Before we begin, I’d like to make an advance apology. Updates to this story are most likely going to be fairly scarce over the next month, on account of me wasting my life away playing Skyrim. I’ll be sure to try and squeeze in some quality Football Manager time, but I’d be lying if I said it was my focus. Hopefully you’ll all understand, and I promise to be back in earnest once the dragons are beaten into submission. Now let us continue with the customary «in character disclaimer»…
When last we left, FC United had just pulled off a miracle survival campaign, in no small part to the Bear’s excellent leadership. Winning a few games is the easy part though, and now came the challenge of building a more stable foundation for the club (doubly challenging when you factor in that bears can’t read). Unfortunately the club may have overstepped its means with the new stadium, and with £3.5 million in loan debt weighing us down, the board pulled a cool £1000 off our wage budget. This left us with only £1600 per week in wages to work with, and we were already well over that. Some serious wheeling and dealing was in our future.
Was I successful? Probably not. We had to dump some pretty decent players for this level, simple due to my predecessor signing them to ridiculous wages (650 a week in one case). I managed to replace most of our outgoings with some similar to slightly lower quality players, and I had to kick a few contracted players onto pay-as-you-play non-contracts. Hopefully that won’t come back to bite us in the arse, but I have a pretty good feeling that it will.
So without further soliloquy, allow me to introduce you to some of the key players that will be suiting up in Rebel red this year:
Kevin Walker, Space Ranger:
Doesn’t he look like he should be a space ranger? I think he does. Regardless, he’s young, has solid sweeper keeper attributes, and a fabulous faux hawk. What other reason do I need to sign him?
Ghandy «The Enlightened» Hammond:
Did you really think I’d pass on a Gandhi reference? Just like his namesake, this man is an absolute beast. Our defense is easily the strongest part of the squad, and they’re lead by this young Ghanaian.
Jack «The Black» Taylor:
Given our complete lack of funding, you knew there would be a few loanees involved this year. Jack is one of three that participates in the first team on a regular basis, and he’s been pretty useful thus far.
Ben «Little Blondie» Sayer:
Despite his feminine look, Ben is no pushover. He’s our rock in the midfield, and for that he could look like a turtle and I wouldn’t care.
Tobi «I don’t need a nickname» Sho-Silva
Seriously…when your name is «Sho-Silva», you’re pretty set. He isn’t getting a huge amount of playing time just yet, but he’s a key bench player for us, and I have grand plans for him in the future.
Akwasi «I forgot to take a screenshot» Asanti:
Yeah, I really did forget to take a screenshot of him, so I’ll be sure to post it up in the next update. I actually didn’t realize this was the same guy as in Kevin’s story until a little while ago, but sure enough, it is. Unfortunately he’s not nearly as good for me down in the BSN as he has been for Kevin up in League 2, but he’s still our best striker, and thus gets the starting nod more often than not.
Frankie Raymond:
Dude’s name is Frankie, ’nuff said.
Someone I didn’t sign, but who’s name was too hilarious not to share:
So where did this squad strengthening leave the mighty Rebels? Surely we’d be favorites for promotion after such a wildly successful offseason:
Why you little…
With that lie behind us, let’s take a look at how the preseason friendlies panned out:
Not bad, three solid wins bookended by two losses. The Macclesfield loss was easy to swallow, but being pounded 5-0 by non-playable Farsley hurt a little. Hopefully this wasn’t a prelude to our first set of «real» fixtures…
Ehhh…kinda? I can take going 2-1-1 in the opening month, and we looked fairly good in doing so. Both the Hinckley win and Solihull Moors draw were come-from-behind efforts, so I’m pretty pleased we managed to snag 7 points out of the month. Still, I couldn’t let the squad know that, and was sure to give them a properly bashing after the draw. Did they respond?
Ehh…more or less. They responded with two clean wins before suffering defeat to a far superior Chester side (seriously, we probably should’ve lost that game 20-0). The Corby draw was a bit of a letdown, and Bradford PA actually gave us a far bigger test than the final 2-0 scoreline would suggest.
The October fixtures…I evidently forgot to upload those, but I know I took the screenshot. I’ll be sure to post those in the next update too (I’m writing this at work, by the way, so thus have no access to my save game or the computer on which it is played). Regardless, they looked a lot like September’s results, just without the loss.
So where did this leave us after three full months of play?
Evidently I forgot to take a more current screenshot of the table (damn Skyrim, I really need to pay more attention next update), but this isn’t all that far from accurate. FC Halifax has moved up to second, and we’re sitting third. Stalybridge are still the runaway leaders, and it’ll be tough for anyone to unseat them to be honest. I also noticed this little tidbit:
Clearly Manchester United are already feeling the heat from below, and it’s obviously begun to effect their performances. They’re quaking in their boots in Old Trafford, as they can sense their final hour draw near…
Finally, our finances, for those who have requested it:
Despite the game being convinced we’re heading for financial insolvency, we’re actually doing fairly well for ourselves. We draw in a rather large sum of money from tickets alone, and we can easily afford our 18k per month loan repayments. Still, this hasn’t stopped the board from injecting cash every few weeks, which is certainly further enhancing our bottom line. I guess it has something to do with having a club value of 250k, and a loan debt of 3.5 million?
Anywho, that’s all for this time folks. Apologize for the comparatively poor quality of this update, but you know, Skyrim.
Johnny Karp
16 ноября, 2011 at 13:39
Pretty good results so far and I guess Man United’s poor form really adds to a satisfactory start to the season ;)
P.S.: I googled Skyrim, never heard of it before :) I don’t think I’ll ever play such a game but I do wish you good luck there and in FM as well.
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:21
Haha, thanks Johnny, I’ll try to kill an extra dragon or two in your honor. ;-)
Mikulas Nemeth
16 ноября, 2011 at 13:45
I really like this story. Doing a good job there and it will get better when you kill all the dragons :-) I look forward to kicking ass of Man United.
Best of luck in the rest of the season and with killing dragons.
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:36
Many thanks, I’ll definitely need the luck on both counts!
TheZiggy
16 ноября, 2011 at 14:02
That’s a pretty good start to the season, and I’m sure once you’ve slain all those dragons (now we know the real reason you had to leave Wales), you’ll be able to concentrate better on the long road to rubbing Man Utd’s face in the dirt.
The game really does throw up some oddities though, in my game Man City had that kind of poor start. If you look at that Premiership table, you’ll see everyone has been throwing points away, which is unusual.
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:38
I really is interesting how the various leagues play out in game. Crazy when you see relatively large names drop like rocks, or even get relegated. Once I’ve taken care of Skyrim, Man Utd will be next.
Sneesby
16 ноября, 2011 at 14:44
How did you manage FC United?! I thought they were too far down the leagues?!
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:39
It’s 2014 (almost 2015) in my save, and they had been promoted already. I took them over toward the end of last season when they sacked their manager.
vaibhavc
16 ноября, 2011 at 14:57
Pretty good results there mate. Third place is very good, you are proving the bookmakers wrong. In real life, United and Wigan would be switched. Good luck in Fm and Skyrim.
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:40
Hence my amusement with seeing Wigan at the top. They’ve actually turned into a pretty good team on my save…strange really.
SteveGohouri
16 ноября, 2011 at 16:01
Great work, always followed your stories. With being a Wigan fan i’m liking that league table a lot more than the real one.
Oh about Skyrim…. BEST GAME EVER!
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:41
Shame about the real life Wigan actually, I’ve always enjoyed their cheeky determination to stay in the Premier League. I really hope they turn things around and mount a successful survival campaign (again). Agreed on Skyrim. :-D
Laxeyman
16 ноября, 2011 at 16:43
Pretty decent form Stromson, you made some good signings and you’re doing pretty well as a result :) Keep it up mate!
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:44
Thanks Laxey, hopefully we can maintain form! I doubt it…but hopefully!
Kevin
16 ноября, 2011 at 19:34
Well done me ‘old Skyrim fanatic…you probably watch Big Bang Theory too eh!
Good work so far this season though try setting Asante to «poacher» if you haven’t already done so. That worked for me. You surely have Man U trembling at the thought of your promotion :)
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:46
I can honestly say that I’ve never watched an episode of BBT in my life. :) I’m trying to force Asante into a Trequarista role, and he’s doing a manageable job with it, just not as good as your version.
MRDNRA
16 ноября, 2011 at 20:01
Looks like you’re doing quite well. In terms of the PL, that’s nothing compared to my current Leicester game on FM2011, not in terms of position, but results…..try Spurs losing 7-1 to Cardiff (who 2 matches before had lost 6-1 to West Ham) and again 7-1 against Man U, and then more recently hammering Liverpool 7-0! Also Chelsea losing 6-1 to Everton (who had lost to 5-0 against, strangely enough, Cardiff 2 matches before!)! All in one season. Get the picture now? ;D
Anyway, I’m looking forward to the next post. Hopefully Man U will continue doing poorly :D
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:47
Holy cow, you’re right, that’s absolutely absurd! That had to be one wild looking table come end of the year.
MRDNRA
16 ноября, 2011 at 22:30
Well there’s still 8 games to go, Man U cruising to the title, and Cardiff are about 16th or something! Spurs 9th, Liverpool 5th, Chelsea just behind me in 3rd (yep, I’m 2nd with Leicester somehow!), and Everton 15th. It just makes some of those results all the more surprising really, but hey, isn’t that part of the fun!
Callum
16 ноября, 2011 at 20:12
Great post as always your comedy antics always make me laugh. I agree killing dragons is more important Tameriel must be saved after all ;) This comment just confirms i am extremely addicted aswell :P
Stromson
16 ноября, 2011 at 21:50
Thanks Callum, I’m glad you enjoy the posts. :) Glad to hear you’re equally addicted to Skyrim!
Alex
16 ноября, 2011 at 22:40
You’re doing a brilliant job turning this team around, hopefully you’ll get promoted. If Man U get relegated it won’t be long before you overtake them. I have to admit the new twist on this story is getting me hooked, although I am still sad to see the Afan Lido dream die (I suppose I could read the Welsh story in the forum). Your finances look very good and that should really assist your rise. All the best.
Stromson
17 ноября, 2011 at 14:58
No worries about Man U being relegated; they’ve already started their climb back up the table. :( I was pretty bummed out about the Afan Lido thing, but it was a matter of principle.
CsAtlantis
16 ноября, 2011 at 23:02
Haha Stromson you must be pleased with the Premier League table, Wigan at number 1 and Blackpool at 6th, and Man Utd at 17th………….
Despite having your legs chopped off in terms of the wage budget, you seem to have acquired good enough players to get at least a playoff spot in the BSP, good luck!
I want to play Skyrim, but for now i’ll be happy with Modern Warfare 3 and Football Manager 2012, how good is the game compared to Oblivion? (if you’ve played that before)
Stromson
17 ноября, 2011 at 15:08
Fairly please with the squad, yeah, and I think we can finish top half. Promotion may be out of our reach, but anything above the media predicted 18th will be good enough for me!
Skyrim is definitely an evolutionary step forward from Oblivion, and doesn’t really redefine the genre in anyway. The end product is more refined though, the quests are exciting, the world is beautiful, and in general is just an amazingly fun game.
Calin
17 ноября, 2011 at 07:24
Don’t worry Stromson, I understand you perfectly, Skyrim is on the top of my priorities list right now too and I barely get any sleep because of it :)
Regarding Football Manager, you’re doing pretty well and I think that this season might end with you going one step up. It’s a really big bonus the fact that your finances are still pretty solid and that you have a board that’s injecting cash :) Good luck!
PS Loved the nicknames! :))
Stromson
17 ноября, 2011 at 15:11
Haha, glad you liked the nicknames, they were fairly fun to come up with (though I had help on the Space Ranger one). Aside from Skyrim being amazing, I’m pretty please with the season thus far. Promotion to the BSP would be phenomenal, but I’d be satisfied with a top half finish.
Martin Pickard
17 ноября, 2011 at 09:42
SKYRIM!!! You have your priorities all wrong lmao!
You’ve made a very decent start to the season…and can only see it getting better. The players you have signed look decent also. Dont get too hooked on Skyrim…I’m really looking forward to you progressing with this save…I want to see where you can get to with FC United. Hurry up with the next post :P
Stromson
18 ноября, 2011 at 14:03
Haha, thanks Martin. I’ll be sure to try and sneak some FM time in, but I can’t promise anything over the next couple of weeks. :-x Skyrim is just too awesome not to play.
Sears
17 ноября, 2011 at 17:50
Loving those nicknames Stromo! :D
Solid season so far, and your finances aren’t as depressing as Johnny’s! KIU :)
Stromson
18 ноября, 2011 at 14:04
First time I think I’ve ever been this far into the black, it’s a nice feeling!
Ana Garcia
17 ноября, 2011 at 22:13
Really good start, it seems that you have some promise this season so maybe you could push for a playoff position.
Finances look ok for the league your in and you seem to be able to keep your team playing well so far.
Good luck!! :)
Stromson
18 ноября, 2011 at 14:05
Thanks Ana, hopefully we can keep up the form. I won’t be too broken up if we don’t get promoted, and I’d be content with a top half finish.
bigbaz
18 ноября, 2011 at 01:19
doing well mate, have you chosen a ground name yet?
Stromson
18 ноября, 2011 at 14:05
I have! It’ll be revealed once the stadium construction is completed, so it’ll be a bit yet. :)
Jamesy
18 ноября, 2011 at 19:33
Who have Wigan got playing for them?!?
Jamesy
18 ноября, 2011 at 19:34
Also how do you choose a ground name?