The FM Library

Very much a newcomer onto the scene – he started his blog in January 2020, but we do not discriminate here at the library – we will ask you them 11 questions regardless of the fact you have been on the scene 1 second or 20 years..

Please say hello to Rock’s End FM

Creator Name & what made you choose it: Rock’s End FM; well, this project was worn as me attempting a different take to my content creating; the blog series was proving a bit nerve wracking so I wanted to try a more chilled style. The idea was to pick a rock bottom side from my country (Argentina) and take it forwards. The name was wordplay as Argentina is kind of at the bottom of this rock (planet Earth). I changed it later as I realized there were a few puns you could make regarding a certain wrestler/actor’s name, and the initial project failed spectacularly, but I liked the name and moved forwards with it.

·  Real Name: Fernando Romero Nuñez

·  Football Team: Vélez Sarsfield and Arsenal F.C.

Ok, you’ve been playing the game, what made you jump from “player” to “creator” and how have you found the journey? Well, I am most certainly a noob. Only started playing a few years ago, FM17 was my first. Being a FIFA boy I eventually realized I was getting more and more bored of the “game” and looked mostly forwards to shaping my team on the transfer market and picking up rough diamonds. So FM was a natural step for me. I struggled a lot, found all too complicated and overwhelming and quit not much time later, but kept watching and reading content as I really enjoyed the idea of the game. When FM19 came around I decided to give it another go and here we are, some 2000 hours later, still playing. As for the content-creating part, I always wanted to do something like that. As I explained on my first ever post, narratives really drives me. Even when I play other games I wonder “what’s this character’s motivation, what’s his story, why is he doing what he’s doing?”. I wasn’t sure about making the jump cause back then I was looking more into creating a YT channel, simply because of the exposure, and I didn’t fancy myself the typical youtuber type. But then I read something one of my favourite bloggers said about choosing the right platform and I thought “Hey, a blog? I could do that!”. Loving football and story-telling, creating something with FM was a natural step I think, and something I enjoy terribly. The journey has been…tough. Particularly with the Livorno save when early on I struggled a lot to achieved what I wanted and ended up having to restart that a few times. It frustrated me and killed a bit of the joy. That’s where the South American Journeyman series idea came and “saved me” in a way.

What’s your style of play? Within the library we have a couple of guys who plough through seasons letting the Assistant Manager’s do the vast majority of stuff, mainly getting into the late 2060’s trying to complete bizarre and random challenges, but we also have guys who are very much into the finite detail and will manage every aspect and would consider a save done after 5 or 6 seasons. Where do you fit within the scale? There is of course, no incorrect answer.. I’d say somewhere in the middle. There are things I like to fine tune and there are things I am completely oblivious of. Tactics, individual training, scouting, staff recruitment, youth development are all things I that into consideration and spend a good amount of time working on. My biggest flaw I’d guess is general training; I am completely ignorant as to how that works and why, always leave it all to the AM. I understand its importance and always remind myself I need to learn about it…but I can’t be bothered…

Favourite version/save? Any particular bittersweet/comic/down right depressing memories? As previously said, I don’t have much of a back catalogue of experiences in FM. My favourite save so far has surely to one of my first in FM19, starting with Spanish 3rd division side Union Adarve. The idea was it was myself had I become a football manager and some of my friends in Spain helped me get the gig (I told you, narrative). It taught me everything I needed to know about LLM and I enjoyed it terribly. On the first season we got a surprise promotion but the 2nd Division proved impossible for us, sacked after 15 matches with just 1 win (the team got relegated with a record of 2 wins, 6 draws and 34 loses). In the mean time I took on the Argentina u23 side to the Olympics and got a Semi Final. With that under my belt I went to Athletic Bilbao’s B team, played some wonderful football and got promoted again, after which I left for Argentinian side Banfield. There I got into a huge argument with half the squad and resigned cause they wouldn’t play for me. I was close to deleting the save when Arsenal de Sarandí came asking. Got them back into the Primera A and when I was having the most fun in years…the save corrupted. Still enjoyed it a lot and made me fall in love with FM, it probably left a Spanish-LLM-save-shaped hole in my heart, something maybe for FM21. My worst save probably was my FM17 Udinese save. Lost every match cause my tactics were crap and it depressed me out of the game.

Which bloggers do you always make sure that you read? Less than I’d love to… FM Grasshopper is probably the one who “got me writing”. I always enjoyed greatly his content. Not so long ago I found FM Stag and I also loved his stuff. Guido Merry, Seattle Red and their guys stuff at Strikerless and From the Cheap Seats are a must for all the tactical tinkerman. Really enjoyed Dan Gear series with Bolton and FM Samo’s Eibar side. There’s a ton of great FM content out there.

Who within the community, seriously impresses you – produces the type of content that you just think “Wow, I couldn’t even contemplate producing stuff to at that level – for me it’s Laura/Chilled Moose and the face packs that she produces – some serious design talent there. This can be across any format of creation. Well, I’d like to mention some people at my home country, like the guys at FMArgentina, FMAdictos and others like Tuitbol and Regista13. The game is growing a lot over here and it is in no small part due to their efforts. Apart from that, I’d say The Scribe is a wonderful teacher of the game; I’ve learned a lot from him and it’s helped me stay put and improving. I seriously admire the consistency from LokiDoki to produce so much content at such a high level, really enjoy his stuff. From the blogging world, I’d say Guido’s tactical know-how and the articles on Strikerless are some of the best stuff out there, and FMG’s writing is just…always spot on.

What puts you off reading other creators blogs – what makes you click that “X” button in the top right of the page. For me it’s using the correct grammar for team names – I saw a blog about 18 months ago where the blogger named his opponent as oxford united and not Oxford United – I’m still angry about this… Hmm, that’s an interesting question. It’s a bit of a silly one but a bad preview image always puts me off. Ironically it is one of my weaker points, only recently my blog looks decent enough. And I guess its not your fault if you don’t know how to use a tool like Photoshop, but you don’t need to design the Sistine Chapel of preview images to get there, and there’s nothing like a good looking feature to make me think “Hmm, this seems decently put together”. I also really struggle to get into fictitious (made up clubs or scenarios) or too heavily edited DBs (like past seasons or massive reorganizations of teams) series. I love that stuff, but not for content.

Ok, final question.. I have 5 minutes and I have a list of blogs in front of me – In 100 words, why should I click on your blog… Well, you shouldn’t, as previously stated there’s far better written, better informed stuff out there. But if every time you sit in front of the FM home page you wonder not what wonderkids to sign or what wonky tactic to prepare but rather why would this team hire X manager, or what tactical identity he has due to his background, if you ponder what are the great stories in football and how FM can take them to the spotlight, hopefully you’ll enjoy Rock’s End FM.

We thank Rock’s End for taking the time to answer our questions, and strongly suggest that you go and check out his blog.