FM14 - Starting from the Bottom

Certainly didn't embarrass yourself there!

Woodwork twice was at 0-0 and 1-0 too /o\

I didn't exactly start from the bottom, but I did start in the Skrill Premier! I hope that counts ^^ I started playing with Luton Town, and boosted by their superior pulling power compared to the other teams down in that mire, I have had 3 and a half amazing seasons. At least, amazing if we disregard the cups! I'm currently sitting 5th in the Championship, hoping I can pull off a miracle and get to the Prem on my first attempt :]

Here is an album with some screenshots of my magical journey, if anyone is interested:
http://imgur.com/a/vh3TS

To the Prem!

It's pretty similar, the standards between the Skrill North/South and the Premier aren't that different.

Currently sitting 11 pts clear at the top of the Skrill Premier so starting to prepare for my club to turn Professional

Just been promoted with a record high points total and signed Haris Vukcic from Newcastle on a free transfer to help my fight to stay up in League 2, which I think I'll manage.

If I went up the season beforehand I'd have came straight back down but the extra year in the Conference has helped a lot.

After the first season in the skrill south with Weymouth finishing twelfth we pressed on to finish third in our second season and won the playoff semi finals on penalties before winning the final 2-1 in extra time!

Weymouth are up to the skrill premier!

I'm annoyed that I'm playing in a network game with someone else and he's went to play real football so I can't continue playing until later.

Looking at a Bergkamp-Henry esque style partnership of Billy McKay and Haris Vukcic in League 2, should be superb firepower.

Good start!

So annoying.

Started with Supermen from Weston and clinched the title in the first season.
Tristan Plummer is a real peacy goalmachine!

Straggled to sign any diecent player, as noone wanted to join.
Luckily found Kayden Jackson from Swindon reserve on loan for a season, who formed a clinical partnership with Plummer as false 9 bagging over 20 goals.

Seems to be funny, as i'm going to loose my whole squad in the summer as noone wants to renew their contracts..

Look forward to starting in skrill premier..

So my third season in charge at Weymouth FC has now come to an end



We narrowly avoided relegation by just four points! It was a tough season and its been made tougher, we were around £2k over our wage budget already, the board offered me the same budget for this year to come and then we lost 17 players in the summer and have just £200 spare in the wages to improve.

Good to see a lot of you trying the challenge \o/

Its a great challenge! Financially stricken too now so its not going to get any easier for the foreseeable future!

Sometimes relegation can help.

Haven't update my thread of pre season yet, but after losing 17 players from the three teams (senior, u21, u18) we only managed to afford to bring in two new faces this summer but something has clicked as we've made a great start to the new season.

About to start a save with Colwyn Bay after getting bored of my Wolves one.
Do you guys know if Frank Sinclair is retained as a player? (He's player manager)

He'll probably be automatically released if you start a game with them, same with all player/managers.

You have Ade Akinbiyi though \o/

So I started my save. I went into the editor to make Frank Sinclair assistant manager / player, and to edit uniforms and rivalries (mainly with Newport and Wrexham, but 60/60 on Cardiff and Swansea)

I only got Hitzlsperger to sign as a coach but that's good enough for now.
Once I started, I had a horrible physio that I fired, and now I can't get any physio to sign for me.

I managed to sign Andy Warrington (ex-Rotherham), Ryan Tafazolli (CB on loan) and Matty McNeil (CB / ST) for cover.

Akinbiyi didn't convince me, so I released him, and signed Vinny Mukendi, a 6'7" striker with okay stats. Exodus isn't interested in joining me.

In the center of midfield, I've signed quite a few veterans. Paul Bolland (as player coach), Jeff Whitley, Michael Simpson but I also managed to sign ex-Wolves Academy players, Nathan Rooney and Luke Ifil.

I played my first pre-season game against Tranmere Rovers and was beaten 1-0 which I'm delighted with, since they scored in the 6th minute.

I played a 3-5-2 and kept the ball away from them for the most part, and thankfully Stockton did not have his goal scoring boots on.

I'll keep you all updated as I progress


EDIT: I would also like to add that my board turned down my request for a parent club, and using the editor, I turned Bangor City into my feeder club, since they make some alright regens.

Using the editor takes the fun out of it!

Also, Exodus Geoghagen is brilliant - still performing well at League 2 level.

I didn't use it for much though!
And Bangor's close to Old Colwyn so I figured I'd make them into my feeder club.
Frank Sinclair I have a soft spot for, since he's a good manager (not such a good player anymore)

Here's an update:

Colwyn Bay 0 - 0 Rotherham United

So my second game of pre-season with Colwyn Bay was against Rotherham United.

Before the game, I managed to sell John McKenna to Ashton United, and sent various other players on loan to lower league clubs.

Rotherham United are an okay League One side, but I always back my players to do well.

I started with a simple 4-4-2 with an attacking mentality. The game progressed and both teams seemed keen to keep possession of the ball without threatening much. Rotherham's best chance of the first half was a corner, from which Árnason hit the top of the bar. Matty McNeil seems, as of now, a great signing. He was constantly the last man in defense but his sliding tackles were spot on throughout the first half.

At half time, I told my lads to keep going, and my strikers that I was disappointed with their finishing, which caused the rest of the team to get angry. Not great, but we had to keep going. I made some substitutions to give others a run-out and to try and see what other options I had.

Second half started, and McNeil was substituted after a great first half which tired him out. His replacement, Danny Meadowcroft, did just as well as Rotherham tried to take the lead early on.

The turning point of the game was vice-captain Jeff Whitley's injury, which threw me into turmoil since I had no more midfielders. Frank Sinclair replaced him, and took the armband. He played in front of defense as a halfback, which is a position he's not familiar with.
With ten minutes remaining, my chances of getting a result were made even slimmer when captain Frank Sinclair was sent off after making a horrendous tackle on Rotherham's Robert Milsom.

I switched to a 3-5-1 formation to try and keep possession for the last few minutes, but then target man Jon Macken was forced off by injury in the 85th minute. I switched to a narrow formation and played a couple of players out of position, and thankfully Rotherham's long throws weren't enough to defeat my brave Seagulls!

Okay, so I've decided to start over (without the editor changes, except for uniforms) and I'm going to start a story
Here we go!

I don't get much chance to play anymore, but when i have done its really made me realise just how shit i am at this game. Bring back 2008 ffs.

Being shit is the way forward.

Well i've actually made Bath City worse.

Is that even possible VP?

Man, I love that people are playing in the lower leagues! Fun reads :]

I somehow got Luton to the Prem in four seasons. Going to be a real downer when I get dropped right back down again :p

Here's an updated album of my progress:
http://imgur.com/a/vh3TS

I'm so lucky Vukcic and McKay are so good as my defensive play is appalling.