Greetings folks.  As my good friend @fm_samo said on Twitter, I wonder if the likes of Brendan Rodgers are following this series?  Probably not.  Anyway I’m back with part three.  You can find part one here and part two here.

Welcome back.  So in the first post I talked you through the 1/7/30/50 plan for how I am going to build Yokohama FC.  Today I am going to give you an update on Day One of the plan.

There are not many things I rate myself highly at on FM, apart from this one little part of the game.  This is a part not many people ever even encounter, such is the understandable desire to start at the very top with the super clubs.  However, those of us of a certain age remember some of the older management games where you had no choice but to start at the very bottom and work your way  up.  Premier Manager, I thank you for this grounding.

Welcome back to the latest update of my life as a gringo in Mexico.  We are fast tracking into El Torneo Clausura, so how are Zacatepec doing?

It has often worried me how similar to Arsene Wenger I am in several ways.  Like Wenger, I could always read a game better than I could actually play it – the brain as sharp as an experienced pro, the body not really ever able to do what the mind saw.  Like Wenger, I saw the beauty in Glenn Hoddle when many an English manager saw him as a luxury player.  I like my teams to play in a certain way, and the day you catch me changing my tactic to counter what the opposition are doing is the day I give up football.  Finally, I like my football clubs to be run properly on the financial side of things.  In fact I would go as far as saying that is what gives me the most pleasure on FM.

My word FM can be frustrating at times!  I don’t seem to pick easy saves, not my thing.  But man, this one is tough.  Anyway, the Opening & Closing Stages of my second season in Mexico are over, so how have we been getting on following our shock promotion?