midlothian

...according to club history, that's what happened to Worcester City in the 84/85 season. Hopefully FM won't do something similar to me.

Anyway, hi everyone, it's my first ever LLM game. Took a while to complete the three seasons: I started it several ago but then stopped playing FM for a long time in the middle of my second season, only visiting this forum and the General Discussion occasionally during these bleak, FM-less times.

I chose Worcester City in the BSN as they looked like a nice little mid-table club with not too huge expectations but not in dire trouble either (and have no parent club links at the start so I don't have to waste my time cancelling them). So here we go, I added myself with an automatic reputation and started the work.

Worcester City 07/08 - Blue Square North
Board: respectable position
Media: can't remember, around 10th I think
Me: top half

Squad was OK and two very competent scouts applied after I had put up the advert so I was happy. No transfer budget and could not sign anyone on free transfer so only some loanees arrived.

Strange season as we won a lot of games we should have drawn and drawn a lot of games we should have lost; we were scoring goals for fun but were shipping them in as if they were going out of fashion. Pushed Kettering all the way, eventually finished second with a GD of 90-63.

Beat Leigh RMI home and away in the play-off semis and after going 3-0 up against Tamworth in the final we survived a late onslaught to get promoted with a 3-2 victory.

Final position: 2nd (promoted via play-offs), 84 pts, 90-63
Player of the year: attribute-defying striker, banging in 31 league goals, rating: 7.21

Worcester City 08/09 - Blue Square Premier
Board: avoid relegation
Media: 24th
Me: avoid relegation

Signed a lot of players on free transfers, released some deadwood and brought in good loanees but I felt the squad wasn't good enough for this level as many of my targets simply laughed off my offers. So it proved: we were battered most weeks and a 13-game winless streak meant we were 10 points off safety at halfway stage.

Clawed ourselves back into contention thanks to a great loanee signed on a short-term deal from Villa reserves (why he came anywhere near us I don't know, much worse players kept refusing me) but eventually got relegated on the penultimate day of the season. Scored lots of goals but conceded an astronomical amount and had a diabolical away record (2-1-20).

Final position: 21st, 12-8-26, 44 pts, 71-84
Player of the year: ex-Aldershot MC with a rating of 7.19

midlothian

Worcester City 09/10 - Blue Square South
Board: respectable position
Media: 8th
Me: promotion

Released a lot of duds I had signed the previous summer. Scouts kept finding good players and finally some of them joined us... Got a brilliant loanee D RC who was snapped up by Hibernian a year later (yet again, I have no idea why he came anywhere near us), and other useful loanees as well.

We had been tipped to finish outside the playoffs (note: three of the BSP's relegated teams were put into BSS, ourselves included, don't know why) but we walked the league, finally improving our defensive record thanks to aforementioned loanee star and my home-grown DC. Secured the title with two games to go, collecting 86 points with a 84-42 goal difference.

Final position: Champions, 26-8-8, 84-42
Player of the year: talentless sprinter, 27 goals in 42 games, with a 7.31 rating
Other news: Newcastle won the Premier League...

Worcester City 10/11 - Blue Square Premier
Board: avoid relegation
Media: 20th
Me: mid-table

Academy sprouted a 16-year-old talented striker, I signed an ex-Watford (Reserves) man and two other attackers on a free and a good DM as well. Three defenders and a midfielder arrived on season-long loans. I was quite happy with my squad.

Got off to a good start (6-2-2) and were never in danger of relegation, occasionally flirting with the playoffs. Ex-Watford AM R/FC tore the league apart but despite the good loanees we were woeful at the back. Good home record, away from home we usually conceded two quick goals then battered the opponent yet still lost. Finished 11th which was fine for the board and for myself as well.

Final position: 11th, 21-10-15, GD: 80-71, 73 points (would have secured a place in the play-offs in the previous season...)
Player of the year: ex-Watford forward who banged in 28 league goals, rating: 7.17

That's the brief (...) summary of my first four seasons. Oh, I see I forgot to mention the cups. Had a good run in one of them once. Or maybe twice.

Now we prepare for another season in the BSP: minimum expectation is mid-table, with a lower wage budget than last season's despite making 250k in profit. Stupid board.

Oh, and now Barnet and Bristol Rovers are both down here, each boasting a stadium with a capacity around 20,000...

Apologies for opening another update thread and for the poor level of my English.

Barside

Good solid start, ups & downs keep the interest going.

KUTGW

Nobby_McDonald

Saucy.

SeoulYank

Good jump bouncing back up. Your English is just fine.

midlothian

Thanks.

To be honest, I find the BSP quite difficult. Newly promoted teams are usually massively out of their depth here and the sides above us are streets ahead in terms of finances, stadium capacity, training facilities, ability to attract players...

I'm hindered by my wage budget and the board's refusal to upgrade the facilities. And now in the 5th season even the attendances are falling - don't know what our fickle fans expected, that we'd storm the league?

The likes of Barnet, Bristol Rovers of Milton Franchise Dons are light years away and even Kidderminster, York or Macclesfield are comfortably bigger than us... will be bloody difficult for a tactically inept manager like me to ever get Worcester out of here - though I suppose we could always go back down...

emgergo

KUTGW, fellow HungaroPoof

That 2-1-20 away record is really something

midlothian

I've just realised I have a little knowledge of Montenegro in the game

I wonder why is that? I can justify my knowledge of Serbia and Romania, but Montenegro?

Klipdrift

I don't want to get overly political but having knowledge of Serbia would imply some knowledge of Montenegro as they were once (until very recently) a single nation. Perhaps it is because of the coding of the game?

midlothian

Well, if that is the case... I know a little of Serbian football (not much) but apart from AS Roma's striker/winger, I could not name a single player from Montenegro. So I'm not sure if it's a good idea to code it as such.

And it's a bit inconsistent anyway: I'm Hungarian so I guess the game assumes I have knowledge of our borders. But in that case why I have no knowledge of Slovakia or Croatia? And I have only UK members in my backroom staff before you ask