The Down on The Up?

[Finn]

The Odd Down board have announced the appointment of Finn O'Leary as the club's new manager.
O'Leary is said to be relishing the opportunity to develop his football management skills at Coombe Hay Lane and the Down supporters are sure to be hoping he can make a difference to their team.

I wanted to start a second FM 10 story as a level 10 team and couldn't resist Odd Down, simply because of their name. The clubs nickname is The Down (explains the title ). I'm not going to start praising the club for being amazing, I'm just going to tell you plain and simple that the only thing anywhere near amazing at this club is its name. The club was founded in 1901 which means they haven't won a single trophy in 109 years of football :S. I plan to change that . They have basic training facilities and very basic youth facilities. They play in the English Western League Division One in Level 10.

First things first, I'm going to cancel all friendlies scheduled by the club and replace them with away friendlies in every underworld football country thats willing to pay us over 10k to travel there. I'll post updates regularly, hope you follow. Thanks

 

[Mike]

Cool, good luck. I like reading the challenging ones. Make sure it's interesting (not forgetting Sean's thread and the advice on stories) (A)

 

[Finn]

Thanks Mike! Yeah I'll try and keep it interesting 8-|

---------- Post added at 03:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:03 PM ----------

Quick Update : 10th July

Ok I'm 3 days in and I wanted to give a quick update on what I'm doing so far. The club is amateur so I don't have to worry about wages and I don't have to pay compensation to my staff when I sack them so I sacked all my staff as they were all useless.

My Staff :

Assistant Manager : Tim Wareing
Northern Irish, 30 year old,unproven assistant manager prevously a youth coach at Distillery, Assistant Manager at Crewe United and back to Distilley as a coach.

Coach : John Murtough
38 year old, regional rep coach previously a youth coach at Everton and Fulham and Director of Football at Coventry.

Physio : Gary Lewin
45 year old, continental reputation physio who is contracted to the English national team!!

Scout : Jack Foster
35 year old, regional rep regen scout with JA : 12 and JP : 8. Not too bad for the Western League Division 1.

The squad :

According to my assistant the team is amazing at this level other than the centre-backs who aren't quite the quality of the rest of the team.

The Club in general :

Seems to be a quiet little club located somewhere in the hills above Bath City with not much support but an extremely cool name which always helps

The Ground :

Ok not all that great with 160 seats and an overall capacity of 1,000.

More updates to come when I get somewhere lol. Any questions, comments or tips are welcome.

---------- Post added at 08:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:42 PM ----------

We're right at the end of pre-season and it has been fairly eventful with friendlies in foreign countries, four new signings, a massive 45 season tickets sold and of course a new manager....me The same manager who dreams of the day when people say 'Bath? Is that the little village on the edge of Odd Down City?'

Club News :

Foreign Friendlies Campaign is a major success :
This summer the lads have been travelling abroad to three different countries to play friendly matches and have received large appearance fees for these matches from the hosting clubs. The Down boys have travelled to play against Lam Pak in Macau (China PR), Real Academia in Peru and Korea FA in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is believed in the local area that the lads made over 350k by particapating in these friendlies which has delighted everyone involved in the club.

Season Tickets Sales Announced :
The club has announced that the final figure of season ticket sales is 45. Chairman, Ian Brady announced that although it is a low figure, it is definately something to build on and due to the massive funds raised in the foreign friendlies campaign, the chairman doesn't believe season ticket sales are important at this time anyway.

Media Predictions :
Although Odd Down have only recently been relegated from the Western League Premier, the media are tipping them to come bottom of the West League Division One. Manager Finn O'Leary claims that these predictions are innacurate and that he believes Odd Down are in for a successful season.


The Down to travel to Shrewton :
Odd Down AFC will be travelling to Shrewton tomorrow to face Shrewton Utd in their first game of the season and Finn O'Leary's first game in charge at the club.

New Signings :
It has been confirmed that the club have made four signings over the summer. Ian Drayton and Joshua Foster look set to break into the team as the two new centre backs, arriving from Marlow and Welton Rovers respectively. The signing of 28 year old right winger, Gareth Goode from Harrow Hill has been confirmed along with the signing of 25 year old striker Jack Davies from West Auckland.
(All regens)

Will update a few games in. Any questions, tips or comments are welcome!

---------- Post added at 08:52 PM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 08:26 PM ----------

Now that I have introduced you all to Odd Down AFC I will be posting my manager diary to keep you updated on my story.

01/06/09
Well today was just like every other day has been for the last few years...boring. I have a job as a sales representative for a firm in Dublin and it pays well and most people would be happy with it but what excitement is there in having an ordinary life? Just like everyone else, having a regular job. I am 30 years old now and it seems like it's too late to turn my life around and do something different. At least I'm payed well and I get to go on trips for my work, all over the world which I have always wanted to do. Tomorrow I'm heading over to England on a business trip to Bath to negotiate sales with one of my firms buyers. I've never been to Bath but I'd love to go and as a big fan of sport, I'd love to catch a Bath City football match or go to see Bath Rugby play....

03/06/09
Didn't get a chance to write in the diary yesterday as I spent the whole day travelling. Anyway I'm here in Bath, staying in the Windsor Hotel. Costly, four star hotel fully paid for by my firm . I just relaxed and had a look around the city all day today and am about to head out on the town to meet up with a few old friends and go on a drinking rampage! Have the meeting for work tomorrow but I have until the 7th here in Bath!

04/06/09
Had my meeting today and was fairly hung over but managed to convince the company to buy quite a few top of the range mobile phones. Found out from a few of the locals last night that theres barely any sport on in Bath during the summer but one fan of some random Western League club gave me his number and told me to call him about some fan day at his club on Saturday if I was interested.

05/06/09
More drinking, relaxing and wandering around Bath looking for stuff to do all day. Remembered the man who gave me his contact details last night so I called him. His name is Ian Brady and the club he follows are called Odd Down AFC and play in the English Western League Division One (Never heard of them or their league to be honest!). Well I have nothing better to be doing so I might as well head down there tomorrow.

06/06/09
So I headed for the address Ian gave me which was Lew Hill Memorial Ground, Coombe Hay Lane, Odd Down, Bath. There wasn't much going on to be honest just about 60 fans there and some refreshments being passed around. A bit of club gear was on sale in the clubhouse and there was a practice match going on out on the pitch. I decided to buy an Odd Down jersey for the craic as I thought it would be a good joke to wear it out on the town with the lads back in Dublin. After a while I found that everyone else there seemed to be a local and loyal supporter of the club so I found myself sitting down by the bar by myself. When I was just about to leave after having my fair share of pints, the man who had invited me approached me. We were talking for a few minutes before I realised he was chairman of the club! He asked me about myself and I told him about my FAI coaching badge that I had gained in my younger years. I informed him of my past experience as an under 16 coach in both the Wexford and Dublin leagues. I had always thought of my footballing CV as a complete joke but he seemed impressed. He asked me if I would consider taking up a coaching role of some kind at the club and I was chuffed but told him of my work in Dublin. He said he could get me a job in Bath as a sales rep as he had contacts. I still wasn't interested until he told me the role he had in mind. Manager.

06/07/09
Well its been a month since I last updated my diary as I've been extremely busy. At first I had declined the offer but as I was just boarding the plane to head home to Dublin, I knew I couldn't leave this oppurtunity behind so I had jumped out of my seat and requested to leave the plane...just in time. I had sprinted back across the runway and jumped into the first taxi outside the airport. So here I am, after a month of organising a flat which the rent was paid for 50-50 by my new firm and the club, settling into my job at the technology sales firm in Bath and getting to know Odd Down AFC, I was about to be announced as manager of the club.

07/07/09
Today I was announced as the new manager of Odd Down AFC. An unproven manager at an unproven club. As an amateur club Odd Down couldn't pay me which is why Ian organised a job in a tech sales firm for me. I started work there two weeks ago but I'm not going to go into details about that. I'm going to talk about the job I love, my job as a football manager. I was introduced to everyone at the club by Ian today. The fans, the players, the staff and the local media. I signed a few jerseys for fans in the morning, I had a quick meeting with my staff around mid-day, a meeting with the squad in the afternoon and a press conference in the evening.

First impressions :

The fans : An ok bunch, all locals and die-heart fans of Odd Down AFC.

The staff : One word. Sh*te. A bunch of useless locals that had played for the club and now thought they were amazing just because they had staff roles. They seemed to look down on me from the second I was announced as manager so I showed them who was boss. I sacked them all.

The players : A decent bunch of lads and not a bad side at this level by the looks of things.

The local media : They don't like me and I don't like them but we have to get by with each other so thats that.

08/07/09
Well it seems like an ok club so far anyway and my first major move was to sack all my staff. I have attached small portofolios for my new staff at the top of the thread. I today organised a large amount of away friendlies for the rest of the summer with the three clubs mentioned in the club news above the diary.

22/07/09
I haven't updated my diary in a while because I've been organising training and consulting with Tim and John about where we need improvement. Major problem : Centre Backs.
Have just signed a centre back called Ian Drayton from Marlow. John and my scout both said he was class....he better be.

25/07/09
Have just signed another centre back called Joshua Foster from Welton Rovers. The squad is starting to take shape now and with a few new additions I think we could easily beat our media prediction of 20th.

01/08/09
Not much too report other than the fact that I've managed to get training going well and the signing of a winger called Gareth Goode from Harrow Hill.

04/08/09
Signed a striker called Jack Davies from West Auckland, should be a good addition to the squad!

14/08/09
Haven't been able to update my diary in the last 10 days because I was busy making sure all possible friendlies were scheduled against Lam Pak, Korean FA and Real Academia. Also was making sure the squad was ready for the first game of the season which takes place tomorrow, away to Shrewton.

15/08/09 Shrewton Utd 1-2 Odd Down
First game of the season was today away to Shrewton United. Great start to the season with a 1-2 win! We had gone 1-0 down in the 75th minute before Richard Callaghan got an 85th minute equaliser and an 88th minute winner.

22/08/09 Minehead 1-1 Odd Down
Second game of the season was today away to Minehead. We dominated most of the game and looked set to win after a 56th minute Richard Callaghan goal and a 63rd minute red card for one of their players. Then they got a flukey equaliser in the 89th minute! Annoying in the end but a good performance.

29/08/09 Odd Down 4-1 Roman Glass St. George
Our first home game of the season took place against Roman Glass today which I though was going to be a tough game after they won their first two games. It was tough until late in the game. We went ahead through Phil Lovell in the 18th minute only to concede an equaliser four minutes later. Very even game until the 73rd minute when Phil Lovell got another. Terry Langley got an 81st minute goal and Paul Jarrett finished it off in the 91st minute.

Any questions, comments or tips are welcome! Thanks

 

[shootie]

Best of luck

You still continuing with Bohs?

 

[Finn]

Thanks Shootie and yeah my Boh's story is still going!

---------- Post added at 12:59 PM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 10:35 PM ----------

Not a bad month until the very end. Obviously I was gutted with the 1-5 loss at the end of the month and the 0-2 fan day loss. But I know everyone at this club wants success, just as much or even more than I do and that is saying a lot. I want more than anything to make Odd Down AFC a successful football league club and I believed I can achieve that goal in ten years time. The signings of Carlton *** and Jack Pattison are a massive boost to the squad as they both were on the academies of much bigger sides! I'll update again next month

 

[Hush Baby]

Looking good Finn I'll be following, just about to subscribe. Try to sign Jason Olodale he's a northern Irish stiker and is amazing. You can get him for free at the end of the first season

 

[Finn]

Is it Jason Oladele? Irish striker at Grantham? Thanks for the tip, much appreciated! Have been following your story for a while now and its class. One of the main reason I started this one

 

[Hush Baby]

Is it Jason Oladele? Irish striker at Grantham? Thanks for the tip, much appreciated! Have been following your story for a while now and its class. One of the main reason I started this one

Yeah that's the one got my spelling wrong. He's been with me for 4 seasons now and has scored nearly 80 goals and has nearly 60 assists

 

[Finn]

Yeah that's the one got my spelling wrong. He's been with me for 4 seasons now and has scored nearly 80 goals and has nearly 60 assists

Wow thats impressive :O Did your coaches change their opinion of players 24/7 when you were at level 10? I mean like one minute a player is one of the best players at the club and the next they're sh*t?

 

[Hush Baby]

Wow thats impressive :O Did your coaches change their opinion of players 24/7 when you were at level 10? I mean like one minute a player is one of the best players at the club and the next they're sh*t?

Yeah I just ignore my coaches and scouts they're a waste of space

 

[Capodon]

I would recommend Thai Blevins from N Ireland as well, he might help you get to where you want to be!

 

[Hush Baby]

I would recommend Thai Blevins from N Ireland as well, he might help you get to where you want to be!

Half my east cowes team are northern Irish. Definately a good place to look at this level

 

[Finn]

I scouted Blevins out and he seems to be amazing player although my scout said he would have no intention of joining us. Ah well, I made a bid anyway!

Yeah N. Ireland has plenty of classy players for this level. I normally like to bring in a team of Irish players (as I am Irish) but no one in the Republic seems to want to play at level 10!

October Update

Well I'm gonna keep this short and swe..not so sweet as it was the worst month in the history of football and I have already just about completed November. We played brutal in every match we played and didn't win a single league match.

Results :

The month can be summarised in one word, 'brutal'. Will post the November update as soon as I finish the month. Are better things right around the corner?

 

[iamauser]

What database have ya got loaded? I couldnt find Jason Oladele

 

[Redstag]

Good thread Finn. Ill be reading.

 

[Hush Baby]

Keep it going. I know things aren't going to well at the moment but you will get a break at some point.

 

[Finn]

Thanks guys! Don't worry I'll definately keep it going, especially as things are now picking up fast! I'll post the November update now

---------- Post added at 10:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:41 PM ----------

November Update

November started with the same amazingly bad football, misplaced passes, crunching tackles on the edge of our box, missing sitters and awful results, all key factors of last month. The month started with a 0-0 home draw with Keynsham, a 2-1 away loss in the Somerset Premier Cup second round and a 1-0 away loss to Bradford T. It then dawned on me why we playing so badly. We were ****. I did a complete squad overhaul, throwing most of my starting players and a few of my latest signings on the reserves as they were useless. I made a massive number of signings, including 6 Irish players. The best result was a 6-0 win against Hengrove.

October Signings :

*Craig Butler (Good centre back from Braintree)
* Alan Gracey (55 year old N. Irish player, anywhere from sweeper to centre mid)
* Mark Roberts (Rapidly declined since he arrived, Welsh centre mid/right mid)
*Kevin Cooper (34 year old English midfield left/centre. Played for loads of big clubs. I reccomend him to anyone managing at this level)
*Ashley Caldwell (19 year old, local boy centre mid from Bath City, just up the road)

November signings :

Martin Cooper (regen striker from Worcester)
*Tom Knighton (Classy 21 year old striker from Mangotsfield)
*Dan Avery (21 year old defender from Bishops Cleeve)
*Marvin Johnson (Left back from Solihull Moors)
*Barry Richardson (Amazing 40 year old keeper from Cheltenham)
*Paul McGee (The first of my many Irish players, classy 41 year old DM/MC)
*Tony McDonnell (33 year old Irish centre back, def mid, centre mid. Good captain.)
*Barry O'Neill (Skillful Irish right midfielder, free agent)
*Chris Curran (Among my best signings.Amazing Irish right winger/striker from Forest Green)
*Michael Coady (20 year old Irish striker from Clonmel Town)
*Kyle Meehan (Decent, 22 year old Irish centre mid from Col Corinthinians)
*Michael McSweeney (Irish centre back, free agent)

* = Real Player

 

[Jack Fulham]

Seems like you've really changed the team round with those signings, hopefully you can get some better results, your Bohemians Story is quality as well

 

[Finn]

Thanks Jack! I'll be updating the Boh's story again soon (a few new signings including Caleb Folan and Chris Iwelumo for Bohs )

---------- Post added at 09:38 PM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 10:37 PM ----------

New Years : December Update

This was by miles the best month we've had since I arrived at the club. We played in four league games and won all four, bringing us up to 4th in the league. We're on superb form and if I had to give a player of the month award it would have to go to Michael Coady. The young Irish striker is in exceptional form with 5 goals in 5 games! Incredible month! I signed Rob Gier, a classy right back with 3 caps for the Phillipenes. Just noticed that Gier and my left mid Kevin Cooper played together at Wimbledon back around 00-01 season.

 

[iamauser]

Nice to see things are getting better Im trying to sign Barry Richardson right now too. And its nice too see screenshots that are a good size <)
How did you get them that big?