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COYW! Season 1, December
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. December. Driving into the training ground this morning and the first Christmas song is played on the radio. Wham’s Last Xmas, blaring out of my car as […]
Ceadir Lungan protocols: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 17
As I settle myself into the chair at my desk for the first time as manager of FC Saxan, I notice that there are some memos in the in-tray. The first informs me that 21-year-old Artiom Puntus will be arriving on loan, at no cost to ourselves, from Sheriff. This requires my first decision of […]
Tempo Experiments #007: New Boys At The Bridge
Now that Conte has threatened to leave enough times, Chelsea look set to start their summer transfer business. But what would happen on FM17 if they went ahead and signed the top six players they are linked to in the real world? Watch the video and find out! Don’t forget to like and subscribe. It […]
Searching The Stats 3.10
Episode 10 – The Season! Episode 1 – Introduction and full-backs Episode 2 – Centre-backs Episode 3 – BWM + B2B Midfielders Episode 4 – CM (Su) Episode 5 – AP (Su) Episode 6 – AP (ATT) Episode 7 – ST Episode 8 – GK Episode 9 – Transfer Negotiations So, we’ve finally got our […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part IV: My lions might be learning how to roar?
Welcome back to Cameroon where I, well my alter-ego Mark Monroe (I know, I don’t know why I did that either), is having a whale of a time. Or, to be more Cameroon like, a lion of a time. No, that really doesn’t work. Catch up on all of the series so far here We […]
The Young Lions Roar: A Youth Intake Guide
I love youth intake day, but I think everyone else does too. How do you make a successful youth intake day though? Well, you could reload and reload until you get some good players in your own youth candidates squad. If that is your style, though, that’s fine. I do not care. I make the […]
Leaving Jock Stein behind: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 16
My meeting with Eugeniu Merciu, the chairman, on my first morning at FC Saxan was a perfunctory affair. No doubt on weekdays Merciu’s agricultural machinery concern has greater claim on his time. He seemed keen to palm me off on Ivan Burduniuc, the assistant manager, as soon as possible. Burduniuc was eager to please. Would […]
Aguero v Sanchez: Player Swap
One of the more surprising pieces of transfer gossip circling this week was the supposed swap deal which would see Alexis Sanchez switch places with fellow South American forward Sergio Aguero. The likelihood of two of the league’s outstanding players switching places is low and not something I can see happening but let’s take a […]
The Data Analyst: A Potential Difference Maker
Believe or not, not everyone on The Higher Tempo is actually any good at the game. Take me for example. My save over on my own blog has spanned five seasons – it took me three just to get promoted and I got instantly relegated then couldn’t bounce right back up. During that time, I’ve […]
The Legend of Roger Milla: Part III
It turns out that the first seven games of the MTN Elite II have been rather good to us. Considering Renaissance and Fovu Club are the clear favourites for the title, I am very pleased we have made such a good start – our one single defeat being on the opening day to Fovu. The […]
The man in the grey suit: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 15
To take up my position as manager of FC Saxan I decided to fly from the UK to Istanbul, catch a ferry to Giurgiulesti (a Moldovan port on the Danube) and then catch the train. Though neither the quickest route nor the cheapest, it struck me as the most adventurous and therefore – since I […]
Banished To Bromley Part 9: Frustrating Times
After a 2 week break, which saw Lee Minshull and Cemal Ramadan score for the under 23’s, our next game came against 5th placed Boreham Wood who are 2 points ahead of us. Unfortunately the 2 week break didn’t allow us to bounce back as, much like the last game against North Ferribly chances were […]
The Legend of Roger Milla: Part II
I’m starting to like it in Cameroon. It’s a new challenge, players I don’t know mixed with some half decent looking newgens. I write today having reached the end of preseason and it’s a few days until our first MTN Elite II match against the league favourites, Fovu Club. What have I achieved so far? […]
Lingua Franca: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 14
We returned to the UK for a few weeks to get our affairs in order. When you’ve spent the last few decades tucked away in rural Cambridgeshire, emigrating is a big thing. I decided I didn’t want to appear the Little Englander, so I’d make a start on learning the language. That will surprise them, […]
The Land Down Under VI
G’day, mate! I have a quick question for you Central Coast Mariners supporters. How many of you loyal fans threw five dollars at the team at the start of the season not expecting your bookie to be providing a return? With 1000-1 odds, there’s a bit of money to be made if we are successful, […]
#Tempo10 Episode 5: 3 tips on how to do a great FM17 experiment…
Hello listeners (well at least we hope you go on to listen to it). We are back with another Tempo10 podcast and this time I was delighted to spend some time talking to Connor Steer who has been spending a lot of time doing some cool experiments on FM17. It was a great chat and […]
Rivalità Tra Fratelli, Episode 12
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 […]
What would Theotokos say? Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 13
Late Sunday morning, my wife, Karen, and I met Eugeniu Merciu, Chairman of FC Saxan, on the steps of the picturesque church of Theotokos of Kazan. We have had a little time to explore the city (as the town refers to itself) before our meeting. We’d hoped that a town with a population of under […]
Leiria boss relieved to see the transfer window close
Portuguese second division sides have always been a place for young talent to gain vital game time before making the step up to higher leagues. Leiria’s current crop of young players brought together in the summer had excelled in the early stages of the season and were challenging for promotion. It is now February however […]
An Alternative Guide to Alternative Leagues: Liga MX
We move up further north in the Americas as I introduce you to Mexican football and the Liga MX in Football Manager. The Liga MX is a very competitive league with a lot more resources than South America. The league has 18 teams and is also divided into two parts. The eight best teams from […]
The Legend of Roger Milla: Part I
Dear readers. I deliberated massively about whether committing this journey to paper, and I have decided that I shall. The last week has been an incredibly testing time since our best buddy, Ronnie Dog Austin, passed away suddenly last Saturday night. For those of you that have seen my brief moment in FM history – […]
The Higher Tempo Press Goals of the Week: June 19th 2017
Another week and eight more beauties for you to enjoy. Some delightful #FM17 goals banged in from all over the shop, so have a watch and vote for your favourite below. Don’t forget to enter next week as the winner of the June Goal of the Month competition wins some FREE merchandise from Sports Interactive!
The Land Down Under V
G’day, mate! We’ve returned once again to the Central Coast and the Mariners for another update. As I said in the previous post it was a toss-up on whether or not I’d do transfers at the end of January or an update nearer to the end of the season first. I’ve opted for the former. […]
What if all the transfer gossip actually happened?
Transfer gossip is as much part of football now as press conferences, post match analysis or any other media produced article. Most of the time it is there to sell season tickets, sell newspapers or even to help renegotiate a players contract. But what if everything they said came true? I have taken one days […]
Tempo Experiments #006: Arsenal Transfer Targets
Just imagine for a moment that there is a world where targets on Arsene Wenger’s little list actually sign for Arsenal. I know, crazy right? Well we thought we’d have a look at that little fantasy land and have put four of the top French targets at Arsenal to see what happens – I mean, […]
Beyond the fruit salad: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 12
Scene: pizza restaurant, Ceadir Lunga, Moldova. Time: Saturday evening, Spring, following the final match of the Moldovan National Division season. Dramatis personae: The host: Eugeniu Merciu, Chairman of FC Saxan (also the founder of a successful agricultural machinery business) The guests: Anthony Haynes and Karen Haynes, directors of an engineering consultancy MERCIU: It seems to […]
Searching The Stats 3.9
Episode 9 – The Takeover + Transfers Episode 1 – Introduction and full-backs Episode 2 – Centre-backs Episode 3 – BWM + B2B Midfielders Episode 4 – CM (Su) Episode 5 – AP (Su) Episode 6 – AP (ATT) Episode 7 – Goalkeeper I said right at the beginning of the series that the team […]
Southampton’s Black Box: Part 4
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 […]
The Young Lions Roar: The Main Cast
Check my profile here on The Higher Tempo Press to read previous parts of The Young Lions Roar We should meet the main characters, and there are plenty of familiar faces in the squad. I won’t go through all 27 players and many staff, but only those that will play a key role in our immediate […]
Anticipation made methodical: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 11
‘So,’ says our host, Chairman of FC Saxan, ‘I challenged you to think how we could approach the problem of football management as an engineer. And you have suggested that we should approach football as a systems engineer would. And that we should develop protocols, the way that, say, a safety engineer might. Both good […]
Eibar: An Analytics Story Part 10 – Season One – Check
Hey, Eibar is back. Last time we met, there were just four games of the season to go so we are going to cover the end of the season now, looking at some of the best performers and at what lies ahead for the crew at Eibar. Results A 2-0 win at home against Valencia […]
The Spin-Off Story: Don’t Hollerbach At Me
Last time out – we took charge in Berlin, I shamelessly plugged the original series this is based on (read it) and I found out that I then lost the world’s greatest free agent. Manuel Streker is an arse… We also confirmed the signing of Shaqir Tafa whom I know very well from Salernitana and released some […]
The Moldovan protocols: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 10
‘Protocols.’ Our host, at what I have to say is a rather superior pizza restaurant in Ceadir Lunga, Moldova, looks curious when I say this. ‘In our work,’ I explain, ‘we find that a frequent source of sub-optimal performance is that people try to work out – or remember — how to do something at […]
Tempo Player Analysis: Ajax – The School of the Future
Ajax Amsterdam, along with AS Monaco, have been the darlings of the European season as they made it all the way to the Europa League final playing a talented bunch of kids grown in-house at their Academy, De Toekomst. But who are the best prospects currently at Ajax? Following on from Lee Scott’s blog post, […]
Do you want to win some free Football Manager merchandise?
Of course you do! How? How, you ask… It is very simple. The 8 best voted goals from our June Goal of the Week competitions will be put into the end of month Super Competition. And, the winning goal gets to choose ANY piece of FM merchandise available from the official SI shop, courtesy of […]
Five players to watch at the Euro U21 Championship
The 2017 European U21 Championships are due to kick off this week with Poland as the hosts. As with every iteration of this tournament over the course of the last two decades, every squad involved is littered with potential first team players with the prize of graduation to the senior squads looming on the horizon. […]
The Trophy Wife #4
After an incredibly successful season, I release the squad on holiday. Most of the players take advantage of the warm weather offered abroad, but Marouane Fellaini, fresh from his loan spell at Villareal, decides to hit the United gym in an effort to win back his place in the side. After two weeks of massaging […]
Banished To Bromley: Part 8 Time For Change
Back to Vanarama National League football and we’re faced with a trip to Xrexham to try out the new 4-1-2-3 formation out for a full 90 minutes in a game where Xrexham were favourites sitting at the top of the table. Here was the team I decided to go with to experiment this new tactic, […]
Perhaps not: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 9
‘Stakeholder management.’ Our host, the chairman of FC Saxan, looks quizzically at my wife, Karen. She has just volunteered this idea as a contribution to our conversation on how we can approach football management as an engineering project. ‘When you build a construction project – a housing development, say, or a transport system – it […]
The Land Down Under IV
G’day, mate! Welcome back to Gosford, New South Wales and the Central Coast Mariners! I tried my best to think up some creative storytelling like some of the others do, but alas, I am not as great of a writer as they are. Are you ready to check up on our progress in the Australian […]
Systematic management? Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 8
I’m sitting in a pizza restaurant in Ceadir Lunga, down in the south of Moldova, and I have just told the chairman of FC Saxan what he evidently wants to hear, namely that football management can be engineered, the way that many complex things can. And now, since he is footing the bill, he has […]
Rivalità Tra Fratelli, Episode 11
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 […]
Leiria recover from bad start to fly up the league
A run of nine league wins in 11 matches has moved Leiria into contention for promotion from the second league for the first time since 2012. After much change in personnel over the summer the side had stuggled to settle and sat in the relegation zone after four games. A very good run of form […]
An Alternative Guide to Alternative Leagues: Chilean Primera División
Episode 3: Chile Campeonato Scotiabank The Campeonato Scotiabank, as the league is officially called, holds 16 teams. The league also has the two tournaments: The Apertura and the Clausura. Every team plays each other once, 15 games in both tournaments. There are 8 spots for continental football, 4 for the Copa Libertadores and 4 for […]
Tempo #FM17 Goal of the Week: June 17th 2017
Welcome back goal fans – we have 8 absolute thunderbastards for your viewing pleasure today. Every so often you get a group of goals that would grace a goal of the season competition, let alone a goal of the week, and this is that group. Watch the video and then vote for your favourite goal […]
Southampton’s Black Box: Part 3
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, […]
The Young Lions Roar – Planning the Future
Starting a new save induces a certain buzz. The excitement that anything could happen. Will I succeed or fail? I find particular joy in deciding on my next save and then planning for it. This is a guide to planning for your club/save, and an announcement that I will actually start a save right here […]
How do England’s U20 World Cup winners develop? Part 2
In the second part of our look into the future careers of the England U20 World Cup winning side, we will look at the remaining players. From the first part (https://www.thehighertempopress.com/2017/06/englands-u20-world-cup-winners-develop/) we saw that none had featured for the England senior side but some had gone on to have successful International careers elsewhere. At club […]
How to engineer football management? Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 7
It turns out that the question Mr Merciu, the Chairman of FC Saxan Ceadir Lunga (Moldova), has just asked – ‘Football management – is it not possible to engineer it?’ – is not a rhetorical one. He is looking at me, awaiting an answer. Tempting though the pizza that has just arrived – capricioasa (sheep’s […]
Tempo Experiments #005: Marcelino Makeover
Let’s be honest, Valencia haven’t really been that good for a while, have they? Heavily in debt, not-very-good players on massive contracts and an owner that appears to be losing interest in the whole thing. And Gary Neville, well Gary Neville. So what’s going to happen now Marcelino has taken over. I know, why don’t […]