Goodbye FM2015

I can't believe that it is that time of year again, the time of year when the next iteration of Football Manager is release. I have to admit, I failed to play 2015 as much as I usually would. I'm not sure why, I think it was a combination of factors. My interest in football waned to a degree with the increasing scandals, the attitudes of footballers and the way my own club was being run. But usually I would keep going with Football Manager and enjoy my journey through the land of make believe.

It could also be that my success in 2014 jaded me somewhat, I eventually reached the level where my club team was nigh on invincible, I think we had a run of 100+ games without defeat, and most were victories. With 2015 I decided to set myself a challenge and build up a non-league team in England that I used to go and watch with my dad.

The team in question were Aylesbury United, now without their own ground down in a division that most fans have never, and will never, hear of. To add an additional challenge, I wanted to run the club responsibly and try to break even. Considering the number of larger teams that just run deeper and deeper into debt, and seeing so many smaller clubs go out of business because of the financial irresponsibility of the people involved this seemed like a good way of combating my cynical outlook on football.

Unfortunately I just wasn't immersed enough to keep taking the club forward for many years. I think I reached my fourth or fifth season, and we were into the Conference but I would usually be many years further into the game by this point!

I had a large number of successes with Aylesbury, reaching the 3rd round of the FA Cup, winning 2 leagues and 2 play-off finals, and as of writing this we are top of the Conference with a +21 goal difference. Maybe this won't be goodbye 2015, but I will definitely be moving on to 2016 and hopefully I will be more immersed this year!