Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...

Career Tree in Ireland - 27 seasons, quit with LOI in 9th overall


Mr Tree
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hey kids! 

It's been six weeks since i completed my 28yr "Goal-a-mile" career 😮

Watched a lot of Netflix in the meantime, but now - I'm back, baby! 

I've had my eye on another long-term challenge for a while, and I've just completed the first season - loved it, I'm hooked again! 

I was holding out, mindful that i had a free phone upgrade coming up at work. Then they broke something on my computer too, so i had to go to the office. While i was there i casually enquired about my upcoming upgrade, and they said "oh let's just sort it now, save you having to come in again" - sweet! So now i have a new Samsung S20 FE to play with :) The difference in running the game is immediately noticeable...

Anyway, the big reveal...... will be tomorrow ;) A clue? Well, you'll probably think the challenge is impossible...

Edited by Mr Tree
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not up for guessing games today :) ok, i will reveal... I'm off to Ireland, my father's country of birth (before he sired me in England).

And what team? Well, Shamrock Rovers would be the obvious choice, so booo to that. My family are from Kilkenny, but alas, no soccer club around there... 

My father was actually born in Dublin though, although shamefully my sieve-like memory can never remember if he was a Northsider or a Southsider :)

But i do know that he once told me that Shamrock and Shelbourne were the big rivalry. And again, i forgot which way round, but he supported one and my nan supported the other (for the bantz). They were the same with Rangers-Celtic - pretty sure it was Nana who supported the hoops, so Dad supported the Gers to wind her up :D (all in good fun of course!)

So... Shelbourne it is! 

I did some looking but i don't think anyone has ever got far with the challenge. There's been some advice to move around rather than making one club a local powerhouse - i see the logic, but I'm gonna hope that my offcuts and rejects will raise the stature of those around me. We'll see, i might be wrong! 

But for now, i banged out the first season and enjoyed it, so we'll see how far we get! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks @broodje kip @DLC @StuartM @Albionic @Chelseaplchamps2022 and @Ian for the support, much appreciated!

Season 1

I will try to avoid waffling on with these, keep it short n sweet - but no guarantees! :D

A little look at the frantic business i achieved on my meagre budget:

1624263051_Screenshot_20210326-081643_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.4b4d853a9f538e64c65427e66b286a57.jpg

1333235174_Screenshot_20210326-081651_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.4b270420b9387b0c5091ee1a4b483795.jpg

130759054_Screenshot_20210326-081724_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.e3bfde6bf0cb979693aca723c786b19e.jpg

Had to get a Brentford player, of course! :D Scott got flipped in the midseason transfer window, giving me some financial flexibility. 

We actually lost 5 of our first 7 to sit bottom nearly a quarter of the way through, with successive games being 4-0 down in the first half leaving me worrying that this career could crash and burn! 

But i signed Mair to go in goal and he was excellent, and we tweaked and tinkered and got rolling and in the end, almost muscled our way into the title race:

1576555945_Screenshot_20210325-204147_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.8ce522d78165cc8631cafbdaf6b10b9c.jpg

 

Player of the season

I'll try and pick someone out to look at each season, hopefully slowly building up to world superstar level :)

We start low, but with a bit of a classic:

977023687_Screenshot_20210326-191432_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.a5bac9275e7954f700b75bb5640ebabf.jpg

Added mid-season after we got some funds and Windsor returned to West Brom on loan, Cassidy was superb:

1763682473_Screenshot_20210326-191440_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.a1bebc5bf803cae64adf26088c6f7fe9.jpg

Don't get attached though kids - i sold him early in Season 2, to Barnsley for 300k, and his value immediately jumped to 5.5m!

But we need the funds to level up. The board won't entertain my requests for better than Adequate facilities (I'm an unknown manager at the start), but at least with a bit of money they finally let me ditch my Bronze-Poor coach, and now we have me (Gold already?!) plus three Silvers - I'm Youth and the coaches are Youth, Fitness and Defensive. 

So we're rid of the deadwood in the squad now and ready to push on, but there's a looooong way to go:

442545274_Screenshot_20210325-215610_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.241a6a9fd5664478a8618bebcaee95c0.jpg

Edited by Mr Tree
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice first season mate and some good business, Cassidy will be a key player by the looks of things!

Edited by DLC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a feeling you might have to move clubs to complete this just based on my experience in Wales last year where the other teams did get a little better but never to an extent that they challenged in Europe and improved the league standard.

Either way this will be fun to follow whatever the outcome so good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great first season, I'm interested to see how it goes once you've got to a level where you're challenging in Europe.

I feel that like others have said, the other teams aren't going to be brought kicking and screaming to your level, without your assistance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks for the great comments, @Stuttgartsteve @DLC @FuddledFox @Woody @Rich @Paul186 @geordiekrispy @Kanegan and @Albionic! Regarding moving around Ireland, i might review at 10 / 15 / 20 seasons, but I'm hopeful that my rejects will help raise the local standard. It'll be interesting to see how the Irish national team gets on too - I'm not planning to manage them myself, but maybe the evogens will help boost the local quality (I've only loaded the Irish league). Maybe I'll come back next year and do this again the other way! We'll see :)

For now, on to a spectacular...

 

Season Two

Because not only this...

1352273589_Screenshot_20210327-203821_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.d69156d303ca871edd5c9d0f032b5452.jpg

(won with 8 games to spare!)

And this...

1691813686_Screenshot_20210327-211404_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.cc2d90fb4ddbafcc362760f83eccb3ca.jpg

But also, we made our first timid steps into continental competition... A nervy win over some Albanians got us started:

710921461_Screenshot_20210327-083524_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.6f28d341bc1f2108db75c213ad53c228.jpg

We held on to a 0-0 away, restricting to them to just one shot in the second leg :) Then Swedes Esborg were defeated in the second round, before we ran into a juggernaut - Feyenoord!

3-1 down in the first leg, we went Overload and pushed up high for the last 25mins - and it paid off!!

262441355_Screenshot_20210327-144925_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.d0758fff371f85c94e9be0136fc5c426.jpg

Could we seal the deal at home? No sweat...

760997333_Screenshot_20210327-150038_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.4565b2b81ee6cbd40460a7173c6e4640.jpg

Confidence was sky-high now, so we cruised past Ross County to reach the group stage:

893948281_Screenshot_20210327-152639_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.93e187c4ceb2c2700ef833a655304144.jpg

Thank god i won the league early (Ireland has a summer league), because the group stage nerfed my fixture list 😮

755718733_Screenshot_20210327-152723_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.695f775d2de492f36b44f745a2475cfe.jpg

Gonna need a strong squad to deal with that regularly! 

The bookies were pessimistic:

1586860559_Screenshot_20210327-193604_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.680300f1538efbbc07f78d7427635e78.jpg

And to be fair, they had a point:

1586978418_Screenshot_20210327-194108_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.567f3a24d4dae21e88b0a9e399c41d28.jpg

Obviously they steamrollered me - but i thought 6-0 was a bit harsh :)

I managed to beat Malmo at home and draw away, so a home draw with Bordeaux (and a 6-4 home defeat to Roma) left me needing a win in the last game in France to qualify...

We lost 3-1, but a very respectable first outing!

1944432685_Screenshot_20210327-205914_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.9a7436c98759f34fee7b35cac01c24c1.jpg

Our ranking has already risen (don't know when these are fully updated, I'll just check it at the end of each Irish season, which is Jan 1st funnily enough)...

1388661005_Screenshot_20210327-212220_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.5e9db510460e5a5405f9c86b482fee2f.jpg

 

A couple of bugs / annoyances:

 - i haven't been able to increase my facilities yet... they keep saying I'm an "inexperienced manager" so i should focus on the football, even at the start of the third season. Hopefully this won't last long. 

 - SI might have fixed the loan bugs a little (or maybe they just don't work here)... only been able to get a couple of uninterested players to join me on loan (none this season), and haven't been able to get anyone without having to pay at least 50% wages (used to be able to get them at zero).

 - no reserve football in Ireland. BUT, I'd never seen / noticed the option to arrange friendlies for the Reserves before. So i just do that, and it's working really well. I can coordinate the fixtures nicely and keep everyone developing, etc. 

 

Player of the Season

Quick look at the transfers, in case there's any interesting names:

1014201737_Screenshot_20210327-211801_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.a9c56f38056c9ec73d82a4d740185b1d.jpg

1888157468_Screenshot_20210327-211824_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.036a2ef96165dc53e0ffabef54e63d56.jpg

Nice profit again to support higher wages. Don't know why i wasted that money on Dervin, he's a backup midfielder...

Anyway, i couldn't deny Josh Bowler, known to his friends as E...

1508211440_Screenshot_20210327-211557_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.5274326fb2cf4c74d08b578e52b59d25.jpg

568200701_Screenshot_20210327-211614_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.0039fb6886eb6c8f371d1813a95be480.jpg

Richards and Scarlett had 25 or so each up front, despite Scarlett missing time through injury, but Bowler was the main guy who lifted us up. Although the voters couldn't make up their minds...

1395657587_Screenshot_20210327-212258_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.e8ac01c1a3b0b21e060b36c5c9a1c025.jpg

897616104_Screenshot_20210327-212103_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.f30148087504a835225560f6fa2ee0cd.jpg

Hodgey missed most of the first half of the season, but got back into form and finished strongly:

2000416395_Screenshot_20210327-212055_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.c1866503493c1191349ce636101e27fe.jpg

415433461_Screenshot_20210327-212047_FM21Mobile.thumb.jpg.0a6d6a970c7c95c8fe9209abfedfb4cf.jpg

 

Thanks for reading! Let's hope we can keep it up in Season 3, although Champs League qualification will be tough. Improving the training facilities is the main requirement now though! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That European run was great and I think the Euro 2 competition is going to be a good one for you in the first few seasons before you can compete in the later stages of the EL and CL.

6 minutes ago, Mr Tree said:

Irish national team

I would like to offer you my condolences on the morning after the night before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done mate. A great 1st foray into europe despite Roma being in your group. The buggers.

Got some cracking players in too.

Edited by Woody
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...