Greetings everyone. You may know me as that guy who got injured all the time in the BAP saves.
However, most likely you don't know me at all, but will now recognize me as the creator of the cringiest story title on FMBase. I've wanted to start a story on here for a while now but wasn't really sure what to do, i considered an unemployed save similar to CantGetEnoughOfJelavic, an 1860 Munich save, a save with my team, Carlisle United, and many others. But i eventually settled on this, as i felt it would be exceptionally interesting to do. Queen's Park, a side in the Scottish Third Division, and the only amateur side in the setup. Not only that, but they are essentially crippled financially, sitting with multiple million pounds in loan debts despite the club not even being worth £100k.
I don't know how far i will get with them, but hopefully i can write a decent story for you guys. Please let me know if you feel that improvements can be made on my writing style or anything else during the story, as i'm not really much of a creative person! I'm pretty sure that this has been done before, but hopefully i can put my own little spin on it!
Thanks for reading, and i hope you enjoy!
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Driving up the motorway towards Glasgow, i felt especially excited. I had my first opportunity to break onto the football management scene. Living in Carlisle, i had coached a couple of Sunday League sides in the area, generally being pretty successful along the way. All the time i was taking coaching courses while trying to make ends meet working in a local supermarket. I had forwarded my CV and qualifications to several clubs in the area such as Penrith and Kendal, but surprisingly it was Queen's Park, a Glasgow based amateur side which eventually got back to me.
Exactly why they responded to me is a mystery. I was applying more out of hope than anything else, despite my desire to get into football management, i was always of the opinion that i'd probably struggle to actually find a breakthrough.
I knew it wasn't going to be plain sailing though, as i said, the club was amateur, the only amateur side in the Scottish football league setup. They hadn't won a trophy since 2000, and that came after not winning one since 1981, and THAT came after not winning one since 1956. The club had experienced success in the 19th century, and have done reasonably well in the Scottish League 2 over the last few years, but have failed to really push on, most likely due to their amateur side. Not only that, but following a bit of research, i discovered that the club was in pretty bad debt, millions of pounds worth. Perhaps this was why they were asking me to come and do a job, most likely the cheapest option. Did i plan to stay with them for a long time? Absolutely. Will i stay with them for a long time? Hard to say.
The chairman of Queen's Park, Ronald Jack, had invited me to The Pot Still, a pub in Glasgow, to discuss the plan for the club and what was expected of me. I felt more and more nervous as i got closer to my destination, but i knew i had to keep my composure, this was big. As i walked in, i was a little surprised as a lady waved me over to her table. She told me that she was Christine Wright, one of the directors of the club.
"Ronald sends his apologies for not meeting you in person, he is rather pre-occupied at the moment, dealing with the debt the club is in. We appreciate you coming in and we apologise for not staging the meeting at a more appropriate venue, but we can't afford to be picky these days"
"That is absolutely fine, i appreciate the busy schedule that Mr Jack must have and i also appreciate you taking the time out to come and meet me."
"You're very welcome. Now... obviously with Queen's Park being an amateur side, you won't really have the privileges or resources that you may have at most other football clubs. You won't actually be receiving wages from us, and we are only really in a position to offer amateur contracts to our players. The only player in the current squad who we are paying is Jordan Moore who is on loan from Dundee United, and even he is only being paid £4 a week by us."
"You naturally won't actually have an official contract, so we can't actually set an expiry date or any of the usual properties that a normal contract would usually have."
"I totally understand. I have experience of working with amateur sides so i understand what the job will entail. Admittedly i don't have experience managing in a league such as this, but i will certainly be committed to trying to bring success to the club"
"That's good to hear, we decided to offer you this position as we were quite impressed with your achievements with your local sides and we think that your philosophies will match up quite well with ours"
"In truth, there won't be massive pressure on you to start with, we simply wish for the club to remain competitive in the league, and we will appreciate any struggles when it comes to attracting players to sign for us."
View attachment 251034
And that was that, after all the formalities were sorted, including a quick meeting with my assistant, Chris Hillcoat, who i intended to keep at the club to assist with the transition, i was now manager of Queen's Park FC. I made my way to a quiet cafe where i could have a browse over the folders that had been given to me by Wright and Hillcoat. A real positive was that the club had access to the facilities at Lesser Hampden, which were especially good quality considering our stature in the country.
The club also played its games at Hampden Park, which, while we'll be looking at a lot of empty seats to begin with, leaves a lot of room for an improved fan base. I also noticed that a couple of our arch rivals, Clyde and Albion Rovers, would both be playing in the same league as us next season. "Could be a feisty year" i thought.
It was now time to take a look at how the squad is shaping up for the coming season...
KEY PLAYERS
View attachment 251063
Jordan Moore, who does indeed command £4 a week from the club. Looks like he could be a real handful for opposition defences this season, and to be frank, should be playing at a higher level. Unfortunately, he is only on loan from Dundee Utd, and is currently suffering from a virus which could keep him out for a couple of months.
View attachment 251061
Patrick Slattery, who strikes me as a physically sound and exceptionally creative player. I have a feeling he could be a driving force in our midfield next season.
View attachment 251059
Ciaran McElroy, a pacey and tricky winger who is also capable of playing in a few different positions.
View attachment 251058
Sean Burns, a player who seems capable of putting in a peach of a delivery given the opportunity.
View attachment 251051
William Muir, a very well rounded keeper who i hope can save us a few points in the coming season.
OVERALL SQUAD DEPTH
View attachment 251050
Looking at this report given to me by Hillcoat, it struck me that i did have some work to do, while we appear quite well equipped in the striking positions, we lack serious depth in some defensive and midfield roles. Looks like i may be busy over the next month or so...
After a quick trip down to the training facilities, i had a very positive meeting with the squad, where i outlined my plans for the coming season, there was a positive mood in the dressing room which i was genuinely thrilled to see. I also organised a meeting with my backroom staff, including Hillcoat and chief scout Bobby Dickson, where we discussed tactics and possible players to bring in over the next few weeks.
Speaking of tactics...
FORMATIONS
View attachment 251043View attachment 251042
These are the two formations that i plan to go with at Queen's Park, i believe in a short passing game but i'm not afraid to resort to a plan B when required. I feel that these two tactics can provide a good variety of options when going into matches and will hopefully make it difficult for the opposition to play against us.
So... that's that then. I've met the director, my backroom staff, my squad, and have decided what my plans are for the coming season. The club simply wish to avoid being outclassed too often by other sides in the league, i hope i can go a little better than that. The bookies are predicting us to finish 7th this year, and while i would take that, given that the club is in pretty dire financial straits, i'm always looking to push on and exceed expectations.
The hard work begins now.
However, most likely you don't know me at all, but will now recognize me as the creator of the cringiest story title on FMBase. I've wanted to start a story on here for a while now but wasn't really sure what to do, i considered an unemployed save similar to CantGetEnoughOfJelavic, an 1860 Munich save, a save with my team, Carlisle United, and many others. But i eventually settled on this, as i felt it would be exceptionally interesting to do. Queen's Park, a side in the Scottish Third Division, and the only amateur side in the setup. Not only that, but they are essentially crippled financially, sitting with multiple million pounds in loan debts despite the club not even being worth £100k.
I don't know how far i will get with them, but hopefully i can write a decent story for you guys. Please let me know if you feel that improvements can be made on my writing style or anything else during the story, as i'm not really much of a creative person! I'm pretty sure that this has been done before, but hopefully i can put my own little spin on it!
Thanks for reading, and i hope you enjoy!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Driving up the motorway towards Glasgow, i felt especially excited. I had my first opportunity to break onto the football management scene. Living in Carlisle, i had coached a couple of Sunday League sides in the area, generally being pretty successful along the way. All the time i was taking coaching courses while trying to make ends meet working in a local supermarket. I had forwarded my CV and qualifications to several clubs in the area such as Penrith and Kendal, but surprisingly it was Queen's Park, a Glasgow based amateur side which eventually got back to me.
Exactly why they responded to me is a mystery. I was applying more out of hope than anything else, despite my desire to get into football management, i was always of the opinion that i'd probably struggle to actually find a breakthrough.
I knew it wasn't going to be plain sailing though, as i said, the club was amateur, the only amateur side in the Scottish football league setup. They hadn't won a trophy since 2000, and that came after not winning one since 1981, and THAT came after not winning one since 1956. The club had experienced success in the 19th century, and have done reasonably well in the Scottish League 2 over the last few years, but have failed to really push on, most likely due to their amateur side. Not only that, but following a bit of research, i discovered that the club was in pretty bad debt, millions of pounds worth. Perhaps this was why they were asking me to come and do a job, most likely the cheapest option. Did i plan to stay with them for a long time? Absolutely. Will i stay with them for a long time? Hard to say.
The chairman of Queen's Park, Ronald Jack, had invited me to The Pot Still, a pub in Glasgow, to discuss the plan for the club and what was expected of me. I felt more and more nervous as i got closer to my destination, but i knew i had to keep my composure, this was big. As i walked in, i was a little surprised as a lady waved me over to her table. She told me that she was Christine Wright, one of the directors of the club.
"Ronald sends his apologies for not meeting you in person, he is rather pre-occupied at the moment, dealing with the debt the club is in. We appreciate you coming in and we apologise for not staging the meeting at a more appropriate venue, but we can't afford to be picky these days"
"That is absolutely fine, i appreciate the busy schedule that Mr Jack must have and i also appreciate you taking the time out to come and meet me."
"You're very welcome. Now... obviously with Queen's Park being an amateur side, you won't really have the privileges or resources that you may have at most other football clubs. You won't actually be receiving wages from us, and we are only really in a position to offer amateur contracts to our players. The only player in the current squad who we are paying is Jordan Moore who is on loan from Dundee United, and even he is only being paid £4 a week by us."
"You naturally won't actually have an official contract, so we can't actually set an expiry date or any of the usual properties that a normal contract would usually have."
"I totally understand. I have experience of working with amateur sides so i understand what the job will entail. Admittedly i don't have experience managing in a league such as this, but i will certainly be committed to trying to bring success to the club"
"That's good to hear, we decided to offer you this position as we were quite impressed with your achievements with your local sides and we think that your philosophies will match up quite well with ours"
"In truth, there won't be massive pressure on you to start with, we simply wish for the club to remain competitive in the league, and we will appreciate any struggles when it comes to attracting players to sign for us."
View attachment 251034
And that was that, after all the formalities were sorted, including a quick meeting with my assistant, Chris Hillcoat, who i intended to keep at the club to assist with the transition, i was now manager of Queen's Park FC. I made my way to a quiet cafe where i could have a browse over the folders that had been given to me by Wright and Hillcoat. A real positive was that the club had access to the facilities at Lesser Hampden, which were especially good quality considering our stature in the country.
The club also played its games at Hampden Park, which, while we'll be looking at a lot of empty seats to begin with, leaves a lot of room for an improved fan base. I also noticed that a couple of our arch rivals, Clyde and Albion Rovers, would both be playing in the same league as us next season. "Could be a feisty year" i thought.
It was now time to take a look at how the squad is shaping up for the coming season...
KEY PLAYERS
View attachment 251063
Jordan Moore, who does indeed command £4 a week from the club. Looks like he could be a real handful for opposition defences this season, and to be frank, should be playing at a higher level. Unfortunately, he is only on loan from Dundee Utd, and is currently suffering from a virus which could keep him out for a couple of months.
View attachment 251061
Patrick Slattery, who strikes me as a physically sound and exceptionally creative player. I have a feeling he could be a driving force in our midfield next season.
View attachment 251059
Ciaran McElroy, a pacey and tricky winger who is also capable of playing in a few different positions.
View attachment 251058
Sean Burns, a player who seems capable of putting in a peach of a delivery given the opportunity.
View attachment 251051
William Muir, a very well rounded keeper who i hope can save us a few points in the coming season.
OVERALL SQUAD DEPTH
View attachment 251050
Looking at this report given to me by Hillcoat, it struck me that i did have some work to do, while we appear quite well equipped in the striking positions, we lack serious depth in some defensive and midfield roles. Looks like i may be busy over the next month or so...
After a quick trip down to the training facilities, i had a very positive meeting with the squad, where i outlined my plans for the coming season, there was a positive mood in the dressing room which i was genuinely thrilled to see. I also organised a meeting with my backroom staff, including Hillcoat and chief scout Bobby Dickson, where we discussed tactics and possible players to bring in over the next few weeks.
Speaking of tactics...
FORMATIONS
View attachment 251043View attachment 251042
These are the two formations that i plan to go with at Queen's Park, i believe in a short passing game but i'm not afraid to resort to a plan B when required. I feel that these two tactics can provide a good variety of options when going into matches and will hopefully make it difficult for the opposition to play against us.
So... that's that then. I've met the director, my backroom staff, my squad, and have decided what my plans are for the coming season. The club simply wish to avoid being outclassed too often by other sides in the league, i hope i can go a little better than that. The bookies are predicting us to finish 7th this year, and while i would take that, given that the club is in pretty dire financial straits, i'm always looking to push on and exceed expectations.
The hard work begins now.