The Higher Tempo Press
Latest Posts
#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 […]
#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 […]