FC United: The End of an Era

Hey all, unfortunately my efforts to revive the FC United save have proven to be entirely unsuccessful. I had several close calls, and at one point thought I’d managed to resolve the issue, only for it to once again crop back up. I’ve run a few test saves in the past day or so, and thusfar none of them have experienced any errors. The only two things I can think of that might be the cause are the Add/Remove league feature, OR the custom database I was running in the background (more on that in a sec).

Enthralled with the new Add/Remove feature, I’ve been adding and removing leagues pretty much since day one. This was done partly as me interests swayed (for example, I decided I didn’t care about the French Ligue 1 after all, and was much more interested in the Polish Ekstraklasa), and just to test the functionality. I’m not sure if I over-did it, or if it’s just my imagination.

The second thing is probably the most likely culprit. I started this save with a custom database file that completely revamped the American league structure, the MLS in particular. The primary goal of the DB was to make the MLS more «European», and less weird. I wanted to run it in the background of the Welsh story to see how it played from afar, and simply because I thought it was kind of cool. 20/20 hindsight being what it is, that was probably a pretty dumb idea on my part.

Regardless, the save seems to be a total loss at this point. Before we close the story though, let’s take a look at a few tidbits from the last season with FC United. First up (and this is not an original idea by any stretch, I just like the concept), let’s take a look at how England played out:

Blue Square South:

Bromley cruise to the title, despite drawing a metric butt-load of games. Dartford ease through the playoffs to follow the Lillywhites on up. On the other end, Weston-Super-Mare, Hendon, and AFC Hornchurch all slump back down a tier.

Blue Square Premier:

Gateshead run away with the title, and Hartlepool escapes the playoffs to join them. Meanwhile, Blyth, Boston United, Kidderminster and Tamworth will all be coming to the Blue Square North, which would have made it an exceptionally difficult year for us.

League Two:

Colchester, Crawley, Gillingham, and Rochdale are up, while Crewe and Walsall fall out of the Football League. I think this is probably the most depressing league to be in; you’re always halfway to nowhere.

League One:

Watford and Leyton Orient are up to the Championship, and Sheffield Wednesday wins the playoffs to continue their yo-yo habit. The reverse end features Kevin’s Plymouth suffering relegation back to League 2, along with Luton, MK Dons, and Stevenage. That will make for a pretty tough League Two Irrelevant next year.

Championship:

Birmingham (again), Southampton (again), and QPR (again) all head back into the Premier League to take another crack at survival. Somehow, I don’t expect them to be there long. Burnley has been in decline for years, and finally sucumb to relegation. Coventry and Exeter join them as they head back down to League One.

Premier League: 

No real surprises at the top of the table as the «Big 4» claim the top four spots, and Arsenal secures its second title in three years. For the curious, Wigan finished 8th. Meanwhile, a pretty big shock at the bottom as for the first time since it’s inception, the Premier League will not be counting Aston Villa amongst its members.  Huddersfield put up a valiant effort, but was unable to survive after a surprise promotion last year, and Newcastle completely collapses as they ungracefully fall back down to the Championship.

Lastly, the Blue Square North, the most important league in the world: 

Southport snag the title after Stalybridge manages to give up an 11 point lead. Stupid Guiseley follow them up after defeating our beloved Rebels in the playoff finals. The remainder of the table looks about how it should, as Hednesford, Gloucester, and Redditch all fail to thrive and retreat back to the comfort of Tier 7. There are two bright points though — we have the fewest losses of any team, and we conceded the second fewest goals. This is definitely a good foundation!

Finances and Information:

Here are/were our finances at the beginning of the new season:

Despite us literally rolling in cash (I had a padded room full of money built at the clubhouse), the board to this day remains convinced we’re on an insecure financial footing, and continues to inject money on a monthly basis.

I never had a chance to break into the «Favoured Personnel» heading, but the fans eagerly took to Ghandy Hammond and Matthew James. Sadly, we never rose beyond an obscure club floundering in the English lower tiers. I’m sorry Red Rebels/Red Devil haters, I never got my chance to bring you to glory. :(

Next Steps:

I’m not sure yet. I’ll fully confess that I’m absolutely heart-broken this save has met this fate. I was really enjoying my time with FC United, and had all sorts of grandiose plans to stick it to Afan Lido and lead the Rebels to glory. As corny as it sounds, I’m going to have to do some soul searching before settling on something else.

I don’t think I have it in me to return to Wales or start with another BSN/S team. I invested too much emotionally in Afan Lido and FC United for that to be worth it, and I’d honestly feel like I was just going through the motions. The only English club I could see myself with, ironically, would be Vauxhall, and that’s simply due to their laughably small wage budget (£500). Regardless, I’m not sure where my next port of call shall be. It may be in Asia, possibly America, or even still in Europe somewhere.

For now, The Bear enters hibernation. He’s suffered true defeat for the first time in his short life, and needs his rest. Fear not however, for The Bear shall return, and when he does…he will be bigger, he will be stronger, and he will be much, much hungrier.