WhyHX - Comments

2022 Season Update

Inconsistency seems to be the name of my game. Despite starting relatively okay with Limerick FC, we then went on to have a start-stop season.




Nonetheless, our main striker Conor Layng had one hell of a season by knocking home 14 goals past opponent goalies! In fact, he was just one goal short of being the joint winner for the Bronze Boot award for 2022.



But alas, his best ever season did not put us on track for a playoff place and we had to settle for mid-table mediocrity. It was a really disappointing season for me because this was the first time I really had an influence on building the squad, and had signed players that I thought would make a difference with their physicality. It was not to be!



As the season drew to a close, my heart started fluttering once again. Perhaps it is time to get a move on? Limerick FC's obsession with having the best youth facilities within Ireland despite not having any money was starting to get annoying, and I am a bit more confident about my reputation with my spanking new Continental B Licence. And hence, I announced my decision to step down.

Thanks! Not the best start with Limerick indeed! Pity what happened to them in real life though.

After guiding EIF to a fortuitous promotion in 2021, I got a little too ambitious and actually quit without a job thinking that I could join a more reputable club. I was very wrong and ended up being unemployed for 3 months before signing with Limerick FC in January 2021, a team that no longer exists in real life.

Limerick FC

Limerick FC within the game plays in the SSE Airtricity League First Division, which is the second tier of football in the Republic of Ireland. It is a semi-professional club that was founded in 1937. They actually qualified for European football between the 60s and 80s, and almost beat Real Madrid in the first round of the 80/81 European Cup (the Champions League back then). Sadly, the club has shut down in 2020 due to financial issues. Nevertheless, they remain in FM and I'm hoping to keep them alive and competitive!

2021 Season

Our season started relatively okay, with some narrow wins and a slim defeat to promotion candidate Finn Harps. But unfortunately the team soon disintegrated afterwards, notching up only two wins between mid-March 2021 and the end of the season in October 2021.




And because of that unbelievable run, we ended up 8th on the table despite being predicted to finish in the top half. Overall, the squad's performance was very disappointing as well.





Almost as unbelievable as the run was the fact that the Limerick board actually decided to stick with me through this run, and even sponsored my National A License and Continental C License! So despite being very annoyed by the underperforming squad, I've committed to stay on for another season and hopefully do a lot better. I've focused on strengthening the defence in the team, and have added the Garry Breen, Ryan Dooney, Mark Dignam, and Keith Dalton to the team:









Hopefully things will be a lot better in the second season, like in my EIF stint!

An incredible end to the season, and EIF will join the Veikkausliiga (Finnish top tier) in 2021!



As I mentioned in the earlier post, because of the 2020 season rule changes all teams in the top half will be placed in a separate Promotion Group where they play an additional round against each other before going into promotion playoffs. We just about made it to the top half after some losses in midseason threatened to derail our outside shot at promotion.




But despite being among the lower seeds in the Promotion Group, we somehow managed to go unbeaten during the Promotion Group stage and ended up being top seed for the playoffs... And then actually winning the Veikkausliiga/Ykkönen Playoff for promotion!




Credit has to go to new signings Toze Marreco who finished as top scorer of Ykkönen, as well as Erfan Zeneli who contributed 13 assists and 8 goals.



Now the big question is - do I stay or do I go?
EIF has been good for me, career-wise. They sponsored my studies and now I've got a National B License. Because of the promotion my reputation has increased as well. They're also going from semi-pro to pro next season, which brings about its own interesting challenges.

However, I'm also keen to further my career and explore another league so I'm actually leaning towards running down my contract that ends in Nov 2020, then looking for greener pastures. Any thoughts?

Yes me too! Really excited to see how next season unfold. Only thing about Finnish league is that the breaks are so long

End of 2019 Season Update

We are tasked with one job - to not be involved in the relegation battle but unfortunately our poor form put us right in the thick of action. A "new manager bounce" had us go unbeaten in 4 matches, before the team deflated into a run of 6 matches without a win.



Luckily for us, we managed to scrap through through pure luck, and we remain in the Ykkönen at the expense of AC Kajaani.



Really happy that my first season ended on a somewhat happy note. The 2020 season will have significant rule changes which actually gives EIF an outside shot at promotion, so finishing top half will be a very important objective this year.



Hence I decided to really improve the squad and this is the summary of our transfer dealings. I believe I brought in 3 exciting players that should help me do well with wing play - Erfan Zeneli (former Finnish international), Mathias Bersang Sorensen, and Toze Marreco.


Zeneli


Sorensen


Marreco

The season is now starting after a long 4 months break, and the next update will be the the end of Ykkönen. Hopefully we'll be involved in the promotion playoff!

Thank you!

October - December

“Football management is easier than I thought”, Pete Rando thought as he looked back on his match records during the winter break. Despite a wobbly start to his management career, Pete’s Barcelona has gone on quite an impressive run – 16 wins out of 18 games, with 14 clean sheets along the way.

Besides a loss to Celta Vigo and a draw at Alaves – unfortunate blips, Pete would insist while pointing to the number of shots Barcelona recorded – Pete had so little to worry about that he even had time to develop a friendship with his goalkeeper Marc Andre ter Stegen, who Pete lovingly calls The Sturgeon.



But what Pete did not realise was that his 2020 would start with two back-to-back El Clasicos – one a La Liga match, and the other a showpiece match all the way in Saudi Arabia.

Pete was confused in the lead-up to the first El Clasico. It’s the winter break, why was the entire team prancing around nervously, and why are there friendly games to “maintain everyone’s fitness”? Could we not deal with that when January starts?

Pete understood when Camp Nou welcomed Real Madrid though. Any remnants of confusion were wiped away by the incredible noise at the stadium, and with understanding came nerves.

“What if we lost? How do we leave the stadium?” he asked his assistant Eder.

Eder’s response was terse - “We do not lose.”

Sidenote:
Episode 3 where Barcelona takes on Valencia and Athletic Bilbao is live on Youtube! Stay tuned for the next episode where we have back to back El Clasicos.

Thank you! Hope I'll be able to see this one through

As expected, my journeyman save begins with many interviews at obscure clubs all around Europe. There were some interesting options (Limerick FC in Ireland was really tempting), but the chance of trying to save a club from relegation in Finland stoked my interest for sure. So our journey really starts at Ekenäs Idrottsförening, or EIF for short.


EIF currently plays in Ykkönen, which is the second highest tier of football in Finland. It is a sports club formed in 1905, and plays our matches in the cosy 800-seater Ekenäs Centrumplan in Ekenäs. The Finnish football season lasts from April till October, and EIF had ended the 2018 season in 3rd place. However, they did not do so well in the 2019 season and decided to bring in the changes by hiring me.



We were rock bottom when I took over, but thanks to a hard-fought draw in my debut match we are no longer propping up the table.

Our finances, while relatively secure, is limited and hence there will be no transfers for now. Hopefully we can do what the board expects, and start the next season better.



Next update: Season round-up for Ykkönen 2019

I've tried many times to start a journeyman save since I started playing CM/FM back in 01/02, but due to various reasons I've never really kept at the save for long. Here's hoping that with the motivation of updating this story, as well as my older age, would keep me to it!

I will start in Europe because that's the continent I'm most familiar with, but I'll be starting with neither qualifications nor reputation. No specific targets in mind either, though as an Arsenal fan I'm secretly hoping that I'll be offered the job eventually and lead the club to success.

Pre-Season
At the end of pre-season, Pete Rando’s come to the realisation that he might have bitten more than he could chew. Over the past 6 weeks, Pete’s been busier everyday than his entire 19 years combined.

First, the transfers, which confused Pete right off the bat. Barcelona’s funds has been depleted from their signing of Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong, but Pete’s team told him that his squad needed another backup defender still. This completely stumped Pete – why do we need defenders when we can just outscore anyone?

But Pete went with the flow, because again, who could say no to Eder?



The scouting team recommended Daniele Rugani of Juventus, mainly because their first option, anyone with Barcelona DNA, was not available. Which worked out well because Rugani, a right-footed ball-playing defender would function as a solid back-up for Gerard Pique. To fund for Rugani, Pete sold off Arturo Vidal and Adal Turan to Man City and Qatar respectively. No love lost between Pete and Vidal, whom Pete thought had really little hair for someone named after shampoo.



All the transferring of players left Pete quite fascinated – why can we only buy/sell fellow humans in football nowadays? But Pete had no time to wonder, for La Liga was starting.

August - September
Pete started really well in La Liga, to the surprise of most. 2-0 wins over Real Valladolid and Real Sociedad (where Martin Odegaard scored an own goal – bless his Real Madrid career) was followed by a 5-0 thumping of Osasuna.

Some might have written off these matches as beginner’s luck, but not Pete. No, not Pete at all, who started to believe that football management was easy and that there would never be a match that ends in a draw despite him having 29 more shots than the opponent.



Even Pete’s own team was surprised at his early success, but the joy was shortlived as a top-of-the-table clash with Atletico Madrid loomed on the horizon.

The game against Atletico Madrid began well actually, after a tap-in from Griezmann gave Barcelona the lead on the 11th minute. Even the players were surprised – could this 19 year old really do it?

Nope.

Sergio Busquets got himself sent off after a lunge on Atletico’s Saul, and Barcelona just couldn’t find their fluency after that. And when Morata sprung the offside trap and equalised, Barcelona had no real answers despite playing at home.



Pete’s first excursion into Europe did not end well either. Barcelona got off to a flying start, and was leading 3-1 when Rey Manaj knocked home a great cross from Nelson Semedo. But Napoli sprang to life after a goal from Manolas in the 90th minute, and ter Stegen gifted the ball straight to Napoli soon after for their equaliser.



A 1-1 draw with bitter rivals Espanyol (where Barcelona dominated and had 30 shots to Espanyol’s 1) was sandwiched by scrappy wins at Granada and Getafe.



Two months in, and there are many questions within the game.

The players and the staff can’t help but ask who this 19 year old is, and how he got the job.

Rivals everywhere are asking if Pete could have the job forever.

And Pete? His greatest question right now is how Antoine Griezmann, a Twitch streamer with not much of a goalscoring form this season, ended up playing for Barcelona.

Sidenote:

Episode 2, where you can watch Pete's Barcelona take on Atletico Madrid and Napoli, is live on YouTube here as well! Do subscribe if you like the video, or let me know your thoughts via the comments here or on Youtube.

The Barca Buffoon is now on YouTube as well, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBcd3IbN4wc! Do subscribe if you like the video version as well.

"Chapter 2" will be coming soon, both as a story here and a video on Youtube!

An intro to Pete Rando
Pete Rando, 19 years of age, has been a huge football fan since he discovered Rocket League while casually browsing Twitch six months ago. Enthused by his newfound passion, Pete insisted that his shady billionaire father Mr. Rando to get him a job in football.

Happy that his son finally wanted a job, Mr. Rando decided to finally cash in a favour Josep Maria Bartomeu owed him. Josep agreed reluctantly, only with two conditions – that nobody must know about this arrangement, and that Pete could be fired if his performance was horrid or if he lost the training room.

This is the story of how Pete, who had no patience to even sit through a full football match, is now expected to win the La Liga and Champions League in his debut season.



Expectations and Approach
As luck would have it, Pete Rando’s Rocket League-based football education has somehow aligned his beliefs with that of the Barcelona board’s – hold on to the ball, and score many goals.



That was why his original tactical approach, if one could call it that, was to play with 4 central strikers. Luckily, his assistant Eder Sarabia managed to convince him otherwise. Seriously, who could say no to this face?



Anyway, Pete and Eder reached a compromise – no 4 strikers, but Barcelona will likely spend the next few matches (at least) playing in a 4-2-4 formation.



How will it go? Nobody’s knows – not even Pete Rando himself.

Sidenote:
Hi everyone, thanks for reading! This is my first ever FM story, and I believe my first ever post on SortitoutSI to boot. Have always toyed with the idea of doing an FM career story, and I guess the current virus situation really gave me the time to do so. I'm kind of a casual FM player, so I thought to have something more lighthearted as my first ever FM story. I plan to update this at least twice a week, and the next post would be a summary of Pete Rando's first pre-season.

Hope you guys will enjoy the story as much as I'd enjoy writing it!