The Wanderer - FM 17

[burkeyoa]

The Wanderer - FM 17

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Welcome to a new FM 17 story, as the title suggests this will be wanderers story as he tries to find a club to call his own. I have no idea where this journey will end up or how successful it will be but i hope you will enjoy the story along the way.

I have set the Mangers attributes very modestly with a Sunday league background to make this story as realistic as possible. The job hunt has begun

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A few weeks in I find myself looking over my CV. What is missing? My obvious lack of experience is the main issue but i just need a break someone to take a chance on a young manager hoping to make his name in the game. Maybe its my interview skills, I have been for 2 interviews rejected by both. Derry City who play in the Ireland and Cardiff MET Uni who are an amateur side in Wales. As I continue to check the job centre on a daily basis applying for anything and everywhere to get my foot on the ladder. This is becoming much harder than I thought to catch a break....
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[burkeyoa]

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We have a job...Welcome to Ireland...Welcome to Shamrock Rovers!

After weeks of applying for jobs we have finally got our break and boy have we landed on our feet here. Shamrock Rovers play in Ireland's Premier Division and can proudly say they are Ireland's most successful club boasting a record 17 league of Ireland titles as well as a record 24 FAI Cups. The club play homes games in the 6000 all-seater Tallaght Stadium in Dublin.

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How have we got this job I hear you ask...Well this season Shamrock Rovers where supposed to be title challengers. But all has not gone to plan and with 2 games to go of the season they sit in 8th place of a 12 team league, 18 points behind the new Irish powerhouse Dundalk and bitter rivals Bohemians.

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With only a matter of days until our first game we have plenty of work to do....

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[burkeyoa]

With not much time to get our feet under the table we evaluate the squad we have inherited. We are pleasantly surprised to see the quality of the squad and there is no way a squad like this should be 18 points behind the league leaders. However my biggest concern is that my 2 star men are both out of contract at the end of this season and refusing to sign new deals!

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With only 2 game left to play this season and nothing to play for, these games will be used to evaluate the squad with every player literally playing for their future at the club. There has to be a underlying problem as to the teams performance this year and also a longstanding problem as to why this club has not won a League title since 2011. Now on to my first games in football management...

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We start our life as a football manger in good fashion picking up 4 points from a possible 6. The last day of the season we where away to table toppers Dundalk and what a performance we devilered. Although the result was meet with mixed emotions from the Rovers faithful as our win against Dundalk handed our bitter rival Bohemians the title on the last day...sometimes you just cant win

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We go into the close season looking to build on our positive influence on this team so far and will try to put our own stamp on this squad. Of course the other big priority is trying to nail down our two star men to new contracts. I predicted a busy off season ahead. Til next time....

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[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 2

We had our first off season with Shamrock Rovers after joining the club at the end of last season. We quickly identified areas of the squad that needed needed improved. Firstly i want to mention two players that where brought in at the end of last season. Jay Tabb returned to Ireland after spending the most of his Career across the water and also former rovers striker Mikey Drennan rejoined the club after a short spell away.

At the end of last season our main focus was trying to get our key men tied down to new deals. However this proved to be unsuccesful. Simon Madden left the club on a free and joined Portsmouth while Brandon Miele also refused to sign but remains at the club on a Month to Month contract. Miele is probably still the best player at the club and am pretty sure it wont be long before and english club comes calling for my out of contract star.

As you will see we where active in the transfer market over the the winter bringing in no fewer than 10 players. Finance at this level is basically nonexistent and the majority of deals are freebies or compensation deals for youngsters.

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Overall we are very happy with our business in the transfer market and feel we have added enough quality to push on and achieve our targets this year. I am particularly very excited about the young centre back Alan Nolan who joined from first division side drogheda and looks to be an absolute star for this level of football and will go straight into my back four at 16.

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[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 2 Update

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We have started this season in fantastic form with some great free flowing football. Cup wise we have successfully navigated 2 rounds of the Leinster Cup and are now in the Semi Final. Our league form is also great and after 8 unbeaten games we are three points clear of Dundalk at the top of the Irish Premier Division.

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Player wise we have had great performances all round. Mikey Drennan started the season with back to back hattricks. Brandon Miele has also started with some majestic displays as i continually look to see if he is attracting any glances from across the water. Alan Nolan has also settled into my back four like a duck to water as he plays beside the experienced Conor kenna who is double his age!​

 

[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 2 Update

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We have remained unbeaten in the league although we seemed to have picked up a habit of drawing to many games that we are dominating and should be winning. As you can see below that even with the draws we have opened up a six point gap after a massive result in the top of the table clash away to Dundalk last time out.

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Cup wise we are through the the Leinster Cup final after a penalty shoot out win in the Semi Final against Shelbourne. It wasn't all good news as we suffered our first defeat as Shamrock Rovers manager in the League Cup Quarter Final against a very plucky Galway Utd Side.

The one major blow this month was a bad injury to the clubs star man Brandon Miele who is still on a month to month deal. He has been ruled out for probably the rest of the season with a 5-6 month achilles tendon injury. Terrible news for both the player and the club.

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[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 2 Update

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I lead my Shamrock Rovers team into my first final in my short managerial career. We are favorites to lift the cup going by league form but this is a Cup Final.

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A great performance from the lads and we have our hands on the Leinster Cup. 4-1 up at half time and the fans where already celebrating. We managed to see out the game in the next half and although this is probably the least important trophy on offer, it is my first trophy in management and is important to me. Hopefully we can build on this now an take the momentum into the league.​

 

[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 2 Update

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We continue our great league form after winning 6 of the next 7 league games after the Leinster Cup triumph. However we do suffer our first league defeat of the season at home to surprise package Longford. We have now opened the gap to 11 points at the top of the table although 2nd place Dundlak do have a game in hand. With 10 games to go we have the league title firmly in our hands.

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The Summer transfer Window shut with us only adding one player in the form of experienced Irish defender Stephen Kelly who was a free agent after being released by Rotherham.

A special mention must go to 16 year old attaching midfielder Micheal Browne who has scored 5 goals in his last 3 starts for the club.​

 

[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 2 Update
As we stated in our last update the league was in our hands...well we have delivered...PREMIER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS with 5 games to spare.

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In our first full season we take the Premier league title back to the Tallaght for the first time in 7 years. The most successful Irish club back on top again. Ironically our title victory came of the back of a lose to Galway United as Dundalk failed to win also.

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Cup wise we where knocked out of the Senior Challenge Cup (Irelands biggest Cup) at the Quater final stage by st pats athletic. And although it was a shame to exit this competition nothing can take away from Shamrock Rover Ireland's Premier Champions for a record 18th time. This will also see us enter the Champions League first Qualifying round for next season.

We also had first youth intake into the club with a few promising players, including two 5 star potential, being signed to youth contracts. Here are the pick of the bunch.

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My youth intake will be very important throughout my time here at Shamrock Rovers as going forward for European Squad registration quite a number will be needed to meet the Squad restrictions.​

 

[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 2 Update

With the league already won with a few games to spare we where able to see out the rest of the season pressure free giving youth a chance in the remaining games.

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The big positive was the return to first team action of Brandon Miele and also the great news that we had finally managed to get him to put pen to paper on a new deal.

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Squad Review

Goalkeepers:

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Ian McLoughlin was our Number 1 this season Murphy providing adequate back up when needed. Murphy will probably move on in the off season to allow our young 5 star potential regen to act as game up while getting some game time next season.

Defenders:

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Experienced Centre back Conor Kenna led the way in terms of avg rating for my defenders with young Alan Nolan also looking superb anytime he played. Overall we are very well stocked in terms of defenders and a area that doesn't look to require much additions ahead of next season.

Midfielders:

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It is young attacking mideifler Micheal Browne that tops the midfielders with some very impressive goal scoring form, that has already seen him attracting some interest for English clubs. The other two new boys Jay Tabb and Chris Atkinson also had very good first seasons with the club. Brandon Miele also was superb either side of his bad injury.

Strikers:

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Sean Boyd and Mikey Drennan got 15 and 16 goals each in what was a fairly solid year for the pair. They where battling it out for most of the season for the one striker position in our tactics. New signing Knox also did well when called upon and I will hope to see him kick on and get more regular game time next season. This is probable the area of the squad that could do with improving the most an we will be on the look out of a top number 9 over the winter.

Conor Kenna, Rob Cornwall and Chris Atkinson also made the league of Ireland team of the year.

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Chris Atkinson also took home the fans player of the season award for the club with young irish midfielder Micheal Browne picking up the signing of the season. With the 8k spent on bringing him from Waterford looking like outstanding business.

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Overall a fantastic first full season at the club which saw us complete the double of the Leinster Cup and Irish Premier League. Preparations are already underway for next season where we will compete in the Champions League Qualifying Rounds for the first time since 2011. With not much of a budget in place we will have to be very astute with our recruitment policy over the winter.​

 

[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 3

As we prepare for another season in charge of shamrock rovers our success of last year has not gone unnoticed. As we receive numerous job offers for English league 1/2 clubs as well as Scottish Premier league sides. The one that tempted me most was Scottish Premier league side Dundee United but the lure of European football with Shamrock Rovers and along with the talented bunch of youngsters I have coming through was enough to convince me to sign a new contract.

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Transfers In:
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As you can see with not much money to spend my major signings where all on free transfers and a few high potential regen irish players which we had to pay some compensation for. We are very happy to have secured centre back Kyle Callan McFadden who had been released from MLS club Orlando. Although we weren't actually in the market for a centre back it was a deal we couldn't turn down. We have also signed two very exciting attacking midfield players to join the club in Steffan Scougall and Jonathan Benteke who come in to battle with Brandon Miele and Micheal Browne for the two AMC spots behind the striker. We are very happy overall with our business however we where left very frustrated with the not being able to get a new striker to the club as there was no suitable upgrades to what we already have.

Jonathan Benteke:
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Kyle Callan McFadden:
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Transfers Out:
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There was no significant outs during the window just a few of the older lads on the squad where let go to free up wages and a number of our young prospects headed out on loan for the season.

We have also collected the first piece of silverware on offer this season by lifting the Presidents Cup, which is the Irish version of the Community Shield. After taking out bitter rivals Bohemians after extra time with new signing Benteke netting twice.

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We have also through to the Semi Final of the Leinster Cup after navigating two rounds.

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[EnglishYeti]

Fair play turning down Dundee Utd. I would have taken the higher rep job (more money) but should be fun in Europe.

Be interesting where/if you head off to next

 

[burkeyoa]

Fair play turning down Dundee Utd. I would have taken the higher rep job (more money) but should be fun in Europe.

Be interesting where/if you head off to next

Thanks for the comment. Yeah i was very tempted to make the move but i do hope there will be other offers if we have continued success here in Ireland. Yeah looking forward to it but Irish teams have an awful record in Europe so I am not holding out to much hope.

 

[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 3

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A great start to our title defense with just one slip up too Wexford Youths who seem to have a system that we find really hard to break down. We have already opened up a 8 point gap to Dundlak and Cork City.

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Player wise Mikey Drennan in fantastic form with 14 goals in 11 games. New signing Kyle Callan McFadden has had a great start to his Shamrock Rovers Career and has become a regular in our back four. In truth our whole team are playing some brilliant football and long may it continue.

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On the finance side of things it doesn't paint a pretty picture. We are well under the wage budget allocate for us but are still turning a loss each month. It is looking like player sales or an unlikely run through a few CL qualifying rounds will be needed to try an balance the books.

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[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 3

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The league form has dropped of a tad since the last update but we are still in reasonably good shape. Although he have only won 2 out of the last 5 league games we still sit at the top of the table thanks to our great start. Cork City have been able to cut that gap down to 5 points so we could do with finding our early season form again.

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Cup wise we have been very busy since the last update, playing in 3 different cup competitions. In the Leinster Cup we have progressed through to the final where we will take on Shelbourne. We are also through to the league cup semi final after navigating through two rounds and finally we are just after squeezing past Dundalk in the Irish Cup. We also have had the CL 2nd Round Qualifying draw which is where the Irish league winners from the season before enter the competition. We have been drawn against Austrian Champions Red Bull Salzburg in a very unfavorable draw.

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And just to finish we knew this day would come but we have received our first offer for our young Irish centre back Alan Nolan from Southampton. I have swiftly rejected an offer which i am insulted by without anyone kicking off but with 10 clubs showing interest we are expecting more bids....

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[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 3

Back to back Leinster Cups as we see off Shelbourne in our latest final and add another one to the trophy cabinet.

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[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 3

It is Champions League time...the 2nd Round of Qualifying against Red Bull Slazburg.

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Incredible stuff against all odds in what must go down as one of the greatest wins in the clubs history. After a late Mikey Drennan strike at the Tallaght we took a slender lead to Slazburg. We were under great pressure for lots of the game in Slazburg but a clinical counter attacking display saw us pick them off 3 times on the break to cap an amazing night in Austria. This result alone will provide the club with a much needed boost to the finances and fully justifies my decision to stay on at the Tallaght.

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The draw for the next round has taken place and we have been drawn against Cyprus champions Omonoia Nicosia. A team that we know very little about but never the the less we enter the tie as underdogs again as we will try and take this momentum and give it a rattle.

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[burkeyoa]

Shamrock Rovers Season 3

More Champions League action as we take on the Cyprus champions in the 3rd Qualifying round.

First Leg:
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What a performance! Again tearing up the script as we put the favorites to the sword as we take a 4-1 lead to Cyprus.

Second Leg:
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A professional hardworking performance in Cyprus sees little Shamrock Rovers through the to the Play-Off rounds of the Champions League. Unbelievable stuff and we are now Guaranteed to be in the Europa League Group stages even if we lose. Crazy stuff.

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The excitement round the Tallaght during the playoff draw was crazy. When the dust had settled on the draw we had come been pitted against Slovenian champions NK Olimpija for a place in the Champions League group stages.

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[Brane_Orsou]

Decent draw, I'm sure it could have been a lot worse!

 

[burkeyoa]

Decent draw, I'm sure it could have been a lot worse!

Yeah big time. For some reason we ended up seeded for play-off draw so managed to miss the so called big boys although we still do go in as underdogs i would imagine.