TLDR: I sucked at FM19 for 7 in game years, got fired from 4 teams, resigned from 1. Finally succeeded at HB Køge and Leicester City. I have played hundreds of hours of FM, so this wasn't my first attempt.
So I decided to make this after mulling over a post by u/AUTFabi about the man that won the league wherever he went. Now that seemed like a post that was representative of the successful side of this subreddit, and honestly, it grinded my gears (because I struggle in FM. In all seriousness props to u/AUTFabi). FM is hard. People get fired. Not everyone has a striker that is so elite they score 50 goals in their first season. Who would speak for us plebeian FM players? In attempt to represent the average, or poor FM player, here is my journeyman story. (I am also writing this post a few months after I stopped playing the save, so I have forgotten some details.)
The man who was average (almost) everywhere he went (FM19)
The first stop in the journeyman save was wherever anyone would take me. I had Sunday league experience, no coaching qualifications, and youthful enthusiasm to guide me. In short, I was a terrible coach.
My starting/earliest coaching stats
But that was still good enough for Avarta, a team in the Danish second division. Ever heard of them? Neither have I, but I was ready to take them to an all new high. Things were looking up through the first season when it was revealed that my youth intake would be a golden generation.
Avarta Golden Generation
Could this be it? Could I have struck gold on my very first team, in my very first season?
No. After a poor start to the season, Avarta "qualified" for the relegation stage. We were relegated on a heartbreaking last day due to goal differential, and I was subsequently fired. Shoutout to Jacob Ingvarsen for scoring some clutch goals even with this relegation.
Avarta season
And there I was, alone, unemployed, in Denmark. After a long time applying for whatever job was available, I was subsequently hired by another Danish second division team, Allerød. Polishing up on my Danish, I geared up for the new season. I don't remember exactly what tactics I used, but I believe it was 4-4-2. Whatever it was, it was good enough to not get relegated on goal differential.
Allerød 1st season
The second season, I finished with exactly the same number of points but this time at the bottom of the promotion stage. The third season was truly glorious--4th place. After dominating the overall stage, we qualified for the promotion stage, only to slip down to 4th by the end of the season.
Allerød 3rd season
I thought I was hot shit. Over the past three seasons, with almost no payroll budget and certainly no transfer budget I had dragged Allerød up from the depths of the relegation stage to the promotion stage. Oh what's that? Nykøbing FC of the Nordicbet League (2nd tier of Denmark) want an interview? Hell yeah. Another second tier club wants an interview? Let's go. Oh no, the board doesn't like the fact I'm taking all these interviews and want me to commit to the club? Nah, I'm above you suckers. Oh, you're gonna fire me over this? Well the fans will be upset if you do that!
I was fired. The board told me the fans would get over me. Nykøbing FC decided not to hire me initially, but after a poor start to the season they fired their coach and decided I wouldn't be so bad. It was a step up from the Danish Second Division but just barely. I finished out the season with them in 10th place, just above relegation. The next year faired no better, and I was fired after being in last place for most of the season. Despite my best efforts, Nykøbing actually managed to avoid getting relegated after I left.
Nykøbing FC 2nd season
After a long, hard job search, I was hired by FC Den Bosch in the Keuken Kampioen (Dutch 2nd tier). I was with a team with an actual payroll budget, in a better division! I promised them promotion in my hubris. After revamping the coaching staff as best I could and signing a few players, I was ready for the beginning of the 2024-2025 season. After half a season, I brought the team all the way to 12th place and was fired.
FC Den Bosch season
Despairing over the fact that I learned fluent Dutch only to be fired, I didn't know where to go. I was tired of coaching in Denmark, although I could have gotten a job in the Danish Second Division had I so desired. No, it was the frozen tundra of Russia that called me. I signed with FC Shinnik Yaroslalv, a recently promoted team with no money. At this point I was pretty bummed, so I don't think I prepared for this season as much as I did the others. However, I did manage to sign Daryl Janmaat on a free transfer. He helped lead us to a record breaking 20 games without a win. You heard that right. 20 games. The team hadn't fired me because they had no expectations, but I'd had enough. I resigned, head hanging in shame.
20 winless games in a row
Unfortunately, Shinnik could not recover and was relegated.
At this point I was kind of sick of football manager, because not winning for 20 games in a row just sucks. I soldiered on, however, and managed to land another job in Denmark with HB Køge. I improved to coaching staff a little and implemented a 4-4-2 diamond given that the team had no wide midfielders or wingers. After a long tough season, we finished 4th. Wait what? 4th? Holy shit, I was doing something right. The team continued to improve, finishing 3rd the next year, and finally first place in the third year! HB Køge was promoted! Thanks to the likes of striker Emil Kornvig, and midfielders Liam Jordan, Anton Samuelson, and Yaw Mensah, among others, HB Køge was looking good. Emil Kornvig and Liam Jordan were at the club when I arrived, but I signed Samuelson on a free transfer and paid $42K for Mensah.
HB Køge Nordicbet League victory
Would we succeed against the likes of FC Midtjylland, FC Nordsjælland, and FC Copenhagen? The next few years saw us stay up, finishing 5/6 and then 6/6 in the promotion stage. After these few successful seasons I was offered interviews with the top Danish clubs, but I declined, hoping to bring success to HB Køge.
Along the way I added wingers Germán Allende (free), Rasmus Enevoldsen ($425K, sold for $1.3M), and Yakubu Adamu ($8.75K). Anders Niels Olsson, a regen from the year before I joined had also developed enough to become a quality member of the first team. Yakubu Adamu actually became a club legend after I left, scoring 115 goals in 287 games. With the strength of these new players, and mostly a simple 4-4-2, we won the Danish Superliga!
Yakubu Adamu stats
HB Køge Superliga victory
This was my chance to catapult my career to further heights. Conveniently, Leicester City, my real life favorite club, had just fired their head coach. I applied for the job, and they actually hired me! Goodbye HB Køge, it was a fun 7 years, but it was time to move on!
Leicester was heaven compared to the budgets I had been working with--tens of millions of dollars for payroll and transfer budget, along with a solid scouting staff. Obviously I did my best to improve the coaching staff when I arrived, and slowly improved it throughout the years I was there. Interestingly enough, I won Danish Head Coach of the Year while I was at Leicester because of the way that system works. For some reason, I believe it's split by calendar year--so the promotion/relegation stage of one season combined with the group stage of the next is the year that you are judged on.
HB Køge Head Coach of the Year
The first four years I was at Leicester, I finished 9th, 6th (when I won Head Coach of the Year!), 10th, and 7th. I managed to keep expectations for the club low, because all they had wanted from me initially was to avoid a relegation battle. I brought in new players, especially young Africans and South Americans. Some noticeable greats were Oumar Traoré ($5M RB), Tychique Diallo ($4.8M CM), Facundo Carrera ($6M LB), and Bizú ($25M AF). Fox Andersson was another player that was already at the club that ended up becoming the greatest striker I had. The most he ever scored for me was 36 goals in a season, so I still don't understand the 50 and 60 goal freaks I see on this subreddit.
Fox Andersson--look at that national team goal to game ratio!
Fox Andersson Career Stats
I managed to flip Tychique Diallo for $95M. Bizú ended up actually sucking for the first few years I had him, but ended up turning out pretty good in the later seasons.
Tychique Diallo career
With a youthful team, a large amount of money saved up, one of the best coaching staffs and youth academies in the league, I was primed to make a title push. My fifth and sixth season I only finished 5th place. However, in my sixth season (2038/2039) I also won the FA Cup and the Europa League! God those felt so damn good to win, given my persistent failures. That year I also entered the American Hall of Fame. I had mostly utilized variations of a 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, and 4-3-2-1. Ultimately I think what ended up working for me best were variations on a 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress (surprise surprise). My seventh season at Leicester, we finally did it and won the league with 89 points! That season I won Head Coach of the Year and reached the top of the American Hall of Fame.
Leicester Title Winning Season!
We also won the Champions League(!) and technically pulled off a quadruple winning the European Super Cup and Community Shield (lol).
Leicester Quadruple!
That's where the save has ended for now, maybe I'll continue it later. Here are my final coaching attributes and job history overview.
Final Attributes
Career Overview
![What a journeyman save looks like for an average FM player [STORY] [LONG]](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/uavxrD8gpbwNnehS1yJeLaAPSx6sFxY6VndGTNpLfME.jpg "What a journeyman save looks like for an average FM player [STORY] [LONG]")
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/x0co3bhwbaw51.png){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/j9oppjb2xaw51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/596dyo6ry6w51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/w4tf1p25hbw51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/8tvbm7xff7w51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/wqhudfisc8w51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/ulay87wwuaw51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/za74r1x4v9w51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/3lg1kkz2hbw51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/gy5u2rahl9w51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/aa8m4a35raw51.png){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/rxwpwwjhyaw51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/306sgcvss9w51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/4imqfy6xn9w51.png){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/v9v1hz3e3bw51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/6bxo79oovaw51.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/l3m8tnda3cw51.png){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/272yy6q1eaw51.jpg){kind=link}
No comments:
Post a Comment