In my saves on previous editions of Football Manager I’ve tended to set out quite structured aims and targets at the beginning of the save. This time round with Stirling we started out in the third tier and I knew I eventually wanted to grow the club and take it to the next level but one of the main initial aims I had was survival. We were part-time and forward-planning is a bit of a dirty word at that level like I said in my initial introductory post. Fast forward to the beginning of the 2026/27 season and we’ll be starting season ten with the aim of retaining the SPL crown after the clubs first ever top tier title win last season. Who’d have thought it?

The club has obviously come a long way in that time, and the restructured Scottish football leagues seem to have enabled clubs in the country to go from strength to strength. With all of these things in mind, plus the fact that Stewart Brown, our long-standing chairman in-game, stepped aside after the title win to be replaced by Graeme Mackay, I felt it was time to get some aims written down. I’ll be looking to keep these things front of mind over the next part of the save. Here’s my Strategy for Stirling.

Continue reading “A Strategy for Stirling” →

If I get through my ninth season in charge of Stirling on FM18 (this post could end with a sacking for all you know…), it’ll be well on track to be my longest save on any game since CM01/02. There’s still so much more left to achieve too. Let’s get into it.

It began with a glamour friendly against Bastardo’s Estudiantes to open our new 14k capacity home, the Samo Stadium. I really would recommend you go and read that post, plus FMGrasshopper’s accompanying initial post in our mini-series. Both detail the more interlinked than you know nature of Argentinian and Scottish football, plus both include my Stirling side getting our arses handed to us by La Plata’s finest. It wasn’t the nicest way to open our new home.

The media’s predictions of how we’ll do this season have risen, they reckon we’ll finish 3rd behind Celtic and Rangers. While the board, of which there’s takeover rumours currently swirling, want us to qualify for Europe. I’d be delighted to qualify for Europe again. With more sensible decision making in the transfer market and a quality addition or two, could we go one better than our consecutive 2nd place finishes? Could we upset the Celtic/Rangers duopoly on the SPL title?

Continue reading “Samo’s Stirling – Season Nine” →

Season Seven’s post was titled “Kicking On” because I think there comes a time in every FM save when you need to do just that. Me taking my Stirling side to the next level hasn’t been deliberate and it certainly wasn’t planned to happen this early on. I really should stop coming across as moaning about it. We’ve flown under the radar since gaining promotion to the SPL, overachieving our status and reputation to qualify for Europe in three of my four seasons in the top tier of Scottish football. This culminated in a 2nd place finish last season, taking us into the Champions League qualifiers in my eighth season. Add that to making the 1st knockout round of the Europa League last season and work starting on a brand spanking new stadium for us to move into in the summer ahead of season nine, it’s safe to say we’ve certainly kicked on.

Continue reading “Samo’s Stirling – Stirling Futures” →

We enter into my seventh season in charge of Stirling now, and our fourth season in the Scottish Premier League. Season four saw us avoid relegation, while we overachieved massively in both season five and six. Finishing 3rd and 4th saw us qualify for the Europa League. I now feel safe to say we’ve consolidated our position as an SPL side and the financial gains from domestic and continental prize and TV money across the last three seasons have helped us get the club on a sound footing. This saw us taking the first steps to improving our facilities last season. Despite the board giving me a transfer budget of £10m to splash this season, there was no way I’d be spending it. The bank balance is secure, but it’s not sustainable yet. There’s still work to do to get there, we’ve still got the lowest average attendance in the league and are limited by our current stadium of improving that.

That £10m transfer kitty was accompanied by an expectation to finish in the top half. Based on our performances over the last couple of seasons, I was confident we could achieve this and then some. We might be sitting 13th in the league salary per annum table (Celtic £41m p/a, Rangers £22m p/a, Stirling £2.7m p/a) but we’ve appeared to revel in punching above our weight so far and I can see us continuing to do so.

Continue reading “Samo’s Stirling – Season Seven – Kicking On” →

After you’ve read all about our European exploits in the first half of the season, come back here and have a read of how we got on domestically in my sixth season in charge of Stirling Albion on FM18.

In case you missed it, we overachieved above all expectations last season and finished as the best of the rest behind Rangers and Celtic. In comparison to our league rivals, we’re absolute minnows. We spend a fraction of what they do on our players wages and we’re playing in the smallest stadium in the league. Punchin’ ??

This season, the bookies expect us to finish 11th in the SPL, giving odds of 300/1 to win the league. After our heroics last season the board would be delighted with consolidating our place in the top tier and finishing mid-table. That’ll do me nicely. Let’s see what we could do with that £100k transfer budget they gifted me.

Continue reading “Samo’s Stirling – Season Six – Domestic Consolidation” →

It’s been a couple of weeks now and I’m still in disbelief about last season. Going from battling relegation in our first season in the SPL to finishing 3rd and qualifying for Europe in our second season is ridiculous, quite frankly. We overachieved massively expectations-wise, but across the season, we actually deserved it. We played some brilliant football, with #Rog and Ryan Hardie firing on all cylinders and our young captain, Ryan Porteous, leading the backline.

So European football eh? Let’s just not embarrass ourselves, that’s the aim. Kilmarnock’s Scottish Cup win trumps our 3rd place league finish so the journey starts in the 2nd qualifying round with a trip to Sweden to face IFK Göteborg.

Continue reading “Samo’s Stirling – Season Six – European Adventure” →

I’ve only just managed dry myself off after being so close to not being able to keep our heads above the choppy water of the SPL relegation zone in season four and we’re back again for the season five review!

The media expects us to finish 16th this season, they’re not backing us to build on last season’s survival, while my board are more than happy to just avoid relegation again. My own feeling is that we need to significantly strengthen if we want to remain in the league, never mind improve on last season’s 13th place finish.

We had some really positive results last season, and even more positive performances. A couple of quality acquisitions might just see the mistakes decrease, a few more goals scored instead of missed chances and turn the disappointing reds and yellows on the results screen into a sea of green. Keep reading to see how we get on.

Continue reading “Samo’s Stirling – Season Five – WTF!?” →

In my third season managing Stirling Albion on FM18 we were unexpectedly promoted to the top tier of Scottish football. The promised land. The resurrected SPL.

In the aim of growing the club, it’s where we need to be to properly kickstart things but I do feel it’s come slightly too soon…how the hell would we cope playing against the big clubs on a weekly basis?

For starters the odds are stacked massively against us. The media is expecting us to go right back down again with the other two promoted clubs, Dumbarton and Queen of the South. With Inverness and St Mirren also installed as relegation favourites alongside us, there was a sliver of hope that we could do enough to keep our heads above positions 16th-18th. Operation Float is on.

Add to that the fact that our reputation to attract some players I feel I’d like to still isn’t quite there and I’m predicting that this season will be a struggle. Let’s start off by taking a look at my summer transfer dealings.

Continue reading “Samo’s Stirling – Season Four – Operation Float” →

You know you’re absolutely loving an FM save when you can power through the seasons at a faster rate than your usual. I’ve finished off my third season in charge of Stirling Albion on FM18 and, spoiler alert, it was a successful one for the club. After last season’s playoff final heartbreak, we only went and won the playoffs this season! That’s right, we’ve been promoted to the top tier of Scottish football (the resurrected SPL on this edited database). Trying something a little bit different for this update to get you up to speed, I’m going to highlight four matches across the season that really stood out for me and contributed to making it a successful one.

Continue reading “Samo’s Stirling – Matches that Made Season Three” →

Sorry about that cliff I left you hanging off after the last post. I felt it’d be much better if we dealt with the playoffs separately after we’d gone on that remarkable run of form in the second half of the season and unbelievably managed to qualify for them, after our 4th place finish in the league. Let’s get into it.

Continue reading “Samo’s Stirling – End of Season Two – Part Two” →