Career Big Al’s Homegrown Army! Club & Country

[BigAl]

Background

Scotland haven’t qualified for a major tournament since 1998 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 

Even then they finished bottom of their group, with a single point. 

Over the years, we’ve come close a few times, but failed at the last hurdle. 

Ultimately for a nation that loves football, and develops some decent players, we aren’t performing as well as we should be. 

How will I change this? 

My aim is to do a club and country save, where I can only sign Scottish players. 

By only signing homegrown talent for my chosen club, I will hopefully improve the National Team. 

This will involve constantly developing young talent, even selling them on to clubs in a better reputation league. This will give someone else an opportunity, and increase the number of players in the pool. 

Who will I manage? 

Now it would be easy for me to start the save as a team in the Scottish Premiership, but I’m not going too 😉

Instead I’ll be starting out at my local club, Falkirk, who play in the Scottish Championship! 

I also won’t be starting the save as Scotland manager, I will need to apply for the job when the current Manager inevitably gets sacked 😂 

This will allow me to focus fully on my Falkirk side, and winning promotion to the Premiership. 

Short-Term Goals

- Identify future Scotland stars already at the club (if any!) 

- Sell all non-Scottish players currently playing for Falkirk 

- Win promotion to the top division 

[Gunners Rishi]

Good luck mate! Looks really interesting

[BigAl]

16 minutes ago, Gunners Rishi said:

Good luck mate! Looks really interesting

Thanks mate, I’m looking forward to seeing what stars I can unearth 😎

[Steventennant85]

Good luck m8

 

[Ian]

Good luck with this. I thought about doing something similar with Scotland during my Queen’s Park career but never went through with it.😀

[Sousa_XI]

Long term challenge .. good luck mate 

[Aaron Thornton]

Really good idea, i might do one in the background now

[BigAl]

54 minutes ago, 1759 said:

Good luck with this. I thought about doing something similar with Scotland during my Queen’s Park career but never went through with it.😀

I thought of starting in League Two, but would have taken me a lot longer to get the Scotland job 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 

Also I drive by Falkirk’s stadium going to work everyday, so they’re the perfect choice 😁

32 minutes ago, Aaron Thornton said:

Really good idea, i might do one in the background now

It’s pretty flexible, you could try it in any league with any country. 

 

1 hour ago, Steventennant85 said:

Good luck m8

 

Cheers mate 😎

41 minutes ago, Sousa_XI said:

Long term challenge .. good luck mate 

Thanks man, hope you enjoy. 

[Ashez]

Good luck

[BigAl]

Potential Stars ⭐️ 

I evaluated the existing staff at Falkirk, and found three players, who I feel have a great future at this club. 

Jordan McGhee

He is a standout CB at this level. At 22, McGhee has plenty room for potential. 

I can see him captaining this club, and becoming a rock at the heart of my defence. 

Kevin O’Hara 

Looking at his stats, he looks pretty ordinary. Using my experience from past FMM19 saves, this lad always ends up in the English Premier League. 

Assuming he has some hidden attributes, I will aim to transform him into, a goal hungry poacher. 

Ross MacLean

I won’t be using wingers in my current tactic, so you may be thinking ‘why this guy’. 

He looks too good a player to pass up on, so I will be attempting to retrain him, as a wing back. 

I’d usually sell a player that doesn’t fit my current setup, but in this save, I’ll be retraining anyone with potential. Think of this as an experiment! 

 

[BigAl]

10 minutes ago, Ashez said:

Good luck

Thanks man, got the Vibe bug after my last career post 😁😂

[BigAl]

SUMMER DETOX 

This first transfer window was all about selling all non-Scottish players. 

We made 575K in sales, which gave me some money to spend on their replacements. 

New Comers 

If you are familiar with any of the above names, you’ll know we are relying on youth. 

It’s not rocket science that the younger the player, the more time I have to mould him into a star ⭐️ 

I will do more of a player focus as we go through the save, basically when I feel a players form makes him worthy, of recognition. 

3x players joined on loan, all with a buyout option. I was 50/50 with these lads which is why I’ve not bought outright yet. 

I couldn’t resist bringing Islam Feruz to the club, on a free. 

This lad was tipped for big things, but didn’t live up to expectations at Chelsea. 

Lets turn him into the Scottish Drogba. 

[BigAl]

First Season Recap 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 

The board expected me to reach the playoffs, I’ve achieved that by finishing second. 

I’d have loved to start the save in style with a title win, but my young side made a habit of losing games, from winning positions.

In hindsight I should have brought in some more experienced heads, but can’t knock a man for promoting youth 😉

Let the Playoffs Begin 🏆

When we were 2-0 up away from home, first leg, I thought the tie was over. Morton stunned me by coming back to draw 2-2. 

Quitongo finished them off in the second leg, so setup a tie with Livingston! 

EASY EASY EASY 🔥

We are going up! That 3-0 win at home, was probably our performance of the season. 

Livi are a decent side, despite their relegation, so I was pleased to beat them so comfortably over the two legs. 

Star Man 🌟 

Zak Rudden was excellent as our Target Man. He finished as top goalscorer in the league, scoring 28 in all comps. 

The only downside is he returns to Rangers, although I do see him as a future Scotland star. 

I will hopefully bring him back to the club, at some point in the near future. 

New Short term goals 

- Avoid Relegation 

- Improve youth facilities 

- Keep majority of squad the same, with only a few key signings 

[BigAl]

SEASON TWO - REINFORCEMENTS 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 

I was delighted to bring in some quality loan signings. Billy Gilmour is one of Scotland’s best youth prospects .

Gordon adds some much needed experience, and can play all across the back four. He was our only paid for signing. 

Nothing much to see here, a few academy graduates go out on loan.

Kidd wasn’t part of my plans, he moves on for 50K, ensuring we ended the window with a profit. 

Betfred Cup Success 🏆 

We win our first piece of silverware. It was particularly pleasing to beat Celtic in the final, as they were the previous winners. 

Based on the above, what’s your predictions of how we performed in the league? Bearing in mind my prediction was to just avoid relegation 😉 

[S4NCH0]

You won it, no doubt. Hahaha hope not cause some big teams are going to come and try to take away your best players. A midtable result wouldn't catch the eye of the bigger sides.

[BigAl]

16 hours ago, S4NCH0 said:

You won it, no doubt. Hahaha hope not cause some big teams are going to come and try to take away your best players. A midtable result wouldn't catch the eye of the bigger sides.

Spoiler.... but never won the league 😂

Yeah I actually don’t mind my best players being stolen, as long as they are going to better leagues. The more Scottish players playing in England, the better. 

 

[BigAl]

FIRST YEAR IN THE BIG TIME 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 

We finished the season in 3rd place, which is excellent after our promotion last season. 

We didn’t get involved in a title race, as Celtic and Rangers were too strong for us. 

I think the next step should be to finish second, breaking the old firms dominance. 

WHERE’D THE GOALS COME FROM?

You’ll see rather than an out and out goalscorer this season, House and Quitongo helped themselves to 29 goals league goals, between them. 

House proved to be a great loan signing, we are hopeful of picking him up on a free, when his contract expires in the summer ☀️ 

Quitongo had a much better season, after arriving on a free last year. 

At 22, he still has a bit of growth left in him. 

How did Gilmour perform? 🌟 

I wish we had the funds to sign this lad permanently! 

After 11 goals and 11 assists, he won the young player of the year award ⭐️ 

I must now prepare my squad for European football, as we take on the Europa League qualifiers 😉

[BigAl]

EUROPA LEAGUE FOCUS 🏆

We hammered these minnows 7-0 in the first qualifying round 💪🏻

Wolfsburg are a good side, so I was surprised and delighted, to beat them at home, then draw the away leg. 

This was more comfortable for my liking, as we beat Omonoia 7-3 on aggregate! 

WOW 😯 

That 5-0 win against Spartak was our best performance, since I joined the club. 

Conveniently this result also meant we qualified for the group stages 😍 

WELL THAT WAS EXHAUSTING... but very rewarding 😁

Note to self - must not finish 3rd, as you need to play about 100 qualifying matches 👀😂 

A decent group for us, we get to test ourselves against French, Portuguese and Turkish opposition. 

[BigAl]

MORE NEW ARRIVALS 😎

RUDDEN IS BACK... our main man in our promotion year! 

He joins on a free, along with a few others. Clark is always my go to Scottish keeper, he gets better with age. 

A few backup players leave, for a combined 575K. 

Good news is all transfers out so far, haven’t been forced. 

What Next? 

Hopefully we can break the Old Firm divide, and not embarrass ourselves in Europe 😁

[Ian]

Great first season in the top flight. Well poised to get amongst the Old Firm.

[BigAl]

8 hours ago, 1759 said:

Great first season in the top flight. Well poised to get amongst the Old Firm.

Yeah mate, my young players are developing well. 

I’ll do a squad review shortly, so you can all see the progress they’ve made. 

Edited April 11, 2019 by BigAl

[danovic78]

Good going so so far. I am trying to use local players for my John Charles Challenge with Celtic.

Jason Kerr from St. Johnstone and John Souttar from Hearts are solid defenders if you need to boost the back line 👍

[BigAl]

13 hours ago, danovic78 said:

Good going so so far. I am trying to use local players for my John Charles Challenge with Celtic.

Jason Kerr from St. Johnstone and John Souttar from Hearts are solid defenders if you need to boost the back line 👍

I’ve got Kerr he’s great, used Souttar in previous saves, but he’s currently playing in the EPL. 

You should look at Innes Cameron, striker from Kilmarnock, see more about him here shortly 😎

[Snip]

Great challenge.  Are you keeping an eye on scotlands league rating? See if it goes up as you progress in Europe further.