Jon Harrod Activity

I’m just wondering if anyone has found a fix for fm24 to allow Wellington Phoenix to play in some kind of continental competition? Currently, the don’t qualify for Asian competitions due to being based in New Zealand but can’t play in Oceania competitions...

Liverpool (A) - 10th March 2018 In the run up to the Liverpool game, Wilson bruises his knee in training. That will keep him out of the match, but it should be the only game he misses. Without him, we line up like this. On the bench are; Federici, Subo...

West Ham (A) - 3rd March 2018 Somehow, Fulham lift the EFL cup after beating Tottenham in the final. Our 4-3 extra time defeat to Spurs was picked as the best match of the competition. Afobe comes to see me to discuss his lack of football. He's not...

Swansea (H) - 24th February 2018 The FA Cup quarter-final draw gives us a home tie. Unfortunately, it's against Chelsea and will be played on 18th March. Josh King picks up a training injury. It's a calf strain that will keep him out for up to...

Newcastle (H) - 17th February 2018 - FA Cup Fifth Round In the week between matches, Stanislas is treated for a tight calf, but should be back for the match. Tonelli however, picks up a sports hernia and will be out for a month. The board come back to m...

Arsenal (H) - 11th February 2018 Just before the Arsenal game, Ryan Fraser picks up an injury. It's only blisters and he'll be out for around a week. It's back to wing backs for this game as we try and keep it tight. On the bench are; Fe...

Ipswich (H) - 7th February - FA Cup Replay For the cup replay, I switch back to 4-3-3. The narrow formation used in the first game didn't really work and I should give my wingers more game time. I made a slight error by letting Federici play for th...

Brighton (A) - 3rd February 2018 Nothing really to speak of pre-match. I opt for the same tactics we used against City as it almost worked! This means that Yedlin and Kaan Ayhan make their debuts. On the bench are; Federici, Subotic, Tonelli, Amartey, D...

Transfer Deadline Day - 31st January 2018 The day starts with Leicester and Stoke both making offers for Adam Smith. With Watford also interested, I certainly won't be selling him off cheap. I negotiate with Leicester up to a guaranteed 11.3m, with...

Manchester City (H) - 30th January 2018 Boruc completes his move to CSKA as the Russian window opens. Simon Francis comes to see me as he feels I was wrong to let him go due to his leadership qualities. He settles down when I tell him that Boruc just was...

Ipswich (A) - 27th January 2018 - FA Cup Wiggins completes his move to Wigan, while the rest of the squad offer to refund the fans that travelled to Southampton. Josh King picked up an injury playing for the u23s. He'll be out for a week. On the tr...

Southampton (A) - 21st January 2018 After letting a few more youngsters go out on loan (I'll evaluate them properly in the summer), I get a transfer offer from Wigan for Wiggins. It's only £550k, but I don't need him so hopefully he&...

Manchester United (H) - 14th January 2018 Ryan Sessegnon chose Arsenal. I wasn't expecting him to choose us, once I'd seen who'd made bids. De Sciglio was another available option for full back, but Leicester offer far more than I can affo...

Peterborough (H) - 6th January 2018 (FA Cup) The first signing arrives as Danny Ings agrees terms. So at least if Wilson does leave, I have a ready replacement. It's unlikely that Sessegnon will be following him, as Fulham have now accepted bids fro...

Crystal Palace (A) - 1st January 2018 With only a days rest between games, there's not much to report. Wilson did manage to come second in December's player of the month though. Boruc has agreed a deal with CSKA Moscow and will join them when t...

Burnley (A) - 30th December 2017 It's a quiet period between Christmas and New Year, as I hunt for reinforcements, both on field and in the back room staff. On the morning of our match, Callum Wilson comes to see me. 7 goals in his last 4 games has...

Everton (H) - 26th December 2017 Between matches, I send a few more youngsters out on loan. I also accept a few offers from Russian clubs for Boruc. On the incoming front, I have my scouts frantically searching for defenders, while having bids accepted f...

Watford (A) - 23rd December 2017 In the run up to the match, I accept a few loan offers for some kids that are nowhere near the first team squad. Then Stanislas comes to talk to me about his lack of play time. He's the best winger I've got so I...

Started this up then had to take a break because of work. Now Christmas is out of the way, it's time to get back to it...

(b]Tottenham (A) - 19th December 2017 (Carabao Cup Quarter Final)[/b] After the win, I decided to ask the board if I can take my next coaching badge. So I'm currently training for my Continental B Licence. Hopefully I should get it around the end of...

Huddersfield (H) - 16th December 2017 After the Bournemouth game, I am able to confirm Wolfgang Rolff as my assistant manager. The 57 yr old German has previously been assistant at some top German clubs, including Hannover, Frankfurt, Bremen and Leverkus...

West Brom (A) - 13th December 2017 For the first game I'm lining up 4-3-3. I was tempted to play with 2 strikers but avoiding defeat has to be my priority and I'm fairly sure 2 up front would leave to many spaces. This is my first team sheet....

Approach To First Game The board offer me the chance to set expectations. I look at the budget options if I change them, but the budget doesn't actually change. So I leave them all on the lowest. I was actually surprised to find we are still in the...

[center]Meet The Team[/center] Currently, the only player injured is Artur Boruc and he's out for around 2 more weeks. According to the initial team report, we lack depth at central defence, central midfield and attacking midfield. We don't re...

Meet The Manager I'm not going to start with no qualifications because it's too unrealistic for a struggling team to hire someone with no knowledge at all. However, I haven't maxed my self out. I favour youth development and am more tacti...

It's ok. Discovered it's a Beta bug. This is how the table currently looks.

The first manager to leave his post is Mark Hughes, but it's mid October and with Stoke in 16th, he resigns before he's pushed. So I won't be taking this job. Perhaps surprisingly the Stoke board take on former Hull manager Mike Phelan. As...

I did this last year and enjoyed it until I got too busy to play very much. Taking inspiration from the "down by Christmas" challenge, I will take control of the first club in the bottom 5 of the Premier League to sack their manager. This will t...

Take over the first Premier League side to sack their manager and lead them to greatness

The First Match Before the International break, there's time for me to take in one more match. I choose to visit West Ham v Bournemouth. This gives me chance to look at Hart, Cresswell and Ibe, who all made my squad. However, I'm disappointed t...

The First Squad If you've followed any of my other careers, you'll know that I tend to switch between a 4-3-1-2 and a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 formation. So I need a bit of versatility when it comes to naming my squad. This squad is for the friendly again...

I probably have to agree with you. I think it's great to have Glenn Hoddle on board though!

August 2016 Before the Premier League even begins, I'm hit with this... I'm not short of midfielders, so I don't see any reason to ask him to reconsider. For the the first weekend of Premier League option. I choose to take in the game wi...

Attending Matches As an International manager, it is only right that Shearer attends matches to see his players in action. The aim is to attend one match every weekend as well as occasional midweek games, if it looks like there will be players worth watc...

Meet The Staff Shearer wastes no time in getting on the phone to some of his old mates. Finding former Internationals, some of which had also been wasting their life as pundits, to help out their country. Not everyone was willing to help out thou...

The Current Situation We take over before qualifying for the 2018 World Cup has begun. Our group, just as in real life, contains; Scotland, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia. Prior to our first qualifier on 4th September against Slovenia, we have a...

Meet The Manager Alan Shearer has left his pundits chair and moved back into management. It's the only job that he would have taken. His short stint as Newcastle boss doesn't really count as experience as it was a long time ago. He has his co...

An Introduction With FM18 fast approaching, I wanted a quick and easy save to end my time on FM17. I don't see many International stories on here, and certainly not with any real detail, so I thought I'd change that. Imagine, Gareth Southgate,...

Southgate's been caught with a fake sheikh, who will England turn to now?

Crystal Palace (H) - 30/9/2018 In the pre-match press conference for this match, Sam Allardyce states that he can't see how we can possibly stay up. Hopefully those words will spur the team on to prove him wrong. As far as the match goes, Isak need...

Bristol City (A) (EFL Cup) - 25/9/2018 Nothing of interest between games here. As we are playing a lower division side, I'm still happy to give some fringe players a run out. This is how we line up. On the bench are; Woud, Love, Badal, Felix, Watmo...

Manchester United (A) - 22/9/2018 Lynden Gooch picked up a groin strain in training that will keep him out for a couple of weeks. He's only a fringe player, so won't be missed too much. Pickford is back in full training though and should be ok...

Tottenham (H) - 15/9/2018 Galatasaray make a random loan offer for Djilibodji. No future fee, just a regular loan offer. Obviously, he's not going. The Tottenham game coming up actually gets moved to Sunday 16th for television coverage. Alerrandro&...

Manchester City (A) - 1/9/2018 We have a pleasant start to the month as Asoro scoops the young player of the month award, with Kluivert coming 3rd. I only manage a 3rd place in the manager award though. Submitting the final squad list is easy, as we don&...

Transfer Deadline Day - 31/8/2018 With deadline day fast approaching, I'm frantically looking around for players that will improve the first team squad as well as cheer up some of the unhappy players. Just before the madness happens, the draw is ma...

Millwall (A) EFL Cup - 28/8/2018 Dozzell's ban for his sending off has been increased by 2 games. He would have been rested for the Millwall game anyway, so I don't bother appealing it. Meanwhile, the board are happy with my control of the wage...

Leicester (H) - 25/8/2018 I finally receive an offer worth considering for Jordan. It's from Huddersfield, in the Championship, but he still wants to discuss terms. I managed to get them up to £3.4m plus £500k after 10 games. It's a...

Watford (A) - 19/8/2018 Before the season starts, it's time to name the captain. As Cattermole wants to leave, I feel that it's sensible to take it off him. Lamine Kone is named our new captain, while Didier Ndong is named as vice captain. Col...

Besiktas (H) (Friendly) - 11/8/2018 Annoyingly, I can't find a Spanish club willing to take Alerrandro on loan. The only teams willing to take him and offer him first team football are in Denmark and Poland, so I accept those offers and let him deci...