jameo_94 - Comments

They were quite upset you're right ptfc1876, but I don't know what I'm expected to do away to a side who are 3 tiers higher than us, I was quite happy that we hit the woodwork!

Clyde - Scottish League 2 (4th Tier) - Season 2017/18

July 2017 - BetFred Cup and Staff/Squad sort

The first thing I notice when about to play Alloa is that I have ex-Blackburn, Crystal Palace and Aberdeen striker David Goodwillie on my books, who is playing at a leading level for sides two divisions higher than me, so keeping him will be critical for my season.

I also notice that not only is he injured for the first game, but so are two other key players, and 9 of my selected first 11 are all severely lacking match fitness, what could go wrong?




After conceding early in each half I thought I was an absolute goner and was concerned about my challenge even at this early stage. I then made a fatal mistake at half-time as I made all three substitutions as I had poorly performing players in all areas with low morale. Then 59 minutes in I lose my left-back to injury and face the onslaught with 10 men. The turning point of the game was a penalty save from Blair Currie - my keeper after 74' which kept the score to 3-0. We then rallied with late goals from Burbidge and Wright to make the score more credible although we were never in the game.
This has however given me some optimism going forward as we clearly have some spirit and the squad reacted well after the game. I then found out that 9 of the 14 players used had made their debut in the game, so chemistry would need some work as well.

I manage to sort my backroom staff out fully just before the Queen of The South game, but have lost my best left-back for a month, so will now have to focus on bolstering my squad before the league season starts.


Considering Queen of The South had drawn their opening game to top-flight side Partick Thistle, I was pretty pleased with the result, Chris Kane, the goalscorer was on loan from another top-flight club as well and whilst never threatening going forward (other than an offisde goal), we did restrict them to only 4 shots on target with no injuries.


Definitely my easiest chance of a win, with Albion Rovers predicted to come 8th of 10 in the division above, although they are still the favourites. Good news is Goodwillie is back and squad fitness is improving.

Very disappointing, conceded a 25 yard screamer from ex top-flight player Graeme Holmes and just couldn't find the equaliser despite having a few clear cut opportunities. No goals again, but the first time I feel that we should have got something from the game.




Despite this being our hardest game, we applied ourselves well, but it could have been 6-0 if it wasn't for the saves of Blair Currie, easily the best player for us. Having said that, Barry Cuddihy and Darren Ramsey both hit the woodwork, although anything we got out of the game would have been undeserved.

BetFred Cup Summary

Result - 5th of 5

Overall I am relatively happy with how it went, although it would have been nice to get a point or score a few more goals, at least we didn't get blown away by any side and morale, team chemistry and fitness have all been built. I would like to perform better in the competition next year when the squad are more established and work together better.

The board are also content with the campaign, which is the important thing

Now with my backroom staff in place, my attention can focus to the league, and enhancing my squad ready for the campaign.

Clyde - Scottish League 2 (4th Tier) - Season 2017/18

Well I said "lets see how pre-season goes", and then quickly realise that pre-season has come and gone!

Yes it is actually my first significant game day today, and I have no assistant manager, head of youth or any form of scouts, let alone a tactic to play with or the required players!

One positive though is that this game (and my next 3) is the BetFred Cup/League Cup, which I am unexpected to make any progress in and just be competitive considering I am in a division with top-flight side Partick Thistle, Championship side Queen of the South and League One sides Alloa Athletic and Albion Rovers.

All of these sides are "better" than I am so I will use it as a chance to evaluate my players and tactics, so I can see where the gaps are in time for the league season, any points are a bonus at this stage of the season.

First up - Alloa Athletic at home!

Thanks Skinner, normally get about 40 seasons in, but hoping this year that this will motivate me to see it through!

Thanks Tommy, it's going to be a challenge for sure!

Clyde - Scottish League 2 (4th Tier) - Season 2017/18

Scotland, Cumbernauld near Glasgow, home of "The Bully Wee" at the 8,086 seater Broadwood Stadium, founded in 1887 - the scene for the first stage of my career.

My task: Top Half finish with Clyde, who are only predicted to come 8th. I can see myself doing some loan business with nearby Glasgow sides Celtic and Rangers to boost my squad as we have no transfer budget and £300 wiggle room in the wage budget.
Long-term I would like to take Clyde up a couple of divisions, but then if a better job comes around I can see myself moving on.

Lets see how pre-season goes.

Find me a job

So I have applied for the three jobs I mentioned previously, Rukh Vynnyky are in the Ukrainian Second Tier and despite being newly promoted have lofty ambitions of 6th out of 18 which makes them my number one target. Clyde are in the Scottish Fourth Tier and are predicted to finished 8th of 10 and Cowdenbeath are in the same division with a predicted finish of 10th following 3 seasons of relegation and finishing bottom in the league.

I may take the challenge of stopping the rot at Cowdenbeath at another stage but obviously when titles are the name of the game they are currently my last resort.

Excellent news arrived immediately after applying for all three jobs, I got invited for interviews at all three! This was particularly surprising as I thought Rukh Vynnyky were out of my reach.



Curse you IVAN MARUSCHAK. Well hardly surprising but disappointing since I nailed the interview.

I then got offered a job at Bognor Regis Town which I turned down



Finally I got offered the Cowdenbeath job, but delayed it hoping that I would get the Clyde job - fortunately they agreed.



As did Clyde - so I am starting my managerial odyssey in the Scottish Fourth tier!

Season One - Unemployed?

So it makes sense to start at the beginning, which club should I manage first? I've had a look and there are 15 different options from 5 of the 6 countries, disappointingly no Slovenia, as this may have been the best place to start, but here are my options.



The only one not visible is Everton in the EPL, which is the least likely of the bunch (even if they are awful this season)
My options are actually surprisingly few as my "limited" experience and reputation mean that I would have no chance at a job at quite a few of the clubs - namely Everton, Sunderland, Tamperley, Velez, Rangers, FC Tours and even League One sides Gillingham and Bury.

This leaves me with 3 remaining options :
I could pick one of the English sides (Bognor Regis, FC United, Solihull Moors and Boston Utd), all of which play in the National League or National League North/South;
I could pick a Scottish side (Clyde or Cowdenbeath) both in League 2, the bottom tier of Scottish football;
or the last remaining option which is the Ukrainian team Rukh Vynnyky.

Out of the three options I would prefer not to play in England to start with, as I have managed low level English sides before.

Ideally I would like the job at Rukh Vynnyky, because who doesn't want to manage a side with only one vowel in it's name? But the reputation of the club may be too high, in which case I would settle for one of the Scottish sides (Clyde also only has one vowel) and I haven't managed in Scotland since I took Rangers from League 2 to the Champions league final (FM2012 I think?).

I will apply for the Rukh Vynnyky, Clyde and Cowdenbeath jobs in the first instance anyway and see where it takes me, with my preferred order

1)Rukh Vynnyky, 2) Clyde, 3) Cowdenbeath

It is more than likely that I will be the only person to ever read this, but it is time that I start documenting my epic management journeys around world football.

I will be starting off 2018's edition unemployed, as a Sunday League footballer with no coaching qualifications, so don't expect to see too many familiar teams or top flight battles in the first 20 seasons or so, but all of the lesser leagues and cups all count towards the end goal as well.

My aim is to win every single club competition available in the game (not including U21's or anything similar out of my control).

In the process I should also win each of the 13 continental titles (excluding the OCL as it is not available in the base game) as well as the holy grail - The Club World Cup
51 countries, endless opportunities, here I go!



I have randomly selected 6 countries using a random name generator, and I have loaded all of the divisions for each of these countries as my possible job opportunities. I won't add/remove leagues until I have fully mastered one and then I can replace it with another.



And my luck has already started! -.- I have managed to draw England, Argentina, France, Scotland, Slovenia and Ukraine - not quite the mix I was looking for.

My initial impressions are that it is going to be a fair while before I conquer any of these leagues fully, although I have never managed in Ukraine, Slovenia or surprisingly France before so at least there are some new things for me to look forward to!

Hold on tight, I hope you enjoy the ride.

My Journey

Trophies

Personal Awards

Challenge Progress

First time here, liked the look of the challenge and played for the past 12 years so thought I'd give it a go!

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/874126546587198875/AF48673A9FF7B2DD54D2F1941C8115CCF906DD69/

Seemed to be able to keep clean sheets well enough, just really struggled for goals in the first half of the season, and was a way clear at the top after a succession of 1-0 victories.



Was all going okay, until the wheels threatened to come off towards the end of the season with a key centre-back injured and Khait going back to Iraq, meaning that my defence started leaking goals to lesser teams(losing me the title of least goals conceded out of the 5 divisions!), although I just about scraped over the finish line thanks to 23 goals from my new striker and some very fortunate penalty misses in the games against Virkia and Maps.



Game of the season had to go to the second game against PS-44, 3 goals and a man down after 30 minutes, fought back to 3-3, before losing it with the final kick of the game. This game did unfortunately contribute to the 10 conceded in the final 7 games, having only conceded 15 in the previous 31 (and 8 in the first 20)



Enjoyed the challenge and hope to join for more legs, although ultimately started scoring too late in the season and didn't turn draws into wins against lesser opposition meaning no additional awards were won, so I think just the 50 points for winning the league!