In Episode 4 we left Bangor sitting second in the Championship with 15 games of the season remaining. Only first place are guaranteed promotion. Did we make it? Read on to find out…

Caution! - This post includes a Newgen that will make your heart flutter.

Results

We did virtually no transfer business during the winter window, O’Reilly and McPhillips left but I decided to carry on without replacing them. We did bring in central midfielder Donal Rocks on loan, from Annagh United, towards the end of the season but he only featured a couple of times as a back up.

So let’s get straight into the results. After playing each other three times the Championship splits in half. The top 6 play off against each other once more and the team finishing top gets automatically promoted and the sides finishing second and third play off against each other for the right to play the Premierships eleventh placed side in a do or die promotion/relegation playoff. I was confident going into the final 15 games that we could secure a playoff spot, and I guess anything is possible after that.

We managed to reach the split in first place after a disastrous run by former league leaders Dundela. In the winter transfer window they lost their three most influential players (a similar thing has happened in real life too). Winger Sean Moore joined Larne, striker Rhys Arnett joined Clintonville and full back Ryan McKay joined Coleraine. These outgoings seemed to derail their title charge completely. We were simply the best of a bad bunch coming through after that, as our own form nothing to write home about. I was pleased, but still felt that being up against the top sides in the next five games would show us that we were still a little short overall, ten defeats seems a little too many for a side sitting top of the division.

Simply the “Best”

Just as I was preparing for the split we got our youth intake. Always an exciting time for us FM players, although in this save I am not that concerned with youth development so I wasn’t overly excited by the whole thing. Who needs a load of one star current ability 15 year old’s in a journeyman save anyway.

But then I looked….and saw this….

I have to admit it has been some time since I got a five star current ability player in a youth intake (yes I know stars are relative, but still.), and I was giddy. Especially given the news we got in Episode 4 that our main goalscorer, Jordan Hughes, was retiring at the end of the season.

First things first though ladies and gentleman. It wouldn’t be a newgen in FM23 without a midjourney face! I headed straight over there like a dog with two dicks and got to work. Drawing on the famous Northern Irish surname of Best, I asked Midjourney for George Best’s grandson, footballer, and here he is. He is soooo fine and at this level he is a monster.

Clearly he had to play, so I threw him in and dropped Hughes to the deep lying forward role. It didn’t take long for Best to make an impact scoring on his debut inside 13 minutes against Harland and Wolf Welders (our last game before the split). His fine form continued throughout the final five pivotal games of our season, scoring a further four goals including a hat trick against Annagh United in very important 3-1 win.

Three wins in our first three games, which included four goals from Matty Best, secured automatic promotion to the Premiership with two games to spare. I was amazed at how easy we found it, defensively we looked really strong and with Hughes and Best up front I always felt we would score. For the final two games I moved Hughes back to the advanced forward role as he was in with a chance of winning the gold boot, which he ultimately did with an impressive 26 league goals for the season.

Me - The Manager

As I keep reminding you, this save is about me the manager and my progression. I don’t care about any of the clubs, or players, my only concern is myself.

So how did I perform against the KPIs set out by the board?

A resounding success I am sure you will agree. I am particularly pleased I was able to adapt to the new board cultures so well. I didn’t revamp the whole tactic but made a few tweaks to try and give the board what they wanted and I am content we managed to do that without compromising on results. Playing more direct was a challenge, I don’t think I could have done much more without fundamentally changing my style of play so this is something to watch for next season.

On a personal level I have a contract until the end of next season on £2,000 per month, and I am studying for my Continental C Licence, I do think my stock is as high as it is going to be for a while so I will be looking to move on during the summer. There is a large gulf between the championship and the premiership in my opinion, especially the top six sides. I am expecting a tough season coming up which could see me come under pressure if results really go south, so it might be better to move on now while my destiny is in my own hands - we shall see.

As ever many thanks for reading this far, I’m really enjoying FM23 this year and to be honest I have to be really disciplined to stop playing the game and write a few words for posterity.

In the meantime I will leave you with a little song, inspired by the star of this post, Matty Best.

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Over and Out

FMEadster!