[FM11] Classic Journeyman Save - Why Not?

[FrazerBleedsLiverpoolRed]

After getting inspiration from reading previous journeyman saves, I decided to begin my own as I haven't got the best track record when it comes to sticking with saves. Hopefully this notion will change from hereafter

I am an FM obsessive and have never managed in the top two leagues in any country, so I was relatively confident that I would have the necessary player knowledge for lower level football.

I took advantage of my new processor in my laptop, and loaded every league in a variety of different countries across 3 continents which included;

England, Scotland, France, Italy, Holland, Spain, South Korea, Russia and the USA.

I decided to be realistic with my personal info, so started with Sunday League Footballer experience, and set my first and second nationalities to English and Scottish respectively.

Now for the difficult bit, finding employment and a team to sink my teeth into! I did the classic begging in the media, declaring interest left, right and centre. I was reletively surprised that it only took until November 22nd 2010 for my first offer which, ofcourse, I gladly accepted.

Season No.1 - 2010/11

Droylsden F.C.

Now, when I took control my team was 18th in the league and struggling. But most worrying was the lack of morale at the club and this would not get any better over the coming months (as you will soon see).

On a positive note, the media prediction was 3rd so the team had some quality, but like many lower league clubs there was a distinct lack of strength in depth.

First of all I needed to build on my staff, so promptly captured a scout and youth coach. I fully trusted my scout's (and ass.man's) assessments of players and opted not to use the player/staff search at this stage.

So, my new recruits came in bucket loads, with focus on signing two full-backs, a steely midfielder and at least one young striker amongst others for cover.

http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n605/fjsimo8/DroylsdenTransfers_History.png

Now for the difficult bit, getting Droylsden out of their perilous state in the Blue Square Bet North.

It's fair to say it was by no means as fluid as I predicted, and after starting with an F.A Trophy win, we went on a shockingly bad run of 15 games without victory in the league including 14 losses and 1 draw.

At this point resignation did cross my mind often, but I had a feeling that with a stroke of luck our form must turn. The problem was that during this run every single player in my squad had very poor morale so I couldn't find any inspiration from my flagging players. The stroke of luck came in an unlikely form, with my (capped) Congolese holding midfielder Francis Zenaba earing British citizenship. This meant his form alone shot to very good, which I think is the reason for his last gasp winner to end our barren run.

As they say, the rest is history. We somehow managed to claw back at the teams around us and escape relegation by 3 points after a run of 3 wins and 2 draws in our final 5 games. I was obviously ecstatic with this zero-to-hero transformation and relished the season ahead!

http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n605/fjsimo8/BlueSquareBetNorthInformation_Stages.png

Final Position: 18th

Cups: F.A Cup: Second Qual. Round - F.A Trophy: First Round. I had no real say or focus on cup competitions, so was not fussed with these defeats. The board was happy with our F.A. Trophy performance for some reason,which probably bought me time!

Key Players:

Francis Zenaba (http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n605/fjsimo8/FrancisZenabaProfile_Attributes.png) - Pretty much saved my season, and kept the midfield ticking along nicely after his arrival.

Darren Barnard (http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n605/fjsimo8/DarrenBarnardProfile_PlayerAttributes.png) - His legs may have gone years ago, but he popped up with some timely bullet free kicks and penalty conversions.

Nat Kerr (http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n605/fjsimo8/NatKerrProfile_Attributes.png) - My defensive rock towards the business end of the season, I fought hard to tie him down to a new contract.

Ciaran Kilheeney (http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n605/fjsimo8/CiarnKilheeneyProfile_Attributes.png) - Top goalscorer on 14 goals in all competitions, his goals drove the turnaround to our campaign.

Aspirations - I aim to build on the squad in the summer, and hopefully carry the feel-good factor on to drive a play-off push next season!

C'mon you Bloods!

[433tom]

Nice job clawing out of the relegation zone. Best of luck going forward.

BTW... I can't view any of your links and the web site asks me to sign in to view the links.

[rjfreeman]

BTW... I can't view any of your links and the web site asks me to sign in to view the links.

Yeah, me too.

[greenwhitearmy]

Good luck, maybe you could upload your images to Photobucket cause we can't see them.

[brFM2011]

Agree with comments about the links, if not i'l sign up .

Goodluck in the future pal.

[FrazerBleedsLiverpoolRed]

Cheers for the feedback guys, I've switched to photobucket as advised!

[Joseph BetBet]

Who's this guy?! I just got the Droylsden job on my save, played 3, won 2, lost 1 so safe to say a better start then you .

I'll keep checking back to see how your going matey but I've got a play-off push to oversee!

[FrazerBleedsLiverpoolRed]

There's a long way to go BetBet (or lurker should I say?) But good luck nevertheless! It seems like The Bloods are usually willing to give rookies a shot which is refreshing.

I have built on my team but finance is tight, I'll hopefully be updating soon!