The Long Old Road

Hey Guys

I'm James, I have decided to embark on a career save with my local small team Norwich United who are in the Eastern Counties League Premier Divsion (Level 9) and try to reach the promised land of the Premier League.

I used to play for Norwich United under 14's when I was a small lad, so i thought it would be a fun career to try as I like managing lower league teams, but havent managed as low as this before.

I know this will be a tough job with no money available, but hopefully with some good free transfers we will see us rising through the leagues I will try to do updates as regularly as possible, probabily after pre-season, mid way through the season and finally at the end of the season. So here we go, wish me luck !

Rep - Sunday League Manager

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb455/blyzee1/Blythtakescharge_zps024fa956.png

Good luck mate, will be following! I tried managing this far down on FM12, with Maine Road FC. Make the right transfers, and the league is yours for the taking.

Good luck man. I love reading these kind of stories!

SEASON 1

Well Pre-Season turned out to go better than I thought it would, considering 3 of the teams were in the leagues above.

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb455/blyzee1/Pre-season_zps1ac18f2f.png

I had to dip into the free transfer market quite heavily and get quite a few players as there were only 5 non greyed out players in the squad when I took over. The formation I want to play is a 4-2-4 with an Anchorman to give me abit of protecton in front of the back 4.

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb455/blyzee1/transfersin_zps65a827b2.png

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb455/blyzee1/formation_zps9008b2e5.png

Onto the league!

Well the first season in the Eastern Counties Premier comes to an end with what was a quite frustrating and inconsistent season for us at Norwich United. The amount of defensive errors made by our Goalkeeper and back line was ridiculous. I had numerous occasions where the goalkeeper ran out to collect the ball and ran straight passed the ball for the opposition to walk the ball into the net! Very frustrating!

We ended up 4th in the league and I think this was due to lots of defensive errors and the fact the players couldn't play in the system I wanted.

Eastern Counties Premier Division - 4th
FA Vase - Lost in 1st Round
Chell Trophy - Lost in Semi-Final
Eastern Counties Senior Cup - Lost in Qtr Final

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb455/blyzee1/Endseasontable_zps046c3ce8.png

I think for next season I am going to try definatley sure up the defence and play a simple 4-4-2, so the players can actually do what I ask them to do, without having to worry about complicated tactics and instructions.

SEASON 2

Well season 2 came to an end in the Eastern Counties Premier Division for the boys in yellow and we struggled again with inconsistency and never really got a run going to challenge for the title

We struggled to an 11th position finish and the 4-4-2 tactic really did not work for the team. I think for my next season I will be flooding the midfield to try and dominate from the centre and pressurize the opposition midfield.

From watching the match engine I can see there are some major flaws which I hope SI can iron out soon, crazy free kicks, goalkeeper errors and defensive lapses with defenders running completely the wrong way from the ball.

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/bb455/blyzee1/EndTable_zps40cfdd8c.png

Onto season 3 and hoping for more luck! I'm thinking the formation I will be trying out is the 4-5-1.