FM19 - This is Spartans

For about three years or so I've been hovering around at the sortitoutsi forums to read manager stories. Now It's about bloody time I get myself out there in the hot seat!
Since I like to stick to the realistic way of playing the game as much as possible, we're gonna start at the bottom and (hopefully) work our way up through the leagues.
The team I've chosen to begin with is Blyth Spartans. It's the most north of all English football clubs within Football Manager, and a perfect way to start my managerial career.



The team was relegated from the National League North in 2011/12 and just made it up again in 2016/17. Last season Spartans finished in tenth place, suitable to the board expectations this season which is a top half finish. The media predicts us at seventh, so with a little bit of luck, we might have a good playoff-round coming up at the end of the season.
With a transfer budget of £5K and £280 available within the weekly wage budget, there is room for perhaps a signing or two. With that being said, I'm probably not gonna be especially active in the first transfer window, since a total of ten players already arrived at the club this summer before my takeover.

Now buckle up and enjoy the ride, I know I'm gonna!

Next up: Preseason 2018

Welcome! More stories shared, the better! Best of luck!

Will be following mate.

Good luck with this! It's nice to see another NLN career on the forums, I'm currently doing one with my club Chester and even though I've got a bit of a grudge against Blyth in real life after they beat us 8-1 this season, I wish you all the best in the digital world!

This will be good, excited to see where it goes.

As I mentioned before, bringing in new signings was not a high priority considering the fact we’ve already made ten of them earlier in the summer. However, I felt like we were lacking some ability within the backroom staff, so I decided to bring a total of five guys to help me out. That includes three scouts, preparing ourselves for future player investments.

Currently, we got quite the big squad, with a total of 25 players in the first team. Although we might get rid of some deadwood eventually, I’m quite happy with the present situation as it gives me a big opportunity to be versatile when considering both the formation as well as the starting eleven.


We’ve alternated between two tactics during the preseason. A 4-5-1 focusing on controlling the possession and a 5-3-2 based on counter-attacking. The first mentioned is probably going to be my go-to tactic, but I really like the possibility of playing wingbacks.
We managed to have a good unbeaten run during this time, although the opposition might not always have been the most competitive. Nevertheless, happy thoughts going into the season!


Next up: August 2018

Ahh Blyth Spartans, a team close to my heart. Another story getting started on here! I'll be following mate.

Brilliant stuff, was thinking of something similar myself. Good luck with this!

One single transfer has been made during August. I felt that we lacked a bit of both depth and top quality regarding goalkeepers. Hence, we offered a trial to the U21-capped Scotsman Chris Kettings, who a week later signed permanently for the club. This means that we no longer have to rely on sixteen-year-old kiddo Bradley Skirpan to be our backup keeper.
Kettings is yet to make his debut at Spartans due to lack of match fitness but is hopefully going to be very valuable during the season.


We kicked off the season away against Hereford, a game that became a really dull 0-0 affair. Even though we dominated the possession, none of the teams were able to create any decent scoring opportunities.
After that, we made a lovely four-game streak of victories, including a very nice comeback against Darlington away. The youngster Jack Robson made his debut and crowned that with a beautiful strike from range in the 89’th minute.
Seven games in and we’re right at the middle of the playoff spots. All good so far!



Next up: September 2018

A pretty solid start dude! Looking strong from the off, the form will begin to get more consistent as you develop the squad

A slightly less hectic month with just a game per week gave us the opportunity to really put up the best eleven players for every fight. With that being said, the result was barely adequate.
I think it’s fair to say that we got mugged in the game against Altrincham. They played very defensive and recorded just a single shot on goal during the entire game. Unfortunately, that single shot ended up back in the net. The loss against the top of the league Kidderminster was pretty expected, but we totally bottled it when hosting Telford, being up 1-0 at halftime.
On the positive side, we’re still in for a cup run! Let’s hope we can turn this around before we slip too far down the table.



Next up: October 2018

Thank you all for the kind words! Cheers

Good start there mate keep it up

Knock in form, important to bounce straight back next month!

We’ve had a great cup run so far, beating Rushall away and then thumping Chelmsford at home where we went 3-0 up within the first twenty minutes. This means we go on to the first round proper and hence have met the board's expectations for the FA Cup.
The morale boost we got from that game got us a comfortable win against Stockport with top scorer Dan Maguire finding the net twice, but overall the form has been a little bit inconsistent.
With approximately a third of the season played we find ourselves right outside the playoff, but still within the top half of the table.


Next up: November 2018

The game against FC United is one that we really should’ve won, but they had a fella at top named Ronaldo who scored twice and basically made our defense look like practice cones.
In the FA Cup, we did better. Thanks to a splendid free kick from central defender Louis Laing we forced League Two team Bury to a replay at our ground. A couple of days before the replay game we got some exciting news... We’re gonna be on telly!
£35K is a pretty decent amount of cash for a club who made it out of the red numbers just a couple of months ago.

And what a replay we put up! In front of over 4,000 at Croft Park and God knows how many watching the game on TV, we managed to both save a penalty in the first half and then find the back of the net in the second one! Without a doubt the most important victory this season so far, raising the balance with over a hundred grand. Cheerio!

Next up: December 2018

So, well, you know, sometimes Football Manager just won't let you win, no matter what...
Welcome to Non-League!

Not 1 but 2 own goals in the final minute! FM really seems like it goes out of its way to wind you up sometimes! Oh well pick yourselves up and go again

Well, we did put up one hell of a fight in the FA Cup. Promotion-pushing League Two-team Colchester just was a size too big for us on the evening. That was the beginning of a massive four-game-week where we played in all of the entered competitions. Except for the game against Nuneaton (that we will never ever speak of) we managed to get two wins, one of the getting us through in the FA Trophy. A ten-day rest later and that form had gone bye-bye. In all of those three league games after the break we take the lead early on but somehow won’t convert that first goal into three points. Frustration all over. Hopefully, we'll come out next year as a team able to hold a lead!

Next up: January 2019

We’ve been having some troubles with goalscoring lately, ending up finding the net in only two out of six games through January. This means, amongst other things, that our cup run for this season is officially over.
I’ve tried to mix up a bit with the tactic since a got some complaints from defensive player Damon Mullen that we need to do something to change this form all around. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I’ve found any solution so far. Tried a couple of games playing 4-4-2 instead of the primarily used 4-5-1, but ending up creating even fewer chances.

The absence of three-pointers is really starting to show in the league table as well, but we need to keep our head up and currently, we’re actually only five points out of the playoff. That’s still the goal for this season, despite current form!


Next up: February 2019

Ah, I do love Blyth Spartans. It was a pity Rivers never really made it when he signed for us. Robbie Dale will go on forever too!

Hope you can turn this form around!

Need to find some consistency from somewhere my man, still enjoying this though

Thanks for the nice words lads, could really use them at the moment!
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Sometimes I just don’t know how we keep not winning games! Away at Chester, we ended 4-0 up in clear-cut chances. You can, of course, say that this was “just one of these days” but right now it feels like every single game is “just one of these days”.
Against 4th placed Darlington we take the lead, but when you concede goals like this, I simply don’t know how we’re going to get out of this inconsistent form. Actually starting to get a bit worried about my job security since we’ve been underachieving for the last couple of months and currently sits four points out of the top half.

One small positive note though, as Dan Maguire got rewarded Player of the Month!


Next up: March 2019

We actually signed a new player this month. Our backup goalie complained about the lack of game time, so he went off to Altrincham. With the wage money that we were able to clear up, we signed a right back highly recommended by my scouting team. Sam Tattum might not be a player for this season, but certainly for the next one!


I really thought that I found the secret formula. Playing strict defensive (one might say boring) football and simply hoof the ball up to our quick strikers seemed to work quite well for some time in March. Winning three games in a row isn’t the most common thing here. In fact, this is the first time since August we managed this achievement.
But Spartans wouldn’t be Spartans if it wasn’t for a bottle job every now and then. Losing at second to bottom Ashton United brought us right back down to earth, and hosting top of the table Telford we didn’t stand a chance. Only five games to go and I feel like the playoffs are quite distant, but next year I tell ya’!


Next up: April 2019

We’re finished the season quite alright to be fair, only losing points to top teams Stockport and Southport. A bit of a shame that we found out our best tactical approach this late in the season, but it surely gives me something good to start building towards for the 19/20-season!


Next up: Season review 2018/2019

Next up: Preseason 2019

Four points off the playoffs, thats a very good base to buildon

A solid mid table finish there mate, definitely something to work on for next season and the play offs has to be the aim now.

The playoffs are for sure the next aim, as I know we got what it takes this season!
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As always within the lower leagues, the summer is a hectic period due to contracts expiring and new talent to be found. We ended up losing ten players in the summer, but also bringing in ten new signings! This is the lads who gonna take us to the playoffs this year:


Despite my personal aim is to reach the playoffs, the board is happy for us just to finish top half this season as well. Shouldn’t be too hard carrying in mind that the media expects us to end up at fifth place in the National League North.


Next up: August 2019

The season didn’t start particularly good as we got our star right winger Jarrett Rivers out for two months. Hopefully, he can recover as quickly as possible to make an impact on the team later this autumn.


Kicking off home against Bradford PA we went up 2-0 at halftime, looking really good. A real shame we couldn’t convert that lead into three points.
The big thing to speak about though is the fact that I seriously broke the game away at Southport. We were coming in as small underdogs but completely trashed them in a ridiculous 8-0 win. That’s right, 8-0! I’m pretty convinced this is my biggest win ever in a league game, playing Football Manager since 2007.


Next up: September 2019