I’m delighted to be able to host the work of some really talented writers, you can view it all below, or select a name from the main menu above to view an individual’s work in isolation!
TRAVELLING FOR 1,000 DAYS IS BETTER THAN SITTING IN PRISON FOR 1
The new advocate and chairman have talks with Jimmy
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – THE VOYAGE OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH A SIMPLE STEP
The first steps of the next leg on Jocks journey.
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – THOSE WHO DANCE THROUGH THE SUMMER MUST SING IN THE WINTER
There’s a new man in town.
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END
Will it be a fond farewell or just goodbye for now?
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN -THE BEGINNING OF THE END, OR THE END OF MY BEGINNING?
Is this the beginning of the end for Jock, or simply the end of his beginning?
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – WHEN JOCK MET CLAUDIO
There’s a new assistant in town, and he’s quite good, apparently.
WHEN YOU SEE BEAUTY ALL AROUND YOU, BEAUTY WILL SEEK AND FIND YOU EVEN IN THE MOST UNEXPECTED PLACES
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – THE GOAL THAT WASN’T
The opening stage final games are here, how do Jock and the Cancun players get on?
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – IT IS NEVER WINTER IN THE LAND OF HOPE
Hope is a beautiful but strange enigma isn’t it?
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – A FUERZA, NI LOS ZAPATOS ENTRAN
You can’t force your shoes to fit. You can’t force your way into anything.
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST
Jocks first match as a manager on this journey
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – I DON’T SPEAK MEXICAN, I’M SCOTTISH IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW
They speak Spanish in Mexico, apparently.
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – TIEMPO DE FIESTA EN CANCUN
It’s party time in Cancun, or just the start of the journey proper.
R. S. C. ANDERLECHT: A BRIEF HISTORY & SQUAD ANALYSIS.
Firstly, if you are reading this post then thank you for giving me a second chance. In hindsight my opening blog was a bit of a rambling un-structured mess and I am committed to improving both the structure, and grammar in my upcoming posts. In this post I willbriefly look at the history of Anderlecht, … Continue reading R. S. C. ANDERLECHT: A BRIEF HISTORY & SQUAD ANALYSIS.
BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN – PROLOGUE PART I
We set the scene for the upcoming FM22 journeyman adventure
WE’RE GOING BACK. BACK WHERE? BACK TO THE JOURNEY, MAN!
A quick outline of my plans for the upcoming Football Manager 2022
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – SAVE FINALE
With uni starting again and FM22 on the horizon, I’ve given myself just one season to win the Champions League and complete the save. Probably silly and realistically it’s going to be another failed journeyman for me this year, but nevertheless I’ve got to give it ago. This could be a very short finale should … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – SAVE FINALE
FROM QUEBEC TO THE WORLD – OPERATION DESERT STORM PART i
The start of Stephens time in the desert of The United Arab Emirates
R. S. C. ANDERLECHT: A BELGIAN DREAM
First of all I guess that I should introduce myself… I did post an introduction somewhat similar to this in early 2020 so not many people will have seen it. My love affair with Football / Championship Manager started with Championship Manager 2. I can still remember to this day going around to my friends … Continue reading R. S. C. ANDERLECHT: A BELGIAN DREAM
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – LAZIO FIRST SEASON
Club 3 – Lazio With Lazio finishing 5th and being in the Europa League as we take over, I wanted to try and get through this season as fast as possible in the hopes of a top 4 finish to secure Champions League football. So this edition, is going to be a full season overview … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – LAZIO FIRST SEASON
FROM QUEBEC TO THE WORLD – HEADING NORTH PART iii
The final part of the interview as well as a big announcement.
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – HUGE NEW JOB!
In a summer where I planned on moving to a top 5 division, there was one team that was available before the end of the season I had my eye on as soon as it became available. That team was Lazio. A huge team in Italy and a club ready made to make a charge … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – HUGE NEW JOB!
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – LEAGUE TITLE?
Club two – Lechia So here’s the state of play for this end of season run in. With 14 games left to play, we sit top with a comfortable 12 point lead! With just 1 loss all season it’s been a quite remarkable opening 20 games for the Lechia boys, Schettine has 11 goals in … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – LEAGUE TITLE?
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – EURO CUP TWO GROUP AND MID-SEASON REVIEW
Club 2 – Lechia League With deadline day approaching, I had planned on saving our transfer budget for the February window, until I came across 18-year-old forward Dragan Stoisavljevic, wanted by Newcastle and Leeds before we made our move, I acted quickly and secured him for £1.2 million, at 6 foot 2 and with excellent … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – EURO CUP TWO GROUP AND MID-SEASON REVIEW
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – PRE-SEASON AND THE EURO CUP 2
Club 2 – Lechia Gdansk Transfers We were given a big chunk of change to spend over the summer. iven a big chunk of change to spend over the summer. £4.5 million to spend and a good increase to the wage, I went straight to work and signed Legia’s 20-year-old goalkeeper Cezary Miszta. The young … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – PRE-SEASON AND THE EURO CUP 2
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – END OF SEASON RUN IN
Club 2 – Lechia After victory in our opening game in charge of Lechia, it was time to look to the final 14 games and push towards those top 4 positions. We kicked things off with a comfortable 3-1 victory against bottom of the league Górnik Łęczna, Schettine with a brace and Bozok from the … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – END OF SEASON RUN IN
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – NEW CLUB LECHIA LEAGUE START
Club 2 – Lechia With the whole of January off it gave me an excellent chance to test the system and give a chance for players to stake their claims. It was clear looking through the stats that last year’s champions had lost their goal scoring touch. Just 13th in the league for goals scored … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – NEW CLUB LECHIA LEAGUE START
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – NEW CLUB?!
With FM22’s release date announced, it was clear that I needed to speed up the Journeyman save, with roughly 7 weeks until BETA, we’re against the clock. So with that in mind, I started looking around to see if there was anything of interest. There were quite a few Belgian clubs, Westerlo took a particular … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE TWO) – NEW CLUB?!
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – ISRAELI PREMIER DIVISION STARTS!
So, after not even expecting to be here this year, we begin our campaign in the top-flight of Israel with our hastily put together squad against strong opposition. A quick look at the season preview shows Beitar Jerusalem are 3rd favourites for the league, while we sit firmly at the bottom of the pile at … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – ISRAELI PREMIER DIVISION STARTS!
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – SEASON 2, TRANSFERS AND THE TOTO CUP
Having made the decision to stay at Fahm it was time to look at improving things. After receiving a million pounds for promotion, we had around 750 thousand in the bank, I asked for new training facilities as ours were below average, this completely wiped our balance out, which I didn’t expect. However, it does … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – SEASON 2, TRANSFERS AND THE TOTO CUP
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – SECOND SEASON JOB SEARCH
Hapoel Umm el-Fahm Before discussing the summer, I want to look at our season with Hapoel Umm el-Fahm – predicted 12th before the season started, we made just a couple of signings over the course of the year, finishing second and gaining promotion was a brilliant season. Although it felt less joyful than it perhaps … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – SECOND SEASON JOB SEARCH
FROM QUEBEC TO THE WORLD – LOSE YOURSELF
Song lyrics being used as a motivational tool, who ever thought of that?
FROM QUEBEC TO THE WORLD – TOUCHING DISTANCE
We’re within touching distance of the end of season now.
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – END OF SEASON ONE
Towards the end of February we completed our first coaching course, we instantly asked for another as finances at Fahm are healthier than that of another club we could be at right now. Thankfully they accepted! Initially I debated looking at other jobs when this one was complete, but our rep going from 5% to … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – END OF SEASON ONE
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – MID-SEASON REVIEW
With the last instalment a longer edition, I’m going to leave the schedule and league table below and then just discuss any talking points and summarise what’s happened over the course of the next section of games. We hit 20 league games and things have been good in the league so far. We’ve continued our … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – MID-SEASON REVIEW
JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – THE LEAGUE BEGINS
After our cup disappointment, we looked to correct things in our opening league game against Hapoel Acre. Match 1: Hapoel Acre – We did just that! The complete opposite to that cup game, dominated on the ball, created lots and conceded little. 2-0 victors on the day, central midfielder Itay Tako opened the scoring in … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – THE LEAGUE BEGINS
EUROPEAN JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – PRE-SEASON, TRANSFERS AND THE TOTO CUP
Disaster struck one day into our tenure at Fahm, the board rejected my request for a coaching course! They also rejected requests to improve the training facilities and to improve the youth facilities. While the facilities one is what it is, the coaching course is a real problem early on. You need to get them … Continue reading EUROPEAN JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – PRE-SEASON, TRANSFERS AND THE TOTO CUP
EUROPEAN JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – FIRST CLUB!
Did you guess right? We of course picked Hapoel Umm el-Fahm, who will from here on be known as Fahm (there are 10 out of 16 teams in the division with Hapoel hence we didn’t go with that). Not only did they have a vastly bigger wage budget, but they also had some more stable … Continue reading EUROPEAN JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – FIRST CLUB!
FROM QUEBEC TO THE WORLD – SHORT, SWEET AND SIMPLE
The days keep on ticking away for Stephen in Singapore
EUROPEAN JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – THE BEGINNING
For those who follow me over at Twitch, you’ll know my love for the journeyman, one of my first saves on stream in FM20 and my first major save on FM21. It’s always a rollercoaster and managing in obscure nations in even obscurer leagues, with weird rules and league systems, whilst hoping wherever you end … Continue reading EUROPEAN JOURNEYMAN (TAKE 2) – THE BEGINNING
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A COACH – PART 1
A break from FM related posts to a sneak peak into my real life.
JOURNEYMAN #6 ALL AALBORG THE DANE TRAIN
Starting my managerial career in Iceland, and giving myself the task of climbing up the ladder by winning league titles, I liked the idea of charging through Scandinavia like some kind of reverse Scottish Viking warrior King. With Sweden ticked off the list, I had my sights set of making Denmark my next stop. Finland … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN #6 ALL AALBORG THE DANE TRAIN
JOURNEYMAN #5 SWEDE CHIN MUSIC
With great power (money), comes great resposi… Wait, let’s not go down the old Spider-Man route. Yes, we guided Djurgården into the Champions League group stage, yes, we may have conceded 16 to Liverpool over the two games, but a 2-1 win over Lyon and €14 million in the pot was a nice little bonus … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN #5 SWEDE CHIN MUSIC
JOURNEYMAN #4 DJUR LEAVING US?
Pretty much through all my Football Manager career, despite some of the best and brightest brains suggesting you should play differently when you are playing away, or against big teams etc etc, I have always stuck to my guns. Find a formation that works, refine the system and then just let it run, good or … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN #4 DJUR LEAVING US?
S01E05 – THE ANNUAL REVIEW 2020/21
PROLOGUE In the previous blog I stated that youth intake day is likely the most anticipated day in the Football Manager calendar. For me though the fun really begins when the season ends, this is where you get to tear it all down and find out what worked or what didn’t. Who performed or who … Continue reading S01E05 – THE ANNUAL REVIEW 2020/21
JOURNEYMAN #3: NOT SO SUPER-ETTAN
With this being my first Journeyman save, I can’t say I was too clued up as to how people usually approached it. My thinking was to stay in Scandinavia, but climb up the ladder, using the league rankings as a base. Iceland was ranked 60th after winning the title with Valur, which meant only moving … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN #3: NOT SO SUPER-ETTAN
JOURNEYMAN #2: IN-VESTRI-ING IN YOUR FUTURE
Being told you are long shot favourites to stay up puts the fear into you. Going into the 2022 season with Vestri it was all hands-on deck, the off-season scouting and trialing every player who would take our calls, trying to find a couple of gems good enough to keep us up. If you missed … Continue reading JOURNEYMAN #2: IN-VESTRI-ING IN YOUR FUTURE
JOURNEY TO THE JOURNEYMAN
“This is not the intro to a Journeyman series, no.This is just a tribute!” 2020 was weird… Forget the pandemic, we’ve all had to endure that and if you’ve made it on here, well done, you’ve fucking smashed it. Around March, on a complete whim, I bought Football Manager 2020. I genuinely have no idea … Continue reading JOURNEY TO THE JOURNEYMAN
HV & CV QUICK SEASON TWO: TRANSFERS, LEAGUE AND MORE
THE LEAGUE – DUTCH TWEEDE DIVISIE Just like last year, the league is as confusing. 4 periods instead of 3 with the winner at each stage guaranteeing a play-off spot. Originally predicted rock bottom in the preview was cause for concern, however after transfers were made, we sit in a relatively good spot for a … Continue reading HV & CV QUICK SEASON TWO: TRANSFERS, LEAGUE AND MORE
S01E04 – THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
PROLOGUE… Last time out I detailed the spreadsheets that I have been using during my time with FC Schalke so far, when it came to the U19s I’d said that sheet in particular would fill out more and properly take shape once after we’d had the intake come through. Well that intake came through and … Continue reading S01E04 – THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
END OF SEASON 1 WITH HV & CV QUICK!
It’s funny how Football Manager affects the brain sometimes. After missing out on a guaranteed play-off spot in the last episode, I was more confident than ever that we could and should go on to win the league. With 12 games to finish our first season with Quick, here’s how it all played out. THE … Continue reading END OF SEASON 1 WITH HV & CV QUICK!
HV & CV QUICK MID-SEASON UPDATE
Okay it’s a bit further than the middle of the season, but that wouldn’t work with the title would it. We’ve actually played 22 out of 34 games. After having a look at the structure of the league, it’s not like any other I’ve personally managed in before. So, before the review and the look … Continue reading HV & CV QUICK MID-SEASON UPDATE
OPENING 10 GAMES, TRANSFERS AND THE SYSTEM!
THE LEAGUE START The opening fixtures on Football Manager should often be taken with a pinch of salt. You’re usually looking at around 10 games in all competitions before your style is fully implemented and effective and as you can see from the results so far, it’s been a mixed bag. Now I don’t want … Continue reading OPENING 10 GAMES, TRANSFERS AND THE SYSTEM!
WELCOME TO HV & CV QUICK
A WELCOME TO HV & CV QUICK FC Although my posts here at onthebreak.net have been real world football based. I wanted to try something different that I can hopefully be a bit more consistent with and give me something to focus on away from my stream save. Welcome to the Netherlands 4th tier. OVERVIEW … Continue reading WELCOME TO HV & CV QUICK
S01E03 – RELEASE THE SPREADSHEET
PROLOGUE… Before we even begin let me warn you that this could be a long one. I had already spent somewhere between 8-10 hours within this save by the time I had accumlated and organised all the info that will be contained in this blog. Then after pushing continue and proceeding through a few months … Continue reading S01E03 – RELEASE THE SPREADSHEET
S01E02 – KNAPPENSCHMIEDE
KNAPPENSCHMIEDE… Knappenschmiede – it’s not just the name of Schalke’s youth academy; it is a seal of quality in German football. It is there that talents are moulded, prepared for professional football and forged into FC Schalke 04 players. As I began to discuss in the opening post, FC Schalke 04 are well known for … Continue reading S01E02 – KNAPPENSCHMIEDE
S01E01 – DER JUNGBRUNNEN
PROLOGUE… The date is May 2014, FC Schalke 04 are listed by Forbes magazine as the 14th most valuable football club in the world, they’re regularly playing in european competition and finishing as high as 2nd in the Bundesliga. Fast forward to the present day and they are rooted to the bottom of the league … Continue reading S01E01 – DER JUNGBRUNNEN
ARE ITALY’S SLEEPING GIANTS FINALLY AWAKE?
It seems an age ago since Serie A was considered one of the best leagues in the world. Once one of the fiercest competitions – with AC and Inter Milan battling out some of the best derbies ever seen, world class players a plenty throughout the league and constant powerhouses in Europe – more recently … Continue reading ARE ITALY’S SLEEPING GIANTS FINALLY AWAKE?
TOTTENHAM’S DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
The Special One. The master of the mind-game. One of football’s biggest villains. When Jose Mourinho was appointed as Tottenham Hotspur boss, it felt immediately as though it was now or never for both Tottenham and Mourinho. Spurs desperate for a trophy after being the nearly-men under Pochettino, and Jose labelled a has-been and dinosaur … Continue reading TOTTENHAM’S DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
PREMIER LEAGUE 20/21 – A SEASON LIKE NO OTHER
No fans, the most congested fixture list ever and one of the closest title races seen in recent years. As the season has reached just over the halfway mark (ignoring Aston Villa with their postponements and games in hand) this article is going to look at the season so far. Which teams are in contention, … Continue reading PREMIER LEAGUE 20/21 – A SEASON LIKE NO OTHER
On the Break 