[FM16] Football is simple, to win you have to score one more goal than your opponent

[chile_paul]

After a couple of years where I've been away from these forums and from Football Manager, I'm going to attempt a return to form with my new career thread. The intention is that this will be a journeyman thread with a number of goals that I'm going to attempt to achieve along the way:

I'll detail these in time, but they include:

- Taking my team, Newcastle United, to the top of the game and win everything with them

- Break through the dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain

- Win all of the major competitions (Champions League, World Cup, European Championships) with teams from Eastern Europe

- Coach a Youth Player (YP) to become World Player of the Year

- Win a major league championship with only youth players

- Win a major league championship with only players signed from that nation

- Complete the Pentagon challenge

- Ensure that the current "Big 4" i.e. Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal are all relegated to the Championship or below - I'm not sure if this is even possible or how long it would take, but essentially I want to promote enough lower league teams (not in the Premier League at the start of the game) to become dominant forces in the Premier League, forcing the Big 4 out.

I'm not sure if I'll make it through all of these, but we'll see how far we get.......

I start as an unemployed English manager with a Sunday league reputation.

I'm currently in season 4 of my career, so I'll have a few updates to make today - I expect I'll be doing annual or mid / full season updates as I don't have as much time free to do monthly updates as I did in my previous careers. Unfortunately I have far less time than I used to for playing FM so it may take me a while to get through all of this. I hope you will all stick with me!

[chile_paul]

So this is my handsome self, surely there are plenty of football chairmen who would offer such a trustworthy looking fellow a job?

.....and look I'm really good at some things. Note, I'm really good at managing finances and that's what's really important isn't it (stats are actually from the end of season 2)? I haven't got a clue what I've done to upset the kids......

[chile_paul]

So after a few days on holiday, whilst firing off faxes to football chairmen across the globe, it was actually one of my local clubs that offered me an opportunity. With the possibility of being just up the road from the Toon, with the possibility of getting to matches when we weren't playing, Berwick Rangers had grabbed themselves a new manager.

Just a short jaunt up the road for me then....

According to Wikipedia:

Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, on the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of Scottish football, and are the only club from outside Scotland in theScottish Professional Football League. The club play at Shielfield Park, which has a capacity of 4,500 and are currently managed by chile_paul who started his first role in football management in charge of the side in August 2015 after Colin Cameron was sacked.

They are one of a handful of teams in the world to play in a national football league other than their own country's, where both countries have their own fully professional competitions.

The town of Berwick-upon-Tweed is near to the Scottish border and is closer to Edinburgh than to Newcastle upon Tyne. The old town is on the Scottish side of the traditional border, the River Tweed, and Berwick has formerly been part of Scotland.

The stadium isn't the best.......

[chile_paul]

Club Overview

Berwick entered the millenium up in Ladbrokes League 1 but have spent the last 7 seasons in the lowest possible League. The media are predicting a 3rd place finish, in the play off places, which is in line with my expectations

Facilities

Finances - looking healthy with £130k in the bank balance, but I'm sure this won't last for too long

Staff - umm, where is everybody??

Squad Overview

Key Players

Ewan McNeil looks to be a very promising prospect - at this level 16 for crossing is immense and I'm expecting to develop a tactic that see's him regularly bombing up the right wing with an attacking instruction from right back to send in crosses to the box

Michael McKenna is our most valuable player and has more than sufficient qualities to perform at this level

Hot Prospect

Finn has plenty of promise for his age, good speed and work rate as well as decent creative skills will lead him to move straight into the first team as my first choice in midfield as my Box to Box midfielder

[chile_paul]

Despite being relatively happy with the shape of my squad, it was clear that we needed to strengthen in a number of positions to really push on and challenge for the title. In particular I was concerned that we lacked depth in the squad in central defence and we were overly reliant on Michael McKenna in an attacking midfield role. As such, unsurprisingly, I looked to the loan market and free transfers for opportunities to strengthen.

Craig Johnston - joined on loan from League 1 Cowdenbeath to give some pace on the right wing, with his crossing stats backed up by Ewan McNeil from right back I was going to be looking to fire in crosses from the right wing all day long - and in fact I set up my tactic to dominate play down the right flank to benefit from this obvious strength

Grant Evans - this might be a mistake but I shelled out £7k to bring in an experienced central defender in Grant Evans from Highland Football league Irvine Meadows. He's good in the air, I just hope his lack of pace doesn't catch us out.

Jamie Doris - I was really pleased to be able to pick up this talented New Zealand youngster after he had been released from Hibs - he should develop into a really strong central midfielder

Jordan Cairnie - not the strongest defensive talent in the world, but I needed some depth to cover for injuries and taking Jordan on loan from Morton was a no brainer

Fiacre Kelleher - delighted to have been able to convince a Celtic youngster to join on loan, Fiacre will be my starting left back. His pace will have to cover up his defensive frailties however.

Scott Roberts - potentially the pick of the bunch, Scott Roberts has great potential to be my main attacking playmaker and is at least as good as Michael McKenna in my opinion. I'll be looking for plenty of assists from him.

[chile_paul]

By March in Season 1, we are doing well, if not blowing the doors off it. We're in 4th position, just inside the play-off's but not a million miles away from our expected position of 3rd. Annan, however are running away with the title and have a very comfortable cushion over the rest of the chasing pack.

I'm happy with performances from the squad, in particular my key signings are performing well and unsurprisingly Ewan McNeil has the top performances picking up 7 assists in 15 games. We would have been higher up the table is he hadn't been out injured with a broken foot for 4 months......

Dwayne Coultress is very much the surprise package in the squad, depriving star player Michael McKenna from the starting position on the left wing for much of the season. This is a very pleasant surprise as I hadn't expected much from Coultress this season.

Paul Woods joined on a free transfer in January from amateur outfit Queens Park after impressing in the first half of the season (and running us ragged when they beat us 3-0 earlier in the season......)

[chile_paul]

Season 2015/16 Overview

After Annan had made an early break for the title, it looked as though the most we could hope for was a promotion play off place - however after an awful run of form from Annan towards the end of the season, and a significant improvement of form from us post March when an injury crisis cleared up and most of our first team returned to action, it ended up being much closer.

As we approached the final day we were 3 points behind Annan with an adverse goal difference of 2. Therefore if we won by 2 clear goals and Annan lost, we would be promoted. Given Annan hadn't won in 6 games, this was a very real possibility. With 70 minutes on the clock all was going to plan, we were leading 2-0 at home to Montrose and Annan were trailing 1-0 at home to Queens' Park - we were heading up. Alas, it all went wrong, on the 81st minute Morton pulled a goal back and whilst we threw everything at them in the final 9 minutes it wouldn't have made a difference anyway as Annan picked up a 90th minute equaliser to ensure that they were promoted as champions.

The play-off's didn't go well, despite giving Elgin a right go in the away fixture (we had 23 shots, 8 on target) they emerged with a 2-0 win. We were always up against it in the second leg and despite battering them it took us to the 61st minute to break through with the first goal and as we piled forward we left too much space at the back, allowing them to equalise completely against the run of play in the 71st minute.

Key Players

As expected, Ewan McNeil was my star performer all season, running away with the player of the season award, 8 assists from 24 games with 4 PoM awards and an AR of 7.22. I expect more from him next season though, especially if he can stay fit.

Darren Lavery was a surprise up front picking up 20 goals in 33 starts.

Paul Woods however was a disappointment after his much hyped arrival from Queens Park - he just never really got going and was unable to recreate his early season form in our set-up. He picked up 5 goals and 1 assist from 20 appearances for us with an AR of 6.82 compared to 4 goals and 8 assists from 17 games at Queens Park with an AR of 7.39

Hot Prospects

Moving forward I'll show more detail on hot prospects arriving through the academy, but I don't have screenshots for these early seasons, I will however highlight these 2 players who've made it straight into the first team.

[chile_paul]

2016 / 2017 Season

Transfer Update

Plenty of movement in and out of the club as I shifted some of the deadwood and brought in some prospects. I had been pleased to be able to hold on to all of my better players from last season, but I had a feeling that I would need to get promoted this time around to stop them from getting itchy feet.

Bryn Halliwell - GK - Free - At the age of 35, Bryn is reaching the end of his career and will be a back-up to my first team keeper Kevin Walker - however he has plenty of experience playing at Championship level in Scotland, mainly for Clyde, although in recent seasons he's been down in the Highland leagues. The main reason that I've brought him in however is he will double up as goalkeeping coach with a 20 for Coaching Goalkeepers.

Chris Blackett - AM/S C - Free - I'm unhappy with my striking options with only Lavery performing last season so I've brought in a number of other options to lead the line for us. Having been released by Inverness last season, it looks as though Chris could develop into a decent striker at this level.

Kyle Macleod - S C - Loan - having scored against us in the play-off second leg at Elgin, I saw enough to convince me to bring in Kyle on loan from my new parent club Ross County. Hopefully he will start for us up front and get plenty of goals.

Jordan McGregor - D C - Free - the other area I'm really concerned about in the squad is still central defence. Despite spending £7k on Grant Evans last season, he isn't quite at the level I'm looking for and therefore Jordan was my first choice defender to bring in when he was released by Hibs.

Martin McNiff - D LC - Free - having been promoted with Annan last year I was surprised that Martin had been allowed to leave the club and that nobody else was interested in him. Having seen Fiacre Kelleher return to Celtic after his loan spell I was short on left backs and was delighted to pick Martin up on a free transfer

Ciaran Summers - D L - Free - Ciaran arrived from Stenhousemuir in League 1 and will deputise for Martin McNiff, plenty of potential for development over the next few years.

Paul Willis - AM RC - Free - Scott Roberts had also returned to Rangers in the close season following his loan spell with us last year, so I needed an attacking midfielder to create chances for us - either centrally or on the right wing. Especially given how disapppointing Paul Woods had been following his arrival from Queens Park last season. Paul joins from League 1 Albion Rovers.

Tactics

Following our strong showing at the end of last season and the improvements to the playing squad, I've moved to a far more attacking set up this season which I'm hoping will reward us with the league title.

[pullthru]

Long time lurker but my first post on the SI Community - I will definitely be following this story!

[chile_paul]

2016 / 2017 Season

Halfway through the season and we're performing very well indeed, with a comfortable lead at the top of the table - I am wary though that Annan had a similar lead at this time last season and came very close to blowing it on the final day so I'm definitely not counting my chickens....

Performances across the squad are good, Ewan McNeil is once again leading the way, although I am concerned that despite a very attacking set-up we're not scoring enough goals.

[chile_paul]

2016 / 2017 Season

In the end we stormed the league title, winning by a clear 19 points. This could have been so much more, but I started to play some youth players later in the season to give them some game time to aid their development and we only won 2 of the last 7 fixtures.

I was out in the first round in all of the cups, including an embarassing defeat against HIghland League Wick Academy - so the least said about the competitions the better.

Key Players

Ewan McNeil once again picks up my player of the season award, for a series of consistent performances, not only in defence, but also because of his supply of pin point crosses from the right hand side. 19 assists from one player in a season is quite impressive!

Finn Graham is the second player to deserve a mention, developing really well this year and looking more than capable of performing well in League 1 - I just hope his performances don't attract too much attention from larger clubs.

Paul Woods is once again the disappointment, he played regularly in the side, but he's just not been able to generate the performances that I had expected from him.

Hot Prospects

Neil Taylor is the stand-out player from this year's youth intake and is an exciting prospect, but I'm more enthusiastic about the development shown by Stefan Ross from last year's intake. He has really come along and put together a series of decent performances in the last 6 or 7 games of the season. I think I need to give him a chance in the first team squad next year, despite stepping up a league in quality

[Rikulec]

Well done winning the league. I'll definitely be following this, I still rememeber your Sheffield FC thread.

[chile_paul]

2017 / 2018 Season

Transfer Update

I only have a save from towards the end of Season 3, so I've combined both summer and winter transfer windows into one update.

We actually did very little to strengthen over the summer, fairly convinced that given the dominant performance in League 2 this year, the existing squad should be good enough to compete in League 1. The one position that I did need to address was up front, after our on loan striker Kyle MacLeod returned to Ross County. I again turned to the loan market to pull in a young talent from Rangers to help us out - there seems to be a dearth of decent strikers in the lower leagues that I can persuade to join me outright.

We also saw the first 2 of our fledgling youngsters fly off to bigger clubs. Rangers offered £40k for Chris Webber (YP1b) which I accepted as I didn't think he had enough quality to make a claim for a regular first team starting place - the money was also needed to help avert a growing financial crisis. I was less happy to see the chairman go over my head and accept £53k for Stefan Ross (YP1c). At this point Ross was a regular first team starter and he will definitely be missed, he has plenty of potential and I personally wouldn't have sold him for less than £150k

Alex McWaters - S C - Loan -My loan signing from Rangers to replace the departing Kyle MacLeod. McWaters is good but I'd much prefer to have a permanent signing to fill this critical berth in the team.

Ryan Ferguson - AM RL - Free - Ryan had a great season in 2015/16 for Montrose in League 2 but had struggled to make the step up last year to League 1 when he had been signed by Morton and he was eventually released. I saw enough in him to give him another go.

Stephen McKenna - D C/DM/M C - Free - Having been released on a free transfer by Yeovil in the close season, Stephen hadn't found a new club by December, so I gave him a trial and then brought him in on a short 5 month contract to add some experience to my defense / midfield.

Steven MacLean - S C - Free - I was delighted to pick up such an experienced striker. Steven had made 25 appearances in the Scottish Premiership in 2015/16 but his pace has deserted him, so this is a bit of a gamble, albeit low risk as he's only on a contract to the end of the season

[chile_paul]

Well done winning the league. I'll definitely be following this, I still rememeber your Sheffield FC thread.

Cheers Rikulec, good to hear from you, and it's good to be back!!

For anyone who is interested this is my old Sheffield FC thread from back in FM13 days

[chile_paul]

So we end the 2017/18 season in a very similar way to 2015/16 - we'd had a great run in League 1 and to be honest the level of the competition is very similar to League 2.

So with one game to play we're two points off the title, with the third place team Stenhousemuir on the same points and the same goal difference - and I play the team in first place on the final day.

So, if we beat Ayr and we win by more goals than Stenhousemuir win by, then we will be Champions. Alternatively if we don't win and other results don't go our way, we could end up in 4th place! At least we're guaranteed a play-off place which removes some of the pressure from the situation.

[chile_paul]

Well this was a real heart wrencher - we had the best possible start in the match we weren't involved in as Stenhousemuir fell behind in their must win game in the 3rd minute at home to Forfar. Stenhousemuir are a good side however and they've got plenty of goals in them and they fought back with goals in the 23rd and 36th minute. At this point they had the Championship in their grasp as we were still drawing 0-0 at home to Ayr.

Just before halftime though Forfar got an equaliser from the penalty spot, sending the Championship back in the direction of Ayr - but it would be in our hands as long as we could win - and a minute later we got the goal we needed. So at half time we were on 60 points, Ayr were on 59 points and Stenhousemuir on 58 points.

I gave the team some words of encouragement at half time and told them to keep doing what they were doing - we'd bossed the first half and if we played sensibly we could hold on to the win.

In the 48th minute groans went round the stadium at the news that Stenhousemuir had taken a 3-2 lead, that bought them back equal on points and GD with us, but they needed to win by an extra goal than us.......No, wait, hang on that's not right - now that they'd scored 3 goals they had overtaken us on the basis of goals scored. So we needed to score again to draw level.

We started to push forward, and just like in the 2015/16 season this meant that we started to leave gaps in the back - in the 77th minute we made the mistake and let Ayr in to score. That didn't suit either us or Stenhousemuir, as it gave the title back to Ayr!!

What a roller-coaster and for the 2nd time in 3 seasons we'd lost out on the title on the final day.

[chile_paul]

Season 2017/18 - Play-Off semi-final

Berwick Rangers v. Stenhousemuir

This was our chance to get our revenge over Stenhousemuir for their part in costing us the title on the final day - but it wouldn't be easy. In the 4 games we'd played this season, we had won 1, drawn 1 and lost 2.

In what was a very tight first leg, we struck blood early with Finn Graham scoring early as their reserve goalkeeper made 2 calamitous mistakes - first making a poor clearance upfield and losing possession and then failing to claim a cross and fumbling the ball right into the feet of Finn Graham.

Stenhousemuir hit back though and equalised a couple of minutes before half time, rifling in a loose ball in the penalty area after we'd failed to clear their corner.

Another goalkeeper error gave us back the lead just after half time as he was unable to prevent a shot from Michael McKenna which was fired directly at him from deflecting into the back of the net, and finally a few minutes before full time McKenna picked up his second after a nicely played through ball from my young right winger Gerry Fox (YP3a) was missed by the Stenhousemuir defence and landed right at his feet.

In what was a very close game we were flattered by the 3-1 scoreline, but I wasn't complaining!

In the second leg, my only focus was not to concede first, as that would have started the nerves racing. Despite being on the back foot for much of the game we never fell behind and indeed we got the early lead I was looking, Ryan Ferguson crossed into their box from the left and was missed by 3 Stennie defenders before it landed at the feet of Paul Willis who stroked it into the back corner. They hit back with a beautiful goal quickly in the 16th minute, but when we got a second away goal from Ryan Ferguson in the 30th minute it meant they needed to score 3 to progress. We shut up shot and whilst they got 1 of the 3 goals they needed we were never in any real danger.

We were through to the final.

[chile_paul]

2017/18 Season - Play-off Final

Berwick Rangers v. Raith Rovers

In the final we were pitted against Raith Rovers who had finished in 9th place in the Ladbrokes Championship. I went into the game relaxed as I wouldn't have been too bothered with another season to strengthen in League 1 - we'd exceeded my expectations for the season and I wasn't sure the squad was yet good enough for the Championship.

The play-off final in Scotland is a 2-legged affair, home and away and we were away at Raith for the first leg. In what was a tight and nervy game, there was little between the two teams. I was surprised as I'd expected to get a bit of a mauling. There were very few chances until we counter-attached in the 68th minute with Alex McWaters running the ball down the right hand flank. When he opted to play the short ball inside to Paul Woods instead of cross into the box, the Raith defenders pushed up but missed the late run from Finn Graham. Woods found Graham and he was unmarked to tuck the ball past the Raith keeper. We held on to win the leg 1-0 with a critical away goal.

The second leg was equally tight, with very few chances from either side - we took the lead in the 21st minute thanks to Alex McWaters, but they struck back immediately from the re-start. That made the tie 2-1 on aggregate and critically meant that if Raith scored once, they would be going through on away goals.

We held on though and I was really proud at how we restricted Raith's chances. In the end it was Craig Storie who nicked the final goal of the game for us in the 93rd minute, when a Raith defender cleared the ball from Alex McWater's feet as he was bearing down on goal, only for the ball to deflect straight into Storie's path as he ran towards goals from outside the area, WHAM, BAM, THANK YOU MA'AM

We're up into the Championship!!!

........and just at the end, I caught a glimpse of the outcome of the Championship / Premiership play-off result. Queen of the South from the Championship had just beaten Rangers from the Premiership. So Rangers were back down, and we would be playing at Ibrox next season......

[Nobby_McDonald]

Going great guns Paul.

[chile_paul]

Going great guns Paul.

Thanks Nobby

[chile_paul]

2017 / 2018 Season

I thought we'd do quite well in League 1 this season, and I harbored hopes of just scraping into the play-off's but I never thought we'd be pushing for the league title on the final day. In the end we did have to rely on the play-off's and I'm delighted to have made it through this route, so that we're heading up next season!

Key Players

Ewan McNeil is my player of the season for the third time in a row, another 19 assists this season from 40 appearances. However I imagine that he's going to be found wanting in the Championship - I don't think we will be able to afford him as much opportunity to bomb forward and hit crosses into the box and his defensive skills will really be put to the test

Finn Graham has gone from strength to strength and is really developing into a good player - I think he'll continue to excel in the Championship and could well develop into a Premiership player.

Michael McKenna has also, for the first time really, started to deliver against his potential; he had a great season picking up 16 goals and 6 assists with an average rating of 7.32

Hot Prospects

Gerry Fox is this years hot prospect from the youth intake - as you can see from his stats on the squad page he went straight into the first team and had some stand out performances in his first few appearances. Potentially a real star for the future. However he will have some fighting to do as there are plenty of other players looking to play in this position.

[chile_paul]

Long time lurker but my first post on the SI Community - I will definitely be following this story!

Thanks, only just seen your post - delighted to have you following!

[chile_paul]

2018 / 2019 Season

It was clear that we would have to strengthen in most area to be able to compete in the Championship with far larger clubs. I had fully expected that the chairman would allow us to turn professional along with the other teams in the division; however instead he decided to sell up - throwing us into the turmoil of a transfer embargo just as the transfer window opened at the time we should have been bringing new players in. To top it all off, the new chairman then refused to turn us professional and we had to do some frantic scurrying around to bring in new faces - even so, I'm fairly pleased with the new arrivals.

Scott Roberts - AM CR / M C - Free - Remember this name? Scott had been on loan with us in our first season in League 2 and had been one of my top performers. He's been back developing at Rangers since, but was deemed not to be good enough and was released having played only 2 senior games for them. He'll go straight into our first team and has developed into a really good prospect.

Kenny Gilhaney - AM L - Loan - I changed my parent club last season to Celtic and whilst Kenny wasn't my first choice (they've got a really good right and central defender called Tony Ralston who I was really keen to bring in, but he wouldn't join) he'll do a good job on the left wing, having said that he's got some tough competition for that spot with Ryan Ferguson and Michael McKenna so it will be difficult to fit them all in

Ben Richards-Everton - D CR - Free - We really needed to strengthen at centre back, especially given that we'd lost Stefan Ross (YP1c). Ben is a class defender joining on a free after being released by Dunfermline

Colin Hamilton - D L / WB L - Free - A decent left back, although I think he is limited as an attacking threat, but it's another area that we really needed to strengthen as our existing options are limited. Once Colin joined I allowed one of the weaker options, Martin McNiff, to leave.

Michael Black - S C - Loan - Once again we're pinning our goal scoring hopes on a loanee; although I think Michael Black is a step above the recent loan signing's we've had. I think he's got the potential to be a leading striker for a Premiership club and hopefully he'll develop those credentials with us.

Jordan Preston - S C - Free - Whilst we're relying on the loan market this season for our main striker, I'm hoping that Jordan will be waiting in the wings and stepping into the limelight next season.

Nicolas Caraux - GK - Free - Kevin Walker has done well for us in recent seasons, but we needed some more experience between the sticks for this step up in competition. Frenchman Caraux is older, at 27, with several years of previous experience playing in the Championship.

Jassem Sukar - D C - £7.25k - Another really solid central defender, with experience at this level having been relegated with Raith last season. His one negative point is that he developed through the Mackem's youth academy.......

Alex Harris - AM RL - Free - My scouts told me that I should sign Alex whatever the price, he looks like he's got potential but at the age of 24, he won't have many years to develop, so I must admit to being sceptical; but he hasn't cost me anything so it's a no lose situation.

[chile_paul]

2018 / 2019 Season - Mid-season Update

So, half way through the season and results have been going as well as I could possibly have hoped and we're sitting just outside the play-off positions. Our fixture list couldn't have been tougher with a trip to face Rangers at Ibrox first up, then to compound things after easy wins in the first rounds of both the League Cup and League Challenge Cup we drew Rangers twice! So we had to face the strongest team we've ever faced 6 times this season!

On all three of those first three match up's we were beaten, but it was by a single goal each time and that gave us confidence that we weren't too far off the pace - 5 or 6 games into the league fixtures we'd picked up a few points and had built a bit of a cushion between us and bottom placed Ayr and that gave us even further confidence to push on.

Finn Graham is showing he is more than capable at playing at this level and Michael Black is playing as well as I hoped he might.

[chile_paul]

Hmmmm. Falkirk manager Billy Dodds has just been head hunted by struggling Hamilton Academicals in the Ladbrokes Premiership, leaving a vacancy in the team in 3rd place, 5 points above us.

I feel I've still got a job to do with Berwick, however, I've virtually secured their status in the Championship this season and I'm frustrated by the chairman's reluctance to turn the club professional which is going to hold back our development.

[chile_paul]

I attended the interview, it was after all the first interview I've been invited to in the game, what do I do now?

[Rikulec]

Falkirk seem to be a much bigger club, and you've done quite well with Berwick this season already, potentially leaving them in a good position to stay in the league. I'd say go for it.

[Nobby_McDonald]

You're doing very well with Berwick. I'd stay for now.

[chile_paul]

Sorry Nobby, this was too good to turn down - and I didn't want to be held back by being kept as a semi-pro club.

....and I think that is a pretty harsh write up of my time at Berwick if my 2 promotions in 3 years get overlooked for one early cup exit

[chile_paul]

I don't have too far to travel....

[chile_paul]

Falkirk Football Club are a Scottish professional association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1876^[3]and competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. Falkirk won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 1913. After 1945, Falkirk were promoted and demoted between the Premier and First Divisions seven times until 1995–96, and during the 1970s spent three seasons in the Second Division. In 2005, Falkirk were promoted to the Scottish Premier League (SPL). Falkirk won the Scottish Cup again in 1957 and were runners-up in the competition in 1997, 2009 and2015. As a result of its performance in the 2009 Scottish Cup, the club qualified for the inaugural season of the UEFA Europa League in2009–10. Falkirk have won the second tier of Scottish football a record seven times, an honour shared with St Johnstone. They have also won the Scottish Challenge Cup more than any other club, winning it for the fourth time in 2012.

So, we're officially a yo-yo club, although the club haven't been in the top flight since the 09/10 season and the fans are very keen that I put that right.

As I take over, Falkirk are in third place, 10 points off the league leaders Rangers and 5 points clear of Berwick in 4th place. The board have asked me to secure a play-off position which is entirely in line with my expectations. Rangers are too far ahead for me to catch this time around. My aims are to have a crack at promotion via the play-off's but the main focus will be preparing for a tilt at the title next season.

[chile_paul]

Great, my best two players are out injured and I've only just arrived. Alex Cooper is out for the rest of the season with damaged cruciate ligaments. I'm excited about Graham Cummins though, he has plenty of goals in him and I've been on the wrong end of his shooting prowess in games with Berwick already this season.

We have plenty of attacking firepower, realistically that means I'm not that concerned about the two injuries to our best players as there are replacements who can fill in for them. I hame however really worried about defence, in the centre in particular. We're seriously lacking quality here, in particular any sort of pace, which will hinder my attacking style

Graham Cummins - my top goalscorer, with a hell of a right foot

Alex Cooper - out with a long term injury and yet to play for me, but he's clearly got some class. Let's hope he doesn't deteriorate in this long spell on the sidelines

Tom Taiwo - an impressive defensive midfielder. I will need him to cover for some of the defensive frailties of my center backs, although he is lacking pace as well

[chile_paul]

This should help along the way...

....and this as well

[chile_paul]

It doesn't impact us directly yet, but I'm hoping that this might weaken Celtic a bit and help to promote a bit more competition at the top level - we'll be coming after you soon..

....and this just made me chuckle, can't have been an easy conversation

[noikeee]

I also started with Berwick but only lasted a season having finished 5th. You've obviously done immensely better, and definitely deserved the move to Falkirk. Good luck with the new club.

[Rikulec]

That Beckham & Scholes situation was really amusing reading.

[chile_paul]

I also started with Berwick but only lasted a season having finished 5th. You've obviously done immensely better, and definitely deserved the move to Falkirk. Good luck with the new club.

Thanks, really interesting to see another persons experience with the same club - looks like you had similar performances from Darren Lavery, but my star player in Ewan McNeil didn't quite manage to hit the heights that he did in my save.

You're in the Scottish Premiership before me though, albeit by a circuitous route - let's see who wins the Premiership first.....

[chile_paul]

Youth Intake Day

Falkirk have improved youth facilities and recruitment compared to Berwick and a permanent full time HOYD so I was interested to see the quality of the players that were coming through, and I was more than satisfied with the results

4 players showed enough for me to sign up permanently:

George Johnston - really impressive, he will go straight into the first team squad. He lacks aerial power so I'm not sure he'll make it as an out and out striker. I'm going to consider re-training him as an inside forward

Craig Caldwell

Mark Donnelly - another really impressive talent, could be a natural replacement in a few years for Tom Taiwo in a more defensive midfield position

Alisdair Black - a good prospect and we need good central defenders, but he'll be out on loan next season

[chile_paul]

Falkirk - 2018 / 2019 Season

I took over the club in 3rd place, and that's where we finished. We were a strong attacking force throughout the season, but we were vulnerable on the break and struggled to keep clean sheets.

Motherwell and Rangers both pulled away from us, with Rangers lifting the title on the final day of the season after Motherwell fell to defeat. Berwick did really well to hold onto 4th place an in fact they very slightly closed the gap to us, to 4 points.

As a result I would be facing Berwick in the first round of the play-off's. Given the set up of the Premiership play-off's, if we were to beat Berwick (and let's face it, it would be hugely embarassing for me if we didn't) we would face a second round against Motherwell before facing Hamilton Academicals, the team who finished in 11th in the Premiership.

As it happened, we'd only just faced Berwick on the final day - they had battered us in the opening minutes and had taken the lead before we came back at them and eventually won 3-1. It had been exactly the same outcome when we'd played them earlier in the season. I'd be quite happy with the same result this time out.

Play Off 1st Round - 1st Leg - Berwick Rangers v Falkirk

Wow! What a game! Much like the previous meetings, Berwick were really strong to start with and Mitchell Beeney in goal pulled off some incredible saves to keep the ball out of our net, but eventually Berwick scored in the 30th minute. That goal really sparked us into life and we immediately hit back in the 30th minute with a headed goal from central defender Aaron Muirhead. We then hammered home our advantage and essentially put the game to bed by picking up 3 more goals before half time to take us into the break 4-1 up.

Berwick weren't going to lie down though and loanee striker (signed after I'd left) scored just after half time. We then picked up a further goal each to end the first leg with an impressive 5-3 win.

Play Off 1st Round - 2nd Leg - Falkirk v Berwick Rangers

We had done the hard work in the first leg, so I was relatively comfortabe going into the second leg, even more so when the tie was scoreless at half time. The second half was far more interesting though with goals a plenty - but depsite Berwick twice going into the lead we were never really threatened and will go through to the game against 2nd placed Motherwell.

[noikeee]

Thanks, really interesting to see another persons experience with the same club - looks like you had similar performances from Darren Lavery, but my star player in Ewan McNeil didn't quite manage to hit the heights that he did in my save.

You're in the Scottish Premiership before me though, albeit by a circuitous route - let's see who wins the Premiership first.....

Only took me 14 seasons!

withnail316 is gonna beat us both to the title.

[chile_paul]

Play Off 2nd Round - 1st Leg - Falkirk v Motherwell

Motherwell are, in my opinion, currently a much stronger team than us - they really deserve to be in the Premiership but they were relegated in 2017 and haven't yet managed to make it back into the top league. However I fully expected that they would beat us over these two legs and then win the play off decider against Hamilton to feature in the Premiership next season - they were after all almost 10 points clear of us at the end of the normal season and apart from a defeat on the final day could have been promoted automatically.

I have to give credit to my players though, they fought really hard in this first leg, and fought back twice after going behind and matched Motherwell in terms of possession and shots on target. We did however rely on a 92nd minute equaliser from Tom Taiwo to get us that draw. Away goals don't count in the play-off's so in the 2nd leg a draw will take us to penalties, a win will take us into the play off against Hamilton Accies

Play Off 2nd Round - 2nd Leg - Motherwell v Falkirk

We had the disadvantage of being away from home in the 2nd leg and Motherwell were dominant, but we were helped by two unlikely heroes in the form of Daniel Carmichael cutting in from the left hand wing and Aaron Muirhead from the penalty spot. 3 times in normal time Motherwell took the lead and 3 times we pegged them back, forcing the game into extra time. Contrary to how I was feeling at the end of the first leg I was now cursing the fact that away goals didn't count!! As extra time progressed we began to dominate more and for the first time we took the lead thanks to a 2nd penalty from Muirhead, this was our chance and we were progressing to the next round. That was until the 114th minute where Motherwell equalised to make it 4-4 on the night and 6-6 on aggregate! Penalties followed, and lady luck was not on our side.

In line with my initial expectations we'd fallen at this hurdle, but we'd certainly entertained the fans and we'd come so close......

[chile_paul]

That's 24 goals across 4 games - at least it's value for money for the fans, but backs up the need to strengthen my defence.....

[chile_paul]

2018 / 2019 Season - End of Review

Having taken over half way through the season I ended up precisely where I expected to - in 3rd place. Dropping out of the play-off's in the 2nd round was also as per my expectations, although I was surprised that Motherwell weren't able to beat Hamilton Academicals in the final play off round, as a result we'll be playing them again next season.

Key Players

Kieran Duffie - it seems I have another decent right back. Maybe not to the same quality as Ewan McNeil but with 13 assists he has already proved his value.

Kieran MacDonald - hard to believe that this future star had only played one game for the previous manager. He went straight into my first team at left back and had a really solid second half to the season. His predecessor (previously seen as a hot prospect) is now on the transfer list

Scott Wright - loanee Scott Wright had a really solid season for us and we'll need to find a replacement for him next season

Graham Cummins - 21 goals this season is an impressive return. At the age of 31 I should manage to get another good couple of seasons out of him, although this could well have been his peak season.

[noikeee]

At least nobody can accuse your side of being boring...

[chile_paul]

At least nobody can accuse your side of being boring...

That theme continues into this next season......

[chile_paul]

2019 / 2020 - Preseason

Last season proved to me that we didn't have a problem with scoring goals - we were averaging well over 2 goals per game - but we needed to strengthen in defence. So what do you think I did in pre-season. Give me more goals

Joe Thomson - Free - AM RL - I had been chasing Joe Thomson for a while at Berwick but he had been unwilling to join a semi-professional club. With Celtic not wanting to renew his contract I've grabbed the opportunity to snap him up on a free transfer. He has massive potential.

Fawzi Ouaamar - Free - AM C - I was amazed that Fawzi was available on a free transfer from Motherwell, he's just scored two goals against us in the play-off 2nd round. As one of Motherwell's best players last season I can only presume that he'd chosen to leave, although I'm not entirely sure why he thought we were a better option. Regardless, this was a no brainer decision

Aidan Connolly - Free - AM RLC - Another really promising attacking prospect who can play across the front 4 in my squad, joining from Rangers. We're getting a bit congested now though, so competition for spaces will be limited.

Prince Buaben - Free - DM / M / AM C - An experienced midfield general who had a decent >7 AR season at St Johnstone last year with 3 previous seasons in the Premiership at Hearts.

Ashley Pecora - Loan - S C - Really exciting 20 year old striker from Leicester City. His stats look good, although in fairness he had a relatively disappointing time at Burton in League 2 last season, so he's got something to prove.

Now we've done with the goals, let's try to tighten up a bit at the back........

Matthias Bossaerts - Loan - D C - Having been unable to break through at Manchester City, I think it's a real coup that we've been able to bring in this 23 year old Belgian to Falkirk. A huge improvement from our previous defenders.

Oscar Threkeld - Free - D RC / DM / M C - A versatile player who can play in a number of different positions and really help to give the squad depth.

Ross McCrorie - Free - D RC - Ross was actually my first signing as Falkirk manager, signed on my first day in charge, but I had to wait for his contract to expire before he could join. He's hugely exciting though and is a massive prospect for us.

[chile_paul]

Midseason update and we're absolutely flying - one very disappointing defeat away to lowly Dunfermline is the only black mark against us. Once again we're oferring plenty of excitement to the fans with goals aplenty.

[Rikulec]

Storming.

[noikeee]

Surely going up this year.

[smplfc123]

Brilliant thread mate, you've given me the motivation to start my first journeyman with no quals or experience!