A Song of Ice and Fire: Two Heroes, One Tale

[phnompenhandy]

This is the story of two managers who are distantly related, though they know it not.

From opposing ends of the Earth, following contrasting philosophies and values, they both seek to earn fame for themselves in the annals of football legend. If they both follow their hearts to the end, they will meet in a titanic battle for the position of GOAT, but that will be at the end of a long long journey.

The first manger I shall introduce to you goes by the moniker 'Ice' for his cool demeanour. unflappable whatever the pressure.

 

And where better to base such a man? Why, here

Yes, the Faroe Islands. You can just make out the southernmost island, a little separate from the others - the tropical one, as the locals like to say. This is Vagar, and our club is Midvagur, or 'MB'. Since 1905 the club has played at the MB Arena (the locals do have their sense of humour as you'll have realised), but the club's new owner, the richest Faroese in the world has invested in the club and relocated it to the famous but previously unused Eidi Stadium. So we've moved from here -

 

to here

Stands will be build and a training complex founded, all in due time. Oh yes, this investor, a fanatical Faroese nationalist, dreams of establishing the tiny and remote nation as an international football powerhouse. Amateur Miðvágs Bóltfelag, currently the weakest side in the fourth tier of the Faroese league is to rise to firstly dominate the domestic scene, and from there conquer the Conference League, Europa League and finally Champions League, bringing up the reputation and fame of other clubs and the national team. BUT every new recruit to the team must be a Faroese-born lad. Entrusted with fronting the footballing side of this crazy idea is honest Ned. As you can see from his profile, he doesn't have any footballing or managerial experience, but he's a Good Man.

I'm not exaggerating about the quality of the team either - this is the 3. Dield Group B final table from last season:

 

The only team worse than them is their own reserves. Ned has a job on his hands.

 

Edited September 2 by phnompenhandy
Updated Ned's profile - taken from end of first season

[phnompenhandy]

Born amidst hot volcanoes and wandering homeless and aimless all her life is 'Fire'.

 

She really knows her football and is unfeasibly talented, but given her gender and lack of a CV, she found herself having to accept the worst job any aspiring football manager could take. Some will already know that according to FIFA, the worst footballing nation in the world is Kiribati, where Dany tried and failed to secure her first job. Yet there is a nation who is unknown even to FIFA and ranks below the bottom place. Wikipedia relates

Quote

News of football from the islands is limited, and the sport seems to have diminished, though there are photos from an 11-a-side match in 2015,,,,They have no known phone number, hindering participation in international events^. The current status of the federation is unknown, with the only evidence of football on the islands seeming to be related to a junior football association

Curiosity led her to fly over to the remote tropical location, an atoll born of a dead volcano, where she found that there were actually three clubs competing in a league, and the worst one was looking for a manager. She has her first gig, as manager of Futuna. The nation in question is Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands.

More from Wikipedia:

Quote

...a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji to the southwest, Tonga to the southeast, Samoa to the east, and Tokelau to the northeast.

The territory is made up of three main volcanic tropical islands and a number of tiny islets. It is divided into two island groups that lie about 260 km (160 mi) apart: the Wallis Islands (also known as Uvea) in the northeast; and the Hoorn Islands (also known as the Futuna Islands) in the southwest, including Futuna Island proper and the mostly uninhabited Alofi Island.

 

Dany's task may not be that onerous - last season they won the championship:

Dany is determined to make a name for herself - and obviously she's not going to do that in a place you've never heard of. Futuna will be a stepping stone. Dany's plan is to win a trophy 9league or cup) at every club she manages, then immediately resign to seek a post in the lowest-ranked available club in a different nation with a higher reputation. She dreams to work her way up to FIFA-ranked nations in Oceania, and from there to African, then Caribbean islands, to mainland Asia and finally to Europe, hoarding trophies and fame along the way.

Here, for your reference, is the current list of FIFA-ranked nations (the bottom end). Consider it a roadmap.

Note, the Faroe Islands rank 137th.

Edited September 2 by phnompenhandy
Updated Dany's profile - taken from Oct 2023

[phnompenhandy]

HOUSEKEEPING POST

155 of the little creatures. 140 leagues from 93 nations (48K players) loaded. You'd think that would send my ancient, creaking rig up in smoke, but if you think about it, with most nations being one league and most of the others only two, and with the 'big nations' I'll never manage in being on 'view-only' (to be upgraded when/if MB gets into Europe), the actual number of matches to process should be far less than a single England L10 db. I hope it's not interminably slow, anyway.

[Stuniverse]

Good luck @phnompenhandy 🍀⚽️🤞

[phnompenhandy]

Dany feels very fortunate that she has dragons, although they're not of great use in ferrying the  players around.

Google Earth is confusing; it maps the territory thus:

The label is over Futuna only; Wallis is off to the top right -

It's a 260 km flight between the two; as i say, three-quarters of the population live on Wallis. But Dany trusts in her managerial skills; she can overcome any odds.

[phnompenhandy]

Dany found herself managing her first club just five days before the season began. The coaching staff had put the squad through their paces, so they were fit to start. The club is wholly amateur and she doesn't feel she can really trust the abilities of any of her backroom, so she's doing everything herself.

Training

She doesn't need to put any thought into squad selection, as her entire squad is 16 players, which constitutes the Starting XI and bench. She's having to work on instilling her tactics, though.

She's quite impressed with three players, such as her main striker, a targetman -

Thre others are ... limited, such as her first choice inside left.

She won't be listening too closely to her assistant -

[phnompenhandy]

Here is more info about the club

and the entire season's schedule

 

That's a lot of downtime! It's not possible to arrange friendlies, or even first team v reserves. It'll be a matter of 'Drill, baby drill' and much gazing at the horizon. She plans to fly to neighbouring islands to promote herself in the hope and expectation that with 12 games under her belt, she'll have a trophy and a right to earn a hearing at another club.

[phnompenhandy]

Ned's situation couldn't be more contrasting. No flighty journeyman is he. Miðvágs Bóltfelag is his life now. "MB 'til I die" is his new tattoo on his forearm.

Get to know the club - we're going to be here for a long time:

Ned's being bedded in gently - it's understood this is a longterm project, yet the ambition is clearly spelt out:

The clubs who regularly qualify for Europe - household names such as KI, HB, B36, EB and Vikingur Gota have good facilities and naturally attract the island kids. We need to compete with that off the field while steadily building a decent reputation on it.

Unlike Dany, Ned does have to listen carefully to his backroom staff as they're all more experienced than he is. This is his assistant:

Kristoffur is much more than just the hand of the Head Coach - he's also player/manager of the B team which - you might have noted, play competitively in the same league as us. The senior team is only allowed a squad of 22 so that the Bs can put a team out.

Here is the squad Ned has selected for the season, and the tactics he's training it in -

The only name Ned can pronounce is the Ghanaian starman, Solly Kwao. Being 31, the investor is allowing him to stay in the squad until he retires. the only other foreigner is our Swedish centreback. Being our other star player, even at 21 he gets a free pass too.

[phnompenhandy]

Here's Solly

Brilliant - but an exception.  You'll notice a lot of family relationships in the squad - unsurprising in a small and remote community. Here's the youngest member of one Ned'll never get his tongue around:

I'm told this should be typical of what to expect from our academy for the next few years.

With no experience to draw on, Ned has no idea if MB will succeed in his first year of finished second-last or even faring better. It'll be an adventure and unlike Dany, Ned's looking forward to it.

Ned hasn't dared to ask yet, but he hopes the management will allow him to attend coaching courses. Right now his contribution to leading the training sessions is putting out the bibs and cones.

A new training centre will need properly trained and renumerated staff. He wonders how many years that will take and whether he'll be as well-qualified as the new staff they attract.

 

Edited August 29 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

FUTUNA

Dany quickly realised that dragons brought attention, and there were frequent visitations by small boats to see them. She was soon using her charms to persuade young men to join trials with a view to retaining some, and thus padded out her thin squad by six more bodies, bringing up the total squad number to 24, which seemed adequate for the needs of the season ahead. That was quickly reduced to 23 when the army side, FANC (which stands for the New Caledonian Army), enlisted her best defender. Equally concerning is the fish processing factory on Wallis. They offer better wages for our best players. Dany worries she might lose a few more players. That would be the only issue that might derail the fast start she’s made. She reckons this first job will be a stroll and she’ll bag a trophy without working a sweat.

 

MB

Meanwhile, in a considerably harsher and more physical environment, Ned was struggling with mounting injuries as he negotiated his way through a short preseason. Movement is also fluid, but in a different way. Unlike Dany, Ned relies on his staff; fortunately, news of the project is attracting experienced coaches and backroom sorts, meaning the quality of his team is rising. The players, however, don’t want to wait years for success and are dimly aware that they’ll probably be replaced by bright young turks as success looms, so are open to being poached. First to go was the defender who’d been club captain for a week.

Ned’s feeling fine; the initial results looked deceptive to a non-discerning eye, but they were fine. Being the worst team in the entire national pyramid, by definition every friendly is against a better side even when they’re not at full strength. MB did okay while building up match fitness and tactical familiarity. After beating KI IV, they found a surge of confidence to wallop the next two youth teams too.

Klaksvikar Itrottarfelag’s fourth team are actually our divisional rivals; Ned put out a full-strength side (even though they didn’t) to test the team against its peers. He liked what he saw. These big Torshaven-based sides that can assemble four squads have the kind of academy facilities MB lusts after – they are a sign of our future.

The first competitive match was an awful spectacle and MB was lucky to salvage a point. The cup tie was against the other fourth-tier club that had a vacancy when Ned was looking but turned him down. Ned showed what you don’t learn from an interview. From that point on, MB really got into their surprise and have been on a great run since that point.

 

Ned's not responsible for the B Team although he did have to nick four of their best players to replenish his squad. There are no young prospects in it that might form part of the senior club's future. He  doesn't believe for a moment most of the first academy intake (whenever that might be) will be as poor as them.

Edited August 31 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

"April is the cruellest month", TS Eliot informs us. In both the Faroe Islands and Wallis & Futuna Islands, it's the month when new managers transition from honeymoon to having the rose-tinted spectacles ripped away.

For Dany, much of her original first team has been lured away, and there are no more young boys in the Futuna villages to replace senior leavers. She's managing to convert square pegs to fill round holes as well as giving 90 minutes to children far too young to cope. With five matches played, she only has seven more to maintain the club's lead in the three-team league and she hopes to still achieve her goal.  It does rather depend on FANC and Wallis ceasing to take her players, but as long as they are chasing Futuna, that seems unlikely.

Ned's problems are different, and possibly worse. The climate and nature of life in the Faroes couldn't be more different to Futuna. In all senses of the word, life is hard. Injuries and suspensions are high and never relent, but Ned can't add to his squad from outside the MB Seconds, and there are no more viable players to take. A further month of matches indicates that in hindsight, those early victories were against the weakest teams this season; now MB have played the stronger sides, it's evident that even at full strength, they're a midtable outfit.

So Ned will be managing in the fourth tier again next season, but, with him achieving what the board required, developments off the field are happening.

Both managers are restricted by limitations that should ease in subsequent seasons. Dany will presumably move onwards and upwards to clubs with bigger squads, and eventually ones where players will have contracts. Ned will have his academy intakes - 16 youths to call on when needed. The next few months for both, however, look to be rather gruelling.

[phnompenhandy]

MB

Now that Ned has presided at matches at eleven stadiums in the Faroe Islands, he'd like to share with you the photos he took of the grounds.

Plenty of snow back in February

Many are somewhat windswept

Cloud stopped play for a few minutes in this match

 

Back in February, they played a friendly at top-flight ÍF Fuglafjørður

 

And a reminder of MB's new home, the Eidi stadium

Ned latterly learned that the investor, who turns out to be a chairwoman, Elizabeth, is working on getting planning permission to drain the fjord inlet behind the pitch in order to build a training complex. He has no idea how long that will take - he's told to just focus on the coaching.

Edited August 31 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

NED

If April is the cruel month, May is when the buds appear. Without any changes to training or tactics, suddenly things began to click and MB went on a great run -

MB's embarrassing little sister and KI's youth team of kids (KI's third team isn't comprised of youths) were gimmes, but the other results were impressive, establishing the side as a solid midtable outfit.

 

DANY

Despite similar results, Dany's mood could not have been more different to Ned's. The state of play at the end of May:

What was coming next:

Dany was BORED. Two more wins, one against each opponent, should guarantee the title. Why couldn't it happen now? She just wanted to chalk up her first trophy and leave.

She wasn't going to hang around - have dragon, will travel. After the FANC game, she resolved to be her own agent and tout her abilities and availability around the 'nearby' Pacific atolls and islands.

 

 

Edited August 31 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

DANY

Dany was back on Futuna for a fortnight in July to preside over the two victories that brought the title to the club. It was a historic moment for the ecstatic fans when the trophy was delivered.

Futuna's - and Dany's first ever trophy

 

She’d be back again for the last two matches in August, but she had failed thus far to find her next employer and was still searching.

Back in May she had been to other non-FIFA registered nations such as Tuvalu, Micronesia, Guam and Tonga.

Dragon eye's views

Tuvalu

 

Guam

 

tonga

The Tongan FA fella that met her apologised for the recent undersea volcanic eruption that has somewhat disrupted matters and caused the football programme to be temporarily suspended.

 

This club in Saipan, Northern Mariana piqued her interest.

She supposed anything was allowed if you’re not registered with any international authority, but she didn’t want to get pigeonholed at the start of her career, and they were happy with their manager anyway.

In June, the only club that invited Dany to an interview was in Samoa, a nation ranked 191^st by FIFA.

Dany knew the interview would be a waste of her time; a local had already been appointed. She wasn't upset - she didn't feel she'd cope well with managing a club with this name, whose acronym is ADIDAS FC -

Meanwhile, she’d received positive responses from half a world away, in the Caribbean. Saint Pierre & Miquelon had another three-team league and would be a sideways move; Saint Barthelemy had five and was scarcely an upgrade.

Edited August 31 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

It was in mid-July, after an exhaustive and soul-destroying search, that she procured a job in neither the Caribbean nor Oceania – but in the Indian Ocean. She will manage next at a third-tier club in 200^th-ranked Seychelles, member of the African and Indian Ocean federations.

 

Two clubs offered her a position - one named, appropriately enough, ‘Perseverance’ and the other ‘PTL Bazar Brothers’. The latter is in the second tier, and there is an FA Cup and possibly League Cup to fight for. She’s unsure if there is qualification for regional or international tournaments, but if there is she’ll consider whether to stay and compete after she’s bagged a trophy. She chose the club with the better training and youth development setup, which she hopes won’t be compromised by the club’s perilous financial state – if that gossip is reliable. She’s not clear if the club is as professional as the chairman professes – it looks barely semi-pro. There are a lot of sketchy details she won’t have time to find out before she’s thrown into the thick of it, but she’s just grateful for the chance. The Brothers it is; let’s see how many years she stays there.

The Seychelles 2^nd tier’s preseason starts on the 5^th of August, which is before Futuna’s season finishes. However, she’s delivered their coveted trophy and the board allowed her to say her goodbyes and leave without presiding over the final two matches. She’ll need a week to fly there and will be straight into assessing her new squad ahead of the first friendly.

This is Dany's profile as she leaves her first gig:

Ten matches, no defeats, one trophy. She understands that as boring as the Futuna job was, it was a gentle introduction to football management. The future will be  more challenging - but she's ready to grasp it.

Edited August 31 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

DANY

Dany arrived at PTL Bazar Brothers in the Seychelles in a state of great hope and excitement, only to be greeted with officious jobsworths from the club who wittered about paperwork, visas, taxes, licences, registrations and all sorts. What Dany took from all that was that they'd reneged on the job. She was furious. She took off within the hour and went to the local media to give an interview outlining her qualities and insisting she'd be a great manager for any club who took a chance on her. One club, Northern Dynamo replied to tell her they'd consider her, but by that time she was preparing to cross Africa to seek out opportunities off the west coast in the Sao & Tome Principality. There she quickly found six clubs that wanted to interview her, and while she was considering her options, took a virtual call and received a job offer from the Bahamas. It was too far to travel just for a look-see so she declined the offer and focused her energies on either the Seychelles of Africa's south-east coast, or the islands of the west coast.

She received offers from a few Sao Tome clubs, but the salary was around £20 per month from all of them, which she found rather insulting. At the point she was contacted by PTL Bazar Bros to inform her that the paperwork was done and there was a job waiting with a salary of £1,300 per month. The club had left a bad taste in her mouth, so she delayed her decision and flew back. First, she called in on Northern Dynamo. They were waiting for her with a job offer with two-year contract and a salary of £925. After spelling out the PTL deal, the chairman upped the salary to £1,100 per month with a £4000 bonus were they to finish in the top two and qualify for the CAF Champions or Conference Cup. After having a guided tour, she decided it was a suitable step-up, and that she could work with these people. The squad was absent, playing a friendly away against PTL BazBros. She was sorry to miss that match. A decision had to be made - she couldn't delay any longer.

Dany has a new job - a proper job that will require a few years' commitment. Dany is a Dynamo.

She missed the team, but this is their  Facebook page

Northern Dynamo is based in Glacis on the northern tip of Mahe, the main island, but in common with all 28 clubs in the three tier league, they play all their games in the national stadium.

It's habitually as empty as this:

Edited August 31 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

And so here we are

This is no 10-match whistle stop, so Dany will sort photos out when she meets the players and backroom staff.

She has a league and two cup competitions to negotiate, and if successful, continental competition too.

And here she is - eyebrows have been burnt.

Edited August 31 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

DANY

The first week in her new job was intense, given there was so much to prepare and no time to do it. She had six days before Dynamos' third and final preseason friendly. Fortunately, the club had a performance analyst who had had the forethought to record the Bazar Bros game on his phone so together with her assistant, she poured over the footage. She could see immediately players out of position and tactically clueless. The analyst confided that it was in fact one of the weakest in the top tier and everyone expected the team to go down this season. He said they’re good lads and work hard; there’s just a dearth of talent for this level, and no prospects coming through.

Running the rule over the 31-man (and boy) squad, she could see they were particularly weak in the fullback and midfield areas. With time of an essence, she decided her Futuna 4-2-4 formation would be a close enough fit and set about drilling it into the players.

Despite the fact that it’s preseason, the transfer window is closed until January. Dany expects to be busy then, but she has to make do with the squad in hand for the first half of the season.

 

Dany closely scrutinised the only friendly she presided over. ‘Lacklustre’ was a bit unfair – they were struggling to enact her tactics, but it was a useful exercise. She realised it would take a few matches to bed in her ideas and the team would likely get off to a slow start. The same was true for the coaching staff and players adjusting to her training regime. She hoped the club and fans would exercise patience. She hoped they'd come to agree with the analyst - and the bookies about our chances

St. Louis Suns and St. Michel are the superclubs who have dominated the titles and trophies over the years, with Foresters the new kids on the block. It might be a few years before Dany is challenging them.

[Stuniverse]

11 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

And here she is - eyebrows have been burnt.

Good luck in your new job, Dany.

[phnompenhandy]

2 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Good luck in your new job, Dany.

 

Here is her first team squad

The rest are in the U19 squad - mostly 16 year olds with little potential and will only be called up in an emergency. As you can see, there's no depth. She has one reasonable midfielder. Betsy looks like a Tasmanian Devil and will likely pick up red cards at inopportune moments. She'll bring you individual portraits soon.

[phnompenhandy]

DANY

Here is a cross-section of Dany's northern Dynamo squad. The pair of leaders she's instilled as captain and vice-captain joined just before she did - they are old warhorses playing out a final year on non-contract terms before they retire.  One's been at the club for 15 years, and the final one is one of the kids she's called up to plug gaping holes in the side.

 

We've neglected Ned for too long. We should get back to see how he's doing.

[phnompenhandy]

NED

May transitioned into June and results became inconsistent, solidifying MB’s status as midtable. Any chance of finishing well was extinguished when star player Solomon Kwao left for a club in Ghana, where he wished to retire and then go into management. Fans were angry with Ned but in truth, it was the player's decision and he had given the club a month’s notice despite it being midseason.

July, August, September rolled around

Ned still talks about that day the sun came out. Good runs, poor runs - it makes no difference:

Four to go - we are and will be midtable.

As the tail-end of the season drifted on and Ned awaited the new youth intake with increasing impatience, his director of football came to him with ‘I’ve got good news and bad news’. “Huh,” said Ned, “Give me the bad news.” The chairwoman sends her regrets that drainage of the land where the training and youth facilities are due to be built is taking longer than anticipated. Also, our Head of Youth wishes to prepare you for the quality of the impending intake – it’s worse than we’d expected”.  ”Oh Christ, and there’s good news?” “Maybe. The chairwoman, under the circumstances, is willing to slightly compromise on her principles while infrastructure is at this point. Here is a list of local youths being released by their clubs whom our recruitment team rates highly. We’re going to sell them our project and try to entice them to join us in the close season.”.

 

“Do it! Worst-case scenario, they’ll be a hundred times better than the intake. Go! Go! Get on with it before anyone else poaches them.”

[sherwinriga]

This is an interesting story that you have planned on. I'm surprised that there's two managers in one save, which looks interesting! I can't wait to see their journey unfold! Also, since I'm following this, I'll be on the look out on all Southeast Asian nations as well as some neighboring areas like Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and PR China to make sure that I wanna keep an eye on them if they're going to have their players coming out to the teams that Ned and Dany managed in the future.

Good luck on your new save!

[phnompenhandy]

1 hour ago, sherwinriga said:

This is an interesting story that you have planned on. I'm surprised that there's two managers in one save, which looks interesting! I can't wait to see their journey unfold! Also, since I'm following this, I'll be on the look out on all Southeast Asian nations as well as some neighboring areas like Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and PR China to make sure that I wanna keep an eye on them if they're going to have their players coming out to the teams that Ned and Dany managed in the future.

Good luck on your new save!

Thanks. Ned will be a one-club manager, with MB being a Faroese academy-only career, but Dany will be a journeywoman around minor nations, mainly in Asia/Oceania but also islands in the Caribbean and off Africa. She intends to progress far enough to compete in regional (eg ASEAN, Asian, CONCACAF) tournaments against clubs from 'big'  nations. Her current club's reputation is too low to attract any foreigners, but in time, who knows?

[phnompenhandy]

NED

Ned has dragged himself to the end of the season. It was a drag. At the end of October, two days before the last match of the season, the new intake finally arrived. After observing them play a trial match against the B-team, Ned decided that some of them would beef up the B-team and maybe help them gain more than 4 points next season, but none would be troubling the first team.

Ned won't be spending his time with this shower

 

As he repeated all season, the current MB squad is 'meh' - okay for midtable but no more. They finished in the midst of the chasing pack, far from any hope of promotion

And that's where they'll eternally remain  unless the promised investment kicks in. Talking of which, a little bit of politics:

Ned hates this Game of Thrones. He knows how it goes and keeps his distance. The numpty club members think they're making a choice; in truth, whoever wins is a mere puppet, a mouthpiece of this mysterious investor who Ned never sees and is yet to see the money. He just hopes the incoming kids add squad depth and 10% to what he's already achieved next season, and for proper infrastructure and investment in junior recruitment to proceed at a faster pace.

As you will see, the squad was barely rotated, so thin was it in terms of quality.

With a three-month break over the winter, Ned's going travelling to warmer spots and will return in late January.

We'll stay with Dany through that time.

[phnompenhandy]

DANY

Dany’s first competitive match away at La Passe ended in a 1-2 defeat. The goalkeeper made a mistake and the forwards lacked a clinical edge, but overall, she wasn’t displeased with the effort. The next match wouldn’t be for over a fortnight, and with the one stadium in constant use (making the schedule crazy), it wasn’t possible to arrange in-season friendlies; thus, she put all her efforts into training drills.

She won her second match in the Seychelles, an FA Cup tie against third tier opposition. It was a morale booster.

The third match was the one that really set a marker – a remarkable 10-1 scoreline in the league. Dany had truly arrived.

The next match was lost to the league favourites, which was no surprise. That was the only match in the month of October, but Dany filled her time scouting other matches to watch players on a list of targets the recruitment department had given her.

An awful lot of downtime!

By the end of the month, seven had been signed up to provide squad depth, with possibly more to assess in November. The players will join Dynamo in January.

These additions will allow her to rest her young 16-year-old lads and not run them into the ground. Without seeing them play together yet, she's pretty confident the team can manage the board's objective of a mid-table finish. Recruitment will be key to pushing on from there and challenging the strongest sides, like St. Michel that just defeated her.

Edited September 1 by phnompenhandy

[Stuniverse]

2 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

Ned will be a one-club manager, with MB being a Faroese academy-only career

Let’s hope Ned doesn’t get sacked then 😂⚽️🤣

[phnompenhandy]

NED

The mild climate where Ned chose to spend his vacation was in the Scottish Highlands. Cycling around, he made a few friends including meeting the erstwhile founder/manager of Loch Ness FC, from whom he learned the sad story of their recent demise. Coincidentally, it was while he was lingering in Inverness that the new chairman called him to enthuse about his appointment that day and to reassure Ned that his job was secure. “However,” the new boss continued, “I do want to make an immediate imprint. My predecessor moved the club to another island and an entirely new community, where she’s laid the foundations for a new infrastructure. I will see that through in due course, but I want an original signature policy – do you have any ideas?” I just so happened that Ned did. A new look – a new shirt. Thus it was that MB bought the Loch Ness kit as a job lot and secured a contract with the kit-makers in time for the new season. The forgotten, enigmatic Midvags Boltfelag will rise out of the waters and consume all before it!

On the same day, he received a farewell call from the outgoing chairwoman, who informed him that her parting gesture was to turn the club semi-professional. Ned wasn’t sure if that meant diverting resources away from infrastructure and he didn’t get a clear answer, but she did stress that contracts would bind the best players and staff to the club. The new owner subsequently confirmed that news but made clear it wouldn’t happen until the next close season, December 2024.

You'll see that MB lacks a captain - he and a few other senior players announced they were retiring. Ned had expected this - he'd already secured eight new signings who would arrive soon, and had sent his scout to the trials day.

 

He was starting to get jaded with the new owner who seemed to talk the  bizbulltalk without making any assurances or commitments - and he got this news:

Suddenly, Ned is looking forward to the new season.

[Jamstock]

So good to see another one of your brilliant stories Andy! I love the contrast of the two managers, I can imagine it really keeps things new and original for you, and also probably quite busy!

Funnily enough both paths of the managers are ones I have previously attempted. On more than one occasion I have tried island hopping around the pacific, did not quite venture as low as the Wallis and Futuna Islands but props for slogging out that first season to get Dany's first piece of silverware. I would imagine not, but as an overseas French territory, would they have had a route to the French Cup? I know overseas territories are invited to play, perhaps if Dany happens to see a job opportunity in Tahiti or St Pierre and Miquelon she could make some waves on the French mainland.

I have also attempted MB in the past, as they were the only 1st team (and looks like they still are) in the 4th tier (could even be the only 1st team in the 3rd tier as well when Ned gets them there). A definitive long term job that I didn't quite have the patience for when attempted, but a focus on the youth and homegrown talent may be the way forward, particularly until you can keep the other teams poaching your players  

Always happy to see one of your threads pop up, will of course be following along closely. 

[phnompenhandy]

Hey James, thanks.

In one post I show all my editor data files - hundreds of them for all the minor nations I've added, including an assortment of cups. I deliberately desisted from researching them before starting the save so that in the narrative, Dany, an outsider, is as clueless as she's supposed to be. During the two months she was looking for her second job, she did ask about regional/continental competitions; the responses varied somewhat. As a long-term resident of Cambodia (and Nepal before that), I myself have deep experience of third-world incompetence, and I build that into the narrative. So there's a strong element in her journeywoman career of not knowing what she's letting herself in for and making it up as she goes along. That's why she says she doesn't know how long she'll stay in the Seychelles - technically, she's in with a chance of a domestic treble at the moment and could leave after one season if she wins just one trophy, but she thinks there's an international tournament open for the top two in the league. Thinks. For some of these island nations, it's like winning the North Caledonian League only to discover you don't have the licence to make a play-off or promotion.

I do check the national stadium page for nations she enquires about, where there is a list of all the tournaments played there. It can be quite enlightening, although it typically has a load of competitions that are not active in my save. A lot of the fan-made modded competitions cancel out original ones that would clash. So I've just checked and Futuna, as winners of the league last season, did not enter any such competition. I'm keeping an eye on preliminary rounds of Oceanic, Caribbean and Indian Ocean tournaments to see which clubs from which nations appear.

My plan for Dany is that she bumbles around various obscure island nations collecting trophies for a few years, maybe making the odd mainland excursion in an Asian nation such as Nepal or Bhutan, or a European one such as Gibraltar or Andorra. After that (and trust me, I won't get this far) the idea is to hit the only major mainland nation of Scotland, where I still have the 10-tier file active, with Highland Amateur League Division 3 just waiting for her.

In the Faeroe Islands'  4th tier, there are only two non-reserve teams, one in Group A and one in Group B. The third tier has 2 and the 2nd tier only 4, so it is somewhat limiting. Being an Academy-Only project could prove a disaster if my players are constantly picked off, but I'm hoping the sugar-daddy dimension will result in going professional and offering long contracts on high salaries. However, the leap from where Ned is at now to the Big 4 that keep qualifying for Europe might be a step too far. We shall see.

[phnompenhandy]

As an interesting 4^th wall aside, the standard of Ned’s and Dany’s squads is almost identical at the start of their respective careers. For Ned’s to improve, he needs to club to develop its infrastructure; Dany can recruit, but only from the nation she's managing in. It will be interesting to see which one's squad improves in quality the fastest and by how much.

By way of illustration, here is MB's most-played outfield player last season, the left back, compared to the first-choice Dynamo left-back -

 

Edited September 2 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

DANY

So, back to Dany - it's been a while, with time moving so slowly in the Seychelles.

 

From September to December, there was a clear pattern of Dynamo beating weaker teams, including lower league opposition in the cups, and losing to the strongest sides. A few matches were badly affected by weak fringe players standing in for injuries, and Dany felt that her fortunes would improve when the January arrivals would bed in. Whether they’d be enough to close the chasm between Dynamos and the top teams remained to be seen.

The upcoming matches in both the league and cups are all against opponents who beat Dynamo early in Dany's reign. It will be interesting to see if she's closed the gap. Ahead of those tricky fixtures, Dynamo is looking like the 'best-of'the'rest'

It's a big gap to second (particularly as they've played more games), and Dany is two years ahead of schedule, but second spot does open the door to continental competition. She can't not think about that. Her chosen starting  XI have been able to start almost every match so far, with injuries having time to heal with long gaps between ties. That luck can't last, so she's relieved to be able to run the rule over the new acquisitions who've just arrived. They're all strong back-ups to the first XI.

Being early in the window, she's aware of intent to poach some of her key players, but then Dynamo are also still actively looking for more freebies to strengthen the squad.

Even better, the future looks bright, too.

 

Ned would weep if he knew.

[phnompenhandy]

NED

After a refreshing break, Ned is back in time for preseason. He's excited, optimistic.

Lots were drawn to see who goes into Groups A and B in the 3. Dield (4th tier). This time MB is in Group a, separate from its embarrassing little sister (although the remnants and kids should be a lot better this time). The only other firs team, Royn, were relegated. Nobody can explain to Ned why Skala have two third teams. MB are rated 50/1 to go up - i.e. finish midtable, but Ned strongly believes the team is stronger after the new acquisitions and is going to push everyone involved to win it.

He's decided Hans Larsen, the new chairman, is alright after all and would like to do it for him. In addition to the training facilities being close to having its foundations laid, he's sanctioned this,

as well as bringing forward plans to turn semi-pro. I'm not yet entrusted with finances, but our director of Football, Ragnar, will hopefully tie our best players down with contracts quickly, what with the transfer window being open for the next two months.

[phnompenhandy]

At opposite ends of the universe, the transfer windows in both The Faroe Islands and the Seychelles closed at much the same time. For Ned that was just after the preseason had started; for Dany it was midseason, but during a period of very little onfield activity. Who came out best?

 

NED

Just ahead of the preseason return of the players, Ned received a setback when he learned that his best player, 22-year-old key centre-back Swedish Isak Tejeda, had elected to return to his homeland.

He was the last non-Faroese in the squad. Two other important players left on frees before the Director of Football could put contracts under their noses. Players who have signed for a salary are rejecting offers.

Ned also learned that he’d spent the last week’s planning mixing up new signings 19-year-old Hedin Reinert Olsen and 19-year-old Hjalti Reinert Olsen. It didn’t help to finally meet them – they’re identical twins.

In addition to losing Tejeda to Hammaraby FF, six senior players had retired.

 

 

Six replacements had arrived, none of whom had the equivalent experience, but the six who came in September had settled in well and Ned felt there was enough quality and depth to have a good season.

 

Edited September 3 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

DANY

Dany felt that she'd had a very good window. Her young girly charms - and dragon - and maybe the strong start to the season had proved attractive to many players.

 

When the transfer window closed, Dany reflected that she had lost three key figures, but the ten arrivals were fair compensation.  The last four had come from Rovers due to their financial crisis. To think she had almost accepted their offer of a post! She wasn't sure if she'd be able to close the gap on the top two, or win a trophy this season - although they were in two semi-finals, but Dynamos would certainly put in a strong show in the second half of the season.

Edited September 3 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

NED

2024, Ned's second season

Ned’s last signing was a replacement for Tejeda. The first-choice defence should be fairly solid for this season. He reckoned that if his first-choice Eleven retained fitness and form, they could beat anyone in the group. A couple of replacements would still keep the squad strong, but if more than three or four players lost form or got injured – and if too many midweek rearrangements disrupted the flow, there would be problems. Just after the window closed he lost his goalkeeper, Haftor Gaardlykke, for three months with a damaged back.

One problem that was kind of his making was upsetting the twins. He left one out of the squad of 25, condemning him to half a season in the damnable MB2 team. Frankly, it was their fault for being a freak of nature, but unlucky Hjalti is not an unforgiving sort.

These were minor, manageable issues. With a settled squad and unaltered tactics, Ned was confident he had a team that was settled and ready to hit the ground running. He had a decent length of time in preseason to get everyone fit and grasping his instructions. He even managed to get MB out of the cup early so that there would be 100% focus on the league. Remember, only the champion goes up - 2nd place is for losers.

Seven matches in and we see our competition, and that there is clear water between us -

The board are confident that Ned will deliver, and they are doing a decent job keeping up their end of the bargain:

Enough of the fjord inlet has been dammed and drained to get stage one of the training centre up

 

Ned is already thinking ahead - his squad might be able to compete in the third tier and maybe even second. The top tier is a different matter - some of those clubs are rich and chuck out six-figure transfer fees and high wages. I mean, what??

That's for another, distant day, though. Ned will report back at the end of the season.

[phnompenhandy]

DANY

Dany has just completed her first season in the Seychelles, and her last few months have been far more dramatic.

When Dany arrived in the Seychelles the new season was upon her before she had a chance to assess the Dynamo squad and get to know the opposition, so she just had to go with the squad she’d inherited. By the time the transfer window opened in January, however, she was prepared. She knew where to strengthen and who to jettison. With incomings and outgoings being free transfers, it was basically a matter of who she could sell the project to, as we’ve seen. That, and money. She prioritised players in their mid to late 20s with bags of experience and dealt out wages of £150 per month – a sum barely a dozen Seychellois elsewhere could boast. She was very busy and spent the two months transforming the squad.

As you can see, whereas Ned has a stable squad and builds patiently, waiting for the club's academy to come to fruition, Dany lives in the here and now.

 

Dany has learned that while last season’s runners-up La Passe qualified for the CAF Confederation Cup last season, going out in the preliminary round to a team from Mogadishu, title winners Foresters were not entered for the CAF Champions League. She can’t get any straight answers when she asks if Dynamos would qualify for either tournament.

She put her concerns to the side when a brief wobble as the new players gelled with the first team left Dynamos in midtable with too much ground to make up. Her time in the Seychelles from October to February had involved a gentle one or two matches per month, but suddenly the schedule became crowded with at least five matches to be played in each of March and April. Selection choices would have to be made – which is what the extra squad depth was for. Dany decided to switch her priority to the two cups in the hopes of bagging some silverware as the league was out of reach. Admittedly all the other clubs were doing the same – the top two and relegated club were determined ridiculously early into the campaign.

Just as she felt the new signings had bedded in, her Head of Youth Development sprang a surprise on her – an intake from the club’s academy. That he’d neglected to prepare her for this was something she’d come to take in her stride, but she was startled when it turned out the star youth was the Youth Development officer’s own son! She soon discovered that the best three were first-team squad ready, whilst the rest should spur the leftovers now in the Under 19s squad to up their games.

 

Further serious incompetence was revealed a week later when the chairman made a rare appearance to voice his concern that with the youth intake being signed up, the squad of 50 had sent the wage bill out of control. None of this was Dany’s fault – the Director of Football was duly carpeted, but Dany was required to cull the Under 19 squad, offering many for free transfers and terminating the contracts of the unwanted ones. Assessing the youths took time at a point when the fixtures were coming thick and fast. By the end of the window, ten of the intake had been released, along with seven others who weren’t progressing. Fifty had been reduced to a manageable thirty-three and the club was within budget.

It is known.

 

Edited September 4 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Dany stressed that the final table doesn’t show her strategy. Once it was evident the top two would be beyond the reach of Dynamo this season, she prioritised giving matches to the new and young recruits in league games to prepare the squad for the next season. While everyone else had stopped playing, at Dynamos players were playing for their places in the cup finals and first team squad for the next season. After a month of gelling, they hit their stride and finished very strongly, putting no one in any doubt that they’d be competing for the title next time. And with a manager of her quality – comfortable champions St. Michel had already been dumped out of both cups by Dynamo; the writing was on the wall.

Upon winning the League Cup, the first trophy, it became evident why Foresters didn’t enter the CAF Confederations Cup -it was open to the cup winner – Dany has qualified Dynamo to enter the contest next season!

Dany calculated that if Dynamos dominate domestically and played their best XI in the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup a maximum of two years would be enough to complete her mission in the Seychelles. Technically, she already had as she had silverware, but one year for the title and one more for a push into Africa would be enough. That’s why the contracts she’d dished out had been for two years. This was her squad; she believed in them.

She did the double!

Two lots of prize money almost wiped out the deficit

You can see why, unlike Ned, Dany couldn't ask for any upgrades even if she wanted to. She's focused now on the next season, and she's very confident she has the squad she wants.

Can it reign in undefeated (in the league) St. Michel? Dany reminds you, Dynamo beat them twice. They will need to sustain the winning run (seven on the trot) that closed the season with the players above. Yes, if she's not unlucky with injuries, it can be done. The CAF Confederation Cup is quite another matter. All she knows is La Passe was knocked out in the preliminary round to a team from Somalia during preseason. She'll do better.

That will be three months hence. Dany will see you again then.

Edited September 4 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

[Sorry for the hiatus - I've spent the last day-and-a-half scouting! Read on to see why]

DANY

This was supposed to be a period of much-needed rest for Daenerys Targaryan. Instead, while Steady Neddy slogged through the late Faroese winter, she found herself plunged into the role of manic pixie dream girl. Just after the Seychelles season ended, Dany flew off to visit her family in Montserrat. While there her agent contacted her with a detail that shocked her. He congratulated her on the trophies but reminded her that accumulating trophies was only one part of her journeyman mission. The other part, that she’d overlooked for two years is the @KibworthBull rule.  [inspired by this here career: Hexagon Hijinks: Victor Oanase's Global Champions League Quest ].

This rule states that over her managerial career, she must use a player from every nation in the world that has never qualified for the World Cup finals. To qualify, the player must gain at least one 7.0+ rating in a competitive first team fixture. He reminded her that so far, (pre the expanded 2026 finals) 81 nations have qualified, leaving 105 nations (plus up to 35 associate FIFA or Regional Confederation members of which a dozen are currently active) from which she must sign and use players. He scolded her for missing the opportunity to take in players from the 12 eligible nations in Oceania when she managed Futuna, and told her she’d have to return to that Confederation later. In the Seychelles, she’d need to bring in players from the Southern African Football Association. He presented her with a list:

 

The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) has the following members:

1. Angola
2. Botswana
3. Comoros
4. Eswatini
5. Lesotho
6. Madagascar
7. Malawi
8. Mauritius
9. Mozambique
10. Namibia
11. Seychelles
12. South Africa
13. Zambia
14. Zimbabwe

Additionally, the following countries participate in COSAFA tournaments as associate members:

1. Reunion (French overseas territory)
2. Mayotte (French overseas territory)

Excluding Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe, that left 13 nations from which to acquire players. He reminded her that not all need to be ticked off while at Dynamo, but it would be more difficult to attract players when further from home.

 

Dany cut short her home visit and returned to the Seychelles to travel the region and put out a call for non-natives to join the club. With the wage budget already maxed out, she couldn’t offer any wages, and tropical beaches weren’t exactly a draw around the Indian Ocean. She made an exhaustive trek around the region, digging out club Directors of Football to enquire about players the clubs had released, learning some worrying stories in the process. The only interest came from renegades - bad boys in their homelands who wished to create distance from their local communities and clubs. Thus, Dynamos quickly attracted a certain reputation both on the islands and abroad. In addition to bringing in six rootless youngsters, she also managed two player exchanges – one-year loans which took a couple of the fringe Dynamos out of the country for a season.

An additional headache was that most of these badboys initially demanded star player treatment, and the quality of players she could attract was generally below the level of the first team. She figured she’d have to mostly play them in the cups and ‘easy’ league fixtures, hoping the force of her character would keep them in line, as well as quell restlessness amongst the Seychellois. A couple were subdued by the fact that they couldn’t communicate well, being unfamiliar with French, English or Seychelles creole.

So when the window closed in late May, an exhausted Dany had brought in eight foreigners, five of them wayward teenagers, from eSwatini, Mozambique, Madagascar, the Comoros Is., Reunion, Mayotte, Mauritius and Lesotho. Her agent would add those nations to Wallis & Futuna and Seychelles in countries to tick off once they played well for the club.(she'd drawn blanks at Botswana, Namibia, Malawi and Zambia). They would spend most of their time in the Under-19s squad but when ready, would be called up one-by-one. The one exception was the Eswatini goalkeeper, who might threaten the place of the newly acquired but magnificently monikered Moustache. The midfield duo could be useful if they surmount the language barrier. The forward with the nominative determinative name looks like he could be more dangerous to his teammates.

 

Edited September 6 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

With a heavy heart, I'm going to leave this save and take Dany with me on a new adventure. My recent research of the minor nations in global football, together with today's surprise release of Timo's megafile with new additions plus all the others I've accumulated had led me to decide that I need to focus on her whole-world career. This next one is going to be super-exciting and is the one (I hope) I stick with. Ned will quietly plug away in the Faroes, but we'll be leaving him.

 

The new story is here:

https://community.sports-interactive.com/forums/topic/587775-danys-world-tour/

[Jimbokav1971]

Such is the relative strength of HB that I actually found the Faroes a tough challenge, (at least playing Youth Only). Good luck with this double-pronged attack. 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

With a heavy heart, I'm going to leave this save and take Dany with me on a new adventure. My recent research of the minor nations in global football, together with today's surprise release of Timo's megafile with new additions plus all the others I've accumulated had led me to decide that I need to focus on her whole-world career. This next one is going to be super-exciting and is the one (I hope) I stick with. Ned will quietly plug away in the Faroes, but we'll be leaving him.

 

The new story is here:

https://community.sports-interactive.com/forums/topic/587775-danys-world-tour/

That's a shame, (but exciting at the same time).

[phnompenhandy]

5 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

That's a shame, (but exciting at the same time).

In the Faroes, HB, KI and the other 2 that regularly qualify for Europe are stonkingly resourced compared to the rest. If i'd kept going with Ned, it would have been a very long, patient slog to break the glass ceiling. But I've found I've gotten well into the volatile world of the rapid journeyman and so decided to focus all my energies on that. The new narrative is Dany's adventure but with the new goals I picked up built into the start. Hopefully, this thread will last as long as yours!!