Hi! My name is Pierran Shearer. I am not related to Alan but he has inspired me to start a career in football management. This is my Football Manager story. I’m 28 years old and used to teach PE in a school in Cornwall.
Transfers
Now that we are a semi-decent team, it might be worth showing the superstar transfers that I’ve made. We’ve had quite a few leave at the end of their contracts and had a lot of new faces as well as raising some money to pay for them. When I say them, I mean him because I’ve spent all my money on one player.
As you can see I spent £450k on Brandon Vázquez who is a highly rated winger. He played well in the MLS but Cincinnati seemed uninterested in him. Only after I paid almost half a million for him!
Another two that I’m keen to show off is Rubio Rubin – a striker who I’m hoping will score all the goals – and Conroy Wilson, a deep lying playmaker DM/MC on loan from CF Monterrey. We already have Zachary Herivaux in the side who, with his luscious locks of hair, will bring in the sponsorship money from various shampoo companies. He’s also not a bad midfielder.
That leaves this as the team.
Competitions
As an upgrade from last season, we are playing in two competitions this year. The USL Championship Western Conference and the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup – which is a cup competition for all teams in USA. We enter the third round.
The priority is the league. The board want us to reach the playoffs which means finishing in the top 8 places. Maybe more as the reserve teams on those in the MLS that play in this league are not allowed to compete in the playoffs. This shouldn’t be a problem given we are expected to finish top of the league.
March
We made an excellent start to the season and after 24 minutes we were 3-0 up against Reno 1868. AMR Yow getting a hattrick! The future looked bright as bright as an old Orange TV advert!
But things too a turn in the second half and we finished the game 4-3 winners which was a lot closer than I’d have wanted! It was a nervy final few minutes but we held on. If this game is what the rest of the season is going to be like, we’re in for quite a ride!
The rest of the month was a mixed bag of nuts. The only other game we won this month was against the LA Galaxy reserve team and that needed a penalty to earn the 3 points. The other games included a draw against Rio Grande Valley (the worst team in the league) and Tulsa (who are also a team).
In more exciting news, I’ve earnt another coaching badge. I’m almost there now and there are only a couple of courses left before I am allowed to manage the top teams in the world. On to the next one! Which is what the board agreed. Next I’ll be doing the Continental B Licence.
April
April was another disappointing month only winning once, drawing twice and losing the Phoenix who are the second best team in the league. I might chance that to say the best team in the league given we are currently not doing what we’re supposed to – win!
Despite poor results, we are still midtable and in the playoff places. So the board are happy. But I know we can do so much more!
May
I decided that there were two positions that I needed to sort out. Both were at either end of the pitch: the goalkeeper and the striker. So I signed two players. One on loan and the other was a religious Canadian man who apparently is a saint. I’m hoping he’s the Saint of clean sheets rather than the saint of own goals.
Dayne St. Clair – Saint of clean sheets is an improvement to the current man we have between the sticks. The other chap – Bryan Cantú – is on loan from La Galaxy and has decent finishing stats. He’ll go nicely up front as an Advanced Forward and, hopefully, score some goals that we need to turn some of those draws and losses into win!
Despite a poor start to the moth and an embarrassing shootout loss to Tucson, things started to pick up a bit with the final 3 games of the month earning us 7 points from 9.
June
June is where we really get going! Undefeated with Cantú getting a fair few goals. I’m pleased he’s hit the ground running and hope he continues this form!
These results see us climb the table dramatically to 4th but still 9 points off the top spot and 7 points from falling out of the playoffs. A fairly comfortable positions to be in, I’d say!
July
July continues with wins until we meet Reno 1868 again where we just come undone! We lost 0-5 for some reason and I can’t find out why! That results aside, Cantú and Yow lead the way with goals.
August
That Reno game really knocked us as August was full of red and orange half dots. We really struggled to win and 2 points from a possible 12.
Cantú was nowhere to be seen! So I pulled in the new guys to have a word with them!
On a brighter note, I earnt a new coaching badge.
September
Towards the end of September, Cantú remembered he could score again! Brilliant as we were falling closer to dropping out of the playoffs
And if I didn’t have it bad enough, other managers were having a go at me! The manager of Charlotte 2 (the man who replaced me) was struggling by not winning it all. He then decided to call me out, despite me offering my support! He called me incompetent! What an idiot!
October and November
October was another difficult month losing the opening two games but the win against El Paso meant we’d earnt enough points to make the playoffs. And a final game against New Mexico ended in a draw meaning we’d finish the season
Playoffs
Now, this has been a difficult time of the year for me. I’ve not had a fun time in the playoffs failing to pass the first stage EVER! I’m hoping this time that I’m able to actually win a game and progress to the next round? Can I do it? Let’s see!
The first two games would be against Tulsa. They were a good team and we’d lost both our games to them in the season so I was a bit worried.
The first game finished 1-1 so the next game would be critical. What do you think?
Next up, the away leg. We played well and the game finished in a draw. It was 2-2 over all so we’d go on to extra time and penalties if needed. But penalties were necessary because I remembered we had a playoff curse! So that hit us again and we conceded in extra time for Tulsa to win 3-2 overall.
And that was that! An average season that ended in disappointment as the playoff curse strikes again! If nothing else, I will make it my goal to win a playoff round and eventually win the playoffs with at least one team!
Join me next time as we attempt to better what we did this season.
Please come back and find out what happens next
FM21 – Yes Man! – Introduction
Hi! My name is Pierran Shearer. I am not related to Alan but he has inspired me to start a career…
FM21 – Yes Man! – Club 01, Episode 04 – Playoff Curse
Hi! My name is Pierran Shearer. I am not related to Alan but he has inspired me to start a career…
My FM Story 