senorsoupe Posted March 25, 2017 Share Posted March 25, 2017 I'm gonna give this a go in England, currently waiting for the game to go through the "holiday" portion 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poet of the Macabre Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Nairn County journey was awesome. Great reading back. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Decided to give this another stab as I'm not back at uni for another month. Plucky East Kilbride finally managed to get their way into the professional leagues, unluckily for them, it was myself to take the helm! They've actually not got that bad a squad of players: A little on the thin side to say the least. During the time between promotion and me taking over they released 7 players and signed 1. Nae the best. When I took over I instantly got all the non-contract players signed up on part time deals apart from Russell McLean who was way too good for the side and demanded a move. The key to getting this game right is to sign up all your players to ensure they're already there for the following season. I also think there's a lot of luck in what team you get. So far we're out the League/Challenge cups but into the 4th of the Scottish. League table looks like this. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 In terms of formation, I've had to play to my strengths. I can go to a 4-3-3 if I need to, but this nonsensical formation is reaping reasonable results. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 plz don't lose the save for this one 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Stuttering a wee bit in the league due to injuries. Keeper was out for 3 games as well which didn't help, we only have one! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 The league campaign battles on, and we're still 11 points ahead of bottom with a game in hand. 13 games to go. We managed to sneak past League 1 Queens Park in the Scottish cup and who do we get? O Oh sweet lord. It's the jammiest of draws. That's exactly what you're needing in your first season! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 So naturally we were papped out the cup by Celtic but we held it to a respectable 2-0 defeat. I've made it to the end of February and I've secured a deal until the end of next season. And it's that time for the first intake of the journey! Not bad! Not bad at all. A few too many wide players for my liking I'll admit, but I've managed to convert an attacking midfielder into a full back this season so there's no reason I can't do it with this lot. It's good to have a sub keeper which hasn't been a luxury I've been able to enjoy this season, and of course now I can have a bench of more than two players. Someone pinch me! I think I'll sign everyone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 We've hit a pretty dismal run of form for the run in, but we're still 9 clear of bottom with 6 to play for. We are where we are based on our defence, as you can see our keeper has the highest clean sheets record in the league. Hopefully I can get safety with a few games left so I can just chuck all the youngsters in. I think I might need to work on the tactical side of things, maybe go to a 5-3-2 permanently for more balance. I'm always wary of overloading players this bad with loads of instructions though; I remember reading somewhere on what I think was SI forums that (as you'd expect) poorer players don't take to instructions as well as strong players. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 17/18 Round up Our form was pretty crap at the end of the season; I think both things to blame for this are the tactical change as I'm not sure how I'm going to build it, and the fact I was playing kids for the majority of the time. 8th place it was to be for our first season in the senior leagues. Financially we're OK, but that's mainly down to the Celtic cup game. Normally in these YAC's you have to convince the board to upgrade youth recruitment and junior coaching but both of mines are actually above the level I'd have expected, and they're the key reason that we lose money every season. However, that's the first season under the belt and we've survived which is the main thing. I'm going to stick with the 5-3-2, as my centre halves are my strongest position and I have two reasonable left backs and a good right back prospect in Mark Longworth. Elsewhere we're quite average, the Crawford/Marenghi duo in centre mid is decent but apart from that it's not great, couple of prospects but they're both nowhere near ready. Up front is a similar situation, one strong player in McGrath but youngster Martin Irvine will be seeing a lot of game time next season as the other two strikers are shite and won't improve. Up the Kilby! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 The 2018/19 season is well underway and I'm into November already. Similar going to last season, slow and steady but still relatively safe away from the bottom of the table. I probably could've done a bit better but I went a bit gung ho at times with trying to chuck players into positions that I was training them in when they are pretty shite. Think I need to be more patient and wait for at least one more youth intake before I can start building the team for promotion but who knows. Current squad below as well as transfer evidence: Creaney, Lyon, Irvine and McKenzie all look set to form part of the team in the future. It's annoying as Lindsay is pretty class but he doesn't fit the 5-3-2 and I don't think I can train him into a full back as his defensive attributes are much. I know it says Crawford and Marenghi are wingers but they're stronger in the middle, and if for example I went with a 4-4-2 my central midfield options would be pretty awful, especially when you consider that a 3.5 star CA in my team is only a leading highland league player. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Moist. Martin Lyon has instantly become the best player in the team, and Martin Irvine has scored two hatricks in his past two games. McKenzie and Longworth are improving, but not at the same astronomical rate. We're doing well, but the leagues ridiculously tight so I can't see it lasting but who knows! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Three quarters of the way through the season and we're still in with a shout! Few injuries and a slump of 7 games without a win (mostly draws) but still in the mixer. We're not scoring as much as we were but we're still keeping clean sheets which is good. The 5-3-2 is working well. In other news... What on earth is that all about? An 8th place finish with East Kilbride in League 2 has Rangers after you? I've had the Super J's, Dundee and Well in for me as well. Whit's going on here? It's also that time of year again for the youth intake: What a fucking belter. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senorsoupe Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Decided to pick this back up with an English game, I got Billericay Town and here is what I have got so far in terms of players I can use 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senorsoupe Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Operation "Don't get sacked until the first regen day is going well, I'm 4th in Conference South after 15 games but the lack of depth at centre-mid could be a problem with only 2 proper CM's, one of which has a habit of getting cards. He's been sent off twice and served a 1 match ban for 5 yellow cards already! Hopefully the regen can get me a promising CM as the youth CM's are rubbish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senorsoupe Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 So lack of depth in the centre of midfield is becoming a problem. I have 2 natural central midfielders, one has been sent off 4 times in his 15 starts, plus has spent a game banned for 5 yellow cards. He has now been banned 11 games, having started 15, meanwhile the other guy is injured for a bit more than a month and the kid I brought in to start got sent off in his first start.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 So despite a strong run towards the end, we lost the last few games to just miss out on the play offs. A good season overall, with a lot of prospects coming through. Lyons, however, is getting a bit too big for his boots and won't sign a new contract. He's wanting to play at a higher level, but he still has two years left so hopefully we can get up in that time. I've allowed Martin Love, Lee McKenzie and Barry Russell, all guys who were with us at the start. The first two were strikers but they're pretty poor, and I'd rather play the younger guys ahead of them. Russell was 30 and provided adequate cover at left back but McGlinchey is now trained there and we have another left back coming through. I've also accepted a £5k offer for Craig Lindsay who wasn't getting game time and wasn't really training into a central midfielder. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 2019/2020 Season So into the new season I headed with the usual no transfers. Craig Lindsay moved to St Mirren and on loan to East Fife and is now playing (sometimes) in league 1. Dominic Park moved to League 1 side Brechin and is sitting on their bench instead of mines. Chisholm and Stallard were two of this years prospects who had clubs interested in them, both have high potential, Chisolm the right winger would now be (according to my assistant) the best player at my club and Stallard the centre mid hasn't changed. The exact opposite of what I was after really. The current squad looks like this. Creaney in goals isn't really developing the way I wanted him to so I might be having to hope for another keeper in the intake. I have one in the under 20's but he's pish right now, hoping he improves slightly there and I can punt him on loan. Elsewhere, Keatings, Irvine and Douglas are doing well and I'm trying to play them every week. Anton McLean is getting as much gametime as possible, as is Longworth but it's more difficult with him as we have a right back that's better than him. And midway through the season we look like this. We're doing the exact opposite of before, scoring goals but conceding tonnes. The issue is that there's no in between, we either get a clean sheet or concede 3. No idea if it's because of the age of my squad, not sure if FM has a "mental toughness" feature that allows younger players to crumble. Dreadful start to the season, which might be because we played a tonne of friendlies so therefore had Saturday/Wednesday games for about 2 months on the trot. We've drawn East Fife in the 4th round of the Scottish so hopefully we can get a win in there and boost the coffers which are sitting at around £96k at the moment. Otherwise, some changes to coaching and staffing levels apart, not much to report! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 I'm now 25 games into the season, no youth intake yet, and we've been doing well against the top teams in the league whilst still losing religiously to Cove Rangers. However, we've managed to push ourselves into the playoffs! Not only this, but we resoundingly humped East Fife in the cup 4-0 to set up a glamour tie away at their counterparts Raith Rovers. Oh sweet jesus! What a win. Up the Kilby! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Fifer Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Shite draw. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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