Mark Campbell: Impossible Is Nothing

Well hello there welcome to my new story for FM18. If you are wondering about the Lahm one don't worry I decided to wait until MeisterTrainerforum.de has their great German update to do it. SO with this one I feel will be quite enjoyable. I was influenced by both Justice and ScottT for this. Basically these two do an amazing job in story telling and I felt influenced by that.

As you know I usually do random countries for journeyman saves, France, Scotland, Germany and so on, but for this I want to start in England. For some reason I never play in the English system so this would be a great change. I am hoping it will be fun to see a club from one of the lower leagues rise up and become a major Premier League team.

I hope you all enjoy this.


To be honest not much will be changed from my previous stories but there will be a bit more emphasis on the non football side of things and the personal side of Mark Campbell. In stories past I would have that personal touch but really never went too in depth as I wanted. Thanks to people like ScottT and Justice I have some great influence to make this even better.



This guy is a new edition to the MJK bank of characters. His name is Mark Campbell and he is 30 years old at the start of the 2017/18 season. He is from the Chicago Area in the United States and is looking to make his mark over in Europe. After some coaching and playing at the rec level in the states Campbell has a run in with fate that gets him to his job in European Football.

How will our hero Mark Campbell do as a first time manager in something so important??? Especially when in a foreign country and under tons of pressure for not being a real footballer..... They keep saying this bloody Yank is not welcomed to lead a club in the birthplace of the sport and that he is over his head. Well I don't believe that and they say it is impossible for Campbell to succeed, but to me Impossible Is Nothing

Story Hub

Meet our man Mark

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

-- Muhammad Ali

Mark Daniel Campbell was born on February 8, 1987 just outside of Chicago in a little college town called DeKalb, Illinois, to Mark and Janice Campbell. As a child Mark was athletic and popular, excelling in several sports through his youth he was like a Swiss Army Knife. There was nothing he could not do.

Out of all the sports he enjoyed the most was soccer or what it is known as football globally. For most Americans the sport of football was a game with pads and "soccer" was a kids game. For Mark that was not the case, his parents had played the sport in college and his father even played in the old NASL. Mark was a bit different from his parents.

Despite his athletic ability, good looks and brains he was never good enough to lay professionally like his father. To him he was a failure to his father as he could not achieve what he did. Mark would only make it as far as the Professional Development League.

From the time of graduating Notre Dame in 2012 Mark had done many things including working for a major Chicago based company and even went to the University of Chicago for graduate school. There was one thing missing and it was football. While in school he would volunteer as a coach in one of the local youth leagues and even played the sport for fun. He enjoyed it but at the same time there was something missing for him.

Two years after graduation Mark would find himself living in London working for Barclays as a Wealth & Investment Manager. During this time his love and passion for the sport grew like crazy. Living in the birthplace of the sport was something special to him. With so many clubs in London it was hard for him to find a club to support but he was just a fan and enjoyed going to as many games as he could.

While at work one day a though came to him and an idea was born. Mark wanted to be involved in the sport again but was not so sure what to do. So he wanted to link up with a club in the lowest of low divisions of the English system. As it was semi pro Mark had to still work and playing football and his job was so time consuming that he had to make a choice. Sadly Mark was not welcomed as he was an American. Sadly this group of people had an extreme bias against anything American.

It seems that being a footballer/fan when you are an American in England is one of the hardest things to endure. You get called so many names from, wanker, plastic and even a cunt, just because you are from the US. He felt it was unfair and wrong that he was being judged based on his nationality and not his actually background and history with the sport.

This really pissed him off and made him want to do something about it. In late 2016 Mark decided to get into coaching. It was going to be a long road and something that will take a lot of work and stuff. Being an American manager is even harder now since Bob Bradley screwed up the Swansea job. They keep telling him it is going to be impossible to break through to management, but he didn't care, he wanted to prove a point.

Will Mark be able to successfully become a football manager or will this all be a waste???

Good luck Mark, intrigued to see who will be willing to take a punt!

Great background story and great start

mgriffin2012 Should be an interesting match between the unwanted american and whatever team hires him. He has a grudge lol

redvee35 Thanks man

I'm glad I could be of assistance Interesting start indeed, Bob Bradley... what a clueless man he were. Probably has ruined it for all American managers now as well to be fair, hopefully I can be proven wrong.

ScottT No worries man, I love your style of writing and lets hope Mark is more competent than Bob lol

The First Steps

06/11/2016

It has been a few months since I decided to get into coaching again, but this time a higher level. Before I left America I had a USSF National D license and that allowed me to to coach at the "elite" youth level. Don't get me wrong that is fine and all but I do want to coach at a higher level.

So I decided to take a nice drive to FA headquarters at Wembley to see if I could get a license with the FA. I came prepared with all my USSF documents and a few other things just in case I needed to have proof or whatever. The good thing was that meeting with a person who works on the coaching side of the FA said that my USSF Licence works over here and I do not need to start at the lowest level.

With that I was told to contact the London FA for signing up and all of that. Despite the fact my USSF certification holds up there are a few things that will be needed to be completed before hand including the FA Introduction to First Aid in Football and attend a FA Safeguarding for Coaches Workshop. That all seems pretty doable and was told that they would have courses starting in January of 2017.

After waiting a few weeks I got a letter in the mail accepting my application for the January 2017 FA Level 2 coaching course.

Dear Mr. Mark Campbell

Thank you for your interest in joining the Football Association to become a coach. It is people like you who are the future of the beautiful game and we are pleased to see that you want to become a leader to those looking for leadership. The great thing is that throughout the country there are thousands of clubs so experience and opportunity is abundant.

We would like to congratulate you on being accepted to our January 2017 clinic to obtain a Level 2 badge. During this time you will be in the classroom and gaining field experience for a total of 145 hours (total qualification time) / 73 hours (guided learning). This will be a lot of hard work but no need to worry thousands have completed this as well,

According to our records you have no coaching qualification or certification with the FA and/or UEFA. This would be an issue but do to your National D license with the USSF we are granting you an exception to move ahead to this level.

Before you can join the course with the London FA you must complete a few courses by 1 January 2017. These are to help educate in the ways of player health and safety of the game.

Upon completion of this course you will be able to start applying for coaching jobs through the FA.

Once again thank you for your interest and congratulations. The next year will be exciting as you advance into the next level of coaching within the FA. We look forward to being apart of your journey into the world of football. If you have any questions or issues please give us a call or send an email.

THE FA COACHING AND EDUCATION CENTRE

This is such an amazing opportunity for me as I can finally show that Americans can be competent in the sport. Hopefully I can prove that I am not just some clueless person and that I can be the best out there. The one thing I know is going to suck is I will be having a massive pay cut once I leave my normal job, haha.

Good luck Mark. Let's hope you pass with flying colours. Im glued to this story like always lol

Couple of straight forward courses and boom you are on your way!

Can't wait to see who is willing to take a punt on Mark

redvee35 Should be easier than business math haha

mgriffin2012 Hopefully I can skip and go partying lol

ScottT Only the best

Mark Campbell looks like a lesbian

Good Things Come to Those who Wait

Early Summer 2017
(Due to the game almost being released in full there will be a slight time jump of a few months in this update)

For Mark 2017 has been great with his return to football. Nothing seems to be stopping him and his crusade to become the best football manager from the United States and his goal to conquer English Football. For Mr. Campbell the remaining few weeks of the 2016-17 English Football season would not be the same.

After finishing his Level 2 badge, Mark was ready to start submitting his resume to clubs. The course was very easy for him as a few of the teachers said he had this weird sixth sense about the game thy have never seen from an American. Also with Mark being a genius it was not unexpected that he had aced the courses.

The aim for him was somewhere between Steps one and five in the National League System. Hell he even wanted to go for a job in League 2 but that was a stretch unless he was to be appointed a regular coach. Seeing there were tons of openings and upcoming openings he felt this was the best time to apply for a job.

One such opening was Guernsey FC. To Mark he thought this would be a great place to start, he would even dream about what it would be like having Guernsey in the Premier League. Unfortunately it was not meant to be, the club had decided to stay in house and hire their assistant manager.

What made this even worse was that Mark played Football Manager 2016 and made Guernsey a powerhouse, so at this time could not attempt the same feat in the real world. As dumb as this sounds Mark used a story he did on a site called FM Scout as a basis and plan. They were impressed and pleased to see someone take the club that high but felt this was more of a joke than anything. Well they did hook Mark up with a scarf after the interview.

Despite this setback Mark was not discouraged. In the short time he would get some calls and meet with a few teams. Some were productive and some were not. I guess being a new manager especially from a foreign land is a really tough to navigate in the lower levels of the pyramid.

Some good news came to him on a warm early June morning as he got a call that would change things for the foreseeable future. A secretary from a recently relegated club called him to inquire the resume he had submitted. After a few minutes of talking, he accepted the invite to the interview. What is interesting this club is sort of a dumpster fire and at this point are looking for anyone who is crazy enough to manage them.

The interview was set for later in the week. Mark would be traveling 341 km north on the M1 to reach his destination.