finished away to Celtic. We were, as expected, out played from start to finish and lost 3-0. We have made a good start to the season. We are in the semi finals of the League Cup and are sitting in 6th place after 16 game sin the league.

[harrop4]

At the start of the 1st session we where randomly given a team in the SPL (excluding the Old Firm) and I was given Inverness Caledonian Thistle (media prediction 9th).

With only 70k to spend and a modest wage budget there wasn’t much room for many changes but I did manage to bring in 4 young players for not much money.

Players In:

Jukka Lehtovaara – Goalkeeper – Finland (7k)
Patrik Lomski – Winger/Striker – Finland (10k)
Diego Buonanotte – Attacking Midfielder – Argentina (14k)
Charles-André Doudin – Striker – Switzerland (22k)

Players Out:

Guy Kerr – Defender/Midfield (30k)
Rory McAllister – Striker (Loan)
Alan Morgan – Full Back/Winger (free in Jan)


Results:

Lost 3-1 vs. Rangers
Lost 2-0 vs. Motherwell
Drew 1-1 vs. St. Mirren
Lost 2-1 vs. Dundee Utd
Won 3-2 vs. Hibs
Won 2-0 vs. Partick Thistle (Cup)
Won 3-0 vs. Dunfermline (Cup)
Drew 2-2 vs. Hearts
Won 1-0 vs. Falkirk
Won 5-1 vs. Kilmarnock
Won 5-1 vs. Aberdeen
Drew 1-1 vs. Gretna
Lost 1-0 vs. Celtic
Drew 1-1 vs. Rangers
Won 3-2 vs. Falkirk (QF Cup)
Drew 1-1 vs. Motherwell
Lost 3-0 vs. St. Mirren
Won 2-1 vs. Dundee Utd
Won 2-0 vs. Hibs


Best Performances:

The 5-1 wins against Hibs and Kilmarnock in consecutive games and the draw away against Rangers.

Poor Performances:

Both games against Al’s St. Mirren, Totally out played in both games.


For the 1st few games I went with a 4-4-2 formation, but after some disappointing performances I looked at the squad and decided that a 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation would suit the players currently at the club, and after a few games the performances improved as did the results.

After 16 games of our 1st SPL season we are 4th in league and we are through to the semi finals of the league cup.

So nearly halfway through the season my aim for the rest of the season is to qualify for the Uefa cup either by our league position or by maybe wining a cup.

[Shelsey]

At the end of last Thursday's session I lost 1-0 to Inverness. We swiftly returned to form with a 3-1 win over struggling Hearts and a 1-0 win over Kilmarnock.

We then moved on to defeats against Aberdeen and Gretna and a 3-2 loss to Inverness in the CIS Cup Quarter-Final.

Next were the Old Firm and we managed an impressive goalless draw against Celtic before losing 2-0 to Rangers.

Then came Al's St. Mirren and our poor run of form continued with a 2-0 loss.

This then led to a fantastic 7 match unbeaten, which saw us beat Dundee United 1-0 and Hibernian 2-1, we then drew 0-0 against Motherwell, beat Inverness 1-0, a goalless draw against Hearts, a fantastic 3-1 win against troubled Aberdeen before drawing 0-0 with Kilmarnock.

This placed us in a remarkable 6th place in the SPL but with the Old Firm coming up next we must still watch out.

We owe much to striker Roman Wallner for our wonderful league position, however Benfica have made a bid for him and he has been rejecting my contract offers.