An American in Scotland...

The players flooded into the locker room, laughing and celebrating. Sure, it was just a friendly...but it WAS the first game of the year, and they CRUSHED Albion! Wasn't Albion in the second division just the previous year! YEAH!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=150809850

OK..thanks to ebEliminator, this may be much more effective. I think.

Is this the preferred way to share files? I don't see a way to have a direct link.

Edit..ahh..this IS the direct link!

2013-06-05 22:42#109346 Blue : Nice writing so far, keep it up

In answer to your question, no, it's not banned to talk about players, etc. here. Fully acceptable and feel free to ask away if you need.

Secondly, in terms of the "central stats", there is actually a way to look at this in game, which you may not have noticed yet. If you look at the image below, you should see that I have circled the area on the player profile where you can look at this information.

Thank you! It will take weeks before I digest all of the information available!

I am assuming that a "3" for finishing isn't very good for a striker?

A 3 in Finishing for a striker is terrible in any league.

2013-06-05 22:49#109350 ebEliminator : A 3 in Finishing for a striker is terrible in any league.

I am figuring that out. I need to start writing stuff down!

3 is terrible! However, the picture I showed you is a defender

Coach Barrak looked carefully at the screen in front of him. The data from the European model clearly showed the warm, occluded front sliding slowly to north of the region by the 36th hour. The thermal gradient, and temperature profile in the vertical showed showery weather, but not the incessant frontal overrunning which had plagued the region for several days.

Clearing skies!!! No more rain!!! Does it ever stop raining in northern Scotland, he wondered? Then, given his background, he answered his own question. Not at 57 degrees north, when the mean position of the polar front jet was overhead, and just south! I wonder what the lads would think if they knew of my university training as a meteorologist, me mused...

The German, Philipp Zufle walked into the pub, and saw his mates around the darts board in the corner. Philipp didn't know what end of the dart to hold, but he DID like the beer! ...and the women! Slender, fine looking Scottish girls, not the potato-fed Gretchen's and Heidi's. Still..a lot to be said for a willing young lady, of any size or shape!

As we walked up to his teammates, he called out! "Hey! Guess what I found out about Coach?" As he said this, the players spun around. The coaches background was a source of endless speculation. They knew he was just 25, and was an educated man, but they knew little about his sporting past.

"Coach vas a footballer!"

"American football", one asked?"

"Nein! OUR football! He was an All Conference player, a striker, in his second year at university, and honorable mention All American, for Division 2, for his third year!"

One of his friends asked.."how do you know this?"

"Ahhh...replied Philipp...the internet is your friend!"

"So", another asked..."What of his last year?"

"I haff no information on that..no record", replied the young German.

2013-06-05 22:49#109350 ebEliminator : A 3 in Finishing for a striker is terrible in any league.

One of my starting strikers has a three..pretty strong elsewhere, but kind of like having a sports car with a crappy engine.

The young American walked slowly past the guard, at the entrance of Edinburgh Castle. The guard smiled back at the American.

It was a cold, clear December day, gusty northwest winds and a deep blue sky. Good football weather, thought the coach. Keep the ball on the ground, though!

Good to have a day off! It seemed that the issues and problems of running a team at the lowest levels was a lot more than he had bargained for! Still, it had been more than a full year now, and he was settling in reasonably well.

The season had gone very, very well to this point. His personnel hadn't changed at all over the last month or two, and each player knew his role.

The two keepers, Hay and Duffy, alternated games. Hay was slightly better, but not so much as to make any difference. Their morale was high, due to a very nice winning streak! Five games unbeaten! Why...that's an achievement! (editors note: yep..and achievement!!)

The coach leaned over, and picked up a small rock from the wall of the castle. He wasn't sure if this was wrong or not...pretty big castle, what's one small rock?

The previous year, there were three strikers. One, Quinn, was not as talented as the others, and was replaced by Smillie...a very good signing indeed. The other two, Turner and Wright, were the backbone of the offense, and had scored fairly often. Offense in the first year was not an issue, it was the porous defense!

The final piece of the striker puzzle was the addition of Shaun Fraser. Initially, there was a rotation, with two of the four (Turner, Smillie, Wright, Fraser) playing upfront at a time. Turner was a pure striker, and strong finisher. Wright was a classic poacher, and the coach graded his poaching ability out to 4.5 stars! Smillie was as good as either of the two, and the coach had a hard time deciding who to start..and allowed his assistant to make the call. This was primarily based on match fitness.

Really, though, the coach thought, the BIGGEST single reason for the exceptional results to this season, to this point, was the addition of Shaun Fraser. 14 goals already, and third in the league!!! This was despite being a rotation starter for the first ten games. It seemed that whenever he WAS put in, a goal, or two, were sure to follow. Surely a full time starter now!

Editors note:

This Shaun Fraser guy is a scoring MACHINE. I play with extended highlights, and I am seeing his name a LOT. Just in last six games or so, I have been paying attention to what specific roles the players are best suited for...poaching, the Italian 3/4's term, target man, etc.

Clyde and Montrose are at top of the table, and I am third. I will post the stats a little later on today, but if I recall correctly, we're about 6 points back, and assured of a finish in the top half. There are more than a dozen points separating fifth from sixth, and even a long losing spell will still allow us to finish respectably.

I was given an opportunity to upgrade my expectations, due to a strong start. Naturally, it was consolidating, again, just as the first season, at the start of this second season. The board is quite pleased with the progress, and as offered me a contract for the third season. I believe I am in April? Close to it, and I don't believe that there are many games left in the season.

I must take more time writing, and less time playing! Hard to do when you're having as much fun as I am!

"It's WYNDA, not WANDA." The pretty young lady behind the counter smiled at John, and pretended to be offended. She rather liked this dashing young American. He was polite, very fit, and had a very good position. She wondered idly about his family..and whether he had a girl back home!

John looked at Wan...WYNDA, and smiled. She was gorgeous, with bright red hair, and green, flashing eyes. How to proceed...how to proceed...

"So, do you like football?" he asked.

"Sure, she replied. My da played for the Shires for several years. So did Grampa. Grampa says you play the 4-4-2 too much, and need to change up your tactic. Your team is too predictable."

Oh crap! John thought. Not ANOTHER coach in disguise! "What do YOU think?"

"I think that the team is doing very well, and we haven't been this close to the top of the table in years. I think you should tell the people that criticize you to bugger off!"

As she realized what she had said, the color of her face started to match the color of her hair. Bright red!

As John pulled the beautiful white wool sweater out of the laundry, he looked at it in dismay.

He had purchased the genuine wool sweather at a shop nearby, and it was as beautiful as it was heavy. Just as white as new snow!

But..the size he had bought was perfect when he had tried it on, had shrunk enormously to something more suitable for his new lady friend Wynda. Perhaps he could give this to her as a gift! THAT'S IT!!

John had met Wynda's family, and had taken his evening meal there just the previous night. Wynda's mum was just as nice and gracious as she could be, but her father and grandfather were a little less than cordial. A footballer! In our house! With MY daughter!

It helped that John was an educated man, with good prospects. There were several pointed comments through the evening that, at some point, John would be heading back to the States, likely to accept a position at a university. Not a lot of professional football being played in the United States...odd, given the size of the country. Too may competing interests, perhaps!

Editors' note.

Do you lads like the way that this is going? It is not a traditional, statistics heavy report. There will be some of that, of course, but as the title suggests, this is more about a young man's journey through the football world.

I will evaluate, and accept new positions over time (hopefully)...but as a dead minimum, I won't do it until after I get a team promoted. I want to leave on good terms, for each job I am given.

Oh...the three leagues I have loaded in are England, Ireland, and Scotland. I suspect that this is fairly common on these boards.

I had considered the US, but then who? Canada and Mexico? Have you BEEN to Mexico? Cancun is great, I love the Don Julio tequila (get the Anejo...the DARK), but the rest of the country sucks balls.

Sadly...the football in the US is second rate. We have an excellent national team, but that's 20 players out of 310 million people. After our national team, the talent level drops off very, very fast.

Barrak, continue how you are going if you find it fun. The huge results updates can be a little boring to make, they're the reason why I stopped my story in favour of a new, story based one. So keep going, because this is looking good so far