bigmattb28 - Comments

Mixed start, bet you were fuming at Palace getting that late equaliser.

Haha it felt like it at 1 point, but FM19 is done for me now, 3 game breaking glitches has put my 2 main stories on that down. Never liked 18 so sticking to 17. Will only get 20 after the third patch next year.

What's next then, continue on and build another dynasty?

You should upload screenshots as well dude.

Hougang United 2016 season update

So after a good month in August despite being knocked out of the Singapore Cup, I think we’ve used all our luck winning the League Cup this season, it’s all about getting results and not finishing bottom of the S League now. With the Cup win the squad should be on a high and really, finishing bottom shouldn’t happen.

So 6 games left of my first season as a manager, and we got off to a good start when we beat Young Lions 3-2 at home. The interesting thing about this game was we were 2 all heading into the 85th minute before center half Jonathan Xu got sent off, I would have been happy with a draw at that stage but we managed to clinch the win with a late goal.

Steve Kean the twat and DPMM taught us a lesson in finishing as an even game ended 3-1 to them, which helps them and their title challenge out. We then lost another even game, this time to Balesiter who avenged that cup final loss. 1-0 was a fair result really, they had a decent chance and took it, we had enough chances to equalize but we didn’t.



Those results leave us 7th in the league with 21 points and 3 games left to play.



For much of the season Warriors had occupied top spot, but with 3 games left, Steve Kean and DPMM currently hold that position.

We then played a good game at home to Tampine Rovers and secured a 2-1 victory.



This home victory preceded an absolutely incredible game away at Albirex Nigata, where it was end to end stuff. Both teams putting on a good showing and really, 4-2 didn’t tell the whole story. Every time they had the ball they looked like creating something from it, and we never backed down either and kept taking it to Albirex despite going in at the half 2-0 down. 12 minutes after the restart and it was 2 all, and I think that really took the wind out of Albirex. We got 2 goals in the final 10 minutes to complete a remarkable turnaround.



The final game of Vince’s first season as a manager ended in a 1 all draw away at the team he first faced as a manager, Geylang International. As even a game as they come, not a bad result and the team had secured not finishing bottom by this point as well.



So with all that done the first 6 months of the career are in the bag and Vince did what he set out to do in the short term, and that was avoid finishing bottom of the league, which was won by Warriors who by and large had looked the most threatening all season long.





The final game of this season is the third place play off in the Singapore cup, nothing fancy and doesn’t do anything in the grand scheme of things, but we beat Tampine Rovers 2-1 to finish third in the cup





Steve Kean managed to win the Singapore Cup with DPMM this season to have a Scotsman win each of the cups in Singapore. I'm sure winning the cup will soften the blow of losing out on the league title.





End of season stuff now and Fairoz Hasan gets player of the season, not my choice I’d have given it to Pablo Rodriguez. Noor’s goal against Home United is also awarded goal of the season.





https://youtu.be/8Npid33bwv0

1 final note to make, as the dream is to manage Motherwell, I’m always keeping an eye on their results and here’s one no one saw coming



As the team sets off for their end of season break, there’s not that much work to do really. There’s enough quality in the team to improve on this season’s 7th place finish, the League Cup win proves that. Backroom staff will be addressed, any players that won’t sign new contracts will be replaced, and this season we won't be hanging around at the bottom end of the league.

Next update will be pre-season stuff, staff coming and going, new signings and the start of the new campaign. Thanks for reading!

Not the best month but far from the worst month, 1 loss in 6 really isn't too bad.

Congrats on the belated award from Argentina

Ooh decisions decisions, have you accepted Leeds offer, or are you determined to leave?

No worries mate, there's always someone on the forum that can help with anything.

Where oh where did that 9 goal win come from?!? West Brom must have been absolutely abysmal all over the pitch!

Good update, keep it up.

Hougang United August 2016 update

Just a short update this time as I wanted to get the cup final and the few games of August out of the way.

The first cup final, of hopefully many, ended in a way no one would’ve predicted before I took over. I told the team to go out there and play their natural games, the pressure was all on Balesiter, in a way it was as they were the favorites and our team had been playing poorly all season. We were 2-0 at half time, and really the game was done and dusted at point. We added a third to really top the whole competition off in style.









Believe me when I say there’s no better feeling than winning a cup, maybe a league but for a team that has been poor all season up until I walked through the door, and for the first competition win of my career, this feels special. Not only is this my first trophy, it’s also this clubs too.



All the goals:

https://youtu.be/FZYldmYBd9I

We then had the semi-final of the Singapore cup where we played a 1 all draw with Albirex Nigata, the highest rep team in Singapore.

A very even game all things considered. They scored the opener on 16 minutes before we went straight back at them from the restart and after a long ball into the box Wahid poked the ball home. A decent enough result to take into the second leg



Sandwiched between the 2 legs of the cup semi final, we played top of the league, and champions in waiting Warriors. We were 2-0 at half time before they pulled it to 2-1 with 7 minutes remaining, we held on though and a win against top of the league team can be seen as progress.



Rounding out August was the second leg of the semi final, and this is where our second cup run ends, as Albirex showed their superiority and pulled out a 2-1 win, meaning they won 3-2 on aggregate. Always disappointing to lose a 2 legged tie but there’s no shame in this loss, they’re a top team and our team are only now playing somewhat decent.





All in all August was a good month for me as we had 3 wins, 1 being the cup final, a draw and a loss, to bring my record to a respectable 8-2-2. I’ve seen enough in this team to think finishing bottom isn’t going to happen, and all the games left in the league are winnable enough. Plus we’ve won the League Cup this season, and there’s nothing to say we couldn’t win it again next season.



So Vince has one cup to his name, there’s going to have to be a lot more than that if he is to top the Hall of Fame. Onwards and upwards.

Exciting end to the season there.

Lithuania didn't put up much of a fight at all, great result! That goal was an absolute peach too

Great season all things considered dude. Keep it up

Good to see you've figured out how to import images mate.

Nice update, hope the good form from pre season carries on into the season proper

Cheers mate. With FM 20 I'm not going to bother until the third patch in around April time next year, plus with 19 I had game breaking bugs that really put me off. 17 just plays so well and smooth for me I always found myself going back to it even when 19 was playing okay.



Thanks man, glad to have you on board.



Cheers mate. Glad to have you following

Hougang United June 2016 update

After getting advice from the 1 member of coaching staff on the books at the club, the team had played 4-2-3-1 all season with very little luck. So with that in mind we used a very basic 4-4-2 using Pablo Rodriguez as a target man and Fairoz Hasan as a poacher playing off him.

As for the game itself we looked good and held our own, there was no nervy feelings and we took the lead inside half an hour. Rodriguez played a low cross in from the right which got buried in at the near post. There was the inevitable pressure from Geylang but despite them having some good possession and the stats say 3 clear cut chances, we held on to the lead until we doubled it on 65 minutes to kill the game off. They had a man sent off for a second yellow late on but the game was over and done with by then.



After the game Steve Kean piped up about the club using a director of football to which I responded. I do love a good spat. I hadn’t actually realised there was a director of football here until now.





We sign left full back Ismadi Mukthar who will be our starter. As with the other players here, they’re not world beaters but for this league, I think he’ll do alright.





I didn’t mention on the opening post but this team had actually beaten Young Lions in the Singapore cup first round for us to progress to the quarter final, there’s not many teams play in this cup, and we played a 0-0 against lower league opposition. We absolutely battered them all over the pitch, we just couldn’t take our chances.



Early doors in the career but 2 games unbeaten gives us a decent platform to build on, which we did by beating JP Voltes 3-0 in the second leg of the quarter final. We had over 30 shots against them again, surely this is a good sign we can create things going forward, it may only be against a lower league side but hopefully that can carry on. We’re drawn against Albirex Nigata in the semi final.





Back in the league and my thoughts of the team being good going forward were true as we absolutely destroyed Home United 6-0 with Hasan getting 4 goals, all 4 coming off assists from Pablo Rodriguez meaning the big man little man combo worked to perfection




The League Cup takes palce during the season in Singapore so we've got at least 3 games to play. We're drawn against Home United, Warriors and Balesiter in Group A

Home United must hate seeing us as we beat them 3-0 in the first game of the league cup, before beating league champions elect Warriors 2-0 and rounding out the group stage of this cup with my first loss, a drab 2-0 away loss to Balestier. Despite the loss we topped the group with 6 points and are drawn against Geylang in the semi final









If you remember earlier Steve Kean kicked up a bit on the director of football approach, well at half time during the semi final game we were winning 2-0 and his team held a 2-1 advantage, all signs pointing to a final between us.



We got a bit complacent as we allowed Geyland to get back into the game as they grabbed an early goal in the second to give them some hope. We just about held on and then on the 66 minute mark there had been another goal in their game, and my oh my Steve Kean had conceded an equaliser from the penalty spot.



We held on to win the game 2-1. Nothing came of the pressure from Geylang as we stood tall and got not only a very well deserved win, but a place in the Star Hub League Cup Final.





After our game I checked on the score from the other game



After conceding that late equaliser, DPMM went on to concede an own goal deep into extra time to knock them out of the cup!

We now play Balesiter, who gave me my only loss as a manager so far.





So for a team that were bottom of the league a short while ago to be in the League Cup final sure is something. On this path of greatness Vince is going to need to win as much as possible. Obviously a loss here isn’t the be all and end all, and really this team has responded well to a change in tactics, but they’re bottom of the league for a reason.

We hope to avenge that first loss to Balestier and win the League Cup. A win here could really propel the team and help with avoiding finishing bottom of the league. I’m not getting ahead of myself, but I’m confident of a win here.



Next update will be how we got on in my first final as a manager, as well as final couple of months of the season will be covered.

Thanks for reading.

Just got caught up now, wow from Dortmund to bloody Leeds!! 5th after 24 games is good going for a team that nearly went down.

Thanks, glad you've read the opening post of my new save. The photos bit is easy. Best thing to do is load the image you want to post into Imgur, then use add image button above, it'll ask you to input the link from your picture in Imgur, looks like this:



I've just typed sample image, but where that is will be the link the the image you want to include. I say Imgur is the best because i find it easiest to use. If you want any more pointers let me know, but most people on this site look out for each other.

Didn't realise you weren't a smoggie. Looking forward to your next post.

Good luck, from a Newcastle fan

As noted in the opening post, I will be starting at the team bottom of the S League, which currently is Hougang United.





I’m going to be realistic, it’s probably damage limitations this year and try not to finish bottom of the league. In FM there are no relegation's from the S League, not sure about in real life though, so even if we do finish bottom we should still be here next season. The team have won 2 games all season and as such are planted right at the bottom of the league with 9 points. There's plenty of time to turn things around however.











The first thing to I do after assessing the squad, is sign a center half, Jonathan Xu, as clearly the team are struggling on the defensive end. Not a world beater by any means, but the standard of player in this league isn’t high and I’m sure he will shore up the defence. As there is still the transfer window, we may conduct more business.





Any good manager has their own back room staff that go from club to club with them, and this club only has a physio on it’s books, so with that in mind I sign my first back room member chief scout Andy McKenzie. His stats don’t tell me he is that great, but if he comes with me to another club, he’ll bring along the scout reports from players I scout now and keep on my shortlist. Welcome aboard.

As with incoming players, I will be addressing the shortage of backroom members as well, but for now we're just concentrating on the first game of my career.





So with the usual pleasantries out of the way, we kick off the journey with a home game against Geylang International FC. Whilst a loss isn’t the end of the world a win would be nice to start the journey to greatness.









Next update should be up over the weekend and will be covering the first round of games for Vince on this journey, tactics and any more new signings made during the transfer window.

Thanks for reading.

At the start of the game, a manager by the name of Alex Ferguson (don’t know if many of you have heard of him) tops the worldwide Hall of Fame with 4980 points and a total of 39 trophies. Along with him, there are 3 other Scotsmen in the worldwide Hall of Fame, these are Willie Maley (Celtic icon) with 30 trophies, Bill Smith (Rangers icon) with 28 trophies and finally Jock Stein (another Celtic icon) with 26 trophies.







Whilst there is no denying Ferguson is arguably the best manager of all time, he stuck relatively in his comfort zone, in his home country of Scotland he took Saint Mirren to the first division title as well as taking Aberdeen to 3 SPL wins and 4 Scottish FA cup victories, as well as some success in Europe. He then moved to neighbouring England with Manchester United and winning everything with them multiple times.

This is the story of another Scotsman, Vince Lloyd as he attempts to top the Hall of Fame himself, however he will be stepping way out of his comfort zone in his own journey. A Sunday League at best player, with no coaching badges to his name he will have his work cut out for him as he attempts to knock Sir Alex off the top of the Hall of Fame.

Few aims I want to complete during this are as follows:
• Become the greatest manager of all time (top the Hall of Fame)
• Become favored personnel at 3 clubs
• Become an icon at 2 different clubs
• Become a legend at Motherwell
• Manage Scotland
• Win the Champions League on any continent I manage in

To even get close to Alex Fergsuson’s record of 4980 points, Vince is going to have to win a lot of trophies. Sir Alex had over 30 years in management in which he amassed all of his trophies. There aren’t any rules to this and I’m not trying to get to the top of the Hall of Fame in the same amount of time as Sir Alex which is the requirement for this challenge on another forum, I am aiming to top the Hall of Fame eventually, but ultimately I just want to have fun with it.

If you’ve read 1 of my previous careers on here, found here then you’ll see I started in Singapore and went on to have a decent enough time of it. Due to FM19 coming out I stopped that save and went on to have a couple of other decent runs in 19, before experiencing 3 game breaking glitches, hence the return to the best FM there is, FM17. For other FM17 saves, see the incredible Jacobs Ladder thread here which is still going strong, as well as Journeyman's Journey found here. Also see Franjo's blog which has stopped now, although he has said he'll carry it on at some point. These threads just show how great FM17 is.

As with Take me on a Journey, Man this will also start in Singapore, however it’s not the usual start unemployed, I will be starting at whatever team is at the bottom of the S League when the game starts, which is in June 2016 which by that point the S League has played a handful of games. The reason for that is due to the Singapore league being the lowest rep league I have active in the game from the start and for a nobody in football, a good and realistic starting point. As the save goes on I will be adding and removing leagues along the way. The only league that will stay active for the duration of the game will be Scotland, as I want to see some quality Scottish regens coming through and hopefully, one day I can take the Scotland team to a World Cup (maybe, maybe not) as well as hopefully managing Motherwell.

Hailing from the sunny skies of Motherwell, Scotland, Vince sets out on his quest to become the greatest of all time. As a lifelong fan, he’s always dreamed of managing Motherwell, but for that day to ever come to fruition Vince has got a lot of work on to make it a reality.

Updates should be at least one a week. However I will try and get more than that up if I can.

The club vision thing could be good. The playing time thing too may become a bit tedious.

I second the above comments on this, well done mate.

For me I'd take the Latvia job. Then see whats about domestically in a year or so's time.

Maybe Michael Johnson of Man City?

Freddy Adu immediately springs to mind. But very interesting challenge you've got going here, am interested to see where it takes you

It doesn't matter who you support how you choose to support man, as long as you're committed that's the only thing!

Unlucky getting knocked out of the Champions League, but well done on getting to the knock out stages of the Europa. Hopefully you can close the gap at the top of the league too.

Has this threaded finished man?

Are you posting this on the SI forums too? There's a thread over there with the same team as this. You should keep posting here.

What are you trying to do?

Well done on a great season, bye bye Skonto now then?

I'm sure after this season is done you won't be waiting long for a new job.