Career Scratch's Heist Off - The Celtic 5 v The Scorned 6 [Ermm]

[Scratch]

It's a heist!! And for every successful heist you need 4 things: a target; a crew; a plan; and a timeframe.

 

The Target

In this case, my crew will be attempting to lift 1.5K in goals and 1K in assists (between them) at Celtic. 

 

The Crew

I'll be recruiting some of my old crew for this - only players who've heisted 1K for me before and only those who've done so at Celtic. There is no room for error here, so I'm making sure there's no new guy to mess things up. That said, they haven't all worked together before, so there could still be some tension... 

 

The Plan

This one's simple. It's a tried and tested plan that I've used successfully everywhere from Beijing to Dortmund. It's called the Buck Wild TT Blaster tactic.

 

The Timeframe

We have to be able to get in, secure the target and get out again within 10 years. A little longer than most heists for sure, but it's going to be tight. In my Dortmund Babes heist, the crew averaged 120 goals and 78 assists per year. To pull this one off we need to up the average to 150 goals and 100 assists per season.

 

Next Steps

I'm busy recruiting my crew...

Spoiler

And who knows - if we pull this off, I might sell the script to Netflix... 

That's only going to make sense to people who've seen Season 4 Episode 3 of Rick and Morty...

 

No points for guessing who they are as there are only 5 players I've done a 1K with at Celtic - though one might trick you up and I'm not really expecting people to know all of my 1KCs.

I'm also recruiting a support team for the main crew and I'll report back when we've got the team together.

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Scratch

[Rob]

Bit gutted this heist isn’t happening at Eugowra FC, but Celtic will do.

Great idea and best of luck! 

[Scratch]

9 minutes ago, Rob said:

Bit gutted this heist isn’t happening at Eugowra FC, but Celtic will do.

Great idea and best of luck! 

They were my first choice, but they didn't have the budget to hire the crew... 🙁 Maybe next time. 

As with all great ideas, it occurred in the shower after watching Rick and Morty... How could it go wrong?

[broodje kip]

Tim Cahill???

[Scratch]

Just now, broodje kip said:

Tim Cahill???

Nah, good guess - I did actually do a 1KC with his regen, but didn't count that as it's not a real player. Pretty sure he's not in the game anymore so can't get his regen again, so I'm just pretending that never happened!

[Rob]

24 minutes ago, Scratch said:

They were my first choice, but they didn't have the budget to hire the crew... 🙁 Maybe next time. 

As with all great ideas, it occurred in the shower after watching Rick and Morty... How could it go wrong?

The fact you are teasing Vibers with the thoughts of you in the shower is surely enough 

[Rich]

Sounds great Scratch, look forward to seeing how this goes.

Pellegri, Badgi, Esposito, Vignato and Ünüvar?

[broodje kip]

24 minutes ago, Scratch said:

Nah, good guess - I did actually do a 1KC with his regen, but didn't count that as it's not a real player. Pretty sure he's not in the game anymore so can't get his regen again, so I'm just pretending that never happened!

Ah too bad. We can count Musiala as yours instead  

[Scratch]

Just now, Rob said:

The fact you are teasing Vibers with the thoughts of you in the shower is surely enough 

Yeah, you guys are the only ones who'd get excited about that these days! 

[Scratch]

2 minutes ago, Rich said:

Sounds great Scratch, look forward to seeing how this goes.

Pellegri, Badgi, Esposito, Vignato and Ünüvar?

Two out of five!! I've done 1KCs with the first three, but not at Celtic, so didn't invite them this time around...Vignato was one of the ones I thought people might not get as it was an assists 1KC not a goal one, but well spotted...

added 0 minutes later

2 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Ah too bad. We can count Musiala as yours instead  

I've actually signed him as a backup to the main 5. Haven't used him much before, so well overdue...

[Scratch]

The Celtic Five:

An Englishman, an Argentinian, a Scotsman, a Dutchman and an Italian...

EDIT: HELP PLEASE STOP ME BEFORE I PHOTOSHOP THEM ONTO AN OCEAN'S 11 POSTER!!

Edited June 30, 2021 by Scratch

[Rich]

34 minutes ago, Scratch said:

The Celtic Five:

An Englishman, an Argentinian, a Scotsman, a Dutchman and an Italian...

Can only really work out Adam Armstrong 🙈

[broodje kip]

36 minutes ago, Scratch said:

The Celtic Five:

An Englishman, an Argentinian, a Scotsman, a Dutchman and an Italian...

Armstrong, Colidio, Hornby, Unuvar and Vignato 😍

[Scratch]

Just now, broodje kip said:

Armstrong, Colidio, Hornby, Unuvar and Vignato 😍

BAM!!! We have a winner!

 

I'm using the November DB as I know Colidio lost a lot of ability with the Winter Update poor lad, and we need him at his best to pull this off. I think he's still not as good as when I originally used him (FMM17), but should be good enough for this. Armstrong is a little old for this sort of thing, which is why the 10 year cap works well with it - he'll be 34 by the end which is pushing it...

And to clarify, I'm not using my app for this save (though I have seen them all before), which means I'm going down the known players path, so you'll get Lainez, Onguene, Livakovic, Pellegri as a backup, Kiao Jorge as a backup, Musiala, etc.

[Scratch]

Season 1 - Preseason

It's time you met the 5 lads properly...

 

The Englishman - Adam Armstrong, star of my first ever 1KC back in FMM17:

 

The Argentine - Facundo Colidio, who got within 7 goals of my first 1.5KC (before shock retiring), also in FMM17:

 

The Scot: Fraser Hornby, from my Super Secret Scottish 1KC, who made it to 1K in 9.5 seasons, in FMM19:

 

The Dutchman - Naci Unuvar, who got my first ever 2KC, in FMM20:

 

And the Italian - Emanuel Vignato, who got my first ever Assists 1KC (same career as Unuvar) in FMM20:

 

They are all still decent players, although as I mentioned above, I'm using the November DB because Colidio lost a lot in the winter update (ie March DB).

They were all so great for me and they fit so nicely into my tactic, it's almost as if I've been planning this all along, ever since Adam first pulled on his Iron Man suit in the first episode of the SCU (Scratch Challenge Universe). Wait, now I'm mixing genres... 🤦‍♂️

Anyway, they are going to carve up the SPL... I realise that this might end up being one more boring over the top goal fest, but I need this right now.

 

This is how the two match day squads will line up:

I'm pretty happy with the squad I put together, although there are some weak links in there (Brown won't last long, not sure about Taylor and Bolingoli). Nothing to worry about in the SPL though and we'll strengthen soon enough.

As for the lads, they are tailor made for this: Vignato out on his right wing, putting it on Hornby's head, or going longer to hit Colidio, with Armstrong cleaning up in between them and Unuvar bringing it through the middle and driving forward towards goal. Going to be massive!

 

Here the transfers (had to get real creative with exchanges, sell on fees, getting players upset, etc):

Spoiler

As mentioned in other updates above, they are mostly known names that I've used many times before. I'm not using my scouting app so I fell back on players I know.

 

And that's it - we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading!

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by Scratch

[Rob]

Great write up. That’s two incredibly good teams for season one!!!

[Scratch]

7 minutes ago, Rob said:

Great write up. That’s two incredibly good teams for season one!!!

Thanks mate - yeah looking pretty good and even though it's early days with lots of levelling up to do, we're off to a good start and it's a much more refreshing playing experience than the last save. Maybe I've been spoiled by these high scoring saves....

[Mr B]

Well I'm definitely not bored of these goal fests yet, looking forward to this. Good luck! 

[broodje kip]

Brilliant team there. I’m glad Mikey is not in the Transfer page

[Rich]

Brilliant stuff Scratch, really looking forward to seeing how you get along with this, best of luck 😁

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, Mr B said:

Well I'm definitely not bored of these goal fests yet, looking forward to this. Good luck! 

Thanks! I'll try to make it a high scoring one! 

[Scratch]

1 hour ago, broodje kip said:

Brilliant team there. I’m glad Mikey is not in the Transfer page

Thanks mate, I was really happy with who I could get in the first season.

Mikey is a tricky one, because I always use him on the right wing, but that's Vignato's role this time around. He and Forrest are sharing the backup role at the moment. Forrest won't last too long, but by the time he leaves Persyn will probably be better than Mikey, so once again he'd be second backup.

Still, when the second season rolls around and it's back to 3 subs, the 5 lads will have to rest more often, so there's probably a few starts available for someone who can play RW or AMC. We'll see....

[Scratch]

6 minutes ago, Rich said:

Brilliant stuff Scratch, really looking forward to seeing how you get along with this, best of luck 😁

Thanks mate, I'm expecting it to be massive, but not quite as high scoring as your mate. 😄 Still I'll be happy with that.

[Scratch]

So.

Um.

I still haven't finished the first season out of ten for this career yet, but I already have my next long term save sorted:

[broodje kip]

Camilo Hernandez, Jeremie Boga, Pinamonti and Pellegri? 👀

[Scratch]

14 minutes ago, broodje kip said:

Camilo Hernandez, Jeremie Boga, Pinamonti and Pellegri? 👀

Hernandez is right! Not so much the others...

[Scratch]

Oh damn... I think I just totally turned this 'career' on it's head...

You see, my evil alter ego got wind of this heist we're pulling and put together his own crew to challenge us:

 

So it looks like it's now:

The Celtic 5

 

VS

The Scorned 6

They all have a point to prove and aren't my greatest fans...

My 'alter ego' hasn't yet tested whether it's possible to assemble that crew - but presumably it will be at some club or other. For now though, I need to finish Season 1 for The Celtic 5. Then we'll see whether the next season might be Season 1 for The Scorned 6.

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Scratch

[YungGaffer]

This Save Just Keeps On Evolving 🤯

[Scratch]

19 hours ago, YungGaffer said:

This Save Just Keeps On Evolving 🤯

Yeah! I wasn't planning any twists like the one I think I'm going to do, but I keep having ideas in the shower... Don't tell @Rob though, anytime I mention the shower he gets excitable... 😄

[Scratch]

Season 1

With only 10 seasons to work with, the Celtic 5 need to get their heist off to a good start. They need to average 150 goals and 100 assists (between them) per season.

I'm expecting that will be tough in the first year. Fortunately, they are all a little more seasoned than when I originally used them, so they should be able to level up quickly. I'd have been in trouble if they'd all been 16.

Let's see how they went.

 

Transfers

Spoiler

I covered this earlier, so won't repeat it. I don't think I did any business in January.

 

Results

Spoiler

Not a bad start, dominating the league, winning both domestic cups (over Rangers both times) and making it as far as the quarter finals in the UCL (before Juve put us out).

 

The Lads

We saw a LOT of improvement over the course of the season. With 5 screenshots though, I'm going to put them in a spoiler section. Here's what they look like at the end of the season:

Spoiler

They all look great, although Unuvar is lagging a little behind right now. Armstrong has worked out better than expected (he typically only has a couple of updates and doesn't end up that good).

The one disappointment is the lack of Aerial improvement. I have Carrillo working on Colidio and Armstrong (he'll never make it to green Aerial, but I want him to be half decent) and then Carrillo will switch to Hornby (and probably Unuvar) once that's finished.

 

Morale Fibre

I don't know about you, but I get really happy when I see this:

I immediately pull the players off, even if it's the first half, and ready my post game discipline chat. Most of the time it turns out like this:

The lads had a lot of mental levelling up over the course of the season. Not every player will react like this, but fortunately all of my five do... I haven't even had to renew a contract because of this going wrong (which I normally have to do).

 

Injuries And Absences

With 5 players, some of them are bound to get injured. Here's the screenshots, followed by a summary:

Spoiler

• Armstrong: None.

• Colidio: 1 week and about a month away at an ITN U21 tournament.

• Hornby: 1 week.

• Unuvar: 3 weeks, followed by 1 month.

• Vignato: None.

 

Progress

Here's how they did:

Full History screens:

Spoiler

That gives us:

	Armstrong		Colido		Hornsby		Unuvar		Vignato		Totals
Season	Gls	Asts	Gls	Asts	Gls	Asts	Gls	Asts	Gls	Asts	Gls	Asts
01	61	8	23	17	44	15	18	8	6	40	152	88
Totals	61	8	23	17	44	15	18	8	6	40	152	88

That's a pretty awesome first season! We're at the required average for goals already and only 12 behind on assists.

No surprise that Armstrong took the lead, given he's a few years older than the other lads. I'd expect Hornby to step up in the coming seasons. Colidio scored fewer than I was expecting, but is in the weakest goal scoring position of the front three. Vignato was solid on the assists front, while Unuvar was behind the others - not surprising given he's the youngest and had injuries.

 

Final Thoughts

There you go - a great first season! I can't wait to see how we build on that next season.

First though, I need some sleep. I've been getting these headaches recently and hearing strange voices in my head... I can't quite make them out, but they are getting stronger and stronger...

Thanks for reading.

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Scratch