bigmattb28 - Comments

No worries, always love a good FM story. Hopefully the next time you play Ajax you'll get the better of them.

I'm all for Stadia being used for FM, but the added graphics increase the immersion for me. I don't like using teams where I don't have a badge for, and I doubt that graphics are going to be able to be used, so if I do get Stadia I'll probably only use teams that are licenced.

Gutting way to end the nations league man, I'm not a fan of the head to head rule, should always be points then goal difference.

What's next now then, a return to club management?

Northern Ireland is relentless sometimes with the amount of games there is due to the 4 cups or however many it is, makes for a fun save though. Plenty of time to pick up some more points.

Just read the last 2 posts and when I saw that meeting request to discuss your future I genuinely thought you were going to be sacked, FM has a habit of throwing a spanner in the works some times.

Looking good this new season, keep it up.

Unlucky getting knocked out by Ajax, but winning a treble certainly makes up for it.

Hougang United season update

We kick this update off with the final of the SPL. How did it end?



So with us playing well and looking like finishing around the top of the table, I let the clubs director of football sit down with main man Pablo Rodriguez and try and discuss a new deal. The outcome:



But when I get an inbox inviting me to an interview with bottom of the Malaysian Super League side Kedah my head is turned.



So to me at least my stock seems to be on the rise. You never can tell how interviews go, and there’s not much else I can do other than get the team ready for the next fixture against Young Lions in the Singapore cup quarter final.



Just before that next game however we get news that Cristian Vargas is out for 3 months, not good news but we’ve got Rodriguez & Hasan who despite not signing new contracts are fit and ready to play.



The cup game itself was a great result for us, 3-1 away and taking a 2 goal advantage into the second leg.



3 bits of news now, as firstly the World Cup is now heading to Morocco instead of Qatar (forgot to get a screenshot), Steve Kean wasn’t out of work too long as he heads North to Malaysia with Super League side Terengganu, and I get my first rejection letter as a manager. Part of me is disappointed not to get the Kedah job (if you read my other save found here, you’ll see I had a pretty good run with Kedah) as they’re bottom of the league and relegation is a possibility, plus at the minute we’re still in both cups here as well as in with a shout, albeit a long shot of winning the league







The first leg result really helped as we managed a 2-1 second leg win over Young Lions to progress to the quarter final 5-2 on aggregate, where we’ll play Tampines Rovers.





We then had possibly the result of the season so far as we beat league leaders Albirex 2-0 away to cut the gap to just 1 point with a game in hand. Absolutely terrific performance from us here and the top of the league is looking very close at the end of June.





Starhub League Cup time now as we start off with 2 wins and a draw to see us progress as Group B winners.







We’ve got current league champions Warriors in the semi final, and unlike the Singapore cup this is a 1 legged affair. So how did we get on?



We have the chance to progress in the Singapore cup next as we beat Tampines Rovers 3-0.



Before the return leg in the cup, we destroyed DPMM 4-0 and edged a close game against Geylang International 3-4, before winning the return leg of the cup 2-0 to book our place in the final against Home United.



Rounding out this update are 2 games, a loss to defending champs Warriors and a win over Tampines Rovers (again) in the league





On the same day as we beat Tampines, Warriors beat Albirex and we’re sitting at the top of the league on 41 points, 3 in front of Warriors in second place.



The next day I noticed the following news article



Which I’m asked about, and I do confirm I am interested in the job









Now this may seem like a step down should I be interviewed and even get offered the job, but at the minute there doesn’t seem to be any other interest and they’re on a bit of a downward slope. They’re still the biggest rep team in Singapore, and this is a journeyman save so moving to another team, albeit one that is in trouble at the minute is all part of the fun, so we’ll see how things pan out from here.

Next update will be the final 5 games of the S League season, the cup final, any other business and if anything came of the Albirex Nigata links.

Thanks for reading

Southampton, ouch! Still looking good man, keep it up.

Gutting way to end the challenge. On to the next one.

Ha no worries mate.

Hougang United season update

With there only being 9 teams in the league we play each 3 times, then there’s the cups so play them all again, gets a bit boring playing the same team over and over, but it is what it is and really, Singapore is a pretty enjoyable league to be in.

First up in April were the team I’ve played against the most Geylang International, and this was an end to end game which neither of us deserved to lose. We were holding on at 2-1 right up until the dying embers of injury time and conceded right at the end of the game. Despite the stats telling a different story, we were lucky to be in front and really could’ve lost this game.



Not long into our new season and DPMM have sacked my seemingly bitter rival. Oh well, wonder how they’ll get on now, who they’ll get in and where Steve might end up next.





We went down 1-0 away to defending champs Warriors next in a game we could’ve won on another day. They are the champs I suppose so grinding out results are to be expected from them.



In the media I’m asked about my problems with Young Lions boss Patrick Hesse. I didn’t realise there was a war of words last time but I do love a good spat between managers





As for the game



An out of left field appointment by DPMM to replace Scotsman Steve Kean with another Scotsman in ex Rangers player Barry Ferguson, as he leaves the bright lights of Clyde in the Scottish third division. I love it when FM does stuff like this, can’t wait to get the better of him



We were brought crashing down to Earth as we lost 2-0 away to Tampines Rovers. We had more shots but none were real clear cut chances, and they took their chances. Disappointing but we move on.



On the same day Barry Ferguson wins his first game in charge of DPMM as they won 3-0 away at Home United. Good for them.



We get right back on track with a resounding 5-0 home win over Balesiter to bring our record in April to 2 wins, 2 losses and a draw which sees us occupy second place in the league.







Defending champs Warriors seem all over the place at the minute as they are currently 14 (!) points off top spot whilst we are 5 points behind Albirex but they have a game in hand. Definitely all to play for and maybe, just maybe we can reduce that 5 point gap at the top

May 2017

Nice little award for Vargas to kick May off as he’s awarded the player of the month for April. No doubt about it either as he’s really stepped in with Rodriguez being injured.



Speaking of the big man Rodriguez, his first game back was against Home United and I brought him on in the 73rd minute, and gave him some encouragement as he made his way on to the pitch with the game at 0-0 despite us absolutely dominating the game.





We changed it slightly as well as we went route one and pump ball into the box, and the substitution really paid off. Firstly the ball got hoofed up to Rodriguez who was just inside the penalty area and with his first touch he headed the ball down in front of him, and in a way it was defence splitting as Mat Noor ran onto the ball and buried it home. 1 touch, 1 assist. Next bit of good play was another long ball, one of those floating efforts that again found Rodriguez just on the edge of the area, except this time he took a touch, laid the ball in to the path of left midfielder Plaziblat who hit a sweet effort to kill the game off.



We took the good form into the cup as we beat Vientiane 3-1 to progress to the next round, where we’ll play Young Lions.





To end this post is the finale of the SPL season, and what a season it’s been so far. Celtic aren’t the runaway leaders, and I didn’t post it but it was Paul Hartley who was given the job after Brendan Rodgers got the boot. Anyway the table going into the final game looks like this:



Motherwell are safe from relegation, so Vince is happy at that. However at the top it could be 1 of Hearts, Celtic or Rangers who win it. Rangers need to win at home to Dundee and hope Celtic and Hearts both lose, Celtic need to win away at Aberdeen and hope Hearts don’t win at home to Saint Johnstone, and for Hearts they just need to win to guarantee the title, or match Celtics result and hope Rangers don’t win by 3 goals and they lose.



So an exciting end to the SPL season as all eyes will be on the final games. If Celtic don’t win it there will be serious questions asked, but it would be great if they didn’t.

Next update will be how the SPL season finished, some news regarding contracts and the next round of league games and the start of the League Cup, which we’ll be looking to defend.

As always thanks for reading.

I know I said you should aim just to stay up but maybe just maybe a second promotion in a row isn't out of the question

Yeah it's neck and neck at the minute, I'm actually happy as Albirex are the highest rep team in Singapore. But there might be a twist in the tale in a future update.....

Awesome form in the league mate, keep it up and promotion is just going to be a matter of time.

Some fantastic results there, RB Liepzig are't going to stand a chance on current form. Keep it up.

Well good on winning promotion, hope you can stay up.

Unlucky against the Slovaks mate, keep the faith though you may just turn them over next time and qualify, fingers crossed.

Hougang United season update

My first full season at Hougang started just as my stint as manager did, with a victory over Geyland International, this one being a resounding 4-0. Rodriguez grabbing a brace and goals from center half Xu and forward Hussain. A great way to start the new season.



Another win followed this time a 3-1 away win over Young Lions, Rodriguez getting another 2 goals as well as Hassan getting the other.



Our first home game was another 3-1 victory, this one over Tampines Rovers, Rodrigues this time grabbing a hat trick to bring his total to 7 in 3 games.



The final game in February saw us win again, with a 2-1 victory over Balestier, with Rodriguez continuing his great form to get a goal within the first minute, before Stazibat sealed the win on 78minutes.



4 games in and 4 wins for our troubles. We’ve got 2 games in hand over leaders Albirex but with the way we’re playing, we can be confident of progressing.





Just thought I’d see what’s going on in Scotland and to my surprise Celtic are struggling and have sacked Brendan Rogers



Remember this is still only the first season, so they must not be doing well at all. But their first game after sacking Rogers was a home game against Motherwell:



Back to our own progression and we’re drawn as the home team in the Singapore Cup against Vientiane FC of Laos. We should win this one fairly easily I would’ve thought.



We couldn’t make up ground on leader Albirex as we went down 2-1 at home in our first loss of the new season. We can’t have many complaints really, we took it to them and held our own throughout, they were just the better team on the day.



We had Steve Kean and DPMM up next, and he was mouthing off in the media about how he’s a better manager than me and how he’ll shut me up, well I don’t bother responding to the media and let the team do all the talking for me



They didn’t have a sniff of the ball all game and 3-0 flattered them, with new boy Vargas absolutely bossing the game. Keep out of the kitchen if you can’t stand the heat Steve.



Whilst it’s always nice putting a rival manager in place, that bit of good fortune preceded 2 injuries that can fall in the unfortunate timing column. First team left full back and new signing Milojevic out for up to 3 months and star striker and main man Pablo Rodriguez out for up to 7 weeks. I just hope this doesn’t derail us too much





Those injuries aside, we laboured to a 2 all draw with defending champions Warriors, before rounding out the month with a 1 nil away over Home United.





Those results give us a record of 6 wins, a draw and a loss to keep us in second place in the league.





A steady start to the new season, and from what I’ve seen we’re in for a good season. I really think this squad can continue to challenge for the top end of the league. Whilst main man Rodriguez is injured, Vargas has stepped up and is playing well.

Next update will be the next few months of this season, other happenings in the world and anything else of note.

Thanks for reading.

Unlucky there against NYC that red cost you the game really. Hopefully this coming season you can press on

I had a good run with Moyola Park on FM19 so definitely following with interest

Good to get a big win like that tho especially early on.

Cheers mate, very optimistic for this season.

Am sure you can be confident in the run in. Looking forward to seeing how you do

Hougang United season update

As mentioned in the last post I have addressed the back room staff situation. First in is first team coach and Saint Mirren icon Steven Thompson. Following him through the door is my new assistant manager Jim Love. Finally joining those 2 are my new under 18’s coach Marc O’Connor and under 18’s physio Paul Spencer. Hopefully we can build a good working relationship, and as noted I would like to keep my backroom team together at other clubs, where possible. I know the under 18’s staff stats aren’t that good, but I want to keep it as realistic as possible.











With my backroom taking shape we got the season summary through, Warriors clearly over achieving by winning the league so they’ll be the team to beat this season, as well as our own fixtures being announced, and we’re playing the team I faced first as a manager Geyland International, as well as being predicted as finishing 5th in the league, which of course is an improvement on our 7th placed finish from the season that just finished.







Transfers time now as we saw 1 player leave and 2 come in. First the players joining us are Cristian Vargas at center forward and Stefan Milojevic at left full back. As with all the players in this division they’re stats aren’t the best, but for me Vargas must surely be the best striker in the league and I am expecting some goals from him this season









Fumiya Kogure was transfer listed as I couldn’t get him in the team, with him being Japanese and our foreign player quota already being filled, he’s off to Malaysian team Pahang who have just been relegated to the second division. 20 thousand euros is big money in this league and more or less pays for the 2 players we’ve just brought in





The board are expecting a top half finish, and so am I. With Rodrigues and Vargas up top we should be able to outscore most teams in the division, with the exception of champions Warriors and top rep team Albirex Nigata.



Final point on this update is that Lionel Messi (anyone ever heard of him?!) has won the Ballon d’Or after a good year with Barcelona.



Next update will be the first 2 months of the new season and any other business.

Thanks for reading.

Get those poor performances out of the way early I say, and push on from now.

Yeah was nice to get an early cup win, the first of many hopefully

Ahh right, got ya

2nd place all to play for dude.

I'm the same, never start at the top, always at a half star or 1 star team. If you're doing this challenge, why not blog it in the careers section of the forum?

I have. The last one I had on here I haven't touched or posted about since May. Am sure not posting on here for 4 months is fine to start a new career?