Football Manager 2013

[METALMAN]

Not to ruin the challenge or anything but you're not managing in Britain, so it shouldn't be part of the "British" Steel Challenge!

British Isles n that.

[Gazz]

I just beat AC Milan and James Perch scored the winner from outside the area.

Superstar.

[stokeriño]

Plus starting a challenge by saying "By the way, semantics have dictated that I ignore 5/36 of the trophies in this challenge" is terribly poor form.

Please tell me the Perch goal was in the San Siro.

And, preferably, that it was scored with ten minutes to go.

[Gazz]

At St James' and six minutes.

[stokeriño]

Terrible. Terrible.

[Gazz]

I'll bring him on as an impact sub late on in the return fixture.

[Gazz]

Just signed Mamady Sidibe to be a subject of an experiment.

[ZJ Penn]

So Kleber, the guy I fucked up on with his contract just signed for Man United for nearly £15,000,000.

Om the plus side, were second in our League despite stuttering form since the summer break. Philadelphia are looking like runnimg away with it though while last years MLS winners Houston cant buy a win and are languishing in mid table. Their gamble on Bellamy has been a disaster for them. My only concern is Toronto FC have gotten their shit together and put together the best run in MLS history. If it wasnt for their shitty start theyd be in the top three.

Also my midfield is looking thin. Ive got an abundance of promising strikers and a ton of top defenders, but only four quality midfielders, with Shalrie Joseph likely leaving on a free. But dont worry, David Bentley signs in January to solve my RM problem!

[Rafael]

Adam Campbell is awesome.

People should sign Santos 16-year-old Victor Andrade. He has potential to be something great, has a 6m release clause and he was born in my city.

[stokeriño]

Since I can't be arsed to do a diary I may as well keep track of my progress in here...

British Steel Challenge: 2012 Season

Athlone Town finished 3rd in the league, which was nice. However we lost 3-1 in the Senior Challenge Cup final to Premier League runners up Shamrock Rovers. They've already won the cup 24 times, surely they didn't desperately need a 25th?!

No trophies this year then. Hoping that I can win the league next year when I actually get a full season in. In the meantime I also have the All-Ireland Cup to take a punt on (which, due to being competed between Irish and Northern Irish clubs and therefore an international competition, isn't counted on the BSC list).

As mentioned earlier, I joined the club with roughly €5,000 in the bank. We've ended the season with over €200,000 (half of which came from the cup final's gate receipts), so now I actually have a transfer budget: €22,000 euros to spend, with a wage budget of €395 p/w. And I should think so too.

[Summers]

On 12 still but my Spurs side just smashed Juve 7 - 1 over two legs. Lovely.

[Mongrel]

Quite enjoying playing with a salary cap in the A-League. There's still a few little glitches here and there that need to be ironed out (for some reason Lloyd Dyer refused to accept a Marquee contract for the same wage as a Full Time contract), but it is a pretty fun experience. With Adelaide, we won the league by something like 23 points, but lost the Grand Final to Melbourne Victory on penalties which was a bummer. My key strikers Sergio van Dijk and Bruce Djite both left at the end of the season, which makes things tough. I've also elected to go into 2013-14 without a Marquee player to assist with our financials, but whether or not I can I resist having a shot at Tim Cahill I don't know.

Interestingly, the following were recommended as Marquee players: Lucas Neill, Phil Neville and Ricardo Fuller. Not quite Del Piero and Beckham...

[Gazz]

Tell Cisse his recent form has been shit.

Cisse scores 19 minute hat trick against West Ham.

I am the puppetmaster.

[Mongrel]

Is there any benefit to engaging in pre-match banter with the other manager? Can a relationship go beyond "has a fairly poor opinion of you"?

[Gazz]

Yeah, Chris Hughton wants my babies and Martin O'Neill hates me because I keep saying I've never heard of him.

[Rafael]

Bought my FM13 yesterday, and I started a game with Portsmouth. I decided to only coach the team, not make any signings or contract renewals. So, what I got now is a 31-year-old midfielder from Curacao (????) that last played for a known club in 2004, two or three young players from the Prem, Rob Elliot and Piquionne on loan.

Started out well, beating Doncaster 3-1, then a 2-1 loss at Bury and a 1-1 at home against Conventry.

[stokeriño]

Mmm, Curacao. One of the newest footballing nations, having been a component part of what was the Netherlands Antilles national team prior to its break-up in 2010.

[Gazz]

Nerd

[Mongrel]

Yeah, Chris Hughton wants my babies and Martin O'Neill hates me because I keep saying I've never heard of him.

Well considering the inability to buy players from other A-League clubs, I feel the only option is to make everyone hate me!

[Szumi]

Is anyone else really not feeling this year's game? I hate the match engine. The camera is a lot worse than 12, and the ball movement is ridiculously poor. I've been playing a Liverpool game, and it is just no fun at all. It seems wholly unrealistic, this game. I keep going back to playing 12, despite my intentions not to.