Hello all, and welcome back to another Afan Lido update! I’m going to try something marginally different with my writing style this time, and will be doing this from the perspective of my manager…let me know what you think!
When last we spoke, we’d managed to pull off the (seemingly) impossible, and rocketed up to a safe mid-table finish. The result of our tactical shift caught just about everyone, myself included, off guard. The sudden success means our board is now expecting us to replicate the feat for this season. I’m not thrilled about that kind of pressure but who are we kidding, it’s Europa or bust this season!
I sat down with Jason (my Assistant manager) and we reviewed the squad stats for the year. We had a few key individuals that clearly had a future at our club, but several that weren’t looking quite as promising. I hate to say it, and I hated even more to actually do it, but we had to cut loose some dead wood. By the time we finished, we’d paired ourselves down to four starters and five backups…yikes! We’ve had our work cut out for us this off season as a result, but I think we’ve done a reasonable job at strengthening the squad. Let me show you who we’ve managed to bring on board:
This is a young lad one of our scouts spotted while he was visiting family over in Cambridgeshire. He happened to catch this guy in action during an exhibition match, and saw quite a lot of potential in him — I have to say I agree! We brought him in and put him through his paces, and he performed admirably. I feel confident he’ll be our starting keeper this season.
I can’t quite place it, but this fellow seemed oddly familiar when his scouting report slid across my desk. He’s young and has some pretty tremendous potential, so I’m willing to give him a chance. Now if I could only remember where I’d seen his name before…
I nearly missed this talented young lad — his report had been stuck to the back of Sean’s! He needs some experience under his belt, and he’s awful wobbly on his legs (must be a puberty thing), but I think he’ll mature just fine.
I’m not to sure what I was thinking when I brought Luke onboard, but it was probably a decision I’d made after a night at the pub. Talent wise he’s Danny Taylor’s (my incumbent) equal, just three years younger. Far as I can tell they have roughly the same amount of potential, so I’ll most likely just try ’em both out until I find one I like.
This gangly sumbitch is probably the best player I’ve had since I left Seattle! He’s a little on the slow side, but he’s packed full of talent and even has some room left to grow. He’s going to be our anchor in the midfield, and I’ll probably turn to a bottle of gin and weepy love songs if he gets hurt.
Jason insisted that we needed some help here, so I caved and brought Jordan on board (not before I was bribed with some free beers though). Still…I think I like this guy. He has some skill, and his technique isn’t too shabby for someone his age. White man can’t jump though, and I think I’ll need to get him started on improving that.
Sweet Moses I have a striker! More than one actually, but I found (okay, my scouts found) Steven first, so I’ll mention him first. He’s smack in the middle of his prime, and while he wasn’t able to hack it in League 1, Wales should suit him rather nicely.
Another striker, it’s a miracle! I don’t know who we paid off to befall this good fortune, but by golly I’ll take it. Just entering the peak of his career, Ashley (no comment) looks like he could be quite dangerous in our humble little league.
A third striker, who’d have ever believed it? The real trick was bringing multiple options (one can never be too careful with these things), and I view Sam here as being more of a backup option should one of our starters find himself on the lam.
So what do you think? Not too shabby of a squad if I do say so myself. My biggest concern will be how they play together, and I’m not thrilled about having basically rebuilt the squad from the ground up. I’m expecting the early going to be a bit rough, but we should stabilize by midseason and make a healthy run toward a top 6 finish. I’d say the title is still fairly out of reach, and I’ll be pressuring the board to upgrade us to full on «Professional» status (after all, why I am earning all this money if not to make us more competitive?). We’ll see how that goes…
Lastly, I managed to get one of my scouts to record our game against Carmarthen. Someone thought it would be brilliant to put a live mic on me for the session, so forgive me if there is some foul language here or there…
Thanks for reading all, and let me know what you think of the new style! I’m still working to get the game running smoothly in 3D mode, but at least with 2D working I’ll be able to continue the story without any issues. Adios amigos!
Sibo
9 июня, 2011 at 14:11
I like that style of writing, but that is just my preference. I tried it once but I find it hard to do once you get to the matches but you may be able to pull it off…
Glad to see the save is working again, hopefully you can fix the 3-D view, good luck with the start of the season! :D
Stromson
9 июня, 2011 at 18:33
Glad you’re enjoying it, thankfully I’m 95% sure I’ve managed to resolve the 3D view problem!
vaibhavc
9 июня, 2011 at 15:33
Hey Stromson
I like the style of writing. It is very good that the save game is working, did you transfer it to a different computer? And Sean McGinty is one of Man United’s youth defenders.
Sibo
9 июня, 2011 at 18:19
Was he not also at Hereford…or am I imagining things? :-P
Stromson
9 июня, 2011 at 18:33
He was on my Salisbury squad in my forum story. :)
Johnny Karp
9 июня, 2011 at 17:33
That draw surely was unlucky but the team will need time to blend so probably you will reach good form and consistency in the second part of the season. Be patient and good luck! :)
Stromson
9 июня, 2011 at 22:55
Consistency would be the name of the game alright! To be fair though, I was expecting our performance to suffer from the lack of cohesion, but hopefully that improves in the near term.
Darren Smith
9 июня, 2011 at 19:06
I likey!! Great new style and very fluent to read which always draws me in. Well done Jon, you could lose every game and I’d still want to read your story.
Anyway, back to the game and don’t get too down about the start. It will pick up once your players gel and settle in I’m sure. Another great video as always. Keep up the good work mate.
Stromson
9 июня, 2011 at 22:57
Awesome, glad you like it Darren! Really holding out for that improved squad performance — hoping it’s coming soon.
Excessive
9 июня, 2011 at 19:26
Haha, I pissed myself when you said this was your second attempt because you forgot to record your first! Just out of curiosity, how long did it take you into the match to realise? ;)
Anyway mate, its a great story however way you write it but I like the new style. Unlucky with the match against Carmarthern but you have brought in some top quality players.. Unfortunately the one I think is your best signing has decided to get injured for 6-7 weeks so good luck with that ;)
Stromson
9 июня, 2011 at 23:04
The whole damn video! I have a nearly 9 minute video on my hard drive of an entire game against Llanelli with nothing but static for commentary. :(
Glad you’re still enjoying the story, and I think we might be able to salvage a healthy top 6 finish.
Laxeyman
9 июня, 2011 at 20:49
Really like the new style of writing Stromson, adds another dimension to an already excellent story. You brought in some good players, particularly up front, and I reckon you’ll do well this season. Good luck!
Stromson
9 июня, 2011 at 23:06
Thanks Laxeyman, I’m glad you’re enjoying it. :)
Sears
9 июня, 2011 at 23:21
Lovin’ the videos Stromson :-)
CsAtlantis
10 июня, 2011 at 00:12
Good to see you seemed to have overcome your technical issues with FM, Sean McGinty is quite good, might not live up to the Man Utd standards but still more than enough potential to be come at least a good championship player I think, Shane Lewis looks okay with his technicals, but his mental attributes (especially anticipation and positioning) need a lot of work, luckily he has age on his side, you’ve signed a few nice strikers (so, is the Welsh league more like League 2 in terms of quality?)
Good luck for the next season, you have revamped your squad, hopefully they can gel quickly (shouldn’t be hard as they should be at least capable of communicating with each other :P)
Stromson
10 июня, 2011 at 13:04
Based on friendly results and our miserable half star rating, I’d put the Welsh League on par with the Blue Square North/South. There are only 3 fully professional teams in the league (Neath, TNS, and Llanelli) right now, and we lost 14 places in the competition ratings from last season to now.
Hopefully the squad will gel quickly, and I wish I could have Shane Lewis focus on positioning in training, but the closest I was able to get was «Composure» or «Agility»…bah. Oh well, he’s still performing reasonably well inbetween the sticks, so I’ll take it!
Kevin
10 июня, 2011 at 00:56
Hi Stromson
Good selection of strikers there for this level so hopefully they will bag you some goals this season. All the best for the new campaign
Stromson
10 июня, 2011 at 13:07
Thanks Kevin, I’m hopeful they’ll pay off!
Lye Kuek Hin
10 июня, 2011 at 01:16
Hi Stromson,
Good pre-season campaign and hope you have a great start. Good luck.
Stromson
10 июня, 2011 at 13:09
Thanks Lye!
Liam
14 декабря, 2011 at 12:40
I used to go to school with Sean McGinty, he’s actually English and at least 6’4 he is also in Man United’s European Cup squad ( now of course, unfortunately their Europa cup squad) he’s a very good young player who United are said to rate very highly. He was bought from Charlton for 500,000 at the age of 15.