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#FM17 : The Islanders II
Welcome back to the second part in my new series, The Islanders. You can catch part one, the introductory piece, here. So as I rocked up on the island of Okinara I found what I expected. A bit of sunshine, a nice big stadium and no players or staff. Fortunately I had a couple […]
#FM17 : The Hapoel Hope 1.29 : Two Bobby Moores, only two Bobby Moores
We’ve got a 33 year-old player called Buzaglo. Whenever I pick the team, even for a friendly, I can never find a reason to bring him in. Physically, he’s in decline: ‘From bad to worse’ is how Weiss, the fitness coach, puts it. Miraculously, I find a way of getting him out: in desperation […]
CM9798 “tackles” #FM17 : Part 4 : Please can I stay?
I did not expect to get as far as a part 4. Welcome back! Last time out we had a surprisingly successful start to our tour of Holland. Yes, they are pre-season friendlies, but I’ll take any victory going. My to-do list is mounting though, with some positions to be bolstered and my assistant […]
#FM17 Celtic | A Squad Building Exercise | Part II
First glance of the squad was just as I expected. A bloated squad, more quantity than quality really in the first team. The u20s look like there’s a few gems to be polished. I plan on bleeding a few in at the end of the season. Goalkeepers We could improve here, however Craig Gordon […]
#FM17 : The Islanders
サッカーファンの皆様 Sakkāfan no minasama! If you are reading this then I presume you have forgiven me for bringing “The Boys of Bilbao” to an end. And what better way to replace it by starting a journey with a club you will have never, ever heard of before? If I were a different kind of […]
#FM17 : The Boys of Bilbao : El Fin
Kids, there’s always some bad news at Christmas. I mean, you watch the soaps I presume? Tell me, is Danny Dyer still in EastEnders? Anyway, before I completely go off on a tangent – bad news. I’ve decided to put the BoB save to rest. I know this will disappoint at least two people, […]
#FM17 : Forward Asia S2-1 : Oh To Be 14th
Indonesia is a hot mess. I knew this, subconsciously, in the first season, but didn’t bother to let the obvious oncoming problems get to me because I was having fun and things were going well. Now we’re preparing for a season in the Super League, and the great unfolding morass of mess is becoming […]
#FM17 : The Hapoel Hope 1.28 : Data analyst
I’ve been holding off bringing a data analyst into Hapoel Ashkelon FC until the start of the league season. I didn’t want to put a strain on the cash flow until necessary. I’m keen to develop a reputation for being good with money: I’ve found boards will be forgiving if you can do that. I […]
#FM17 : Taste The Feeling Episode 14 : Another New Club
According to our last 5 year plan, it’s time to add another club. We’re going for a club in Portugal, due to the lax home-grown rules, quality of the league and the generous (albeit hard to topple the “big” clubs) amount of European spots. So which club do we go for? Our job is made […]
#FM17 : Crystal Palace : Shout to the Top?
Last time out we lost both our opening games to Stoke and West Brom which was disheartening but at least we beat Northampton in the ‘all important’ EFL Cup. 4-2-4 just has not been working for us and our back line has been far too exposed so 4-3-3 is the order of the day. No […]
#FM17 : The Hapoel Hope 1.27 : Conceding
Hapoel Ashkelon didn’t have an easy draw for the group stage of the Premier League Toto Cup. The four other teams included Maccabi Tel-Aviv, predicted to finish top of the league, and Hapoel Be’er –Sheva, predicted to finish second. In the event, we drew 0-0 with FC Ashdod, lost 0-2 to Maccabi, drew 0-0 […]
#FM17 : Blades Of Glory # 7 | Up For The Cup | Let’s Play Football Manager 2017
The Blades are in FA Cup action in #7 of “Blades of Glory”
#FM17 : Hapoel Hope 1.26: Israel is Different
Israel, I find, is a foreign country. They do things differently here. Like starting the season with four cup games against other Premier League teams, in the group stage of something called the Premier League Toto Cup. Which I quite like, since it gives us, as a newly promoted team, the chance to measure […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : Save Our Dons : EP1 : Pre-Season 01/02
In 2004, Wimbledon FC became Milton Keynes Dons after relocation in 2003. This relocation was announced by the Don’s board in August 2001. I must travel back in an alternate reality and stop this from happening. A lot had changed for Wimbledon by the time the 2001/2002 First Division season was to start. This would […]
#FM17 Celtic | A Squad Building Exercise | Part I
I have decided to document the process I go through building a squad, this will double as my annual Celtic save. It will be heavily focused on player and staff recruitment, stemming into how they fit into the philosophy I am trying to implement. I will try to touch on everything from scouting, loans, transfer […]
Blades Of Glory # 6 | Raining Goals | Let’s Play #FM17
Make sure you check out Episode 6 of Blades of Glory – it’s possibly the best so far!
#FM17: Hapoel Hope 1.25: Staying up?
So last game, we played with the sweeper system with two up top; at half time I replaced one of the strikers with an attacking midfielder; then late in the game we went strikerless, replacing the remaining striker with another attacking midfielder. This time, in our final friendly, at home to Antalyaspor of the […]
#FM17 : Taste The Feeling Episode 13 : The 19/20 Season
Transfers I covered a majority of this seasons transfers in EP12 but there was one more transfer that happened before pre-season that didn’t make it into last weeks’ episode: Frantisek Machala: We landed him for the bargain price of 350k (potentially rising to 450k). Looks like he should hopefully be a star in a few […]
CM9798 tackles #FM17 : Part 3 – You got good advice…
After the humiliation of thrashing our Under 23s 1-0, me and the lads are jetting off to Holland for a pre-season tour. I might have said it was France in a previous update, forgive me, not only am I tactically inept I also don’t know where I am. Speaking of the Dutch, Vernon Anita […]
#FMM17 : Christmas Competition! Giveaways!
Good morning folks – a little Christmas cheer for you FMM17 fans. We have 2 copies of FMM17 to giveaway with all premium downloadable content included. To enter, simply follow and RT the tweet below! Early Xmas presents from Tempo – I have 2 FMM17 keys to give away with ALL premium downloadable content. […]
#FM17 : The Boys of Bilbao 7.1 : Rejects and Regens
Well hello there. I didn’t expect to be writing anything “Boys of Bilbao” this side of Christmas but I have reached an opportune moment to update you all. Fingers crossed my other FM project will be happening in the New Year and with 90% of the prep work done I was able to reload […]
#FM17 : [Hot Seat] 1.4 : Trial and Error
Previous instalments: 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 After running over the stats from our worryingly narrow victory over the development side, I come to one conclusion: we need more players. Better ones, ideally. I consult with John about the budgets. “You’ve got £25k to play with,” said the chairman. “A week? That should […]
#FM17 : The Wise Men of West Brom : Results so Far
Thank you for reading the follow up to the first part of my experiment. I intended this to be almost scientific more than a story, just to see how it plays out. Thanks to Anthony Haynes for his comment on the first post with questions about the physio and sports science aspects. Unfortunately I […]
#FM17 : Crystal Palace : Baptism of Fire
Last time we easily win two pre-season friendlies but this episode we have got some proper Premier League ties to sink our teeth into. We have a pretty gentle start to life in the Premier League with Stoke, West Brom and West Ham all very winnable games. Bristol City have made an offer for Appiah and […]
#FM17 : Forward Asia S1-3 : Title Chasing
Indonesian Premier League – Second Phase Eyes on the prize, it was time to regroup after letting our concentration drop just a little at the close of the first phase. Now this was it, the cream of the crop, three tough games away from the holy grail of the Indonesian Super League. First up […]
#FM17 : The Hapoel Hope 1.24 : Strikerless?
We used the sweeper formation, set out in a previous post for the first time in our 5th friendly, at the end of July. We were away to the Jordanian First Division team, Al-Yarmouk. It didn’t start so well. The only reason we came in 0-0 at half time was that our first-choice goalie, […]
#FM17 : Veterans : Four legends who could lead you to glory on Football Manager 2017
Football Manager 2017 was released in November and fans from all over the world will already be fully engrossed in the sixth year of their career. However, some may be looking for a big name signing or two at the beginning of the career mode as they look for some much-needed experience to bolster the […]
#FM17 : Blades Of Glory # 5 | Things are Looking Up | Let’s Play Football Manager 2017
Tune into the latest episode of “Blades of Glory” as they take on Bradford City…
#FM17 : Hapoel Hope 1.23 : Wagner in the ring
Hapoel Ashkelon FC’s third pre-season friendly (don’t worry: I won’t be commenting on every match) was against Ironi Kiryat-Gat. We won, which was to be expected since they’re only A League: on other hand, they were at home. But the result can be forgotten. Which I can’t afford to say about their goal. As […]
#FM17 : Burnley : Back to the Start : Season Two
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, any one can start from now and make a brand new ending” So here we are, back to where I decided to start writing this blog, the eve of my second season in charge. The champagne soaked shirts of last season are […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : Kicks for Free : Part 4
Is this the final part of the CM01/02 no money challenge? Kicks for Free has certainly been an eye opener, and whilst we aren’t quite ready to have a Band Aid song in our honour, which of our two penniless fools will be singing by the end of this? Dave’s Scunthorpe go looking for […]
#FM17 : Make Feyenoord Great Again: S02E02: Rotterdam parties, whilst Amsterdam has work to Do
So, last post I talked about tentatively hanging on at the peak of the Eredivisie, whilst firing through the early rounds of the Europa League and Dutch Cup. Despite a questionable start, we were back on the straight-and-narrow. The squad had clicked, the new boys had settled in and the cohesive unit of my […]
#FM17 : Hapoel Hope 1.22 : Cabernet sauvignon
Hapoel Ashkelon FC’s first home friendly was against Beitar Tel-Aviv/Ramla. They’re in the National League, from which we’ve just escaped – so decent opposition. We won 3-2, which doesn’t really matter. What does matter is some of the performances. I put out what I thought was the second string, but some of the back-ups […]
#FM17 : Crystal Palace – If only the real season was this easy…
Welcome to Episode 2 of this new FM series. If you missed episode one you can find it here Also, my twitter is @cameroneyles Right this episode we will hopefully be signing a new left back and a new centre, getting rid of that troublesome Jason Puncheon and playing our two pre-season friendlies. Straight off […]
CM9798 tackles FM17: Part 2 : If you tolerate this…
Good day to you. I’m ready for my second day in the job on FM17 and whilst there’s a lot to learn, I feel today’s friendly with our Under 23’s will be a nice way to break myself in. Or, it’ll be a chastening experience and we’ll be humiliated by our youth team, managed […]
#FM17 : The Last King of Scotland 2.3
The Last King of Scotland A Hibernian Tale: Part 2:3 Extract from the Managers diary: ‘Take a seat, Garry.’ ‘Something up Gaffer?’ ‘I don’t know how to say this… but I’m dying.’ Stunned silence. ‘Dying to get this party started!’ He pulls out a pair of maracas. Garry shakes his head, his mouth agape. Year […]
#FM17 : Hapoel Hope 1.21 : Breaking the Law
Hapoel Ashkelon FC’s training camp in Germany bored me. I restricted my tactical coaching to letting the lads have a bit of a run around using the new formations and setting up a few set piece routines. I’ll focus more on tactics when I’ve had a chance to watch them in action. We finished […]
#FM17 : Hapoel Hope 1.20 : Going asymmetric
While Hapoel Ashkelon’s players are beginning the training camp with some fitness training – and no doubt already beginning to wish they’d looked after themselves better during the close season – I have a second cup of coffee. It’s then that I have a light bulb moment – or gestalt as I think they […]
#FM16 : Atalanta : The Rise of La Dea : 2015/2016 End of Season Awards and Round Up
As the last balls were kicked in anger, final whistles sounded across the continent and the curtain came down on Europe’s club competitions. The 2015/2016 season drew to a close and the European Championships and awards season drew near. The big questions were on everyone’s lips; who would be top dog in France? Who would the surprise […]
#FM17 : Forward Asia : Celebest’s League Adventures
These are heady days in Palu, Indonesia. The local heroes of Celebest Villa 2000 FC have chosen a no-mark, no-Bahasi speaking Englishman as their manager, in what was widely agreed as a logical and sensible choice. But what would he do with the team, the fervent local press and social media warriors wondered? Transfers […]
#FM17 : Crystal Palace : Am I a better manager than Alan Pardew?
Hello friends and welcome to the first #FM17 project here on Tempo. I must confess that I’m no expert at Football Manager but with how badly Crystal Palace have done in the calendar year 2016, I thought this would be a good starting point to see if I can do better than Alan Pardew. Before […]
#FM17: Hapoel Hope 1.19: Flair and skill, damn it
I wake up on the first full day of Hapoel Ashkelon FC’s training camp in Berlin (why Berlin? What would have been wrong with training amongst the vineyards of the Judean Hills?) in the knowledge that I’ve decided two of the formations I want to train: an asymmetric diamond, loosely based on Sir Alf’s […]
#FM17 : Blades Of Glory # 3 | Going Lion Taming | Let’s Play Football Manager 2017
Please check out Episode 3 of Blades of Glory, today we head to the Den to take on Millwall! And don’t forget to leave a like on the video if you have enjoyed the episode!
#FM17 : Make Feyenoord Great Again: S02E01: Moneyballin’
A new start on our freshly laid foundations awaits. Feyenoord are in the Champions League; back in the big time! Well, for a bit, anyway. A summer of change left the squad looking quite a bit different after, predictably, the big boys swooped in. We did, however, make sure they got the gristle whilst […]
#FM17: Hapoel Hope 1.18: Searching for a sweeper
Supposing you want to play with a sweeper in a league where few, if any, sweepers are available? This is a situation I’ve encountered often, especially in Greece (my FM home), Hungary, and England. Paradoxically, the lack of availability is a reason why you should persevere: if teams don’t play with sweepers, they won’t […]
#FM17 : Burnley and the Quest for 17th : Part 3 : Perseverance
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other” Its March, Burnley are a team on the edge of survival, their manager, myself, is a man on the edge of his sanity. After a run of 14 games without a win, February brought nervy wins over West Ham […]
#FM17 : Make Feyenoord Great Again : S01E02 : Amsterdam Parties, Whilst Rotterdam Works
So, last time I updated you all on my Feyenoord progress, we were matching Ajax blow-for-blow as we fought in a Marvel-esque fight scene with Utrecht acting as the bewildered child watching out of his window as The Hulk and Spiderman have a scrap – or something like that. This was a common theme […]
#FM17 : Taste The Feeling Episode 12
Since we’ve introduced another team it’s obviously taking me a bit longer to get through a season so from now on each episode will cover up to January. This episode will be an exception though as I’ve had a few requests to cover in detail on the tactics we’ve been using. Firstly though I’ll cover the […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : Kicks for Free – Part 3
Greetings to you. We’re into part 3 of Dave & Ross trying to make their way up the football pyramid without spending anything. So far, it’s fair to say it’s going better for Dave than Ross, as Scunthorpe have been promoted whilst Ross has been dismissed from Hull. Where do we go from here? […]
#FM16 : Atalanta : The Rise of La Dea : May 2016
Heading into May, Atalanta’s season was done and dusted. A 2nd place finish, the highest in the club’s history, had been confirmed and the club had Champions League football to look forward to next season. Two of our three May fixtures were against sides whose season was certainly not done and dusted. Genoa were […]