The Higher Tempo Press
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CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: World Cup 2002 Semi final (not) Live Text: Czech Republic vs Scotland
British success has been hard to come by – especially when it comes to football. With England’s 1966 World Cup win still the one and only, Scotland have lived in the shadow of that for many years. Despite the odd false dawn, they are now 90 minutes away from a World Cup final. Och aye!
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: World Cup 2002 Quarter Final (not) Live Text – Scotland vs Denmark
Scotland are breaking new ground. Before this tournament, they’d never made it past the group stage of any major tournament. 3 weeks later, they are about to kick off their quarter final tie with Denmark, having seen off Portugal in the round of 16. With expectations exceeded, is the handbrake off for Scotland? We’re not […]
#FM16 : How to Build a Club (part twelve)
Welcome back folks. I hope the majority of you are still talking to me after the curve ball I threw in in the last update. For those of you that missed it, I am now manager of Urawa Red Diamonds and I have got one hell of a job on my hands.
FM16 : How to Build a Club (part eleven)
What can I say? They play in front of the biggest crowds in Japan…
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: Portugal vs Scotland – (not) Live Text
This is not a drill. Scotland are about to play in a knockout game at a major tournament. Standing in their way are Portugal – Figo, Paulo Sousa, Nuno Gomes…to name just three. It’s a mighty task facing the Scots but you know fine well the Tartan Army will do everything they can to keep […]
#FM16 : How to Build a Club (part ten)
It’s been a while, hey? Apologies for the lack of updates for the last ten days or so, there’s been a few things going on…
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: Scotland vs India – (not) Live Text
Scotland stand on the brink of history, having never made it past the group stage at a major championships. India stand on the brink of history, here at their first finals a win will put them in the last 16. Something has to give. Welcome to Tokyo. It’s Scotland vs India. AS IT STANDS So […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: Scotland vs Senegal – (not) Live Text
Welcome back to What About Scotland? One stat has plagued Scotland for many years – they’ve never made it out of the group stage of a major tournament. If they’re going to manage that here in the 2002 World Cup, they need to beat Senegal. Can they do it? Let’s find out with this (not) […]
#FM16 : How to Build a Club (part nine)
It’s been a while since I have posted on this, so it’s good to bring you this update…
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: Italy vs Scotland – (not) Live Text
Welcome to Japan! We’re going to bring you Italy vs Scotland as it happens (work with me here) but before we get to that, if you’re new to this you’re probably wondering just what the heck is going on. Well, in Part 1 I set about turning the qualification campaign around and was pretty successful […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: What about Scotland? Part II
Welcome to Part 2 of What About Scotland? If you’re new to this, I’m trying to take Scotland to World Cup 2002, and part 1 went rather well as we scored wins over Croatia and away in Belgium. It leaves us needing just a point at home to Latvia to secure our place in the […]
#FM16 : How to Build a Club (part eight)
As Alex Ferguson might have said once, “football in Japan, eh? Bloody hell.”
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER: WHAT ABOUT SCOTLAND? PART I
With Euro 2016 now just days rather than weeks away, it’s fair to say excitement is at a tepid level. Maybe that’s just me having witnessed England’s less than convincing recent displays, but this is the biggest Euros ever!
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : CAN CM01/02 END FIFTY YEARS OF HURT?
So, who’s excited for Euro 2016? As the tournament is expanded to 24 teams we’ve essentially got a mini-World Cup on our hands, with rare tournament appearances for the likes of Wales, Northern Ireland and Albania, there’s the added underdog ingredient to add making it a fairly unique tournament.
#FM16 : How to Build a Club (part six)
Back again, this series seems to have some legs and thanks to everyone who has followed it and supported it so far. Today we look at a fundamental part of the longer term structure of building a club – the youth intake.
#FM16 : How to Build a Club (part five)
What do they say about the best laid plans? I can never remember. Yet fear not, this is not the beginning of a long winded post about how everything is falling apart, more an honest appraisal of how not everything goes to plan!
#FM16 : How to Build a Club (part four)
Right then, we are back with the next update. 90 days, or thereabouts have passed and it is time to check in with what we have done so far.
#FM16 : How to Build a Club (part three)
Greetings folks. As my good friend @fm_samo said on Twitter, I wonder if the likes of Brendan Rodgers are following this series? Probably not. Anyway I’m back with part three. You can find part one here and part two here.
#FM16 @www.thehighertempopress.com How to Build a Club (part two)
Welcome back. So in the first post I talked you through the 1/7/30/50 plan for how I am going to build Yokohama FC. Today I am going to give you an update on Day One of the plan.
#FM16 : How to Build a Club
Following the interest in my “How to Win Promotion” piece, I’ve been encouraged to take things a little further and look into how I build a club.
#FM16 : AN UNFAIR GAME BY STATISTICAL APPROACH
The football landscape has changed drastically in the last two decades. It is dominated by the mega rich and “super clubs”, be that pre-existing or newly anointed. Generally speaking the upper echelons of European football is a closed shop. Clearly there are exceptions to this where a plucky underdog gets it’s moment in the sun. […]
#FM16 : How To Win Promotion
There are not many things I rate myself highly at on FM, apart from this one little part of the game. This is a part not many people ever even encounter, such is the understandable desire to start at the very top with the super clubs. However, those of us of a certain age remember […]
#FM16 : #GoingLocoGoingZacaPolco
Welcome back to the latest update of my life as a gringo in Mexico. We are fast tracking into El Torneo Clausura, so how are Zacatepec doing?
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : BRITS ABROAD PART IX
Welcome back to the series with more parts than a dodgy plumber. Episode 9 is upon us and whilst we didn’t get very far in the Champions League, we’re just 1 point off the top in a very open title race. Can the Brits abroad be triumphant? Or will it be heroic failure yet again? […]
#FM16 : How to Balance the Books
It has often worried me how similar to Arsene Wenger I am in several ways. Like Wenger, I could always read a game better than I could actually play it – the brain as sharp as an experienced pro, the body not really ever able to do what the mind saw. Like Wenger, I saw […]
#FM16 #GoingLocoGoingZacaPolco
My word FM can be frustrating at times! I don’t seem to pick easy saves, not my thing. But man, this one is tough. Anyway, the Opening & Closing Stages of my second season in Mexico are over, so how have we been getting on following our shock promotion?
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : BRITS ABROAD PART VIII
Good day to you! Welcome back to season 3, where we’re trying to juggle being in the Champions League with being British. It’s been a bit of a grim season, we look set to crash out of the Champions League in the group stages and we’re off the pace in the league. But we have […]
#FM16 #GoingLocoGoingZacaPolco
Sometimes pre-season can be exciting, sometimes it can be bloody stressful. This pre-season as certainly been one of the latter! Zacatepec won promotion into the top flight and we are brassic. Totally brassic. Costs need to be cut everywhere, and sadly this is something I LOVE doing.
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : BRITS ABROAD PART VII
Welcome back to the world’s most expensive stag do. We’re about to kick off season 3 and I’ve situated 30 Brits in Lisbon and had a party. Also, Karel Poborsky is still here, who by this point is basically playing the role of the dwarf the stag is handcuffed to. On that vivid image, here’s […]
#FM16 #GoingLocoGoingZacaPolco : The start of #ZacaMania
Welcome back to Mexico folks, the scene of some of the most iconic football images in my life. Brazil 1970, Pele rolling the ball to the on-rushing Carlos Alberto and THAT finish into the far corner. Argentina 1986, Maradona picking the up the ball in his own half and slaloming his way past the entire […]
#FM16 #GoingLocoGoingZacaPolco
Here’s a question. Does it get warm in Mexico during the month of December? Mexico strikes me as a country that is rarely cold. Either way, December is certainly hotting up at Zacatepec as we have found ourselves competing in the final of the Acenso MX Opening Stage Final. No? To be fair, I don’t […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : BRITS ABROAD PART VI
Welcome back to “Brits Abroad”, a series where I’m trying to build an entirely British team at Benfica and hopefully dominate the game. So far, that hasn’t really been the case, but it’s early days in the grand scheme of things and we’re firing on three fronts as you join us in part 6. Who […]
#FM16 #GoingLocoGoingZacaPolco
I’ve been quiet for a while, those of you that keep an eye on my movements might have noticed. It has been a period of reflection in life and FM. Are you sitting comfortably? Then let us begin…
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : BRITS ABROAD PART V
Welcome back. Who thought we’d get as far as part 5? Not me, and not Brian Deane. I thought we’d be mid table by now but we’re actually better than that, I think I overestimated much of the Portuguese league. Anyway, we sit 4th and still in Europe, so let’s get on with it.
#FM16 #BohemiansRhapsody : Because I'm easy come, easy go
Welcome back to the end of season run in. We have six games to go and I am excited. Promotion is all but sorted, but we could even win the league. Altach are faltering, St Polten are inconsistent and somehow we are on a bit of a run. Hell, I’ve even stopped tinkering with the […]
#FM16 : #BohemiansRhapsody : Diamonds are Forever
As you may have noticed from my last update, I am on the verge of a tactical mental breakdown. I am all over the place, changing things every couple of games in the search for something that makes me enjoy FM16 again. At the end of the last update, I was back on my CM93/94 […]
#FM16 #BohemiansRhapsody : Just one big ramble, really
December, and we are top of the table. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, press pack. Yeah, I am still a little hacked off that the press believe “the jury is still out” on my time at Bohemians. Sod you, we are top and I have brought back #TheArgentineStrikerless with aplomb.
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : BEYOND YOUR WILDEST REIMS
He may have been missing for a while, but he and his partner have a had a baby. We’ll let him off, and Luke Davis is back to remind us of what has been going on in France. What do you mean you can’t remember the series? Go and read Part One, Part Two and […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : BRITS ABROAD PART IV
Hello! Season two is often tricky for any manager, just ask the author of this very web page who felt so strongly about the second season syndrome he named a book after it.
#FM16 #BohemiansRhapsody : I’m just a poor boy, nobody loves me (and a tactical meltdown)
It’s November already, and it already feels shambolic before we step on to the park for a match. Let’s recap, shall we?
#FM16 #BohemiansRhapsody : All we need is…
October, October. Is this the month Arsenal traditionally gimp it in the Premier League? I can never remember. Anyway, we start the month in the promotion places and we have four league matches ahead of us plus the treat of the Cup 3rd Round to finish the update.
#FM16 : #BOHEMIANSRHAPSODY : We Wanna Break Free…
Ok, we are back again. It’s September already and we start the month top of the table, albeit on goal difference. Having said that, the top ten is pretty close so I would love to see us get a few wins under our belts! Mind you, we headed into the trip to Presov with a […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : BRITS ABROAD PART III
Ola! That’s Portugese for hello you retro-CM loving maniacs. Welcome to part 3 of Brits Abroad, where we’re about to enter the business end of the season. The squad is now pretty much entirely British, which was the dream, so now it’s time to see if the late addition of Matt Le Tissier (and Jody […]
#FM16 #BohemiansRhapsody : Mamma Mia
The season proper gets underway today folks, and quite frankly I am pleased to see the back of pre-season. Two wins and three defeats did not teach me much, so our first competitive game in the CE Cup First Round will be a watershed moment.
#FM16 #BohemiansRhapsody : Magnifico-o-o-o-o
Welcome back folks. For those reading my stuff for the very first time, this blog is a mish-mash of my ramblings as I play FM on a daily basis. I have just taken over at Bohemians Praha in the Central European Liga III and yesterday’s post was all about my first day at the club. […]
#FM16 #BohemiansRhapsody : The Blaming of the Shrew
Shrew, you have a lot to answer for. There was me on a Sunday afternoon, happily minding my own business at Old Boys Basel and then I saw your Central European database. Then, in a moment of weakness, I found myself deserting my Basel home and signing up to be gaffer at Bohemians Praha. I […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : BRITS ABROAD PART II
Welcome back! If you missed part one, you’re going to find this very odd. Long story short, I set about creating an all British team to dominate the Portugese league. I chose Benfica as the “beneficiaries” in this scenario because Graeme Souness had already laid the foundations, with Brian Deane and Scott Minto sitting waiting […]
#FM16 : TEACHING OLD BOYS NEW TRICKS
Note to self. When embarking on a new league campaign it is wise to double check how many teams get promoted. When we won the fourth remaining fixture to ease ten points ahead of third place, the virtual champagne corks were popped and we were dancing on the streets of Basel. That was until I […]
#FM16 : TEACHING OLD BOYS NEW TRICKS
It’s been a while since I have walked into a club and was welcomed by a mere four players. Maybe I should have checked to see that the four of them earned the entire weekly budget between them. Welcome to Old Boys Basel, the club that, after much deliberation, were fortunate enough to appoint me […]