retired_sandra

:p

retired_heli

5th Season 2011-2012
League - BSS
Media Prediction – 10th
Board Expectations – Progress in competitions entered
Bank Balance - $480k
Transfer Budget – 0.

Summary
Sometimes I just do not understand this game. Media prediction was for 10th place. The punters had us mid-table and yet all season long the board, fans and press wanted to know why we were not squarely on top or in playoff contention. Needless to say that fueled a very frustrating season as the team rode the sine curve of WWLLLWWXLDWLL…

I continued my youth strategy while signing what proved to be a bust at DR and a real gem of a ST on frees. Brought in only two loaners, a DR and ST. I had two DCs under 20 who did very well. Average squad age was 22 and the oldest player was 27. But the team just could not find any consistency though we wound up mid-league in both scoring and defense. With a month to go in the season only 9 points separated 4th from 16th place.

But my frustration level soared after back-to-back losses to relegation bound teams, board carping, press carping, carping about not changing my tactics from a X-X-X when I had not used that formation in a season and a half, and an attendance that had slid to about 200 per game. With attendance at that level money was slowly leaking away and the next season was more and more looking like a repeat of this one. So….

With two games left I applied for the opening at Burton Albion. Well, guess who managed the side for the last two games? My youth coach as my Assman and Physical trainer left in solidarity with me as I resigned one step ahead of the promised pink slip.

Spent an enjoyable summer on holiday being rejected by numerous teams from around the globe. I was approached by Wolfenburg, German RD? but with no transfer or wage budget and all “grays” I saw no future in that.

Finally hooked up with SV Concordia Ihrhove, German RDN. No transfer budget but a wage budget even if it is 2/3rds of what I had at Basingstoke Town. All “grays” except for some youth players. So, for the first time since 1984 I am back in the land of bier and schnitzel.

Results at departure
Position – 14th
P 40 W 14 D 6 L 20 Pts 48 GS 66 GC 72 -6 (Same scoring/conceded stats as for all of last year – how is that for mediocre consistency.)
Cup Competitions – Obviously nothing that anyone, board, fans or press got excited about.
Board Confidence – None

retired_heli

6th Season 2012-2013 – SV Concordia Ihrhove
League – Regional Division North
Media Prediction – 17th
Board Expectations – Establish safe position
Bank Balance - $160k with an outstanding $15,000,000 loan for the stadium expansion
Transfer Budget – $0
Wage Budget - $4k per week

Summary
”Caveat Emptor” Or in this case – Newly hired manager beware!

Blithely took the job without really looking at what I was getting into. Well, this is what I did get into:

1.Newly promoted to RDN, never before a playable team
2.Over half the players were ‘gray”
3.The other were primarily 15-16 year olds with a sprinkling of 17 and 18 year olds
4.15 year olds cannot play in first team games
5.Gray players disappear between games so they cannot be trained, and just plain disappeared after the winter break
6.$15 million in debt after expanding a 6000 capacity stadium to 10,000 even though the average attendance was only 700+ (expansion was completed in November 2012. I suspect, having seen the same thing with other newly promoted RDX teams that it is a condition for promotion.)
7.Staff consisted of one coach

Once I began to comprehend what I was facing I scrambled to put together a staff with the first priority to acquire a scout. This was the only thing this year that did work out as I put together a decent staff, in short order, without straining the wage budget.

The scout, though, spent 8 months traveling I don’t know where (it was supposed to be in Germany) and in all that time found me a grand total of five (5) players. Two were unaffordable but I got one of them on loan, utter garbage he turned out to be. I signed one on a free, one late discovery on a free after the transfer window so no chance of seeing him till the close season and one said go do something unmentionable to myself.

In essence, by playing to LLM rules, I was forced to play the weak hand I was dealt. In six seasons I never felt so much like a useless bystander. Signing some gray players to contracts meant I could see them between games but training had no impact on them, for all intents and purposes they behaved like the gray players and ultimately did nothing but drain the wage budget, not that it mattered much since my scout never found anyone to spend the wage budget on. No money, no decent players (though in fairness some had definite potential) and no way to improve the squad. (I scouted next opposition, RDN, RDS, RDW, under 19s, other allowable scouting combinations and he never found anything. I am not sure firing him and trying to get a new hire would have made much of a difference.)

The results were painfully predictable. We lost early, late and often. Usually we did not just lose; our -88 goal differential in only 27 games is testament to how badly we lost, again and again ad nauseam ad infinitum.

Right before the winter break we won and drew back-to-back games. It was a small moment of hope as all of the teams in the relegation zone were equally bad. I figured a measly 10 points in the remaining 16 games would see us survive. I went to an ultra defensive approach hoping to reduce the goal differential and maybe eke out some draws while stealing a couple of home wins against my fellow bottom dwellers.

The team played better, 1-2 and 1-3 losses replaced the earlier 0-7 and 0-8 losses. But we managed only one point by the 27th game which sealed our relegation. Even before reaching this lowlight I had started applying to other teams. Not a word from the board so that was refreshing. After clinching relegation I saw no need to continue adding defeats to my career record, thus I resigned. The team went 0-1-6 the rest of the way to finish dead last.

Results at departure
Position – 18th
P 27 W 1 D 2 L 24 Pts 5 GS 19 GC 107 GD -88
Cup Competitions – none
Board Confidence – Happy with my handling of the wage budget but some concern about how certain defenders were playing!

I went on holiday and checked –off apply to higher reputation clubs. Cut my holiday short at one point to see that I had applied to clubs already relegated from the lowest playable leagues in Spain, Italy and Germany as well as clubs like Liverpool and Aston Villa. Between May and early July I received three offers from teams newly promoted to one of the German regional divisions. All looked like SV Concordia Ihrhove look a-likes so I spurned those offers.

On July 7th an offer from Queens University Belfast was extended. Going nowhere slowly, and in spite of some of the posts I have read about life in Northern Ireland I accepted. At least they have a team, unlike Ihrhove.

After taking the QUB job I checked my manager’s profile and noticed that my reputation had gone from regional to national. One promotion, two relegations and two mid table finishes, all in lower leagues. How does that equate to a national reputation?

retired_travel_fit

I worked for a company once that employed a similar strategy: "we're losing money but we'll make it up by increasing volume". I'll let you guess the results.

Enjoying the story, keep up the struggles!

retired_heli

What are the rules for posting links? I cannot find any.

The link I would like to post concerns QUB, its background and where they play. The report dates from the 2003-04 season and no players are mentioned.

I thought posting the link would add some color to this thread but I do not want to overstep permissible bounds or create any sort of liability issues for anyone. Guidance would be appreciated.

retired_ms_readytochang

Enjoying this update a lot so far, glad to see you haven't abandoned it through the dark days in the 'grey' land of Germany and I'm sure you'll see success eventually. Up the Queens Uni! KUTPayingForHubrisW! :thup:

creative36

The only 'rules' as such are those for the SI boards. So no links to porn or anything you wouldn't want befouling the eyes of a Mother Superior.

As for links in LLM threads... well, use your common sense. If possible, edit or blur out any player names (if you're linking to screenshots). Otherwise, you can give players nicknames before taking the screenshot. Finally, if you absolutely can't bear the prospect of defacing your shiny new screenshot, just make it very clear when you post the link that players may be named. That way, only idiots have a right to complain.

retired_sandra

You've gone from being a nobody in a major footballing nation to a nobody in a minor footballing nation. While you weren't known by the German football community, you will be in Northern Ireland as it's much smaller.
Average Joe won't have heard of you on the street though.

retired_heli

That makes sense. So if I transfer jobs in mid-season to a team recently relegated to BSN in my current save, let’s take Billericay for instance, I can expect that reputation to shrink back to regional?

What, if any, impact does one’s reputation have on the game?

retired_sandra