Well…that didn’t go according to plan, did it?
What was supposed to be a replica of the original Everton challenge, an extended Football Manager adventure that rolled on for nearly a cyber-decade, turned out to be a very short-lived and very confused mini-series. Sort of like Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, if you will.
We were close to signing a sponsorship deal. Like, a real one. For actual money. And then Everton hit the skids and talks collapsed. There were board level meetings about that. Stern ones. This is all true.
Like a sacked manager travelling Europe to study coaching methods, I'm off to @FootballManager HQ. More on @thesetpieces soon.
— Iain Macintosh (@iainmacintosh) December 6, 2016
But real winners don’t give up. Real winners learn from their failures. Real winners lose a bit of weight, get their teeth done and start seeing that nice girl from the PR department. Real winners go to Celtic.
As Christmas approaches, I’ll be settling into the hot seat at Parkhead, doing my best not to inexplicably, or perhaps all too explicably, screw up Celtic. I’ll be promoting attacking football, youth academy graduates and a blend of flawed romanticism thoroughly at odds with the modern game.
But that’s not all. Because this time, it’s not just me.
There’s a new manager at Ibrox too. He’s smart and driven, he knows how to do the number stuff and he doesn’t regard heat maps with suspicion. He’s Alex Stewart, the man behind the Football Manager Meets Moneyball challenge, and he’s taking over at Rangers.
So the #FM17Project is coming via @thesetpieces – I'll be doing something with this chap… pic.twitter.com/kleDaYwoU2
— Alex Stewart (@AFHStewart) December 5, 2016
We’ll be going head to head in the Scottish Premiership, battling for supremacy. One man using his forensic eye for detail and his ability to see beyond the numbers, one man simply trying not to cry as it all goes horribly wrong again.
Join us on The Set Pieces this December for what the website’s financial backers are calling, “Your last chance, you stupid prick, so don’t f**k this up.”
The FM17 Project: Old Firm Challenge will kick off on the week beginning Monday, 12th December. Follow updates on Facebook.
