Darren Trott's Managerial Journey!

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mask0991

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Hello.

Before I go into the details of this story, I think it's important that I give a brief introduction to the manager Darren Trott. In FM 15, I started a BAP story with a 15 year old youngster Darren Trott and simulated the game till the player hung up his boots. In that save, I selected the player's preferred staff role as a manager and so, Darren Trott ended up as a manager.

In this story, I'll assume the role of Darren Trott, the manager and start where the FM 15 save ended. In other words, I'll start with the same managerial attributes, coaching qualifications, favoured clubs and personnel and just about everything that was in FM 15.

So, here's where the FM 15 save ended:

MANAGERIAL ATTRIBUTES
View attachment 218014
PERSONAL INFORMATION
View attachment 218013

I'm going to use the same playing career for Trott as the FM 15 save, with adjusted timeline. So, here's Trott's playing career.
View attachment 217997

That should be enough backstory. The club and other details will follow soon.....
 
July 2015

The last couple of weeks have left me rather nervous. I am keen on entering management but given my inexperience, there are no options readily available at the moment.

Thankfully, there are a bunch of clubs that have vacant managerial positions and I've decided to approach their boards and discuss my options. I have applied for the vacancies at York City, Charlton and UD Almeria. It was a quick trip to York from my hometown of Doncaster. I had a rather long meeting over lunch with the Mr. Jason McGill, the chairman of York City FC and we talked about different aspects of the club and its management.
While Charlton haven't directly contacted me yet, sources around the club suggest that I am one of the front-runners for the job.

Then followed the journey to Spain. Mr. Alfonso Garcia, the chairman of U.D. Almeria invited me to an interview for the managerial position. We were joined by a translator during the meeting as I knew next to no Spanish.
While I was a bit doubtful about the Almeria job, sources suggest that I am a front-runner. It'll be interesting to see if they offer me the job!

Another club that looks very attractive is Aston Villa. A chance to manage in the Premier League is special and Villa presently are looking for a manager. I was one of the vast number of people they were interested in. However, when they approached me I declined the interview. Given my lack of experience, I wasn't sure if Premier League was the right place to start.

Furthermore, during the time I played for Newcastle I saw the pressure my managers were under. The pressure for results is extreme and I felt like it wasn't the best place for me to start.
View attachment 217928

All that's left now is the nervous wait. Which club will it be?
 
Charlton vs. Almeria vs. York City

Sound sleep has become a rarity over the last week or two. Not sure whether this is nervousness or excitement, but whatever it is I can't wait to hear back from one of the clubs, hopefully on a positive note.

Almeria seems a good choice but there are two huge obstacles in the path. Their board are hoping for an automatic promotion to the La Liga and hiring me, an inexperienced non-Spanish speaking manager seems highly unlikely. Then there are family reasons - with my son just about to enter school and my wife working here, I can't exactly force them to move to Spain with me; nor can I stay away from them for extended periods.

Before I could think clearly, I received an e-mail with a neatly formatted document from a spokesperson for the Almeria board regarding my application.
Mr. Trott,
We thank you for your application but we regret to inform you that..........
Click to expand...
I barely read the rest of the e-mail.
Meanwhile, I seem to be a leading candidate for both theView attachment 217789 Charlton and York City positions. In fact, there are rumours around the clubs that I'll be receiving a formal letter of acceptance from both the clubs soon.

I had to choose. Charlton is definitely the bigger club but it is also in a more demanding league. I called Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who I worked with during my short period at Bolton. We developed a very good relationship during that period and he has managed in the Championship before!

We spoke.....for 2 long hours. He filled me on a lot of details.
The next day, I received two phone calls early in the morning - one from the York City board, and one from the Charlton board. They were both willing to offer me a job.....View attachment 217790
 
20th July 2015 - The Big Day

After careful consideration of the two offers available, I decided to go with York City FC. After long conversations with Gareth Southgate and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, I decided to start in the bottom leagues and gain some experience. That would set a great platform for me to enter the higher leagues.

I called the York City board yesterday and told them I'd take up their offer. I also called the Charlton board myself thanking them for offering me the job, but telling them that I took up the managerial position elsewhere.

20th July 2015: I woke up quite early, prepared myself for the all important meeting with the board. I drove past the main gate of the stadium.

I was greeted by the York City chairman Jason McGill and his
View attachment 217537sister Sophia Hicks, who is the director of the club. A few handshakes and warm greetings later, I signed a contract with the club.

Considering the stature of the club, the expectations weren't very high.

Sky-Bet League 2: Mid-Table finish
FA Cup: Second round or better
Capital One Cup: Don't get outclassed

While I have very little knowledge of the players here, I believe I can satisfy the board on all three fronts.
CONTRACT:​

View attachment 217536
 
Great choice of clubs mate, I quite like York. Though I don't know why....
 
I start off with a very obscure reputation as a manager (whatever reputation I have is because of my huge experience as a player).

View attachment 217472

Today was the day I met the staff at the club. They gave me a warm welcome. Everyone from the U-18 coach to my assistant manager was present. It wasn't a huge gathering - the club just has 9 members on the coaching staff, including me.

I was introduced to the various aspects of the club, the training facilities, etc. Once we finished all that, the staff immediately jumped into tactics and transfers. Considering I know very little about the club, I simply agreed to the minor tactical changes they said - suitable free kick, penalty and corner takers, etc.
THE TACTICS:

View attachment 217470Once that was all done, I discussed some tactics with the coaches. I detailed out the kind of football I want to see the players play. The meeting then went on for about two hours where everyone pitched in with several suggestions.

Some of the discussions simply went over my head, for I have no experience in micro managing the tactics. I guess it's one of the things I'll learn with time.

Right before we concluded the meeting, I called Steve Torpey aside and told him to send me detailed reports on all the players at the club - including the ones in the U-21 and U-18 squad. That should be a good starting point to fine-tune the tactics to suit the players at the club.

 
24th July 2015

It was barely 8 AM in the morning and I'm already at the club. It's been less than two days since I've taken the hot seat and I haven't yet met the players. So, I decided to come in early to make myself involved with the players' training and get an idea of the squad at my disposal.

I still haven't completely come to terms with the idea of me managing a club. It all feels new. But here I am! A few moments after I got settled in, I heard a loud knock at the door. It was the assistant manager Steve Torpey who came to discuss the team report I asked him to compile yesterday during our meeting.

"Morning Darren," Steve said while drinking his morning coffee. "Shall we go over the reports?"

"Uh, ye..um...yes. Ah yes! the reports," I said with a bit of stutter.

A couple of minutes later, we were into the thick of it - discussing player reports. He provided me with a full report on all the players.
View attachment 217322
It's not exactly the strongest of squads but there are a few rather good players around. Torpey highlighted Russ Penn as a key player in the first team. He even provided me some stats from the past season highlighting his importance. I blindly followed whatever he was saying - after all, he has been here longer than me.

The discussion took about an hour and through out the conversation, I was lagging behind. I'm not sure if it's because this is my first stint or because I'm simply not being attentive enough! I told myself - "I must step up my game."
By the time the meeting concluded, the players and the View attachment 217316coaching staff have all arrived to take part in the training. Steve was about to leave the room and I was getting ready to leave as well.

Steve then turned back and said, "Oh and have you looked at the coach and scout reports for tomorrow's game?"

WHAT THE....

"There's a game tomorrow?" I asked in a puzzled tone. I know we are in the middle of friendlies but I didn't know there was one so soon.

Torpey filled me in on the details, while looking completely unperturbed. It was as if he wasn't surprised by my absent mindedness. I wasn't sure if I should feel silly or embarrassed...or both.

Either way, it's time to get my act together.........

View attachment 217314

 
First game in charge:View attachment 217212

It was the first time I walked into the field as a manager. The crowd at St. James' Park was thin, with barely 250 people watching the game.

My tactics were fresh and require a lot of modifications to suit the team and players. The game ended in a draw, although friendlies are not just about the results.

Barring the first 15 and the last 20 minutes, we dominated the game. I was constantly motivating the players from the touchline. I wasn't making a lot of tactical changes, but merely kept motivating them. I first need to know the players' abilities!

As the game went on, I was quickly jotting down notes on ways to improve the team. By the match finished, I has almost 10 pages! I totally lost count.
At the end of the game, one thing stood out. The players' fitness levels was no where near to being 'good'. I know it's the friendly season but I expect better fitness than what I saw. And that's when it hit me - the club doesn't have a designated fitness coach.

I made a quick call to the Administrative Manager asking him to advertise for the fitness coach position. And within a day, the advertisement was up.

View attachment 217207
Things are slowly starting to move..........


 
Concluding the pre-season games with a win!
View attachment 216878There's my first win as a manager. But it is just a friendly and so, no one but me is even going to remember this victory. Not that it matters to me!

After the draw in the previous game, I made a few changes to the tactics to suit the lads. We've been working on team cohesion in the past few days and it clearly showed. The passing, movement and positioning was a lot better but there is still work needed to be done.

I made a whole bunch of changes to test different players out, and I feel that I have a good understanding of the different players here.

Luke Summerfield:
While there are a few good players in the club, the one that caught my eye the most was Luke. In both the games, he assumed the role of the playmaker and showed good vision and passing in the center of the park.

While my assistant reports he is the second or third best player in the club, I have a feeling that he'll play a very crucial role as the season unfolds.

View attachment 216872
 
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