Heading Up the Hive: a novice's FM12 story

[Greyfriars Bobby]

It's my first day as a member of the Front Office Football Central forum, and I figured there was no better way to join in than to begin a dynasty story.

I guess a little background might be in order. I suppose I am a fairly typical American sports fan; I follow each of the four major North American team sports to some extent, and understand them at least fairly well.

Soccer, however, is a different story. I know the rules well enough that I don't make a fool of myself if I'm watching a match with someone who knows the sport well, and I recognize some of the best clubs and the biggest star players. As far as strategies and tactics go, I am far from savvy. I know what a 4-4-2 is, for example, but I couldn't tell you much about why a team would use it, or why a manager would change his team out of that formation during a match. I bought Football Manager 12 about a year and a half ago, because I had heard such great things about it, but I haven't played it much.

This summer, our family took a vacation to the British Isles. That's put me in the mood to become more of a soccer fan, and I've started paying some attention to the British Premier League. It's also put me in the mood to play some Football Manager.

Today I discovered a site where I could download a FM12 database that sets up a special Scottish football "world" where I could manage one of over 300 clubs. Since all of us enjoyed our time in Scotland so much, I decided to plunge into the world of Scottish football.

I'm taking over as the manager of a team at the lowest level possible: the Im Bru Scottish Third Division. I figure that's the proper place for a novice like me to begin. I will be learning a lot as I go, and I'm sure I will make lots of mistakes...but at least I won't be driving Liverpool or Man U into the ground while I learn.

I looked over quite a few clubs, and I've chosen to manage Stonehaven, from the Third Division Aberdeenshire. Their followers call them the Hive; I'm guessing that's because their away kit features a jersey with yellow and black vertical stripes.

It didn't take long for me to discover there have been some excellent stories written here with basically the same premise: a manager assumes control of a low-level side and tries to lead it to greatness. I hope there haven't been so many of these that you won't want to read along with one more, and I hope my contribution to the field will turn out to be a fun one for all of us.

Wish me luck...it's off to the offices and grounds of the Stonehaven F.C.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

20 June 2011



Here's a little background on the Stonehaven club, from an email I received from the club on my first day on the job:

"Founded in 1919, Stonehaven are a semi-professional Scottish club currently playing in the The Irn Bru Third Division Aberdeenshire. The club play their home games at Glenury Park and possess fairly basic training facilities but state of the art youth facilities. The club also has exceptional junior coaching and an extensive youth recruitment network. The club is affectionately known as The Hive.

Although they have never won a competition, the club are enjoying probably their best spell of success this decade."


Here are the grounds at Glenury Park.

Our chairman, Greig Devlin, informs me that I'm working on a two year contract that will pay me £600 per week. I'll have a wage budget of £4,300 per week, and we're spending £1,147 a week right now. If there are some players out there we want to hire, it looks like we have the money to do so.

[Grover]

Welcome to the boards! Looking forward to following along!

[britrock88]

Oh, we'll eat LLM dynasties up. I was just starting to work on one myself.

[MacroGuru]

Awesome, following...and welcome!

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone. There is so much going on in a Football Manager "universe" that I could easily get lost there for hours. I've played Eastside Hockey Manager for several years, so a lot of what I see in FM is somewhat familiar.

****

I told the Stonehaven club board that I thought I could lead the team to a finish in the top half of the table, which is what the board thought I could manage as well. We'll see if I've bitten off more than I can chew.

[collegesportsfanms]

Good luck with this one. I too am an FM fan with some soccer knowledge. I also don't really understand the tactical aspects of the game. Unfortunately I'm so swamped that FM has taken a back seat to pretty much everything else in my life. I have 2 main projects I'm working on and that is enough, plus 2 jobs. I'll be following along though. I'm hoping to get the new FM when it comes out. Normally my play time through FM consists of simming the matches to get through seasons as quick as I can. Good luck though.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

I appreciate the encouragement! I'm going to have a lot of fun, and if I take my lumps while I'm figuring it out I hope I won't get too frustrated.

****

21 June 2011

One of the first pieces of backroom advice I got concerned hiring some new coaches and a scout. I've made an offer to a goalkeeping coach and a second coach who can help out in several areas, particularly tactical expertise. Since it seems I can have a goalie coach and two general coaches on my staff, I won't have to fire anyone. I also made an offer to a scout who is significantly better at identifying and projecting talent than the fellow I already have. Again, I can hire up to two scouts, so I don't have to show anybody the door.

We're going to play a friendly between our senior team and our reserves tomorrow, so we'll have a chance to see the players in action.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

22 June 2011

The intra-club friendly match is coming up later today, and it's time to meet some of the players you'll see taking the pitch for Stonehaven this season. Here are 13 of the lads you might be reading more about in the days, weeks, and months to come.

PLAYER            POS    AGE  IN BRIEF
Kyle Mair         GK      25  Very good shot stopper; great reflexes.
Clark Mitchell    D       25  Talented left back with lots of pace.
Ross Duncan       D       25  Athletic central defender; good speed and tackling.
Jay Campbell      D       22  Tremendous stamina; team leader.
Marc Mackintosh   M       28  Creative central midfielder; consummate team player.
Jocky Strathdee   M       24  Versatile, promising midfielder; very good passer.
Kyle Shaw         M       27  Fast, strong midfielder; good on penalties and long shots.
Liam Mitchell     M       26  Flashy, skilled player; consistently crosses ball well.
Grant Martin      AM      23  Very good off the ball; not fast, but great on first touch.
Willie Boyd       AM/ST   25  Natural scorer; should lead club in goals; highest paid player in league.
Chris Scafie      AM      22  Can bring crowd to its feet; good at corners and crossing.
Scott McCallum    AM      22  Makes teammates better; skilled player with good technique.
Ryan Spence       AM/ST   23  Talented young striker; is attracting interest from other clubs.

(I wish I didn't have to put this "code" format; sorry about that!)

Good news! I learned today that both the coaches I offered jobs have accepted my offers. Goalkeeping coach Graham Smith and coach James Clark have joined Paul Teffer on my staff. They'll both be on the pitch with me for today's match.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

23 June 2011

As we might have expected, our first team had very little trouble beating our reserves yesterday--the final was 6-0.

One of our very talented younger players, 15-year-old striker Chris Redford, started the match for the first team and scored twice before the half. Unfortunately, right before the end of the half, Chris injured his ankle, and he'll be out of action for about 6 more weeks.

Willie Boyd added a third goal for the first team, and with that 3-0 lead, I replaced the entire first team for the second half. I'm not sure if that was/is the best thing to do, but I wanted to give as many players time as I could.

Redford's sub, Ryan Spence, scored soon after the half. Another teenager, Gavin Watt, found the net, and Kyle Shaw completed the scoring with a successful penalty kick at 86'.

Except for Redford's injury, I was pleased with how the match went.

We've begun our scouting efforts, and we're looking more closely at some younger players who might not help us this year, but whose futures look especially bright.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

24 June 2011

More good news. I heard back from Paul Fitzpatrick, the scout we were negotiating with, and he's agreed to take a job with Stonehaven. Fitzpatrick brought with him reports on some players he's familiar with, and there are one or two on his list that I'm thinking about trying to sign. One is a very good young goalkeeper named Roy McKay, currently with Dunbar United of the Third Division Central Belt East.

Speaking of goalkeepers, we're looking at a keeper named Craig Allison. When I looked at his attributes, one jumped off the screen at me.



I looked up what Eccentricity means as a goalie's attribute, and it looks like Craig is a keeper who might try almost anything; a high-risk, high-reward kind of player. I wonder if his 13 for Decisions might make him less likely to do REALLY silly things?

I'm tempted to try to sign him, just so I can watch what he might do. Our staff thinks he's almost as good as Kyle Mair, our first team keeper, with the potential to be even better--a starter for a club in the Premier League, even.

[DaddyTorgo]

Great goalies can cover up a TON of holes in LLM. I signed Mattia Perin in my LLM career with San Marino in Italy and he was key in helping me bring them up to Serie A.

IRL he's now playing for Genoa in Serie A.

Another thing to look for is one or two (depending on your formation) solid defensive midfielders who can sit in the gap between your midfield and defense and break up opposition attacks.

Solid defense will get you a long long way in the lower leagues.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Great goalies can cover up a TON of holes in LLM. I signed Mattia Perin in my LLM career with San Marino in Italy and he was key in helping me bring them up to Serie A.

IRL he's now playing for Genoa in Serie A.

Another thing to look for is one or two (depending on your formation) solid defensive midfielders who can sit in the gap between your midfield and defense and break up opposition attacks.

Solid defense will get you a long long way in the lower leagues.

Thanks for the advice, Daddy Torgo. The best goalkeeper on my Stonehaven roster right now is Kyle Mair. He looks like a good one to me, and my staff agree. Then again, if they're not great at evaluating talent, am I getting lots of incorrect information from them?

Assuming the attributes I see on their player page are accurate, here's what Mair can do:



Mair is 26, and Allison is 24. I have a 15 year old keeper named Colin Cuthbert, whom my scouts say could be better than Mair one day. I might try to sign both Allison and Roy McKay, the lad my new scout told me about.

One of my best players, Marc Mackintosh, is comfortable as a defensive midfielder, and he seems perfectly suited to fill the role you described. I might go looking for a similar player, maybe a younger one (Marc is 28).

Thanks again for your insights!

[Greyfriars Bobby]

We have six friendlies lined up before we begin our Third Division Aberdeenshire schedule:

26 June: at Inverness Citadel (Third Division Northwest)
28 June: vs New Elgin (Second Division North Section West)
5 July: at Riverside Athletic (Third Division Angus & Kincardine Group Two)
7 July: vs Hermes (Second Division North East)
10 July: at Blackburn United (Third Division Central Belt East)
13 July: vs Arniston Rangers (Second Division Central Belt East)

All three of our home matches will be against teams from the Second Division. I hope we don't treat our local supporters to three losses on our own grounds.

The league fixtures begin on 23 July, which is almost exactly a month away. Before then, the draws for the Scottish Cup and the Scottish Northern Cup will be held, and I'm guessing those competitions will begin before we begin league play.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

25 June 2011

It looks like we've finalized deals with two players we were hoping to sign.

One of them is the "eccentric" goalkeeper, Craig Allison. He might not be quite as good as Kyle Mair is now, but he's close, and he should be even better. I'm expecting both Allison and Mair to play a lot for us.

The other is Chic Farrell, an attacking left winger. We didn't have much depth at his position, so he'll fill a real need for us. Farrell is about a year older than Grant Martin and while Martin is better now, Farrell probably has more upside.

I'm cautious about adding too many new players to the club, for fear I'll upset some of their team cohesion. James Clark, who scouted both Allison and Farrell, think their personalities will fit well with the players we already have.

Craig and Chic will be joining us on 30 June.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

27 June 2011

Yesterday we traveled up to Inverness to take on the Citadel club, and it wasn't pretty. After a scoreless first half, we let in three goals in the next 45 minutes.

I replaced our starting eleven at 55 minutes, but by then, Citadel had most of their starters off the pitch, too. Our young goalkeeper, Colin Cuthbert, allowed the three Citadel goals, but only one was really his fault. I gave him an encouraging talk after the match, and he seemed to feel a bit better. I'd like to think our first team would have kept things closer; I'll tell myself that for now.

I'm going to attend the Scottish Trial Day on the 30th, where I'll get a look at 40 good young players.

[DaddyTorgo]

Older players are good to have in your squad in lower leagues - at least as long as they have good composure...they can help to keep the squad from cratering after losses and keep things on an even keel, and at lower leagues their physical decline does not make them the liabilities that it sometimes does at higher levels.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Older players are good to have in your squad in lower leagues - at least as long as they have good composure...they can help to keep the squad from cratering after losses and keep things on an even keel, and at lower leagues their physical decline does not make them the liabilities that it sometimes does at higher levels.

That makes a lot of sense. I can imagine a heady veteran being able to get the job done in the Third Division, even if he's lost a step.

The elder statesman of our side right now is Marc Mackintosh, who's 28. Kyle Shaw is 27, and Ross Duncan and Willie Shaw are 26. I might look for a man in his 30s, even, to play the "stabilising veteran" role.

I think it's great that factors like this make a difference in Football Manager. Thanks for the tip!

[Greyfriars Bobby]

28 June 2011

We treated the 14 people who came out to Glenury Park today to a much better effort, earning a draw with New Elgin, a Second Division club.

Willie Boyd scored our goal, and Ross McKay got the equalizer for New Elgin. McKay is a 19 year old striker, and he impressed us today.

I'll be off to watch the Trialists in two days, and before our next match, we should have our new players, Allison and Farrell, on board.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

30 June 2011

The transfer window for Scottish clubs is now open, which means Chic Farrell and Craig Allison have now joined the Hive.

I watched the Scottish Trials today, but my staff and I weren't terribly impressed with most of the players we saw. One we did like, a goalkeeper named Daniel Boyd, would probably want at least £250 a week to play for us...almost twice as much as our highest-paid player. Sorry, Danny.

We are looking closer at several players whom our staff have identified as potential signings. If we reach a deal with any of them, you'll hear about it here.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

5 July 2011

It was a relatively eventful days around the Hive as we prepared for our next game, in Dundee against Riverside Athletic.

Young keeper Colin Cuthbert suffered a chest injury in practice, and he's joined Chris Redford on the long-term injury list. We won't be seeing either of them on the pitch until early August.

The Stonehaven Football Times predicted we would beat Riverside easily, and that's what we did, 3-0.

It was a chippy match. Riverside's Chris Urquhart was sent off with a red card at 23' when he took Willie Boyd down with a "professional foul." Fourteen minutes later, Liam Mitchell was awarded a penalty, which he missed over the top of the goal. Clark Mitchell, Jocky Strathdee, and Ryan Gauld found the net for the Hive, while goalkeepers Kyle Mair and newcomer Craig Allison completed a clean sheet.

The worst news to come out of this match was an injury to Chic Farrell, whose Stonehaven debut ended in the fifth minute when he was injured on a hard foul that earned a yellow card for the defender. Farrell was diagnosed with a thigh strain, and it might be a month before he's back.

We added two new players to the roster this week, too. Sean Ross is a 23-year-old striker from Arbroath, who's been compared to a young Willie Boyd. He is highly skilled, very fit, and is a good team player. James Bowman, 22, is an attacking midfielder who comes to us from Stirling. He immediately strengthens us on the right wing, and he should see a lot of playing time.

Let's see if we can make it through the next week without any more injuries.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

7 July 2011

Yesterday we signed a young player with whom our supporters have already seemed to fall in love. We spotted a player named James Caldwell, a 15-year-old attacking midfielder with Redbrae of the Third Division Central Belt West. He's fast, accelerates quickly, and plays with lots of flair, and our staff think he has the potential to be a Premier League star one day. We offered James a contract at £40 per week, with an appearance bonus of £20 and an extra £2 for every goal, and he accepted it quickly.

Almost immedately, my pal Darren MacDonald from the Stonehaven Football Times called me for an interview. Both Caldwell and the fans liked it when I told Darren I thought Caldwell has what it takes to develop into a top-class footballer.

James wasn't in uniform for our game at Glenury Park today, where we beat Hermes, 2-0. I tried a slightly different formation, a 4-3-3, with Grant Martin playing up higher on the left wing. It seemed to work well. Martin scored our first goal, and Marc Mackintosh curled one in from 25 yards out just before the half.

Sean Ross and James Bowman made their debuts for us, and they looked good. In fact, all the lads looked good. We outshot Hermes 17-2, which gives you a good idea of how the match went.

Unfortunately, ANOTHER Stonehaven player got hurt! Ryan Gauld is out for at least three weeks with an elbow injury.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

10 July 2011

When I discovered there were a number of physios on the job market who are a lot better than the one we have now, I asked our guy to agree to a mutual contract termination. He accepted the deal, we shook hands, and that was that.

The next day, we welcomed our new physio, Kevin Brown, to the team. He's twice as talented (his rating is 8, and our old guy was a 4), and he's making £50 less a week, so it's a win-win proposition.

We drew Bishopmill United as our first round opponent in the Scottish Cup. We'll play them at their grounds in Elgin on Saturday, 23 July. They are part of the Third Division Northwest. At least we didn't draw a club like Celtic or Hibernian.

For a few days, we'd been looking at a defensive midfielder named Sandy Innes, who was playing for Zetland. Innes, 22, drew raves from our staff, and we decided to offer him a contract. The news leaked out somehow, but fortunately Sandy decided to sign with us before too many other clubs entered the sweepstakes. He won't come cheaply--£95 a week, with a £50 appearance bonus--but you have to pay for good players, and our wages are well under control. We think Sandy will be worth it; he's a smart player and a very sure tackler who should make our side that much better defensively.

At Blackburn United yesterday, we ran off a very satisfying 3-0 victory. Marc Mackintosh found the net for the second straight game, James Bowman scored for the first time in Stonehaven colors, and Ryan Spence scored the final goal.

The 4-3-3 formation we've been using seems to work well. We switched to a 4-4-2 after the half, and went to a more defensive strategy. We've had three consecutive clean sheets, and we kept the game away from our own goal much of the day.

The last of our pre-season friendlies is in two days, and the players that will probably begin league play as our first eleven have good match fitness levels.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

I'm going to go "out of character" for a minute so I can ask a question about managing my team in FM12.

I've been getting emails about players who are in the last year of their contract--which is almost the entire team. How quickly do I need to work on signing them to a deal for next year?

I haven't even seen them in a league match yet, so I still have a lot to learn about who can do the job and who can't. Do I need to start the signing process now, for fear other clubs will try to line them up for next season?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Young Drachma]

Welcome aboard!

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by Greyfriars Bobby

I'm going to go "out of character" for a minute so I can ask a question about managing my team in FM12.

I've been getting emails about players who are in the last year of their contract--which is almost the entire team. How quickly do I need to work on signing them to a deal for next year?

I haven't even seen them in a league match yet, so I still have a lot to learn about who can do the job and who can't. Do I need to start the signing process now, for fear other clubs will try to line them up for next season?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Don't do anything a year in advance. The rule that matters (eventually) is the rule that allows players of a certain age who are in the last 6 months of their contracts to sign with other clubs without the signing club having to pay a transfer fee. In the BSR, though, that's not a practical concern. You can get close to the end of the season before starting renegotiations, if you like, or can otherwise negotiate in any manner that's advantageous to you. (Just remember that the contracts are guaranteed once you make them.)

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Welcome aboard!

Thanks, Young Drachma. I'm finding Football Manager to be one of the most fascinating games I've ever played, and I feel like I'm only starting to scratch the surface of what I can do with it.

For example, my in-game coaching is still pretty elementary. I'll make some basic strategic changes depending on how the score is looking, but I'm a long way from being comfortable with the finer points. I think my next "project" will be finding out how to use the touchline shouts.

Thanks for following along!

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Originally Posted by britrock88

Don't do anything a year in advance. The rule that matters (eventually) is the rule that allows players of a certain age who are in the last 6 months of their contracts to sign with other clubs without the signing club having to pay a transfer fee. In the BSR, though, that's not a practical concern. You can get close to the end of the season before starting renegotiations, if you like, or can otherwise negotiate in any manner that's advantageous to you. (Just remember that the contracts are guaranteed once you make them.)

Thank you for the advice, britrock. I would have hated to lose some of Stonehaven's best players just because I cluelessly waited too long to line them up for 2012.