My Managerial Escapades

Alright, since other blogs have recently been starting new games (Blog FM, Footygamer) and updating their readers when they’re supposed to be paying attention in class I’d thought I’d update everyone on a game I started last weekend.

After a managerial coup at York City, the board have announced Rangers Forever as their newest manager. With little experience managing and having only ever played semi-professionally, the York City fans doubt their manager has what it takes to take York City out of the Lower League wilderness and into the Football League where it rightfully belongs.

Some historical facts:
Relegated from League Two in 2002.
Have been flip-flopping between League Two and One for most of its history
Reached the Championship for 2 in 1975/76.

Why I picked them:

They have a cool nickname: the Minstermen (named such becuase their stadium is in sight of York Minster)
Cool Stadium: Bootham Crescent (although they will move into the blandly named York Community Stadium in 2013).
Good squad that has a lot of potential to take it to League 2 and above.

Basically, that’s it. Just looking to have a fun lower league game without having to suffer for hours and hours at a crappy Conference North/South team only to have them lose a lot and fail in the lowest playable league in the game.

Will introduce the squad and the first games this weekend! Until then, I’ll be writing paper and studying for exams!

A bit more professional (scenarios part 2)

Ah… that’s better, looking a bit more professional, I dare say. I got this blog about two months ago, but, alas, have been tightly restricted to using it (ie, not at all). By the way, in case you care, the header is my own, taken at the Queen’s House in Greenwich last summer.

I should say a few words about myself to formally introduce this blog. I’m 17, lived in Scotland until I was 9, then my family moved to the Northeastern United States, where I’m currently attending one of the hardest schools in the country. I probably won’t be updating this very often, weeks, months on end, becuase I’m swamped with work and the like (I’ve got a huge French exam I should be studying for right now, but I’m taking a little break.). And, I’m probably not just going to limit this to FM, it’ll involve the Premiership and other interesting articles I see on the web. Also, I’ve just started a game with York City in the Conference, so you may see some stuff about that.

But anyway, without further ado, FM scenarios part II:

We’re going to a place fairly near home, yes, it’s the beautiful Wales. This is perhaps my favorite league, I play it all the time in FM becuase of the striking similarity it has to my Sunday league (and yet, these teams play in Europe). Until about 15 years ago, Wales didn’t even have its own league, but now teams in Wales are well established and performing well. So, here we go:

Lloyd-William’s Revenge: Perhaps the greatest player and deadliest goalscorer to play in the Welsh League is Marc Lloyd Williams. The 32-year-old began his career at Porthmadog in 1992 before moving to Bangor City in 1994. At Bangor City, he enjoyed great success: in five years, he scored a record 107 league goals! The Citizens did just as well as Lloyd-Williams, enjoying unprecedented success, winning the league in 1994, 1995 and winning the Welsh cup in 1998 and 2000. By 2002, Lloyd-Williams had moved on to Aberstwyth Town and then full-timers TNS, plunging Bangor into seasons of mid-table obscurity and constant defeat in the face of opponents with better resources (TNS, Llanelli, Rhyl). This year, however, Lloyd-Williams is back to the Citizens after being released by TNS, and better than ever, despite his later years. Your job: regain the Citizen’s winning ways while beating bitter rivals TNS and Rhyl, and Llanelli on the way.

And now, for perhaps the most difficult challenge we go to an island off the coast of Malaysia. That’s right, it’s Singapore. Although I haven’t yet played in this league, this looks like the most difficult challenge and only for an experienced player. Some info about the leauge: all the teams share their stadiums, the most successful team is Singapore Armed Forces, winning the title five times. Sounds alright? Here’s the challenge:

African Blues: This year, a new club has been added to the league, to “make the league more exciting” in the words of the league’s director. The club? Sporting Afrique. What’s so difficult? you ask. The team consists solely of African players from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Kenya. With a top-three finish target set, in real life the team is currently 9th out of ten teams and in great danger of relegation. Do you overhaul the squad with more experienced players from the Singaporean league and destroy the tradition of the team? or do you stick with your current, high-potential squad and hope they come together and gell as a team? The choice is yours.

The Future of English Football

An interesting set of articles I stumbled upon on one of my many forlays during history class (yes, I know I should be paying attention, but I just can’t help myself):

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27-2494872.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27-2532163.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27-2530219.html

There’s actually another one, but it basically rehashes what’s been said in the other three. Read up and enjoy!

FM scenarios

This is a little article I wrote a while ago on Throw-In, just thought i’d post it up:

Okay guys, this is my first ever FM article. I’ve been a longtime lurker, rare poster, but the muse has inspired me, so I’ve decided to write something. Hope you like it!

It’s mid-December and you’ve already exhausted all your game ideas. Maybe you’ve already taken Chelsea/ManU/Arsenal to Premiership and Champions League glory spending 100 million and buying every good player in the process. Maybe you’ve taken your local club from the Conference to the dizzing heights of the upper tiers of the Football League in successive seasons. Or maybe you can’t stick with a game for a long time and you play a couple of seasons at most before getting bored.

We’ve all had the feeling: sitting in front of the new game screen for hours on end wondering which leagues to load, which team to play as. With over 50 countries and thousands of teams, it’s certainly a difficult decision. However, I’m here to help! After a dull day at work with absolutely nothing to do, I’ve come up with a few scenarios, or storylines to add some interest to your game. So, without further ado, here are the possibilities (transcribed directly from my lunch napkin):

We’ll start in a familiar place: The Premiership.

Pompey’s New Life: Since Portsmouth’s great escape at the end of last season, the club has been steadily and quietly gaining power. With chairman Alexandre Gaydamak coming to the club, the team has a nice transfer kitty of 29 million. Better yet, he has no expectations the first year, only to save the club from relegation. With a decent squad led by defender Sol Campbell and midfielder Matthew Taylor, the team should do much better than the media’s 17th place prediction. It’s up to you, however, to strenghten the squad and use your skill in the transfer market to buy the right players to challenge the Big Four and fight for a Champions/UEFA cup spot. Definitely attainable after only one season.

Next, we’re onto Italy and Serie B. No, not to Juventus (that’s too easy) but to a more intriguing challenge. Yes, we’ve reached fair Verona.

Forza Gialloblu!: The only time Hellas Verona have won the Serie A title was in 1985, a season the locals refer to as “The Miracle”. Ever since that magical season, it’s been all downhill. The past five years have seen the team battle relegation in Serie A before being thrown into the abyss known as Serie B. Right now, it’s not looking good for Gialloblu. No good players of note, poor finances, and a stadium with no atmosphere. Your job? Make Verona a respectable club once more. Take them out of Serie B, a challenge that will take four seasons minimum. Once you’re in Serie A, who knows? You might just have another miracle season.

We’ll more across the Atlantic now, to the US. What? you say, they have a football league??? Yes, and it’s called the MLS. We’re in the Big Apple, the City that Never Sleeps, NYC: New York, home of the New York Red Bulls.

Youri’s Fantastic Finish: It’s been a long, successful career for the French international Youri Djorkaeff. He’s been capped for France 82 times, scoring 28 goals and has won his country a World Cup and a European Championship. He’s also won a UEFA cup with Inter and has played in England with Blackburn and Bolton. But after 22 years, his career is finally winding down with New York. In fact, he’s been playing longer than the entire MLS and the Red Bulls. New York has never won an MLS championship, let alone two playoff games. They are the perennial underacheivers, each year ending in bitter defeat, usually to DC United, New England or Chicago. Maybe, just maybe, with Youri’s help, the team can finally find their late season legs and win their first championship. Led by a strong core of American and South American players, including Amado Guavera and American starlet Marwell Wynn, your job is to win the championship with New York and win Youri one final piece of hardware.

I have two more, and if you like it so far I’ll keep posting, but right now, it’s a bit late so I think I’ll turn off the light and post them tomorrow. Good night all!

and the link:

http://www.throw-in.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13601

Test

This is just to make sure everything is working. I’ll start real posting (hopefully with my Barrow FM game) this weekend.

Peace out.

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