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Playing with Ireland, North Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland leagues, FM06. This is my first attempt, and as a matter of fact, my first FM post so if I’m doing anything wrong or leaving out important stuff, please tell me. I’m playing with ECS side, Basingstoke.
The season went very well despite my lack of experience. You can call it beginner's luck, and I tend to agree with that. Sure, the side wasn’t bad for the caliber but I felt way over my head with managing and somehow the players made me look good. Although we did not compete very well in cups, losing early in the FA Trophy, against a team my mom could have played in. No need to say that game left me swaring.
Conference South: 4th FA Cup: 4th qualifying round FA Trophy: 2nd qualifying round
Playoff brought a heartbreaking loss in the finals to Newport Co (1-0). Looking back, I’m glad we did lose since I wasn’t near good enough and ready for a big challenge like the next level and I would have looked foolish, more so than the players.
I thought we would regress, having done nothing to improve the team and with “beginner's luck” seemingly gone but the side surprised me, even more than they surprised the pundits who had predicted a mid-table position, which I would have been happy to reach, considering the effort (or lack of) that I put in the team before the season. Cups also went better (couldn’t have done worst than last year honestly).
Conference South: 3rd FA Cup: 4th qualifying round FA Trophy: 3rd round
Playoff brought deception again as we lost 2-1 in the semis on aggregate to Bognor Regis who went on to be promoted. After a 1-0 win away from home, I thought we were in a very good spot but all thoughts of promotion were washed away in a 10 minutes span early in the second half. On to next season…
I did put more effort in the off season and sent a scout out for the first time ever (Yeah, I really wanted to improve as a manager and showed more commitment... Maybe the fact it was my last year of contract helped ) . It proved to be a wise move as he did find good players that I never stopped to look at, even though they were basically playing in our backyard! The season was a blast and I honestly couldn’t have hoped for much better. The thing about it is that apart from choosing my squad and subs and talking to them between halves, I did nothing. I mean, it was them who played and it was my scout who found me players who really looked good for us. I raise my hat to the players for a really dedicated season when I thought we couldn’t seriously improve much more than last year, result wise, and to my scout who really worked hard and earned is pittance paycheque (Yeah, because that really is true, for him, for me, for our 2 coaches, for our physio and for most of the players). The offseason brought praise from the board and the “fans” (there couldn’t be much as we only mustered 600 people or so crowds at our best gate days) but I knew that with promotion it wouldn't last since promotion would inevitably bring rough times next season and lots of defeats. One of our player was offered a transfer to a bigger club for what looked to me to be a very big amount (€80K, that was what he was valued at but we never told anyone he was available) and though I liked him a lot, I couldn’t say no. Pressure was on me to let him go since both the fans and the board expected us to bring in players for next season and that money was really a god send. I mean they expected us to bring in players but the wage and transfer budgets did not move a bit which was 0 for transfers (come on, give me a chance) and they also reduced my pay when I had to accept the new contract, otherwise it probably would have meant the end of my short managing career. Talk about a way to congratulate the manager... Good thing is we didn’t have to go through the playoffs this time, where we’ve been heartbroke twice.
Conference South: 1st (Promotion) FA Cup: 1st round FA Trophy: 2nd round
Thanks for the comments TC... Yeah it looks rather huge now that I see it lol. Will do that. Starting next season so don't expect update before at least a week (school comes first lol)
Hehe, ty too Elrawkum. Hockey is a whole different game and a far less complex one, in the SI games that is. Still getting used to it and playing my 4th season so... I knew EHM in and out after 1st season pretty much...
Good first effort. I'm compelled to point out that maybe not sending out a scout in the first two years might have been a tad unrealistic, given that you'll never strengthen the squad without doing so, but all in all a decent start.
You are right about the scout. I thought it fitted in well with the "no experience" and still learning the managing job but that was probably not a good idea. However, I did state:
Quote:
I thought we would regress, having done nothing to improve the team
If I do another LLM, I'll take note of that.
Comments and suggestions always welcome and I thank you for that.
Laughingstoke 
) . It proved to be a wise move as he did find good players that I never stopped to look at, even though they were basically playing in our backyard! The season was a blast and I honestly couldn’t have hoped for much better. The thing about it is that apart from choosing my squad and subs and talking to them between halves, I did nothing. I mean, it was them who played and it was my scout who found me players who really looked good for us. I raise my hat to the players for a really dedicated season when I thought we couldn’t seriously improve much more than last year, result wise, and to my scout who really worked hard and earned is pittance paycheque (Yeah, because that really is true, for him, for me, for our 2 coaches, for our physio and for most of the players). The offseason brought praise from the board and the “fans” (there couldn’t be much as we only mustered 600 people or so crowds at our best gate days) but I knew that with promotion it wouldn't last since promotion would inevitably bring rough times next season and lots of defeats. One of our player was offered a transfer to a bigger club for what looked to me to be a very big amount (€80K, that was what he was valued at but we never told anyone he was available) and though I liked him a lot, I couldn’t say no. Pressure was on me to let him go since both the fans and the board expected us to bring in players for next season and that money was really a god send. I mean they expected us to bring in players but the wage and transfer budgets did not move a bit which was 0 for transfers (come on, give me a chance) and they also reduced my pay when I had to accept the new contract, otherwise it probably would have meant the end of my short managing career. Talk about a way to congratulate the manager... Good thing is we didn’t have to go through the playoffs this time, where we’ve been heartbroke twice.
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