Challenges The Shankly Challenge

[phila]

The Shankly Challenge

Bill Shankly was arguably one of the best managers of the post-war era in England. He took what was effectively a Championship side and moulded them into one of the most successful clubs in England. Inspired by a belief that the fans were what mattered, he was respected by such managers as Busby and played a major part in the revolution of the game in the 60s. However, he did have his flaws - one of which was an unwillingness to sell players who had served him loyally (Evertonians are probably happy to point out a few others). Although the following challenge isn’t strictly following his career (namely he didn’t win any titles before he joined Liverpool), it is certainly inspired by him.

 

1. You must start at a club no higher than the effective 4th division (in England this is known as “League 2”) in the country you start in. Whilst at this club,

• you must only use the players you start with. So you can neither buy nor promote any players.

• You must either win a cup or gain promotion before you can leave the club

2. The next club you join can be no higher than the effective 3rd division (League 1 level in England).

• Each year you are at this club, you must sell the 2 highest value players you have.

• You are not allowed to buy any replacements but you can promote from within (ie sign “grey” players).

• You must either win a cup or gain promotion before you can leave the club.

3. The last club you join must be no higher than 2^nd division (Championship in England).

• You can only choose to sell players during season 1 at the club (giving you up to 2 transfer periods to offload unwanted players). After this, you must keep any players you have until they retire.

• You can buy or promote players but again you must keep them until the end of the challenge. If a player leaves for any reason other than retirement, the challenge is over.

• Win the following:

  1. 3x League titles

  2. 2 x FA cups (or its equivalent)

  3. 3 x League Cups (or its equivalent)

  4. 1 x Champions League

[JustM1kePlays]

Great challenge. I can see alot of people attempting this

[Skrat]

Hi all,

I've been lurking this excellent site for some time now and considered starting a challenge of some kind.

This one caught my eye, as I have enjoyed lower league careers earlier.

I do have some clarifying questions though, before attempting it:

1. In the third leg of the challenge you state that you're not allowed to let any player go after the first season. However, what if a player refuses to renew his contract?

2. I assume you expect the 'usual' rules to be in effect, e.g. no sugar daddy, in game editor, etc.

 

Looking forward to trying the challenge! Will start looking for the right team right away! 

 

Skrat

[phila]

14 hours ago, Skrat said:

Hi all,

I've been lurking this excellent site for some time now and considered starting a challenge of some kind.

This one caught my eye, as I have enjoyed lower league careers earlier.

I do have some clarifying questions though, before attempting it:

1. In the third leg of the challenge you state that you're not allowed to let any player go after the first season. However, what if a player refuses to renew his contract?

2. I assume you expect the 'usual' rules to be in effect, e.g. no sugar daddy, in game editor, etc.

 

Looking forward to trying the challenge! Will start looking for the right team right away! 

 

Skrat

1. What if they refuse to renew their contract? In short the challenge is over. Part of what will make this hard is that you will need to keep all your players happy - hopefully the game wont bug this.

2. Yeah usual rules in place