[FM24] Local Hero Challenge - Solway Edition

[Rick87]

 

Greetings all, I've made this for my own personal amusement, however if anyone would like to join in they are most welcome to do so!

 

Challenge Aim

Very simple, starting with no coaching badges and Sunday League experience, you must acheive Champions League glory, collecting a glittering assortment of trophies along the way. 

The Hard Part

Not so simple, You must acheive this with clubs based within 30 miles of your home. This will obviously be easier for those who live in big cities and have numerous large clubs with big budgets and great facilities. For those who live rurally, this may require you to download league expansions to open up the lower tiers. I personally use and recommend England - Level 10 by Lional Messi, Scottish Pyramid by william nicol and Wales Level 10 by FMUpdates (Part of a megapack)

If you have moved from one area to another, I leave it completely up to you which locality you will represent so long as you stick to the 30 mile rule.

The Even Harder Part

You may only use players who fulfill the local criteria;

* Were born in a town within 30 miles of you

* OR Came through the academy of a club within 30 miles of you.

*  OR Currently, or in the case of free agents, most recently, played for a club within 30 miles of you.

 

If you are unsure about all the clubs in your vicinity, https://www.footballgroundmap.com/grounds/nearest is an excellent resource that will show you clubs from all tiers in England, Scotland and Wales. (I'm not sure about anywhere else)

 

Good luck and have fun representing your hometowns, developing new local stars and bringing pride to those around you. You hometown hero you!

Edited Monday at 07:25 by Rick87

[Rick87]

So onto my own challenge;

I live in Cumberland, close to the border with Scotland, so I have a few options both North and South of the Solway Firth, though none of them will be easy to turn into Champions League contenders!

I've started with England expanded down to level nine and Scotland down to Scotland to the sixth tier, there was no need to go lower as there are no eligible clubs for me below that.

I'm going to start off unemployed and see which, if any of these jobs are available. The goal of this challenge isn't to take a single club all the way up the ladder, I can hop between clubs as my reputation grows or if I get fired, but whilst always adhering to the 30 mile rule.

So, without any further ado, let's get going!

[Rick87]

Three eligible jobs were available on day one, Mid Annandale, Lochmaben, and Abbey Vale. All three clubs compete in the South of Scotland League at step six of the Scottish system.

All three offered me an interview, but in the end, I opted for Mid-Annandale, for no reason other than liking the kits and badges better.

 

Full Name: Mid-Annandale Football Club

Nickname: The Mids

Founded: 1877 (Originally) 1959 (Reformed)

Ground: New King Edward Park, Lockerbie

Capacity: 1,000

League: South of Scotland League

2022/23: 6th of 12

 

  

New King Edward Park

 

Sadly, the small town of Lockerbie in Dumfries & Galloway is known worldwide for the terrorist bombing of a Pan-American aircraft in December 1988, which killed all 259 people on board the plane and eleven residents of the town due to the falling debris. 

The football club traces its roots back to 1877, it however folded and reformed several times before the current incarnation was established in 1959, at the time called Lockerbie Boys Club. They maintain a strong rivalry with Lochmaben FC as well as Upper Annandale. Both of whom we will play in the league this season.

For those who don't know much about the football system outside of the SPFL, there is no automatic promotion route from the tiers below, the only way to go up is via several rounds of play off's, making it more difficult for smaller clubs to gain in stature than it is South of the border in England.

We are in the South of Scotland Football League at step six. The winners of the three divisions feeding into the Lowland Football League enter a three-team round-robin to decide who goes up. Similarly, in tier five, the winners of the Highland and Lowland leagues have to play off for a single promotion berth to League Two. Hopefully that all made sense!

Twelve clubs are competing in the SoSFL in 2023/24;

As you would expect in a regional league, all the clubs are clustered fairly close together, us being the most South-Easternly, about fifteen miles from the English border.

So that's a bit of background about the club and the league we will be participating in. In my next update, I'll have a look at the facilities and the players I have on day one.

[Rick87]

Day One

 

Here is a look at the club in terms of its facilities, they are certainly not great and will need improving if we are ever to progress into the upper reaches of the game here in Scotland, but to do that we will need to earn some money, and to do that we will need to attract supporters to King Edward Park. That's where I come in!

Presently, I am the only staff member at the club, so I will need to recruit a physio and at least one other coach.

On the playing team, only eighteen-year-old goalkeeper Domanic Duffy is a real player, the rest are generated, I will need to try and bring in a few new faces to bolster the squad to help us compete at the right end of the table. This league is amateur, except for Stranraer's reserves, who are evens to win the league.

The board wants a top-half finish, which I think is certainly achievable. In addition to the SoSFL, we are also competing in three cups;

The South Challenge Cup, most recently won by Spartans, is for clubs in the Lowland League and its three feeder leagues. The South of Scotland League Cup is just for the twelve clubs in our division, Abbey Vale currently hold it. and the Scottish Junior Cup is open to all clubs at tier six or below, the current champions are Ayrshire-based Crumnock Juniors.

The squad has already played two pre-season games whilst managerless, I have three games to try and get things right tactically before the season kicks off away at Wigtown.

[Rick87]

July & August 2023

 I've had a mixed start at the beginning of my tenure at King Edwards Park. We have won, drawn, and lost one in the league. Before we come to that though, let's first take a look at the influx of new faces in Lockerbie;

Strengthening in some positions has been a challenge due to the rule of only signing players who hail from within thirty miles of me in Cumberland, there is not a big talent pool in this largely rural part of the country, so I haven't been able to bring in as many players as I might have liked. That being said, I still have ten additions who will form the core of my squad this season.

 

Name	Position	Age	Place of Birth	Previous Club
Adam Main	CM or ST	31	Whitehaven	Penrith
Daniel Harvey	CD	23	Carlisle	Carlisle City
Lewis Rooks	CM	20	Carlisle	Crook Town
Charlie Birch	LB	21	Carlisle	Workington
Ross Hay	RW	20	Dumfries	Arthurlie
Adam Walton	RB or CM	20	Carlisle	Kendal Town
Ethan Notman	CM	19	Dumfries	Queen of the South
Steven Black	CB	31	Dumfries	Dalbeattie Star
Owen Bell	CM	24	Dumfries	Cumnock
Sam Henderson	GK	24	Dumfries	Queen of the South

 

Onto the business of results; The first two friendlies were before I took charge of the Mids, so I can't comment on them, however, the three games I was in the dugout for were all good performances. We held Cowdenbeath to a goalless draw which was impressive given they are a club of considerably larger stature than us. We were unfortunate not to get anything from the game against Northern Premier League Workington, we looked on course for a credible draw but were denied six minutes from time when Reds midfielder Bobby Carroll caught us out with a long-range strike.

Pre-season did at least end with a win as we overcame Vale of Leithen thanks to a 73rd-minute finish by winger Scott Munro.

I couldn't have wished for a better start to our season than putting Wigtown & Bladnoch to the sword, 3-0, in a convincing show. Wingback Charlie Birch was on fire, making a constant nuisance of himself down the left flank, scoring the first goal, and supplying chances for his teammates. Striker Adam Main also didn't delay in bagging what will hopefully be the first of many goals for Mid-Annandale when he was on hand to tap home a loose ball in the six-yard box before winger Ryan Muirhead made it three. We could have won by considerably more had our finishing been a little sharper.

A stoppage-time equalizer stopped us from progressing in the League Cup against Abbey Vale, it looked as if substitute Michael Craig had won the tie in the 83rd minute when he headed home from a corner, however, we failed to hold on and conceded deep into stoppage time to force extra-time.  Neither side managed to win in extra time so we went down to penalties, with Vale running off 5-4 winners.

We lost the lead twice at home to Newton Stewart, with Adam Main scoring a brace, frustratingly we couldn't see the game out again and had to settle for a point. The game against Dalbeattie was a disaster from the start, they were two up within ten minutes and added a third early in the second half. There was some home when Star had a man sent off with fifteen minutes to go, we went all out and earned a penalty quickly after, unfortunately Adam Main struck the post and the momentum that had been building was destroyed.

So, a mixed start for me with the Mids, there is plenty to work on and put right, but also plenty to be encouraged by. Hopefully, we can find some more consistency in September;

 

 

Edited June 29 by Rick87

[Rick87]

September 2023

Lorimer Park, home of Nithsdale Wanderers. The scene of a humbling defeat for us this month.

My team's form remains inconsistent, but there are signs of improvement on the whole, with our general play not looking too bad after I transitioned to a more direct approach tactically.

Defeating top-of-the-table St Cuthbert's was a good result, which was brought about by a formations switch from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1, midway through the second half, necessitated by us being dominated by the opposition's sleek passing. Having an extra man further up helped stem the tide and begin applying pressure of our own, which was rewarded in the 81st minute by winger Ross Hay's winner.

Following the win over St Cuthbert's, we felt confident against Nithsdale, until an abdominal injury to goalkeeper Sam Henderson on the day of the game, forced me to put in untested Dominic Duffy for his professional debut. To say his first appearance didn't go to plan is an understatement as the visitors peppered our goal with shots to test the rookie keeper. Time and again he was left picking the ball out of his net, not that he was entirely to blame, the whole team played dreadfully but I was glad that Henderson would be back for the next game. 

With Henderson restored to the line-up, we faced our closest rivals, Lochmaben with local bragging rights at stake, While we didn't win, it was at least an improved performance (It could hardly be worse than the 5-0 drubbing) Dan Harvey's header put us ahead, that lead lasted eight minutes as the noisy neighbors equalized with a shot from distance. We had better chances to win, however, we just couldn't convert one of those opportunities and were forced to settle for a point.

Before the final game of the month, I completed the transfers of two new faces;

Frazer joins us on loan from Lowlands League outfit Dalbeattie Star, he will give me a rotation option for Adam Walton at right back.

19-year-old Andy started his career as an academy graduate at Ayr, before joining Queen of the South, unfortunately, he never established himself as a Doonhamer and was loaned out to Lochar Thistle and Kello Rovers. I intend to help him find a home at King Eddie's Park.

Finally, with two new signings, some more tactical refinement, and work in training on our chance creation and conversion, things clicked into place against Creetown, A brace from Owen Bell, either side of Adam Main's fourth of the season was enough for us to claim what I think was a much needed three points. We didn't have things all our way, Creetown did equalize not long after halftime, however, we kept going and did enough to deserve our win.

I was a little disappointed to go out of the Juniors Cup at the first hurdle to Belshill, we're now out of two of the three cups we're participating in this season, I'd been hoping for a run in one of them. Perhaps we will do better in the Southern Challenge Cup.

My pre-season objective was to record a top-half finish, and so far we look on track to achieve that. Hopefully, as the influx of new players settles and bonds, we will become more consistent and propel ourselves into the upper echelons of the table.

[Rick87]

October 2023

Action against Upper Annandale

Things are looking up for us at the moment, three wins from three games in October, and unbeaten in five. We may have turned a corner and established a vain of form.

It was Mids Vs. Uppers in the Annandale derby, the 68 supporters in attendance weren't exactly treated to a classic match, however, a low cross caused Lewis Hyslop to accidentally turn the ball past his own goalkeeper with nine minutes to go, to hand us a big three points.

It was another close-fought game at home to Edinburgh-based Tranent in the South Challenge Cup. Left-winger Ryan Muirhead scored the only goal as we reached the third round, where we will face East of Scotland league side Linton Hotspur at home next month.

Finally, we traveled West to Stair Park to face Stranraer Reserves, who were heavily fancied to win the division back in pre-season, they however have started underwhelmingly and find themselves in the bottom half of the table. We took full advantage of their perceived weaknesses as we raced into a 3-0 lead at halftime lead, Ryan Muirhead scoring in a second consecutive game. Stranraer pulled one back which made me a little nervous, however, Ross Hay alleviated me of any doubts when he scored his second goal of the season and helped us up to fourth!

There are only two games to play in November, first, we face Linton in the Challenge Cup on the 22nd, before we contend with Lochar Thistle away in the league three days later.