Operation Football League - A Scarborough Athletic Story

[jackstringer19]

Seeing as they've returned to their hometown for the first time since the demise of Scarborough FC, I thought i'd have a go at getting them in the Football League like the original club was for a period of time.

I'd be very shocked if I can achieve it, but a couple of promotions in the first few seasons will do. My aim for the first season is to simply qualify for the playoffs, South Shields may make winning the division title too much of a challenge. Success in the cups would be nice too.

There's no set pattern as to when i'll post updates, it'll just happen whenever.

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Good luck, it's a real shame what happened to the old Scarborough. Hopefully you'll bring them back to where they should be and maybe even further.

 

[jackstringer19]

Good luck, it's a real shame what happened to the old Scarborough. Hopefully you'll bring them back to where they should be and maybe even further.

Thanks, I have no connection to the club, unfortunately i'm a Birmingham City fan (i've already accepted we're going down). I chose Scarborough partly because I played as them last time I dug out Premier Manager 98 on the PS1.

I agree with you as well, it'd be good to see them make some progress like Chester, Hereford, Halifax etc now they're actually playing in Scarborough again.

 

[jackstringer19]

Pre-season was already arranged for me, a 1-0 defeat against last year's Scottish Championship runners up is quite an impressive feat for an 8th division side.

A tough August lies ahead, and I need centre halves. I've had to call up some U23s.

 

[jackstringer19]

It might be worth closing this thread, I fear that I may lose my job before even winning a game.

 

[jackstringer19]

Not the start to the season I was hoping for, especially the 3-3 draw against Droylsden, as I took a 3-0 lead in the 80th minute before a penalty changed everything.

 

[jackstringer19]

The table looks bleak, but some good news is that my away match at early leaders Tadcaster has been postponed. This means I have a home tie against fellow strugglers Glossop. A must win match for both sides.

 

[jackstringer19]

After a tough August, September brought some much needed improvement with four wins on the trot.

The NPL Challenge Cup is not my priority, but getting a bit further in the competition would have been nice.

The upturn in form unsurprisingly reflected by the much improved position in the table. Had I beaten Mossley, i'd be 2nd right now. Just 3 points separating 2nd to 13th.

A tricky game away at fellow promotion chasers Prescot Cables up next.

 

[jackstringer19]

There's no other way to say it. October was nothing short of a disaster. Aside from the South Shields game, the team were pathetic both going forward and defensively.

The 2-0 defeat to Colne was dubbed 'El Sackico' according to my inbox before the game. Amazingly i'm still in the job.

A win against Atherton Collieries is a must, as the league is almost guaranteed to be the only competition i'll still be taking part in.

 

[jackstringer19]

November was an improved month for me, but not enough to prevent my job from being under serious threat.

Chairman Trevor Bull wanted a meeting, safe to say it wasn't positive.

 

[jackstringer19]

12 points from a possible 15 was always going to be a big ask. Whilst a draw against Skelmersdale wasn't necessarily a bad result on paper, a draw was as useful as a loss. The defeat to Ossett Albion finally sealed my fate.

It was an ambitious project, especially for someone who thought he was finally starting to get good at Football Manager. (I got Cambridge to the Championship on FM17). But unfortunately this project lasted just half a season.

Unlikely to do another manager story for a while, incase it's as disastrous as this one.

I wonder if the previous manager experience makes much of a difference?

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

What manager qualifications did you start off with mate? Im wondering if they had much of an impact as well as the age of your manager.

I did a save with Derby on FM18 and even though we finished third I could never get the players support because I was a 20 year old with no previous manager experience and the only reason i finished so high was because of an overpowered 3 strikers tactic.

For my current save I started in Scottish League 2 and put my manager as a 40 year old with Continental C qualification and it's far easier to get my players to support me and it actually adds some half decent coaching stats for the team training.

Obviously it depends on how realistic you want it to be but it was a shame that you were sacked so early, I think it would make a really good story to get Scarborough up the leagues again. I'd definitely still follow the save if you started again, even if it was with a different team in the same league.

 

[woolly]

Getting anywhere in the Non-league is near on impossible. I've got a save going with Altrincham and although they are one of the stronger sides in the NPL it still took a serious amount of work (and two seasons owing to an end of season slump) to escape into the Conference North (that was with a reasonable training qualification and a 35 year old). It doesn't help that players can move round so easily, I lost my top scorer midway through the first season because another team offered a better contract, leaving me with only youngsters and no transfer fee for my trouble.

 

[jackstringer19]

I used the default experience and badges, and put 24 as my age (used my real DOB).

I've started a new save as unemployed, National A License and ex footballer National level, but kept the same age. May start from League 2 or Conference if the jobs become available. I was considering starting with someone like Maidstone, but a couple of my mates encouraged me to try starting unemployed.

And yeah, I thought the same about Scarborough back in the league. Not really old enough to remember them in the league, but i've watched the Jimmy Glass moment that relegated them a few times. Feel sorry for the fans who ran on the pitch thinking they were safe.