Pocketstino

Time for a real challenge, starting up from down below, the conference south, playing with Eastbourne Borough, as they are the Conference South team, closest to Belgium.

Started up with small database (slow computer...) and selected extra players from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, France, Holland, Belgium and Malta (hey, I like the country

Getting decent players was very difficult, only some poor unemployed-chaps decided to join us.
More luck with the assignment of coaches, being able to sign an excellent tactial coach.

Season 1 - Conference South - 2006/07

Promotion it is!

Just managed to get into the playoff-zone, 2 weeks before the end of the competition, finished 4th, far behind champions Fisher Athletic.
Needed a 87' minute winner against Havant & Waterlooville to push on through to the final,
were we had the pleasure of beating our only rival, Lewes, sending them home with a crushing 4-1 score.

Cup: Not even worth mentioning

Season 2 - Conference National -2007/08

Back where we came from!

The 2nd season started with great news, with Gillingham making us our satelliteclub, and having some decent youngsters coming over on loan-base. (well, decent..., better then mine anyway).

We also had the pleasure of welcoming Crystal Palace, for a friendly, which filled our little stadium, to the roof.

But then, the sunshine was over, and the rain began to fall...
It became a long and dissapointing season, finishing as 23th, being lucky that co-newcomer Blyth Spartans played even worse, finishing with 8! points, while we took 24 points, 8 point away from the final safe spot.
Lucky for me, the board kept faith in me, and the fans were still behind me.

While still in Conference national, I used my status to sign some contract-free players, among them even 3 Maltese players, without being able to scout them, worth the gamble for me...

Also, the board decided to invest in better training facilities, making me a happy man, anyhow...

Cup: same cup run again, none that is

Season 3 - Conference South - 2008/09

There we go again, in what proves to be a tight competition, with AFC Wimbledon and Lewes, making our job very hard.
Now, on new years day, I'm currently 3th, 4 points behind Wimbledon, and 1 behind rival Lewes. The other teams, seem to be knokked out of the title race, at newyear.
Big surprise: One of the Maltese, a 23-y old striker, proved to be better then expected, knokking in 19 goals so far.
The other 2 are crap.

mkus

I've read this with caution, TBH. Your visits to GPG are too frequent i.e. they exist, and you celebrate features that LLaMas aren't convinced of i.e. player retention and feeder club relationships.

The signing of 3 non-scouted Maltesers(!) is a step too far.

You are not running what would be recognised here as an LLM game.

mkus

And you haven't completed three seasons.

Pocketstino

What's wrong about signing non-scouted players?
My real life favourite club does it every season...

And please give me a break, a few visits to GPG or so, with experiences from !PREVIOUS! FM series, 06, to be precise,
and the fact that I just joined the forum, make me an easy target here, I get the feeling.

Pocketstino

Indeed, if you read correctly, you'll see I've only comleted 2,5 seasons.

Pocketstino

completed, that is...

Church

I can just see a manager of a LL club going to his board and saying:
"Come on guys, I know that finances are tight but these three Maltesers look good. I haven't had them scouted, so I don't actually know whether they can play football at all, but one of them can head the ball really well, one of them is dead quick and the other can tackle brilliantly.

The response from the board would probably be:
"Don't slam the door on the way out, but you're fired"

I agree with Michal, not LLM.

Pocketstino

Even if one of them turns out to become top-scorer?
,if he doesn't get injured for a long time...

I like the country, that's why I took the risk of signing 3 Maltese, hoping they could be of value.
I took over my assistant-coach's advice, telling me, the striker was someone I had to buy,
and the other 2 (a left-winger and a DM), still had a lot to learn.
But hey, my whole team still has a lot to learn...

wewak

It's like water off a duck's back for this bloke.

Church

Are you being deliberately obtuse or do you really not understand what this forum is about.

This forum is not about managing lower league teams. It is about managing lower league teams in a certain way, consistent with reality.

We do not do things that would get a real life manager sacked.

We do not do things like having a parent club as that is against the rules of the FA, if a real life club did it they would be kicked out of the FA and their league.

We do not use the player search screen as, IRL there is no list which shows attributes of players.

We definitely do not take on players before they have been either scouted or trialed.

We do not take on players from random countries because we like that particular country.

Is this clear enough for you.