I do sincerely hope the day has treated you well, and since many of you won’t be reading this until morning, that you enjoyed a restful nights sleep. I’ve gathered you all here to discuss a very important issue I’ve encountered with Afan Lido. That is to say, the Welsh league is starting to make me feel…
I’ve come to a realization; one simple fact that simply cannot be ignored for any duration of time — Wales sucks. Not the people per say (in fact they seem quite friendly), but as a football league, they just can’t be helped. Not by me, not by Excessive magic, and not even by Sir Alex *censored* Ferguson. It saddens me to say it really, I genuinely enjoy playing as Afan Lido (it’s an awesome name, who wouldn’t enjoy it?), but there are a few unavoidable hiccups:
1) It would take somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-40 years to achieve any kind of European glory with a Welsh team (example: http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/lower-league-managers/66662-theyll-dancing-streets-tns-tonight.html). That guy took it 17 seasons before emo-quitting out of frustration (who could blame him), and that was starting with the best team in Wales.
2) I’m concerned that by about the 7th or 8th season, you lot would start to look awful bored of watching me destroy the domestic league and become Belly Flop Champion (it’s a real thing) of Europe.
(From Front to Back: Darren, Excessive, Johnny)
3) I’m concerned that after 10-11 seasons, I would start to look awfully…
(Crazy)
4) I’m concerned that by the time I finally won the Champion’s League with Afan Lido, I’d look out my window to find….
(Oh geez, I don’t have any gas sir, I swear I don’t…well, at least not the usable kind)
So of course that begs the question: How are you doing in Wales now? Or it’s more sinister twin: You just want to quit because you suck, don’t you? Neither would be entirely out of line…
Not too shabby with only 11 games to play, and we look to be entirely in control of our own destiny (which of course is to win the Welsh Premier League, and venture forth to our Champion’s League doom!).
So what to do in this most unfortunate of situations…well I’ve done us all a favor (or not?) and compiled a little video of me rambling aimlessly for roughly seven and a half minutes…enjoy!
Assuming you’ve watched the video (you didn’t, did you?), you should now have a rudimentary idea of what’s going on inside my head…
Okay okay, let’s be serious for a moment. As promised, here are the leagues I’m looking into (in no particular order, at least not really):
— Portugal: We need an honest Portuguese story (sorry Alex) to revive the poor Iberian stepchild. They seem to languish and fade away in most FM saves that I’ve seen, and that’s just not okay (Ana may or may not have dibs with her Pentagon challenge).
—Netherlands: You don’t see too many stories here, and they’re just good (or bad) enough to make a splash in Europe on a fairly regular basis (same thing with Ana here).
—Belarus: Have you ever seen a story there? Yeah, me either. I’m considering this nation solely so I can shout «GOOD MOOOOOOOORRRRRRRNNNIIINN BELARUSSIA» at the beginning of every post.
—Romania: Similar to Belarus, except I haven’t thought of a cool catch phrase for it just yet (I’m putting the Rome back in Romania?).
—Switzerland: So I can beat Young Boys with Grasshopper (oh gawd, the implications).
—China: Whoa, Asia! It would be the coolest thing ever if I could turn China into one of the dominant footballing forces in the world (do the Asian clubs have reputation boosting?), but I also hear they have good tea (and dragons, you can never have too many dragons).
So there we have it friends, this where I stand. I’d love your thoughts, comments, suggestions, concerns, bitter hatred, or anything else. Perhaps maybe, just maybe, third times the charm?
P.S. — I might start doing updates in the vein of this post, I think it’s kinda fun, no?
MRDNRA
22 июня, 2011 at 06:25
I’d like to see one in Switzerland.
Stromson
22 июня, 2011 at 12:30
You just like the goofy names. ;-)
Johnny Karp
22 июня, 2011 at 07:08
I understand you view and I agree, winning the CL with Afan Lido would take forever. I liked the Greece idea in the video, some of their teams have a lot of fans and they are quite passionate as well. So my vote goes for Greece, it’s a strong league.
Stromson
22 июня, 2011 at 12:32
It is, I completely agree with you…my biggest concern/dislike is the silly European playoff (that’s hardly a deal breaker though). I’m not sure why said Greece in the video and then failed to ever mention it again…weird.
P.S. — Thanks for the support! :)
Jon crosby
22 июня, 2011 at 09:25
Stomson never failed to crack me up video was superb I was walking to work head phones just listening to it must of looked like a idiot with a constant grin on my face ah well very good but your dream is pretty far away but you kept me entertained with Lido through out but either way I shall be following and hopefully more videos to come!
Stromson
22 июня, 2011 at 12:33
Thanks for the support Jon, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos. :) I’ll be keeping up with them regardless of which team I manage, so have no fear!
Kevin
22 июня, 2011 at 09:43
Hi Sromson
Good decision mate. I’m sure Wales is a fine league in real life but it goes nowhere and the same would be true in FM. The’s why rugby is the more popular game :)
In terms of choice I’d like to se a Portugal team though this time done properly as we all know what happened with the last person who did that. Greece ould be kinds cool too!
Stromson
22 июня, 2011 at 12:38
That’s the problem, I just can’t compete with the other sports in Wales! Portugal or Greece would definitely be my first choice I think, and it may very well come down to a good ol’ fashion coin toss.
nielsneutron
22 июня, 2011 at 10:23
The dynamic league reputation is treating you and your team well but the supporters sure isn’t. And when the rest of the clubs don’t rise in the same degree as you do, it sure is diffucult. You could hope that TNS might have challenged you a bit and thereby have two teams competing.
You could also do a story in Turkey. The names of the clubs just crack me up. Well I might do my first story in Turkey. Sadly that may be when fm 2012 is released.
Stromson
22 июня, 2011 at 12:52
Yeah, I think TNS could’ve provided a semi-decent challenge domestically, but they have no track record in Europe to speak of. The lack of fans is ultimately the biggest hindrance to any sort of long term success. Without being able to drum up fan interest, it would take half a century (literally) to get anywhere notable with the club. :(
Sibo
22 июня, 2011 at 15:58
Hey Jon,
Cheers for the mention bud! :P
I reckon Turkey, Greece or Portugal would all be good, especially if you don’t take one of the big teams in those leagues, I mean DON’T take:
Turkey) Fenerbahce, Galatasary
Portugal) Porto, Benfica (to a lesser extent) Sporting Lisbon
Greece) Olympiakos, Panathinaikos
Anyone else and it should be a good story! :D
Stromson
22 июня, 2011 at 23:28
Thanks Sibo, hopefully I’ll make the right call. ;-)
Laxeyman
22 июня, 2011 at 16:01
Yeah, I can see what you mean Stromo, it would take forever to win the Champions League with the Lido, I would like to see you manage in Belarus, that really would be a completely unique story, and an interesting one too :)
Stromson
22 июня, 2011 at 23:29
GOOOOOOODDD MOOOOOOORRRRRRNNNNIIINNN BELARUSSIA! That alone would make the story worth it, that alone. :)
vaibhavc
22 июня, 2011 at 16:20
Hey Stromson
It would take a lot of time to win the Champions League, I see your point of view. I really would like to see you manage in Turkey, it would be a new country to the forum.
Stromson
22 июня, 2011 at 23:30
Thanks Vaibhav, glad to have your support!
Eamon
22 июня, 2011 at 16:57
Portugal gets my vote. I’ll prefer you start with a 2nd division or lower league Portuguese team though, to make it more interesting. Holland would be interesting too, but as with Portugal if it’s a top division team, you’ll get bored quickly I think.
Stromson
23 июня, 2011 at 00:10
I absolutely agree with you. I’m really only looking at countries that have at least two lower league tiers available (which unfortunately limits my options), and I want to be able to spend some time on this.
Darren Smith
22 июня, 2011 at 19:19
I think this has been coming, like mentioned Wales is the impossible league! I can’t see anyone ever making a real success over there in RL or FM. I like the idea of Greece to be honest, can’t recall many stories from there and its a reasonable league too.
Stromson
23 июня, 2011 at 00:30
That sounds like a challenge sir! Give me 5 minutes with a database editor and you shall have your uber Welsh league!
Vinners
22 июня, 2011 at 21:35
I quite like the idea of just a journeyman story. Just kinda going round kicking arse especially as I think all saves get boring once you dominate the league :/ It’s something I have found with my Vauxhall save, it was alot of fun going through the leagues, then lots of fun in the Premiership. But after the 2nd Champions League win the whole OMG Vauxhall won the Champions League wore off so right now I’m doing Anas Challenge. So maybe just move about completing nations? I know if I had a computer which could load lots of decent league that’s definately how I’d like to play. Anyway wherever you go it’ll be interesting :) If you made me choose I like the idea of Greece/(Whichever Ana doesn’t choose between Portugal and Holland)
Stromson
23 июня, 2011 at 01:36
Yeah, you have a point there, and I’m going to load at least two nations. I really want a single save that’s going to last me until FM12 (which is when the real fun will begin)…
Ana Garcia
22 июня, 2011 at 21:41
I love this story so who ever you choose will still be very interesting.
To agree with the suggestion above I will be managing a team from Holland or Portugal so maybe stay away from there.
I managed in Switzerland too (briefly!) and South China (different league I know) so I will say Johnny’s homeland of Romania but Greece and Turkey are also interesting places so maybe try a team from there.
Good luck on your selection though! :)
Stromson
23 июня, 2011 at 01:35
You can only play in one at a time, which leaves the other one to me…mwahahaha!
CsAtlantis
23 июня, 2011 at 08:15
Maybe the Poland league, or maybe a Serbian team, say Red Star Belgrade?
I would love to see the 2nd pic happen though, why not continue with Wales? :P
de ce?
11 сентября, 2011 at 23:26
Beside the fanbase and money (although meanwhile I’ve found a solution for it — see below), another big problem is the league rep, witch isn’t growing with just one team performing in European leagues.
A story from Romania: I tooked FC Arges from the second league, promoted in 2 years, trashed everyone in the first league after another 2 years, but remained a non-contender in European competitions. OK, I was getting closer (some spring-games in EURO Cup), but not enough. The league rep was stuck at two and a half stars, so no wordclass players would join the team. I gave up after 8 or 9 seasons.
About fanbase & money for small teams: I learned from my 5-seasons experience with Dorchester (BSS team. now in League 1. hehe) that arranging friendlies with bigger teams at home in the pre-season would really boost the season ticket sales, also arranging tours outside of the country would boost the merchandise sales in the long term.