retired_kkaigle

Brief

Well I decided to actually start out as Hibernian in the SPL but my tenure at Easter Road was short and certainly not sweet - I lasted one and half seasons before being given the boot.

Without a job and my already obscure reputation in tatters I thought it may be time for a premature retirement; especailly after having been turned down for jobs in all the other lower leagues in Scotland.

But alas! A vacancy opens up at Berwick Rangers just as the 06/07 season finishes and I get the job. Game on.

Berwick had, unkown to me, been promoted to the Scottish Second Division during my first season at Hibs but by the time I had joined at Shielfield Park they had been relegated back down to the Third Division - ending John Coughlin's ill-fated reign as manager. So it was just like starting a fresh - the Third Division was how it was at the start of the game.

Introduction

Game: Football Manger 2006

Team: Berwick Rangers, Scottish Third Division (I joined just as the 06/07 season had finished and Berwick were bottom of the League...so technically when I started they were a Second Division club)

Goal: Get Berwick as high as possible and attain a mainly Scottish team that will hopefully assist the national team in the future (at Hibs I employed an all Scottish policy and got sacked straight away) and hopefully go on to coach Scotland's national team in a major championship. Splitting the Old Firm dominance is also a peripheral target. I also want to improve the coefficient of Scotland in Europe - I hope to make sure that Scotland have 3 or 4 Champions League positions.

Difficulty: Attempt to eventually avvenge Rod Petrie (chairman) and Hibs by finishing higher than them.

Setup: Huge database, Scottish leagues loaded.

First three seasons are complete, and will be posted momentarily.

I hope I haven't broken any rules by the way I've gotten into LLM - I've read the FAQs and Rules and see nothing against this...if there is then I'm sorry.

Also I hope naming a manager in my introduction isn;t against the rules...once again I've checked and not seen any rules against it.

retired_kkaigle

Season 2007/08

Berwick Rangers - Scottish Third Division

Basically the club's finances are ok - I have a 2.5k wage budget and no transfer budget...not really a surprise. Expectations are moderate tahnkfully despite being recently promoted/relegated to/from Second Division; a mid-table finish was expected form fans and the board alike. I decided to tempt some of the staff I hired at Hibs to Berwick - but they were quite happily picking up a few grand a week...I did tempt one of the physios I hired there though on a mediocre wage structure...I think the fact I was in his favourite personnel helped this move.

I decided to look at the scouts/coaches and assistant managers looking for jobs but no-one wanted to come to me...so I was stuck with the previous coaching staff + a physio from Hibs.

The team was ok...but there was one New Zealand international in the team somehow who was on triple the wages of the average player at the club...my first job was to rid him. I eventually sold this player for 2k...the transfer money wasn;t important (although it was helpful nevertheless); the fact that I had freed up the wages allowed me to bring in some fresh faces.

In all honesty not many of the current squad stayed in my team come the end of the season although there were a few useful defenders in the youth team who I felt were ready to make the step up.

I decided to watch some international youth team games after my scout recommended some unattached players playing for Scotland, Wales, N.Ireland and England. I was impressed with some players and especially with Scotland's front two (both unattached) so snatched them up in haste. One thing I forgot to check though was that they were both 15! One wasn't eligible to play until November and the other until mid 2008. I also just grabbed the rest of the unattached players that I could at Wales and N. Ireland and got my scouts to check out the unattached players that they had missed out in the initial search...they were praised so I signed them. Saddly I was unable to get any 'home' players as all the English players were snapped up by Championship, League 1 and Conference clubs.

Firstly, I decided to launch a little pre-season cup at Shielfield, inviting local clubs. I decided to invite local English teams Durham City (my birthplace), Gateshead and Carlisle (rather ambitiously). As expected Carlisle turned down but so did Gateshead...by pre-season was in tatters. Only to be saved by two major coups. Somehow, Sunderland and Gretna decided to take the places of Carlisle and Gateshead (without paying them anything) and the soon to be annual Tweedmouth Trophy was born.

I came bottom of this little cup but I was able to forge good relationships with the managers - something which would prove crucial in years to come. The gate receipts did no harm either as 100k to the coffers helped to cancel debt.

the season kicked off with the Challenge Cup
- a 1-0 victory over Second Division Alloa Athletic with one of my international youths coming good with a '9' performance and a goal to boot...the season was looking bright. Went out in this cup in the Third Round to Partick Thistle...they are quite a big club for the Scottish lower league so a capacity crowd boosted the coffers....pittance of prize money though.

I then opened with a gamer against peterhead and won that in the League...I went on claim fourth place in the League at the halfway point - this meant I was just in the playoffs...but comfortably ahead of fifth.

I was hammered in the first round of the League Cup by First Division club Queen of the South...and had developed a nemesis in their manager after pre and post match media wrangles and slurs.

I was lucky enough to draw a non-league club in the first two rounds of the Scottish Cup...breezed through those games and entered the lucrative Third Round where Celtic and Rangers entered...I missed both and was knocked out by the far from glamourous Stirling Albion.

My Scottish attacking kids came into the equation on their 166th birthdays...my god they made a difference. They propelled me upto the top of the League and I had wrapped the title up with five games to spare. It was a good season and the fans/board were happy about the title win.

I was more happy about these little gems I had unearthed and their stats were extremely impressive where they had to be (acceleration, pace, finishing, heading).

Scottish 3rd Div: 1st, 22-6-8, 54-35, 72 pts
Scottish Cup: 3rd round by Stirling.
League Cup: 1st round by Queen of the South
Challenge Cup: 3rd Round by Partick.
Old Firm: Rangers win SPL by one point, Celtic win League cup but no OF in Scots Cup final.
[b]World Cup:[b/] England beat France.

retired_kkaigle

I'll wait for approvement before making the other season reviews.

retired_davek

Updates, not stories.

retired_nekh_20

Starting at a SPL club is not LLM.

Personally, you are 3 seasons in and dedicated to going the LLM way seeing as you read the FAQ so I turn a blind eye to it, not sure what the regular LLMers would do.

Try and shorten your seasonal updates a bit.

Other than that, welcome to LLM.

retired_kkaigle

Ok - as it was first season I thought I'd go all otu and do it.

retired_sargent

That makes me feel better, when I get a bit older I can have a career in Scottish football

retired_kkaigle

Season 2008/09

Berwick Rangers - Scottish Second Division

Once again I acted as a cradle snatcher and have now found an exact date when these 15/16 year old regens appear - 20th June...the saem day the fixtures are relased. So I sent the scouts out again...I even hired another one as I couldn;t beleive the success of my previous kiddies. All in all I got rid of all the 25 year olds and over and brought in kids from around the UK. All in all, I had 16 Scots, 5 Welsh, 2 N.Irish, 1 Irish and 3 Englishmen. Some of them didn;t cut the grade so I popped them in the reserves and hoped they'd develop with some form of football. I was able to get some loans form the OF which helped my cause whilst a former Hibs target came onto the free transfer market...snapped him up and he was the highest earner on £250 p/w.

Did well in the Tweedmouth Cup by coming 2nd - persuaded Carlisle instead of Durham to come, as the revenue increased the coffers. Rather than spend the money on wages I decided that if I was to fulfill my rovding for Scotland in the future, I should upgrade the training facilities from adequate to good. I make something like 2k per month at this time with the wages and so on so I'm happy.

So my starting XI for the opener in Challenge cup had 7 16 year olds, 3 17 year olds and a 23 year old (the former Hibs target). I went out to Ross County in first round after 3-2 defeat...but I decided not to strengthen my side.

In the League cup, I managed to get to the second round before being anhilated by SPL side Livingston in front of 10,000 fans....I felt proud despite the defeat to be playing in front of that many people in an SPL stadium.

In the Scots Cup I got a bye to the 2nd Round which was good for the coffers and a 6:3 Third Round victroy over Dundee (SPL) was the highlight of my career...I realised that the two (now) 16 year old phenoms from the first international youth scouting were special...both grabbing a hat-trick apiece. I went out to Ross County in the 4th Round after a replay - I later fround out County drew Celtic at Parkhead...I was quite fuming and now hate County.

The league went great again. Once again, these young kids carried me all the way to the First Division although this time I went up via the play-offs...deservedly so considering I finished second (some ten points behind St Mirren). I won the pormotion play-off final 3-0 against Queen of the South (although it is 2 legs in real life, a bugged one-off final game at Hampden park was nice). I had also unearthed another Scottish attacking gem who was allowed to play for the last month of the season after his 16th birthday.

Scottish 2nd Div: 2nd, 21-10-5, 66-26, 73 pts
Scottish Cup: 4th round by Ross County (replay)
League Cup: 2nd round by Livingston
Challenge Cup: 1st Round by Ross County
Old Firm: Celtic win SPL, Rangers win Scots Cup on pennas, Renagers iwn League Cup 2-0.

retired_kkaigle

16th Birthday obviously Church

retired_pmetzger1

I can't work out exactly why, but this paragraph is making me feel uncomfortable.