Career Albion Rovers - from the bottom to the top? (5 seasons done)

[Mr Tree]

Introduction

I'm an original Champman player, been playing since waaaay back in the day. And CM 01/02 would have been my 2nd year at university, when obviously I split my time equally between Champman and pestering 19yo girls.

I was vastly more successful at one than the other, and one of my favourite conquests was taking little Albion Rovers all the way to the Champions League title, signing a veteran Tonton Zola Mokouko himself to get me over the line.

A couple of recent Viber posts about Scotland reignited those flames of passion inside me, so I thought: in real life, who's currently bottom of the pile?

Oh my! Fate has reunited us, my sweetheart! We must take this opportunity - who knows where it may lead?!

 

 

The state of the club

I mean, can't you just picture an 80,000 megadome here?!

We're starting right at the bottom here - money's tight, with the club recklessly spending most of their budget on a snazzy kit designer:

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It's a bad sign when you can't even afford to give your Bronze-Poor AssMan the boot

 

Transfers

It wasn't like I was overflowing with sellable assets either - I was lucky to get fees for the three worthless guys I sold, and they didn't really move the needle. Fortunately, non-league Scottish clubs don't want your money, and higher clubs don't mind you loaning their players for free, so that was nice:

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Irvine and Quinn are golden-oldies who formed half of my back four. Munro is a decent young keeper, and five of the other signings were centre-mids 😮

Targets

Step one: overhaul the real-life Rovers' point-haul

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Sorted relatively quickly:

Now, onwards for world domination etc!

Cups

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The Betfred Cup was a fun early taster, but knocked out at the first stage:

Our win came against League One Dumbotron - check out these post-match progress numbers!!

(Oi Gracie, put some effort in!)

(Narrator: he would...)

For reference, this is the quality of player we're talking about - my hat-trick scoring superstar from that game:

 

The Scottish Cup turned into quite the adventure, as I knocked out THREE Championship teams on my way to the Quarter-Finals

(yes, that was bananas)

 

We were then drawn against Championship leaders Partick Thistle, and we weren't given much of a chance:

But at least we gave them a scare:

In a way, I regret continuing to attack once reaching 3-3... And I tried to sign Mutombo in January, the git.

League

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Ok, the bread and butter. We scrabbled around with the others at the start, but started rolling around Christmas, and then a great February set us up for the home stretch:

 

Queen's Park pushed us all the way, but suddenly we were there, needing one win from the last two games to secure top spot - and we nailed it on the first attempt:

A last-day defeat didn't dampen the spirits - the Wee Rovers were on the up!

Stars

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Gracie won the league's golden boot by a mile:

 

But again, to put it into context, this is a star performer at this level:

(To be fair, that shooting is dynamite)

Right-winger McLear did superbly for me too:

So that's the end of the first season. I did manage to fire my AssMan in the end, by the way, funded by my cup exploits. Not a huge range of coaches available, but all we can do is slowly level up and level up, and see where it takes us...

If you made it this far, god bless you, and I'll be back with more soon (ish).

Edited Saturday at 14:58 by Mr Tree

[Foxy]

That was an enjoyable read especially as I always like a Tonton reference 😁

Well done on a great first season and it looks like in Gracie you have a player to help fire you up the leagues.

[1759]

Really enjoyed reading that. I also used to play the desktop game; I think my first was CM 1999/00 but I’d played earlier editions at my mates house as I didn’t have a pc until later. I remember I had a good run with Macclesfield Town taking them up the leagues.

Last year was the first FMM I’ve played (apart from fm handheld 2008 that I had on the psp) and all I did was play lower league saves taking teams to the top. It’s a good challenge and I remember having to scrape around looking for free transfers! Anyway it’ll be interesting following your progress! Good luck!

[Mr Tree]

On 31/01/2019 at 22:34, Foxy said:

That was an enjoyable read especially as I always like a Tonton reference 😁

Well done on a great first season and it looks like in Gracie you have a player to help fire you up the leagues.

Thanks! Alas, GG's day in the sun was short and fleeting... One of the great things about smashing your way upwards is the amount of upgrade opportunities available... So I picked up Hursty in the summer:

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And then my scouts, as inept as they are, said "hey dya fancy this lad who Rangers released? Seems noone else'll have him but he looks alright to us":

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So poor Gracie has been frozen out, only bagging one league goal and one cup goal so far:

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I've made some other decent pick-ups, and my solitary preseason friendly gave an indication that we were heading the right way:

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Two early cup exits though (I didn't even notice or totally forgot the IRN-BRU Cup last year - got totally screwed on it this season in a penalty shootout of historical ineptitude):

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But the league's going swimmingly, as you might've guessed from my striker numbers. Not sure what happened to October in the below screenshot, btw?!

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Our last game before the halfway stage saw us put 6 past our nearest challengers, and the squad is very tasty at the mo, limited budget and facilities notwithstanding:

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I suppose the Championship will be a touch harder, although I did already show some decent pedigree at that level in last season's cup run. And then obviously the SPL is going to be a massive step up and the point where the games really begin....

Edited Saturday at 14:59 by Mr Tree

[gunnersaur]

Inching closer to the knockouts of the cup man .... great idea for a career shame there no Tó Madeira in this game maybe youll find him 😂

Edited February 2 by gunnersaur

[Mr Tree]

Season 2 review

Cups

Alas, I wasn't able to emulate last year's run to the quarter-finals after being handed a tough draw...

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Boo-hiss dodgy ref...

League

Well, the fact that the second half of the season was better than the first is probably a giveaway...With three games to spare:

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Final table:

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My only league defeat in the second half of the season being a 0-4 home drubbing against Stenhousemuir (?!)

Airdrie might have got closer if I hadn't slaughtered them in all four matches, aggregate 16-6 win. 6-3 and 3-0 at home, 4-2 and 3-1 away.We dominated the assists charts:

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But couldn't quite complete the clean sweep on Manager of the Month. Alloa?! Sure, whatever...

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Transfers

So a weird thing here...

I upgraded more than half my starting XI, and obviously it all came good...

In:

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Out:

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And the quality of my pick-ups etc meant that by the end of the season, my Transfer Acumen rating was looking great:

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BUT - for some reason, in Finances, the figure is totally different - see Transfer Spending:

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130k, compared to 4k or 3.8k mentioned above!!

I did pick up a few young players on Bosman's, so maybe there was a fee to pay, but it never showed and the board didn't seem to notice or mind 🤷‍♂️

 

Squad and Stars

Unfortunately this is showing my loaned-out players too but otherwise:

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McLear was awesome again, winning League One player of the year, but his stats don't seem to be showing much real improvement:

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Meanwhile RB Bowers was a cracking pick-up who was impressive all season long. He had the 3rd-highest AvR in the league overall, but somehow didn't get into the Team of the Year...

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So anyway, job done. Will be interesting to see what sort of transfer budget and recruits I can get next season, as well as staff (I still can't attract anyone other than Bronzie's). I've been knocked back a couple of times in asking for better training facilities, but I managed to get stadium improvements out of the board, who agreed to upgrade Cliftonhill to a 5k stadium - what luxury!

Thanks for reading!

Edited Saturday at 15:02 by Mr Tree

[1759]

Making good progress! You’ll have them in the champions league before too long!

[Foxy]

5 hours ago, Mr Tree said:

upgrade Cliftonhill to a 5k stadium - what luxury!

It will need to be 100k by the time you have finished 😁

[Mr Tree]

Oof, the Championship is proving to be a bit of a step up...

I think the problem is that League One and League Two are essentially 20 rubbish teams - not a huge difference between the two.

Whereas the Championship has some proper teams.

I have a bit of a budget, but struggling to attract much. Can still only get bronzed staff. Loanees are tough to get from fellow Champ clubs, and SPL players are turning their nose up at me despite apparently being interested.The Betfred Cup is fun, it's basically a nice little way of livening up preseason. But at times I was using my only 11 fit players, and Livingston and Partick are good Champ teams, so out at the first stage again:

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And then conceded an inevitable late goal in my first league match for a rough start:

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But these boys are feisty! A great away win got us going in our second match:

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And we won the next three too, culminating in a stunning performance at Ross County after conceding an early goal:

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As a Champ club, I skipped the first round of the IRN-BRU Cup, and then won in the second:

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Now drawn away to TNS in Round 3. Some of my boys never dreamed that their football careers would take them to glamorous North London and Total Networks-shire - I'm gonna have to keep an eye on them and make sure they get back on the bus after the game!

 

I think for my next update, I'll do a quick "Meet the Squad" session, so I hope you're all immensely excited by the prospect of that

Edited Saturday at 15:04 by Mr Tree

[Mr Tree]

As promised, back by popular demand, please meet your 2020/21 Albion Rovers first-team squad!!!

 

We play a fairly typical 4-3-2-1 with 2x IF's behind a Poacher up top, and a midfield consisting of BBM, BWM and AP.

GOALKEEPERS

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Ross Munro - 20-year-old Scot who was on loan from Ross County for the League Two title success before joining permanently the following year.

Kris McLeod-Kay - 16-year-old Scottish youth academy graduate with a bright future.

DEFENCE

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Shaun Bowers - 21-year-old Scottish right-back signed from Elgin City for 2k in Summer 2019. Had a cracking first season at the club.

Scott Allardice - 22-year-old Scottish centre-back on loan from Falkirk for this season. Refutes allegations of being related to former England manager Sam as his name is CLEARLY spelt differently.

Ricki Lamie - 27-year-old Scottish centre-back recruited from Livingston in the Summer of 2020 for the princely sum of 22k. Loses marks for ridiculous spelling of his own name.

Pat Quinn - 18-year-old Scottish left-back who graduated from the youth academy. Spent 2019/20 on loan at Annan but has now broken into the first team at Cliftonhill and is touted as a very hot prospect.

Daniel Higgins - 22-year-old Scottish centre-back - the lynchpin of the League One-winning team after being snapped up when released by Kilmarnock in the Summer of 2019. Recently been training as a right-back so that he can fill in if required.

Neil Edwards - 19-year-old Welsh centre-back signed from TNS in January 2020.

Ciaran Summers - 25-year-old Scottish left-back poached from League Two title rivals Queen's Park in the Summer of 2019. After a bright start, he was ousted by old-timer Gary Irvine, and since Irvine's retirement he's seen Quinn leapfrog him.

MIDFIELD

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Liam Brown - 21-year-old Scottish central midfielder snapped up from Motherwell - he's primarily used as a ball-winner but has a useful tendency for banging in a 20-yarder.

Owen Bell - 21-year-old Scottish box-to-box midfielder who's been a real hit with the fans since being purchased from Livingston.

Jordan Kirkpatrick - 28-year-old Scottish advanced playmaker, the old geezer of the group, but a quality recruit from St Mirren.

Morgan Brown - 20-year-old Englishman who was brought in from Aberdeen but has generally found himself warming the bench and failing to do enough to impress when he gets the chance.

Sean McKirdy - 22-year-old Scottish BBM, signed on a free from Gala Fairydean. He spent 2019/20 on loan at Berwick but has impressed enough to be given a shot as a backup in the Championship.

Mitchell Duffy - 21-year-old Scottish BWM, signed on a free from Clydebank. He spent 2019/20 on loan at Queen's Park, but also did well enough to be retained for the Championship season, although he rarely even makes the bench - very much a "just in case" player, for now.

WINGERS

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Lewis McLear - 24-year-old Scottish right-winger - you know this guy, League One Player of the Year for 2019/20, cracking little player with a deadly eye for goal. Alarmingly, upon review, the first guy we've met here who was actually at the club when I arrived. And upon further review, the only guy I've retained from the original squad.

Davis Keillor-Dunn - 22-year-old English left-winger. Was on loan from Ross County for the League Two-winning campaign, but stayed with them during 2019/20. He only played four times though, and practically jumped into my arms when I offered him refuge in Summer 2020. Ohh, now I see (see above game vs Ross) - what a revenge game that must've been!!

Jonny Watters - 17-year-old Scottish "shadow striker" from the youth academy who's been working on his wing skills to complement natural tendencies at number 9 and 10. Showing some nice flashes, looks to have a bright future.

Andrea Mutombo - 31-year-old Belgian (you weren't expecting that were you!!!) left-winger who I did eventually get (mentioned above), after he was released by Partick. Bit of a waste of money really (he's one of my highest-paid), but a useful reserve.

STRIKERS

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Ryan Hardie - 23-year-old Scottish striker who was released by Rangers and scooped up from the scrapheap into my grateful arms. A bit inconsistent but can spark into life spectacularly!

Connor McLennan - 21-year-old Scottish striker recruited in the Summer after his release by Aberdeen. Looks decent so I ended up giving Hursty the boot, albeit just on loan for now. Got a couple of other 16-year-olds from my academy who look half decent if both of these guys were injured, plus most of the wingers could do a job up top too.

 

That's it - thanks for reading - back to business tomorrow, will probably have a mid-season update for you by then!

Edited Saturday at 15:05 by Mr Tree

[1759]

Seems like you’ve got a nice blend of youth and experience there. Your system is not too dissimilar to the system I’m using for my Parrott 1k career except I have a DLP instead of BWM in centre midfield and my WB’s are pushed up into dm strata. 😀

[Gerechtigaids]

Release Allardice before he spills all the secrets of the club in an interview with a rich Portugese agent imo.

[Mr Tree]

Season 3 mid-season update

Cups

Our fun in the IRN-BRU Cup continued...

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...until Airdrie exacted revenge on me after last season's fun. Injury-time sucker punch against a team from the division below, but I can't complain really (and I'd rotated the squad a bit too, my bad)

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Meanwhile the Scottish Cup campaign is already threatening to come off the rails...

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League

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My last game before the halfway stage was pure FMM shithousery. It even did a classic "suddenly burst forward from 77mins to 90mins" on me so I couldn't go more defensive to try and see the game out. Ah well, it happens...

 

But I can't complain, we're doing well...

 

And indeed, game 19 turned out alright:

Still, I'll be happy to consolidate, build our reputation, slowly strengthen the squad and staff. But of course, if the chance for promotion comes, we can only give it our best shot!

Edited Saturday at 15:06 by Mr Tree

[ScottishFMM]

Looking good mate, McLennan looks like he has the potential for Aberdeen in real life so will be interesting to see if he reaches it.

[Mr Tree]

Well...........

First things first, no cup glory. Turns out Chris bloody Mepham is at Celtic, on loan from Man Utd, and even though he couldn't stop one of my kids scoring a screamer off the bench (paper-thin squad suffering with injuries), the damage had been done:

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As for the league... Allardice went back to Falkirk (for some reason I hadn't been able to sign him on a season-long loan), and I couldn't get anyone decent to replace him - signed someone from Dunfermline on loan, but he was average.

 

But a good run in late Winter left me in a nice position, and then with 5 games to go this happened:

I won a tough away match, while 2nd and 3rd dropped points. THIS ISN'T GOING TO BLOODY HAPPEN, IS IT?!?!

 

7pts clear with 4 games to go!!

I decided to go game-by-game from here, because I'm an idiot and I wanted to tempt fate...

Game 33 - Ross County (h)

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Two down within 20 minutes, but a penalty late in the first half gave us a lifeline.

But McCourt crashed in a great free-kick and, although he tried to make amends by getting himself sent off, we could not raise ourselves for the necessary onslaught.

Dundee win but Partick lose. Still feeling good.

Game 34 - Dunfermline (h)

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They'd beaten me earlier in the season with striker Hippolyte scoring 4 on my patch, but I'd won 5-0 at their place in my good run. They were already consigned to the bottom two, but still hoping to stay ahead of Livingston and avoid automatic relegation.

Tense, nervous... Rubbish.

Partick falling apart more than me, but wins for the other two behind me...

Eek, this is getting a bit tight...

Game 35 - Morton (a)

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After my star left-winger limped off early on, I was dreading the worst, especially when we conceded a penalty in first half injury-time. Fortunately they screwed it wide, and when young Watters slotted home late on, I scared the lady next to me on the train, such was my excitement

Alas, bloody Dundee won, so we're heading for a last day thriller...

And guess who my opponent is, the ones Dundee are relying on for a favour... Of course...

Game 36 - Dundee Utd (h)

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Meanwhile Dundee are away to Hamilton, so a draw should be enough for me... But bloody Bowers was suspended and my two reserve centre-backs both injured, so I had no cover at right-back...

With 10 minutes to go, both games were level, we were heading up...

But then my ex-loanee Glass scored a screamer... And at the same time, Dundee made their breakthrough...

GUTTED 😭

 

Playoffs

We had been suffering with injuries a bit, with a thin squad too - Bell and Kirkpatrick had missed a few games down the stretch. But we were back at nearly full-strength for the playoffs. Hamilton knocked out Partick, and they're no slouches, so...

A great start, and able to keep them at arm's length throughout...

Job done - no CCC's, very few shots at all. Note how unrealistic this game is - 26°C in Scotland? Do me a favour...

 

In the SPL, Hibernian had suffered auto-relegation, with Queen of the South finishing just above them. They didn't look too scary, although they did have Celtic loanee striker PJ Croissant, who I'd been looking at myself, so that worried me...

Ah yes, Mr Croissant - obviously I was fearing the worst, but fortunately Bell popped up before half-time, and we were able to salvage a draw.

 

So at least half-a-chance, but still, can the plucky young lads from Coatbridge somehow nail back-to-back-to-back promotions?

What's your score prediction? Prizes on offer if you get it right...

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Yes, seriously!!

Amazing, incredible - what a mental game! 2-0 up early, 4-2 up at HT, then a disallowed goal for me swiftly followed by 3-4, argh!! But Hardie, you beauty!! And suddenly we were 7-3 up and the lads were hugging each other on the pitch while the game was still going on - unbelievable scenes!!

 

So the SPL awaits... (gulp)

 

Edited Saturday at 15:09 by Mr Tree

[gunnersaur]

Dont know but judging by my psychic powers i think there was 11 goals in the match 😋 

[1759]

Must be a very mild spring lol. Fabulous playoff result. I’ve got a soft spot for the dee’s so I’m happy to see them get promoted too. Good luck in the SPL!😀

[Paul186]

Cracking career so far, good luck in the SPL

[ScottishFMM]

Best of luck in the Premiership, except when you play hibs I hope they smash you😋

[mikeedwilson]

Really good going so far. Good luck in the SPL. Hopefully a kind draw for a decent cup run too 

[Mr Tree]

6 hours ago, ScottishFMM said:

Best of luck in the Premiership, except when you play hibs I hope they smash you😋

They've been relegated so I'm a league above them 😊

[Mr Tree]

Season 3 squad and stats

So a quick summary of season 3 before we look ahead:

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Goals were nicely shared around with no real star striker. Keillor-Dunn and Bowers were richly rewarded with spots in the team of the year:

Season 4

It's really hard to sign anyone... I can only loan ONE player from a fellow SPL club (I've brought Allardice back)... And I'm a bit worried because Scots generally seem obsessed with minimum fee clauses AND relegation release clauses, and the latter are always small and could come back to hurt me here... Hmm...

Also, I'm sure I upgraded to "adequate" training facilities at some point, but I've had that issue where the most recent save isn't actually the most recent - I've noticed it now but maybe at some point I didn't, or maybe I'm just back down to "below average" anyway. But the board are refusing to upgrade and got annoyed with me for asking too often. Cliftonhill has at least been expanded to 8500 capacity.

The fixture computer decided to throw me in the deep end:

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And my assistant's review of the squad hardly helped me to feel better:

"They're young, happy, and full of beans! On the downside.........."

So I sacked him and brought in my first ever silver member of staff! (I can't even get them to take exams - the board block it due to lack of funds!)

The Betfred Cup.... is still a distant dream:

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BUT AT LEAST there was an encouraging performance at home to an SPL team:

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Ok so, how did we get on at Ibrox.....

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Not bad!

I mean, not good, but no disaster.

And Game 2 brought 3 points!

 

Unfortunately Game 3 showed some of the "difference in class" I might have to contend with...

 

We'll see how it goes - I'll be back with more soon. Many thanks for all the well-wishes, comments, views, etc - all highly appreciated!

Edited Saturday at 15:13 by Mr Tree

[Mr Tree]

So I've played all the SPL teams twice now - time for an update!

I came close to stunning Celtic, but couldn't hold on

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I signed a 17-year-old winger who's proved to be great pick-up... Except, oh...

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(also, it's a bit odd that I didn't deny anything, yet it says that "the club" did...)

 

McLear again took a few games to get going, but now he's gaining his confidence at the top level:

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Unfortunately I had a rocky spell with 5 defeats in a row, but we managed to get it sorted, and then.......

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!!!

 

So we're far from safe as it stands, but it's been encouraging:

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And then in my 23rd game, the young winger (who's "backed down" on his requests for a bigger club, thank god) scored a screamer to salvage a point at Ibrox

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Still haven't really been able to sign much, but hopefully my scouts can find me some gems. Finally got the training facilities upgraded, but noone's keen to join, so I only got a bronze gk coach to fill out the staff.

Next target: stay up

And obviously after that, I'd love to finish in the top six, but that might take a while...

Edited Saturday at 15:15 by Mr Tree

[mikeedwilson]

Some promising results and clearly up against it even keeping your new signings at the club! Keep it up, looking forward to the European adventure in a couple of seasons.

Edited February 11 by mikeedwilson

[Mr Tree]

Season 4

(note: I've put a lot of previous screenshots behind spoilers now to try and make the thread a bit more readable)

No IRN-BRU Cup for me, and I got Rangers in the Scottish Cup 5th round, didn't even bother to screenshot it.

It's all about survival in the league so...

I didn't quite make the top six - lost my last two games to Kilmarnock and Dundee (where I got totally FMM'd) to condemn myself to the relegation scrap...

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Still, a nine-point advantage with five games to go, you'd take that.

And survival was ensured with an emotional 90th-minute goal:

 

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Ended up playing Ayr on the last day - they needed a win to stay up (although as it turned out, it wouldn't have been enough anyway). I had thrown a few kids into the mix, including this striker who I hadn't realised had been developing so nicely:

 

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And he ripped them to shreds!

 

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He's still probably a bit young for SPL, and Hardie and McLennan are half-decent, so I might loan him out for next year for the experience, and then have a potentially tasty player for the future!

 

Final table (well not actually, but who cares about the top six):

Hibernian and Morton are coming up to replace the bottom two. I've improved my training facilities, got a silver scout, and a little money, so will try to make a couple of nice pick-ups so that we can push on.

Bowers ended up with the best average in the league - he's been a great signing:

 

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Of course, cruelly overlooked for Team of the Year, but at least I got a couple in there... God knows how they work this out, McLear ended up being replaced by Armstrong in my team for the last third of the season!!

 

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Keillor-Dunn topped the assists chart:

 

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As for the squad - firstly, a summary of my transfers:

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Tanser came in at left-back - Quinn's a good prospect but I didn't want to throw him to the wolves! I ended up bringing in Calder as a competent reserve LB so that I could loan out Quinn for game-time.

Turner became my BWM. Knox never really broke into the team ahead of Kirkpatrick, but Armstrong was a great signing. Watters was a young midfielder signed in January who got a few games by the end, enough to earn Young Player of the Month, although the board were still unimpressed...

 

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(They had spent the previous nine months telling me that signing my ex-loanee Lawless on a free was a mistake. He was useful insurance and a free transfer. It might be that my board are dicks)

 

So otherwise, here was how the squad performed (sorted by AvR):

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And here's a look at how their values have (thankfully!) increased:

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I didn't really notice the moment where the values all started going up, but once I did, I had to get around negotiating new contacts, as some had increased beyond their minimum fee release! And Armstrong has continued to bloom, which is a bit worrying as he's again now worth more than his release clause, and won't discuss terms atm...

 

Finally, my manager profile after 4 seasons:

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Not sure how I lose marks for "Domestic Player Bias" - the only players who are interested in me are in Scotland!!

 

 

Thanks for reading

Edited Saturday at 06:48 by Mr Tree

[Mr Tree]

I did it, I climbed the bloody mountain!!

I made it through to the second round of the bloody Betfred Cup!!!!

Job done, pack your bags, see ya later!

Of course I have promptly drawn Celtic in the next round 🙄 

I had another cracking game at Queen of the South in the group stage, by the way... 93rd minute professional foul red card, with a second following for arguing the decision!

[Mr Tree]

Celtic dispatched in the BetFred, even with a couple of my youths in the team just for experience!

And that earned me 100k in transfer funds - very useful!

I even scared them in the league... 

 

Very promising start to the season - really liking my squad at the mo!

[Mr Tree]

SEASON 5 REVIEW

World Cup

Weeks flew by in November without a game, and then I remembered why. Germany shall end France's reign, you heard it here first:

England's poor run led to a shake-up with knock-on effects in my league...

 

Cups

My best run yet in the BetFred was ended at the quarter-final stage by Hearts after a crazy extra time period:

Yes, Chris Smalling?! I only have Scotland loaded up on this game, so now weird random people are popping up at these clubs - Andy Carroll at Hibs, anyone?

Ayr avenged last year's humiliation by dumping me out of the Scottish Cup - seems I was sulking too much to screenshot that.

 

League

Here's another good random name for you, plus some classic FMM-ing:

And unfortunately this capped an "awful" run that was a "major" concern for the board:

As mentioned previously, the conclusion here might be that my board are dicks.

Also, see lower down that last picture - my young winger Armstrong was impressing a bit too much. Rotherham came in and met his release clause, and that was the end of that

 

We then suffered a horrendous injury crisis after the break that led to us playing the only 11 fit players for a good month or so. But somehow we survived and continued winning more than we lost.

 

After playing each team twice, we were leading the non-Glasgow portion of the table:

And then we gave the blue side of Glasgow some hope...

... before mercilessly crushing that hope 3 days later:

 

Those results were enough to see us crash the Manager of the Month party - still can't get the top step, but a silver medal is the best I've done so far!

 

We also reached an important milestone with our first international call-up:

 

And we ended up comfortably in the top 6 when the league split - no danger of relegation!

 

The best game of the final five saw us come back superbly from 2-0 down at half-time:

 

And we went into the final match (home to Hearts) knowing that if we could avoid a 0-7 defeat, we would be in Europe next season! (4th place only qualifies if one of the top two win the Cup)

 

We just about survived losing 1-3 to secure 3rd place!

 

We ranked well in the league stats:

... which was reflected in the prizes:

 

Unfortunately, Taiwo's meteoric rise was even greater than Armstrong's, with the prize triggering St Johnstone to meet his release clause. I tried giving him a new contract but couldn't meet his demands. This will be "fun" as I establish myself over the next few seasons - hopefully I keep finding sufficient talent to replace them, and I can start persuading players not to sign with release clauses too... On the other hand, the money does at least give me the funds to "level up"

 

Finally, here was how the squad performed (can't work out how to do this without the loaned-out players - "hide ineligible" is ticked)

 

And finally, my manager profile after 5 seasons:

 

So, let's see what signings I can get for the new season, and then we'll have our first European game... And I've got my eyes on breaking into the top two, but that might be over-ambitious given their size!

[Foxy]

Well done on getting Europe mate 👍🏻

I usually load 4 leagues so although I have seen random stuff as this is FMM after all I haven’t seen so many fairly decent players signing for teams in a smaller league. It’s interesting as I wonder if it is making your save tougher than it would have been if you had loaded some bigger league alongside Scotland.

[Mr Tree]

Adventures in Europe

The club's first ever European tie took them to...... Northern Ireland 🙄

Well, in fact, the first game will be in glorious Coatbridge.

How did we get on?!

A few jitters after young centre-back Naylor fell on his sword, but we saw the game out comfortably enough.

A quick trip on the ferry for the second leg and....

Davis's early goal sealed the deal really, and it was comfortable from there.

 

Second round sends us to.... Slovakia! That's a bit more like it! Half of my lads have never even heard of it, and the other half can't pronounce it, so there is a slight fear of the unknown. After watching Hostel to help them embrace that fear, we were ready to welcome these guys to Cliftonhill:

Davis ripped into them, and Naylor was a lot happier at the end of this one than the previous home leg.

Still anything can happen so...

I'd love to know more about Vladimir McGrath's back-story, but now's not the time...

 

Game on, so Round 3 sends us to.... Ukraine! The lads have heard a little about that, there's a war going on isn't there, etc... And we start off with the away leg this time....

Wow, can't ask for more than that - phenomenal performance. Second leg was just a formality after that...

 

So now just two games from the group stage and some real big guns, but for sure now we'll have to overcome a proper team... Where to now then?

Switzerland. Away in the first leg. And hope is snatched away, followed by an injury-time kick in the balls:

Corner was cleared and rifled back in after I'd sat back at 2-1 up and not bothered to push back out at 2-2. Arse.

It felt like an irrecoverable blow, even though we know these boys are made of stern stuff... Can we get there in the second leg??

 

What a cliffhanger!!

 

Spoiler

It wasn't looking great in the first half, but Knoxy banged one in and then young reserve striker Allan broke free from a corner at our end with his 20 pace to slot in a second, and a weight lifted from our shoulders.

So a trip to Rome and St Petersburg await, as well as..... Bosnia, apparently 🤷‍♂️

 

Edited Saturday at 16:23 by Mr Tree