LLM England Career (FM14)

[Paddy]

Seeing as there's a few people doing story threads in here, I thought I would come back & get in on some of that... so welcome to my LLM Enlgand Career thread which I am playing on FM14 because I'm such a hipster.

The aim of the career? Start off unemployed with past experience set to Sunday League, get a job in the Conference North or South & take it from there. It won't be a one team save, I will look to move around to try to get to the top as soon as I can but it's also not going to be a journeyman save either as if I feel like I can achieve more by staying with a certain team I won't move on.

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Saturday 28th September 2013 - Onwards
HAYES & YEADING UNITED FC
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2013-14 Season: Conference South (in progress) / FA Cup (2nd Qualifying Round) / FA Trophy (1st Round)

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[Paddy]

& so it begins. Saturday 28th September 2013 will go down in the history books as the day I landed my first managerial role. Being a London lad I'm quite relieved that not only have I avoided going "oop north" but I've also managed to land a job theoretically inside the realms of the hallowed M25 motorway but in practice just outside of it... only one down side & that is I am now the man in charge of:

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That is correct. My first job in football management is at the nomadic Hayes & Yeading United FC of the Conference South who currently groundshare with Woking FC at their Kingfield ground. No ground, no fans, hardly any money & sat 18th in the Conference South table after 8 games that have only so far yielded 1 single victory. No wonder the previous manager Phil Babb resigned from his position.

My first day as Hayes & Yeading United boss is going to be a busy one as not only do I have to assess my squad & staff but also being a Satuday it is game day. Not just any game day - FA Cup game day. Specifically the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round away to lower league side Hungerford Town. Seeing as I've inherited a club with poor finances an FA Cup run would be most welcome, not only that but this first game is an ideal opportunity for the current crop of players to show me they are capable of beating pub teams.

 

[Paddy]

Hungerford Town FC 1-0 Hayes & Yeading United FC
Sat 28/09/13 - FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round @ Bulpit Lane, Hungerford (att: 509)

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Not the start to life at Hayes & Yeading that I imagined. It was especially hard to watch my new side be completely ineffective against their opponents from the Southern League Premier Division, only managing 1 shot on target all game. I thought we did enough defensively to earn a replay but unfortunately Hungerford had other ideas & scored during injury time at the end of the second half to end a potential club saving FA Cup run before it had really even started. In a weird way I'm glad this has happened as it's fully opened my eyes to the fact that I need to make big changes to the playing squad & bring in the right people to fit in to my preferred 4-5-1 formation. Easier said then done though due to our poor finances.

 

[Techno Natch]

Nice, hope you keep it up! Bad start though, I managed Hayes and Yeading too and didn't last long.

 

[Paddy]

Following on from my embarrassing managerial debut I've used the week before my Conference South debut away at Basingstoke Town to make a few changes off of the field because I felt like we could use some improvements behind the scenes so I sacked the assistant manager, head physio & scout - replacing them with better options (& expanding my scouting team from 1 person to 2) meaning my current back room team now looks like this:

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Due to the poor finances it's been hard to find the plethora of players I previously intended to bring in & as the current first team squad is wafer thin it's been hard to identify the players we could do without while I look for better options. The only signing I've managed to bring in so far is 19 year old central defender Oliver Modeste, which has now put me over my wage budget by £275 p/week, who was previously part of the Tottenham Hotspur youth team. Modeste has the quality to go straight in to the starting XI for the Basingstoke game, so hopefully we will see a defensive improvement.

 

[Harrier94]

Director Andy Corbett, he's not the ex footballer who played Burton for 10 years but also was part of the youth set up at Harriers is he? I know you probably can't find out easily but I know he retired in 2013 or something like that.

Also best of luck with this career Paddy

 

[Paddy]

Nice, hope you keep it up! Bad start though, I managed Hayes and Yeading too and didn't last long.

H&Y are difficult because they are a financial black hole, I'm going to need a lot of luck to achieve anything with them!

Director Andy Corbett, he's not the ex footballer who played Burton for 10 years but also was part of the youth set up at Harriers is he? I know you probably can't find out easily but I know he retired in 2013 or something like that.

Also best of luck with this career Paddy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Corbett this guy? I doubt it's the same one. Doesn't say anything on his wikipedia page about post playing career.

 

[Paddy]

Basingstoke Town FC 2-1 Hayes & Yeading United FC
Sat 05/10/13 - Conference South match #9 @ The Camrose, Basingstoke (att: 323)

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My second game as Hayes & Yeading manager ended in another defeat. A much improved performance from my team but it still wasn't enough to stop us from losing this fixture. The hosts took the lead early on but we managed to pull level through a Joshua Webb goal in the 22nd minute. Basingstoke regained the advantage 6 minutes before half time with what turned out to be the final goal of the game. We frustratingly hit the post & the crossbar in the final 10 minutes which could have at least earned us a point. Back to the drawing board.

 

[Paddy]

I've had an extra couple of days to tinker around with the team as our Conference South fixture away at Farnborough was pushed back from Saturday 12th October to Tuesday 15th October due to our opponents continued participation in the FA Cup. During this period I have managed to stretch the wage budget a bit further signing youngsters Paul McBride (M/AM L) & Charlie Collins (S) on free transfers. Also, I've convinced my board to look for a parent club that will give us decent loan players as our current affiliation deal with Brentford only benefits us with pre season friendlies - not that we can take advantage of it this season as my predecessor decided to use my 4 long term loans up before I got here with only one quarter of his loan acquisitions good enough to be in the starting line up.

 

[Paddy]

Farnborough FC 1-0 Hayes & Yeading United FC
Tue 15/10/13 - Conference South match #10 @ Paddy Power Park, Farnborough (att: 295)

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Firstly let me just get a bit of post match frustration out of the way... GOD FUCKING DAMN IT HAYES & YEADING! WHY ARE YOU SO PERENNIALLY SHIT! AAAGHHHH!!!!! Phew, thanks for that... I feel a lot better now. So yeah, 3 games in to my H&Y tenure & it's not looking good after 3 defeats. Once again we had our fair share of chances but were unable to put them away except for debutant Charlie Collins who was dubiously ruled offside during the first half. It seems that my team have a real problem holding on to games as for the 2nd time in my 3 games in charge we lose to a late goal. Things can only get better?

 

[Paddy]

I've brought the wage bill down a bit by releasing 2 non-starting players (defenders Adam Everitt & Dean Inman) so I could have a bit of room to bring in young German right sided attacking midfielder Jesse Waller-Lassen who can hopefully add a bit of creativity on the wings that we have been lacking. The Hayes & Yeading United board have came back to me with a potential parent club affiliation list containing all of Rotherham United & no one else... so I guess we are linking up with the Yorkshire based League One side. £11.33K per season, a friendly & a few loan players is better then a kick in the nuts I suppose.

 

[Paddy]

Hayes & Yeading United FC 0-1 Bishop's Stortford FC
Sat 19/10/13 - Conference South match #11 @ Kingfield Stadium, Woking (att: 45)

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My first home game as Hayes & Yeading boss was witnessed by a whopping 45 people (mostly Stortford fans I would assume) at Woking FC's Kingfield Stadium. Once again we were on the wrong end of the score line & yes you guessed it the opposition's winning goal came in the final 10 minutes while striker Charlie Collins had a goal ruled out for offside for the second consecutive game. I think a change from attacking training (which is going oh so well) to some serious hardcore fitness training is on the cards for the next few weeks as our 'give up in the last moments of the game' attitude has now seen us drop down in to the Conference South relegation zone. To make this game just that bit more painful new signings Oliver Modeste & Jesse Waller-Lassen both had to go off injured, luckily they will both be okay to play in our next game.

 

[Paddy]

More between game tinkering has occurred with the signing of central midfielder Stephen Hamilton-Forbes on a free transfer. I'll now be operating a one-in-one-out policy to keep the wage spend down as much as I can so Huw Johnson has been released from his contract which is a shame because the 20 year old had great potential but I've got to have the current starting XI in mind as priority.

Next up Hayes & Yeading host Ebbsfleet United who currently occupy 2nd place in the Conference South table... here comes my 5th defeat in 5 games...

 

[Paddy]

Hayes & Yeading United FC 1-1 Ebbsfleet United FC
Sat 27/10/13 - Conference South match #12 @ Kingfield Stadium, Woking (att: 83)

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I'm treating this like a win. A strong Ebbsfleet United side took the game to us & basically should have destroyed us but it took until 5 minutes into the second half for the visitors to take the lead. At this point I was thinking "here we go again" but somehow totally against the run of play the gods of football smiled upon one Geoff Mitchell, who came off the bench to scramble in an 86th minute equalizing goal. So, that's my first non-defeat as Hayes & Yeading United boss & it feels good.

 

[Paddy]

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We've been drawn away to Isthmian League Premier Division side Dulwich Hamlet in the FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round, to be played at Champion Hill on Saturday 16th November. I hope my team can go one better then our FA Cup exploits & try not to embarrass ourselves too much against lower league opposition but as a natural pessimist I'm going to not get ahead of myself just yet.

AFC Wimbledon (23rd out of 24 in League Two... lol) manager Paul Sturrock is unhappy with me for not playing on loan right midfielder Tom Beere enough in his natural position. I told him to GTFO in the hope that he'd somehow terminate the loan deal (because I can't at this stage) but the wet lettuce just let me have my own way.

Next up we are away to mid-table Staines Town in the Conference South on Saturday 2nd November.

 

[Paddy]

Staines Town FC 2-1 Hayes & Yeading United FC
Sat 02/11/13 - Conference South match #13 @ Wheatsheaf Park, Staines (att: 206)

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November begins with defeat away at Staines Town, sending us down into the relegation zone in the process & also making me question how long I'm going to keep letting this team ruin my non-existent reputation. The hosts took an early lead but striker Charlie Collins managed to do the unthinkable midway through the first half - be onside when he kicks the ball in to the net. A 67th minute goal for Staines ruined any chance we had of gaining a point on the table despite a number of close attempts at a second equalizer in the dying seconds of the game.

 

[Paddy]

There was a long period of time between our defeat at Staines & the start of the FA Trophy campaign (lol) due to the FA Cup weekend in between so I tried to organize a friendly fixture against a local lower league side in the run up to keep my players match fit & also try out a few fringe players but it turned out that nobody wanted to play us. Nobody. Not even Hillingdon Borough's Under 19 side.

I know I've not been here long but the way things are going on the field & off of it I think it's time to make a bold decision about my fledgling Hayes & Yeading career. So, it's all on our next fixture... beat Dulwich Hamlet in the FA Trophy & I'll stick it out for a few more games to keep trying to turn things around but lose to the hipsters & I'm calling time here at this cursed football club. After deciding this, my first choice goalkeeper & striker got injured.

In other random news, Andre Villas-Boas is now in charge at Liverpool & Harry Redknapp has taken the Newcastle United job.

 

[Paddy]

Dulwich Hamlet FC 1-1 Hayes & Yeading United FC
Sat 16/11/13 - FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round @ Champion Hill, Southwark (att: 292)​

Slight flaw in resignation plan... didn't consider a tied game. My first signing Oliver Modeste put us ahead in the 3rd minute but Dulwich Hamlet fought back & scored an equalizer with just under 20 minutes left to go so it's back to Hayes Yeading Woking for the replay mid week where my fate will once again be decided by 22 men & a ball followed by a FA Trophy replay match.

 

[Paddy]

Hayes & Yeading United FC 2-1 Dulwich Hamlet FC
Wed 20/11/13 - FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round replay @ Kingfield,Woking (att: 19)

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Looks like I'm here for a bit longer as we ease through to the First Round proper of the FA Trophy, yay for me. Roared on from the passionate Hayes & Yeading support (seriously though, do we have to still split the gate money?) we took the lead through a midfielder Frankie Merrifield free kick in the first half but once again were unable to retain advantage in this extended FA Trophy encounter as Dulwich pulled level not long in to the second half. The one defining difference in this game turned out to be the return of Charlie Collins in the H&Y attack who struck the winning goal in the 69th minute.

The FA Trophy 1st Round draw has already been made & we will be hosting Conference Premier side Forest Green Rovers at the end of the month.

 

[Paddy]

As previously stated, I'm not going to be resigning as Hayes & Yeading United FC manager following our progression in the FA Trophy. I have mixed feelings about this as my job status has shifted to insecure & the financial future of the club is only getting worse. To put it in to perspective we just received £4,000 for the victory over Dulwich, this doesn't even pay for half of our monthly CVA payments (£8.25k p/month) & we are £86,251 in the red. I'm also stretching the wage budget by over £500 p/week which can't be helping but is a necessity to survive... not that we are doing a brilliant job of that right now.

My tired small squad don't have long to rest before we play Weston-super-Mare back in the Conference South at Kingfield. Weston-super-Mare are currently just below the play offs in 6th place & also have the advantage of being able to get a result in their initial FA Trophy game.

 

[Aberstone]

19.

Stick at it Paddy, might I recommend another merger?

 

[Paddy]

19.

Stick at it Paddy, might I recommend another merger?

Was that an offer? H&Y might get more support if they swallowed Wealdstone. I suppose being the Dagenham & Redbridge of Middlesex won't hurt.

 

[Paddy]

Hayes & Yeading United FC 0-0 Weston-super-Mare FC
Sat 23/11/13 - Conference South match #14 @ Kingfield,Woking (att: 42)

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This was a totally uneventful fixture where absolutely nothing happened. Aside from Weston-super-Mare picking up 2 yellow cards there wasn't much else to it but I'll take points on the board however they come at this stage, despite now being 5 points adrift of safety in the Conference South relegation zone. We do have 1 or 2 games in hand over the teams immediately around us & hopefully those will equate to at least a couple more points in our fight for survival.

 

[Paddy]

When we face off against Whitehawk on Tuesday 26th it will be 4 games in 2 weeks, which before even entering the 4th fixture my squad are all feeling it. Since the club's finances are going south whatever I do I've made approaches to bring in a new left back & defensive midfielder to play in the starting line up, unfortunately neither of them had not accepted my contract offers before the game but they will be useful going forward.

Overall, I've managed Hayes & Yeading now for 9 games, 6 of which have been in the league & have a W-D-L record of 1-3-5 which looks pretty bad as it is before you consider that my single victory & one of the tied games were in the cups & that we've only kept one clean sheet. I'm steadily improving the team but the only way to keep doing that to the point that we can gain league survival is to keep stretching the wage budget & send this club into financial meltdown, but hopefully not enough to go in to administration & get a 10 point deduction (which if happened right now would leave us with zero league points).

 

[Paddy]

Hayes & Yeading United FC 1-2 Whitehawk FC
Tue 26/11/13 - Conference South match #15 @ Kingfield,Woking (att: 42)

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A disappointing defeat at home against Whitehawk were after a good defensive performance in a goalless first half I felt we could at least see the game out but our opponents took the lead 55 minutes in. Half time substitute Dan Thompson soon equalized but the visitors from Sussex instantly put us back behind. We remain 20th in the table, 5 points behind safety with no games in hand over Dorchester immediately above us.

 

[Paddy]

My gut instinct after yet another poor performance lead to me thinking a complete tactical rethink was in order & a news report soon reaffirmed my feelings as what few fans we do have had moaned about the way I set my team up. I get to leave my league worries behind for at least 90 minutes & perhaps try out some new tactics as we next face Conference Premier side Forest Green Rovers in the FA Trophy First Round. I'm hoping for a high turnout of Forest Green fans & an attendance of around 200.

19 year old former Yeovil Town youth left back Lee Sweet & 20 year old Ivorian defensive midfielder Eddy Gnahore have joined the club on free transfers in my quest to make Hayes & Yeading United less bad.

 

[Paddy]

Hayes & Yeading United FC 0-5 Forest Green Rovers FC
Sat 30/11/13 - FA Trophy 1st Round @ Kingfield,Woking (att: 58)​

Not quite the attendance I hoped for nor the attempting to not look bad performance that was the absolute minimum of expectations. There was a huge golf in quality between the side fighting for the playoffs in the 5th tier & the side that is in the relegation zone of the 6th tier which told in the final score, I don't think experimenting with tactics would have helped much either. FA Trophy dreams over for this season.

 

[Paddy]

We've got to pick ourselves up from the heavy FA Trophy defeat & up our Conference South performances starting with a midweek trip to one of the few teams below us. Gosport Borough are currently in 21st place in the league, below us only by goal difference so this really is one of those clichéd 'relegation six pointers'. I'm going back to my trusted 4-5-1 after our last game, as I'm certain the change in shape was one reason why we conceded so many goals.

 

[Paddy]

Gosport Borough FC 0-0 Hayes & Yeading United FC
Tue 03/12/13 - Conference South match #16 @ Privett Park, Gosport (att: 251)

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We proved to be just as ineffective as fellow relegation zone stragglers Gosport Borough in a game where both sides looked uneasy going forward with the order of who finishes higher the relegation zone at stake. No wins in 8 Conference South games so far & only 3 league points achieved... even previous manager Phil Babb had a better record then that in the 8 league games he was in charge for.

 

[mente captus]

change your cbs to limited defenders (both!). both on man marking
two strikers. 1 poacher 1 dlf
fullbacks on support along with the wingers
offside trap
amc runs into channels
dm = dlp and support

will make wonders in lower league football