Hello and welcome back to my FM22 save where I see how far I can go around the world starting with just £20 in my pocket. After many months of waiting for the nations to be made available, they finally have so we can begin on our journey!!
The End Goal
Before we start the journey, I’ve had a few people ask me what the end goal is. There’s no real end goal, but there is a few things I would like to accomplish.
- Manage in as many different nations as I can
- Win at least three different Champions League titles
- Most importantly, have some fun.
The last one is the key element for me. For me, half the fun of playing FM is moving clubs. I really enjoy moving around clubs around the world and building them up and being successful. I know some people are really into one-club saves, and there is an element of enjoyment to it as I have done it before. However the enjoyment of moving to a new country and a new club is one I’ve always enjoyed. I’m fascinated by new leagues and rules and trying to work within them, it really gets my brain ticking. Anyway, enough about me and my niche ramblings…
The Journey
So we had fast forwarded to Christmas Day 2021 and we’re on a job hunt. Thanks to some wonderfully more intelligent people than me (The FM Editors Team and Riddler on Steam), we have acquired some extended databases for the home nations as well, so we can start our journey anywhere really. Just as long as we can afford the fare…
In total there were 148 jobs that we applied for in the various nations around the United Kingdom, including Brighton…
Thankfully they turned me down
There were, however, 19 teams who did accept my application. And by Boxing day, we had three different interviews…
Unfortunately, Bonar are already unavaliable, even thanks to technological advances like Zoom. Whilst it would be possible to conduct the interview via Zoom (which I suspect will be the case for most of the interviews in this save), just a single journey up to Bonar would cost over £200, never mind moving the wife and kids up there too. Stocksbridge and Slimbridge are within range costing £50 & £40 respectively.
In the end however, that wasn’t where we decided to go…
Now officially it would take us about £30 to get to Portadown, but I’m sure I could scrape a tenner off my dad or something…
Portadown
So we have decided to pitch the first proverbial tent in Northern Ireland, in the picturesque town of Portadown, on the west side of Northern Ireland. It’s fair to say that their season hasn’t started well….
Our first game is in just one more day against Coleraine. Brilliant. I suspect that we won’t be concentrating on this season so much, more getting us back into the Premiership next year. Well before we go, some history on Portadown FC!!
History
Portadown Football Club is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club that currently plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was formed in 1887 as a junior team initially seeking to participate in the Mid-Ulster Cup, eventually joining the Irish League with the support of other local clubs in 1924. They are based in Portadown in County Armagh and play their home matches at Shamrock Park. The club’s colours are red and white; their home kit consists of red shirts, red shorts and red socks with white trim on all. The club’s main rivals are Glenavon, with their matches being known as the “Mid Ulster Derby”. The club is also bitter rivals with Glentoran. Ronnie McFall served as the club’s manager for 29 years between 1986 and 2016.
On 30 April 2008, Portadown, who had been a senior football club in Northern Ireland since 1924, were demoted to the Championship as a result of the club’s final application form for the new IFA Premiership (due to replace the Irish Premier League for 2008–09) having been received 29 minutes late and thus not considered. The club unsuccessfully appealed its exclusion. Due to the drop from Northern Ireland’s top domestic football league, the IFA Premiership, Portadown took on intermediate status, due to the IFA Championship, which was Northern Ireland’s second tier of football, being an intermediate league at the time. McFall described the time as “the toughest point of his managerial career” but kept several star players and in their first season in the Championship. The club won promotion straight back into senior football, defeating their closest rivals Donegal Celtic 2–0 in the last (and decisive) match of the season. Also, after beating Newry City 1–0 at Mourneview Park on 28 February 2009, Portadown became the first intermediate club to win the Irish League Cup with Scotsman Gary McCutcheon scoring the winning goal.
In total, Portadown have won the Northern Irish League Title 4 times. Whilst it’s unlikely to happen this season, it will be our aim to make it 5 times!
The Future
As much as we’ve just arrived here in Portadown, we are already looking to where in the world we can travel to next (especially as I have to load the leagues). There’s a host of nations we can jump to quite easily, however that isn’t the aim of the game. Our rule is that we have to try and get a job in the country thats the furthest away from our current job. So what’s the flight that takes us the furthest from Portadown. Well the answer to that question is….
Yes officially the furthest we can get from Belfast is actually Sofia, Bulgaria. A grand total of 1,551 miles separates the two countries but hopefully one man will be able to conquer them both. ME!
Thank you for reading my latest update. Hopefully you have enjoyed this post as much as people seemed to enjoy the last one. I’ll probably update you at the end of this season, especially as the timer is ticking on our two seasons in Ireland! Until then, stay safe and happy FM-ing!
The FM Newby
thefmnewby 