Clueless FC

2020/21 - Pre-season Board expectation - Top half finish Media Prediction - 6th So, I needed to do a bit of a rebuild of the squad.  I had very little in the way of central defenders, on account of most of the ones I had last season being on loan from Inverness Caledonian Thistle.  Another gaping hole to fill was that of the left wing, where another loanee, Ross Gunn, had excelled last season. However, despite all of the players I had being on non-contract terms, I still had to release some players due to the way the board factors their appearance fees into the budget, as they still have a cost to this even if it's not guaranteed money as such. The list of released players is fairly large.  These are all players who had played very little part in the last season, or in the case of Bailey White, someone who had started promisingly but then faltered significantly. Some players were poached by other clubs: It was a shame to lose Ross Fleming, as he w...

February 2020 The epitome of a mixed month.  We took an early lead against Deveronvale, but they were in control for most of the game and took a deserved three points. We then came up against Fraserburgh, who absolutely took us apart.  I was starting to wonder if maybe the decent form we'd been showing was about to come to an abrupt end and see us start to slide down to the lower reaches of the table. However, we put in a much improved performance against Huntly, and all three goals came from the midfield bank of four. At the start of the game against Keith, one place and one point separated us.  We were definitely the better side again, but Keith's defence was a lot more difficult to break down than Huntly's had been and it was a match we managed to edge. Very happy to end up with 2 more wins and 2 more clean sheets.  The middle of the table is still quite close, but we're definitely doing better than I'd have imagined. March 2020 An ...

November 2019 One thing you learn about the lower reaches of Scotland is that there are cup competitions, and quite a few of them. Our first match of the month was the first round of the Highland League cup, where we did well to come back from 2-0 down.  We also played the last half of extra time with 10 men after getting a red card and made it to penalties which turned out to be a step too far for us.  The plus side to this is that it's not a competition I, or the board, overly care about at this point. Next up was Rothes and this time it was us who let a 2-0 lead slip away.  But it was a very close match and both teams had chances to win, but a combination of wasteful shooting and two goalkeepers on fine form saw it end up level. The Strathspey Thistle match was surprisingly exciting despite there being no goals.  Pretty much end to end, but both teams put on a solid defensive display.  And it's a clean sheet, which always gives me som...

So, after what I had considered to be a successful pre-season, I was ready for the competitive games to begin. August 2019 According to the pre-season predictions, we had what would be considered to be the hardest start to the season, with Brora predicted to win the league.  We certainly didn't disgrace ourselves, especially as we found ourselves down to 10 men when our left-back got a straight red after only 11 minutes.    They were more organised and more clinical, but I was at least happy to get a goal especially playing the majority of the game a man down. Up next were Turriff United, this time one of the teams predicted to finish in the lower reaches of the table.  It was almost like the Brora match in reverse, with Turriff down to 10 men before the game hit the 15 minute mark.  It was largely plain sailing from there and we managed our first win and a clean sheet. Buckie Thistle was our toughest game yet.  They probably should have sco...

I had mentioned in the previous post that the squad had issues with quality and balance and that, if possible, I'd need to do a bit of Harry Redknapp style wheeling and dealing as I had no wage budget left to play with, and a severe shortage of players in wide positions. Well, it was more successful than I could have envisaged before I began and as you can see below, the pre-season was extremely busy in terms of transfers in and out. My first attempts at the outs were to get the players I deemed surplus out on transfers and whilst I was able to ship some out on permanent deals (even attracting a fee of £170 for one of them!), most of them are loan deals out. The good news from my point of view is that all but one of the players I've loaned out will actually be out of contract at the end of the season, so I'll be able to release them once the loans end so I won't find myself massively over the wage budget come the end of the season (and all of the loans...

The journey is underway! For the gameworld here, I've loaded Scotland (obviously), along with the rest of Britain and Ireland.  I've also loaded up Iceland and the Faroe Islands, in the hope that having these nations selected and leagues loaded will ultimately increase the pool of players I can potentially bring to the club. But, firstly, some thank you's! MozzaPlays ( https://twitter.com/MozzaPlays ) who has made the Scottish Pyramid database that has made this save possible. TheFMEditor85 ( https://twitter.com/TheFMEditor85 ), who made the extension to the Welsh leagues I've loaded. Timo from the Sports Interactive forum, who has made the Icelandic and Faroese leagues I've loaded. For this, I will be playing as my Scottish alter-ego Angus Connolly. The board have objectives which aren't terribly lofty at this point as you can see, with an expectation that we finish bottom of the league!  Well, that I can definitely do. The media how...

One of the hardest things about starting a new Football Manager game is often choosing where to start.  This is the reason I've often chosen to start unemployed, apply for jobs as they come up and then see where the game takes me. This time however, I actually have a plan.  As I stated in my introduction post, I am waiting for a custom database to be released before I can actually start, due to the fact my chosen starting point is not a playable division "out of the box".  However, FM has a superb modding and editing community and I know that I won't be waiting too long.  Anyway, my starting point. Fort William FC is a club based in the Western Highlands of Scotland, some 65 miles or so South West of Inverness.  They play their home games at Claggan Park (pictured above, picture courtesy of Wikipedia), a ground with a capacity of 1,800 spectators, situated in the foothills of Ben Nevis, giving the ground one of the most stunning backdrop...