Rich Coveney

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I don't usually do stories like this but FM is getting a little stale for me lately and I've recently had to reinstall due to a major messup with steam not working properly, so I'm starting a new one and keeping a story going about it, to keep it interesting.




The Story is pretty straight forward, take Bristol Rovers (N Power League 2) as far as possible.
Goals are straight forward too, in order of likelyhood:



-N Power League 2 Promotion
-Win the JPT
-N Power League 1 Promotion
-Finish Above Bristol City
-N Power Championship Promotion
-Win the Capital One Cup
-Qualify for Europe
-Win the FA Cup
-Win the Europa League
-Beat the current attendance record of 38,472
-Qualify for the Champions League
-Become Premier League Champions
-Win the Champions League
-Have a player beat the Bristol Rovers Top League scorer record in one season (33)
-Have a player beat the 546 Appearance Record
-Have a player beat the 242 goal record
-Beat the Biggest win record (Current record of 7-0)
-Go 33 games unbeaten (Beating Bristol Rovers Record of 32)
-Win 13 games in a row (Beating Bristol Rovers Record of 12)
-Go a season unbeaten in the league
-And the near impossible - Go a whole season unbeaten in every competition



Miscellaneous Goals:

-Have the league top scorer
-Score the most goals in the league
-Concede the least goals in the league
-Have a player break the league top scorer record in any league
-Win Manager of the year
-Beat Bristol City Comfortably
-Have a player in team of the year
-Have a player win player of the year
-Get offered a job by a dominant club (Man Utd, Man City, Barce, Real etc etc)
-Obtain untouchable job status
-Become a Bristol Rovers Legend
-Extend the stadium


It's a long road ahead if I'm to complete even half of these goals, but I have no other single player saves and this will be the only one I play.

SEASON 1, JULY
Default Media Prediction : 3rd

Board expectations:
- Promotion
- FA Cup Third Round
- Capital One Cup Second Round
- JPT not important

Personal Expectations:
- Don't get fired


Heres the team report I start off with (I'm starting on the default database)

View attachment 364562View attachment 364563





Will update when the press release the title odds.
 
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finally a gas story. please keep this going. i got a save on fm12 with the pirates in my 5th season and 2nd in the championship
 
SEASON 1, AUGUST

Okay so I'm about to play my first match (A Capital One Cup match against Charlton)
And the bookies have me at 11-1 to gain promotion this year, making me the 7th favourite.
Chesterfield, Exeter, Wycombe, and Rochdale are joint favourites at 4-1, Fleetwood at 6-1, and Southend are 7-1


I had a tough time in the transfer market losing out on 2 players who my scouts had thought to be leading stars for league 1, they all went to teams predicted to finish above me this season.

I signed a few players, some for the first team, some as hot prospects for the future.
I didn't get rid of any players as I still have tons of my wage budget left, and I don't want to upset the harmony at the club.
The image uploader is playing up so I will just write out my transfers.


Mirko Ranieri (GK) - He's a 'good' player for League 2, and he's predicted to be a League 1 leading star. One for the future.
Rob Lainton (GK) - Backup for the already on loan Sam Walker
Louis Storey (CB) - Only good enough for the BSP Right now, but he's predicted to be a decent Championship player in the future.
Chenedu Vine (ST/AML) A Decent BSP Player, with potential to become a good league 1 player in the future.
Rui Marques (CB) A good League 2 player, 2nd best CB in my squad, although he's 34 so as soon as I'm out of League 2 he's gone.

I signed a lot of staff in pre-season, and the only staff member I got rid of was Danny Evans the Chief Scout. For a scout to have judging current ability and potential ability levels of 4 and 6, is atrocious.

Staff I hired:

Director of Football - **** Bate
Head of Youth Development - Stuart Watkiss
Coach - Alan McLeary
Chief Scout - Claus Lundekvan
Scout - Bobby Roberts
Scout - Paul Compton


My main, home tactic is going to be 4-2-3-1 with 2 CM's, an AML, AMR, and an AMC in midfield.
I'm going to try and retain possession in all home games, and work ball in to the box, however I will be trying to get the players to pass in to space, and play direct football when they can (not quite boot and hope, but to try and find the killer ball from the middle of the park, straight behind the defence) If my opponent is significantly stronger then I will revert to my away tactic. And if they are significantly weaker, then I may even attempt to control the game.

Away from home I will play the same formation, however I'll be playing counter-attacking football, soaking up the pressure waiting to hit them when they least expect it with the pace down the wings. I'll be playing Get ball forward instead of retain possession. However if I'm playing a team who are significantly weaker, then I'll play my home tactic. If I'm playing a really strong team then I may revert to a 5-3-2, but it's unlikely unless I am desperate for a draw.


I will update my transfers and results once I get to September.
 
SEASON 1, SEPTEMBER.

No more signings have been made, however Broghammer was injured in training after 1 league game.

August Results.

Bristol Rovers 0-2 Charlton (Capital One Cup Round 1) The board wanted me to reach round 2, but Charlton was a tough fixture..

Bristol Rovers 2-0 Aldershot (League 2) Dominated the game in all areas, never in doubt of dropping points.

Burton 0-0 Bristol Rovers (League 2) Dominated the first half but couldn't finish the ball, boring second half.

Bristol rovers 1-1 Bradford (League 2) Dominated possession however only had ONE shot all game, Bradford should have won.

Current League position - 7th
Job Status - Stable
 
Haha yeah i tried like 3 times and it failed, I'm in late September now so hopefully it lets me upload some images this time round
 
Okay so the season isn't going to plan, just like it never does with rovers.

Here are my September Results, getting awfully unlucky with my results, you know the usual things, goalkeeper making stupid mistakes, referee missing blatant fouls in the penalty box, all that junk that usually messes you up.
View attachment 364795

And the Gillingham game has helped me develop a want for some new players.

View attachment 364797

I'm having loads of possession, but even when I switch to attacking and remove the retain possession shout, the team are just struggling to find the net.

Riordan hasn't scored a single goal so far this season, and his contract is up in December, so I'm trying to sell him, and if I can't sell him I will release him in December.
Broghammer is still having problems blending with the squad, hopefully by christmas that will change.

I need a new striker to bring in, in place of Riordan. Clarkson is a quality player and he scored a screamer against Aldershot in the first game of the season, but the service is just terrible and as you can see by the Gillingham game stats, I'm not creating enough chances and I need a decent playmaker. Haven't found a decent striker to get hold of yet, I was thinking of signing Junior Agogo when i first took over but didn't think I needed any more strikers, bit late now. He's a leading star for League 1 as well.

I have this guy joining in January, hopefully it will help. A little troubled for the time being though, hopefully I still have my job at Christmas.


View attachment 364799View attachment 364800
 
Just finished my first game of October. Drew 1-1 with Exeter, they had one shot all game and it was the penalty that they scored.
I had loads of possession and loads of shots and yet again can't hit the target. I even hit the post when I got a penalty myself. The only goal I managed to score was a late equalising header from Cian Bolger. Clarkson has been injured in training for a month as well, so chances are I will be losing my job by the end of October. Going SWELL! haha typical FM I suppose?
 
In an epic turn of events my change of formation has helped me start to pick up results. I'm still stuck 10 points away from the play offs though. I'm on January 1st and I still have my job, just.


View attachment 364876View attachment 364877


Sorry for the big jump through months but I've been powering through it to try and fix the terrible run of form.
 
So now I find myself on February 13th.
Job Security has moved up from Very Insecure to just Insecure.
I've had a great run of form, leaving me in a play-off battle for the final 10 games of the season, I honestly can't believe the turn around. Although now I'm playing like I should have been playing all season. Bolger and Lund have finished their loans, and Riordan has been released.

I've signed 2 new Centre Midfielders in the transfer window which have made a huge difference in the past month or so, costing me a total of 115k in the transfer market.

View attachment 364899View attachment 364900


Here are my Results from the past 6 weeks.

View attachment 364901


And here is the league table as it stands.

View attachment 364902

And I've managed to get in to the top 4 teams for goals scored.
View attachment 364903


Will update again at the end of the season, pretty surprised how quickly I've got through the season to be honest!
 
Well, what an anti climax, they just fired me randomly without telling me my job was under scrutiny, and I was on the edge of playoffs. Sorry for wasting your time guys. Another failed save to add to the tally...
 
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