hmm, with my recent acquisition of Football Manager 2005 (the actual sucessor to the Championship Manager series of games by SI Games) my sleepless nights due to tinkering with my team and trying to take my beloved Cardiff City Bluebirds (well, I don't actually support them, but I played them in CM4 as well, so I have a soft spot) to the top of the English Championship league. I've decided that I'll blog the actual in game progress about the trials and tribulations of my team, from the perspective of the 32 yr old (at this time of the game) relatively unknown Australian manager, who just HAPPENS to have the same name as me.. :)
Yeah, I'm a complete geek for doing this, but I really don't care cos I like it :)
(Note: this is fictional, as obviously I don't manage Cardiff City, or know any of these players :P)
FM2005 Diary
11th December 2004
Stoke vs Cardiff
Today we take on Stoke, who are currently running at 9th place. Cardiff City have battled valiantly to reach 6th spot. The board and the fans have been happy about that, they only expected a mid table finish. The TV pundits have predicted us to lose, but I'd say we have a chance, despite a few key injuries to Bosvelt and Rhys Weston.
14th Min: I'm starting to get annoyed at this Boland. He's rated highly by my assistant (who is pretty ordinary I'd say, the only reason I haven't replaced him is because I don't have the money to compensate Man Utd for the one I wanted) but his performances on the pitch are sub-par at best. He just took a pass from Junior and then made a meal of it, turning it over. Grrr
Half time: Well, 1-0 down at the break. They deserve it, since they've played much better than us. I decided to get the boys to mark up tighter, in the vain hope that they can hold out until they can find an opening to counterattack. We'll see how it goes.
58th Min: Haha, the irony. After my bag out of Wille Boland, he just put in a header from the cross of Fernandes. Brilliant!
61st Min: Woot! Go ahead goal by Alan Lee, who I was just questioning the finishing skills of.
64th Min: Arggg, from triumph to tragedy. Ball fouled some mong in the box to give them a penalty. . . . which was saved by Margetson! Legend! THAT is why you aren't my first choice keeper Neil Alexander. Stop whining.
88th: Own goal! I heard a collective groan and curse from my opposing number as Stoke's Darel Russel put the ball past Ed de Goey while trying to block a pass by Parry. As I celebrated with Terry, I was glad my defenders haven't put in an errant pass this season so far.
Full time reflections: 3-1! With a top performance from Parry and my strikers. Who seemed to get a lot of media rapts despite a rather quiet night. They were the catalysts for many of our runs, starting them out of defence, so I'll be sure they know I'm happy about that. All in all a great game which consolidates our position in playoff territory on the table at 5th and only 3 goals out of 4th on goal diff. The chairman came down to the rooms after the game to congratulate the boys and was delighted with how we went. He's been doing that a lot lately, due to our performances. I hope he continues to.
-DL
