HockeyBhoy Activity
Episode 20: Dun and Dusted Ted knew the importance of the win against Motherwell, it meant a lot even at this early stage of the new season. Getting that first league win in just the second match of the season was a crucial statement, because nobody...
Episode 19: Home Comforts It had been a fortnight since Ted had taken the St Mirren managerial vacancy, and left Northern Ireland for Paisley, Renfrewshire. He had been living out of a suitcase in a hotel, bills covered by the Club, whilst he (Ted) s...
Very detailed in every post. However from a personal perspective, I feel like they're a bit too long in length. Could be broken down a bit.Good luck with the career mind, be interesting to see what happens at the Arsenal for you.
Episode 18: Preparation Is Vital After the opening day game at Parkhead had finished, Ted sat on his own in the corner of the away team dressing room. The players had left for the team coach, but Ted just wanted a few moments of self-contemplation be...
Note: Once the first month's fixtures are out of the way then I'm going to review the games monthly with some news “episodes” happening as they crop up in the gameplay. Hope you're all enjoying this new look save, as much as I am enjoying putting it...
Episode 17: Reality Check Sunday morning came and for Ted, it was business as usual to start with. Wake up, shower and a spot of breakfast before going to Mass in the morning. It was a routine that Ted had, and had since his days back in Holywood. It...
Episode 16: First Signing Buddies complete Efete signing Saints News / 3 August 2025 St Mirren have this afternoon completed the free transfer signing of defender Michee Efete.The 28 year old defender, who can play either as a right b...
Episode 15: Squad Numbers As Ted relaxed in the hotel, he suddenly got a call from Jock. Surely not a last minute injury or two which would cause a rethink of plans? “Ted, forgot to mention. We need to fax over our squad number list to the SPL....
Episode 14: The season starts After the proverbial dust had settled on the 2-0 Premier Sports Cup match against Clyde, Ted started to formulate a plan for the opening game of the season which was eight days away. The Buddies had been given probably t...
Episode 13: Clean sheet number two and more Ted hadn't seen the arrival of Nicky Butt on the scene coming, it really surprise him as much it did everybody else in Paisley. Well, everyone but Tommy Gibson who had orchestrated it behind the scenes. Whe...
Episode 12: Ex-England International arrives in Paisley Ted was a very happy man indeed, as his first ever competitive match as a football manager had ended in a win: a resounding one in the end. Granted it took the Buddies 61 minutes to open the sco...
Episode 11: Goals, goals and yet more goals Ted clambered out of a Black BMW on a sunny Monday morning to meet his backroom and the players for the first time ever as the new manager of St Mirren Football Club. At 23, he was younger than his Club Cap...
Episode 10: The hard work begins now.. Saturday 19 July 2025 marked a momentous day in Ted Dog's football lifestyle. It was the day, he became a football manager for the first time, the start of a new career. Ted knew he had to deliver results, consi...
Episode 9: Best Buddies Having turned down Neil Warnock and Torquay United, Ted was closing in a new chapter in his footballing life. After the career ending injury, many would just given up on everything but not the boy from Holywood. He was determi...
Episode 8: Saddling Up? After demolishing an all you can eat breakfast in his hotel, Ted checked out of the Premier Inn and made his way back to Bristol Temple Meads for a journey to the Second City where he would meet up with Walsall co-chairman Ben...
Episode 7: A wild Wednesday So things had started to look up for Ted, four “interviews” for a potential rookie managerial post. Each of the four were in different positions and possibly with different demands to be met. Of the four, the one at St Mir...
Episode 6: A man in demandThe days passed like a toothache, long and painfully slow, as Ted awaited a reply from those clubs that Emily had contacted on his behalf. Still, it gave him time to keep the soccer school running smoothly as well as plenty of qu...
Episode 5: Offers come in… So Ted had made a huge decision, he wanted to be a football manager now his playing days were over. The soccer school would still continue but Benji would assume more control of that as and when Ted got his first managerial...
Episode 4: Playing a different game After receiving that shattering news, Ted made it his mission to come back stronger. Granted his playing days had ended before he wasn't even 25 years of age, he was determined to stay in the beautiful game in some...
Episode 3: The day it all changed The smile on his face has now changed to a more sombre look. He wipes a tear away from his left eye with a tissue, it's clear that the story is going to change. “I remember it all as if it was yesterday…”...
Episode 2: Living The Dream Fast forward 15 years…. Well Ted Dog was as good as his word from when we met him as a eight year old footballing prodigy. He delivered a Man of the Match performance in the Cup Final, helping St Patrick's Primary to...
Episode 1: Meeting Ted “What about ye?” says the young man standing in front of the camera lens. (What about ye is a common greeting in Northern Ireland, similar to saying: “How are you?”) The youngster must be only about eight years old, b...
Prologue Welcome to a new story which I will be updating alongside my FM24 story. The biggest challenge for me in this new save is that I am playing it on the Xbox Series X console version of FM26, which is something that I have never done...
Following the career of a rookie football manager who so happens to come from the same area of Northern Ireland as golfing superstar Rory McIlroy.
This will return shortly, just started a new job which has taken a lot of my time up at the moment. The adventure is just beginning…
2025-26 Season: Has the door been opened? - Volume 3, Chapter 41 So we have tasted defeat for the first time in 10 league matches at Bangor, who remain the only side that have beaten us in league play this season. I said to the players in the sheds a...
2025-26 Season: Bangor close gap as unbeaten run comes to an end - Volume 3, Chapter 40 The fixture list has been weird so far this season, and not too kind at times for us. We're now at the start of another spell of games where we are playing three...
Congratulations on the promotion to Premier League. If only either the derby draw or the home draw with Luton had been three points instead of one…. Time to kick on now. Consolidation in this first PL campaign since the 1999-2000 season has to b...
Good luck. Believe anything is possible. I started with ECFC in a FM19 save. Two successive promotions but board wouldn't turn full time so had part-timers playing full time outfits in the Championship and subsequently was getting stuffed. I walked t...
Everton still playing at Goodison in the 2026-27 season? Thought they would have been at Hill Dickinson now… 4 points off top spot and just one off second. You're handily placed for a challenge here mate….
Great match reports, but I tell you what would make things better still…. League Tables! Guess you have a patch that allows you to manage at such a lower level than Conference North/South? Out of interest what happened in the early seasons of th...
2025-2026 Season: Build Up to Bangor - Volume 3, Chapter 39 Whilst we were narrowly beating Dergview in Castlederg to keep our lead intact, there was a full programme of matches elsewhere as the League hosted a Friday Night Special where everyone wou...
2025-26 Season - Volume 3, Chapter 38 It was a real nice feeling to bag the September Manager of the Month award, I tell you. I remember the olden days in the English Leagues when I was growing up when you used to see each divisional winner pictured...
Has this, and the Airdrie, story ended then @leckuno? If so, I can close them down for you and move them out of the “Active” stories forum.
Comfortably safe in the end, platform to build on for season two. Fantastic achievement in making the Cup Final too. There has to be roots of promise there in S6 for you.
2025-26 Season: Eat, sleep, football (repeat) - Volume 3, Chapter 37 Thirteen days between the Annagh United away game and the next match which is against Dergview on 10 October 2025.Thirteen days to get through and prepare ourselves for the first ga...
2025-26 Season: That's September in the books again - Volume 3, Chapter 36 Before I summarise Saturday's action elsewhere, I'll recap on the Reserves and Under 18 games as both sides were in action this weekend. The Under 18s played on the Saturday n...
2025-26 Season: - Volume 3, Chapter 35 Wake Me Up When September Ends… Said Billie Joe Armstrong and Green Day once upon a time, and this might have been the story of this particular part of the season. We're at the final stage of the opening ro...
2025-26 Season: Five wins on the bounce as we re-open the gap - Volume 3, Chapter 34 So after a ten day absence, we are back in action with yet another midweek date. We have just one more game to play before we have reached the completion of the firs...
Decent beginnings. Good luck with this save and the challenge ahead.
2025-26 Season: A rest for some, but others keep working - Volume 3, Chapter 33 For some of us, when you get a ten-day break from work then it's a case of recharging the body batteries ahead of going again. But for a football manager, this scenario i...
2025-26 Season - Volume 3, Chapter 32 The County Antrim Shield game midweek was a nice distraction to have, and nothing more than that: a nice distraction. However though, nothing can beat the actual bread and butter of a season and that's a league m...
2025-26 Season: Goals, goals, goals as Carrick take the Shield spoils - Volume 3, Chapter 31 We needed that break, we really did. After a punishing opening month, a week's break was welcomed by all. And with the league scores from Saturday going pret...
2025-26 Season: Catch us if you can - Volume 3, Chapter 30 I was still in a state of absolute disbelief a good hour after Glenn Buchanan's final whistle had shrilled. I felt like I was locked in a dream. We had faced a former Premiership side in The...
2025-26 Season: Point blunted in superb five star performance - Volume 3, Chapter 29 A new month but no change in the incessant run of fixtures for us. Once more, we're back in action just 72 hours after playing a hard away game. The latest game will...
2025-26 Season: End of the opening month, analysis - Volume 3, Chapter 28 That win at Clandeboye Park in Bangor wasn't just a win, it was a statement win to say that what you have seen so far from this newly promoted isn't a fluke but a team showing...
This story of course will be continuing soon… However, one of the stars of it so far has sadly been taken from us on Christmas Eve at the relatively young age of just 23: https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/ni-football-clubs-pay-...
2025-26 Season: - Volume 3, Chapter 27 We have had the time to reflect, watched the match video from the last game against Crusaders and compared what happened in that match against the last league match against Newington. Obviously, losing any game...
2025-26 Season: No use crying over spilt milk, it's just one game - Volume 3, Chapter 26 At the moment, it seems that the League Cup is like the albatross' revenge on the Ancient Mariner in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem. For those who don't k...