[FM21] - Inspried by a Lancashire Lad's Adventure to Eastern Europe

[Chevie]

INTRODUCTION

So recently I was made aware of an article from the BBC regarding former Manchester United youth player James Weir and how he is currently plying his trade out in Slovakia with FK Pohronie.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56120263

As a United fan myself, I found this a very interesting read, seeing a former red testing himself in a different country.

James Weir made his Premier League debut in the same game as Marcus Rashford's goalscoring heroics, on his Premier League debut too, in a 3-2 home win over Arsenal for an injury ravaged Manchester United under then manager Louis van Gaal. With today being the 5 year anniversary of this game it seems pretty poetic to be starting this save now.

The career trajectory differences between the two since then is easy for all to see!

This got me thinking, what if I made this club, from the town of Ziar nad Hronom, a haven for those released by Manchester United, with a view to developing them in a completely different environment and, maybe, helping them revive their careers?

I've also never managed in Slovakia before so this will also be a brand new experience for me too.

 

THE PLAYER

Born in Preston, James Weir started his local club before joining Man Utd's academy in 2008. During his formative years, Weir was even the captain of United's youth and Under-21 sides.

Despite breaking through during the second half of the 2015-16 campaign due to the injury crisis at the club, Weir left United in the summer of 2016, joining Hull City. His spell here, as well as others at Wigan Athletic and Bolton Wanderers, proved fruitless before he was released from his Bolton contract in January 2020.

A few weeks later, Weir joined currently club FK Pohronie in the top division of Slovakian football, leading to this career idea for me.

 

THE CLUB

Founding 2012 when two teams, Sokol Dolna Zdana and FK Ziar nad Hronom, merged together, FM Pohronie are a very young club. In this short time they have already won two pieces of silverware, the 3. Liga - Central and 2. Liga titles gained along their journey to the top division.

For the first time in this club's history, FK Pohronie are competing in the top level of Slovakian league football, having been promoted to this level in 2019 and making it through a COVID-19 hit 2019-20 season, finishing 11th out of just 12 teams, and surviving by just a single point.

 

THE PHILOSOPHY

As briefly eluded to above, my philosophy for this save will be to sign players released by Manchester United having not made it at the club, giving them a place to play regular first team football. I will also be looking to bring a DNA of possession based, but entertaining, football. This will be a longer term goal as I will be mainly be looking at surviving in this league to start with!

And with that, wish me luck as I delve into my latest Football Manager journey!

Edited February 28, 2021 by Chevie

[RaySunshine]

Sounds interesting - keen to see how it works out!

[Chevie]

DAY ONE - A WELCOME TO THE CLUB

The club vision for this team fortunately has little to no restrictions, with no playing style or transfer preferences I need to adhere to and with an expectation to only "Fight bravely against relegation". This gives me freedom to go with my philosophy of signing former Manchester United players with a bit of leeway if things take a while to get going!

 

CURRENT SQUAD REVIEW

Goalkeepers:

Two decent goalkeepers, Hrdlicka and Jenco, to start with here. Although both are only rated as good for 2. Liga. There's high potential in reserve with Dovec but he's not near being ready for the first team yet, especially with those poor technical attributes when I'm playing on a possession based side eventually! Repisky, currently out on loan, also has okay potential but my main development focus will be on Dovec.

Defenders:

Britto, Pavlik and Heurtaux give a good base for a defence, Zupa could be improved upon at left back though. The back up defenders don't inspire too much confidence but at least they have room to improve.

Midfielders:

A couple of decent players here but certainly need more. Weir is almost certainly a starter which is a good sign since he was the main reason for this save!

Forwards:

Here is definitely an area of the squad I will be looking to invest in. My best forwards, both currently and potential wise, are on loan.

[Chevie]

EARLY TACTICAL THINKING

So based on the players currently in the squad, a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 would be the best shapes to start with. These are good formations for a possession based side with the 2 central midfielders and attacking midfielder giving me 3 players in central areas (and then a 4th since my left backs aren't the best at crossing so an IWB will be used here).

So these are my early thoughts on a formation and instructions. The in possession team instructions should lead us to being careful when we have the ball, looking after it and working for opportunities. Out of possession we want the ball back quickly. In transition doesn't fully match with a possession based strategy but who doesn't like the thrill of a goal on the counter?

The IWB plus the gap left by the MEZZ, DLP covers the FB so keep a better shape in defensive transition. The FB and W should provide outlets to supply the IF and AF.

[Chevie]

FORMER MANCHESTER UNITED PLAYERS BROUGHT IN ON TRIAL

So to start as I mean to go on with the new philosophy, I have offered trials to all free agent players I could find on my database who had spent time in the Manchester United academy.

Unfortunately, Danny Simpson, Ravel Morrison and Aiden Barlow rejected my trial offers. Considering they all have interest from a slew of Championship clubs back in England I can't really blame them to be honest!

I have managed to get in the rest of those I offered a trial to:

David Jones, Chris Eagles, Cameron Stewart and Reece Brown are the most recognisable names here. Unfortunately only David Jones appears that he would be of any use in my current squad with 3.5 star current ability. Although I am tempted to bring in Sam Allardyce for the name alone!

Edited February 28, 2021 by Chevie

[Chevie]

FIRST GAME, FIRST WIN, JAMES WEIR MAN OF THE MATCH

So, I don't plan on doing match-by-match updates for this career, but since the whole reason I'm at this club is down to James Weir I thought it was worth talking about my opening match between the First and Second XIs.

Not only did James Weir score the opening two goals, but he also set up the third goal to finish the game off. Not a bad start for the man who brought me to FK Pohronie!

The first one was a bit special too, popping it into the top corner from 25 yards out. The second, a lovely team move showcasing an early example of the entertaining, passing football I want to see.

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by Chevie

[Dong21]

Really like the concept @Chevie - looking forward to following along and seeing what you can achieve with Pohronie! 

When I saw you had taken Brown on trial, I was hoping it was Wes! 

With regards to your philosophy, in addition to signing former United players, can you also take current United players on loan? 

[Chevie]

Nice to have you on board @RaySunshine and @Dong21 - hope i won't let you down

6 minutes ago, Dong21 said:

When I saw you had taken Brown on trial, I was hoping it was Wes! 

Oh how I wish it was, would have been a perfect first signing!

6 minutes ago, Dong21 said:

With regards to your philosophy, in addition to signing former United players, can you also take current United players on loan? 

I hadn't thought of this, but I don't see why not? My main targets will still be those released by United but could expand this to give those there currently a chance to play first team football. Especially this early on in the save when there isn't many former players available.

[Dong21]

11 minutes ago, Chevie said:

I hadn't thought of this, but I don't see why not? My main targets will still be those released by United but could expand this to give those there currently a chance to play first team football. Especially this early on in the save when there isn't many former players available.

Seems like a good approach season one if the number of available players is limited. Still fits with your ethos of developing players who’ve come through the club.

From the end of the season United will start releasing players and you should have some decent options 

[Chevie]

PRE-SEASON RESULTS

Well, pre-season couldn't have gone much better. No-one is going to complain about 7 wins from 7.

Average 57% possession is a good start for my goal to be playing possession based football. 15 shots per game also shows that it isn't possession with no end product.

Hopefully we can carry this form into the start of the season and can look forward to a positive and progressive season.

[Chevie]

EVE OF THE SEASON - WHAT LIES AHEAD?

Well, I think this says it all about what we can expect this season. After their 11th placed finish in 2019-20, FK Pohronie are the longest odds to win the league at a staggering 700-1. A long season ahead I'm sure but my good pre-season gives me at least a little hope of a relatively successful year.

As things stand, I have as yet been unable to bring in any former Manchester United players on a free transfer or currently youth players on loan. As mentioned previously only David Jones is of any quality for free agents but he wants over £2k in wages and we can only offer around £1k. In terms of loans, only Dylan Levitt, Ethan Galbraith and Anthony Elanga are available for loan (the rest are set to unavailable so I can't even tempt United with a bid! - there's also issues around not being able to sign a pro-contract until  you're 17 and can't be loaned abroad until 18 which gives no options from the U18s that I can sign on loan). Levitt and Galbraith's loan requirements are not possible to cover (£9k and £7k respectively) so only Elanga (£1k) is affordable. Unfortunately central midfield is the position of most concern for me so David Jones (who's trial has been extended for 4 weeks) is the number 1 target I want to bring in. Hopefully the longer he remains a free agent the lower his wage demands become!

Back to the season, our opening game is against Nitra (predicted to finish 8th with odds of 200-1) away from home so expecting a tough encounter. Wish me luck!

[Dong21]

Good luck for the season ahead @Chevie and fingers crossed Jones lowers his wage demands! 

[Chevie]

AUGUST 2020

Results:

Well, what a start to the season that was! A brilliant team showing to kick things off away to Nitra. It was an almost perfect performance from back-to-front, letting up just 2 shots (both off target) and creating 17 chances of our own. Following that were two scrappy wins (firstly though a goal from a set piece against Trnava and then the penalty against Trencin), however against two sides predicted to finish in the top five I wasn't expecting a win at all! The excellent defensive showings continued into our 4th game were we played Zlate Moravce who has also won their opening 3 games. It was a very cagey affair with only 6 total shots between the two sides. Then came a real to-and-fro match against Ruzomberok where we finally conceded our first goals of the season but still manged to come out on top.

I really didn't expect to see such a good start to the season based on our pre-season odds but I'm happy to see the form we did build up in pre-season has transferred into competitive games.

My main concern is in central midfield. James Weir had an excellent pre-season in the Mezzala role, however with the fact I have as yet not been able to tie David Jones to a contract he has had to be shifted to my Deep Lying Playmaker and he has not been able to keep that form up (4 goals and 1 assist, average rating 7.11, in 6(1) pre-season games to just 1 assist, average rating 6.34, in 5(0) competitive games). Jones continues to play hardball with his demands but I will keep persisting as my other central midfield options are not defensively aware enough to be my holding midfielder so i need to sacrifice Weir still.

Table:

Joint top after 5 games is beyond my wildest dreams when I started this career. Hopefully we can keep this up and continue to defy the odds as the season progresses. Current title holders Slovan Bratislava are languishing down in 8th so I am expecting a resurgence from them soon.

Monthly Awards:

On loan central defender, and current club captain, Petr Pavlik finished third in the Player of the Month award after our brilliant defensive performances throughout August (just 0.64 xG per match so far - it was just 0.48 before the end-to-end Ruzomberok game).

I would also give a shout out to young forward Bernard Petrak, who wasn't considered first choice but an injury to Alder Da Silva just before the opening game and then a lack of fitness before the Ruzomberok encounter gave him two starts in which he popped in 3 goals. Certainly staking his claim to be my starting forward!

Edited March 2, 2021 by Chevie

[Chevie]

DONE DEAL - FK POHRONIE SNAP UP DAVID JONES

And just like that, David Jones has finally joined! I at last have the midfielder that I hope can lead to James Weir rediscovering his pre-season form, on a contract for half the wage he originally wanted. I had to commit to a second season but his experienced head will be a good thing to have around when I am signing more of the younger players being released by Manchester United from next summer.

[Chevie]

#WELCOMEDAVIDJONES

In honour of David Jones signing I was trying to find a compilation video on YouTube of his greatest moments but all I could find was this time he hit the bar with a free-kick for Burnley in 2014 and a delightful indirect free-kick for Wolves:

Enjoy! Hopefully we see some of the second video over the course of the season

[Chevie]

SEPTEMBER 2020

Results:

Another brilliant month of results for the team. 4 more unbeaten in the league and progression to the next round of the cup. The signing of David Jones has also seen an improvement in the performances of James Weir who grabbed his first goal of the season against Serad. This month also saw Adler Da Silva hit a hot streak of form with 6 goals across the 5 games.

Table:

All this has lead to a 4 point lead at the top of the table after 9 games, although this could get cut to 2 if Zlate Moravce win their game in hand. My next two games are against Dun. Streda, currently second, and Slovan Bratislava, the reigning champions, so I'm expecting some difficult games coming up.

Monthly Awards:

The brilliant team form is evident with both Adler Da Silva and David Jones finishing first and second respectively in the Player of the Month award. This shows me complete justification for the effort I put in to signing Jones. His extra little bit of quality in central midfield, as well as set piece prowess, has improved the side greatly.

James Weir's first goal of the season also made the top three in the Goal of the Month award. In my opinion it involved some suspect goal keeping but it was still an excellent strike from distance.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Chevie

[Chevie]

OCTOBER 2020

Results:

And so the unbeaten run had to come to an end eventually. A brilliant game between the top two teams in the division where we unfortunately could not come out on top. Petrak's late goal gave me hope but we couldn't grab an equaliser. This was followed up with a late, late win over current champions Slovan Bratislava. We had thrown away a 2-0 lead in this match before David Jones stepped up to score a beautiful 93rd minute free-kick. Worth the wages I had to fork out to get him in! Progression in the cup and two further wins in the league keep us top of the table, now by just a single point. We've just started the return games against all teams, completing league doubles over struggling Nitra and mid-table Trencin.

Table:

As mentioned above, we are still holding onto top spot despite losing our unbeaten start to the season. A gap is now starting to form between the top two and the rest so looks like we may be in a two horse race for the title.

Monthly Awards:

N/A

[Chevie]

NOVEMBER 2020

Results:

Performances weren't as up to scratch as previous months. We were heavily reliant on Adler De Silva's form to get us through with a few late goals to pick up points. Progress again in the cup sees us reach the Quarter Finals where we will play 3rd division side Inter Bratislava giving us a very good chance of reaching the Semi Finals. We received a big injury hit with the news that first choice goalkeeper Libor Hrdlicka would be out for 6-7 weeks just before the Michalovce game. With the mid-season break coming up he will only miss 4 games in total but this was still a big loss ahead of huge games against Michalovce and Zlate Moravce.

Table:

With those two drawn matches, we dropped off top spot due to the fact that Dun. Streda do not stop winning (they have won 9 of their last 10 - the only blemish a recent 1-1 draw with Michalovce, seen that a lot recently!). We have now guaranteed a top half finish ahead of the league split after 22 games so we can look forward to guaranteed competing for Europe, and the title, rather than relegation.

Monthly Awards:

N/A

Edited March 6, 2021 by Chevie

[Chevie]

DECEMBER 2020:

Results:

Just a single game at the start of the month against bottom of the table Senica. We were missing our first choice keeper as well as David Jones and Alder Da Silva who picked up knocks in the week leading up to this game. Even with these in injuries we still made more of a meal of this game than we should have having to come back from 2-1 down at half time to claim the victory against a side who have only picked up one single point all season. Bernard Petrak stepping up with two goals and an assist in Da Silva's absence.

Table:

Unsurprisingly, Dun. Streda also won their game this month meaning we went into the mid-season break a single point off top spot.

Monthly Awards:

After our brilliant first half of the season, I have been named as the Slovak Manager of the Year.

The Month Ahead:

So now as we hit January 2021, player contracts are now reaching their final 6 months. This means there are a selection of Manchester United players we can look into signing. The wages on many of these players is too high for us to afford so we will continue to monitor their situation and sign anyone appropriately available when the opportunity arises.

Edited March 6, 2021 by Chevie

[Chevie]

BREXIT PROBLEMS:

Thanks to the Brexit, I now have a new issue to contend with when it comes to future signings. All British players will now be considered as non-EU. Slovak league rules allows a MAXIMUM of 5 non-EU players in my match day squad. I will need to be careful when building my squad using players who haven't made it at United, ensuring I keep this limit in mind. This throws a large spanner into the works and I hope doesn't mess with the challenge too much!

[Dong21]

On 06/03/2021 at 14:12, Chevie said:

BREXIT PROBLEMS:

Thanks to the Brexit, I now have a new issue to contend with when it comes to future signings. All British players will now be considered as non-EU. Slovak league rules allows a MAXIMUM of 5 non-EU players in my match day squad. I will need to be careful when building my squad using players who haven't made it at United, ensuring I keep this limit in mind. This throws a large spanner into the works and I hope doesn't mess with the challenge too much!

That is an unfortunate development @Chevie. Hopefully you can still recruit more ex-United players, even if you do have to focus less on those not born in Manchester. Longer term you could hopefully start to sign players young enough to be naturalised in Slovakia over time.

Results seem to be better than expected - I can see this career developing into a ‘how well can you do in Europe?’ challenge over time!