Fergie Mk. II
A Football Manager Career by Charlie MWin a copy of FM24 in our Prediction League. Prizes are given out to the best predictor each month, so you have multiple chances to win.
Win a copy of FM24 in our Prediction League. Prizes are given out to the best predictor each month, so you have multiple chances to win.
Shedender
Shall be following.
Charlie M
Cheers amigo! Appreciate it. It's gonna' be hellish!
Charlie M
Thanks mate, you too!
Charlie M
OK so I couldn't resist a pop at this. The chance to try and win the Europa League as a non-Old Firm club and then revive a 'Sleeping Giant' in the Premier League is something I think I can really get into.
So, emulating arguably the most feared and respected manager in footballing history is the way to go. During this career I will be following 'The Fergie way' which means:
- Starting at a Low-reputation Scottish Division One side.
- After one season, leaving them for a lower-placed but higher-reputation Division One side and guiding them to the SPL.
- Then moving on to a non-Old Firm SPL team and building them up until I win the Europa League.
- Finally when that has been accomplished I will move to a 'Fallen Giant' in the EPL and turning them into one of (if not THE) best sides in World football.
During my career, I will also follow these 'Fergie' style rules:
- Start with 'Professional Footballer' as my past-experience.
- I may or may not become manager of the Scotland team briefly, if the opportunity arises.
- NO player is bigger than the club. If a player wants to go, he will be sold.
- I will attempt mind-games a lot.
- No-holds-barred criticizing of officials for decisions that cost my team points.
- Build up and make best use of Youth Systems at both long-term clubs (SPL and EPL clubs).
Well here goes...
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Career Statistics
Airdrie United (June '13 - Present):
- Scottish Division One (predicted finish: 9th / Actual finish: TBA)
Fergie Points:-
10 (2 x Manager of the Month)
born-to-win
SR67
Charlie M
Cheers mate!
Charlie M
Cheers mate, same goes for you with Partick!
Yeah they will be a tough team to start as but that only makes it more fun!
Charlie M
Haha sounds like I've set myself up for a tough season going by how poorly they are doing in everyone elses games!
Thanks!
Charlie M
So Airdrie United was the side I decided to start with. They have the 3rd lowest reputation in the league and are predicted to finish down near the foot of the table.
The squad is pretty big with loads of cover for all positions, but they lack some quality. Particularly in midfield so that is where I'll look to strengthen first I think. Got some decent youth prospects in the squad with Marc Warren, Gavin Griffin, Jamie Barclay and Ryan Donnelly all with great potential. So I'll be looking at including them in the team from the off.
I predict quite a lot of transfer activity both in and out of the club as I think a lot of the midfield needs replacing as well as a few striker and another goalkeeper brought in.
There's also NO coaches at the club really so I'm gonna need to do a lot of hiring at the beginning.
Charlie M
Players:
Major comings and goings at the club as I look to strengthen and build a side that is capable of at least a mid-to-high final league placing. Was pretty pleased about capturing the signatures of these players:-
Pierre-Antoine Martini
Came through the youth system of French Ligue 1 side OGC Nice and spent last season at Livingston. Solid 'keeper albiet a little more eccentric than I'd have liked but beggers can't be choosers!
Benjamin Laurant
Another Frenchman, this time a graduate of the Le Havre youth set-up where he spent 6 years before spending last season at Kilmarnock but made 0 appearances. I reckon he has some real ability and will do well at this level.
Jean-José Cuenca
ANOTHER FRENCHMAN! This time a product of giants, Lyon. He also played for Livingston in the 2011/12 season and made 17 appearances so he has some previous experience at this level and will be able to help the other French boys settle in better.
David McAlinden
The St. Mirren youth prospect joins us on-loan with us contributing 30% of his wages (£9 p/w lol) so it's a good deal. Has potential and will be seeing his fair share of first-team action this season so I hope he develops while he's at the club.
Flávio Paixao
Portuguese speed-merchant Flávio spent 2 seasons in the SPL with Hamilton Accies making 55 appearances and scoring 9 goals. So a wealth of experience at a higher level should do him well. I'm also pretty hopeful that his pace will cause trouble for the slow fullbacks in the league.
Staff:
Basically sacked all of the existing staff as they were really poor quality. Managed to bring in 2 Coaches (that's all I'm allowed), 2 Scouts, a Head of Youth Development and a better Assistant Manager. I suppose it will need to do for a season anyway. The Assistant Manager was pretty much chosen as he is the best freebie available with decent Motivating and Man Management attributes:-
Luis Manuel Rubiales
In his playing career, Rubiales played 53 games in La Liga over 3 seasons and 1 season at Hamilton Accies in the SPL. He was known to be a not very skilled player but a tenacious and brave centre half.
So I finally had the time to get back to this and get the Pre-Season fixtures out of the way:-
Pretty pleased with the friendlies overall I'd say. Couple of solid results particularly against Sheffield Wednesday and Montrose.
Not sure if I'll add any more players to the squad as it is. Not because I feel that the squad is ready, is more the lack of quality additions that are interested in joining.
Shedender
EOF Gizmo
Charlie M
Cheers mate. Had a decent start I think, just need to build on it!
Thanks for reading.
Charlie M
Yeah it's a brilliant idea. Cheers mate, thank you for reading.
Charlie M
Charlie M
We went into September on the back of some decent form in all competitions barring the League Cup of course...
Bit of a hit-and-miss month for us. Started off really well wining a tough away fixture at Hamilton. But followed that up with 3 losses on the bounce to Morton and the other two against Partick Thistle. I held a team meeting in an attempt to raise morale and fire the guys up for the upcoming matches against Raith and Livingston, two sides who were sitting comfortably at the top end of the table and it done the trick! Fantastic 3-1 away win at Raith and we absolutely BOSSED Livingston and should have won the match, but I'll take the point as they are a stronger team. Helped in no small part by some terrific performances from Ryan Donnelly and Jamie Longworth bagging 2 and 6 goals respectively throughout the month.
Not so bad. OK we may have only moved up one place, but I'm focussing on the fact that we moved 5 points clear of the relegation places, a gap that I want to keep extending!
Only other information worth reporting is the award young Ryan Donnelly has received for his cracking performances this month. This boy has BAGS of talent and I'd be very surprised if I am able to hold onto him until the end of the season. I hope he doesn't get unsettled and force me to go all 'Alex Ferguson' on his a$$.
All in all not the worst month I feel. Some promising results and the team are beginning to gel well. I'm cautiously optimistic that October will see an improvement in the league results and league position but we will just have to wait and see.
Charlie M
Was hopeful of a solid month in October...
Instead I got a frustrating one. 3 league games, 2 defeats. Most annoying thing about it was the loss to Dumbarton as they were below us in the league at the time of the game. So, on paper we should have been favorites for that. Then I squeezed in a friendly to try and boost morale which seemed to have done the trick when we turned over Cowdenbeath 3-0 away from home. This left me slightly confident going into the Dunfermline game as they were also below us in the league. But a spectacular first half crumble saw us 3-0 down and left me pretty angry with the lack of consistency that we have shown.
One plus is that the form of Jamie Longworth and Ryan Donnelly doesn't seem to be weakening, and if it wasn't for those two we would be in a worse state than we are now!
Still 7th. But the gap between us and the relegation spots is closing. We need some consistency and we need it FAST. or we are gonna' find ourselves worrying about relegation early on! On the plus side, one win can see us go 5th, so it's still pretty close.
OK so I saw an opportunity to roast a refereeing decision and grasped it with both hands. The game was at 1-1 when we conceded the penalty so I was rightfully annoyed. Although it would appear that it was the correct decision.
Another opportunity to display some Fergie-esque behaviours. This time when Flavio Páxaio started moaning about not getting many games. despite him playing crap when I have given him a chance. So he will be on his way out in January.
Pretty peeved to lose the Dumbarton match, especially when we are in for a tough month in November. Gonna' need to dig deep if we want to stay above relegation when December comes around.
Charlie M
The aim for November was to at least get a little bit more consistent with our league form...
Not exactly what I had in mind. Still, managed to navigate our way into the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup with a 4-2 away win at Brora. Also got two good wins from our matches against Hamilton at home and Morton away. But poor performances against Falkirk and Patrick Thistle (AGAIN!) cost us. As you can see, Jamie Longworth is still single-handedly blowing teams out of the water with an impressive 8 goals in 5 matches during the month. What a bargain this guy is proving to be and pretty much winning us games on his own. Won't be long before bigger sides are sniffing about him if form like this continues.
Woohoo! Pushed up to 6th in the league now.Slow but steady progress. It's all still pretty tight between 8th and 4th in the table so if we can keep getting points then my aim of a mid-table finish won't be far off!
Some minor disruption at the club. Jim Ballantyne is wanting to sell and, to be honest, I'll be glad to see the back of hiw because so far he's refused to back me properly. That includes even refusing my request for a parent team. Ridiculous! Hopefully the new board come in and have a different outlook and are more supportive of my ideas.
Lost it again in a post-match press conference. Denied a penalty at 1-1 which could have been a game changer. Looks like I was wrong to criticize though, oh well.
And rightfully so. The boy has been on fire lately and I dread to think where we would be in the league if we had been without him, especially last month!
A wee awards double will do us nicely. The teams average ratings have been good, it just seems to be defensive lapses at important times during games that are costing us points. I'm confident that the worst form is over for us and we can push on and be a little more solid going forward.
Charlie M
Looks like the takeover is gathering some real pace now. Not looking like we are going to be given much of a cash injection though! I'd be happy with some support from the new board right enough.
Charlie M
Need this to be sorted ASAP! While there is an embargo in-place my player search doesn't show any players who aren't already at the club. So frustrating. And with the transfer window looming I want to try and beef up the squad and move some guys on.
Shedender
Charlie M
The build up to the new year and all I wanted was to pick up more points than we did in November...
Brilliant! Best month we have had so far. Everything just clicked. Delighted to progress further in the Scottish up by beating Brechin 4-2 away from home. That's puts us one win away from a place in the last 8! Then back-to-back wins over Livingston and Raith followed as our upturn in fortune continued. Had a slight wobble against Dumbarton, but in fairness we had a load of games that month and a few injuries, so we went into that game missing a few first-team regulars and with a few players not much more than 80% fit, not to mention their winner was questionably offside! Picked ourselves back up well though and scored another 6 points against both Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline.
We lost Jamie Longworth to injury for a few weeks during the Livingston game but luckily Ryan Donnelly stood up and was counted, firing 6 goals during December. Was good to see Yohan Mathis open his scoring account with a double against Dunfermline too.
Fantastic! That rather excellent month has blasted us into the top 3 of the league and left us only 3 points short of Hamilton (2nd) but Partick Thistle look to be running away with it this season. This is way better than I expected at the mid-way point of the season. I'd happily take a 5th place finish if I was offered it right now. I have a slight concern that our great form continues and we get promoted!? I'll still resign though, got to keep in line with Ferguson wherever possible.
Another questionable decision, another rant from me. This time earning me a fine. I'm aiming for a touchline ban to see if I can score some Fergie-points by winning a game while serving a touchline ban.
Ryan Donnelly awarded for his tremendous form this month. I'd say I have arguably the best strike force in the league when both him and Longworth are fit.
Gareth Evans' P.I.C at the back taking over top defender duties, picking up the Player of the Month award for December. He might only have been awarded it as Evans has been injured for the past few games though!
Finally, I collect my first Fergie-points. Not much but it's a start. I don't think there was any doubt that I'd be awarded Manager of the Month after the run of games we just had.
Now we need to loo at continuing this form into the New Year. I'm still waiting on this Takeover Saga to end so that I can begin to recruit again. Hopefully it's done soon.
Charlie M
Cheers matey! Yeah we have turned it on lately. I'm glad cause when I see everyone elses saves Airdrie are doing so poorly, so a mid-table finish would suit me fine!
Thanks again for following dude.
Charlie M
Charlie M
How annoying. At least the embargo has been lifted I suppose. So it's time to set about trying to beef up the squad.
EOF Gizmo
Charlie M
Thanks mate. Wasn't expecting wonders if they did buy the club over, but was at least hoping a new board would be more open to my suggestion of hiring more staff and trying to talk them into buying me a player! Ha.
Thanks a lot for reading though, really appreciate it.