Life at Barrow (FIFA Manager 09)

condors · 08-25-2009, 05:56 AM

I am hired as the new caretaker for Barrow. We are 5 promotions away from the premier league but Rome was not built in a day.

You have a preseason to get ready for the league. I book 2 training camps(players can improve on these) do all the options for public relations (one includes a youth day which has gotten me a new youth player in the past)

I fill up the remaining days with smaller camps and player parties and such to help with morale.

Only 1 friendly before the season. I normally do more but wanted the 2nd training camp.

I am far from an expert in the game as i just got it yesterday. I picked Barrow due to a dynasty i read in the lower league managers forum on the si forums a long time ago.

I tell the media that i expect promotion (which doesn't help my job security rating but the fans seem to like it).

condors · 08-25-2009, 06:30 AM

I relegate most tasks to my assitants. I will be focusing on the 1st teams games and transfers and contracts(got to buy the groceries).

I am offered some national team jobs but i turn them down. I want to focus on Barrow.

Our camps go quite well, and we destroy powerhouse Walthamstow 12-0 in the friendly.

We signed a youth from tryouts.

All in all i am very happy with the way the preseason went. The players did complain about too much partying at one point.

My squad its has 2 6 star rated players and 3 5 star rated players. I also have serval 1 star players on the team. I have nobody in reserve team.
I decide to get some youth players. Adding several into the first team. Players have levels ranging from 1-100 and talent from 1-10. These youth players are lower level but have more talent. Hopefully they will improve. If i don't get results i can bring the vets back from the reserve team. I now have 3 6 star players and 5 5 star players and 3 4 star players in the team.

condors · 08-25-2009, 06:47 AM

The first match is at Boston United. We out chance, shoot and possess them but they beat us 2-1. I am not unhappy as we outplayed them would be unhappy if they outplayed us. This is not the start we wanted to win the league though.

I try to make some transfer moves but my board blocks them. It looks like I am going to have to hold tight at least until january rolls around. Tried a few loans and that didn't work out either.

Our 2nd game is against Burscough and we dominate and get a 2-0 win.

Reece Potter and Craig Caldwell (my two central midfielders) and Striker Steve Ward we named to the team of the week.

condors · 08-25-2009, 06:59 AM

Matchday #3:

18th place Leigh RMI. We get a long ball behind their defense and striker Robert Patterson gets onto it for a 1v1 with the keeper and scores. You may think it was a replay but the same thing happens with the same result 2-0 to the good guys. Our right winger Paul Wilcox makes it 3-0 with some fancy footwork and a penalty kick well placed by captin left winger Jamie Albutt makes the final 4-0.

condors · 08-25-2009, 07:12 AM

Matchday #4 we outshoot Alfretown 11-4 but come away with a 1-1 tie. Central defender Andrew Price scored his own rebound from a corner kick.
We hit the woodwork a few times and should have had a win. We fall to 7th in the table 3 points behind the leaders. I tell 6 of my players they need to get stronger and they respond that they will train harder.

condors · 08-25-2009, 07:25 AM

Reece Potter and Craig Caldwell my central midfielders are once again in the team of the week. I tried to bring in a few more youth players but the board blocked it again. The transfer deadline has passed.

Matchday #5 see us vs first place Worchester. Well our missed chances finally we have been banking on to work itself out did in spades this game. We had 13 shots and 7 found their way in. They had 11 and forced 2 saves from our keeper. the 7-0 win is more than i was expecting. Striker Steve Ward had a hattrick along with right winger Paul Wilcox. Striker Robert Patterson added in another. Steve Ward gets named in the team of the week and the Chairman tells me how happy he is with the win.

condors · 08-25-2009, 07:41 AM

An agent offers us a youth talent and says he is a future international. We sign him up sight unseen.

Matchday #6 is against Hinckley who are in 21st place. Reece Potter one of our key cogs in the central midfield is out with injury. There is a 9 point rating dropoff but we hope for the best. We have alot of shots and chances but seem back to our ways of not being able to finish them. In 16 shots we manage 2 goals in their 4 shots they get 1. We will take the 2-1 win. Striker Robert Patterson scored both our goals.

Robert Langshire who stepped in as a sub improved 2 points from the game and is named to team of the week along with Paul Wilcox and Robert Patterson. Very happy with that result.

looks like we are in a bidding war for the youngster. We up our bid we have transfer money so its good.

The win moves us to 2nd place in the table.

condors · 08-25-2009, 07:52 AM

our players are getting tired and their ratings are going down. Not sure what i can do about that right now.

We look at our youth squad and bring up a right back to fill in for the worst of the offenders who had fallen to a 38 rating. Reece Potter returns to the lineup.

Our left back Daniel Gardner gets sent off. We get outplayed off the pitch but our goalie who i thought about trying to upgrade plays out of his mind. Striker Robert Patterson adds 2 more goals to his talley and we end up with a 2-0 win we don't deserve.

condors · 08-25-2009, 08:10 AM

Some guys are chirping about playing time and my asstant thinks a few should be first teamers and my first team is all tired. I go with the 2nd teamers except the goalie.

We have Vauxhall Motors who are 10th in the table. Its a pretty close game but we end up winning 4-0. Thanks go to our goalie who stopped all there chances (6) and our strikers and wingers who cashed in 4 out of our 10 chances. The opposing manager said i lack the nerve to lead our team to a win before the game.

The media commented that the future looks bright for Barrow as we played a side of mostly under 20's

condors · 08-25-2009, 08:42 AM

Next up is Harrogate.

Our first teamers are still tired so i give the B team another game. They reward me with a 3-0 victory but it was an evenly played game. Harrogate had 9 chances to our 8.

Matchday #10 is Stalybrige. We are the better team and win 3-0.

get message that a few of the guys became stronger, I tell 6 more guys the same thing one of them basically tells me he is strong enough the rest will train harder.

matchday #11 is Kettering Town. We outplay them to a 3-0 win. Very happy with the result. We are 4 points clear at the top of the table.

Another agent tells us about a another youth player we tell him we are interested. We shall see what happens. We still have not gotten the other kid yet.

The 2nd kid we were told about signs up and is 15 years old but is an 8 star talent. That is 2 stars better than my best player. I have high hopes for him. He is an attacking midfielder so i would have to go to a 4-4-2 diamond when he plays but i am ok with that.

condors · 08-25-2009, 09:27 AM

matchday #12 is Solihull and we outchance them 10-7 for a 3-0 win. Our goalie has been playing awsome. Paul Wilcox and Robert Patterson are in the team of the week.

We get messages that the guys i told to get stronger did.
i tell a bunch of guys they need to get better.

Matchday#13 is vs Tammworth. We outchance them 9-3 for a 3-0 win. We are in great form at the moment. Mark McGill our 2nd string right winger is named to team of the week.

Matchday #14 is vs Telford who are 2nd in the table behind us. I try to field my best team possible even if some of the guys are a little tired. We out chance them 10-9 and get a 2-1 win for the good guys. This game is huge for us. The team has been pretty healthy and we need to get points while we can.

Matchday #15 Hyde 20th in the table. We outshot them 4-3 its mostly 2nd teamers for me and it was a bore 0-0 match. We are still 5 points clear in 1st place though.

condors · 08-25-2009, 10:13 AM

Matchday #16 and our goalie comes to the rescue again in a close affair we win 3-0. Richie Kenney complains about being in a rotation. We finally signed that youth kid and he is another 8 star midfielder. He plays on the right side. I can't wait to see those two kids in a few seasons.

Matchday #17 is vs Southport it is a close affair that we eek out 1-0.

matchday #18 vs Workington in a game we should win we get a 1-1 draw.

We are still 6 points clear in first so it is no big deal.

The backup keeper Andy Stott requests to be transfer listed. Guy is 1 star player (which in game looks like an empty star it kinda pathetic) and I grant his wish.

Matchday #19 vs Blyth and we get a deserved 2-0 win. We are 9 points clear on the table. At this point i will be shocked if we don't win the league.

I don't know if it would be considered a cheat getting good young players that are more talented than my starting guys but the other teams don't seem to play guys with the most talent. The problem with that in the lower leagues the actual level isn't as big a deal when its not that big a difference.

condors · 08-25-2009, 09:50 PM

had a bit of a winter break so i ran another training camp

matchday #20 vs Hucknall we are clearly the better team and win 4-0

matchday #21 vs Nuneaton i go with the B team and squeak a 2-1 win

get a message that my team is mad we didn't have a christmas party

got a thing called ups and downs 3 players improved and the backup goalie got worse due to lack of playing time

matchday #22 vs Boston Utd and we get a 3-1 win.

matchday #23 played the backups and Burscough made us pay with a deserved 0-2 defeat

we are offically halfway through the season and have a 15 point edge at the top of the table

condors · 08-26-2009, 01:03 AM

the rest of the season results
leigh rmi 3-1
alfeton 3-0
worcester 3-0
hinckley 5-0
redditch 3-1
vauxhall motors 4-1
harrogate 0-0
stalybrige 1-3
kettering 3-0
solihull 2-1
tamworth 5-1
telford 1-0
hyde 0-0
gainsburough 0-1
southport 0-1
workington 1-0
blyth 4-0
hucknall 2-1
nuneaton 2-1

we achive promotion which was the goal at the start of the season

we had ups and downs for the season overall 21 players improved and 2 got worse

5 of my players we named to the team of the year 4 of them were central midfielders and also striker Robert Patterson.

Its kinda funny the guy who i thought would be our star striker George Zayner who is the most talented but didn't have the playing level rise as much as Patterson. I would have called him a bust but he scored 4 goals in the last 2 games to bring his season total to 9 while Patterson had 26.

Also my backup central midfielder ended up with the highest average rating on the team and in the league. He isn't the most talented but has higher playing level than the starters.

It looks like playing level is more important than talent but how can you not go for talent. I think i will go for playing level in my starting 11 and try to nab those 6 star and better players for backups and youth and see how they grow.

condors · 08-26-2009, 04:04 AM

The preseason goes about as well as can be expected. We play Chelsea to see the difference between us and them. Its about 20 playing levels per player. We battle them hard to a 2-1 loss. I did make 2 transfers both young defenders who are level 65 and 66 the highest guy on our team was our goalie at 61. It seems that talent is not a set figure. Some of my players have increased in talent one went to a 7 star player striker George Zaynor who was also named team captin (i don't have anything to do with that as far as i can tell) and our goalie went to a 5 star player.

Overall our team is the top ranked team but not by much if it wasn't for the new signings i would not be. i told the press i expect to avoid relegation so the pressure shouldn't be there.

I also cut some no hopers out of the youth squads. My weakest postion is probally striker and i am trying to get an upgrade there. There was a perfect guy on free transfer but he said i was in too low a league for him.

08-25-2009, 06:30 AM	#2
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	I relegate most tasks to my assitants. I will be focusing on the 1st teams games and transfers and contracts(got to buy the groceries). I am offered some national team jobs but i turn them down. I want to focus on Barrow. Our camps go quite well, and we destroy powerhouse Walthamstow 12-0 in the friendly. We signed a youth from tryouts. All in all i am very happy with the way the preseason went. The players did complain about too much partying at one point. My squad its has 2 6 star rated players and 3 5 star rated players. I also have serval 1 star players on the team. I have nobody in reserve team. I decide to get some youth players. Adding several into the first team. Players have levels ranging from 1-100 and talent from 1-10. These youth players are lower level but have more talent. Hopefully they will improve. If i don't get results i can bring the vets back from the reserve team. I now have 3 6 star players and 5 5 star players and 3 4 star players in the team.

08-25-2009, 06:47 AM	#3
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	The first match is at Boston United. We out chance, shoot and possess them but they beat us 2-1. I am not unhappy as we outplayed them would be unhappy if they outplayed us. This is not the start we wanted to win the league though. I try to make some transfer moves but my board blocks them. It looks like I am going to have to hold tight at least until january rolls around. Tried a few loans and that didn't work out either. Our 2nd game is against Burscough and we dominate and get a 2-0 win. Reece Potter and Craig Caldwell (my two central midfielders) and Striker Steve Ward we named to the team of the week. Last edited by condors : 08-25-2009 at 06:49 AM.

08-25-2009, 06:59 AM	#4
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	Matchday #3: 18th place Leigh RMI. We get a long ball behind their defense and striker Robert Patterson gets onto it for a 1v1 with the keeper and scores. You may think it was a replay but the same thing happens with the same result 2-0 to the good guys. Our right winger Paul Wilcox makes it 3-0 with some fancy footwork and a penalty kick well placed by captin left winger Jamie Albutt makes the final 4-0.

08-25-2009, 07:12 AM	#5
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	Matchday #4 we outshoot Alfretown 11-4 but come away with a 1-1 tie. Central defender Andrew Price scored his own rebound from a corner kick. We hit the woodwork a few times and should have had a win. We fall to 7th in the table 3 points behind the leaders. I tell 6 of my players they need to get stronger and they respond that they will train harder.

08-25-2009, 07:25 AM	#6
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	Reece Potter and Craig Caldwell my central midfielders are once again in the team of the week. I tried to bring in a few more youth players but the board blocked it again. The transfer deadline has passed. Matchday #5 see us vs first place Worchester. Well our missed chances finally we have been banking on to work itself out did in spades this game. We had 13 shots and 7 found their way in. They had 11 and forced 2 saves from our keeper. the 7-0 win is more than i was expecting. Striker Steve Ward had a hattrick along with right winger Paul Wilcox. Striker Robert Patterson added in another. Steve Ward gets named in the team of the week and the Chairman tells me how happy he is with the win.

08-25-2009, 07:41 AM	#7
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	An agent offers us a youth talent and says he is a future international. We sign him up sight unseen. Matchday #6 is against Hinckley who are in 21st place. Reece Potter one of our key cogs in the central midfield is out with injury. There is a 9 point rating dropoff but we hope for the best. We have alot of shots and chances but seem back to our ways of not being able to finish them. In 16 shots we manage 2 goals in their 4 shots they get 1. We will take the 2-1 win. Striker Robert Patterson scored both our goals. Robert Langshire who stepped in as a sub improved 2 points from the game and is named to team of the week along with Paul Wilcox and Robert Patterson. Very happy with that result. looks like we are in a bidding war for the youngster. We up our bid we have transfer money so its good. The win moves us to 2nd place in the table.

08-25-2009, 07:52 AM	#8
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	our players are getting tired and their ratings are going down. Not sure what i can do about that right now. We look at our youth squad and bring up a right back to fill in for the worst of the offenders who had fallen to a 38 rating. Reece Potter returns to the lineup. Our left back Daniel Gardner gets sent off. We get outplayed off the pitch but our goalie who i thought about trying to upgrade plays out of his mind. Striker Robert Patterson adds 2 more goals to his talley and we end up with a 2-0 win we don't deserve.

08-25-2009, 08:10 AM	#9
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	Some guys are chirping about playing time and my asstant thinks a few should be first teamers and my first team is all tired. I go with the 2nd teamers except the goalie. We have Vauxhall Motors who are 10th in the table. Its a pretty close game but we end up winning 4-0. Thanks go to our goalie who stopped all there chances (6) and our strikers and wingers who cashed in 4 out of our 10 chances. The opposing manager said i lack the nerve to lead our team to a win before the game. The media commented that the future looks bright for Barrow as we played a side of mostly under 20's

08-25-2009, 08:42 AM	#10
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	Next up is Harrogate. Our first teamers are still tired so i give the B team another game. They reward me with a 3-0 victory but it was an evenly played game. Harrogate had 9 chances to our 8. Matchday #10 is Stalybrige. We are the better team and win 3-0. get message that a few of the guys became stronger, I tell 6 more guys the same thing one of them basically tells me he is strong enough the rest will train harder. matchday #11 is Kettering Town. We outplay them to a 3-0 win. Very happy with the result. We are 4 points clear at the top of the table. Another agent tells us about a another youth player we tell him we are interested. We shall see what happens. We still have not gotten the other kid yet. The 2nd kid we were told about signs up and is 15 years old but is an 8 star talent. That is 2 stars better than my best player. I have high hopes for him. He is an attacking midfielder so i would have to go to a 4-4-2 diamond when he plays but i am ok with that.

08-25-2009, 09:27 AM	#11
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	matchday #12 is Solihull and we outchance them 10-7 for a 3-0 win. Our goalie has been playing awsome. Paul Wilcox and Robert Patterson are in the team of the week. We get messages that the guys i told to get stronger did. i tell a bunch of guys they need to get better. Matchday#13 is vs Tammworth. We outchance them 9-3 for a 3-0 win. We are in great form at the moment. Mark McGill our 2nd string right winger is named to team of the week. Matchday #14 is vs Telford who are 2nd in the table behind us. I try to field my best team possible even if some of the guys are a little tired. We out chance them 10-9 and get a 2-1 win for the good guys. This game is huge for us. The team has been pretty healthy and we need to get points while we can. Matchday #15 Hyde 20th in the table. We outshot them 4-3 its mostly 2nd teamers for me and it was a bore 0-0 match. We are still 5 points clear in 1st place though.

08-25-2009, 10:13 AM	#12
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	Matchday #16 and our goalie comes to the rescue again in a close affair we win 3-0. Richie Kenney complains about being in a rotation. We finally signed that youth kid and he is another 8 star midfielder. He plays on the right side. I can't wait to see those two kids in a few seasons. Matchday #17 is vs Southport it is a close affair that we eek out 1-0. matchday #18 vs Workington in a game we should win we get a 1-1 draw. We are still 6 points clear in first so it is no big deal. The backup keeper Andy Stott requests to be transfer listed. Guy is 1 star player (which in game looks like an empty star it kinda pathetic) and I grant his wish. Matchday #19 vs Blyth and we get a deserved 2-0 win. We are 9 points clear on the table. At this point i will be shocked if we don't win the league. I don't know if it would be considered a cheat getting good young players that are more talented than my starting guys but the other teams don't seem to play guys with the most talent. The problem with that in the lower leagues the actual level isn't as big a deal when its not that big a difference.

08-25-2009, 09:50 PM	#13
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	had a bit of a winter break so i ran another training camp matchday #20 vs Hucknall we are clearly the better team and win 4-0 matchday #21 vs Nuneaton i go with the B team and squeak a 2-1 win get a message that my team is mad we didn't have a christmas party got a thing called ups and downs 3 players improved and the backup goalie got worse due to lack of playing time matchday #22 vs Boston Utd and we get a 3-1 win. matchday #23 played the backups and Burscough made us pay with a deserved 0-2 defeat we are offically halfway through the season and have a 15 point edge at the top of the table

08-26-2009, 01:03 AM	#14
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	the rest of the season results leigh rmi 3-1 alfeton 3-0 worcester 3-0 hinckley 5-0 redditch 3-1 vauxhall motors 4-1 harrogate 0-0 stalybrige 1-3 kettering 3-0 solihull 2-1 tamworth 5-1 telford 1-0 hyde 0-0 gainsburough 0-1 southport 0-1 workington 1-0 blyth 4-0 hucknall 2-1 nuneaton 2-1 we achive promotion which was the goal at the start of the season we had ups and downs for the season overall 21 players improved and 2 got worse 5 of my players we named to the team of the year 4 of them were central midfielders and also striker Robert Patterson. Its kinda funny the guy who i thought would be our star striker George Zayner who is the most talented but didn't have the playing level rise as much as Patterson. I would have called him a bust but he scored 4 goals in the last 2 games to bring his season total to 9 while Patterson had 26. Also my backup central midfielder ended up with the highest average rating on the team and in the league. He isn't the most talented but has higher playing level than the starters. It looks like playing level is more important than talent but how can you not go for talent. I think i will go for playing level in my starting 11 and try to nab those 6 star and better players for backups and youth and see how they grow.

08-26-2009, 04:04 AM	#15
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	The preseason goes about as well as can be expected. We play Chelsea to see the difference between us and them. Its about 20 playing levels per player. We battle them hard to a 2-1 loss. I did make 2 transfers both young defenders who are level 65 and 66 the highest guy on our team was our goalie at 61. It seems that talent is not a set figure. Some of my players have increased in talent one went to a 7 star player striker George Zaynor who was also named team captin (i don't have anything to do with that as far as i can tell) and our goalie went to a 5 star player. Overall our team is the top ranked team but not by much if it wasn't for the new signings i would not be. i told the press i expect to avoid relegation so the pressure shouldn't be there. I also cut some no hopers out of the youth squads. My weakest postion is probally striker and i am trying to get an upgrade there. There was a perfect guy on free transfer but he said i was in too low a league for him.

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