The Higher Tempo Press
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#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? I THINK WE SHOULD SEE OTHER PEOPLE
“Simo, you are like a son to me. I saw you on a Serbian cow field and wanted you to be my main man here at Obilic. Ten years later you are a man, and you have scored the most goals ever in the yellow shirt. It will be so hard to leave you, I […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER | BRITS ABROAD PART I
Hello and welcome to what I hope will be a long term series here at the Higher Tempo Press. Brits Abroad is not a late night TV show showing various upstanding members of the British public making love to a shopping trolley in Kavos, but rather I’m going to make a team entirely of players […]
VIRTUALLY VALLECANO III
Welcome to part three of my journey through Football Manager 16 with Rayo Vallecano of Spain. If you are reading this having already read the first two parts then I commend you. If however you have just stumbled across this then you can find part one here and part two here. Just as a quick […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? A DECADE IN THE SUN
Let’s recap. Obilic started in the 7th tier of Serbian football. The 7th tier of Serbian football is akin to Sunday League football in England, many of the matches are played in front of nobody whatsoever. Ten seasons later we have just finished in 3rd place in the 2nd tier, having spent zero pounds and […]
#FM16 : THE MIGHTY MAGZILIAN – A FUSION OF 50’s HUNGARY AND 70’s BRAZIL
Readers, welcome back to another piece from our new January signing Paul Marshall. He might have been cheap as chips in the transfer window but he has settled into the team seamlessly and is already hitting the kind of numbers that makes Arsene Wenger very happy. With no further ado, I will let Paul pick […]
#FM16 : AS CUNNING AS A BOX WITH A TAIL ON IT CALLING ITSELF A BOX
I think I have this blogging game sussed now – less from me, more from other people! Following the widely acknowledged brilliance of @www.thehighertempopress.comfmanalysis’s “Virtually Vallecano” I am delighted to bring another new writer to join The Higher Tempo Press. Paul Marshall is a good friend of mine and we often have varied tactical discussions. […]
#FM16 : VIRTUALLY VALLECANO II
Welcome to part two of the series following my career on Football Manager with Rayo Vallecano. As alluded to in the previous instalment I am already five seasons through the save and these articles are purely intended to catch you all up with what has happened so far. As the series progresses and hopefully catches […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? MY UNDYING LOVE FOR GORAN SIMOVIC
Hello folks. I must start with an apology. My last post was 3rd January? What is that about? Things have been quite busy on the ranch meaning I’ve only really been able to get an hour a day in at best. But anyway, excuses aside, the 2023/24 season is over.
#FM16 : Virtually Vallecano
Ladies and gentleman, the transfer window is open and The Higher Tempo Press have already snagged one of the best January signings in history. Yes, @www.thehighertempopress.comfmanalysis will be bringing us his much awaited Rayo Vallecano save, and we have the first part here. Those of you that follow me on Twitter may already be aware […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? THE TRANSITION
Happy New Year and all that. I hope everyone did and got what they wanted over the festive period. For me, this Christmas was about the important stuff in life, and I don’t mean spending time with family or friends. No sir, I was focussed on how FK Obilic would fare in their first season […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? 2500/1?
Festive greetings and all that jazz. Now that is out of the way, let’s get down to the actually interesting stuff! Going into our first season in the fourth tier, I wouldn’t have had as at 2500/1. The media thought we were going to finish bottom, by a distance if you believed the odds supplied […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? MOVING FROM AMATEUR TO SEMI-PRO…
My word folks, a week has gone by since I last posted. For that, I apologise. It has been a mad week, moving from an apartment five minutes from the beach to a ranch (still only twenty minutes from the beach for anyone panicking on my behalf). Even with all the moving and launching of […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ?
Welcome back folks, and today I have a little treat for you – the full transcript of an interview in a Serbian newspaper to bring you up to date with the end of season fun and games! Did we finally get ourselves out of the 6th tier? Find out here…
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? MY HEAD HURTS
Welcome back dear readers to the story that never ends. Except I am sure this one will, at some point. That point may not be too far away to be honest, as my head is starting to hurt from banging it against the wall of Serbian lower league football.
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? IDENTITY CRISIS!
I’ve been in Serbia three and a half seasons now and my club is having an identity crisis. Who are we? What are we? What do we actually want to be?
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : REWRITING HISTORY IN FRANCE '98
Come on, admit it – who is already dreading Christmas Day? The inlaws, the parents, the rubbish that will be on TV?
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ?
These seasons are flying by. The mere twenty-eight league games and no cup probably helps. I am at the end of the third season already, and as predicted in the last round-up it went down to a final day shootout. This is very quickly becoming my very own “Guy Roux” challenge, as it took him […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? THE THIRD SEASON
Welcome back folks, and apologies for my lack of updates this week. A near death experience for my MacBook left me wondering if I was ever going to be able to play FM again….
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : INTERVIEWS
Champ Man & Me: Ally Bain In the build up to next week’s release of “The World According to CM9798” I will be posting some interviews undertaken by the book’s author, David Black. In the first one I am posting, David interviews our resident coach Ally Bain. These interviews first appeared on www.cm9798.co.uk – don’t forget, […]
Classic Championship Manager : New Book Coming Soon!
That’s right folks, our resident Champ Man writer David Black is getting himself into the book writing game. Next week will be launching “The Word According to Championship Manager 97/98”
Classic Championship Manager : And now for something completely different….
It’s 1997 and the English FA have found themselves penniless. Sky TV didn’t quite take off and it’s left the country’s football in tatters. Rich American benefactors have arrived to save the day – but there’s a catch. Every team’s ‘roster’ will be reset – every player is up for grabs. Each team is given […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? FINAL DAY FUN!
Welcome back folks, season two has come to an end. Back on FM15 I had some lovely final day glory, I recall the first three promotions with Clapton were sealed with results going our way on the last round of the season. I am sure at least one Jena promotion was clutched from the jaws […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ? StS © v2.0 IN ACTION!
Welcome back guys. I did say in the last post I wasn’t sure when I would be writing again and here I am less than 6 hours later scribbling stuff down. I will be doing some recruiting in this post (hopefully, if the buggers decide to join me) and I want to walk you through […]
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ?
I’m back folks and it is the end of the first season in Serbia. Why Serbia? Refresh your memory here and join me, hand-in-hand, as we walk through the daisy-filled fields of season one.
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ?
I have lots of ideas over the course of a day. Some are stunningly awesome. Some not so much. Some are downright ludicrous. Deciding to take over FK Obilić in the 7th tier of Serbian football is certainly one of them.
#FM16 : WHO THE FK ARE OBILIĆ?
It has been settled. In a move that has rendered my previous post completely pointless, I have settled on my club for the launch of FM16 in the morning.
#FM16 : Where shall I take #TheArgentineStrikerless on Friday?
With Friday’s full release just round the corner, I have the standard major decision to make. Where am I going to start a full, long-term save? Honved has been fun, I have enjoyed updating my “Searching the Stats v2.0” model. #TheArgentineStrikerless seems in fine fettle and I am confident I am match fit for the […]
#FM16 : SEARCHING THE STATS © V2.0 – THE GOALKEEPER
Folks, I inadvertently lied to you in the last “StS” post – I said I had completed the profiles. I had not, I forgot the goalkeeper. Thanks to Ed from The Deep Lying Podcast for asking me to complete the set.
#FM16 : SEARCHING THE STATS © V2.0 – COMPLETING THE PROFILES
Firstly, thank you to everyone that has taken time to read and comment on the “SEARCHING THE STATS © V2.0” series so far. As FM16 unfolds, this will be a rolling series with a model that I aim to continuously evolve as the year goes on. Having covered my recruitment of a central defender and […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : I HEAR THE KLIPP KLOPP OF TINY DORTMUND FEET PART TWO
Welcome back! In Part 1, I considered why Borussia Dortmund fell apart domestically in 1997/98 and came to the conclusion that I could do better – hypothetically speaking. I mean, I am using a management game that’s 18 years old.
#FM16 : #TheArgentineStrikerless – what is it?
Over the last couple of days I have been posting about my recruitment methodology that I am calling “Searching the Stats (c) v2.0” Today, I am going to tell you about the tactical set up that I am using – #TheArgentineStrikerless
#FM16 : Searching the Stats © v2.0 – Crikey, DM!
Yesterday I talked you through how I’m using my StS © v2.0 in FM16, looking at recruitment of a central defender. Today I will walk you through my successful recruitment of a defensive midfielder. Thrilling stuff for the stats geeks amongst us.
#FM16 : Searching the Stats © v2.0
With the FM16 BETA it is a two week pre-season for me to see what still works, what needs tweaking and what needs completely redoing.
#FM16 : A step in the right direction?
So the plan was to dabble with FM16 in BETA, get my head round it and then move back to FM15 and finish off the last season with Lazio. With only 12 games played Lazio were storming Serie A and looking like good shouts for the title, so I wanted to finish that career properly. […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : I HEAR THE KLIPP KLOPP OF TINY DORTMUND FEET
Jurgen Klopp’s recent arrival in England led to me using everybody’s favourite research website to find out a little bit more about the former Borussia Dortmund manager. The work he did at Dortmund was incredible, re-building a forlorn club into Champions once more. Re-building. Why had the Dortmund house fallen down in the first place? […]
#FM15 : My Greatest XI
With FM15 very much in injury time at the end of the game, my thoughts have flicked into reflective mode. FM15 has been the first Football Manager I have been able to play since the game moved from the Championship Manager name. By play, I mean really play. None of that play it for a […]
#FM15 : #BuildingBoca : Adios, Argentina!
“I may regret the way we ended, but I will never regret what we had.” ― Drake
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : JUST DON’T UPSET ROY…
Seeing as we’re in the midst of an International break, I’ve cracked CM01/02 out again. Inspired by Ireland’s heroic 1-0 win over world champions Germany, I’m going to try and guide the boys in green to World Cup 2002 – and then hopefully not fall out with Roy Keane. Qualification was a feat managed in […]
#FM15 : #BUILDINGBOCA : LOS INVINCIBLES
Step away from your Friday afternoon, make a coffee or a tea and catch up on the 2025 season…. In the end it was three matches too far for the Boca boys. 59 games into the 2025 season and we were still on for the absolute clean sweep, being Primera Division, Supacopa Argentina, Recopa Sudamericana, […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : THE GREAT ESCAPE, AGAIN?
Welcome to another great escape attempt. I enjoyed keeping Fulham up so much I’ve given it another go, but who will need my help this time? Let’s fire it up and see.
COACHING CORNER : DAMNING DEFINITION
When we think about what we use to evaluate or define a manager it could be conceived that coaches of yester year were marked against a completely different code than their modern day counter parts.
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : THE GREAT ESCAPE?
The great escape is a phrase thrown around every season it seems as various clubs find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table at Christmas only to miraculously turn it round in the later months. Whether it be a new manager, that lucky Christmas jumper or Nigel Pearson calling a press officer names, clubs […]
#FM15 #BuildingBoca : New Beginnings
“When the final whistle was blown, the Boca players sunk to their knees completely spent. The coaching staff all hugged and celebrated. Their manager, Chris Darwen, stood and took in the feeling around the stadium. Boca Juniors had just beaten Corinthians of Brazil 11-2 on aggregate in the Copa Sudamericana Final. It completed a historic […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DECADE MAKES (PART TWO)
Welcome back to our trip to CM4 Boulevard. If you missed part 1, I was delighted to find a 2d pitch but was underwhelmed by the lack of anything else new. By the end, I was ready to claw my eyes out. Be that as it may, you can review part 1 HERE. If you’ve […]
FM15 : BEATING BRIAN : THE END
Today is the final Beating Brian update – the more astute of you will note that it is ending one episode early! Why is that, at least one of you might ask? Well, today you will learn that I either crashed and burned in ninth season meaning I could not beat the great man or […]
CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER : WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DECADE MAKES…
As the Premier League has slipped back into its unmistakable stride, we’ve reached a pivotal time in our journey through Championship Manager history. Having started way back with the first version of the game covering 1993, I’d like to bring you 10 years on from that to the Championship Manager 4 series. The series was […]
FM15 : BEATING BRIAN : LIFT IT, AND LIFT IT HIGH!
As the game entered injury time, Wolves fans could have been forgiven for casting their mind back two seasons. It was deep into injury time in the 2020 Champions League Final that Bayern Munich broke the golden hearts of Wolverhampton Wanderers by stealing a 2-1 win, Lewandowski scoring with the last header of the game. […]
COACHING CORNER : THE IDENTITY TRAP
It’s at this time of year that fans are whipped into frenzy about the start of a new season. In what felt like a heartbeat ago we were discussing the Champions League final and pouring over the season that had just past, yet in the blink of an eye the game re-incarnates & we start […]
FM15 : BEATING BRIAN : WILL HISTORY BE MADE?
In eleven days time, Old Trafford will be a mixture of gold and white as Wolverhampton Wanderers and Valencia head to Manchester for the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final, writes James Dunphy of The Telegraph.
REAL LIFE : THERE IS MORE TO CORBY THAN THE TROUSER PRESS…
AFC Corby Shamrock Reserve Team Assistant Manager, Callum Stewart, is back to tell us more about how pre-season as the season draws near…