Clueless FC

  So, here's the form of the team at the time I took over: Not exactly great, with only 2 wins in the league so far.  So it's no great surprise the previous manager was given the sack.  But, can I turn things around? My task is to keep the club in Ligue 1. It started off well enough, with a convincing win in the Coupe d'Algerie, but league form was an issue with no wins in February. March was an excellent month, with no losses and three wins from four league games. However, that's where the good news ended.  April and May were both absolutely terrible.  There were a couple of game where we were perhaps unlucky not to pick up at least a point, but for the most part the performances were every bit as bad as the results were. Our fate was sealed with one game to go when the 4-0 loss condemned us to relegation.  Then for laughs, the team decided to end the season playing like prime Barcelona to score a dominant 6-1 win against ES Setif. We ended the season in t...

  With the wait for FM25 and wanting something to freshen FM24 up, and I’ve seen mention of this challenge.  For those who don’t know (and I’m sure that’s nobody), I’ll explain.  The Pentagon is the challenge of winning the top continental competitions in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa.  But you have to start unemployed, with no coaching badges and the lowest possible starting reputation. This sounds like a challenge.  And it will be!  For context, in my many years of playing this game (and I’ve been playing since the original CM), I’ve never won a Champions League and the only league titles I’ve ever won are the Premier League in the original CM (with Sheffield Wednesday - Chris Bart-Williams was an unstoppable goal machine) and Serie A with Milan a couple of years ago.  So, I don’t exactly have a record which suggests this is even remotely possible for me. Regardless, I’m gonna give it a go and record my successes (and more lik...

November 2020 We managed to get some results on the board again after the struggles at the end of the last month. All the matches this month were closely fought encounters, but we managed to grind out good results. We came from a goal behind in the Highland League cup game against Huntly. Against Formantine United, who were our nearest rival at kick-off, we didn't start well and conceded a goal in the first minute.  We managed to equalise in the 86th minute to get a deserved draw. It seemed like a 3-way draw, but I've been awarded my first Manager of the Month award (I'm guessing on the strength of our league position): I then received my first interview offer I'd had since starting: However, I won't be attending. Aside from my intention to remain with the Fort, this would be a step down given Clydebank compete in the junior leagues and so makes no sense to remove myself from where I am currently. Not to mention, the reasons listed fo...

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...