Going into the site's 10th anniversary

This is more of a personal message for those of you who know a bit about me. I'm first time dad as of 3 days ago and this event has altered my perspective for the season ahead. My wish is to take a step back from the site in order to have more time with my newborn son. That doesn't mean I won't be here every day, but I want to try having less control over the site's activities. Inevitably the staff team should grow more and we'll have to introduce staff training as well.

My immediate plan for the site is to focus on content production for FM15 for the next 2 weeks. I'll personally handle the usual player and staff list articles. Once final version is released (November 7th), the site will change its theme to introduce a bunch of new areas and member features. Then, I'll be trying to coordinate several collaborative content production efforts until Xmas.

The site will celebrate its 10th anniversary on November 12th. I was still at university having fun playing the first FM (after the change from CM) when I had the idea of creating this place. Now I've turned 30 and have a child of my own. Looking back at this 10-year journey, I'm feeling proud of the status we have as a community. I might no longer enjoy FM as much, but after leading this site for a decade the flame of trying to improve it little by little is still strong.

Bottom line is that I won't be going anywhere (at least not yet), but I'll be looking to distributing the weight of running the place to the community itself. If you're keen on contributing quality content, time or knowledge to the site, get in touch with our staff members through our live chat to receive some tasks. I'll be monitoring the process closely and hoping to see lots of new contributors out there.

Let's all have a great FM15 season!

Awesome Job Stam, this community is nothing without you!

Nice One Stam FMScout Unite!

You've done so well over the 10 years Stam. You've made such an awesome FM fansite which grows each and every day! You deserve some time off ahaha

Brilliant stuff as always Stam, what you have done with this site is an incredible achievement, and the fact that it continues to grow is fantastic!
Let's all make this another great season of FM

Wonderful work creating this incredible site for us all over the last ten years.

This site, and many of its members including myself, owe a great deal to you Stam for creating this wonderful site where I had made so many new friends and had such a great experience. The content it produces is a massive help to the entire FM community, and it is a honour to say I have witnessed part of its progression. As Josh said, lets make FM15 yet another amazing year for this site!

Stam, this place is wonderful, and we all owe a lot to you. Thanks Stam!

Agreed 100% with everything these guys before me have said ^

10 years of dedicated work, and we're all grateful for it Stam. I hope you continue, at least until SI stop making FM games to be fair.

Can I just say Stam that now is the time to start training your son in all things FM, its a skill set that will serve him well in future!

I haven't been part of this community for a very long time, but this place always feels warm and welcoming. I'd like to thank you for creating such an awesome site, and the community that makes the site even better

Stam, you are one beautiful man. Here's to another ten years!

I can personally say, from a first-hand experience, that this site has grown a lot over the last couple of years. Stam's done a great job and while we should celebrate the success, we do need to answer Stam's call when needed