Career "Goal a Mile" challenge - S19, Northampton, EFL2

[Mr Tree]

Here we go! 

Credit, as always, must go to @Ashezfor the original concept:

TLDR? Well this might not be the thread for you then But basically, you start at one end of the country, and your designated striker has to score the goals to earn you moves across the country. Every goal is worth a mile! 

Check out my careers from FMM19 and FMM20 to see it in action:

 

Italy was fun last year, but not knowing the country so well, it was a bit tedious looking up the location of EVERY new job to see if it was within reach...

So back to basics this year. I tried UK South-to-North before, so this year, let's try North to South...

 

I'm gonna try and live-blog it too. What? Yeah, I'm not sure either. Basically, probably not classic season recaps, but rather shorter posts and more often. I'm not saying I'll update after every session... but i might?! Who knows, we'll see how it goes

Edited Friday at 05:26 by Mr Tree

[Paul186]

As always looking forward to this career one of the best every year on the site

[Mr Tree]

Very kind of you to say so, @Paul186!

So first things first - a better man than I would know how to put these four pictures together. But as i tell my wife, you're stuck with me now...

Which is the most northernmost British club with which i can start? 

Here are the four Scottish leagues:

 

It was looking like Ross County, wunnit? And then right at the last second, up pop Elgin... i don't know if anyone knows how to check latitudes etc, but I'd say Elgin shades it:

 

Any objections, please let me know asap

[RichD]

I wasn’t around for the last one you did, but I went back and read it a little while back and it was an enjoyable read, I look forward to reading this years version, I enjoy managing in Scotland 😁

[Jsavfc]

Can't believe your first save will be a full 30 year challenge. Mental. 

Looking forward to the ups and downs none the less! Good luck! 

[Mr Tree]

7 minutes ago, Jsavfc said:

Can't believe your first save will be a full 30 year challenge. Mental. 

Looking forward to the ups and downs none the less! Good luck! 

I play FMM like i play football - jump in two-footed

[Mr Tree]

So what are we getting into here...

Welcome to our new home:

Lovely stuff! 

The Marbles are currently riding high after a positive start that fills me with hope! 

Top scorers in the division, no less, with Kane Hester leading the way, banging in 4 from 7 (incl cup games) so far. Maybe he'll be our main man... He's excited by the prospect, as you can see:

Sadly, the Marbles isn't actually their nickname - apparently they are "City" or "the Black and Whites". Ugh. They don't appear to have a star-studded history to dazzle you with, pottering about in the lowest Scottish division for the past 20 years after elevation from the Highland League. 

Can't wait...

[Rob]

Blimey big man, posting an early doors contender for career of the year and the game hasn’t even been released 

[Mr Tree]

Thanks @RichD @Jsavfcand @Robfor the early comments - much appreciated! 

Question for everyone - which is the UK's southernmost club that you can start with? (i.e. what's my target?!)

It was Truro City two years ago, but they've been relegated from the VNS in the meantime....

I'll check it out ofc but if anyone works it out in the meantime, I'm all ears

[FuddledFox]

This is always fun. 

19 minutes ago, Mr Tree said:

Question for everyone - which is the UK's southernmost club that you can start with? (i.e. what's my target?!)

Plymouth I would have thought.

[samhardy]

1 hour ago, Mr Tree said:

I play FMM like i play football - jump in two-footed

Is that recommended at your colossal height?

[ScottishFMM]

Very much look forward to reading and enjoying the ride. Take a trip into Edinburgh and manage the Hibees for us Mr Tree!

[Kanegan]

Jumped in already?? Wow !! I am coming for you with my journeyman once I get hold of the game. 😆
 

[Ashez]

Someone's not messing about 😂😂

[broodje kip]

Trying to hold his title as best member here

[Rob]

9 hours ago, Mr Tree said:

Thanks @RichD @Jsavfcand @Robfor the early comments - much appreciated! 

Question for everyone - which is the UK's southernmost club that you can start with? (i.e. what's my target?!)

It was Truro City two years ago, but they've been relegated from the VNS in the meantime....

I'll check it out ofc but if anyone works it out in the meantime, I'm all ears

Weymouth, and we are in the Conference too which makes it extra interesting.

[Mr Tree]

8 hours ago, samhardy said:

Is that recommended at your colossal height?

not for my opponents, that's for sure

4 hours ago, broodje kip said:

Trying to hold his title as best member here

trying to honour the office of Best Member, thank you very much!!

[Mr Tree]

10 hours ago, Rob said:

Weymouth, and we are in the Conference too which makes it extra interesting.

I'm afraid not, Rob - @FuddledFoxwas right of course:

That means that our total journey will be:

625 miles, 21 goals a season, easy-peasy, he says with the airy confidence of someone who's failed this challenge twice so far.........

Start at Elgin, 15 years and 350 goals with one lad, then do the same in the second half of the career with someone in the middle. Easy. And boring. 

The fun is in jumping around, so we'll see how that goes! 

Thanks also to @ScottishFMM, @Kaneganand @Ashezfor your comments - much appreciated! 

Wife has just taken the kids to nursery, so I'm gonna get a strong coffee, then it's time for unboxing.........

Edited November 24, 2020 by Mr Tree

[zila90]

Good luck, I will surely follow this one...

Heck, I will probably even start some variation of this as well! 😁

Edited November 24, 2020 by zila90

[Mr Tree]

Cheers @zila90! It's ON!

 

[ScottishFMM]

I await an update to pass the time at work Tree!

[Mr Tree]

1 hour ago, ScottishFMM said:

I await an update to pass the time at work Tree!

Apologies mate, had to pretend to look busy for a minute. Back to relaxed now. No meetings scheduled all day, lovely...

 

So here we go - first things first, how much can i trust my coaches... i have one bronze normal general and one blank spot...

I want goals, so let's get an Attacking coach. And not just any old attacking coach, but an elite...

This looks promising - 4 of my 8 best players are Strikers! 

Alas, the "best" of them looks looked this:

A clinical finisher he may be, but...

Alright, what about the "wonderkid"? With no attribute higher than 10...

"He could be better than anything we currently have. But there's nothing outstanding about him."

(deep sigh) "Why do we even bother, Danny?"

[ScottishFMM]

Josh Peters is a goalscorer at that level Tree! he came through the Hibs youth but never really looked up to much. Any chance of a parent club for some nice loans?

[Mr Tree]

I'm being very cautious so far, i dare not press Continue - just trying to acclimatise and understand... i checked the Board Request screen and only noticed "Acquire Affiliate", so it looks like you can only get a downward relationship, not an upward... (but bear with me, i could be wrong!)

[Mr Tree]

Ok, we're three weeks in. I'm desperately trying to improve the squad, which involves assessing a lot of players and trying to work out who to fit into a meagre budget:

I've got three loanees in, a keeper, a centre mid and a full-back. Now to try and work out which free transfers i most want or need. Another full back and winger are essential, i think...

This year's Scottish nether reaches began a bit later because of the virus, and the season is reduced from 36 to 27 games, which is fab for a goalscoring challenge! 

Anyway I've taken advantage of the new "Arrange Friendly" functionality to score matches with two of my clubs from the first attempt, before starting the competitive matches against @ScottishFMM's lads! 

[ScottishFMM]

37 minutes ago, Mr Tree said:

Ok, we're three weeks in. I'm desperately trying to improve the squad, which involves assessing a lot of players and trying to work out who to fit into a meagre budget:

I've got three loanees in, a keeper, a centre mid and a full-back. Now to try and work out which free transfers i most want or need. Another full back and winger are essential, i think...

This year's Scottish nether reaches began a bit later because of the virus, and the season is reduced from 36 to 27 games, which is fab for a goalscoring challenge! 

Anyway I've taken advantage of the new "Arrange Friendly" functionality to score matches with two of my clubs from the first attempt, before starting the competitive matches against @ScottishFMM's lads! 

I want....Hibe....Elgin City to win!

[Mr Tree]

Right, i think I've got a squad, of sorts... we'll see. I'm over the wage budget after a cheeky extra CM, but then this happened:

Bit of a shame, but helps financially

The game will go and organise its standard friendlies anyway, but you can cancel them or yours as you want... so i cancelled all but one, let my assistant run it, and Clyde beat us 6-0 😮

But we only lost 1-0 to Hearts, and then i took over for the last friendly, just to check where there are any gaps in the squad (seems alright though, hopefully). I'm hoping this is a sign of things to come! 

Having not been able to get anyone better, I'll take @ScottishFMM's word for it and hope Joshy can fire us down the country!

[Mr Tree]

Start as you mean to go on...

also I've lost my loanee full-back the day after the window closed in a bit of a buggy mess, which is a bummer

[ScottishFMM]

18 minutes ago, Mr Tree said:

Right, i think I've got a squad, of sorts... we'll see. I'm over the wage budget after a cheeky extra CM, but then this happened:

Bit of a shame, but helps financially

The game will go and organise its standard friendlies anyway, but you can cancel them or yours as you want... so i cancelled all but one, let my assistant run it, and Clyde beat us 6-0 😮

But we only lost 1-0 to Hearts, and then i took over for the last friendly, just to check where there are any gaps in the squad (seems alright though, hopefully). I'm hoping this is a sign of things to come! 

Having not been able to get anyone better, I'll take @ScottishFMM's word for it and hope Joshy can fire us down the country!

5 goals in a friendly for Peters, anyone looking for a top class scout? I’m very reasonably priced?

[Mr Tree]

First league game and Josh is doing the biz!