erik45

Facilities & Finances As could be expected, the team doesn't have great facilties. My aim is to get better junior coaching as soon as possible as I see that's the most efficient way of getting players with good current ability. If we at some point go pro, I will start to switch the focus from current ability to potential ability. The bank balance was a positive surprise. If it steadily stays around 100k, I might be asking some improvements sooner rather than later.

Manager & Tactics My manager is Pherick Ramsey. Pherick is the closest Manx name to my handle Erik45 and Ramsey is both and Manx last name and a town in northern part of the island. No badges, no problems. I put all the skill points to Working with Youngsters and Determination. I chose to focus on Determination because I've noticed it has been very difficult for me to gain a positive personality for the manager in the game. The "best" personality I've had was Fairly Loyal, most of the time my managers have been either Slack or Casual... (FYI: You can the personality of your manager – and squad as well – from the league's season preview when you click your team) I have been very fond of narrow 4-3-3 tactic for some years. In an earlier FM24 saves I have tried 4-4-2 and 5-2-3 systems, but those don't feel like my systems. I try to keep things simple. A lot of players in the middle lane and a target forward who to utilize for long balls when needed. In this save, I won't go too deep into tactical side of the game (at least in the first few years, but I will update if I make major changes to the system I use.

The Idea and the Aim of the Save This is my first career story on this forum. My goal is to get FC Isle of Man as high as possible on the English football pyramid. I will be using mostly players from the youth academy, with two exceptions: I'm also allowing myself to acquire players from all the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. I chose this island-focused framing for the save, because I was reading a book about remote islands (Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky). For some of you these islands (especially the Crown Dependencies) are not that remote, but from the pov of a person living in the Nordics, almost everything feels remote. 😀 Usually my saves go on for 20-30 years before it gets boring, but I have had some saves that go until the 2070s. Let's hope this save would be one of them! Before diving deeper into the save itself, I'll explain the name of the save. Part 1: CDs = the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man) Players born in Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man are available for me to use. The most well known name (atleast for me) of current football players is Arsenal/Real Sociedad fullback Kieran Tierney, who's born in Douglas (the capital if Isle of Man). I don't know if the place of birth is the best way to find these players in the game, so if anyone has better ideas, I'm happy to listen! The location of the Crown Dependencies: Part 2: BOTs = the British Overseas Territories As well as "CD players", also all the players with any BOT nationality are available for me to use (doesn't matter if it's their 1st or 2nd nationality). The BOTs are: Anguilla Bermuda British Antarctic Territory* British Indian Ocean Territory* British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands* Gibraltar Montserrat Pitcairn Islands* Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha* South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands* Turks and Caicos Islands *afaik, these territories are not in the game (I haven't checked from the editor) Map from Wikipedia showing UK & Overseas Territories: Most of the players in these territories have England as their first nationality. For this save it doesn't matter if the player have BOT nationality as their 1st or 2nd nationality. There are quite many players with Monsterratian, Bermudian or Gibraltarian nationality, let's hope some of those want to join my team! As the save goes on, I try to follow how players from Overseas Territories are doing in the game (and snatch the best ones to Isle of Man). Part 3: Unkindness = a Flock of Ravens The nickname of FC Isle of Man is the Ravens. A flock of Ravens is called unkindness, so that's the third part of the name of the save. FC Isle of Man is a club that was formed in 2019. They started their journey on the 10th level of the English football pyramid, in North West Counties League Div 1 South in 2021/2022 season, winning the promotion play-offs. (The original plan of participating already for the 20/21 season didn't happen as the team was suspended from the league because of covid restrictions.) After the promotion, the team has been participating the North West Counties League Premier Division. In 2022/2023 they finished 13th. This season (23/24) they are currently 14th IRL. In my save, I simulated the season and the team ended up as 16th with 56 points and a goal difference of –10. What's Next? The save starts from the beginning of pre-season 2024/2025. I have holidayed one season to get some players to the teams. I will start by going through the team, facilities, expectations etc. I've been heavily influenced by some of the great stories on this forum. @Punch had an amazing FC Isle of Man save in FM21 – and I really enjoy their current save with Guernsey. @Jimbokav1971 youth only saves have been an inspiration for me for a good few years. @Rainbowz has created Isle of Man nation database, which would create a whole new dimension to this save, but in the end I chose against using it in this save. As this is my first time posting a story here, all the comments and feedback are much appreciated!

In Amateur Division One, the third best goalscorer was K. Syrjanen, could you show his profile? I would like to know if he has Finnish background as his last name suggests. My translation for "Syrjänen" would be "a person/family who lives in a remote place" - very fitting name for a player in Highlands PS. Love the save! This has given me inspiration to start same kind of save - but in Lapland! Now I just need to choose a team from Norway/Sweden/Finland.

Just read through your journey so far, inspiring stuff! I'm struggling on choosing my next save, but your idea of starting from U19 level seems interesting! About the team roster view above: would it be possible to add a column that tells us readers which club players represent?

Ooooh, Shefki Kuqi, Kosovon härkä (his Finnish nickname, "the Bull of Kosovo")! I hope (40p) Kuqi will have as stylish goal celebration as Shefki had! Shefki had actually two brothers who played football. Njazi had an international career in smaller European leagues, being most successful in TuS Koblenz and two Greece teams. And then there was Albert, who played semi-professionally in Finland for a few years. I actually played against him in some youth level! He was a proper "big #9", strong, quite good with the ball... but very lazy off the ball. Shefki also had a short but colourful manager career in Finland! He saved Honka from relegation and got PK-35 promoted to the top division, but his last job at Inter Turku ended when he tried to fire his assistants and ended up getting fired himself