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Brexit Bournemouth Part 16
We start the new year as we mean to go on – needlessly pissing away points against bang average sides. Norwich City are the lucky recipients of our generosity. Haris Seferovic, a big Swiss oaf, a man whose first touch makes it look like he’s wearing concrete boots, bullies Steve Cook and scores a header […]
Rivalità Tra Fratelli, Episode 4
This is the story of two brothers, a modern-day Cain versus Abel if you will, based in the northern powerhouse Italian city of Milan. If you’d like to replicate this challenge, we’re using the updated medium database with the following leagues: England (Premier League, Championship, League One & League Two), Italy (Serie A & Serie […]
Pulling the Rabat out of the Fez #2: Signings Just Becouscous
Sometimes I question my own mind. Like, how can I be so stupid? For example, the other day, when setting up a new career mode on FIFA, I contrived to not only spell my surname wrong but not notice the error until I’m halfway through the transfer window. Fortunately, that’s the worst of virtual Stoke […]
How about the Israeli Premier League?
If you look at the calendar on your wall, you may be under the impression that the year is 2017. And if you look on Wikipedia, you may think that the manager of the Israeli Premier League (IPL) club, Hapoel Ashkelon FC, is Yuval Naim. But you’d be wrong on both counts. It’s 2031 and […]
Brexit Bournemouth Part 15
Things were different. Oh boy, were they different. I was brave and decided to stick to my 3-5-2, rather than adjusting to try and combat their superior attacking force, and I was rewarded. Inside half an hour we were 1-0 up, Jordan Rossiter thundering in a half volley when Surman’s blocked shot looped off Smalling’s […]
Disciple of the Rafalution Part I
The Gospel according to Rafa Prologue In 2004, I was 12 years old and I watched with intrigue and excitement as David Moores sat beside Rafael Benitez, introducing him to all as the new manager of Liverpool Football Club. The Spaniard arrived on Merseyside having taken Valencia to two La Liga titles and the UEFA […]
Brexit Stage Left
After following up last season’s fantastic exploits with an incredible first half of the season, what did the rest of the campaign have in store for our Celtic heroes? Let’s find out… We pick up where we left off, with the January 2019 transfer window about to open. It was an underwhelming month for the […]
Free-to-enter competition 7.13
Free-to-enter because there’s no prize, other than kudos. But kudos is worth having, so don’t go. Elidiano signed for Israeli Premier League side Hapoel Ashkelon FC in early 2022. That season he made 7 starts and 3 appearances as a substitute, scoring 3 goals. His average match rating was 6.8. In the summer he was […]
The Boys of Borussia Part VI
So, we’re back. The board were so happy with me they gave me a new two-year deal. Not that that means much in modern football, right? That said, if Moyes can keep his job after that season at Sunderland I am not going anywhere. One thing I do enjoy as much as I hate about […]
Blackpool’s top scorer makes a return to form
Last year’s League Two top scorer Jack Redshaw finally returns to form as Blackpool remain unbeaten After scoring just once in eight games at the start of the season, last season’s main man Redshaw has now scored seven in six games. It is a welcome return to form as the fans at Bloomfield Road had […]
COYW: Season 1, Part 2
THE OBJECTIVE: TO MANAGE MY HOME TOWN CLUB, DOVER ATHLETIC, IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE. DOVER HAVE NEVER PLAYED LEAGUE FOOTBALL. I AM GOING TO TRY AND CHANGE THAT. PRE-SEASON ( cont ) Sitting in my office, i use the term office loosely seeing as its a portacabin in the corner of a field which is […]
The Boys of Borussia Part V
‘You are doing what? You utter bastard. You don’t even have a game. Yes, I do want your effing job one day. But I don’t think you really need to try sabotage, do you? Oh eff off, why does anyone need three goalkeepers training in a squad when you lot are all pissing off on […]
Slack FC: Season 1, July – September 2016
Welcome back to another instalment in the story of 23 young footballers with a dream. Slack FC has been founded, hired a manager and the club is ready to make a name for itself. Things are looking rosey for the club, but it’s a big bad footballing world out there, and I’m sure that many […]
The Vagabonds: Part 1
I love the Create a Club feature using it almost exclusively on FM16; I’ve still got a save going with the club I created for that edition. Strangely I’ve not seen too much CaC content out there in the community so for the uninitiated I’ll briefly explain how it works. Firstly you create the club […]
April Showers
When we last saw Dave, the manager, he was sloping off to his office with too many bottles and a darkening look on his face: he doesn’t deal with disappointment well… It’s a week before I rouse myself from my office-den and sift my way through the empty bottles and bodily fluids towards the dressing […]
To Dare Is To Do #15
FM17 Tottenham Hotspur FC To Dare Is To Do | #15 Harsh Lesson | Let’s Play Football Manager 2017 Today we take on Barcelona in the 2nd Leg of the Champions League Quarter Finals. Can we finish the job we started in the 1st leg? Join me on this adventure on Football Manager 2017. Thanks […]
Thiago Maia
If you’re looking for a young talented cheap and potentially world class midfielder then look no further than Thiago Maia. He starts out with very good stats for his age, you can get him really cheap and he could be the best young midfielder on the game this year. But what type of midfielder will he […]
Brexit Bournemouth Part 14
It’s that time again. Back in the saddle for the third time. Let’s get things going. This time we open with the Community Shield against title winners Chelsea. Chelsea opt to put out a mostly second string side: it’s that odd two week period in summer where all of Chelsea minions return to the club […]
Eibar: An Analytics Story Part 2
Eibar – The Squad The first thing I noticed when I looked at the squad at my disposal for the first time was, that it is a really well built one. First of all, it has 23 players which means that we have two players for every position. Even though we are only involved in […]
Q&A with @FMAnalysis
Monday night saw the return of the content creator Q&A over on the FM Slack. If you haven’t got involved yet then it really is easy to join and talk openly to your favourite writers. The Q&A is a great chance to find out more about the series’ you’re currently reading. This week was with […]
Lord’s Test Match, 1963 7.12
In the Lord’s Test of 1963, the West Indian fast bowlers Griffith and Hall unleashed some fearsome short-pitched balls. One of the English batsmen, Brian Close, seemed to play most of them with his chest. Photographs taken after the game revealed that his body was black and blue. There’s a cricket scene in Israel but I […]
Run, Forest! Run! Part 6: Mr. November
With 15 games played, we’re at one third of the season, a nice time to review how it has been going until now. Out of these 15 games, we won 10, drew 3 and lost only twice. We haven’t tasted the bitter taste of defeat since August 27th, when Leeds United bested us at the […]
The Boys of Borussia Part IV
‘One game Blackadder, it all comes down to one game. Got any cunning plans?’ Edmund looked slightly confused by this comedic reference, but at least he was too confused to correct me on the fact that it was Baldrick that had the cunning plans, not Blackadder. And, being the manager I am supposed to have […]
Brexit Bournemouth Part 13
Disregard everything I said about taking a careful, methodical approach to my transfer business. The board gave me another £40 million to spend and I. Went. Wild. But before we get to all of that, there are a few little things we need to take care of. In all the furore surrounding our historic FA […]
To Dare Is To Do #14
FM17 Tottenham Hotspur FC To Dare Is To Do | #14 Mystery Opponent | Let’s Play Football Manager 2017 Today we take on a Mystery Opponent! All will be explained after the intro. Join me on this adventure on Football Manager 2017. Thanks for coming to watch my latest Football Manager content. If you enjoyed […]
It’s gone to penalties… 7.11
…in the 2023 Israeli Premier League Toto Cup final between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Ashkelon. The match having ended two-all, the odds shifted in Beitar’s favour. I know you’re supposed to practice penalties, but we didn’t. I didn’t want to remind the boys how bad they were at them. But after eight pens, four per […]
Brexit Bournemouth Part 12
As excellent as last season was, ending up with a beautifully shiny FA Cup to fill our otherwise barren trophy cabinet, we can’t afford to rest on our laurels; we were dreadful in the league and we need to vastly improve if we’re going to compete on multiple fronts in our third season. Therefore, it’s time […]
COYW, Season 1
The Objective: To manage my Home town club, Dover Athletic, in the National League. Dover Have never played League football. I am going to try and change that. PRE-SEASON Having retired from work as a scaffolder due to suffering from a bad case of vertigo, I decided to embark on getting stuck into my coaching […]
The Deep Lying Golden Zone
Foundations for Stability Ruud Dokter is a Dutch coach charged with heading up the evolution of Irish football, through philosophies & ideals that promote the Total Football style we associate with his home country. From the earliest stages of the coaching programmes, we are subjected to constant repetition of the word “Triangles.” What he means […]
Rivalità Tra Fratelli, Episode 3
This is the story of two brothers, a modern-day Cain versus Abel if you will, based in the northern powerhouse Italian city of Milan. If you’d like to replicate this challenge, we’re using the updated medium database with the following leagues: England (Premier League, Championship, League One & League Two), Italy (Serie A & Serie […]
Extra time… 7.10
…in the 2023 Israeli Premier League Toto Cup final between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Ashkelon. I began extra time confident that our superior fitness would win out over Beitar. But the minutes ticked away with us creating very little. With minutes to go, I have to accept that the match might go to penalties. Which […]
Run, Forest! Run! Part 5: The Hunt for Red October
The first day of October also brings us the first match of October. We visit plucky little Bristol City, who are bottom of the table with only 4 points out of 10 matches. They are yet to win a game this season. For a side overperforming at 2nd place, The Robins should not be a […]
Brexit Bournemouth Part 11
We pick up with just nine league games left and an FA Cup semi-final against Palace in the pipeline. Our league season is comatose and the prospect of a trophy is the only thing keeping the fans onside in what was been another largely disappointing campaign. After the pure, unadulterated, ecstatic bliss of that 5-1 […]
The Boys of Borussia Part III
“Not a bad start that, eh Blackadder?” I yelled over at Edmund. We were six games into the Regionalliga West season and my Dortmund II side had won all six without conceding a goal. It was the start dreams were made of, I was sure it would not be long until the Dortmund board saw […]
Match Analysis: Paris Saint-Germain vs Reading, Champions League Final
The build up to this match was dominated by the talk of Reading FC having the chance to win the Champions League for a sixth time in a row. Considering no side had managed to retain the trophy in the modern era this accomplishment would be all the more incredible. The turnaround in fortunes for […]
Second half… 7.9
…in the Beitar Jerusalem vs Ashkelon 2023 Israeli Premier League Toto Cup final. I lied to the lads at half time. I told them they could play even better. By which I meant something like, don’t take your foot off the pedal. But it was Beitar who came out looking more up for it. Within […]
Searching the Stats v3.2
Episode 2 – Centre Backs Last week we got our shortlist for recruiting full-backs for our team that we’ll pursue when we take over our club, but now we need to recruit some centre-backs. First, though we need to work out what stats would be useful in judging potential recruits. We’re adopting the same base […]
Brexit Bournemouth Part 10
It’s time to jump on the fixture list merry-go-round once more and we’re back to the beginning. Perhaps inspired by the 5-2 goal extravaganza we served up against Hull the last time one of our games was televised, the powers that be pencilled in our Boxing Day match against Spurs for broadcast. I can only […]
An FM17 Guide to Brexit
It is news you possibly could not have missed, with June 2016 referendum results, the United Kingdom will soon leave the European Union. If you are a European national residing in the UK, be aware that this article would not give answers to your questions. But, for how complex can Football Manager be at times, […]
Pulling the Rabat out of the Fez: A trip into the unknown #1
What do you know about Morocco that doesn’t involve Tommy Cooper’s fez, tourism or the movie Casablanca? Exactly. But did you know they participated in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest? Seriously. Italy gave them their only seven points and they only beat Finland. I’ve personally never been to Morocco myself but virtual me has taken […]
A third goal… 7.8
…in the 2023 Israeli Premier League Toto Cup final, between Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Ashkelon. Beitar gave us a free-kick 20 yards out. I knew young Liran Asefa would take it, he always does. When I saw Beitar post only a two-man wall, I knew Liran would take it as an affront. Two-pace run-up, right […]
The Ultimate Journey | The Nearly Men
Having introduced to our new team in the last post this would be a great way to show you how we fared in when we were in charge of this Chinese club. I got the job when the club had already played 18 games which meant that there were 16 games left of the season […]
The Boys of Borussia Part II
I seriously must be mad to take this on again. I mean, seriously? Manage a team where other fools, bigger fools than I if that is possible, move players around, send them out on loan, give me replacements, take those replacements away, sack my staff, recruit my staff and basically make my life hell? Why […]
Eibar: an Analytics Story Part 1
If you have stumbled upon my work on this site earlier, you probably noticed that most of my stuff is quite analytical. I tend to refine Tactics a lot and look at what they are actually doing on the pitch. Often that means playing on comprehensive in the initial stage of a Tactic and just […]
Rodrigo Bentancur
If you are looking for a versatile talented midfielder, look no further than Rodrigo Bentancur Not only is he suitable to play in a central midfield role but, could easily be used in a winger role as well, and has the ability to become an amazing player that would be worthy of any top side. […]
The Boys of Borussia Part I
Oh, we’ve been here before. We have certainly been here before. And, for some crazy reason, I fancy another stab at this. I made my mistakes in Bilbao, I really did. Equally, I wasn’t treated particularly well by Paco or Rafa, the caniving bastards. But I am back, and I am ready to use that […]
Moving to Asia
We have finally moved on from Australia and into the promise land that is Asia (not really). So which club did we end up at in Asia? China it is I got offered a job at Yanbian Fude and they were doing fairly well in the league and I was impressed with the state of […]
How to Evaluate the Defence in FM17
The season is over; all decisions have been made. You have either overachieved, underachieved our you got exactly what you wanted. No matter what, it is now time to evaluate the season and to make decisions going forward. One part of the team that can always be a bit hard to evaluate is the defence. […]
Brexit Bournemouth Part 9
I hope I never have to lay eyes on Harry Kane again. In two games against us last season he scored four times and the haunted root vegetable nearly equals that in one game here, bagging a hat trick in a 3-0 win. That seems to be our favourite scoreline against the big boys. Time […]
How to Balance The Books at a Smaller Club in FM17
When I play Football Manager I usually have a journeyman save which consists of several seasons at small clubs with even smaller income streams. I find that at these clubs my role doesn’t end as just a football manager but in order to see the club (and in turn: my own reputation) grow I need […]