Career 1st Challenge Attempts - Better deal with the devil than...

[SK15Kev]

The Bairns of Falkirk, will be my team of choice to have a semi-proper attempt at some challenges.

Falkirk are my team of many years and although I don't live in Scotland anymore, way back when I used to have my season ticket in and go on the cup runs including being in the Celtic end at Parkhead for a surprise upset.  This will be something that I will probably get heavily invested in once going trying to get Falkirk back in to the Premier League again.

The big thing I used to love about Falkirk was the youth academy and some of my childhood friends went through this system.  The other thing Falkirk used to do was to bring in older "legends" of the game (Chris Waddle, Mo Johnston, Tony Parks and so on) or returning child prodigies to supplement the squad.  They also got promotion denied on many occasions from the Championship, with a couple of times being due to the stadium not being of a good standard.  They do have a new stadium, but its a bit bizarre with a big gaping hole where more stands should be.


It will be a strange start as the Scottish First Division doesn't start until October as per last years covid adjustments.  My goals will be (as well as the challenges) to get the stadium upgraded to at least 12 thousand capacity and have impressive youth facilities producing quality future stars. 

Promotion from the Scottish First Division should be easy enough as the current squad should be capable of doing that, but I will need to  This will not be easy and I will need to employ a lot of wheeler dealer skills to bring in low and sell high to be able to fund the expansion of the stadium and improvements to the academy.  There isn't a lot of money in the Scottish game which will make this even harder.

 

Challenge 1 - Creating a club legend 

Score to beat is Kenneth Dawson with 416 matches and 265 goals between 1935 and 1950.

 

Challenge 2 - Gundogan's Victory challenge
I have signed two German midfielders (one is a DC being retrained to DMC)

 

Challenge 3 - The Wedding Challenge
Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

Challenge 4 - The Race to 100
Hopefully combine this with the club legend

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by SK15Kev
Adding Challenges

[geordiekrispy]

Nice idea, to have a team you are going to base your challenges on.

 

Be careful which challenges you attempt and when, plus how many per season, some of the challenges must be done in season 1, with limited squad numbers.

 

Also, I'd hate to be a ball boy having to get any over-hit shots or lofted passes on those other sides!

Edited April 12, 2021 by geordiekrispy

[SK15Kev]

16 minutes ago, geordiekrispy said:

Nice idea, to have a team you are going to base your challenges on.

 

Be careful which challenges you attempt and when, plus how many per season, some of the challenges must be done in season 1, with limited squad numbers.

 

Also, I'd hate to be a ball boy having to get any over-hit shots or lofted passes on those other sides!

Ha thanks - You can imagine some opportunistic kid picking up match balls in the neighboring field and making a quick get away on his bike.
Just re-reading the challenges now, didn't notice anything about squad size?

[geordiekrispy]

1 minute ago, SK15Kev said:

Ha thanks - You can imagine some opportunistic kid picking up match balls in the neighboring field and making a quick get away on his bike.
Just re-reading the challenges now, didn't notice anything about squad size?

The only one that I'm aware of is the "everyone's a goal scorer" that has a max of 25 man squad and must be in the first season.

[Rich]

Good luck mate, looking forward to seeing how you do 😁

[SK15Kev]

Here are the transfers made so far, there are some others I am looking to bring in, i.e. a creative 32 year old, but hard with no money.  Also a loan with option to buy for the legend and 100 goal challenge.

Also looking at the loan market to back fill players I am trying to sell on.

[SK15Kev]

Okay here we go with the big update.

Transfer business done ahead of kick off.

Club Legend and Race to 100 - James Graham
, signed on loan with option to buy

Spoiler

Gundogan Challenge - Think it will be Helmke in first season, but have these available to me for following seasons if I fail to do first time

Spoiler

Helmke from Queens Park, actually paid money for him and put myself in financial difficulty



 

Spoiler

 

 

Wedding Challenge -

• Spoiler

   

  • Something old: use a player above the age of 32 (Hendrik Helmke)
    
    

  • Something new: use a player under the age of 21 (Cole Dasilva)
    
    

  • Something borrowed: use a player you get on a loan-deal. (Jensen Weir from Brighton)
    
    

  • Something blue: get a player who plays for a club wearing blue (home kit) (James Graham - initial loan and option to buy)
    
    

   

   

Edited April 12, 2021 by SK15Kev
edit

[Rich]

Some interesting players there mate, good luck for the season 😁

[geordiekrispy]

Nice set of challenges to attempt, the Gundogan challenge is a tough one, I've gotten close once, ended up winning a game 10-0 when I needed 8-0 and 9-0 still.

[SK15Kev]

11 hours ago, Rich said:

Some interesting players there mate, good luck for the season 😁

 

1 hour ago, geordiekrispy said:

Nice set of challenges to attempt, the Gundogan challenge is a tough one, I've gotten close once, ended up winning a game 10-0 when I needed 8-0 and 9-0 still.

Thank you both
Pre-Season going well, all wedding players have got goals in friendlies, fingers crossed that continues.

[SK15Kev]

A little update

Creating a club legend and race to 100 - James Graham gets underway.  As he is really young, going to pick and choose his games in the first season.

The Wedding Challenge - Something new turned into something broke!
The only one that is scoring well is Jensen Weir with lots of assists.

Will give some other updates if people are interested, including tactic.  Struggling to provide enough opportunities to rotate at the moment, a lot of games are Saturdays only.  Got so used to playing with teams that were having two games a week.  Need a smaller squad and hopefully when transfer window comes I can slim it down.

[SK15Kev]

A little show off update.  Don't really know how I did it, but made some slight adjustments after conceded first goal to get the ball up the park a bit quicker.
 

Spoiler

 

Short lived though as drew next two league games and eventually knocked out of the cup by Hearts.  After the win against Celtic, no one is motivated to play in League One any more.

[Alexotelli]

Just spotted this! Looks interesting, will read this later on. I’ll follow this thread. Good luck!

[SK15Kev]

On 17/04/2021 at 22:33, Alexotelli said:

Just spotted this! Looks interesting, will read this later on. I’ll follow this thread. Good luck!

Thank you

Hopefully you will bring a bit of luck.  Been struggling a bit so far to get results.  I think my team wasn't as good as I thought it was, that and trying to sell players to raise money.  Really difficult when only really able to get 50k a player.
My defence is really slack, going to have to work on better defenders and leaders for next season.

Lost Graham for a month just as he was hitting form with nearly a goal a game for last few matches.

[SK15Kev]

End of Season 1 Update

Summary
A good season and a solid team, however we never really battered anyone.
I haven't yet been able to raise enough money to go towards the stadium or youth academy.  I need to earn enough cash to pay for Graham and only been able to get from 2k to 100k for each player.  This years free agents will be part of this years money raising, but going to wait until the game recognises me as a Championship Team and hopefully also increase player values.
I also invested some money in putting staff through their exams.
 

Spoiler

 

League Table

Cup Exits
Quiet hard to take the Aberdeen defeat, but Hearts did give us a bit of a lesson.

Transfers in

 

 

Gundogan Challenge
Epic failure - sorry, will try again next season.  Team just not good enough and never a clean sheet when needed.  Will try again next year and still have German midfielders incoming in my Bosman influx. 

Spoiler

The Wedding Challenge
Really poor, although a 27 game season and no big cup runs probably don't help. Really didn't realise at the start of the season this would be the case.

Spoiler

 

Helmke was disappointing as an RP, so settled half way through the season to move him to a DM and give Blair Alston the CM spot to create chances.  Dasilva wasn't as productive with assists as I hoped and maybe in reflection a 16 year old as your main striker is not the way to go.  Jenson Weir however was a star man.

Point Table
53 not really good enough is it! I'm going to set up another career on my phone and go for it properly.  Expect another thread soon.

Player updates

 

Club Legend and Race to 100
Graham has made a good start with a decent average above one in every two games.
 

Spoiler

 

Just need to raise the money to buy him out of his loan now (500k gulp).  For a 16 year old his stats look very promising.

 

 

[Rich]

That’s a great season mate! Looking forward to seeing how you progress. Good luck 👍

[SK15Kev]

Thanks Rich

A link to the new wedding challenge which I will run on my phone.
I need some help to choose one of my players.

 

 

[SK15Kev]

A bit of an update.

Some of my players made the league team of the year (unsurprisingly).  Not many though.  Might tell its own story about how my year went.

Ben Hall did become a big money sell in the summer though making his way down South.
 

Edited April 24, 2021 by SK15Kev

[SK15Kev]

Something remarkable happened in the summer, will let the pictures tell the story.

Spoiler

 

 

[Rich]

1 hour ago, SK15Kev said:

Something remarkable happened in the summer, will let the pictures tell the story.

  Hide contents

 

 

 

So glad the Scottish beat them English mate 😝

[geordiekrispy]

Wow! That's all that can be said... I bet the country had the next week off to recover!

[SK15Kev]

3 hours ago, geordiekrispy said:

Wow! That's all that can be said... I bet the country had the next week off to recover!

Ha ha, population has halved due to the amount of heart attacks it induced.

[SK15Kev]

Some interesting goings on

Who is this that I have on loan, is it a Rooney regen?
 

Spoiler

 

Well I don't know what is going on (vs Rangers Reserves)
 

Spoiler

 

Battered Belgium and got beat 4-1.  Just shows that quality can win out in the end.
 

Spoiler

 

[SK15Kev]

Getting towards the end of the season and it is going well.  The Championship was banked very early and actually a lot easier than League 1 surprisingly.
I have only paid money for one player this season and he made a huge difference. Charlie l'Anson came in from Spain for £500k
James Graham is already proving a big game performer at the age of 17. Ellis Block is a 16 year old regen on loan from Man U, a really tenacious forward, I absolutely adore him.  Fat chance of getting him permanently though, hopefully might get him on loan again next season.

 

Spoiler

 

[SK15Kev]

So Season two comes to an end

These are the Challenges I am still working through

Challenge 1 - Creating a club legend & Challenge 4 - The Race to 100 - with James Graham

As mentioned above in a previous post, his goal tally for a 17 year old is very good I think.  Turned into a big game player and it will be really hard to keep hold of him from bigger clubs.

Goal Tally climbing

Spoiler

His profile for the year
 

Spoiler

 

Challenge 2 - Gundogan's Victory challenge
Did a bit better this year and had al victories up to 6-0, but unfortunately not the 7, 8 and 9.

Other stats from the season.
 

Spoiler

and the icing on the cake!!!!

 

 

Edited May 10, 2021 by SK15Kev
the spoiler thing

[SK15Kev]

Season 3 done and what a season it was.

Challenge 1 - Creating a club legend & Challenge 4 - The Race to 100 - with James Graham

He is already a club legend and new Premier League superstar. Injury free season meant I could play him and rest him when I chose.
Now only 4 away from 100 goals.  Also his average was better than a goal a game this season which is great.

 

Spoiler

James Graham Personal Achievements

Spoiler

I love this Top Tip

 

 

Personal Goal - Improve Stadium and Academy

Definite improvements, it took the end of year success for the club to agree to youth facility improvements, but finally they agreed.  Still a little way to go to get them to excellent.  Also will see if I can get the stadium to 20,000 and with an average attendance close to it.

Other Team information

Spoiler

 

The season
 

Spoiler

Transfers
 

Spoiler

I have been abusing the Bosman ruling to be able to flip some players who when tried don't really make it.  Putting a lot of investment into youth.  Also have 1 big Bosman lined up for next season who I think will be a SPL superstar.

Key signings who had a big impact.

Spoiler

 

Was bought as second team rotation, but his pace meant he is really effective as a NCB recovering and making crucial clearances.

Kingsley - Really solid and consistent. Took a while to warm up.

 

 

[Rich]

Great season that mate and he’s starting to look pretty decent! Keep it up 👍

[SK15Kev]

1 hour ago, Rich said:

Great season that mate and he’s starting to look pretty decent! Keep it up 👍

Thank you

[SK15Kev]

Okay, Race to 100.  James Graham has made it and made it with a bit of a bang. Substituted him off at 60 mins too.



 

Spoiler

I make him 19 years & 30 days old

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by SK15Kev
some strange code appearing

[Rob]

Well done Kevster