TheNotSoSpecialOne Activity

August 2020; Almost A Perfect Start! The board's expectations this season include a mid table finish in the league, and a small run in both cups although they're not expecting any miracles! Saturday 8th August 2020 Vanarama National League...

July 2020; Pre Season! I finally got my man! Jack Hunter has spent nearly a month looking for another club since Gateshead released him, with no joy! So I went in with another offer for him and he was willing to negotiate this time round, and I'm...

June 2020; Strengthening The Squad First bit of business this Summer was to sign up another striker. Welcome Jake Beesley to Altrincham. Jake has been with Salford all this season but failed to play a game for them in the National League and was releas...

May 2020; Rounding The Season Off Nicely Saturday 2nd May 2020 Vanarama National League North Boston Utd (Away) Formation: 4-1-4-1 What a way to end the season...we smash 5 past Boston Utd and cost them their place in the playoffs in the process! I&...

April 2020; Continuing The Good Form Against Some Of The Top Sides Saturday 4th April 2020 Vanarama National League North Blyth (Away) Formation: 4-1-4-1 Liam Hughes late goal earns us a draw away at Blyth and puts a small dent in their hopes of mak...

March 2020; Another Unbeaten Month! Saturday 7th March 2020 Vanarama National League North Spennymoor (Away) Formation: 4-1-4-1 A tightly contested game which ends in a bore draw. We were possibly the slightly better side and dictated the tempo of t...

February 2020; Now That's Better!! Saturday 1st February 2020 Vanarama National League North Ashton Utd (Home) Formation: 4-1-4-1 We played some really nice football here and were bloody good value for our 2-0 win, which realistically could hav...

January 2020; Playing Some Decent Football Without Reward I kick off the New Year with a new signing. David Syers joins from Darlington for a fee of £2.2k and will bolster the centre of midfield. He has some decent all round stats and at 32, will...

December 2019; Climbing Out Of The Relegation Zone Day one in the job and the board immediately show me that they're willing to back me by fronting the money for me to get my first coaching badge! No matter what happens from here on out, I will ha...

Altrincham Town FC So let's have a little look over my new club! Altrincham have spent the last 20 years hovering between the Vanarama National and Vanarama National Regional leagues, although in all that time they have never managed a finish abov...

TheNotSoSpecialOne just completed the season in the year 2020 managing Altrincham in the Vanarama National League North in their FM Career [FM19] Wingin' It - A Journeyman Starting At The Gulls

Job Hunting!! It was November before any interviews came my way, despite a couple of months of applying for every job that came up! Then within about a week of each other, I was offered interviews with 3 clubs who are all playing their football at Nation...

August 2019; Not What I Had In Mind! We are short of cover at right wing back, so I have brought in 18 year old, Haji Mnoga, on loan from Portsmouth for the season. He'll compete with Dwayne Samuels for a starting spot in my team and it's lik...

July 2019; Pre Season With the new formation including 3 centre backs (as I try to tighten up our defence this season), I was keen to add another to the squad! With funds and wage budget at an all time low, I looked to the loan market and Finn O'M...

Definitely mate! It was a good season for my first in management, just a bad couple of months! Hopefully we won't suffer such a poor run of form this year and can push on!

Good luck in Finland mate....hopefully you'll find the quick success you've been looking for and add some trophies to your cabinet this season!

June 2019; First Bit Of Summer Business My first Summer signing is that of Eddie Jones who will join us on a free transfer from Oxford City! The central midfielder had a good season for City this year, recording an average rating of 7.28 in 35 appearan...

TheNotSoSpecialOne just completed the season in the year 2019 managing Torquay United in the Vanarama National League South in their FM Career [FM19] Wingin' It - A Journeyman Starting At The Gulls

May 2019; End Of Season Saturday 4th May 2019 Vanarama National League South Hemel Hempstead (Home) Formation: 4-1-2-3 DM Wide We finally put an end to our winless streak and finish the season with a victory! However, we did our best to throw it awa...

April 2019; A Winless Month As We Drop Out Of The Playoffs! Saturday 6th April 2019 Vanarama National League South Billericay (Away) Formation: 4-1-2-3 DM Wide We gave a decent account of ourselves and the draw was well deserved so I was pleased whe...

March 2019; Out Of The Title Race! The annual youth intake doesn't throw up any gems by the initial looks of it! Centre back, Karl Ingram, is the biggest prospect from this year's crop of youth candidates! Saturday 2nd March 2019 Vanarama...

February 2019; Seven More Points But A Big Defeat Thrown In Saturday 2nd February 2019 Vanarama National League South Eastbourne Boro (Away) Formation: 4-1-2-3 DM Wide We kicked off February with an away draw at Eastbourne who are having a surprisin...

January 2019; A Good Start To The New Year Tuesday 1st January 2019 Vanarama National League South Dartford (Home) Formation: 4-1-2-3 DM Wide Not what I had in mind for kicking off the New Year! Defeat at home to Dartford is simply not good enough a...

Cheers mate...yea I will be disappointed if we can't secure a playoff spot from here! Davis has been awesome for me....it's a bit of a shame that my best player and my best performer both play the same position on the pitch though!

December 2018; Much Better League Form Saturday 1st December 2018 FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round Truro (Home) Formation: 4-1-2-3 DM Wide Absolute shite! We crash out of the FA Trophy at the first stage after a lacklustre performance against Truro! I...

Just read through this entire story! What a read....will be following religiously from here on out!!

November 2018; A Poor Month Saturday 3rd November 2018 Vanarama National League South East Thurrock (Away) Formation: 4-1-2-3 DM Wide A really poor result against one of the worst teams in the league! No excuses, just not good enough on the day! Sa...

October 2018; A Slight Dip In Form Jason Banton picked up the Player of the Month award for September! Saturday 6th October 2018 FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round Worthing (Away) Formation: 4-1-2-3 DM Wide We'd played Worthing in a pre season frien...

Cheers mate. I have to admit Banton is quickly becoming my favourite player at the club!

September 2018; Getting To Grips With The New Formation Samir Nabi lifts the Player of the Month award for August! Saturday 1st September 2018 Vanarama National League South Weston-super-Mare (Home) Formation: 4-1-2-3 DM Wide A disappointing draw...

August 2018; A Decent Enough Start It's the morning of our first competitive fixture and the board feel it's appropriate to send me a reminder of their expectations this year. Considering we're 2nd favourites to win the league, I think th...

Cheers mate! If we can make a decent start without our key players, then we have every reason to think we can have a good 2nd half of the season when they are back and fully fit! The skin I use is TCS '19 v1.1 Aero

Pre Season Before we've even had a chance to play a friendly, Ryan Dickson picks up an injury that will keep him out for 2-3 months! That is officially all 3 of my best players out on relatively long term injuries! With Alex Bass out for the fir...

So here I am...first day in the job at my first club, Torquay United. A club that now plays it's football in the National League South, The Gulls have been on a downward spiral for a few years now, having been playing League One football back in 20...

Career Progress 25/06/18 - Present; Torquay United Trophy Cabinet None Personal Achievements 25/06/18; First job in management with Torquay United, 1 year contract worth £750 p/w

Wingin' It - Starting At The Gulls My most recent save which I've been playing for nearly 2 months was the Sir Alex Ferguson challenge, where I've been managing Bournemouth. Five seasons in and my laptop has been taken back by work and the...

I will be starting at the bottom of the ladder in the National League South, with no qualifications and no previous experience, so kinda like the start of a Journeyman save. But unlike a Journeyman save, I'll be picking my club and I've decided to kick th...

The Journey Of The Not So Special One [size=8]I am a new member to this site and here goes with my first attempt at a story here! This story focuses around my football management journey from the very bottom, to hopefully the very top. I will begin as m...

Starting at the very bottom of the football management ladder, with no qualifications, no experience and most would say, no idea!! Chris Ball, self professed 'Not So Special One', will work his way through the trials and tribulations of football managemen...