Too Long Didn't Read version: Bloody hell, this is a disaster, plus bonus Alex Salmond abuse!
And so the inevitable has happened, the transfer embargo was in place stopping me signing any new players, but not before a little shoring up of the right-back position in Tony Gallagher, who can also slot in in the centre of defence. His tackling of 13 is also high in comparison to the squad.
A miracle happened in preseason as double cup winners Hearts asked us for a friendly at our patch, and despite getting totally outclassed we eked out a 1-0 win! Celtic also wanted a friendly, that didn't go quite as well as a 7-0 drubbing resulted. Still, could have been worse, the fans were only slightly concerned at the result and the turnstiles are still clicking over from the capacity crowd that crammed Balmoor.
And just as quickly as the transfer embargo was put in place, it was lifted. There was a bit of a dispute about the club valuation and as a result the deal fell through. Good news for job security, bad news for my coaching qualifications! Except the transfer embargo came in again as another party wanted control of the club, and it was quite a protracted affair. Still, this time it went through and with it the club's finances were a little healthier but again I couldn't go on a coaching course because I was needed on the training ground. No worries, I'll ask for another coach. No can do on that as the board didn't have enough confidence in me.
That, in part, was due to a catastrophic start to the season. The team was, as ever, understrength but without the transfer window being open for me for much of the time my targets went elsewhere. Despite that preseason form, the league went to the dogs. Especially galling was protecting a narrow 1-0 lead with a couple of minutes to go, only to lose the match in injury time. That was followed by losing the very next match in injury time too. 6 points turned to 0 thanks to an abject lack of concentration.
No prizes for guessing who we drew in the Scottish Cup third round. That's right, our cup nemesis Turriff United of the Oh God Leave Us Alone league. The results were predictable, and meant we failed to reach expectations.
Now, in the league expectations are of a top half finish. That was ambitious at best seeing as in the past 3 years our best finish was 7th. But here we are, rock bottom with 13 points and a board confidence of 41%. I'm not sure how much longer I will be staying in this job. Maybe if I have another go at this Donald Trump challenge I'll start with better coaching qualifications! Still, there's hope, so 30 points in 18 games is my target, let's see how far we can go.
Addendum: I didn't stay much longer at all. The board wanted to know why the team was so crap, I asked for more time to sort it out. Despite starting to go on a run of good form we couldn't climb any higher than 9th in the league and that was that. Game over. Will I have another go? Well, I lasted a couple of seasons longer than last time so maybe I will. The coaching qualifications problem is a huge one. That isn't part of the challenge, so I think starting with better qualifications is okay. Donald Trump went into Aberdeenshire with both the reputation and experience so why not be high profile? Make the chairman more amenable via the editor? Well, Alex Salmond showed himself to be the gullible power-crazed starstruck billionaire-loving nature-hating moron he is by allowing Trump to ride completely roughshod over his own constituents and the local council then refuse to explain himself in a manner that any reasonable person would, but I would like to have some sort of integrity so no, no editing the chairman. Attempt 3 will come, but not just yet.
Wednesday, 23 March 2016
Tuesday, 22 March 2016
Peterhead Season 3 Half 2
The Too Long Didn't Read version is Treading Water.
So for all of the effort this year, the tweak in the tactics, the new found optimism that we can actually win a cup game, it was for practically nothing. 7th place in the league, and apart from scoring 3 goals more, an identical record.
Had it not been for a solid run at the end of the season it could have been very different. Bumbling along in 8th with nothing special happening could easily have seen us slip into the relegation playoffs or worse, but picking up wins in all of our last 4 home matches boosted not only the team but finally for the month of April, my first Manager of the Month award! Finally some success. Not enough to make the board allow me to take a coaching qualification but baby steps, eh?
A positive is the tweaks resulting in Rory McAllister finishing as the 2nd highest goalscorer in the league, an impressive 22 goals from 32 appearances, a goal every 118 minutes. Equally pleasing was understudy to McAllister and utility attacking midfielder Shane Sutherland finishing 7th in the goalscoring charts. McAllister getting half of his shots on target was a huge help too, Given that he is doing the business for me now, especially as the dying embers of the season went well implying that the squad is settled and ready to storm ahead now, I think I will take the option of having Rory see out his career in Aberdeenshire.
Going forward is less of an issue, hopefully we will be secure at the back too. There is a lack of cover which is worrying but can be sorted out in the close season. Most of my players back there are in the 2.5 to 3 star range which is ok, could be better. This is reflected in the comparison pages where we are middling in most categories. The big worry there isn't necessarily the lack of cover, rather that we are rated 9th in tackling still. That absolutely must improve, along with pace where we are 8th. I think a couple of my starting defenders could well see themselves as cover next year.
Not a lot else to report, other than the board are very pleased with the leadership I am displaying.
The real question is where do I go from here? Quite often at this sort of stage I'm looking at another club to join. I feel as if we are stagnant here and I have tended to favour the, for want of a better example, Alex Ferguson career recently. Start at a relatively small club, move a few times, end up at a big club, ride the save from there until old age. This clearly isn't possible in my save here. The lack of money at the club is a massive factor, I can't sell players for anything like the sort of money that would help, and I can't slice the wage budget any further as we are already spending just 60% of what we are budgeted.
The money problem could be eased in the near future as the chairman is open to offers for the club. Get the finances looking healthier from outside investment, which would then let me take a coaching badge (!) and train up the youngsters better. There is always the chance the new board would want their own man in charge which in turn would end this save (the aim is getting a piece of the Aberdeenshire coast named after me after all) but it looks the best option unless we get a promotion this year. Eventually all the players will get fed up of League 1 because I know I am.
Onwards and hopefully upwards!
So for all of the effort this year, the tweak in the tactics, the new found optimism that we can actually win a cup game, it was for practically nothing. 7th place in the league, and apart from scoring 3 goals more, an identical record.
Had it not been for a solid run at the end of the season it could have been very different. Bumbling along in 8th with nothing special happening could easily have seen us slip into the relegation playoffs or worse, but picking up wins in all of our last 4 home matches boosted not only the team but finally for the month of April, my first Manager of the Month award! Finally some success. Not enough to make the board allow me to take a coaching qualification but baby steps, eh?
A positive is the tweaks resulting in Rory McAllister finishing as the 2nd highest goalscorer in the league, an impressive 22 goals from 32 appearances, a goal every 118 minutes. Equally pleasing was understudy to McAllister and utility attacking midfielder Shane Sutherland finishing 7th in the goalscoring charts. McAllister getting half of his shots on target was a huge help too, Given that he is doing the business for me now, especially as the dying embers of the season went well implying that the squad is settled and ready to storm ahead now, I think I will take the option of having Rory see out his career in Aberdeenshire.
Going forward is less of an issue, hopefully we will be secure at the back too. There is a lack of cover which is worrying but can be sorted out in the close season. Most of my players back there are in the 2.5 to 3 star range which is ok, could be better. This is reflected in the comparison pages where we are middling in most categories. The big worry there isn't necessarily the lack of cover, rather that we are rated 9th in tackling still. That absolutely must improve, along with pace where we are 8th. I think a couple of my starting defenders could well see themselves as cover next year.
Not a lot else to report, other than the board are very pleased with the leadership I am displaying.
The real question is where do I go from here? Quite often at this sort of stage I'm looking at another club to join. I feel as if we are stagnant here and I have tended to favour the, for want of a better example, Alex Ferguson career recently. Start at a relatively small club, move a few times, end up at a big club, ride the save from there until old age. This clearly isn't possible in my save here. The lack of money at the club is a massive factor, I can't sell players for anything like the sort of money that would help, and I can't slice the wage budget any further as we are already spending just 60% of what we are budgeted.
The money problem could be eased in the near future as the chairman is open to offers for the club. Get the finances looking healthier from outside investment, which would then let me take a coaching badge (!) and train up the youngsters better. There is always the chance the new board would want their own man in charge which in turn would end this save (the aim is getting a piece of the Aberdeenshire coast named after me after all) but it looks the best option unless we get a promotion this year. Eventually all the players will get fed up of League 1 because I know I am.
Onwards and hopefully upwards!
Wednesday, 16 March 2016
Peterhead Season 3 Half 1
Last time out I talked about how to measure progress. As a pure maths student one of the things I have looked at to measure distance is metrics. I'm wondering if I could come up with a metric to measure overall progress from a base level I am making.
I certainly don't want to measure it by league performance as P18 W5 D6 L7 Pts21 is worse than both the last two years, but marginally. Our position of 7th is also worse nominally but we are just 2 points off the playoffs as opposed to 4 points above the relegation playoffs which is technically better than last year.
Can we measure it by the board confidence? Well, thanks to winning the relegation playoffs last year, despite underperforming in all 3 cup competitions and the league itself the board were pleased with last season and my successes play a part in evaluating me this year! Well, I'll take it. It sure beats getting called into the board to explain why we lost to the league no-hopers. But I cannot really see how that can measure my performance.
How about cup progress? Tempered by the appalling return of 0 wins from 6 attempts the board were happy for us just to take part in the minor cups. With no expectation we entertained Arbroath of League 2 in the Challenge Cup, and entertained the fans with an emphatic 5-0 thumping! We followed this up with a dismantling of Airdrie in the League Cup. And that's where the story ends as immediately after in the league we played Airdrie and their revenge was swift and decisive.
Player happiness? I said last season that the Nathan Blockley situation had sorted itself out. That situation is well and truly sorted out now as he has left the club. Not through me giving into any demands of his, rather the board seeing the £15,750 transfer fee as too good to turn down. I really didn't want him to leave telling the board as much, but that was like spitting into the wind. So he's gone, and is now worth just £5000 through not getting any starts at Inverness. What I'm not happy with, is the fans giving the transfer (what is now) 44% happiness with me. Not a damn thing I could do about it, and it is a negative on my transfer record!
With him gone it is someone else's turn to moan about wanting to join a bigger club, and no surprise it's Ally McKerracher, a centre midfielder just like Blockley. This is playing out exactly like Blockley, even down to the number of games for him to become settled at the club again. Rather amusingly, he has just signed a 1 year contract extension citing his love for the club!
Notable from his absence of the transfer talk is Rory McAllister. He was listed, no-one wanted him, so I let him stay. His rebuttal to being transfer listed was 7 goals from 14 starts in the league. Not bad, but Shane Sutherland has started a few games up front, come on as a sub up front a few times, and started in the attacking midfield a few times, and has netted 11 times from 16 starts and 5 sub appearances in all competitions, including 8 league goals. So I really don't want progress to be measured by if my striker is my leading scorer!
So I guess the only way I can measure my progress is by what league I am in. It's a short hop to the playoff places, hopefully we can ride some form to get us there this year. If nothing else, the extra money from a couple more games would be most welcome.
And with more money at the club I might finally be allowed to take a coaching qualification. Onwards and hopefully upwards.
I certainly don't want to measure it by league performance as P18 W5 D6 L7 Pts21 is worse than both the last two years, but marginally. Our position of 7th is also worse nominally but we are just 2 points off the playoffs as opposed to 4 points above the relegation playoffs which is technically better than last year.
Can we measure it by the board confidence? Well, thanks to winning the relegation playoffs last year, despite underperforming in all 3 cup competitions and the league itself the board were pleased with last season and my successes play a part in evaluating me this year! Well, I'll take it. It sure beats getting called into the board to explain why we lost to the league no-hopers. But I cannot really see how that can measure my performance.
How about cup progress? Tempered by the appalling return of 0 wins from 6 attempts the board were happy for us just to take part in the minor cups. With no expectation we entertained Arbroath of League 2 in the Challenge Cup, and entertained the fans with an emphatic 5-0 thumping! We followed this up with a dismantling of Airdrie in the League Cup. And that's where the story ends as immediately after in the league we played Airdrie and their revenge was swift and decisive.
Player happiness? I said last season that the Nathan Blockley situation had sorted itself out. That situation is well and truly sorted out now as he has left the club. Not through me giving into any demands of his, rather the board seeing the £15,750 transfer fee as too good to turn down. I really didn't want him to leave telling the board as much, but that was like spitting into the wind. So he's gone, and is now worth just £5000 through not getting any starts at Inverness. What I'm not happy with, is the fans giving the transfer (what is now) 44% happiness with me. Not a damn thing I could do about it, and it is a negative on my transfer record!
With him gone it is someone else's turn to moan about wanting to join a bigger club, and no surprise it's Ally McKerracher, a centre midfielder just like Blockley. This is playing out exactly like Blockley, even down to the number of games for him to become settled at the club again. Rather amusingly, he has just signed a 1 year contract extension citing his love for the club!
Notable from his absence of the transfer talk is Rory McAllister. He was listed, no-one wanted him, so I let him stay. His rebuttal to being transfer listed was 7 goals from 14 starts in the league. Not bad, but Shane Sutherland has started a few games up front, come on as a sub up front a few times, and started in the attacking midfield a few times, and has netted 11 times from 16 starts and 5 sub appearances in all competitions, including 8 league goals. So I really don't want progress to be measured by if my striker is my leading scorer!
So I guess the only way I can measure my progress is by what league I am in. It's a short hop to the playoff places, hopefully we can ride some form to get us there this year. If nothing else, the extra money from a couple more games would be most welcome.
And with more money at the club I might finally be allowed to take a coaching qualification. Onwards and hopefully upwards.
Monday, 14 March 2016
Peterhead Season 2 Half 2
Aka What Exactly IS Progress?
So what defines progress for a team in Football Manager? Is it having more points at the end of the season? In that case yes, the team has made marginal progress. Our finishing record of W10 D11 L15 Pts41 is a point better than last year. Indeed our goal difference was -10 this year instead of -16 the year before. But we finished 9th in the league, a drop of 2 places from last year, so the dreaded relegation playoffs beckoned.
But first, how did selling my striker go? Well, I didn't in the end. In the next two games Rory McCallister grabbed a brace in each, going on to finish the season with a team-leading 15 goals. This was helped by moving up-and-comer Ally McKerracher into an attacking midfielder role as of right, converting the formation into a wide 4-2-3-1. He isn't quite as happy there but there does seem to be better movement overall in the middle of the park, so much so he picked up player of the season. Most goals are still being provided by crosses, especially from the right wing, but that is fine as our players have excellent jumping and heading up front but lack pace.
McCallister isn't completely out of the woods. He is still the leading wage-earner and at 30 years old it is time to decide whether to offload him or keep him on as a wily veteran for the younger players to learn from.
Some absolutely pathetic goals were conceded in the second half of the season, a particular lowlight being my goalie palming the ball onto his own knee then into the net from a shot so feeble it would be a measured backpass had a defender make it. Another lowlight was going 3-0 up in 20 minutes against East Fife who with a handful of games to go were 3 points ahead of us in 8th, and with a better goal difference by 3, and somehow only drawing. Some of the decision making was shocking on my players' parts, and checking the team report says we are 10th out of 10 in that regard. That clearly needs to change.
This wouldn't be an update if I didn't report on what injury my goalie had picked up, and this time around it was a hernia keeping Kevin Walker out of the last 4 weeks of the season.
So a largely disappointing close to the season meant we were into the relegation playoffs. There is a rather amusing "feature" in that the press conferences and team talks make this into something that you target from the start of the season. For the three teams from League 2 maybe, but this certainly isn't something we were aiming for!
Berwick in the semifinals then, and a comfortable 2-0 lead after 72 minutes turned into a nervy 2-1 lead after 77, but we held on to take a lead and perhaps two valuable away goals into the home leg. And boy did we need them! Berwick were up for the 2nd leg, and hammered 24 shots at goal, fortunately only 1 went in in the 90 minutes. My celebrations were short lived when I remembered that away goals do not count double after 90 minutes. On 112 minutes substitute Leighton McIntosh saved any further away goals confusion with a scrambled winner. Now do I congratulate the team on reaching the final? I'd love to pick the non-existent option to lambaste them for needing extra time in a match we shouldn't have been in in the first place but there you go. Clyde in the final over 2 legs, with Clyde getting the advantage of their home match last.
Our home match was fairly even until 3 quarters of the match had elapsed. My right-winger Nicky Riley took things on his own head to grab himself a brace, and with it a comfortable 2 goal cushion to take to Broadwood Stadium. Big favourites, a 2-0 lead, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, on 52 minutes Ryan McGeever slicing my defence apart made it a nervy 2-1 on aggregate. Liam Burt made it an annoying 2-2 on aggregate and yet another extra time. At least this time I knew away goals wasn't a factor in the additional 30 minutes getting added on. And so with 120 minutes on the clock and an added minute being played McIntosh got himself into a great position to receive a cross from the right, and kicks the ball straight at the keeper from 2 yards away. I swore. Until I saw the ball roll back to McIntosh's feet with a newly found open goal at his mercy. This time no mistakes and against the run of play we had done it. Survival. What's more, most of my players actually want to stay at the club!
So what does the next season bring? Probably 42 points and a goal difference of -6. The midfield is getting stronger but almost certainly there will be turnover up front. Also the defence tends to be where the loan players fit in. Some strong permanent defenders would be nice.
Above all I'd like a win in a cup game. Just to see what the next round looks like would be nice. Even a win in the challenge cup would be gratefully received!
So what defines progress for a team in Football Manager? Is it having more points at the end of the season? In that case yes, the team has made marginal progress. Our finishing record of W10 D11 L15 Pts41 is a point better than last year. Indeed our goal difference was -10 this year instead of -16 the year before. But we finished 9th in the league, a drop of 2 places from last year, so the dreaded relegation playoffs beckoned.
But first, how did selling my striker go? Well, I didn't in the end. In the next two games Rory McCallister grabbed a brace in each, going on to finish the season with a team-leading 15 goals. This was helped by moving up-and-comer Ally McKerracher into an attacking midfielder role as of right, converting the formation into a wide 4-2-3-1. He isn't quite as happy there but there does seem to be better movement overall in the middle of the park, so much so he picked up player of the season. Most goals are still being provided by crosses, especially from the right wing, but that is fine as our players have excellent jumping and heading up front but lack pace.
McCallister isn't completely out of the woods. He is still the leading wage-earner and at 30 years old it is time to decide whether to offload him or keep him on as a wily veteran for the younger players to learn from.
Some absolutely pathetic goals were conceded in the second half of the season, a particular lowlight being my goalie palming the ball onto his own knee then into the net from a shot so feeble it would be a measured backpass had a defender make it. Another lowlight was going 3-0 up in 20 minutes against East Fife who with a handful of games to go were 3 points ahead of us in 8th, and with a better goal difference by 3, and somehow only drawing. Some of the decision making was shocking on my players' parts, and checking the team report says we are 10th out of 10 in that regard. That clearly needs to change.
This wouldn't be an update if I didn't report on what injury my goalie had picked up, and this time around it was a hernia keeping Kevin Walker out of the last 4 weeks of the season.
So a largely disappointing close to the season meant we were into the relegation playoffs. There is a rather amusing "feature" in that the press conferences and team talks make this into something that you target from the start of the season. For the three teams from League 2 maybe, but this certainly isn't something we were aiming for!
Berwick in the semifinals then, and a comfortable 2-0 lead after 72 minutes turned into a nervy 2-1 lead after 77, but we held on to take a lead and perhaps two valuable away goals into the home leg. And boy did we need them! Berwick were up for the 2nd leg, and hammered 24 shots at goal, fortunately only 1 went in in the 90 minutes. My celebrations were short lived when I remembered that away goals do not count double after 90 minutes. On 112 minutes substitute Leighton McIntosh saved any further away goals confusion with a scrambled winner. Now do I congratulate the team on reaching the final? I'd love to pick the non-existent option to lambaste them for needing extra time in a match we shouldn't have been in in the first place but there you go. Clyde in the final over 2 legs, with Clyde getting the advantage of their home match last.
Our home match was fairly even until 3 quarters of the match had elapsed. My right-winger Nicky Riley took things on his own head to grab himself a brace, and with it a comfortable 2 goal cushion to take to Broadwood Stadium. Big favourites, a 2-0 lead, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, on 52 minutes Ryan McGeever slicing my defence apart made it a nervy 2-1 on aggregate. Liam Burt made it an annoying 2-2 on aggregate and yet another extra time. At least this time I knew away goals wasn't a factor in the additional 30 minutes getting added on. And so with 120 minutes on the clock and an added minute being played McIntosh got himself into a great position to receive a cross from the right, and kicks the ball straight at the keeper from 2 yards away. I swore. Until I saw the ball roll back to McIntosh's feet with a newly found open goal at his mercy. This time no mistakes and against the run of play we had done it. Survival. What's more, most of my players actually want to stay at the club!
So what does the next season bring? Probably 42 points and a goal difference of -6. The midfield is getting stronger but almost certainly there will be turnover up front. Also the defence tends to be where the loan players fit in. Some strong permanent defenders would be nice.
Above all I'd like a win in a cup game. Just to see what the next round looks like would be nice. Even a win in the challenge cup would be gratefully received!
Peterhead Season 2, Half 1
So this time last year, we were out of all the cups at the first hurdle possible. This time we had Turriff United of the Never Heard of Them league in the Challenge Cup. At home, against one of the two non-league teams what could possibly go wrong? Apart from losing 1-0. Sigh. According to the cup draw we were the weaker team anyway! With no better results in the other cups we move on to a record of 6 cup games played all-time, with 0 matches won.
As for the league, this time last year we had 22 points from 18 games. This time out, W6 D5 L7 for a haul of 23 points. A minor increase! 6th in the table though, so a point better but a place worse. This does put us just 3 points away from the playoffs, but on the flip side just 4 points away from a relegation playoff. Another season of mediocrity beckons, but a good or bad run could well get us involved in a good or bad end of season scrap.
The Nathan Blockley situation has sorted itself out, it may have taken him 10 league games of being disinterested but he is back onside with the team effort now and the squad is more balanced for it. Speaking of team balance, we picked up a new goalie for the season, Kevin Walker. Obviously he wouldn't be a Peterhead goalie without picking up a rubbish injury, and with 7 days of blisters Walker is no exception. The fans aren't too happy with the capture but to be honest, sod them. He's conceded fewer than I'd have expected with the crap defence in front of him.
The other transfer of note was Mark Hill in on loan from Celtic to bolster the centre of midfield. Nothing spectacular from him but he is putting in the legwork in the centre of the park cutting out attacks, and the fans love having him around. And as a loan player, he won't be getting anywhere close to legendary status!
For the second half of the season I'd love to hold the ship steady. Getting a promotion could be a disaster for us, we would surely struggle, the infrastructure just isn't in place to compete in the Championship. 5th place would suit me, and should result in a minor boost to the sponsorship deals. The other thing to look at is why my left winger is scoring more goals than my striker. Maybe that is ok for my winger, after all my "striker" is operating as a target man, with my left winger operating as an inside forward and likes a good strike anyway. 5 goals from 73 shots just isn't good enough though. Things have to change I reckon. Rory McAllister is not only poor up front but is also 29 years old and his wages account for 14% of the entire wage spend. Time for the door?
Finally I'd also like the board confidence message to change. My decision to let Kevin Dzierzawski go was apparently an "aberration". I offered him myriad contracts, his misplaced hatred for me made him leave! With a job security of 51%, holding the ship steady is the aim.
As for the league, this time last year we had 22 points from 18 games. This time out, W6 D5 L7 for a haul of 23 points. A minor increase! 6th in the table though, so a point better but a place worse. This does put us just 3 points away from the playoffs, but on the flip side just 4 points away from a relegation playoff. Another season of mediocrity beckons, but a good or bad run could well get us involved in a good or bad end of season scrap.
The Nathan Blockley situation has sorted itself out, it may have taken him 10 league games of being disinterested but he is back onside with the team effort now and the squad is more balanced for it. Speaking of team balance, we picked up a new goalie for the season, Kevin Walker. Obviously he wouldn't be a Peterhead goalie without picking up a rubbish injury, and with 7 days of blisters Walker is no exception. The fans aren't too happy with the capture but to be honest, sod them. He's conceded fewer than I'd have expected with the crap defence in front of him.
The other transfer of note was Mark Hill in on loan from Celtic to bolster the centre of midfield. Nothing spectacular from him but he is putting in the legwork in the centre of the park cutting out attacks, and the fans love having him around. And as a loan player, he won't be getting anywhere close to legendary status!
For the second half of the season I'd love to hold the ship steady. Getting a promotion could be a disaster for us, we would surely struggle, the infrastructure just isn't in place to compete in the Championship. 5th place would suit me, and should result in a minor boost to the sponsorship deals. The other thing to look at is why my left winger is scoring more goals than my striker. Maybe that is ok for my winger, after all my "striker" is operating as a target man, with my left winger operating as an inside forward and likes a good strike anyway. 5 goals from 73 shots just isn't good enough though. Things have to change I reckon. Rory McAllister is not only poor up front but is also 29 years old and his wages account for 14% of the entire wage spend. Time for the door?
Finally I'd also like the board confidence message to change. My decision to let Kevin Dzierzawski go was apparently an "aberration". I offered him myriad contracts, his misplaced hatred for me made him leave! With a job security of 51%, holding the ship steady is the aim.
Thursday, 10 March 2016
Peterhead End of Season 1
Season 1 is in the bag, and it was textbook mediocrity. A battling display in the minor cups, a humbling in the Scottish FA Cup, and to take all drama out of the update, finishing 7th in the league. Which isn't too bad seeing as the prediction was to finish 8th.
The second half of the season wasn't without its downfalls, as once again a goalie went down with a rubbish injury, and a 6-0 reverse against Forfar where despite my left-back being atrocious he blamed everything on the midfield not protecting him. But it's irrelevant now. He was in on loan from parent club Celtic, and his attitude was so bad that Celtic let him go at the end of the season.
My personal development has been halted somewhat by not being allowed to get up the coaching badge ladder. On the plus side a Director of Football is now in place finally joining on May 14th. On the negative side the board straight away put him on a coaching course! Naturally I immediately asked again for my next badge and just as quickly got told there was no money available. Further to the lack of money the training facilities have been downgraded with no money to restore them to their past levels of averageness.
Not getting relegated has done wonders for being able to retain players, but two notable departures have really shaken things up. The 5-star Simon Ferry departs my centre midfield, thinking himself as far too good for the squad. To be fair, he's got a point. The other main departure, Kevin Dzierzawski, hurt. Another 5-star player, another centre midfielder, and he refused to renew his contract due to his dislike of me. That really wasn't nice. And he leaves a massive hole in the middle of the park. Another player want to leave too, Nathan Blockley. No prizes for guessing his position. I've told him he is staying cos I cannot afford to let another 4.5-star CM go. He's upset, a couple of his teammates are upset, but that's not something I can concern myself with. I need the player.
As far as getting onto the Legends list goes, I clearly did nothing that gets me close to the club's honour role yet. However, Kevin Dzierzawski did make it to Favoured Personnel so as far as the Donald Trump challenge goes perhaps it is for the best he has gone.
For the next season it is clear I need to sign centre midfielders, and the goalie I picked up during the last transfer window is one for the future. And another left-back obviously. Onward to Season 2!
The second half of the season wasn't without its downfalls, as once again a goalie went down with a rubbish injury, and a 6-0 reverse against Forfar where despite my left-back being atrocious he blamed everything on the midfield not protecting him. But it's irrelevant now. He was in on loan from parent club Celtic, and his attitude was so bad that Celtic let him go at the end of the season.
My personal development has been halted somewhat by not being allowed to get up the coaching badge ladder. On the plus side a Director of Football is now in place finally joining on May 14th. On the negative side the board straight away put him on a coaching course! Naturally I immediately asked again for my next badge and just as quickly got told there was no money available. Further to the lack of money the training facilities have been downgraded with no money to restore them to their past levels of averageness.
Not getting relegated has done wonders for being able to retain players, but two notable departures have really shaken things up. The 5-star Simon Ferry departs my centre midfield, thinking himself as far too good for the squad. To be fair, he's got a point. The other main departure, Kevin Dzierzawski, hurt. Another 5-star player, another centre midfielder, and he refused to renew his contract due to his dislike of me. That really wasn't nice. And he leaves a massive hole in the middle of the park. Another player want to leave too, Nathan Blockley. No prizes for guessing his position. I've told him he is staying cos I cannot afford to let another 4.5-star CM go. He's upset, a couple of his teammates are upset, but that's not something I can concern myself with. I need the player.
As far as getting onto the Legends list goes, I clearly did nothing that gets me close to the club's honour role yet. However, Kevin Dzierzawski did make it to Favoured Personnel so as far as the Donald Trump challenge goes perhaps it is for the best he has gone.
For the next season it is clear I need to sign centre midfielders, and the goalie I picked up during the last transfer window is one for the future. And another left-back obviously. Onward to Season 2!
Wednesday, 9 March 2016
Peterhead, Take 2
So my last go with Peterhead didn't quite go to plan. Nevertheless I believe it is possible to have success with Peterhead to the extend I get the stadium named after me so it's time for attempt 2.
Now it would be very nice if I can have a start to a season where my first choice goalie doesn't get injured. It won't happen this year as Graeme Smith picked up a hernia in mid August. Second choice goalie Paul Jarvie then got a damaged shoulder at the end of November. So yeah, goalies are made of glass in my universe.
My players are generally quite awful so I am trying to jam up the midfield to frustrate opponent attacks more than play a swashbuckling style myself, so I am going with a 4-3-3 Wide, at least until such a time we aren't rated as abysmal compared to the rest of the division. To do that we will almost certainly need new players, which leads to one of the main struggles at Peterhead - the lack of staff.
Quite often when you go to a new club it is nice to evaluate everyone before bringing your own staff in. That is quite simply not an option here. Given just one staff member, an assistant manager, limits things hugely. Scouting is non-existent, but getting the staff in there didn't take too long. However I am still, at midseason, trying to get a director of football. The board wants one, I'd quite like one (to act as another scout if nothing else) but there is nobody wants to come to Peterhead.
Despite all this, we are doing ok I think. Too many draws for my liking at P18 W4 D10 L4, but that is good enough for 5th in the league. Not too shabby considering we are predicted to finish 8th. The cups are a different matter. In the minor cups two draws against nominally stronger teams, two penalty shoot outs, two losses. A cup run would have been nice but to be competitive was nice. The Scottish Cup was a trainwreck though. The players just had no passion or interest leading to a 2-0 loss at Forres Mechanics!
So as the transfer window approaches I need another goalie. I think my roster needs 4 keepers just for my peace of mind. Another centre back wouldn't go amiss to try to bolster one of the worst tackling units in the league. With the transfer window also comes working out what players to offer new contracts to. Hopefully the better players will be happy the team isn't regressing and will take new deals, but I know some will hold out for as long as possible. Still, it's going a lot better than my last attempt so far!
Now it would be very nice if I can have a start to a season where my first choice goalie doesn't get injured. It won't happen this year as Graeme Smith picked up a hernia in mid August. Second choice goalie Paul Jarvie then got a damaged shoulder at the end of November. So yeah, goalies are made of glass in my universe.
My players are generally quite awful so I am trying to jam up the midfield to frustrate opponent attacks more than play a swashbuckling style myself, so I am going with a 4-3-3 Wide, at least until such a time we aren't rated as abysmal compared to the rest of the division. To do that we will almost certainly need new players, which leads to one of the main struggles at Peterhead - the lack of staff.
Quite often when you go to a new club it is nice to evaluate everyone before bringing your own staff in. That is quite simply not an option here. Given just one staff member, an assistant manager, limits things hugely. Scouting is non-existent, but getting the staff in there didn't take too long. However I am still, at midseason, trying to get a director of football. The board wants one, I'd quite like one (to act as another scout if nothing else) but there is nobody wants to come to Peterhead.
Despite all this, we are doing ok I think. Too many draws for my liking at P18 W4 D10 L4, but that is good enough for 5th in the league. Not too shabby considering we are predicted to finish 8th. The cups are a different matter. In the minor cups two draws against nominally stronger teams, two penalty shoot outs, two losses. A cup run would have been nice but to be competitive was nice. The Scottish Cup was a trainwreck though. The players just had no passion or interest leading to a 2-0 loss at Forres Mechanics!
So as the transfer window approaches I need another goalie. I think my roster needs 4 keepers just for my peace of mind. Another centre back wouldn't go amiss to try to bolster one of the worst tackling units in the league. With the transfer window also comes working out what players to offer new contracts to. Hopefully the better players will be happy the team isn't regressing and will take new deals, but I know some will hold out for as long as possible. Still, it's going a lot better than my last attempt so far!
Thursday, 25 February 2016
An Unmitigated Disaster
Well, that was pretty much the worst attempt at a challenge I have ever had. Sacked 5 matches into season 2 (spoiler!).
I knew the season was going to be hard. After the frippery of the two minor cup competitions that start before the league gets going in Scotland, my first choice goalie gets himself injured by dislocating his shoulder. That pretty much set the scene for how badly the year was going to go. To follow that up, on matchday 10 the loan goalie I got in managed to actually break his shoulder after getting hit by the ball! It was around then that I decided a blow by blow account of the season wasn't going to happen and instead settled for trying to avoid a relegation scrap.
Obviously I didn't avoid a relegation scrap. A particular highlight of the year was taking Partick Thistle to extra time in a replay in the Scottish Cup 4th round but that was just a blip in a real downer of a season.
So two loans were on goalies, which didn't help much when my defence decided it was their turn to pick up ridiculous injuries. Regardless we ploughed on until the last game of the season. 8th place, 1 point clear of Albion Rovers and 1 goal better on goal difference. Win and we were safe. Draw and as long as Rovers don't win we are safe. Lose by 1 goal and as long as Rovers don't win or don't draw 5-5 we are safe. Rovers drew. We lost 3-1.
So the playoffs. Remarkably we won the first leg by 3 goals to 2, and despite a loss in the return match at home by the odd goal, extra time came with us grabbing that one goal to win the tie outright.
Playoff final time, again over 2 legs, this time us playing at home first. Not that our home form was anything to shout about, losing 1-0. In the return match somehow we grabbed a goal and clung on for dear life to send it to extra time, and then penalties. Which we lost in record time.
Astonishingly I didn't get sacked. Not so astonishingly, most of the squad had refused to sign a new contract, leaving us with 5 first team players, one of whom was useless. To compound this the board gave me an ultimatum; 8 points from the next 5 league games. Things were looking dire, but on the plus side, League 2 should be easier to win, and winning trophies gives me good club reputation. Also lots of good free players were now available, some must want to come to me.
That ultimatum stopped me writing a season write up. After all, what use is a season write up if there's only 7 more matches (including cups) to come?
So over the summer the rebuilding started, and then stopped abruptly after the supporters' trust put in an offer to buy the club. On the plus side it would pump some much needed funds into the club. On the massively more weighty negative side, I couldn't sign any more players.
A penalty shoot out in the challenge cup to start the season was particularly frustrating, as we scored all of our first 6 penalties. If they could have done that a couple of months earlier we would still have been in League 1. Inevitably one of the players that hung around from last year took penalty number 7, and someone in the stands has a souvenir match ball of yet another Peterhead penalty shoot out loss.
Somehow after 3 matches we had picked up 5 points. A win against Brora would do it. A 5-1 humping certainly wouldn't do it. So next up were Berwick Rangers who were doing abysmally. However the witch doctor that put protective charms on the goals had a blinding match seeing us hit the woodwork 3 times, and also saw my left winger, when faced with an open goal, put a cross in.
And with that 0-0 came the sack. Now, I have had the sack early on in saves before. Getting relegated from the Welsh Prem in season one is instant dismissal but that career worked out ok, winning the Champions League with Arsenal but in this challenge to get Peterhead to name their stadium after me, that's a career breaker. And so challenge failed after 14 months.
So what next? Start again, of course, and see what lessons I can take into the next save. I may have lost the battle, but not the war!
I knew the season was going to be hard. After the frippery of the two minor cup competitions that start before the league gets going in Scotland, my first choice goalie gets himself injured by dislocating his shoulder. That pretty much set the scene for how badly the year was going to go. To follow that up, on matchday 10 the loan goalie I got in managed to actually break his shoulder after getting hit by the ball! It was around then that I decided a blow by blow account of the season wasn't going to happen and instead settled for trying to avoid a relegation scrap.
Obviously I didn't avoid a relegation scrap. A particular highlight of the year was taking Partick Thistle to extra time in a replay in the Scottish Cup 4th round but that was just a blip in a real downer of a season.
So two loans were on goalies, which didn't help much when my defence decided it was their turn to pick up ridiculous injuries. Regardless we ploughed on until the last game of the season. 8th place, 1 point clear of Albion Rovers and 1 goal better on goal difference. Win and we were safe. Draw and as long as Rovers don't win we are safe. Lose by 1 goal and as long as Rovers don't win or don't draw 5-5 we are safe. Rovers drew. We lost 3-1.
So the playoffs. Remarkably we won the first leg by 3 goals to 2, and despite a loss in the return match at home by the odd goal, extra time came with us grabbing that one goal to win the tie outright.
Playoff final time, again over 2 legs, this time us playing at home first. Not that our home form was anything to shout about, losing 1-0. In the return match somehow we grabbed a goal and clung on for dear life to send it to extra time, and then penalties. Which we lost in record time.
Astonishingly I didn't get sacked. Not so astonishingly, most of the squad had refused to sign a new contract, leaving us with 5 first team players, one of whom was useless. To compound this the board gave me an ultimatum; 8 points from the next 5 league games. Things were looking dire, but on the plus side, League 2 should be easier to win, and winning trophies gives me good club reputation. Also lots of good free players were now available, some must want to come to me.
That ultimatum stopped me writing a season write up. After all, what use is a season write up if there's only 7 more matches (including cups) to come?
So over the summer the rebuilding started, and then stopped abruptly after the supporters' trust put in an offer to buy the club. On the plus side it would pump some much needed funds into the club. On the massively more weighty negative side, I couldn't sign any more players.
A penalty shoot out in the challenge cup to start the season was particularly frustrating, as we scored all of our first 6 penalties. If they could have done that a couple of months earlier we would still have been in League 1. Inevitably one of the players that hung around from last year took penalty number 7, and someone in the stands has a souvenir match ball of yet another Peterhead penalty shoot out loss.
Somehow after 3 matches we had picked up 5 points. A win against Brora would do it. A 5-1 humping certainly wouldn't do it. So next up were Berwick Rangers who were doing abysmally. However the witch doctor that put protective charms on the goals had a blinding match seeing us hit the woodwork 3 times, and also saw my left winger, when faced with an open goal, put a cross in.
And with that 0-0 came the sack. Now, I have had the sack early on in saves before. Getting relegated from the Welsh Prem in season one is instant dismissal but that career worked out ok, winning the Champions League with Arsenal but in this challenge to get Peterhead to name their stadium after me, that's a career breaker. And so challenge failed after 14 months.
So what next? Start again, of course, and see what lessons I can take into the next save. I may have lost the battle, but not the war!
Tuesday, 23 February 2016
The Donald Trump Challenge
Quite simply, one rule: get the stadium named after yourself.
I have achieved a lot in the game over the years from a Champions League win with Berwick to getting Rushden and Diamonds relegated from the conference when they were red hot favourites to go up (I didn't mean to!) but I have never had the stadium named after myself. So why not have a go now? (apart from needing to finish a maths degree. Ahem).
With the challenge being inspired by Donald Trump it only seems fitting to start on the Aberdeenshire coast with a view to absolutely ruining it with a new stadium in the future. Peterhead FC it is, currently in the third tier of Scottish football. Their stadium has a modest 3,150 capacity with just under a thousand of those being seats, originally built in 1997 so a good chance for a new stadium if we get successful.
There is nobody currently on the Legends list, with only Martin Bavidge on the Icons list, and as he is no longer at the club there is opportunity to be the fan favourite to beat all fan favourites.
Financial mismanagement is par for the course here, why not go into administration 4 times and get someone else to bail you out? The projection is that we will slide a million into the red in the short term but there is no outstanding club debt. Getting a parent club and free loan players could be the order of the day - again, why pay for something when you can get someone else to? It's not about building a legacy, it's about personal glory. Getting the stadium named after me as the club slides into insolvency counts as a win. Getting the stadium named after me as all the players leave cos there's no money in the bank for their required wages or we can't match their ambition giving the club no future counts as a win.
Another plus for the loan players is they will not hang around long enough to become Legends, let alone Icons. The down side is that if any truly great players find themselves permanently under contract they will have to be unloaded at some point for fear they will be more popular than me.
So that's the challenge. It was tempting to edit in a billion pounds to fund this campaign but this is Football Manager, not Football Handed On A Silver Platter.
So let's go. Stadium or Bust! Or maybe both!
I have achieved a lot in the game over the years from a Champions League win with Berwick to getting Rushden and Diamonds relegated from the conference when they were red hot favourites to go up (I didn't mean to!) but I have never had the stadium named after myself. So why not have a go now? (apart from needing to finish a maths degree. Ahem).
With the challenge being inspired by Donald Trump it only seems fitting to start on the Aberdeenshire coast with a view to absolutely ruining it with a new stadium in the future. Peterhead FC it is, currently in the third tier of Scottish football. Their stadium has a modest 3,150 capacity with just under a thousand of those being seats, originally built in 1997 so a good chance for a new stadium if we get successful.
There is nobody currently on the Legends list, with only Martin Bavidge on the Icons list, and as he is no longer at the club there is opportunity to be the fan favourite to beat all fan favourites.
Financial mismanagement is par for the course here, why not go into administration 4 times and get someone else to bail you out? The projection is that we will slide a million into the red in the short term but there is no outstanding club debt. Getting a parent club and free loan players could be the order of the day - again, why pay for something when you can get someone else to? It's not about building a legacy, it's about personal glory. Getting the stadium named after me as the club slides into insolvency counts as a win. Getting the stadium named after me as all the players leave cos there's no money in the bank for their required wages or we can't match their ambition giving the club no future counts as a win.
Another plus for the loan players is they will not hang around long enough to become Legends, let alone Icons. The down side is that if any truly great players find themselves permanently under contract they will have to be unloaded at some point for fear they will be more popular than me.
So that's the challenge. It was tempting to edit in a billion pounds to fund this campaign but this is Football Manager, not Football Handed On A Silver Platter.
So let's go. Stadium or Bust! Or maybe both!
Monday, 22 February 2016
Welcome to Gary's Football Manager Blog
Hello!
I'm Gary, this is where I will be keeping a semi-regular update of my Football Manager games. I have been playing the series since Championship Manager 93, where I managed to get Manchester United relegated in the first season in one save. I also lead Torquay to the Champions League so I wasn't all bad.
I'm Gary, this is where I will be keeping a semi-regular update of my Football Manager games. I have been playing the series since Championship Manager 93, where I managed to get Manchester United relegated in the first season in one save. I also lead Torquay to the Champions League so I wasn't all bad.
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