[FM 24] Michael Soprano Story - Brackley Town Forever (or not?)

[gggfunk]

Welcome all!

In this thread I will be presenting the story of my Brackley Town save. It's supposed to be one club save but you never know what's going to happen in the future, I don't want to rule out getting another job if things go wrong or if I get bored of living in this small but charming market town called Brackley.

I'm not much of a writer so don't expect anything special, I just want to have a place where I can report the course of the events. I like the idea of role-playing and this will definitely help me in keeping immersion high.

My updates should be rather short, nice and tidy.

Also, please forgive me any language mistakes as I'm not a native speaker of English.

So, let's start...

 

Save Structure

I selected 28 leagues from 14 nations, large database. First transfer window is off for realism purposes. Original mode.

 

The Club

Brackley Town FC is a football club in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the National League North, the sixth tier of English football, and play at St. James Park. The club won the FA Trophy in 2018.

Brackley is a beautiful and historic market town on the borders of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

I'm not gonna lie, this cool badge was one of the reasons why I chose them!

 

The Manager

Please meet Michael Soprano.

I was born in Brackley on July 15th, 1991. Since I was a kid, I loved playing football with my mates and watching games of my beloved Brackley Town FC. It's worth to add that I am also a big fan of Arsenal and Barcelona.

When I was 10 years old I fulfilled one of me biggest dreams - I joined the academy of my local team! Unfortunately, due to many injuries and, let's be honest here, lack of talent, I never really got close to make a debut in the first team. The club, however, was always supporting me and when I decided it was best to retire at the age of 25, they offered me a job as a youth coach. I agreed immediately and spent next few years helping young lads to break into the first team.

As a club, Brackley Town has been fighting for promotion to the higher division for last couple of years, but with no luck. There were times when we were really close, finishing 2nd and appearing in many play-offs, but we never succeed. The financial situation of the club is not perfect either, although against other Vanarama North teams we are still doing okay.

In May 2023, Gavin Cowan was appointed as our new manager; however, he had to resign a couple of weeks after due to personal reasons. This was shock for everybody at the club as the start of the next season was really close, and the board didn't really have any idea who could replace him. Then I thought to myself: "it's my time!" I took a risk and went to the chairman's room and I told him: "look, I know I don't have any experience as a manager, but I know this club more than anybody else and think I deserve a chance!" He looked surprised but curious, and told me that he's willing to consider my application; however, he needs much more from me before making any decision. He asked me to prepare a presentation of the core principles that I would like to implement in the club if I became a manager.

 

Core Values

1. Academy

As a former youth coach, it's not surprising that the first thing I want to improve is our academy. At the moment, there are zero players in our Under 18's team and this is not acceptable. I want the club to focus more on developing its own talent and give more chance to the youngsters. In order to do it, I will be heading into improving the youth and training facilities as soon as possible. Later, we also need to focus on such things as increasing the youth level, junior coaching budget, and improving the youth recruitment.

2. Attractive football

Currently, the club lacks one specific style of play and I want to change that. We need to develop our own style of play that will be cultivated both by the first team and the U-18. I don't like direct and defensive tactics as most of the teams in our division play like that. I want attractive football! My tactical approach can be described as Vertical Tiki Taka, which focuses on dominating possession, relentless pressing, and moving the ball vertically rather than side-to-side.

3. Club Restructuring

If we want the club to develop and move forward, we need to make several adjustments to all the areas. I want to look closer to all departments and see if they need a change. Besides the facilities improvements that I mentioned above, I need to make sure that all my co-workers have the appropriate level of skills and knowledge.

4. We are family

The success cannot be built without commitment of all the people involved. I want to earn respect of my players by being fair to them, and treating them in the same way I would like them to treat me. Mutual respect is key. I want all of us (players, staff, the board) to become family that support each other in many ways. That being said, I don't want any unhappy players in the squad. If somebody is not willing to die for the club, he can go.

I think it's obvious that I GOT THE JOB!

 

 

Edited September 5 by gggfunk

[gggfunk]

July 2023

Meeting players & staff and Preseason

July was a month of hard work as I had to complete my staff and start preparations for the upcoming season. First of all, I decided to keep Jamie Haynes as my assistant manager as he seems to be a guy who knows his job pretty well, plus he is very good with working with youngsters which is something that I want to improve at Brackley.

 

Then, I met the players and I can feel they are excited to start the new season and they are happy to give me a chance, even though I lack of experience at this level.

Gareth Dean will continue as our captain as he's got not only great personality and leadership, but is also a great defender and a proper leader of our defense. Another player that I noticed immediately was Alfie Bates, he's the one who I am going to build our midfield around.

 

In the meantime, the board have agreed and funded my first coaching badge. I'm so happy!

 

FRIENDLY GAMES

We finished our preseason and while I must say the results are quite worrying, the overall pattern of play was promising as we played against some much bigger teams and we still managed to score some goals and play an attacking football. We must improve in defense though.

Edited September 5 by gggfunk

[gggfunk]

August 2023

Start of the season

My managerial debut ended with goalless draw; however, we were a slightly better team on the pitch and we could have easily won the game. We didn't have much luck as some of our shots hit the post and the crossbar.

In the next games we were more effective which resulted in 5 great wins. A very promising start I must say!

Edited September 5 by gggfunk

[gggfunk]

2023 - September & October

First transfer, first loss

Next month started with 1-1 draw against Warrington, but in the next two games we collected six points. We also passed two rounds of the FA Cup, before unlucky loss to Altrincham (we conceded a goal at stoppage time).

Behind the scenes, we were working on improving the quality of the squad and finally we managed to secure our first signing - Caleb Chukwuemeka. He can play as a winger or forward and hopefully he will turn out to be a valuable asset to the team.

Edited September 6 by gggfunk