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The Legend of Roger Milla Part XIX: The Lions start to roar…
As I announced, exclusively, yesterday I (sorry, Mark Monroe) is the new manager of Cameroon. Today I will let you know how the first matches in charge of my adopted country went as we had a B team match and a full match against Gambia B and Senegal respectively. But first I really want to […]
The Land Down Under XI
G’day, mate! Welcome back to The Land Down Under! The end of the season is upon us, so you know what that means? It’s time to wrap up what we started this season before I take off to spend some of that AU$425k I’ve earned these last two seasons so that I can go watch […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XVIII: What do you do when the country calls?
Things move fast in football, we know this. One day you are in a job, the next day you are not. Then sometimes, you get a job offer completely out of the blue. And that’s what my adopted homeland did to me. After much deliberation, and some research into what I had available to me […]
The Vagabonds: Part 3
Firstly, allow me to apologise for the extreme tardiness of this post. A combination of festivals and summer colds have kept me in various states of knackered so I’ve been a bit lax with FM. Updates should resume at a regular tick from here. So, onto part three! It’s indicative, I feel, of my desire […]
1.10 Boeren, Boeren PSV – Eredivisie Match 7: PSV v FC Utrecht
Pre-Match A return to domestic football at home to FC Utrecht. The odds, as ever, are in our favour with prices of 4/6. Menno Koch and Joshua Brenet remain out for PSV. Marco van Ginkel is on his return to training but will be doubtful to be fit to play yet. Utrecht’s Sean Klaiber is […]
10 Things You Learn From Being Sacked in Football Manager
So, you’ve probably gathered by the title of this piece that I didn’t have the success of a save with Bromley as I would’ve liked. If you haven’t read about my Bromley save it was a very topsy tervy journey that led to me getting let go. But getting let go isn’t that bad as […]
Specification for Assistant Manager: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 27
Normally I like members of staff if possible to have high attributes for (a) determination, (b) discipline, and (c) motivation. Here, however, I’m less worried about those things for the simple reason that I believe that I’m strong on each of those myself. Motivation I’ll not worry about – nice to have, but I can […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XVII: Didn’t want to win the cup anyway…
Didn’t want to win the cup anyway. Both legs against Fovu Club ended 0-0 and we lost on penalties, something like 10-9. Gutted. Still, we only had to score one sodding goal and we failed to do that. So that is the 2018 season over, and it wasn’t too bad at all. I’ve decided to […]
Podcast: Tempo10 Episode 7 with @offthepitchfm
Welcome back listener(s). Today we bring a lovely little treat, by way of a chat with @offthepitchfm talking about his Lions save. Definitely worth a listen as he goes into quite a bit of detail as to why he has chosen this journey. Enjoy! Oh, and like it, subscribe etc etc etc. You know the […]
The Young Lions Roar – 2016/17 Review
I like to think of myself as the curator of England’s future in this save. I am managing tomorrow’s England stars as The Lions boss, and today’s current stars as England gaffer. Thanks to my position, I am playing God with the future of the England National Team. But, this puts me under the scrutiny […]
1.9 Boeren, Boeren PSV – Champions League Match 1: PSV v Celtic
Pre-Match PSV are the slight favourites at odds of 6/4 as the Scottish Champions come to town. Menno Koch, Joshua Brenet and Marco van Ginkel remain out for PSV. Christian Gamboa, James Forrest and Stuart Armstrong are injured for Celtic and Scott Brown misses out through suspension. Moussa Dembele is the obvious dangerman for the […]
Banished To Bromley Part 13: Time for change
Now into March and if you read part 12 what you’d know is a crucial month for me now, after other systems failing to work I’ve gone for a 4-4-1-1 to line up against Boreham Wood who sit in 11th, hopefully something goes right. Thankfully Sergio Torres’ emergence back into the starting 11 was accompanied […]
The problem of the assistant manager: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 26
In my judgement, FC Saxan’s incumbent assistant manager, Ivan Burduniuc, is pretty hopeless. Apparently he’s an adaptable chap. But being prepared to move from one thing to another isn’t much good if there’s nothing you’re any good at. I decide that he can apply his adaptability to coping with redundancy. Given my approach to other […]
1.8 Boeren, Boeren PSV – Eredivisie Match 6: Willem II v PSV
Pre-Match The bookmakers have made PSV 4/6 favourites for this afternoon’s clash, having obviously missed our previous outing. The hosts are without midfielder Thom Haye (sports hernia) and Anouar Kali is a doubt as he continues his recovery from a slipped disc. PSV will miss Menno Koch, Joshua Brenet, Hidde Jurus and Marco van Ginkel […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XVI: Dogs, cars and title races…
Alright folks? Sorry there was no update from me yesterday, time got away from me. Having picked up three new youth prospects (puppies) at the weekend we needed a new team coach so that was collected today. I have high hopes for the big lad, Buddy. He’s a bit clumsy right now, but I think […]
A Guide to the Head of Youth Development
Youth Intake day is one of the most exciting days in football manager. We look forward to it every season, hoping for that next superstar. There is not a lot more satisfying than seeing your youngster turn into a world class player. Your youth and training facilities are obviously very important if you want to […]
Our protocol for acquiring a goalkeeping coach: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 25
Here is the protocol that I use, as manager of FC Saxan, for acquiring a goalkeeping coach. Check the personality. If unsatisfactory (e.g. ‘unsporting’), abort. Check whether the goalkeeper-coaching attribute meets the threshold for the club? If yes, shortlist, If not, abort. Rank the shortlisted coaches initially on the basis of their goalkeeper-coaching attribute. Then […]
Slack FC: Season 1 – March to May 2017
Alright guys and girls! The first season of Slack FC – a team based on some of the FM Slack community members (see @fmsamo on twitter for more details) – has come to an end. When I left you last time (and that was a long time ago, my apologies), quite a few of Heskey’s […]
1.7 Boeren, Boeren PSV – Eredivisie Match 5: Roda JC v PSV
Our first round of international call ups and 11 of our first team squad have received a call up to join their respective international squads – first team players indicated by red underline. We also were notified of our Champions League group – a tough draw for us. Pre-Match Despite being away from home PSV […]
Banished To Bromley Part 12: More of the same
So, with a week gone the squad hopefully have had enough time to adapt to the new 3-1-4-2 formation, well it’s time to see against Southport. Unfortunately though we weren’t able to turn our form around as we lost 1-0. On the ball we seemed to be in control more than we have recently but […]
Our protocol for acquiring a fitness coach: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 24
Here is the protocol that I use, as manager of FC Saxan, for acquiring a fitness coach. Check the personality. If unsatisfactory (e.g. ‘unsporting’), abort. Check whether the fitness-coaching attribute meets the threshold for the club? If yes, shortlist, If not, abort. Rank the shortlisted coaches initially on the basis of their fitness-coaching attribute. Then […]
The Land Down Under X
G’day, mate! Welcome back to the Land Down Under and Gosford, NSW. When I last left off in the series, I was going over our run during the first half of the season and promised I’d be back to talk about our first ever Champions League run, which is underway as we speak. In February […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XV: We broke the curse, I repeat we broke the curse!
Remember those nights where we always lost the final game 1-0? Those days are gone baby, they are gone! Yes, that particular curse has been lifted so high it looks like a little balloon floating away in the sky. For last night, my friends, we….. Drew the last game of the night 0-0. Woop! And […]
1.6 Boeren, Boeren PSV – Eredivisie Match 4: PSV v SC Heerenveen
Pre-Match On the back of that fantastic victory over Feyenoord, PSV are heavy favourites for the upcoming home tie against Heerenveen. The bookies are quoting odds of 1/4 for the Eindhoven side. Van Ginkel and Locadia remain on the injured list for PSV, joined by defender Nicolas Isimat-Mirin (abdominal strain). Siem de Jong is fit […]
Rivalità Tra Fratelli, Episode 14
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 […]
Six into five doesn’t go: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 23
The memo from the board on the staffing allocation specifies that we’re allowed an assistant manager and three coaches. With me that makes five. Between us, the backroom team will have to cover six coaching functions, namely fitness, goalkeeping, defending, attacking, ball control, and shooting. Six into five doesn’t go, so at least one person […]
The Tempo Goal of the Month Competition is Open and we need a Voting Panel!
Right then guys! Following the success of June’s Goal of the Week competition we have decided to move the competition to MONTHLY and offer a cool prize for the winning goal. So – what this means is you have ONE WHOLE MONTH to get your goals over to us at Tempo Towers where our Voting […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XIV: Why do we always lose the last game of the night 1-0?
That is a genuine question. The last three nights, no matter what has gone in the previous matches, we have lost the last one of the night 1-0. It’s a tad frustrating. Especially last night. It brought to an end a superb ten match unbeaten run, including six wins and four clean sheets. That run […]
Stong start for Leiria as transfer window finally shuts
Three wins from the first four games leave Leiria in a promotion place. The side, which just missed out on promotion last season had a long break from the game over the summer to help get over last seasons disappointment but look to have returned stronger for it. Their manager, who went off the radar […]
To Dare is To Do #31
FM17 Tottenham Hotspur FC To Dare Is To Do | #31 Title Decider | Let’s Play Football Manager 2017 Welcome to a Football Manager series on my channel, that’s right its Tottenham Hotspur. Today we take on Southampton in our final match of the season and it all comes down to this! if Manchester United […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XIII: You can probably skip this one…
Well, this feels a little bit familiar. Last night’s session ended in the same fashion as the night before, a grotty 1-0 defeat in a game we should have won. OK, this time it was to the current league champions Coton Sports, but we still should and could have got something out of the game. […]
The Land Down Under IX
G’day, mate! Welcome back to New South Wales! We’re well sunk into our second season in charge of the Central Coast Mariners. There wasn’t much I could think of worth sharing during the first half of the season. We’re just running through the same motions as last year, so I opted to save the more […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XII: I think we just fired out of a Canon Yaounde…
I shall tell you this for nothing. Having lost to Canon Yaounde late in the last season, a defeat that cost us (it turned out) a place in Africa, I was looking forward to facing them in the first game of the 2018 season. A few things to remember about Tonnerre KC… We are paying […]
Disciples of the Rafalution: A Cup Tie Story
The early rounds of the domestic cup competitions can often be an early season opportunity to build up additional fitness levels, match sharpness, or rotate a squad and allow fringe players the opportunity the stake a claim for themselves. In my current season in FM Touch 2017, I haven’t had such luck with a domestic […]
1.5 Boeren, Boeren PSV – Eredivisie Match 3: PSV v Feyenoord
Pre-Match The pre-match odds give us the slight edge as we’re down as evens favourite. The draw and Feyenoord are both priced at 11/5. Dirk Kuyt is the key player picked out in our scouting report, however he seems to draw a lot of fouls – we’ll mark him tightly and close him down but […]
Southampton’s Black Box: Part 5
Welcome back to ‘Southampton’s Black Box’: a story focused on the organised success of the club known for their over-achievement. As the title implies, the save will be highlighting and representing the recruitment strategy by Southampton. I will be compiling a large database of players in the game to assist me in my FM17 successes, as well […]
Negotiating staff contracts: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 22
My approach to negotiating staff contracts at FC Saxan is as follows. The wage demanded by the candidate is typically well above the maximum that Saxan, as a small club, permits. I therefore tend to offer the maximum allowed straightaway. In Moldova, some staff work on part-time contracts. It can be easy not to notice […]
Tempo Tactics: Recreating Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid
“We must not let ourselves get driven off course, no matter what happens we must stick to our natural game.” Zinedine Zidane Plaudits given to Zinedine Zidane focus on his personal skills – his ego management if you will – and that’s not just the players we’re talking about. This club in particular has many […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XI: We’re ready, are you ready?
So, as soon as I have committed all this to paper I will press “match preview” on the first game of the 2018 season, Mark Monroe’s third term in charge of Roger Milla’s first love, Tonnerre KC. We are playing our city rivals and the team that ended the incredibly tiny chance of us finishing […]
Eibar: An Analytics Story Part 11 – Season Two starts
Heyho, Eibar is back again. Apologies for the recent lack in updates but I hope I can make up for this with some transfer things I’ve got prepared for you. In case you forgot or you haven’t read the latest update, we managed to finish in 4th, securing Champions League football for the first time […]
1.4 Boeren, Boeren PSV – Eredivisie Match 2: PSV v Go Ahead Eagles
Pre-Match PSV are the heavy favourties with odds of 1/6 as they host Go Ahead Eagles at the Phillips Stadion in Eindhoven. Our scouting report picks out Elvis Manu as someone to watch – the Ghanaian winger drew 5 fouls from their opponents in the last game. We’ll avoid tackling hard on this one. Marcel […]
Banished To Bromley Part 11: A Nightmare on Hayes Lane
Moving into the New Year there was some good news to report as I managed to tie down Thomas O’Connor for another 2 years after he’d picked up 4 goals and 4 assists this season. There was also a New Year’s Day fixture on the cards as we tried to redeem ourselves against Sutton United […]
Our protocol for acquiring physios: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 21
Here is the protocol that I use, as manager of FC Saxan, for acquiring physios. Check the personality. If unsatisfactory (e.g. ‘unsporting’), abort. Check whether the physiotherapy attribute meets the threshold for the club? If yes, shortlist, If not, abort. Rank the shortlisted physios initially on the basis of their physiotherapy attribute. Then consider whether […]
Tempo Experiments #008: Does Game Time Affect Player Development?
Almost every FM17 save will include an element of youth development. Most manager want to know how they can get just little bit more out of one of their youth players. Is it tutoring? Is it training? Is it luck? Well, @offthepitchfm wrote a superb article looking at whether game time actually affects player development […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part X: It feels weird being gutted at finishing 7th…
I certainly did not expect to be saying that come the final whistle of our final league game. 279 people saw us beat the already relegated champions of the previous season, Lion Blessé. We won the game 2-0, meaning we ended our first season in the MTN Elite I in an incredible 7th place. Incredible […]
1.3 Boeren, Boeren PSV – Eredivisie Match 1: Sparta Rotterdam v PSV
Pre-Match PSV travel to newly promoted side Sparta in the season opener. PSV are the odds on favourites at 4/6, as expected. Sparta’s Martin Pusic is doubtful as he continues his recovery from a broken toe. PSV’s injury tables remain occupied by Van Ginkel (strained knee ligaments), Locadia (shin splints) and Siem de Jong (pulled […]
The Spin-Off Story: Crash Dump City
We’re back in Berlin after last week’s detour into the realms of FM17 Guides. If you missed the last part of our spin-off adventure – Gwen Stefani title puns and all – then click here. Last time I left you we’d done some transfer business, smashed some semi-pro side in the Cup and had a […]
More important matters: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 20
My first decision as manager of FC Saxan has been to terminate the incoming loan of striker Artiom Puntus. That decision made, I can now proceed to more important matters. The club has no physio, but a memo in my in-tray informs me that I can appoint a Head Physio and one other. I won’t […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part IX: I see away goals count in Africa…
Yeah, how do you like them apples, eh? Since we last spoke yesterday, that unbeaten run has gone on and on and on. Relegation thoughts have been replaced with cheeky “we couldn’t sneak into the top four, could we?” Well, of course we can’t but we can dream. We can certainly dream. There is a […]
The Set Pieces: 3 rules to make the most of the hidden weapon of Football Manager
Imagine, you became a manager of the small amateur club with limited financial options, you have only one coach and part-time physio and your players train after their shifts at work. You hope they will play with your own philosophy, with your favourite formation but there is not enough time to learn them everything. Imagine, […]