3 Challenging Teams To Be On FMM 2017

Introduction

The new instalment of the Football Manager Mobile series is just around the corner, with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich guaranteed to be among the most popular teams with players.

But why not give yourself a challenge? Here’s 3 teams that I think will be some of best challenges to undertake when FMM17 releases next month. Enjoy.

 

Darlington 1883

A man once had a dream of Darlington playing in the Premier League. That man was George Reynolds, the former chairman of Darlington FC, who was appointed back in 1999.

At the time of his appointment, the club were playing in the basement of the Football League, and played their home games at Feethams, an 8,500-capacity stadium which was just a mile away from the town centre. Reynold’s ambitions pleased the Quaker fan base.

This was, however, too good to be true. Reynolds decided that the club should move from Feethams in 2003, and move to a new stadium on the outskirts of the town with a capacity only Premier League teams could boast. The cost of the stadium, along with the repayment of high-interest loans, plunged the club into administration just 6 months after the stadium was built, with Reynolds quickly jumping ship. It signalled the beginning of the end for the Quakers.

Despite Darlington reaching the League Two play-offs in 2008, the club were relegated out of the Football League at the end of the 2009-2010 season, and relegated again in 2012. This was Darlington’s last season as a football club, as they were officially dissolved, with a new club Darlington 1883, who was formed by the fans, starting the 2012-2013 season in the Northern Football League Division One (The 9^th tier).

Three consecutive promotions later, the new club are quickly making their way towards where Darlington FC last left off, as they’ll be competing in the National League North this season, just 2 leagues below the Football League.

Taking Darlington 1883 back to the Football League and beyond will be one of the biggest challenges on FMM17. Are you willing to try it?

 

Queen’s Park

You may not already know, but Queen’s Park are a pretty unique team. They’re currently the only fully amateur team playing in the Scottish professional leagues, hence their motto ‘Ludere Causa Ludendi’, which translates to ‘To play for the sake of playing’. Their home stadium also happens to be Hampden Park, the home of the Scotland national team.

Founded in 1867, Queen’s Park were once a dominant force in Scottish football: they won the Scottish Cup 3 times in a row, in 1874, 1875 and 1876, and repeated that feat again between 1880 and 1882.

However, things started to go downhill for Queen’s Park at the turn of the century. They joined the Scottish leagues ahead of the 1900-01 season but struggled against the professional sides they came up against. Results suffered and they fell to the bottom of Scottish football.

Fast forward to the present day and Queen’s Park have been bouncing between League One and the League Two over the last few decades. This season, they’ll be competing in League One after earning promotion last term.

Though, being in a slightly higher league isn’t even the hardest part. Because Queen’s Park are an amateur club, it means any of your players can leave at any time, to any club, on a free transfer. Got yourself a striker who’s scored 30 goals for you? Well, don’t enjoy them for too long. You’ll have to learn to replace your star players, year in, year out.

Can you turn Queen’s Park’s fortunes around, and take them back to the summit of Scottish Football, while still maintaining their ‘amateur’ label?

 

CD Leganes

When you think of football teams from Madrid, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid pop into your head straight away. It’s obvious, right?

Well, let me introduce you to another name to that list. CD Leganes.

The ‘Cucumber Growers’ (yes, that is their actual nickname, believe it or not) were promoted to La Liga at the end of the 2015-2016 season for the first time in their history.

Their club history is nothing compared to their Madrid rivals, with the club spending most of their existence playing in Spain’s lower leagues, with them bouncing between the 3^rd (Segunda Division B), 4^th  (Tercera Division) and 5^th divisions (Regional Divisions), before achieving promotion to the Segunda Division in 1993.

They spent 11 seasons in the Segunda Division, which included an 8^th place finish, their record best at the time, before being relegated back to the Segunda Division B in 2004. It took Leganes 10 seasons until they’d play in the Segunda Division again, as they finished 2^nd in the Segunda Division B at the end of the 2013-2014 season.

A 10^th place finish in the 2014-2015 was a sign of good things to come, as they finished 2^nd the following season, which resulted in them being promoted to La Liga.

Leganes face the biggest and toughest season in their history. Will you preserve their top-flight status in their historical inaugural season?

 

All 3 clubs come with 3 complete different challenges. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or if you have other teams you think will be challenging, drop them in too. Thank you for reading.

 

 

 

[Fish18ish]

Very informative with an engaging layout and structure, really enjoyed reading this! I've been contemplating doing a Scottish team for a while now, and Queen's Park might just be that team...

[Цветан Чуканов]

Very nice I would have personally put Parma Calcio as well though, as they are back in the game this year.

[Dec]

Nice article. My only gripe would be it isn't long enough but that isn't a bad thing.

[Fozz_Quaker]

@Robbrown172 Darlington were not officially liquidated, the company who owned them was liquidated, the 1883 Rescue Group bought the clubs assets and what happened was we came out of Administration without a CVA in breach of Conference and FA rules, there is also a thing called the football share which is some kind of licence to play football, the ex chairman would not hand it over between those 2 circumstances is what saw us relegated to the Northern League...

So Darlington 1883 is the same Darlington just with a name change...

If looks like a turd and smells like a turd, it is a turd

Look at Rangers, I think the same happened there but Scottish rules said they did not have to change there playing name and also Leeds in 2007 iirc

Edited October 29, 2016 by marxistafozzski