The Saints Are Coming - A 2019 Story

Early Struggles

Progression beyond the group stages took an early blow with a 0-1 loss to Hearts at Home. Some good football early on from The Buddies nearly saw them take the lead. The team looked strong until a mistake late in the first half by centre half, Jack Baird. A poor clearance saw the ball fall to Hearts centre back Soutter, who chipped the ball over the Saints backline for Edwards to score.

Saints looked brighter in the second half, and nearly found an equaliser on numerous occasions. However, it wasn't to be. My first game in charge, ends in a loss.
 
Game 2: Derby Day

I won't make a habit of posting every singly game, and will eventually revert to a month by month basis. However, this is the big one. It's Derby Day in Renfrewshire.

Morton v St Mirren.

And you're St Mirren squad is listed below.
Lets go get them Bragging Rights.
 
Buddies 2-1 Morton

A 2-1 win for The Saints see's St Mirren claim bragging rights in the Renfrewshire Derby, and keep their Cup Progression hopes alive.
 
Through to the Quarters....Just

As the Premiership side, I would have expected St Mirren to easily dispatch Ayr United and Dumbarton. Both games were difficult.

There are some definite teething problems with this St Mirren side that will make this first challenge of surviving difficult.

A 3-2 victory over Ayr saw my St Mirren side come from 1-0 down, to go 1-3 up, only for Ayr to apply some late pressure, score, and push close for an equaliser.

A 2-0 win over Dumbarton was not as easy as the score made it sound. Dumbarton frustrated. St Mirren toiled.

The team qualified in second place, on 9 points - level with Hearts but behind of the head to head. We're through, but only just.
 
My hunt for a new striker is on. Madsen and Jackson haven't really been giving me much confidence in their goalscoring ability. I have recently failed in an attempt to sign Ayr United's Lawrence Shankland. A transfer fee was agreed, but personal terms could not be reached.
 
As part of my on going attempts to reduce my overall squad size, and in the process my wage budget, I have sent 3 loan signings back to their parent clubs. Winger Ryan Edwards didn't perform as well as I would have liked and I have sent him back to Hearts.

Matty Willock did not fit into my plans and has been sent back to Manchester United.

Brock-Madsen claimed a high wage, and was simply filling a spot on my bench.

3 players out, and I have my eye on 1 to bring in.
 
Signed (on Loan)

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St Mirren would like to welcome the return of academy graduate, Lewis Morgan, on loan from Celtic football club Lewis played a big part in St Mirren's return to the top flight, and has been brought back to the club. On-going communications between St Mirren manager, Scott, and Celtic manager, Brendan, have saw this deal go ahead.

This news comes 3 days ahead of the St Mirren's league opener against Dundee.

Everyone at St Mirren would like to wish a warm welcome to Lewis back to the Simply Digital Arena.​
 
It's starting to dawn on me just how difficult this first season is going to be. My first month did not go according to the plan I intended.

a 0-0 draw with Dundee on the opening day of the season, a 2-0 loss to Rangers, 1-1 with Livingston and 1-3 loss at Hearts sees the team sitting 10th in the league.

The young Saints fought valiantly against Hibs in the Quarter final of the Betfred cup, but suffered a 2-1 loss to crash out.

Celtic next in the league.
 
The poor form continues. Its frustrating to watch my team go ahead, then collapse in the final 15 minutes of the game. 0 wins in the month of September still leaves me with 2 points and sitting 11th in the table. This is the most frustrating game of football manager I have ever had!
 
The Misery Continues

Although the team lie just outside the relegation playoffs, they are still struggling to perform. I am growing increasingly frustrated with my defenders and goalkeeper. Whilst my attackers blow hot and cold.

September brought my first victory, just. 4-0 up against Kilmarnock at half time for Craig Samson to nearly squander it with three costly mistakes. A hatrick from Magennis early done the damage.

However, Magennis was non existent in the following game against St Johnstone. The Blue Saints ran out 5-1 winners against an incredibly poor St Mirren side. Stubbs really worked a number over on this team, and my works from the summer transfer window havent helped much. January cannot come quick enough.
 
Hope on the Horizon

September ended with a 3-0 win over Motherwell. I currently have 8 points, a minus 10 goal difference and 3 points behind Kilmarnock
Hope is also on the horizon, with my forwards struggling to find the net, I seem to have finally landed my strike target Lawrence Shankland, who will arrive in January. I will now look to offload the misfiring Jackson.
 
A Turning Point

The month of November was a very good month for The Saints. The formation seems to be coming together, and the team won all three of their games in the month.

A 3-1 victory over Rangers saw The Buddies gain ground on 10th Place Kilmarnock. Danny Mullen scoring twice, and Lewis Morgan gaining the final goal.

Dundee took an early lead at home to St Mirren, only for them to be quickly reduced to nine men. St Mirren put them to the sword and sent 5 past Dundee stopper, Parish. With Kilmarnock and St Johnstone both losing, St Mirren moved up to 10th, and gained ground of the Perth side. Captain McGinn and Hammill both scored a brace, with young striker Al Hassan scoring also.

A 3-0 win against Hearts, moved St Mirren into 8th place. Danny Mullen once again scoring a brace, captain McGinn also scoring.

It ended with my captain being names the player of the month and me achieving my first manager of the month award.
 
Positive Outlook

I've spent a bit of time on my lunch at work reflecting on how alterations made to the team last night significantly improved the performance, and will look to go through a few things in the next few posts. These posts will cover the below:
  • Learning Lessons
  • Lawrence Shankland Blunders
  • Striker Competition
  • Too Many Loan Players
  • Alterations to Tactics and future Plans
  • Backroom Staff Evaluation
  • Youth Evaluation
  • January Window Plans
 
Lawrence Shankland - Transfer Lessons - Loan Deals - Future Dealings

Shankland has been the on form striker in Scotland for the past 2 season. Goals are regularly scored by Lawrenace and Dobbie (QoS), and it was always going to be likely that the two would do the same in FM19. Shankland has't set the world alight yet, however he did pick up a slight injury which meant his appearances came from the bench. He is a player who looks to have big potential, and could be a mainstay in my side for a long time - if I sign him.

So, after months of scouting and negotiating, I finally have Shankland arriving to the team. However, not long after the completion of the transfer I noticed I had blundered slightly.

Shankland is in the final year of his contract, which means by the time January comes round he will be into the last 6 months. I could have attempted to sign him on a pre-season, and opt to use the buy now function, which would have saved me a considerable sum of money.

Instead I opted to spend the best part of £200k to bring him in out of sheer desperation, and a lack of goals being scored by my team.

However, now that I have altered my tactics, Mullen is now in free-goal scoring form, and Al Hassan is chipping in now and then with the odd goal. Things seem to be looking up for the side and it has created a good situation of first team competition. To finish high in the league, I need to score goals. It now seems like I will have three strong strikers in the first team, who could seriously change the shape of the club. If things are positive and all 3 strikers score plenty, it may mean I have to re-think my tactic to include my strongest players. Goals win points. Points win Prizes.

My team is still pretty large, and I didn't manage to offload all of the players I wanted to in the first transfer window. My team is still overly reliant on loan players, with the squad currently boasting 5. This will simply mean that when these players leave, I will need to re-build the team again, which means a big drop in team cohesion.

Part of the plan is to replace some of the weaker loan players in January with permanent signings, and blood them into the side. This will reduce the number of loan players I have, and limit the problem I will face at the end of the season.

I am currently paying £22,500 a week in wages - with a limit of £30,000 a week. I want to reduce this number further to better improve the clubs finances. Better finances, mean a better budget next season. I will look to do this without impacting the first team squad, and will try to remove some of the fringe or deadwood players. With the team currently in 6th place, I want to continue climbing the table and attempt to push for a European spot.

Come the opening of the January window, I am going to be overly reliant on looking for players nearing the end of their contract, this will keep my transfer costs down. I will not use the buy now function for all players, some I will allow to play for their current clubs and look to bring them in at the end of the season.
 
Saints Eye Europe

Another fine month in December has saw the Saints move up to 4th in the league table. A very congested fixture list saw St Mirren play 7 times, and the side failed to lose a single one. A 5-1 victory over Hamilton saw Danny Mullen net twice to continue his fine form.

A 2-2 draw at Hibs followed with St Mirren leading twice. Mullen again the scorer,with Lewis Morgan hitting goalscoring form.

Another double from Mullen saw Saints run out 1-5 winners over Livingston. Moving up to 5th in the process.

Mullen, Hassan and Hammill saw off Aberdeen in a surprise win.

Magennis saw his second hat-rick of the season and saw his value rise to £1.8 million.

Mullen saw Saints recover after going 4-1 down at St Johnstone to bring the game to 4-3. Enter the Captain to lad by example and earn the Saints a draw.

A rare McShane double, a Al Hasssan goal, and Coulson all scored to seal a 4-1 win for Saints over Kilmarnock.
 
So i've just completed the first season, but I have a lot of updating to do on this. I won't provide any spoilers, and i'll update you as to where we currently are with the side.
 
When I finished up in December, St Mirren were in 4th place after a very good run of form.

January was no difference for The Buddies. The Winter Break kicked in and I decided to arrange 5 friendlies against lower opposition to keep confidence and fitness high. All fixtures were at home, all 5 ended in victories.

- Rob Roy 11-0
- Kilbirnie Ladeside 8-0
- Yoker Athletic 5-0
- Colvile Park 7-1
- Arthurlie 9-0

My first competitive fixture was at home to Morton in the Cup. This was the second time I had met this side in a cup competition, and it provided me with another Derby to gain Bragging rights. The first time these sides met under my management, the game was tight and I only just managed to get away with a win. This game was no different. A closely fought 2-1 win saw me advance to the next round of the Scottish Cup

A 2-5 loss to league leaders Celtic, saw me lose my first game in 11 fixtures. But I managed to bounce back with a 3-2 win over Hibs. This saw me finish the month in 5th place.

On the transfer front, there was absolutely no activity. I tried to move players on, but no one was interested. There were also no players available to strengthen my side. They either weren't interested in a move or they weren't any better than what I had.
 
5 Premiership fixtures in February and a game in the 5th Round of the Scottish Cup.

I opened the month with a 1-3 loss away to Rangers, despite taking an early lead.

A 2-1 over Motherwell saw me move back up to 5th place.

Unfortunately the team suffered a 5th round exit at the hands of second bottom Dundee - despite going 2-0 up in the first half, my team collapsed and lost 2-3

A 1-4 loss to Aberdeen followed, but other results meant I stayed 5th.

A 2-1 win over Hearts moved the team up to 4th.4

A big 6-2 victory over Livingston saw me move up to third - still too far behind Rangers (1st) and Celtic (2nd). Cammy Smith Scored 4 with new signing Shankland grabbing 2.
 
March saw an influx of new players through the regen system. My system provided me with 4 new youth players.

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In the league, there were three fixtures. A 3-1 win over Kilmarnock saw me keep third place, whilst a 0-0 draw to St Johnstone saw me drop to 5th - the margins for Euro qualification are so tight between Aberdeen, Hibs and St Mirren.

Dundee proved to be an important game in the season for me and my goal difference. a 9-1 win for The Buddies saw me leapfrog Aberdeen in both points and goals, the gap would only open up further. 6 first half goals from St Mirren allowed me to put on 3 youth players.

April and May would both be big months in the race for Europe.
 
The Race for Europe.

The final two months of the season would say a closely contested battle between Hibs, Aberdeen and St Mirren for the European qualification spots of 3rd and 4th

St Mirren took a hard blow at the start of April, with a 2-5 loss to Celtic, Hibs and Aberdeen would both win. Moving St Mirren to 4th, and level on points with Hibs.

The final game of the season (post split) saw St Mirren hammer league strugglers Hamilton 5-0. Hibs and Aberdeen would also both win, but the goal difference between the three significantly increased in favour of St Mirren.

The first crunch game in the three way battle would see St Mirren defeat Hib 3-1 and move 3 points clear of Hibs and move into 3rd after Aberdeen's loss.

I had expected to drop points against Rangers and have to fight it out for 4th place, but was surprise when I went 2-0 up incredibly early. Rangers drew the game back to 2-2, before my team ran away with the game at the end and win 4-2. Aberdeen would win, Hibs would lose.

A 2-2 draw with Aberdeen saw me seal a European spot, but would it be 3rd, or 4th. 2 games left in the season.

A 1-1 draw at Motherwell was enough for me to secure 3rd, although I was only 3 points clear of Aberdeen I was 20 goals ahead in terms of goal difference. I was going to secure 3rd.

Celtic would beat me 3-2 in the final game of the season to win the league. I now only have 2 chances to stop them.
 
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