Welcome to this FM20 challenge showcase as part of a series I will be running to show a team with a challenging aspect to potentially try in this year’s edition of FM. Within this post I will be going through a number of aspects and key points to note and an overall difficulty challenge rating out of 5 at the end. Are you the one to take Yeovil to the upper echelons of football?

Yeovil Town are currently languishing in the Vanarama National League which is the 5th tier of English football. Whilst for some of the more hardened lower league managers, this will look like child play, delving into the club reveals an all the more dire circumstance for you to contend with.

Just 5 years ago, Yeovil were in the Championship and were able to beat teams such as Watford 3-0 and forcing Leicester to snatch a last gasp 1-1 draw with a Kasper Schmeichel goal. Fast forward to today and in real life Yeovil has just drawn 1-1 with Boreham Wood.

Yeovil have fallen dramatically following the previous owners pulling money out after good runs in the FA Cup and league. As such there became an issue of just loan players and free transfers coming in and the better players being lost for very small amounts of money. This all came to a head with fan numbers dropping dramatically from 6,589 on average in 2013/14 to 2,953 in 2018/19 when relegated out of the football league. As such, the financial side of the club makes for painful reading when looking to bolster the squad for the coming season.

Despite the financial issues needing rectifying ASAP, there is also the vision of the club being ambitious to return to where they were last year with play-offs being the minimum accepted in your opening season. Not only this, but you are required to work within the small wage budget you have being a separate urgent requirement for the chairman. Surely, you can use just your current squad and youngsters to keep going, yep?

NOPE! A lot of the main squad are out with injuries, with no good LB alternative, your main striker and multiple first team defenders facing several months on the side lines it will be left to your now thin squad to uphold the brunt of the pre-season and also the first few games til they are fit. There are some solutions, loan players are a short term solution with Stoke being a team often happy to help bolster the squad. Good luck trying to get players from any Prem teams though as they often say no due to the standard of players around you. 

There is however SOME light at the end of the tunnel for ‘The Glovers’. Despite all the shenanigans having occurred in recent years, they have got a strong team for the league when fit and are National league/League 2 players or youngsters with that potential. A special mention goes out to Gabby Rogers who can be found in the U18 squad who is already capable of playing at a first team level and has potential to be a main staple for many years to come.

 

Overall though, Yeovil are like many teams found in the National League this year. They have got potential to do well, but as the money of football trickles down to non-league for the first time. It is imperative that you manage to bring in suitable players without breaking the bank to sustain a push for promotion within the first two seasons or the majority of your team will jump ship for greener pastures. Whilst this is fine for the bulk of clubs, with a poor turnover it may end up being your downfall as Yeovil manager.

DictateTheGame challenge rating –     3/5      – Firm, a good introduction to a harder team.

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