sortitoutsi
Football Manager Graphics
- FM24 Graphics
- FM24 Player Faces
- FM24 Logos
- FM24 Kits
- FM24 Backgrounds
- FM24 Installation Instructions
Football Manager Guides Database
Football Manager Data Update
Football Manager Shortlists
- FM24/25 Update Guides
- FM24/25 Update Shortlists
- Best FM24/25 Update Wonderkids
- Cheap FM24/25 Update Wonderkids
- FM24/25 Update Young Players aged 21-25
- FM24/25 Update Best Free Players
- FM24/25 Update Expiring Contracts
- FM24/25 Update Bargain Players
- FM24/25 Update Injury Prone Players
- FM24/25 Update Richest Clubs
- Best FM24/25 Update Facilities
- FM24 Guides
- FM24 Shortlists
- Best FM24 Wonderkids
- Cheap FM24 Wonderkids
- FM24 Young Players aged 21-25
- FM24 Best Free Players
- FM24 Expiring Contracts
- FM24 Bargain Players
- FM24 Injury Prone Players
- FM24 Richest Clubs
- Best FM24 Facilities
This site is not endorsed by Sports Interactive or SEGA and is intended for entertainment purposes only. The views expressed on this site are the views of the individual contributors and not those of Sports Interactive or SEGA.
benglish
Welcome to the world of my alter ego, Benny English. Born in Wollongong, Australia in 1993, he is a man with big ambitions. After high school, he flitted from job to job, unsure of what direction life was taking him in. The only thing staying consistent in his life is his love of the beautiful game.
The month was June 2018. Benny sat down at his laptop, opened up chrome, and started searching. Putting out his disappointingly bare resume to all those who would accept it. No qualifications, no footballing experience. All he had was a dream and the small amount of money in his pocket. After weeks of no response, finally he got an email back. And this is where the story begins.
benglish
So here we are. The glorious 4th tier of Scottish football, home to teams such as Cowdenbeath, Queen's Park, and of course our very own Albion Rovers. Let's get stuck in.
At this stage we are predicted to finish dead last. With the squad we have here, that sure seems a fair prediction - there is lots of work to be done. Anyway, here it is:
Key Players
Gary Fisher
Bryan Wharton
The problem is, that's about it. Looks like some recruitment really needs to be done. As for finances, we are in the black with 18k in the bank.
As for board expectations, in the league all they want is for us to avoid relegation. It's looking like that could be quite the task. In the upcoming Betfred cup, and in the IRN-BRU cup, the only request is for us to "Be Competitive", whatever that means. We are also expected to reach the third round of the Scottish Cup. Our training and youth facilities are both 1.5 stars, described as below average. As for our stadium, we will be playing in the 1,572 capacity Reigart Stadium in Coatbridge.
Not the worst start.
Lots of work to do, but we have an alright foundation to get started on. Next up, a pre-season review.
tongey
(can I ask what skin you're using?)
bigmattb28
I second what @tongey says about the skin, I'd like to try that out
Looch
benglish
Yeah, i'm hoping not to hang around in scotland for too long matt, I definitely want to go somewhere more exotic before returning to Europe. Skin's just ^there^ for ya
Thanks Looch, hopefully it'll be a long and successful story
Anyway, on to the pre season...
After a few hours of tedious tactical exploration and experimentation, i've decided to go with... drum roll....
The exotic 4-4-2. What else. Since we're clearly a way behind the other teams in our division, we'll be playing a very defence minded, counterattacking style. No tiki-taka over here in Coatbridge. Now it's time to go over the signings that have been made. I think i've gotten some real good business done, but maybe not enough of it. We just don't have the wages to be able to afford anyone near the quality of the other teams in our division. One of the strikers for Clyde even has 13 finishing! Imagine that!
So, who did we bring in? Only four, but in all the positions we needed.
Mikey Hopkins comes in as another option for our midfield that was previously lacking in depth. 5 passing is a concern for a midfielder but he has some potential. He's not first choice, or even second, but hopefully he'll do enough when called upon.
Aaron Bradbury will most likely be our first choice left midfielder this season. He's not exactly a world beater but he's better than nobody (which is what we had previously) and is on a cheap 55 pounds a week.
The wonderfully named Kevin Dzierzawski will definitely be our first-choice centre-mid this season. I'm not sure why he wants to come to Albion Rovers, but somehow he accepted the contract offer and i'm certainly not complaining. Decent bit of business here.
Finally, we have Sam Dryden. This guy was an absolute steal. 80 pounds a week????? Am I reading that correctly? He's easily our best defender. Hopefully he can produce solid performances at right and centre back this season, since we'll certainly need everything he has to offer. Welcome Sam!
Pre-Season matches
Surprisingly, i'd actually call our pre-season decent! Sure, we lost 4 but we won two (despite one being a morale booster against a bunch of kids) and didn't perform shockingly in most of our losses.
I'm not going to put up screenshots of every match since it's just pre-season, but i'll run through them briefly. The loss to Sheffield United was expected, but the gap in quality was made obvious as they scored 4 times in the first 15 minutes. However, we seemed to regain some sense of composure after a dreadful start and only conceded one more for the rest of the game.
I wasn't expecting anything from the Betfred Cup, and i'm quite happy not to have finished bottom of our group.
We kicked off with a 1-0 loss to Airdrieonians, who play in the division above us. We actually bested them in terms of possession and shots, however we just couldn't make the chances count. A good performance in most aspects. We then suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Ayr, and there is really nothing to take from this game. We were dominated completely by the Ladbrokes Championship side and it's a wonder we didn't lose by more. Then came our one win, against Berwick. Berwick are predicted to finish 5th in our division, so it was great to see us manage to scrape out a win (although admittedly we were more than a bit lucky). Finally, we faced Stranraer from the division above and put in a spirited performance despite losing 1-2. A decent cup campaign overall, with some promising signs shown.
Finally, I found the smallest team I could and scheduled a friendly to boost morale before the start of the season. This poor team was the mighty Fife Elite, and we performed well, putting 5 past them. Conceding two is certainly a worry however, both long balls over the defence for their 3 finishing 4 long shots striker to smash home from outside the box both times (this game sometimes, I swear).
Promising signs, but it's certainly going to be a struggle this season. I'm going to be travelling for the next two days (gotta love Australian distances) so don't expect anything until monday-tuesdayish. I'll be back with a few games played then. Up the Rovers!
tongey
AdamRK