I have always been a big fan of non-league football and this continued when I moved to York for uni. York is an amazing town and the team deserve to be higher up in the football pyramid. My aim is to get them back into the Football Leaue within 3 seasons and hopefully to the Premier League in 12 seasons!
I have not been a manager of a lower league team since 2008 and now seems a good time to see if I still have what it takes in the world of Football Manager to get York City back to their rightful place in the Football League and seeing how that goes maybe one day the Premier League.
To try and add a realistic element, I start as a manager with no qualifications and only Sunday League Experience. I doubt the players will have much faith in my ability to get them promoted.
Turns out the expectations are quite high. The board are expecting the team to get promoted this season and go up as Champions! The rest of the expectations seem realistic. Although I reckon sticking to budget will be tricky.
I have a look at my coaching badges and I easily have the worst coaching attributes of all staff. The board don’t seem too keen either with my contract only lasting a season. I need to get myself on courses ASAP.
To start with I need to look at: The Squad, Potential Loans, Getting an affiliate club and trying to arrange friendless for a cash boost.
The Squad
On first look, this is good, really good. Each position has a player rated at least 3 stars with many of them higher. Most back ups in each position are rated at least 2.5 which is also decent. However, there is a lot of joy to behold in Under 18’s. I have a potential 4.5 star CB, 2 other 4 star potential defenders and 3 potential 3.5 players. The future is bright!
Incoming players
Due to the decent level of my squad, I don’t need to make a raft of transfers to improve my squad so will only bring in players who are carefully chosen as 4 stars or better. A striker is needed but hopefully will be able to bring in 2. A central midfielder and a centre back would also be good to deal with the large amount of games to be played. Scouting players has involved me having to pay a monthly fee. My scouting budget is 19.5k and just to scout England costs £12.8k per month. I will have to scout everyone in 1 month!
Getting players in on trial has been a good way to see if a player is quality without having to wait for a scout first. Looking at my scouting list, I have over 100 players waiting to be looked at and only a month to do it in!
Affiliates
Trying to get an affiliate has been deflating, with my only option Peterborough. I have applied for some loans but the players don’t seem to want to join. I will have to wait and see how if this changes as the season begins.
Friendlies
I cancelled all the arranged friendlies and re-arranged for more lucrative matches against Celtic, Rangers and Bury etc. My first match is against the under 18’s. A resounding 7-4 win tells me that I need more defenders than I do strikers, maybe my transfer options need to change.
Having 10 friendlies (7 at home) should be a good way to raise some cash. I’ll let you know how we do, although it’s going to be a tricky start….
To see a clearer version follow @FMYorkCityFC on twitter.
I have not been a manager of a lower league team since 2008 and now seems a good time to see if I still have what it takes in the world of Football Manager to get York City back to their rightful place in the Football League and seeing how that goes maybe one day the Premier League.
To try and add a realistic element, I start as a manager with no qualifications and only Sunday League Experience. I doubt the players will have much faith in my ability to get them promoted.
Turns out the expectations are quite high. The board are expecting the team to get promoted this season and go up as Champions! The rest of the expectations seem realistic. Although I reckon sticking to budget will be tricky.
I have a look at my coaching badges and I easily have the worst coaching attributes of all staff. The board don’t seem too keen either with my contract only lasting a season. I need to get myself on courses ASAP.
To start with I need to look at: The Squad, Potential Loans, Getting an affiliate club and trying to arrange friendless for a cash boost.
The Squad
On first look, this is good, really good. Each position has a player rated at least 3 stars with many of them higher. Most back ups in each position are rated at least 2.5 which is also decent. However, there is a lot of joy to behold in Under 18’s. I have a potential 4.5 star CB, 2 other 4 star potential defenders and 3 potential 3.5 players. The future is bright!
Incoming players
Due to the decent level of my squad, I don’t need to make a raft of transfers to improve my squad so will only bring in players who are carefully chosen as 4 stars or better. A striker is needed but hopefully will be able to bring in 2. A central midfielder and a centre back would also be good to deal with the large amount of games to be played. Scouting players has involved me having to pay a monthly fee. My scouting budget is 19.5k and just to scout England costs £12.8k per month. I will have to scout everyone in 1 month!
Getting players in on trial has been a good way to see if a player is quality without having to wait for a scout first. Looking at my scouting list, I have over 100 players waiting to be looked at and only a month to do it in!
Affiliates
Trying to get an affiliate has been deflating, with my only option Peterborough. I have applied for some loans but the players don’t seem to want to join. I will have to wait and see how if this changes as the season begins.
Friendlies
I cancelled all the arranged friendlies and re-arranged for more lucrative matches against Celtic, Rangers and Bury etc. My first match is against the under 18’s. A resounding 7-4 win tells me that I need more defenders than I do strikers, maybe my transfer options need to change.
Having 10 friendlies (7 at home) should be a good way to raise some cash. I’ll let you know how we do, although it’s going to be a tricky start….
To see a clearer version follow @FMYorkCityFC on twitter.