Ludo's Adventure!

[Ludo*1]

I've never really done one of these before so we'll see how we get on.

As I said in the FM thread, I simmed two seasons to add some freshness to the game and let some signings be made etc etc. Here's what happened in the first two seasons:

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Went on holiday for a season as I started a new game so that I could have some freshness. Some interesting changes:

Dundee were taken over by a local businessman who sacked Paul Hartley and appointed John Toshack on the 5th March. Toshack's released a whole raft of players as Dundee finished 6th in the Championship. Raith and QotS were promoted, both finished on 64 points but Raith took the league on GD. Rangers as expected came up, Hibs and St Johnstone were relegated.

Hibs sacked Butcher in April and replaced him with Craig Levein! St Johnstone sacked Tommy Wright in December and appointed Scott Leitch. St Mirren finished 2nd in the Premiership. Dundee United have George Burley as manager.

Despite winning the Challenge Cup and the Championship Raith decided to part ways with Grant Murray after he rejected a contract and have appointed Terry Butcher to lead them in the Premiership. Dumbarton have McGlynn as manager and Kenny Brannigan has made it as Stirling boss.

I know madness in FM is a common theme after you've advanced a few years, but this has just been the first season!

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Simmed another season because the first one was quite mental and I figured I'd have more fun doing that. Since appointing Toshack, Dundee have turned semi-professional, I can only assume the new Chairman is another conman. Dundee finished 6th once again. Rangers won the Championship by 4 points ahead of St Johnstone, but St Johnstone missed out on a first time return as third placed Hamilton pipped them in the play-offs. Hibs finished 4th well off the pace. They sacked Craig Levein after only 6 months in charge and replaced him with Andy Watson.

Falkirk love a transfer and have made 15 signings and released/sold 12 in pre-season.

Terry Butcher spent 6 months leading Raith in their jaunt in the Premiership before leaving them for Ipswich. Jackie McNamara was his replacement and he managed to keep away from the play-offs by finishing 10th on GD. Raith's previous manager Grant Murray is now playing in the Championship for Cowdenbeath at 39. Partick Thistle sacked Archibald for getting them relegated and replaced him with Pat Fenlon.

Dundee United won the Premiership under George Burley and the United developer says they're not overrated the diddy!

Mark Burchill was promoted to manager as Livi and got them relegated.

My start date is 20th June 2015. I decided to go to the very bottom of the stockpile of Scottish football and attempt to turn them into a force (Or leave when something better comes along!) and the club I have been landed with is:

Season expectation is 10th so I suspect I'm in for a hard season. No debt as of yet to worry about, although with the cuts I expect to do to this bloated squad I expect that could change.

Hope people will post and keep the thread active to keep not only my enjoyment of doing this to a maximum and your interest engaged as we move on together!

Here's how Clyde's two seasons have been so far:

ETA: Click on the images to enlarge!

[Ludo*1]

As you can see in the screenshot here, I've got a terrible wage budget and my first job will be to trim the fat from the squad as I'm £900 over the budget with a team that finished bottom of League 2.

For the eagle eyed amongst you, you may notice I've decided to get rid of almost all of my backroom staff with only the physio staying in a job. I don't reward failure so out go Chic Charnley amongst others. I've offered deals to Chris Templeman to be my assistant manager, Liam Buchanan who retired at 30 to be a coach and Danny Rogers at Buckie to become my GK coach.

[Ludo*1]

Two days into the job, need to trim the wage fat by over £900 and this pops up! Makes a hard job harder. Fucking Jim Duffy.

[Ludo*1]

I've trimmed the squad, but as you can see the squad is dearth of talent. My best player is my 20 year old CB Fraser McGhee who is only decent at League 2 level. The rest are at best, good for Highland/Lowland. 6 of the 8 players I've kept on are defenders and I only have a remaining wage budget of £900 to build my squad. No reserves or youths either (My youth team is basically my first team!).

The updates will slow down a little once I get into the season instead of posts every 5 minutes and I'll do an update every 3-4 month in game instead of after every notable event, but for now I'll update you again after pre-season and I've attempted to build a squad.

With this trimming of the squad, the club is now listed as insecure and has a valuation of £0.

[Kyle]

£900 in the third division is actually pretty decent. You can get good kids released by higher division clubs for £40/£50 a week each usually. They can be a bit hit and miss, but you should stumble across good players.

I love starting off in League 2 in Scotland. Good luck.

[Ludo*1]

Kyle, on 30 Jul 2014 - 14:25, said:

£900 in the third division is actually pretty decent. You can get good kids released by higher division clubs for £40/£50 a week each usually. They can be a bit hit and miss, but you should stumble across good players.

I love starting off in League 2 in Scotland. Good luck.

I usually do too but after 2 years of Jim Duffy in charge, Clyde are a mess and the quality of players, even the young ones is very poor. I've been given odds of 40-1 to win the league. I'm expected to finish bottom by a mile this season.

If I can get in a decent nucleus and finish even 9th this season to try and avoid falling into the backwaters to push for promotion the following season then I'd be happy.

Hoping to secure some loans to provide depth.

[the_bully_wee]

You've given yourself a right c**t of a task by simming two seasons. We start the game with a reasonable squad, with a few players good enough for League 1 or lower Championship level clubs.

[Ludo*1]

I've began my campaign and my signings... well... they haven't been the greatest. Most players wanted wages I couldn't afford and the squad I have hobbled together amounts to me being £363 over the wage budget p/w which isn't at all healthy.

I made Fraser McGhee my captain for the season and most of the other players seemed happy, he felt he'd received unwanted pressure though.

My squad is as follows:

I'll be relying heavily on Ciaran Donnelly at CH who had been released from Annan after spending two years there and struggling to break into the team. Ruari MacLennan is the other that I'll be hoping for inspiration to come from as he returns to his former home after 7 years away.

Paul McQuade started pre-season on fire and was scoring every game and as you can see from the screenshot has taken that into the season thus far. He's my highest rated striker which should tell you how poor the standard is in my squad.

Onto the games, in the Challenge Cup I was drawn against Dalbeattie Star and I expected a tough match-up. I was slightly nervous because if we couldn't beat them, then we'd have no chance in League 2 this season. Here's how it went down:

Solid, but narrow victory. Pleased to have progressed but it was McQuade who seen me through really and on another day I could have easily been put out of the cup. With my first obstacle out of the way, my League Cup opponent was revealed. None other than an away tie to The Rangers. This meant a very short League Cup campaign as you would expect but if I was to go out the cup I was happy that'd be at a ground that would earn Clyde some money.

Had my chances, but as expected, Rangers sailed through to the next round although they had a couple of weird additions in their squad with former Raith player Iain Williamson operating at CM. Increased my hopes for the coming season...

[Ludo*1]

Played quite a few games since I last updated you. I'm now 9 games into the season and I'm not trailing at the bottom as my squad should be or as I expected to be. One of my star men at the moment is Ciaran Donnelly, one of my summer signings, having gotten him in on a free after his release from Annan. Unfortunately, and I'm not sure why to be honest, the Clyde fans have made him their target for abuse with my monthly board meetings saying that the fans are disappointed in his signing. The only thing I could think of is that he spent a season at Hamilton 12 year ago, but that'd be petty.

Onto results, well when I last updated you we'd been put out of the League Cup 3-1 by The Rangers and progressed in the Challenge Cup over Dalbeattie Star 2-1. We drew Brechin in the next round and were dispatched of 2-1 by them.

We only had 2 shots on target throughout the whole game so it was probably a justified exit. This seems to be a recurring theme and because of the lack of quality in my side, I've set them up to be a hard working unit, the football is not at all pretty on the eye but we've improved from last season immeasurably. The fans are happy with results, but in my latest confidence report they said, 'The fans are slightly concerned that despite good recent results the football being played has been less than exciting'. Code for the board telling me to stop shitfesting it, well, I'm sorry but with the squad I have there is absolutely no alternative! Perhaps if I could trim the wage budget some more and bring in a quality striker things would be a little different but at this moment in time that is simply not an option as we are threadbare as it is.

As you can see from the League Table, so far we're doing much better than the expected 10th place but we're really struggling for goals being the joint lowest scorers in the league with only 7 goals from 9 games, which I'll admit myself isn't good enough. We're not conceding a lot either which is a good sign and if for a strange game against Elgin in which I lost 4-1 (The low point of my Clyde career thus far) we'd have the best defence in the league.

If anyone would like a screenshot or info on any particular thing, just ask! The more people get involved, the more inspired I am to continue! Cheers.

[Ludo*1]

My journey in cup competitions hasn't been the greatest thus far, but I thought I might just have a chance of making amends in the big one, the SC! Perhaps progress to a point where I can draw a money spinning tie and put in a spirited performance. In the second round, I was drawn against Vale of Leithen. A tie I should be expecting to win, and I did just that with a comfortable 3-1 win with goals coming from Fraser McGhee my captain, Paul McQuade my 'star' striker and Lee Sibanda.

In the third round, I was drawn against Queen's Park, a side which I could easily overcome considering they are in the same division as me. Our one previous meeting was a 0-0 draw at Broadwood, but playing at Hampden is a totally different prospect and I'd have to be on form to beat them...

Despite having the better chances we just couldn't progress as QP took 2 of their 3 shots on target. No money spinning round for me!

Since then, my team has went on a horrible run of results resulting in me calling in a team meeting which seems to have been rather productive. 14 games played and I am only 3 points off a play-off spot but I'm also only 5 points off the dreaded wooden spoon finish, a place which could potentially see us fall out of the league altogether and I just cannot allow that to happen. If only I had a quality striker, if only... Come on Paul McQuade, I need a hero!

A win against 3rd placed Montrose is a tall order especially considering the news that Paul McQuade is now out for 3 months... My best striker in a team that's not scoring, is out for 3 months... Panic stations.

[CM.]

Being a Clyde fan I'm quite interested to see how you do with this. Can't believe in the 2 seasons youve holidayed theyve got rid of all their best players for £0

Good luck...

[hoopy1967]

Liking these updates. Unlucky in the cups

[Ludo*1]

Played quite a bit since I last updated you. I'm now 31 games into the season. As I feared though, Paul McQuade being out for 3 months hit me bad, real bad. Went on a run of 10 games without a win and in these 10 games I never scored more than once. I genuinely began fearing for my job as each moral sapping defeat struck home. I had little to worry about though because even though things weren't going well, it was still an improvement on Jim Duffy's job with a very weak squad.

As soon as I got Paul McQuade back to fitness though results began to pick up again as I went on a run of 3 wins on the trot. He's not a great player, he's probably not even in the top 5 strikers in the league but he gives my team a focal point. As I said, the football hasn't been great but in 23 games including cups, he's scored 9 goals.

My other main striker is a 16 year old goes by the name Klaas Kadodia. He has the potential to be a top end League 1 striker, and whilst he's been struggling, I'm delighted he's managed to notch 8 goals so far this season and I hope I can keep him on and have him work to be my out and out main striker next season as I'll be looking to replace McQuade as despite being our best striker, he's still pretty poor.

As you can see, my form in the latter half of the season has improved greatly. It's not near league winning form but it's a marked improvement on what went before. In the last 11 games, I've won 6, drawn 1 and lost 4.

The league table sees us in 8th place with 5 games to go. We look as if we'll be stranded in mid-table, which is not something I can complain about. I said at the start of the season I'd be happy with anywhere provided we didn't finish bottom and being 11 points clear with 5 games to go is very pleasing especially when the form we were in.

It's a very tight league and there's still an outside shot of us making the play-offs being 6 points behind with 5 games to go. We'd need to step up to a gear I honestly don't think we have though. It's amazing to see how tight this league is though with only 2 points separating 5th and 9th.

As you can see though, the main problem that we need to resolve for next season is scoring goals and I'm trying to make plans to address this already but I've not had much luck so far. I'll hope to pick up a few decent players once they've been released as I hope I've improved Clyde's stature in the game even slightly over the past season and can attract better than Highland league level players, but we'll see I suppose. Not only this, but some of my younger guys will have came on quite a bit for the coming season. As you can see, my defence isn't the problem with Ciaran Donnelly continuing to excel with my captain Fraser McGhee, both of whom are now well liked by the fans thankfully.

ETA: I have a funny feeling the board is going to slash my wage budget again which would kill off all my plans for another season.

[Ludo*1]

Played my next game against 2nd placed Stirling Albion. A win for me would secure the league for Annan. Kenny Brannigan tried to play mind games in the build up to the match, but it's Kenny Brannigan and it was never going to work.

Stirling took an early lead but it turned out to be a route for us.

4 points behind with 4 games to go. Can Clyde sneak into the play-offs?! It's going to be an exciting finish to the season! In happier news, the win over Stirling guarantees we cannot finish bottom now so there is a small reason to celebrate considering the task this squad had at the start of the season.

Building towards next season it is then! Well and truly pumped!

[The Grass Is Greener.]

I'm reading along although I haven't posted, keep it up Ludo!

[Ludo*1]

The Grass Is Greener, on 01 Aug 2014 - 11:29, said:

I'm reading along although I haven't posted, keep it up Ludo!

Thanks very much.

Anyways for the coming season I've allowed Max Wright, Ruari MacLennan, Paul McQuade, Ewan Saunderson, Gordon Young and Ricky Barnett to leave the club after the end of their contracts due to a mix of them asking for too much and not being good enough.

I've also let Chris Templeman and my GK coach leave and promoted Liam Buchanan as assistant and brought in Paul Gallacher as my goalkeeping coach. Looking to progress on the field again but will have to see what is on the market.

[Shelldon]

When you're putting the fixtures and results up can you add in the scorers column? Always like to see who's scoring, also where are you playing Sibanda?

[Ludo*1]

Shelldon, on 01 Aug 2014 - 13:38, said:

When you're putting the fixtures and results up can you add in the scorers column? Always like to see who's scoring, also where are you playing Sibanda?

Will try and do that although I'm not too sure how to but I'll have a fiddle with it next time I'm playing. Sibanda was playing mostly on the right wing. He done well there and earned himself a new deal when he was initially just signed as a stop-gap.

[Shelldon]

Will try and do that although I'm not too sure how to but I'll have a fiddle with it next time I'm playing. Sibanda was playing mostly on the right wing. He done well there and earned himself a new deal when he was initially just signed as a stop-gap.

Cheers man, yeah thats where I've found him to be most effective too.

[Ludo*1]

Small update to let you know what else is going on in Scottish football:

Dundee United couldn't retain the Scottish Premiership as Celtic regained the throne, they did finish 2nd though. Rangers were relegated from the Premiership through the play-offs along with Raith, who were dead last under Jackie McNamara's management. This earned McNamara the sack and they've replaced him with Alan Archibald who was sacked for relegating Partick the season before. Partick finished 3rd in the Championship under Pat Fenlon's management. Hibs won the Championship under Andy Watson and St Johnstone returned as well through the play-offs after both had disappointing campaigns the year before in the Championship.

Joining me in League Two this season are Dunfermline and Stranraer. Dunfermline finished last in League One winning only 8 of their 36 games. Berwick go up alongside league winners Annan which makes me think League Two will be a much stronger league in the coming season, hopefully my Clyde side is too.