An Englishman on Tour...

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AndySams10

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An Englishman on Tour...
(by AndySams10)


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After spending many a night up late reading the fantastic stories on FM Base, whilst the wife slept next to me, one story got me thinking about my career path. The more and more I read about 'Rafaelle D'Aniello - Building a Legacy' by Safc-mad-scotty, it dawned on me that I hold the minimum coaching qualifications to coach abroad.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have my own coaching company, I've just been appointed manager of a semi-professional team and I have a great life here in Hampshire with my lovely wife, but the thought of building my own managerial legacy, was a risk that I feel would be to tempting not to explore further.
So the next morning and without hesitation, I put my Ledley King story - 'The Return of the King' on hold and began searching the vacant manager jobs in and around Europe that could possibly lead to me being invited for an interview.

**********

Before I go on, I'm fully aware that you need the Pro License to be able to manage in England and UEFA competitions, but as this is a story and of course you can be manager of teams on FM'15 with less qualifications, I've tweaked a few things to help make the story as realistic as possible, so hopefully you all will enjoy my journey.

**********

Okay, so with my Ledley story parked to one side and the list of vacant manager jobs on my laptop screen, I began to carefully pick and choose the clubs I was going to enquire about an interview.
The great thing about world football is no matter where you are or what team and league you follow, there will always be a football season that has already got underway. And this was the case where the most vacancies were, in a country that was just reaching halfway through it's domestic campaign and though nearly all the teams I hadn't heard of before, that's where wikipedia comes in handy, I knew if I could get my foot in the door for an interview, it could be the nation where I could begin the start of a new chapter in my life.

So without further ado and armed with my National C license(based on FM'15's coaching badges) and semi-professional playing reputation, my wife and I jumped in the waiting taxi and headed towards the airport for the start of my managerial adventure...
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Looking forward to seeing where you rock up first to work your magic!

Good luck mate.
 
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MEET THE UNKNOWN ENGLISH MANAGER WORKING IN NORWAY:


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So after upping sticks and putting his marriage on the line, unknown thirty-three year old Andy Samuels' gamble looks to have paid off, as he was appointed manager of Norwegian Second Division outfit Algard FK and FourFourTwo magazine have travelled to north-west Norway to meet him.

FFT: " So Andy how did you end up here at little known Algard FK? "

AS: " Having gone through some personnel difficulties early on in the year, I was up late
one night and after reading about young Raffaele D'Aniello and his superb start to his managerial
career, it got me thinking, that I hold the certain qualifications needed to coach. Though I
was enjoying everything back home in England, I felt I needed an extra challenge and look
to earn some better money, helping take the pressure off my wife. "

FFT: " And how has the other half taken this impulsive move? "

AS: " Haha, she's fine with it, as long as it leads to her being able to stop full time employment
and allow me to be the bread winner. "

FFT: " We now you've been on the semi professional circuit as a player and coach in England, what
made you look to Europe to start your managerial career? "

AS: " As has been well publicized recently, it's a struggle for young English coaches to get a break, so
with every door being currently blocked in England, I decided to try my luck abroad and who knows,
maybe we can start seeing more English managers abroad and being successful. "

FFT: " Finally, what does your future pathway look like? International Management? "

AS: " It's important I keep my feet on the ground. Of course my aim is to be one of the best managers
around, but I've only been here a few days and it's a challenge I'm very much looking forward too.
If an opportunity arises on the International scene, then I'd take a look at it with interest, but first I
need to focus on the task here and develop my managerial skills before I can consider moving anywhere else. "


A LOOK AT ALGARD FK:

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The club was founded in 1915 and plays their home games at Nye Algard Stadion, which has a capacity of 2000, of which 1012 are seating and was built in 2014.
The media are predicting a finish of 10th for Algard FK, who currently play in the Norwegian Second Division Group 3 and have been tipped as 100-1 to win the league title this year.

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Looking at the first team squad, it seems to have enough quality for Samuels to quite easily achieve the tenth place finish that is being predicted. And with a fairly young team, it will allow the new manager to develop the younger talent, to help raise the profile of a club that hasn't played higher than it's current status.

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Much of Algard FK's success will be very much dependant on Rogvi Baldvinsson, who is the stand out player and has just been newly appointed as captain of club. It remains to be seen whether Samuels can keep the highly rated Icelander at the club, especially with his contract running out at the end of the current campaign.

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The two highly promising youngsters at the club are goalkeeper Marius Halvorsen and exciting attacking midfielder Kristian Novak. Both players will be looking to continue their first team development, having already played a big part this season under the previous manager and it will be up to Samuels to keep the bigger clubs away by tying down the long term futures of both players.

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Following the departure of Tommy Bergersen, who left to join First Division side Alta, Andy Samuels comes into the club with them sitting in 2nd place and with his first game in charge against top of the table Grorud, Samuels could be involved in a shock promotion push in his first managerial season.
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Interesting start mate, will be keen to see how this plays out!
 
PatrickLFC said:
Good luck Andy!
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, though my Ledley story will continue, I feel I can really get into this more, as it'll be based purely on my decisions and what I'd do when faced with various choices to help further my career. Hope you'll enjoy. :)
 
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AUGUST 2014


2nd Division - Group 3
2/8/14

Egersund (1 - 4) Algard FK
Martin Haland (5,23,50)
Jonas Volstad Fjeldsbo (60)


2nd Division - Group 3
9/8/14

Algard FK (0 - 1) Floro


2nd Division - Group 3
16/8/14

Algard FK (1 - 1) Lyn
Geir Dahle Hoyland (22)


2nd Division - Group 3
19/8/14

Grorud (4 - 2) Algard FK
Martin Haland (15)
Gabriel Merkesdal sent off (56)
Zabi Habibdullah sent off (80)
Andreas Ravndal (88)


2nd Division - Group 3
23/8/14

Brann 2 (1 - 1) Algard FK
Geir Dahle Hoyland (55)
Martin Haland missed penalty (74)


2nd Division - Group 3
30/8/14

Forde (2 - 3) Algard FK
Ante Knezovic own goal (7)
Martin Haland (47)
Marius Nilsen (70)


LEAGUE TABLE:

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Andy: " Not the greatest of starts to my reign at Algard FK, as we haven't really set the league alight with our performances. I joined the club when they sat in 2nd place and we end the month in 5th, eight points off the league leaders, though we have a game in hand. We need to improve our home form drastically as are yet to win in front of our home fans since I joined, especially with only one team gaining promotion and five of our remaining eight games at home, we really need to perform a lot better for our loyal fans. "

Other News:

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With such a young squad and lack of midfield players, I entered the transfer market to look to bolster my options in the middle of the pitch. Antilla Andrusko is a thirty-three year old, ball winning midfielder, who I'm looking to be the experienced head in amongst the young lads, while Vytautas Birskys is a deep lying playmaker who I hope will build a good solid partnership alongside Antilla to help us in our quest for a promotion challenge.
​
 
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SEPTEMBER 2014


RESULTS:

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It would've been a superb month, but for our defeat to bottom of the table Stord, where despite dominating the game we were unable to find the break through. With the disappointment of two points dropped looking likely, it got worse as we ended up with nothing after a horrendous mistake by 16 year old keeper Marius Halvorsen.
Forward Martin Haland was in fine form, as his three goals this month put him at the top of the goal scoring charts.


TABLE:

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The loss against Stord meant that Grorud extended their lead at the top from us to five points and with only four games left to play, we need to hope that they drop some points, before we play them at home in the last game of the season. With our fate out of our hands, it's important I keep the lads focused on each game and hope we have the chance to win the title in front of our home fans on the final day.


***************

After getting the all clear from Safc-mad-scotty to use a couple of his ideas on a layout, I've made a few changes to how I post my story. Hopefully it'll be a little clearer and less wordy. Depending on what happens in future months, may mean some posts are longer than others, but all will contain all the important news that you need to know. Hope you'll carry on enjoying my story.
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OCTOBER 2014


RESULTS:

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We knew this month that we were required to win all our games and hope that Grorud slip up before we play them on the final day. As it happened Grorud lost on the penultimate weeknd and with us winning three out of three, it meant it was a winner takes all game between us and them to decide who won the league on the final weekend of the season.
The lads responded brilliantly to the pressure that was put on the game by Grorud's manager and we performed brilliantly, as a penalty by top scorer Martin Haland sealed the league title for the first time in our history.

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TABLE:

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We win the league by one point and it was a close call, as only three points seperated the top 3 teams and it was just as close on goal difference too. Luckily, we held our nerve and were crowned champions in the end.


STATS:

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OTHER NEWS:

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Following our shock promotion to the Norwegian First Division, our tiny ground needs some renovating to comply with league regulations. Luckily, it looks like it won't cost too much to carry out the planned expansion and shouldn't take too long either to complete.
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Lippo255 said:
Well done mate, promotion at first attempt!
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Cheers mate, never expected to get promoted this season, everything just clicked in the last month when it really mattered. Next season will be a mammoth challenge as we are so far behind everyone else in terms of finance, stadium and most importantly quality of players. It's going to be interesting.........
 
Unfortunately I've experienced several crash dumps during my save and my Ledley King save too, I'm absolutely gutted as I can't rescue either of my saves. Sorry for those that have followed, I'll be re-installing the game and making sure there's no viruses on my laptop before looking to hopefully start another save and story soon.
 
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