Hello everyone, I'm new on this forum, my name is Icybone, I've been playing Football Manager on and off since FM2004, definitely over 1000 hours on the different editions since then, that's for sure! I've always been into stories, reading them and also writing some, mostly on my favorite FM ever, which was FM08. I've mostly done saves where I was taking control of one club directly, generally an underdog, or a favorite of a lower division. This time I'll be trying something new, with a journeyman save as I've been wanting to try for a long time now.
Below is the first episode of this story, for now it does not have screenshots/pictures but I'll try to add some in my future posts, based on your suggestions. My personal experience is that aside from one or two picture of the rankings or the results, I barely look at pictures when I read stories, definitely not player attributes, as what I like the most in a story is how the writer conveys and spins his achivements/underachievements
But I definitely will if you want me to
And after this long introduction, let's jump right in with the first episode, have a good read, and thanks so much
Episode 1 - The very beginning:
It all started it August 2018. 28th birthday, unhappy with my current 9 to 5 job, always had been looking for a way to enter the coaching world. Be it with my little brother's team back when he was 12, or with video games, I always though I had some sort of "talent" to make it, probably not as the next Pep or José but enough to make a career out of it. And with my passion for the game, the tactics and all the intricacies, make it a 24/7 career. So here I start, a no badge, no experience dude, leaving his job to give it all and hope for the best. Having on my side a fluent English and generally a good aptitude at learning new languages and adapting to new countries and environments, I figure anywhere in Europe would be a good start. So I start looking through open positions but at this time of the year there aren't many as most championships are just starting. I'll have to be patient...
And patient I've been. After 2 months applying to anything I could find, going to a couple of interview for clubs in Sweden's 3rd division or Slovenia's 2nd, here it is: a club desperate enough to try anything proposes an interview. It's in Ireland, which is good for me because my English is already good enough. We never hear about the performances of Irish clubs on the international stage and the only ones probably known to most are the Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk. So you probably never heard about the last place team of Ireland's 2nd division: Wexford. And that's where my journey will start. It's November, they just finished their season (the Irish division runs from February to November) in 10th and last place of the division, with a worryingly low number of points and goals scored. The interview went well, their only want the team to not finish last the next season and show a more competitive form... I'll see what I can do.
And after just 2 days there it looks that it's gonna be a incredibly difficult challenge. The staff is basically non existent or incompetent, the players are the weakest of the league by far and we barely have enough to cover all positions. Interestingly though, their physical attributes are even worse than their technical ones. We'll go for a short plays tactics and after wanting to try 3-5-2 in my early days due to the lack of full backs, I ended playing most of the season in a flat 4-4-2 or a fairly defensive 4-2-1-2-1 tactics. A decent striker on loan from the Shamrock Rovers will be our only hope at the front while a few additional recruits in the midfield should help keep the ball and maybe snag a few points here and there. After a rough start to the season with barely any points scored, we get our first victory after 6 games. Several close defeats (1-2, 2-3, etc.) follow. It's a shame because we seem to be able to score some goals but our defense is just too weak.
With 10 games to go we're in last place and the president gives me an ultimatum with a 7 points objective to get over the next 5 games. Looking at the calendar it seems like a difficult but not unreasonable task considering we're playing two top 3 teams but also the 3 teams just ahead of us. We win one game, draw another, lose two. It's my last game and if I don't win it, I'll be sacked. We draw 1-1. Without any more conversation I'm sacked and finish my first coaching experience on a rather disappointing failure, Wexford still stuck at the 10th place of Ireland's 2nd division.
Back to the drawing board and the looking for other opportunities. But I've learned a lot from this first experience which wasn't all negative, I think I just never managed to get through to the players...
Below is the first episode of this story, for now it does not have screenshots/pictures but I'll try to add some in my future posts, based on your suggestions. My personal experience is that aside from one or two picture of the rankings or the results, I barely look at pictures when I read stories, definitely not player attributes, as what I like the most in a story is how the writer conveys and spins his achivements/underachievements
But I definitely will if you want me to And after this long introduction, let's jump right in with the first episode, have a good read, and thanks so much
Episode 1 - The very beginning:
It all started it August 2018. 28th birthday, unhappy with my current 9 to 5 job, always had been looking for a way to enter the coaching world. Be it with my little brother's team back when he was 12, or with video games, I always though I had some sort of "talent" to make it, probably not as the next Pep or José but enough to make a career out of it. And with my passion for the game, the tactics and all the intricacies, make it a 24/7 career. So here I start, a no badge, no experience dude, leaving his job to give it all and hope for the best. Having on my side a fluent English and generally a good aptitude at learning new languages and adapting to new countries and environments, I figure anywhere in Europe would be a good start. So I start looking through open positions but at this time of the year there aren't many as most championships are just starting. I'll have to be patient...
And patient I've been. After 2 months applying to anything I could find, going to a couple of interview for clubs in Sweden's 3rd division or Slovenia's 2nd, here it is: a club desperate enough to try anything proposes an interview. It's in Ireland, which is good for me because my English is already good enough. We never hear about the performances of Irish clubs on the international stage and the only ones probably known to most are the Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk. So you probably never heard about the last place team of Ireland's 2nd division: Wexford. And that's where my journey will start. It's November, they just finished their season (the Irish division runs from February to November) in 10th and last place of the division, with a worryingly low number of points and goals scored. The interview went well, their only want the team to not finish last the next season and show a more competitive form... I'll see what I can do.
And after just 2 days there it looks that it's gonna be a incredibly difficult challenge. The staff is basically non existent or incompetent, the players are the weakest of the league by far and we barely have enough to cover all positions. Interestingly though, their physical attributes are even worse than their technical ones. We'll go for a short plays tactics and after wanting to try 3-5-2 in my early days due to the lack of full backs, I ended playing most of the season in a flat 4-4-2 or a fairly defensive 4-2-1-2-1 tactics. A decent striker on loan from the Shamrock Rovers will be our only hope at the front while a few additional recruits in the midfield should help keep the ball and maybe snag a few points here and there. After a rough start to the season with barely any points scored, we get our first victory after 6 games. Several close defeats (1-2, 2-3, etc.) follow. It's a shame because we seem to be able to score some goals but our defense is just too weak.
With 10 games to go we're in last place and the president gives me an ultimatum with a 7 points objective to get over the next 5 games. Looking at the calendar it seems like a difficult but not unreasonable task considering we're playing two top 3 teams but also the 3 teams just ahead of us. We win one game, draw another, lose two. It's my last game and if I don't win it, I'll be sacked. We draw 1-1. Without any more conversation I'm sacked and finish my first coaching experience on a rather disappointing failure, Wexford still stuck at the 10th place of Ireland's 2nd division.
Back to the drawing board and the looking for other opportunities. But I've learned a lot from this first experience which wasn't all negative, I think I just never managed to get through to the players...