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habeasdorkus posted:You are correct! I was also misspelling Stalybridge. I'm just glad that these days I know how to pronounce Wigan. I always used to call it Why-gan. Living next to Wigan, it always makes me chuckle when people do this 
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Nov 24, 2013 16:17
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Chapter the Ninth: All day err' day. December 31, 2013-January 18, 2014 I am a big fan of I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), I think that makes great sense as the fan's song. It's also better than using my favorite song to sing at karaoke, Wannabe by the Spice Girls. We're going to need that type of stamina, too, as we're about to embark on fixture congestion hell. From January 4th through January 18th we have 7 games. I'm going to need to call up players from the youth squad and to temporarily suspend training in order to keep the team fit through the ordeal. I'm also going to be looking for another fullback and a replacement striker for the injured Alex Hester.  To start, I order the scouts to bring back fresh reports on guys they've already found in the past. That's primarily so that I'm not relying upon one scout report when bringing in a new player, and also to make sure that older scout reports are updated and the player is compared against my current squad rather than the empty roster we had for most of the first month. My scouts can process 19 reports a day, so this will take until the next week.  The board gives us more money, which we don't need. At least it makes them happy that I have the wage budget so much smaller than they've permitted. I was asked about our set-pieces, and was all prepared to make an awful MSPaint version of them since the game doesn't take screen shots when you're in the set-piece design wizard. Then I realized that I could just take screen shots the old fashioned way via prtscrn, and was somewhat disappointed I didn't get to show off my lack of artistic talent.  These are the tactics for corner kicks. Duchamps and Holgrove are our usual takers. I've ordered them to try and deliver the ball to the “Near Post” as none of my players are particularly good at corners and I don't want them trying long corners to the far post when they don't have the skill to do so accurately. When Holgrove takes the corner it means we only have two back to protect against a long ball, and when Duchamps is the taker then we're down one more on attack. Ideally you want to leave at least 3 players with orders to either “stay back” or “stay back if necessary.” This will prevent the other team from being able to launch easy counter attacks against you. I generally use my fullbacks for this job, they tend to have good defensive attributes while being fast enough to keep up with opposing attackers. In this case, though, one of our main fullbacks is a very good header, so he's up to attack. My central defenders tend to be great big stropping lads who can also jump and head the ball, so I much prefer them to be on the attack- which is how a centerback like McLaren is tied for 3rd in goals scored for the team. I have one attacking each post, which hopefully makes them harder to mark. The right fullback's instruction is to sit by the near post and try to head the ball over to the centerback crashing in on the far post or the striker attacking the ball from deep. The second striker directly challenges the keeper for the ball, you need someone with very good heading and jumping stats for this job. One midfielder goes forward to attack, while the other lurks outside the area for rebounds to either shoot or set up another attack on goal. It's worked far better than it has any right to, which I can only guess is because the defenses at this level can't handle so many moving pieces and someone is likely to get open. I generally do well on corners, but not 7 goals in 20 games well.  Our defense against corners is bog standard. I made pretty minimal changes to the default. Our fullbacks stand on the posts to protect any opponent from sneaking close, our centerbacks mark the tallest opponents, our midfielders try to assist by clogging the box, while one of our strikers waits on the edge of the area to clear anything that bounces to them or, better yet, get the ball up to our other striker who stays forward to start a counter attack.  We haven't done as well off free kicks, in part because I'm not as good at designing a decent free kick set piece and in part because players at this level don't have the technical skills to be a threat from them. They're set for long, which means our takers will try for the goal in most cases when the ball is in the opponent's half, and again the central defenders are brought up to attack. I don't have anyone set to disrupt the opposition wall, which I probably should change now that I look at it again.  A small wall and a whole lot of man marking. We've only given up one goal with this tactic, and that was on an indirect free kick, so it's been working so far. We may have to change this up as the opposition improves.  My orders for Left and Right throw-ins are mirror images of each other. One central midfielder and a fullback give the thrower short options in case everyone is well marked. A striker stands by the near post while the other striker and winger go forward and attack. The other winger aims to pick up any short clearances by the defense to restart the attack, while the defensive minded central midfielder and the centerbacks stay back in case the throw gets picked off. Lastly, the game doesn't always rigidly adhere to these designs. If you have a throw-in parallel to your opponent's penalty box, your centerbacks may come up to join the attack. Similarly, if the free-kick is from the middle of the field you won't see the taker trying to score from 50 meters out even if you have it set for long. And late in games if your tactics are set aggressively enough you can find your keeper joining the attack on corner kicks. Don't worry about having to micromanage this aspect of the game, save that for haggling your new signing down to the bottom dollar he's willing to join you for.  Whenever someone comes down with the flu I send them home. I'm not risking my entire team barfing on the sidelines just to shave a couple days off of the recovery time.   Karim Amrani comes in on a free transfer to increase our depth at offensive midfielder. He's got a decent shot at being with us for a few years if he can reach his full talent. Amrani is also the first player we've signed who hails from outside of the UK or Ireland, the Moroccan previously played for Nottingham Forest's reserve side. vs. Harrogate, January 4, 2014 Skrill North .png)  Harrogate is lying in 16th place, so this seems like it should be a good start to our new year. Naturally that means it isn't, as an own goal by Anth Hotte keeps us level at the break and we allow what turns out to be the winning goal in the 66th minute. It's our first loss of the year, and the team was uninspiring for almost the entire game. That does not bode well for the coming gauntlet. Tackleford City 1-2 Harrogate   Callum Williams doubles the number of Callums we have on payroll, and will play as a target man alongside Oriogun, Robinson, and Rosetti. He comes in for free from Bournemouth, and passed up offers from League Two side Rochdale and Skrill Premier team Gateshead to join us. This still leaves us needing to improve the fullback position, we lost our last game largely because of mistakes that Edwards, Hotte, and Stamp made.   At the press conference/exclusive interview with the Non-League player introducing Williams I'm asked to comment about Bournemouth using a Director of Football. The only reason I hire Directors of Football is so that they can sell off youth and backup players I can't be bothered to make deals for on my own. Otherwise they end up signing players I don't need and selling players I was grooming for the future. This will make it harder to buy any players from Bournemouth, but it's more fun to talk poo poo about a team that's better than you by an order of magnitude. At North Ferriby, January 8, 2014 Skrill North .png)  We lose again to another bottom of the table team. This is getting worrisome, bad results can have a cumulative effect, and we don't have time right now to get out of our current funk merely by waiting it out. Like the Harrogate game, we took an early lead only to see our opponents score just before the half and then beat us late in the game. Some of the players, Rosetti in particular, looked desultory and disinterested on the field. We're still in second place, but have fallen a crazy 14 points behind Altrincham and Stalybridge is hot on our heels for second place. Oh, and we play Stalybridge on their home turf in 4 days. North Ferriby 2-1 Tackleford City   Well this is meta. John Allison is the man who created Tackleford in the first place. I'm going to take this to mean that he believes I should absolutely be using his fictional town as the home for my fictional football team. What else could it be, a very common first name and moderately common surname being combined by a random generator in a video game? I think the former is much more likely. I couldn't resist signing him, especially as he gives us depth at fullback and could be good enough to play several levels higher. He's out with a foot injury at the moment so it'll be a bit before he can take the pitch for us, but given that Anth Hotte is rapidly playing himself out of a job this is a welcome signing.  Hypocritical? I run my team with an iron fist, you slacker! vs. Gloucester, January 10, 2014 Skrill North .png)  That's more like it! We take a 2-0 lead into the half after Callum William's scores his first goal for the team. Oriogun adds a brace, and our youth side striker Gary Hemingray adds another. Gloucester snatches at their chances, and can only muster a stoppage time goal to make it 4-1. The result leaves us 4 points up on Stalybridge, so regardless of the result in two day's time we will remain in second place. Tackleford City 4-1 Gloucester   Michael Jones is the last of the reinforcements I'll be bringing in for a while. He's another fullback, as by now I don't have faith in the incumbents Stamp and Hotte. I'll be prowling for youth players like a man with a van and a trenchcoat by a playground come March, which is when the game creates newly generated 15-16 year olds for each team in England and Scotland. We'll be able to sweep in and sign some of them away from their parent team through pre-contracts. This costs money, we have to pay the original team compensation, but it can also result in getting very good, young players. As you can tell, I've decided to take the owner's edict to sign high reputation players as more of an advisement. At Stalybridge, January 12, 2014 Skrill North .png)  Stalybridge controls the entire match, but our defense is stout and allows only one goal on three half-chances. Rosetti and Robinson combine to score on a counter attack to give us the result. I'm happy with the result, and it's nice to see the team play well defensively. The only dark spot is at fullback, where Michael Jones didn't get off on the right foot in his first game in earning a poor 5.7 rating. Stalybridge 1-1 Tackleford City vs. Solihull Moors, January 14, 2014 Skrill North .png)  We come out of this game with a point by the skin of our teeth. After falling behind by two within the first 20 minutes it took until 20 minutes remained in regulation to claw one back. Oriogun finally pulled us level just four minutes from stoppage time. We've now gained all of five points from our first five matches of the year. The team's hit a bad stretch of form right when we had a packed schedule, exactly what I had been worried about. Tackleford City 2-2 Solihull Moors At Worcester, January 16, 2014 Skrill North .png)  Worcester will be kicking themselves after letting us take a 2-1 victory home, they had several opportunities to score and failed to convert a one of them. Their lone goal was a result of McLaughlin putting the ball into his own net. We've only got one more game to play before we don't have to play a match every other day! Worcester 1-2 Tackleford City  Oh come on.  We're firmly entrenched in the promotion playoffs, a full 15 points up on 6th place Barrow. We've fallen off the pace of Altrincham, who have won a bonkers 16 of their last 18 matches, and who haven't lost in that stretch. We don't stand a chance of catching them unless they stumble, as we're already 9 points back of them and they have a game in hand. 
habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Mar 19, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2013 22:34
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Thank you for those posts on set pieces. I love you.
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Nov 25, 2013 23:18
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So are you just getting bad rolls on the RNG? Or are your guys suddenly in a funk for other reasons?
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Nov 25, 2013 23:28
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Zeroisanumber posted:So are you just getting bad rolls on the RNG? Or are your guys suddenly in a funk for other reasons? From my experience, some times poo poo just gets hosed and there's pretty much nothing you can do about it, given the small amount of control you get once the game actually starts.
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Nov 25, 2013 23:31
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Necroneocon posted:Thank you for those posts on set pieces. I love you. Happy to oblige. I don't know that my set piece tactics are all that great, all I know is that they currently work. Zeroisanumber posted:So are you just getting bad rolls on the RNG? Or are your guys suddenly in a funk for other reasons? The way morale works in the game is that if you win too often your players will get overconfident and cocky and perform worse, and if you lose too often your players will get disheartened and morose and perform worse. Keeping the team's spirit up is one of the things you have control on as manager, but even if you do everything right it won't always work. Beyond that, players have hot streaks and slumps, which can't really be predicted. There's multiple hidden attributes and one of those is "Consistency," players with high Consistency won't go on torrid hot streaks, but they also won't go into a month-long slump where they play far below their ability. All of those hidden stats that make up their personality, as well as their determination stat, helps the game figure out how they react to adversity. If a player is described as "Resolute" they're very good at dealing with adversity, if they're instead described as "Low Self Belief" they won't play to their full ability. And then from time to time poo poo happens. In a sport where you rarely see more than 4 goals scored the chance for fluke outcomes due to weird goals is greater. Sunderland has been horrible this season with a record of 2 wins, 1 draw, and 9 losses. They're probably going to get relegated to the Championship. But a couple weeks ago they beat Manchester City, one of the best teams in the world.
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Nov 26, 2013 01:05
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Especially in January, the other teams have a tendency to suddenly start reacting to your tactics more smartly - my guess is that along with the mid-season transfer window opening again the game recalculates your team's reputation and everyone else starts treating you a bit more appropriately. Supposedly this version has opposition do a better job of scouting out your tactics and adjusting to beat them if you're not flexible, too.
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Nov 26, 2013 01:23
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It's funny that you picked a Proclaimers song as the team song because the Proclaimers already made the greatest team/racial superiority anthem in history.
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Nov 26, 2013 11:07
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McGavin posted:It's funny that you picked a Proclaimers song as the team song because the Proclaimers already made the greatest team/racial superiority anthem in history. Surprisingly, the original version of that dates back to 1978, in the original North American Soccer League. It is, however, just a retread of Chelsea's 1972 league cup final song, 'Blue is the Colour'. Cup final songs are a lost art these days.
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Nov 26, 2013 11:17
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Chapter the Tenth: The ides of March. January 18, 2014-March 15, 2014 Our schedule is fairly accommodating from now until the end of the regular season. We've got one more weekend where we play two games in three days, but other than that we should be able to keep our players fit and rested. At Boston Utd, January 25, 2014 Skrill North .png)  We're a different team after a week of rest and recouperation. We're finally able to play our first team together rather than rotating many of them out of the starting 11, and the result is a resounding drubbing of Boston United. We could easily have scored 5 or 6 goals given the way we played in this match. Boston Utd 0-2 Tackleford City At Guiseley, January 28, 2014 Skrill North .png)  Another away victory where we played well offensively, but we were lucky that Guiseley didn't make more of their many chances. It's only sheer luck that we kept a clean sheet. Still, it's hard to complain when several of the team's best players have been rotated out to keep them fresh and we still win 3-0. Guiseley 0-3 Tackleford City vs. Workington, February 1, 2014 Skrill North .png)  We control the game through the first half, giving up a single shot on goal while creating numerous chances. We're wasteful, however, and only up by one when Duchamps gets sent off for the second time this season in the 82nd minute. The dismissal comes after I had expressly told him to make sure he didn't get carded again at halftime. I switch to a defensive posture, but Workington still ties up the match in the 90th minute, and we slump to a draw. Tackleford City 2-2 Workington  I give the team the old hairdryer treatment after the game, and I fine Duchamps. It is unacceptable that he has now earned two red cards, especially after I individually warned him to watch his step after his booking in the first half. The Football Association suspends him for a second game, as well.  He has the unmitigated gall to be shocked that I'd fine him for letting the team down. Teenagers. Bah.  Altrincham hit a rough patch, and we find ourselves only six points back. I wonder what could have happened to them?  Ouch. That would explain things. Only a couple of the injured players will be back soon, and they have three games to play in the next two weeks. We need to capitalize on their injuries if we're to win the league. At Barrow, February 15, 2014 Skrill North .png)  This is our first game in two weeks. I was tempted to play a friendly between the Workington fixture and this one to keep the team in full match condition, but didn't want to risk injuries. Barrow play us evenly in the first half, and can't keep it up in the second as their wheels come off. Starting with an own goal just 4 minutes into the second half, all the way through the point where Oriogun makes it 4-1 in the 70th minute we play excellent football and come away with a well deserved win. Barrow 0-4 Tackleford City  Jim McCarron's vesting option triggers. He probably won't play much next year, especially if we get promoted, but he's been a good influence both on the field and in the clubhouse and he's inexpensive, so this works out for us. It does remind me that Anth Hotte has a similar clause in his contract, which means you won't be seeing much of him because not only do we now have better options but I don't want to trigger the additional year. vs. Oxford City, February 19, 2014 Skrill North .png)  We fall behind 1-0 early, and cannot unlock the Oxford defense all game. It looks like we'll go without scoring for the first time all season until the 88th minute, when a rebound drops directly in front of Stefan Robinson not 5 feet from the net. A draw is better than a loss, but we miss another opportunity to make up ground on Altrincham. Tackleford City 1-1 Oxford City vs. Leamington, February 22, 2014 Skrill North .png)  Leamington is in dead last place, with only 19 points after 31 games. They'd need to nearly double their points just to get out of the relegation zone. This is a good thing, as their name still looks like Learnington to me, and I'd rather never have to deal with them again. We don't let the boot off their neck, jumping out to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes that we never relinquish. Tackleford City 2-1 Leamington vs. Hednesford, March 1, 2014 Skrill North .png)  Hednesford is in 17th place, but their head coach won the manager of the month award for February and they've played much better since the turn of the new year, digging themselves out of the bottom ranks over the last 10 games. Their defense is sharp in the first half, only allowing us three shots. Unfortunately for them, two of those shots go in. We once again can't manage a clean sheet and hang on after a poor second half for the win. Tackleford City 2-1 Hednesford At Vauxhall Motors, March 8, 2014 Skrill North .png)  Another 2-1 win. Nothing especially interesting about it, except it does move us within 3 points of Altrincham as they fall 3-2 to Barrow. Vauxhall 1-2 Tackleford City  Our next match is at Altrincham, and will determine whether we have a chance to unseat them from the top of the table, and avoid the dangers of a playoff against the 3rd-5th position teams. This is as important a game as we'll play all year.  One of our former players is talking poo poo about Williams, who has been good but not great since coming in to cover for the injured Hester two months ago, and is currently suffering a goal drought.  I have a chat with him to ease his mind.   I also have a team meeting to let them know how happy I've been with their performance, to try and improve their morale going into the next game. It appears to work like a charm, but the proof will be in our performance. At Altrincham, March 15, 2014 Skrill North .png)  We ain't yeller. From the whistle we're going straight at our title rivals. Altrincham responds by playing a brutal, physical game. Before the end of the first half both Rosetti and Duchamps have been injured by harsh challenges and Altrincham has racked up three yellow cards. We let them score in the final minute of the first half, and from there it's all uphill for us. During the halftime talk I tell the players to have some pride and that they're letting themselves down, and we come out blazing on the attack after the half. We equalize in the 49th minute on a header by Andy Morris, and take the lead on Karim Amrani's first ever goal for the team just 10 minutes later. I order a more defensive posture, knowing that Altrincham needs to come at us if they are to have any hope of staying in first place. Even so, their attack succeeds in the 83rd minute, with the just barely onsides Altrincham striker beats Morris and ties the game at two-all. We've pissed away another late lead, and we remain three points back of first place, no longer in control of our own destiny. Altrincham 2-2 Tackleford City  It's not like we're in bad shape. We've qualified for the playoffs regardless of what comes next, and three points back with seven to play is hardly insurmountable. Even if we do fail to win the league title we've got a very strong chance at promotion via the playoff. But all of those leads that we've squandered are looming pretty large right now. 
habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Mar 19, 2014 |
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Nov 27, 2013 00:53
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50/50 chance of no updates until next week, I'm visiting my folks for Thanksgiving. But to get an idea of why I love young players so much, I give you 16 year old Scotsman Stuart Mair, found by my scouts at tiny little East Kilbride:     Cost us almost nothing, too.  Once we give him some steroids and teach him that he's not just supposed to stand around when he doesn't have the ball, he's going to be pretty great.
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Nov 27, 2013 14:32
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loving hell, that's one hell of a youngster.
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Nov 27, 2013 15:30
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How easily can you overcome a one in a physical stat?
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Nov 27, 2013 15:36
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whowhatwhere posted:How easily can you overcome a one in a physical stat? Honestly? It depends on the player. He's got a lot of room to grow. 2.5 star player for our team, which is roughly a good Skrill Premier team by talent so I'm guessing a ~80 CA (Current Ability) score, and more than one scout/coach says he could be a Premier League player, so probably ~140 PA (Potential Ability) score. So we'll find out. I'll be taking screenshots in the future so we can compare how he develops. I do have him focusing on Strength, and his determination/personality indicates I can train the poo poo out of him without him getting unhappy or jaded. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Nov 27, 2013 |
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Nov 27, 2013 15:47
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whowhatwhere posted:How easily can you overcome a one in a physical stat? In this case? 'roids.
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Nov 27, 2013 16:14
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Guys! It's been one week and his strength has DOUBLED! ...
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Nov 27, 2013 17:00
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habeasdorkus posted:Guys! It's been one week and his strength has DOUBLED! Honestly, he's 16 and has probably just been running around on raw natural talent and youthful exuberance his entire life. Load him up with decent food and put him on a weight training regimen and he'll bulk up in no time.
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Nov 27, 2013 17:05
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So basically you've found Darren Fletcher?
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Nov 27, 2013 19:14
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Enjoy that kid while you can. He's gonna get poached by a Premier League side in two years time for sure.
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Nov 27, 2013 19:19
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JT Jag posted:Enjoy that kid while you can. He's gonna get poached by a Premier League side in two years time for sure.  A brief history of all those Those Guys, also entitled "Don't forget to check whether they asked for a minimum release clause". Revenant Threshold fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Nov 27, 2013 |
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Nov 27, 2013 19:56
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That's why I never give minimum release clauses for anything less than a very large amount of money. I've been badly burned by them before. Had a great striker once from Argentina that was somehow undiscovered when I signed him for less than a million quid. After a year where he singlehandedly keeps me afloat in my first Premier League season Ajax comes along and buys him. loving Dutch. ETA: Also, congrats on three straight promotions! habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Nov 28, 2013 |
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Nov 27, 2013 22:59
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Chapter the Eleventh: Diamonds in the rough. March 8, 2014-March 22, 2014 A couple days before our big match against Altrincham our youth academy brought in recruits. For the sake of narrative cohesion I decided to put off talking about it since it really deserves it's own chapter as it's such a big part of being a Lower League Manager, and because the Altrincham match was a big one for our team.  To my surprise, three of the youth players look like they could end up playing for us at some point. This is rather shocking, as we have “Fairly Basic Youth Recruitment”- which is one step above the lowest level of “Basic Youth Recruitment.” Marc Pearson, Goalkeeper     Youth Recruitment determines how widespread your recruiting is, teams like ours are able to bring in local kids that aren't picked up by more prestigious clubs while Barcelona and Real Madrid are signing grade schoolers from Japan. The ingame depiction of this is that Barca brings in potential worldbeaters from across the globe each year while we get the kids who fancy themselves something special in local pick-up games. Dougie Rutter, Attacking Midfielder     Your scouts will describe players as having the ability to be a "leading" player at a certain level of competition. If you're wondering how that will translate to a higher level of play, you can more or less accept that a player described as a "leading" player will still be a "decent" player two leagues higher. So as applied to Dougie it means that the Assistant Manager believes he could become a decent Premier League attacking midfielder. Kris Clough, Striker     I've never had this good a group of kids this early on in prior games, I don't think any of them will still be with us when we're at the top, but they could help us get there. Of course, that depends on how much they can improve, and how long we spend in the lower leagues. If they don't evolve as players and we get multiple back to back promotions they might never play a single first team game. In which case, ignore what I've said about these guys. They're just kids with bright grins and weird hair who'll only disappoint you and leave you as a single mother living on the dole. Our own recruits aren't my main concern at the moment, though. I'm after something more... SHOW ME THE DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH! Every other team in England also brought in new youth players, and Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish teams did the same five days earlier. Ireland has it's own intake day in September. This period in early March is one of my favorite parts of being a lower league manager. Because we've had our scouts looking for new talent all over England our scouts have already compiled information on several of the youth side players, but I also order them to fan out to scout as many players as they can to find potential stars. You should look at players brought in by lower division teams, no one who has a youth contract from a major team is going to be interested in joining some lower division team even for better pay and an immediate spot on the first team. And be warned that you've got to sift through a lot of dross to find worthy signings. But this can very much be worth it, you can find players who are able to develop as players while you through the ranks of professional soccer, until the 15 year old you signed from West Bumfuck Dairy FC is now a 26 year old star striker on your Champion's League team. Or, they get really good and you have to sell them because you're still just a mid-table Premier League team and Barcelona wants them. Our first signing is a kid from East Kilbride in Scotland, a team so far down the football pyramid they aren't even listed as being in a league. Stuart Mair, Defensive Midfielder £5,750 from East Kilbride The reason I don't immediately put Mair into the starting 11 is because he's a natural Defensive Midfielder, and not adept at playing in the central midfield. But we can, and will, train him for a central midfield role. If we ever switch to a 4-5-1 he'll also be a good fit for a defensive-minded deep lying playmaker. He's got a couple glaring attribute weaknesses at the moment, the first being that you can knock him over with a feather. Strength is important in making sure you can muscle other players off the ball/not get muscled off the ball, and in being able to fight for position. I set him to strength training immediately. He's also very bad at offensive movement when he doesn't have the ball, which means he won't be capable of helping us set up attacks. He's the clear best of the players that we add. Anton Brady, Right Fullback £10,000 from Woking     Usually the most I can afford is one or two of these guys for the first couple years, but we've got money, so I make offers to guys who in other games would bust my budget. I don't expect to get all or even most of them. Nathan Adcock, Striker Free Transfer     Still, kids who are likely to stick with the side half a decade or more, and will develop to match or exceed the level of play you find yourself at, are a much better choice than the older, mediocre players who you can normally sign.  Once a player signs a pre-contract with a team you don't have the ability to steal them. This will happen a lot, especially if word leaks that you're trying to steal a player out from under the team that trained them through their academy. Crewe Alexandria had three players I was interested in, and all three chose to stay at Crewe rather than joining us. That's how it goes for all of the higher division youth talent I tried to sign, which means Mair is the only signing who has the ability to jump immediately into the side. Levi Blackmore, Centerback £5,000 from Hednesford     Our three other youth recruits don't have as high a ceiling or as well developed as Mair, but they make out youth squad pretty darned good and through our own youth system and raiding other clubs we've gained a grand total of seven players who have Championship level potential for a grand total of £20,750.  Now that we've got some players with real potential I need to give them real coaches. Your U-21 team trains with the First Team coaches while your U-18 club is only trained by U-18 coaches, with the exception of fitness and goalkeeper coaches. At this point our coaching staff is acceptable, largely because of oligarch money allowing us to have a very large staff for a lower league team. I won't get to see these guys develop, though, unless I get a new contract at the end of the season. And that means winning promotion. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Dec 2, 2013 |
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Dec 1, 2013 21:02
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Chapter the Twelfth: Fledglings have to fly or die. March 22, 2014-May 11, 2014 We've got a stocked youth system now, but that will be cold comfort if we fail to earn promotion. With seven games left we're three points back of Altrincham for the championship, and we've already qualified for the playoffs. At AFC Telford, March 22, 2014 Skrill North .png)  Callum Williams is clearly struggling. He lets two good chances go begging in the first half, and rattles a third off the crossbar. And of course we can't seem to help but give the other team a goal just before the half. Callum's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day continues in the second half as he misses another big chance. I finally pull him, but it doesn't do any good. We give up yet another late goal and take our third loss of the season, dropping us to six points behind Altrincham with only six more games to play. If we're going to get promoted it's probably going to be through the crapshoot that is a playoff. AFC Telford 2-1 Tackleford City vs. Bradford PA, March 29, 2014 Skrill North .png)  Everything goes as expected when the team in 2nd place matches up against the team in 21st. Bradford get steamrolled, and we're deadly in front of the goal. Prior to the game I modified our main tactic slightly, setting the fullbacks to play a more limited and defensive role, and they reward me with a clean sheet. It baffles me that we have one of the best overall defenses in the league, having allowed the fewest goals of any team, but we seem to regularly allow other teams to score as the clock ticks down. I'll be going over our strategy more thoroughly during the summer break, but for now I'm trying to figure out what I can do to keep our defense from getting skinned and left for dead. Altrincham loses, and we're back to just 3 points behind them. We've got a better goal differential than they do, and we have an equal record with the same number of away goals, so we should have the tiebreaker if we're even on points. Tackleford City 4-0 Bradford PA vs. Stockport, April 5, 2014 Skrill North  Once again we keep a clean sheet, despite strong pressure at the end of the game by a team fighting to make the promotion playoffs. Rosetti remains mired in a deep slump, a major problem if we're forced into playoff matches. Altrincham draws, and we're now just a single point back of first place. Tackleford City 1-0 Stockport At Gainsborough, April 12, 2014 Skrill North .png)  We come back from down one at halftime to tie the game on Callum William's first goal in eleven hours, and with Altrincham not active we move into first place. After Morris scores the winner fifteen minutes from the final whistle we are in first place by two points. The chase for the Skrill North title is coming down to the wire. Gainsborough 1-2 Tackleford City  Altrincham stumbles against 7th place Brackley, losing one-nil. We now lead the division for the first time all season, and we control our own fate once more with three games left to play. vs. Worcester, April 19, 2014 Skrill North  Andy Morris continues his torrid streak and bags a hat trick in the first half hour. We almost blow it in the second half, though, giving up 2 goals. Worcester peppers our goal with several good chances in the waning moments, causing me much concern. We escape with a narrow 3-2 victory, but points are points and we stay ahead of Altrincham. Tackleford City 3-2 Worcester At Gloucester, April 21, 2014 Skrill North  We nearly lost this game, saved only until a very late penalty call gives Rosetti a chance to equalize. He converts the penalty, and we take a point out of a match we had no business getting a result from. Derek McLaughlin, the 5k/week man, is our savior. I am furious with the team, and it seems like the players are doing their level best to give me a heart attack. I'm not joking, my family was wondering why I was cursing over my computer the day before Thanksgiving. Gloucester 2-2 Tackleford City At Colwyn Bay April 26, 2014 Skrill North .png)  All we need to do to ensure promotion is to beat a team that's doomed to relegation. Even a draw will see us through. The only way we can make a hash of this is by losing. I relax when we take the lead 17 seconds in (yes, seconds) into the match. That doesn't last long as Colwyn Bay equalizes 42 seconds (yes, seconds) later. But I shouldn't have worried, we're able to pull ahead and then protect our lead. We win the game, and we win promotion. I tell the lads to enjoy it.   They're surprisingly bored. But I don't really care, we're moving up to the Skrill Premier! We'll actually be playing other full time professional teams! Break out the champagne! Colwyn Bay 1-2 Tackleford City  The board is also somewhere shy of jubiliation, and they don't want the team to go overboard celebrating. To make them happy I throw the players into a fitness regimen over the last two weeks before they go onto their vacation. The board is happy enough that I request and receive a three year contract extension, with the added goal of playing possession soccer. I can't get them to agree to changing towards a youth oriented style, but with a three year deal I should be safe despite our inability to sign big name players.  I finally win a Coach of the Month award, which I'm grateful for even if I think it's long overdue. Altrincham v. Worcester, May 10, 2014 Skrill North Promotion Final  Fourth place Worcester beats Altrincham in a barnburner to gain promotion to the Skrill North. Altrincham is a perfect example of why I was concerned about facing a promotion playoff- they lead the league from week 10 until week 37, set a scoring record for the Skrill North and finish with 89 points... and don't gain promotion because they lost a winner take all match.   Now it's time for the offseason, and over the next three months we'll be letting some players go, trying to resign others to longer contracts, and bringing in a few new faces in an effort to make it back to back promotions. I tell the players how proud I am of them, and set a goal of being at least mid-table at the end of next season. Many players fail to react well, which shows a lack of ambition. But for the moment, let's enjoy our success. I plan on it being merely the first of many. 
habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Mar 19, 2014 |
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Dec 1, 2013 22:27
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OK, folks, I have a decision to make. Giving us a sugar daddy has made the game fairly easy. We've got a much bigger wage budget than we should have, and it's going to remain that way if we do nothing. While it's possible I get fired if we don't meet their expectations (which will end the LP) the more likely scenario is that we'll succeed without too much effort, and we won't have to worry about getting rid of our best players because we can't afford them. So I'm going to put this up to a vote. A) We continue as things are, with fat bankrolls, a demanding owner with a desire for top flight talent, and resources that won't be matched until we hit at least League One and more likely the Premier League. Pros: No worries about losing our young players, can focus on just winning games, will be able to purchase some ludicrously excellent players in the lower leagues. Cons: Comparatively easy, no opportunity to show off the financial side of the game, is boring me. B) We're taken over by the supporters, as a fan owned team. The Board would be run by the Goons. The team would have much less money and would have to be self-sufficient. Pros: Thread participation is fun! Adds another human element to the game. Cons: We'll likely have to sell off our most expensive players, pointless if no one wants to participate. C) I change the owner's happiness so that he sells the team, likely to some local businessman or consortium. We get someone who doesn't have nearly as much money, and who will have unknown demands and requests. Pros: Get to show off what happens to a team in turnover turmoil, more or less resets the boardroom to how it would originally have been for LLM. Cons: We don't know what we're going to get, they might want to bring in their own people and fire me. Voting is open until midnight Wednesday, EST. I'll take your choices under advisement, feel free to ask for any clarifications. edit: That is, voting is open until the end of Tuesday. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Dec 2, 2013 |
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Dec 1, 2013 22:48
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I'd go with B.
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Dec 1, 2013 22:55
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I'll tentatively go with B. Having a sugar daddy really does make things much much easier in the lower leagues. You don't get to show off nearly as much of the game either. Part of the fun of LLM is having fuckall for a budget and reputation, and having to make do with what you have. The climb up the pyramid is ever sweeter when you have to fight for it.
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Dec 1, 2013 23:00
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A. This is Tackleford City Club, it just wouldn't be the same if we didn't have a crazy, hyper-demanding Russian with bags and bags of money to throw around asking why we haven't signed Beckham yet.
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Dec 1, 2013 23:04
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B because yeah, participation is fun!
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Dec 1, 2013 23:12
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B It's probably the best way to really show off LLM. A is too easy, and C is too likely to get you replaced by a new manager.
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Dec 1, 2013 23:15
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B should give you a modest challenge. Keep up the great work with the LP, if I had to comment on something it is that sometimes you don't really list the end results of matches clearly, "baking" it into the descriptive text below the stats screen. I think it would be better if the result was a bit more prominent.  Also, you're an evil person. I've played every drat one of these games ever since it was called Championship Manager and was literally a glorified spreadsheet with text commentary. I finally got over my addiction after Football Manager 2011, but now you're making me want to play again! Added it to my wishlist on Steam. Sigh. 
Blogkb - because you too like video games, old and new (it's just a blog)
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Dec 1, 2013 23:55
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b
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Dec 1, 2013 23:57
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Plan B sounds best
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Dec 2, 2013 01:02
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C Voting isn't for spectator sports goddamnit.
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Dec 2, 2013 07:15
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Wasting a vote for A I don't even like soccer, I don't know why this is so entertaining.
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Dec 2, 2013 13:06
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Dwarsen posted:I think it would be better if the result was a bit more prominent. OK, I'll start adding that to the end of the writeups. I'll probably change how I do post match screenshots so they don't need to be thumbnailed, and I'll probably start using the games ability to record matches for some of the more interesting stuff to give people an option of seeing the match engine in action. One thing I'll do regardless of who we choose as owner will be to write up the team financials as well- making sure you don't turn into Portsmouth and ruin everything you've worked for is a huge challenge when building a team from the depths of semi-pro ball.
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Dec 2, 2013 19:09
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It's already pretty tough clawing your way out of the doldrums of the English football leagues, I'm worried that hampering yourself financially might turn this into a bit of a slog.
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Dec 2, 2013 19:28
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Zeroisanumber posted:It's already pretty tough clawing your way out of the doldrums of the English football leagues, I'm worried that hampering yourself financially might turn this into a bit of a slog. I'm not that concerned about it, tbh. It might keep us from gaining promotion every year all the way to the top, and it will keep us from massively outspending our opposition, but the underlying financials of the team are healthy even absent oligarch money due to the crowd sizes we've been getting and our current sponsorship deals.
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Dec 2, 2013 20:06
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Another vote for B here because I quit my addiction to Champ Man (yes I still call it that I cant seem to shake it) a few years back and any chance to get involved would be good. This is a great LP and I am enjoying it very much. All these different options the game has now just put me off but your explanations make me think about dipping my toe in again thanks!
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Dec 2, 2013 21:29
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I'm really enjoying the LP so far! Just in case getting fired means game over I'll go B.
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Dec 3, 2013 18:44
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C cause The way things are is getting kinda dull, and I guess I am the only one that doesn't like Goon participation. It can lead to some hilarious poo poo, but it will probably drive you insane. And C sounds like fun!
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Dec 3, 2013 21:52
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