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#481991 Started from the bottom....
M3rlin
Expecting nothing from Partick Thistle, they are too strong. Spartans as well, since we are too strong for them. I scheduled the friendly as there was an 11-day break between matches for no discernible reason and I had to keep up fitness.
Our last game of October, against Queens Park, is a must-win if we want to stay on course with our over achievement and keep up morale. We can’t afford to lose too many points.
We were evenly matched against Annan throughout, but they managed to nick the first goal in the 50th minute. We were still capable of at least getting an equaliser until Captain and Club’s Last Hope, Gary Fisher, got himself deservedly sent off in the 78th minute for persistent fouling. It was game over from there and we dropped down to 5th in the league.
Partick Thistle thrashed us as expected, but Gracie at least managed a brace for himself, which saved us from humiliation in front of our fans in a sold-out Reigart Stadium.
What a Rollercoaster that match was against Spartans. We were 7-2 ahead at HALF TIME. 7-2!!!! Then after telling my players that I’m proud of them and that they’re doing great, they get complacent and concede 3 goals in 10 minutes from the 71st to 81st min. I truly believed we had bottled it and so I decided to park the damn bus against a non-league team. A shameful display and I shouted it into their heads at full-time.
We just about edged the match at Queens Park, as all the action happened in the 1st half. We were leading 2 nil, thanks to goals from Wilson and Watson, until Scott Forrester got sent off in the softest Red Card I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t even a tackle. Then Queens Park made it 2-1, then 3-1 for us, then in the last minute of half-time they made it 3-2. I reorganised the squad and removed Cunningham from attack for defender Murdoch and parked the damned bus again. I feel like I’m doing that a lot these days, but luckily it got us the much needed 3 points with only 10 men on the pitch and it’s got us back into 2nd place, a single point behind leaders Annan.
I'd bet on us against Edinburgh City, especially since it's at home and we're unbeaten in the Reigart Stadium.
Ever since reaching 1st place at the beginning of the season, Berwick Rangers have won a grand total of 1 game in the past 3 months. Atrocious form and an opportunity for us to pile on the misery and get the 3 points.
Arbroath are a league above us and fighting for promotion, but it's a home game. And honestly, with the magic of the cup behind us, we may just produce some magic.
The game against Peterhead was very evenly matched, but it was piss-poor defending and atrocious goalkeeping from Mathieson that cost us all 4 goals. Truly each and every goal we conceded was due to the stupid decisions made by my players. I feel like Matheison isn't cut out for this level and with the terrible reports I keep getting about his lazy training, I may as well drop him to teach him a lesson.
Edinburgh City was a story of two halves. They played like a bunch of school boys in the first half and let us score 4 goals unanswered and basically lost any hope of competition. The second half however, was quite different. I guess their gaffer beat them senseless, or maybe it was cus' our Left-Back Steven Smith got himself sent off on his professional debut. regardless, we lost the 2nd half but it's the 90 minutes that count and Gary Fisher's and Jamie Watson's Braces won us the match easily.
We started terribly against Berwick. 2 nil down after 10 minutes and deservedly so as they were class....in those 10 mins alone. With that for a wake up call, we pulled two back in the first half to equalise. After our team-talk, the players went back out onto the field and thanks to a Gary Fisher masterclass, including a screamer for the 4th goal, we won the match having outclassed them for the other 80 out of the 90 mins.
Against Arbroath it was a repeat story of Berwick, as we conceded 2 goals in the first 10 mins with the only difference being that they were due to 2 school-boy errors by our defensive pairing of Davidson and Forrester. We pulled one back through a set-piece header, before half-time arrived. The first half was unnerving since our defense was shaky and every attack from Arbroath seemed like it could be a goal as the defense had lost all their confidence. No matter, to solve this I rotated Forrester for Fagan on the right and swapped Fagan for McGeouch to bulk up the defense at half-time. A poachers goal from Gracie got us the equaliser in the 2nd half and it was back to Park the Bus from there until the end. The draw did mean we'd have to replay the game, but that comes with added ticket revenue so it ain't half bad.
That 'Wee Rovers' nickname makes me look like a creep. Which imbecile chose that over just being called 'The Rovers' or anything else, really. Anyways, a 55% win ratio isn't half bad and is nothing short of a miracle with this squad. I may be optimistic about the 2nd half of the season, but I'll wait for our 6 matches in December to see if the optimism has any foundation.
Stirling Albion have been garbage all season and are deservedly sitting in bottom place. We should win this one easily and maybe thrash them as they are very low on morale.
The match against Clyde is a six-pointer in the fight for the title and promotion. They sit 3 points below us, although with an inferior goal difference, and if we lose the game it could spell trouble for us. I am hoping that our unbeaten form in the Reigart Stadium continues here.
Annan have dropped down the table to 4th place recently and are 8 point below us with their inconsistent form. I think we could just edge this match at home, but they come to us having beaten Clyde away (which I am thankful for as it allowed us to remain in 1st place) and that means they are tough opposition away. Again I have to look to the support of the 12th man at home.
Arbroath started with us down by one goal after only 2 minutes of play thanks to another lesson in stupidity from Davidson. Luckily Gary 'Club Legend' Fisher scored an absolute beauty in the 32nd minute to equalise before half-time. We managed to scored 2 as Guthrie hit one on the volley and Butterworth hit a downward shot into the bottom right corner from outside the box. Leading 3-1 seemed to good to be true so we made life hard for ourselves as both Fagan and Guthrie got Red Cards before Arbroath pulled one back. From there on out, it was back to our tried and tested formula of 'Park the Bus until the ref blows the god damned whistle', It was a very even match by the end, but the magic of the cup got us through to the next round which home against Annan. Brilliant draw.
In a match devoid of chances and imagination, we got our revenge against Cowdenbeath for our earlier defeat. Gracie scored a hat-trick of 2 headers and a Pen. A truly boring match with a grand total of 7 shots from both sides combined.
Elgin City was dissapointing. We dominated from start to finish, but just couldn't find a goal. And when they scored first in the 74th minute, it looked as if that would be the goal of the game. But I decided to finally sub Left-Back Smith (his 2nd game and another horrible one at that) for Lewis Wilson. One thing lead to another, the ball flew into Elgin City's box and Gracie was there to bury a first-time volley. Sweet as a nut and kept us from embarrassment.
The game against Stirling Albion was a masterclass team effort as all 5 goals came from 5 different players. We dominated the match from start to finish and could have easily scored more, but Guthrie's goal (the 5th of the game) was an absolute beauty. A 23 metre volley!
WOW! Just Wow! The 12th man truly showed up in spades as we got our highest attendance in the league with 848 fans filling 60% of the Reigart stadium. Well, the 12th man and Gracie showed up. The match was perfectly balanced as both teams had an equal number of shots, possession and chances, but Gracie showed up for us and Goodwillie dozzed off for them. All 4 goals were feats of goalsoring brilliance, a scissor-kick, 23 metre out shot, left foot volley and more. I finally gave him his new contract after this as he entered the list of favoured personnel at the club.
Annan wasn't nearly near as great as the past 2 matches, but with Gary Fisher getting sent off for the 2nd time this season after 30 mins, it could have been much much worse. Before the Red Card, Gracie had scored 2 goals and we weren't giving Annan room to breath. afterwards both Annan and our team scored 2 goals, ours from Gracie again and Guthrie, before the break as we went into the 2nd half 4-2 ahead and playing much worse than we had in the beginning. The game had barely restarted then Annan pulled one back to make a comeback seem inevitable, before in the 76th minute Gracie scored a header and completed his 2nd consecutive super-hat-trick against the run of play. The man is an absolute wonder and Fisher needs to be disciplined for those Red Cards in important matches. I high-fived the former and fined the latter.
Note:
We got our revenge against Cowdenbeath this time @tongey through Gracie's hat-trick. And it was a lot mixed result the past few month but I've got to say that December was truly perfect.
And yeah September has been our worst month so far @SirWerGaming, but we got back at all them all in the December.
#481765 Started from the bottom....
M3rlin
Transfers:
So, the Transfer Window ended and the Free, Limited Transfer Window opened. This one wasn't embargoed and I could actually sign some much needed fresh faces, despite our magnificent start to the season. My aims were for a new Back-Up GK for to rotate with Daniel Potts in goal. A new Midfielder, who was both young, first-team quality and an improvement over McGeuoch (who is 27 years old and only getting worse). And also 2 new Defenders to make the back line younger and pacier. To accommodate all this into our Wage Budget, I released 2 Defender who were getting paid a combined £250 p/w and were too old and average to figure into my plans (they were Wharton and Eley).
Scotty here is one the exact same level as our 1st Choice keeper, Daniel Potts, but he has 5 years more of experience and has (according to my scouts) a higher potential. He is going straight into the team and will be rotated with Potts if/when he plays bad.
Davidson is better than all our current defenders and with that Jumping and Strength, will be integral to our set piece plays. And his Pace makes him our fastest defender as well, although his Positioning leaves a lot to be desired.
Nimmo is the greatest signing a club in this league could possibly make. He's already at a League 1 ability and far too good for us, so the fact I've managed to trick him into joining us this winter has to go down as a stroke of genius, surely. He could be the Talisman we need in the 2nd half of the season, can't wait for when he joins.
Butterworth is on loan with option to buy for £10k, which I believe is daylight robbery if he improves like he should. 2nd only to Gary Fisher in terms of midfield quality and with a wage of £0 p/w this year, it won't ruin our finances (which is at £6k right now and slipping down too fast for comfort).
The Connah's Quay match should be pretty straight-forward as they are a middling Welsh team and, apart from TNS, I hear they are all shit.
We lost against Clyde 2-4 at Home in the BetFred Cup and, since this time we are playing away, I expect this to be our first defeat if not an utter humiliation.
Cowdenbeath and Stirling Albion shouldn't be too troublesome, we may bottle the away match but they aren't going to be our biggest problems this season by any stretch of the imagination.
What can I say about the Berwick and Connah's Quay matches? We absolutely dominated both from minute one and should have scored more in both matches. Beautiful team performance all round.
Clyde. Oh boy! We were dreadful, absolutely fucking dreadful. They had 20 shots at our goal and through sheer luck alone, they only managed to score 3 of those. Thanks to Graham Gracie's (our best Striker, should've mentioned him before as he's also our Top Scorer) poaching ability, we scored 2 just before and after half-time. Clyde will be troublesome as we will have to face them 3 more times this season. Also Goodwillie scored their first goal and is the League's Top Scorer with twice as many goals as the 2nd top scorer. Absolute Machine that I have to buy, regardless of his ailing age.
Cowdenbeath was alright. We dominated that match but Gracie got a knock 10 mins in and I refused to sub him off due to pure arrogance. The team paid the price as they were profligate in-front of goal as 70% of all our shots graced the stands, giving the ball boys a tough day.
Stirling Albion, who have no relation to our Albion, were terrible. They only had a single shot on target to our 10, as Gary Fisher scored a long-shot and a penalty. I had to give Gracie a rest due to his knock and played 20-year-old James Cunningham, who may as well have joined Gracie in the stands for all the good he did. I should really try to find a back-up striker so as to not be completely reliant on Gracie. Also, it's high-time I renewed Gracie's contract as it's ending in 8 months/
#481494 Started from the bottom....
M3rlin
East Kilbride: Easy game were we dominated throughout. We conceded first though, which had me worried for a second.
Edinburgh: A very even match, but we just about managed to steal the 3 points in the end with a tap-in from Jamie Gallagher.
Queens Park: Absolutely battered them away after expecting it to be a hard match. They were too aggressive like the Annan match and left space open. 2 of our goals were counter-attacks with another being an Own-Goal. Queens Park got a RED card in the 83rd minute, but by then we were already 4-2 ahead. A very. very promising match.
Peterhead: We were playing so well from start to finish. 90 mins gone and we were 2 nil ahead against the promotion favourites, dominating possession and tempo of the match, but then the ref decides to add on +6 mins of extra time. Peterhead scores twice and it ends a draw. We were robbed and deserved so much more against a lackluster Peterhead, but alas.
Elgin City: We won this by the grace of the footballing gods. 92nd minute! Losing 1 nile! Gary Fisher kicks into 4th gear and shoots a sublime 20 metre kick with the outside of his right foot! Zips past 3 defenders and the goalie and is buried into the top right corner of the net! SCENES!!!!! Then as I sat back down preparing for the final whistle, Elgin made the fatal mistike of conceding a freekick from 23 metres out from goal....Inside Forward, Jamie Watson, steps up and bangs it into the top left corner of the net! GOAL AND WE BLOODY WON. We may have been dreadful for 90 mins, but as Peterhead proved earlier, you only need 2 mins to steal a game
#481468 Started from the bottom....
M3rlin
Transfers:
Well, after trying to sign a new midfielder and being told that transfers are illegal in this window, I came to realise a fatal mistake. I ticked ✅ the “NO 1ST TRANSFER WINDOW” box, which means I’m stuck with what I’ve got until the Scottish Winter comes about. Initially, I thought this had meant I couldn’t sign players, if I paid a transfer fee or got them from a club. But no, this includes free agents and those were my targets. Crap! This is going to be a slaughter.
Apart from the 2 pointless friendlies, we have 4 matches in the Betfred Cup. The 2 against St. Mirren and Ayr Utd I’m bracing for defeat as they are both 2 leagues or more above us. But it’s the matches against Clyde & Annan which will be telling. Those 2 are our competition in the league and if we can beat them then it would spell “Good News” for us in the league. Annan shouldn’t be any trouble, but Clyde has ex-blackburn player David Goodwillie in their team and my scouts tell me he should be playing in the Scottish Premiership.
Results:
We got trashed by Ayr Utd, as compared to superior opposition we may as well have been spectators in that match
Against Clyde, I expected Goodwillie to show up but not like this. He scored a super-hatrick of 4 goals in that game. We never stood a chance and Clyde will be one of the tougher teams in the league for us.
For St. Mirren, I’m just glad we didn’t het humiliated. Because the score may look pretty on paper, but we had ONE shot and Fisher scored that by pure luck. Could have easily been 6-7 goals to the Saints if they had someone as good as David Goodwillie in their squad.
For that last friendly, we were losing 2-0 before an 80th minute comeback spearheaded by Dylan Monaghan, our midfielder. He scored the 1st and 3rd goal to seal it. Worrying signs though.
BetfFred Cup Group G
At least we didn’t finish last and got 3 points.
The board were happy with the result and we also got some money off of finishing 2nd last.
When I came, finances were in the RED. Now we are quite safe, with most of the revenue coming from match tickets.
#481176 Started from the bottom....
M3rlin
#481164 Started from the bottom....
M3rlin
Backroom Staff Overhaul Summary
Before getting deep into the squad, I had to bulk up the backroom staff. We had no scouts or physios, just a single Head Scout and Head Physio who, as it turned out, were sharing the same watered down shed behind the stadium. So, I gave them the kitchen as well to accommodate the 2 new Scouts and 1 Physio. After all, I doubt the club is in any state to offer the lads tea let alone lunch.
Also, since we were lacking a Head of Youth Development, I had to go through the trouble of finding and then signing one. Oddly enough, this turned out to be quite a bit more difficult than I had imagined, as not a single experienced HoYD wanted to join, but I managed to recruit a newbie who could at least find me 20 greenies to look at in spring.
I won’t show the face of the new staff as they have been trained in the army to have generic faces. So it’d be a waste of space....kinda like that kitchen.
All this has plummeted our wage budget into the Red, especially since our new HoYD is now the 4th highest paid member of the club. Fucking Hell. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have demanded a £2,000 p/m salary. I am the highest paid member of staff, being paid twice as much as our best player (more on him in a bit). Truly, if I fail in this job then I may as well be robbing the chairman and club blind. Thankfully that’s not my intention.
Training & Tactics
Training is just me going to ‘Staff Responsibilities” and delegating it all to my assistant manager. I only intervene to train a player in a new position as, for the life of me, I can never get my assistant to do it himself.
Tactics is a whole other matter. And it’ll take a fair bit of time to explain so I might as well do it here and never touch on it again, unless I either move clubs or am forced to make a tactical change mid-season. I want to do it like this, because I don’t want explain the same tactic every month with a few tweaks here and there due to one or two inconveniences, as I find the fun in a manager story to be the matches, players, transfers, trophies, injuries, awards, drama and etc.....reverting to the tactics would feel like a lecture mid-entry.
So to begin with, I prefer the use of 2 MAIN formations throughout my career, as well as a secret 3rd formation when I get desperate.
Tactic 1 (4-3-3 with wide wingers): This is my gegenpressing tactic in the spirit of the great Jurgen Klopp. It works quite well when I have the right players in the right positions and with their preferred roles, but I can’t tell you how hard it has been to find a single capable Inside Forward in the lower league. And I need 2 of them to make this work. Midfield is also problematic, as I use 3 midfielders and I currently only have 4, with only 1 of them being older than 18 (more on that later). So I may make this my secondary tactic or discard It altogether by the end of the Transfer window if I’m unable to find the missing pieces to make it work.
So since it’s with an Attacking Mentality, Constant Pressure and Fast Build-Up set up, this will tire the shit of my players, which is why I’ll need to increase the squad size from 17 to 22 (all this on a negative budget) to keep my players fit enough. Apart from that I made off-ball defender interactions into Aggressive (which in a previous play-through with Utrecht helped me break the record for most Red Cards in a game), so that’s another thing to worry about in regards to squad depth.
Now you all must be wondering with all these cons, why would you insist on this type of play. Well.....it gets results. It wins matchs. It evens the odds. And best of all, it’s exciting to watch since I hate watching 90 minutes of a 0-0 game. This promises the 0-5...4-4...6-3 scorelines and will excite the fans, the media and I.
Tactic 2 (4-2-3-1 with wide wingers): Without repeating most of what I’ve already said, this is very much the same as Tactic 1 except for the fact one of the midfielders moves into the CAM role to provide better attacking support. Also the Defenders are less aggressive and move back when under pressure rather than lunging in. The unique problem of this tactic though, is that I use Complete Wing-backs in defence, and let me just say that if you thought finding an Inside Forward was difficult then finding a CWB is impossible. Regardless the rest, including the fitness problem, remains.
Basically this is the one I use to grind out slow results and is less exciting, yet more effective.
Tactic 3 (Mystery): This is the one I develop to suit my team as I go on. I like to try to create something that suits every member of the squad to a T and is still effective and exciting. Though this almost never works out and usually leads to the fans rioting, but it’s fun to try nonetheless. Still, you won’t be seeing much of this......for now.
Note:
Thanks for the comments everyone and I hope it’ll be a pleasant ride as well. Also, @HockeyBhoy your save is iconic imo (not only for the awesome title) and I’ll try not to batter Edinburgh City out of respect (not because we are statistically worse).
Now, I was expecting to write about the rest of the team here and maybe make the next post the players I’ve found and want to sign, but this has already become so insanely long that I feel like cutting it all down. Also it’s been a week and my scouting team may as well be drink since they’ve found absolutely no one I can sign or is worth signing so far.
#480973 Started from the bottom....
M3rlin
So with that reality check, I applied for any club who’d give me a listen and soon had quite a few job offers thrown at me soon after.
Would have been a fitting start, but I got rejected. Sadly.
I’m going to try really hard not to make any Merlin references, because COME ON! My profile name is M3rlin and Merlin’s duty was to safeguard Albion. It’s like destiny in some way.
With that aside, Albion seem to have the cutest little nickname in Scottish football as they're called the 'Wee Rovers'.
#480969 Started from the bottom....
M3rlin
What is this, you all wonder? Is this just me creating a team who can sing Drake’s album while running miles on end on a football pitch? Hell no! I don’t like Drake, he is cursed. The title is just me trying to find something catchy, so I plagiarised that from the song.
No, this is a story about a 27 year old man whose life has lead him to a myriad of places he’s grown to despise. Someone who, as a young boy, once dreamed of being the greatest footballer on the planet. Someone who had ambitions and goals to change the way the game was played. But who lost it all, when he chose safety over what he loved to do. And now after 27 years, finishing his Higher Educational studies and coming to terms with the fact he hates his newly started job that he’s spent decades preparing for.....it’s time to take a RISK! No, scratch that, THE RISK! For if this turns out sour, then there is no going back.
It’s make or break and this is the story.
#429676 Saving Chicago
M3rlin
Only a transfer round-up and a draft, in the next post, are left before we begin our kick-off of the new MLS Season
'Til Next Time
#429660 England United
M3rlin
Good luck on this one.
#429594 Expanding the McDonalds brand.
M3rlin
Wish you best of luck
#429129 Saving Chicago
M3rlin
Only downside was the fact De Leeuw will be out for the next 3 weeks.
'Til Next Time
#429128 Saving Chicago
M3rlin
'Til Next Time
#429116 Saving Chicago
M3rlin
International Player Slots are for registration purposes...There are some 160 slot in the MLS, equally divided upon the 20 teams, this means that each team had an initial 8 slots each for international players, but over the years the teams have traded them depending on their need for them. These trades can either be permanent or a loan for 1-5 years. For Example, Chicago Fire has 8 slots, on the other hand NY Red Bulls have 10 of these slots.
'Til Next Time
#429107 Saving Chicago
M3rlin
I know it's kinda daft, but that's how the update works.
#429104 Saving Chicago
M3rlin
The next part will also be boring since I'll be trying to explain some of the rules regarding designated players and drafts and exchange between different clubs.
Why does America make everything so difficult for itself
'Til Next Time
#387523 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
'til Next Time
#387091 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
#387035 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
#381140 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
'til Next Time
#381102 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
I've gotten so used to them, that I didn't think twice before uploading. The smurfs have been there ever seen I redownloaded the game, after it was constantly crashing. Now it doesn't crash, but the Smurfs are there. But I'll take it. I'll make it so that it doesn't show regen faces in future uploads.
The 3rd and 4th tier have the same rule, but I haven't checked Ligue 1/2. Cup competitions don't have that rule, so it is high likely that the 1st and 2nd tiers don't either.
#381100 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
'til Next Time
#381097 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
They are scared that I'll leave, haha. I love not signing a contract 'til the end of the season, it shows how desperate the club are for my tactical genius (par attacking, where we are still shoddy). But they've already got replacements ready, so I'll ask for a new contract now, just in case.
'til Next Time
#380192 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
'til Next Time
#380188 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
'til Next Time
#379355 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
For some reason, I've been oblivous to the comment section, but it is good to know I have style. Just wondering what kind of style it is.
#379354 'Caro Parma, Bentornato'
M3rlin
#379314 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
'til Next Time
#379297 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
We were by far the better team in the 1st half and dominated absolutely everything (football related ofcourse) on the pitch. And then the f*cker Quarshie gave away a penalty that spelt the tone for the rest of the match, as my team absolutely capitulated to their new masters. Worse even still, Caen Reserve are my main promotion rivals and they are now a single point below us.
New Backup on the defensive wings, as my LB/RB's keeping getting suspended for every 3 yellow cards. There is a place reserved in hell for the person on the french disciplinary commitee.
A good win after the last match, but my team can't find consistency if it stared them straight in the face. When my Attack is good, my defence is bad and vice-versa. Miranda scored on his return to them team, good to see that he is a reliable back-up.
A bad month for us. Only 11 out of 15 points is not good enough with our squad, but luckily for us, Caen also got 11 out of 15 points. We are now 4 points above them in 1st place but our margin should be greater if we want security.
'til next time
#379240 Chemin de la gloire - Le Mans
M3rlin
'til Next Time