Starting From The Bottom

So in this new file my aim here is to improve the reputation of a minor league in the best way I can. I have decided to choose the Welsh Premier League, cos it's an utterly hopeless league with no money whatsoever and I reckon if I could just push on a little bit I'll make it less of a shitehawk league.

Anyways, the team I chose are...



I had chosen Prestatyn, the club I support in the WPL, but they were crap and I figured that if I was going to try and make the WPL better, I might as well not worry about trying to get to the top and just start at the top.



Yes yes.



It's not a very good league, is it.



Really, really not very good.



But at least we as a club are hovering around the 300th best team in Europe mark...!

So, this is all about progressing in Europe. And we began the season in the Champions League Playoffs:



Not a terrible defeat.



Also, records and stuff.



Got to say it's not a bad result at all. Plus, the combined income from these two matches plus reward money would pretty much bankroll of for the whole season.

This file isn't so much about the domestic side, provided I finish in any of the European spots. Obviously, I have to adhere to the criteria given to me by the board to make sure I still have a job and stuff, but here's the halfway point:



Unbeaten in the league, but out of both cups in home games. In the Welsh Cup, it was on penalties to a bloody non-league team too...

At least Greg Draper is scoring for fun.



The league table. Six points clear halfway through.

Good luck mate, hard place to manage thats for sure

Cheers, Dan! I know it'll be a tough one, but if I can boost my squad then I reckon I have a bit of a chance.



In the second half of the season, I decimated our "competitive rivals" Bangor 7-1 away from home for our most impressive win of the season.



And. Oh yeah. THE Simon Davies.



We ended up losing three games, but it took the 22nd and final game before the split before we finally did it, disappointingly at home against Airbus UK (who would beat us three times, and would therefore mean I superhate them).



Comfortable 14 point margin between us and second. Airbus UK would also win the League and Welsh Cups though, meaning they are our super rivals and that I turbohate them.



Squad list. Used 24 players in all. Greg Draper was unreal, with 38 in 27 and 26 of those in the league. Wilson impressed when he signed, yet Matty Williams was disappointing, and ended up leaving at the end of the season. Alex Darlington did well up front but by then, I'd already agreed to let him leave at the end of the season, so we lost a potentially decent player. Ah well.

Champions League Qualification it is then. Standard.

Good start buddy, a first season as expected!

You'd probably be better off finishing 2nd and going into the Europa League

Yeah, that's possibly true! I'm not sure how the coefficients work, like if we draw and lose in the 2nd Qualifying Round do we still pick up points? Either way, it's time for a new season.

Here is how Wales are doing as a League:



Well, a terrible start to proceedings.



Boom. Making the rest of Wales look shit, as per.

Anyway I got rid of some dross and brought in loads of players, cos the budget a week went from £6k to £18k.

Goalkeeper:


Defenders:


Midfielders:


And finally, Strikers. This is the goalscoring chart of last season:



As you can see, Greg had a stunning year, but Oswell and Thomas also impressed, frustratingly against me a few times. So I did a dick move and signed them both:





During my British Steel Challenge a few years ago, Casey Thomas was the star player in my TNS side before moving to Motherwell. Let's hope he can do it again and stuff!

I signed a few more players but they were the major ones. Just hope I haven't spunked most my money on dross eh.

It will take a while but ia good start

2014-2015

Okay then, here's the goals for the next season:

Win the league

Win at least one cup

Dominate domestically

Pretty simple. Europe is the main target no matter how, but progression in the CL will be the best place to raise the Welsh League's reputation.

Because the Welsh League got worse, we had to play in the First Qualifying Round for the Champions League. It meant we had the luxury of playing Murata, the champions of San Marino. Would we slip on this potential banana peel?



Nope.



We were held to a goalless draw in the second leg, but 5-0 is 5-0. Hooray!

We played Legia next. A win over this tie would result in us guaranteeing four more games, in the Third Qualifying Round and then either the CL or the Europe League Playoff round. Which also means more money, which also means better signings!



Err, 2-0 flattered us.



We played a lot better at home, but still lost 3-1. I was buzzing after we took the league, but unfortunately we were 2-1 down by halftime and that was the dream over. Looks like I'm gonna have to bring in some ace signings:



Boom.



BOOM.


For what it's worth, take a look at the SPL and the Scottish Championship:


Rangers, Hamilton, Hearts, Dundee and Dunfermline vs. Celtic, Partick, Ross, Inverness, Raith and Cowdenbeath. the Championship is more prestigious than the SPL!



All our fixtures this season. Safely through all the cups, and we only drew because Carmarthen scored a 93rd minute equaliser cos they're bellends. Graham Wilson, our signing from last season has managed to score a fair amount while Draper took a while to get going, but he's starting to score now. Casey Thomas has eased into the side okay but Oswell hasn't really done much. To be fair, I only signed him so Airbus UK didn't have him anyway.



10 points, bitches.

Eyyyy! We beat Bangor 7-1 away from home last season. This season we went one better. Thomas and Draper bagging a hatrick each. Tidy stuff.

Signed two more players during this period:



Perry formerly played for Rangers and had the technical and physical (if not the mental) stats to suggests he could be a star in the WPL at least.



Oh yes. Bellamy signs.



Brian Stock has picked up a knock. Dunno why it made me laugh. To be fair he gets a knock every damn game nowadays so it lost its charm.



Premier League Cup Final. As you can see, we did much better than last season. Also note that Ross Perry, the CB signed halfway through the season, bagged a final hatrick!



And the Welsh Cup final. there were four goals in six crazy minutes from 20-26, and we were 5-1 up at halftime, but we couldn't make it another embarrassment. A thrashing would have to do.



Second half of the fixtures. Frustratingly, we ended up conceding a hell of a lot of goals despite my efforts to really sort out the defence.

Also Carmarthen. FUCK CARMARTHEN. That home 2-2, I was winning 2-0 and yet another 93rd minute equaliser came. That 1-1 draw? An 89th minute equaliser! Three times!

I hate Carmarthen now.



We did win the league though, and we were unbeaten. 30 points clear at the end, 13 points better than last season, although just four goals better off and three goals improvement in defence (so +7 on the goal difference if you can't do maths). I don't mind toooo much about not scoring more but I'm disappointed we let in that many.

Still, we're in the Champions League again.



The squad. I know who I'm getting rid of, but one of them was going to be Graham Wilson. He saved his TNS career with a good first half of the season. Davies exceeded expectation even for this level and picked up the WPL Player of the Season, and Casey Thomas also did well. Jamie Oswell however was poor, though I did only sign him so Airbus couldn't have him, as mentioned.

So, another title and a couple of cups to add to this! Was half tempted to turn this into a British Steel Challenge but knowing who I signed in the Summer, I decided to keep this going...

GOALS AND STUFF
-Win the league
-Do better in Europe



Started off by being shrewd this transfer window. I didn't exactly have money to spend, although I had managed to increase the wage budget from £6k to about £25k now, so I decided to put the money purely where I needed it, instead of signing 50 players like the previous summer. I signed two, this summer:



Right back.



Left back. And a former Welsh International. And a recognisable name. And only 26!

Unfortunately the Welsh League were being useless bastards in Europe, resulting in this:





But at least we did alright. Considering I was 295th, saying I moved up 118 places is a big big lying lie. Either way, I want to break the top 250 now.

We had Europe, and because everyone else was making us look bad, we had to start in the First Qualla again. And again, we were drawn against the Sammarinese (spelt that right first time, geddin) champs.



Easy.



Bellers proving his Nou Camp-scoring form to dispatch of the mighty Trei Fiori.

We had Slovan Bratislava in the next round and I reckoned we could have them. The first leg gave us great promise...



Away from home, an own goal following a Draper shot, and then a Simon Davies freekick. We dominated.



The home leg was amazing. Seven goals in ten shots, another Davies freekick, and we were 6-1 up on aggregate at one point.

The win meant we were in the Third Qualifying Round for the CL. That meant even a loss would put us in the Playoff round for the Europa League, which would = more money, which is what I need the most. Hooray!

Brilliant work to go unbeaten pal and to get Bellamy is awesome work!

Cheers Dan.

Into the Third Qualifying Round of the Champions League. A defeat would still mean a Europa League Playoff berth, but I don't really want that. I WANT THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE



At 1-1 I went all out and it failed.



...Europa League it is.

We got Stoke. A Championship Stoke, but Stoke nonetheless. And it wasn't good.



Scocco taught me how to play footy hard.



I #daredtodream after going 1-0 up. Ah well, earned plenty of money.



Unremarkable standard thrashing of Prestatyn but look at my last goalscorer. Ger Henley's my keeper! Scored with a long range clearance (I'd upload it but the whole uploading thing is not being cool).



Results. Drew at home early on in the league but otherwise it's been a clean sweep.



12 points clear halfway through. Easy.

Good work in the league! Unlucky in the champions league and Europa League always going to be very tough!

Second half of the season cos I'm bored and it's a Sunday. There might be more updates later on too if I can be bothered.



Signed this chap on a free, formerly from QPR. He proved to be a good little player in the Centre Midfield role.

But then the horror.

The horror.



We lost a league game. For the first time in a season and a half. At home. To the team second from bottom in the league. And you know what? The goals were all scored by strikers I've let go in the past.

Sickener.



Ugh. Least I got over the 50 games mark but ugh.

I managed to get through to the Welsh Cup Final though.



Boom, have that Airbus. In the three seasons if I've not won the trophy Airbus have managed to.



In spite of that loss, we're comfortable winners of the league. 32 points clear of Second place. I reckon we'll be able to get the full 96 one season, but we'll see. With 32 games a slip up or two is always a possibility. Still conceded too many, though.



Hahahaha Airbus UK did you hear about the Sick Swan

Oh and fucking fuck Carmarthen. Still can't buy a win away from home off them.



The lads. Simon Davies had an unreal season and won the Player of the League award.



Already the most successful manager in Wales of all time.



And we almost cleanswept the team of the year! 10/11 isn't bad at all...

51 games unbeaten! top work! Shame about europe but its always going to be hard and for a fair few seasons yet!

SEASON 2016/17

Right, my fourth season in charge. The goals are normal. Win the league blah blah. However, having been at the club for three years I have decided to develop some major goals.

BY 2018: Qualify for the Europa League Group Stage
BY 2020: Be spending over £50k a week in wages (at the moment it's about £30k a week)
BY 2021: Qualify for the Champions League Group Stage and break the top 200 clubs in Europe

And try to be financially ace throughout.



Good start to the summer.



This is a lie seeing as I was about 272nd but whatever, we're still improving.

Start off with CL qualifying. As usual, we're in the First Qualla Round, and we got the Gibraltan champeeeens





Not MASSIVELY convincing, but we're through.

Signings time, now. Just made the three this summer:



Mr. Ryan Taylor Over The Wall



Big JC, who is apparently adept at playing up front as well, providing us cover.



But in case the big Jeez can't do it, I've got this guy from Rangers on loan.

Right, back to the qualifying.

Wait, no, because I have something to show you. The Euros happened and Wales did pretty well, but lost quite badly to an unfancied team in the Semis:



...As you can see there an unfancied team who went on to win the tournament!



Can anyone confirm that Welsh national side progress will benefit the WPL?

Anyways, Qualifiers.




Ooooh....





.....Yes. Into the Third Stage with a great win over APOEL. Remember when they got to the Quarter Finals of EUROPE? Well look where they are now, losing top a bunch of Welsh village sides.



Helsingborg are amazing at the moment, we were lucky to draw and it didn't look good for us away from home.

But anything can happen in FM...




...Yeah except beating Helsingborg. Onto the URPA LEAGUE playoff we go.

We were playing Zeljeznicar, a team I know how to spell off by heart cos Newcastle played them in 02/03 for a place in the Champions League and I was a a bit autistic with Newcastle back then.

Anyway, first leg...



A defeat, but it gives us promise for the second leg. Which you'll have to wait for in the next edition of

TNS VERSUS THE WORRRRRLLLLLLDDDDD



Yeah it's all about us now. The other teams have no hope.

Financially you are superb compared to the other Welsh sides! ALways good with a european run! Now get that Europa League group spot!

MIRACLES HAPPEN

I don't know how with the shot count, but p much everything we touched ended up as a goal. Ace stuff.



Literally going to play Atletico and Lille

Anyway the season went as standard in the background, but this career was all about the Europa League. We kicked off away from home against Dnipro, which wasn't going to be an easy game at all. They had perennial FM legend Eugene Seleznov in their side.

Dnipro vs. TNS


In the league, there was some news:



Always seeing records broken, me.

TNS vs. Atletico


Lille vs. TNS


TNS vs. Lille


TNS vs. Dnipro


Atletico vs. TNS


Overall, the Europa League was an interesting experience, and we got here a year earlier than expected. Still want in the CL by 2020/21, but with the money and recognition we received here, we should be making sound progress for a few year's time. It sets a benchmark however, that we qualify for this stage every year now, and that won't be easy.



A massive, massive first half of the season. In spite of all our games, we did incredibly well to avoid not winning in the league until our thirteenth game. We were out of the league cup in the Semis again, but it's not a priority.



Really, not bad.....the conceded form has improved too.

It is a lot tougher to gains results, from playing with Welsh sides in FM, it's taken some years to get into the group stages regularly, competing at the group stages is one thing, competing in the knock outs is another. Then you have the dilemma with the Champions League, which is another kettle of fish. All you can hope for is gaining the European money and developing your facilities, developing the youngsters and hope the Welsh national team actually progress to help the league.

Cheers for the post, and yeah it's going to be tough. Regardless of my progress I can see myself taking a break from this in a couple of seasons to do other things. It's not that the domestic campaign has got boring.....but it has. I've got all these reputed names and yet I could play my fringe/reserves/top U19s and probably walk the league.

Still going as I'm actually about a year on from my updates but let's say I'm looking for a new career idea.

Wow brilliant work gettin to the group stage! expectedly beaten by the likes of LOSC and At madrid but done very well!

Right, moved house, let's update this shit.

It's just a small update though, to wrap up the season. Like doing my seasons in threes although the way it's going domestically, I might just skip through the boring bits from now on. Everyone knows we're gonna win the league every year (although I want Skonto Riga's record of 14 titles in a row).



Blah blah won the cup



Blah blah won the league. 1 league defeat in 96.



Players. I made a mistake and retained Bellamy, Stock and Gabbidon. High wages and age is starting to show. Big JC and Davies are still useful, even if Davies didn't play many games. My loanees had decent seasons too. As for Hardie, he was a good loan signing but I can do better. Wilson is scoring less. Some youngsters got games due to going through injury spells but Haywood and Horton look decent.



Second half of the results. A bit boring. Aber have overtaken Carmarthen as a team I'm struggling to beat.

Phew thought you'd finished with this. Glad it's back. Usual story seeing all those green dots.

Great story, I had a little go at this in the Gibraltan league furthest I got was 3rd qualifying round of CL and that was after 6 seasons, then got bored and went back to Real Betis.

Keep going and I hope to see a champions league group stage in the coming years!

It's an interesting idea of promoting a whole league through just one cup, and I am liking your career goals too.

Keep this one up as I am interested.

It's an interesting idea of promoting a whole league through just one cup, and I am liking your career goals too.

Keep this one up as I am interested.

It's still going ahead, however I've just come back from a week of partying in Ibiza.

I partied too hard, and FM can help me get back to normal.

New season, let's have more of the same.



Finally, a bit of progress. The Northern Irish league has managed to rise to about 50th in the rankings and I don't see why we can't do the same.



And yeah, well we weren't in 417th position but it's still a rise and still a lot of progress.



Huzzah! The real progress I'm interested in. I think we can break the top 27 (top half of UEFA) if we keep up this momentum. If.

Okay, so now for the developments over the season ahead:



Again, more progress.

We made quite a few signings. I'll be letting quite a few players go at the end of the season, so I prepared for that here.



Loan signing. Truth be told he hardly featured and with about two months and three games under his belt I allowed him to go back to Rangers.



Good striker, promising stats.



Excited for this guy with his pace.



More of a backup signing for the midfield where we've been somewhat weak but a signing nonetheless.

I also used my Newcastle links to sign a couple of their released players:





And then I did something quite stupid.

And quite indulgent.

I'd managed to get the wage budget to over £50k a week, which is something considering I'd started on about £6k. I still had a couple of grand left but didn't feel I needed to sign anyone. I had a squad I needed and the next summer would see me be able to downsize with a stronger squad.

But I had to do it.

He was on a free.

What did I do?

Brilliant progress coming on here now mate! WIll take a while but your slowly getting there!