[FM09] From the bottom of Hong Kong to European greatness?

Hello all, this is the first career game for me in FM09, in the past i didnt have much success in career game as usually im stuck and tend to give up and start over again. I hope this time i could have a enjoyable adventure. To be as realistic as possible to real life, I have decided to start at the very bottom, I chose to take over the worst club in Hong Kong with Automatic reputation. My aim is to hopefully work my way up and utimately become a manager of one of European top clubs. ie. Work my reputation up in HK, lead a more decent club to win some trophies and then hopefully one of a club from Europe lower league would offer me a chance to prove myself. FYI I have loaded all divisions of England, Italy and Spain. Totally 12 leagues including HK league, would have wanted to load more countries but got restricted due to computer constrain.

Im from HK and HK is such an international city but unfortunately it is one of the worst professional football league in the world. HK was one of the world's great football nation (or city) back half century ago. But it has hit rock bottom in the last 10 years as less and less youngster willing to persue the dream of becoming a professional footballer here as their wage maybe lower than a office clerical staff. Fans have left the stadium and rather staying home to see the skills of Christiano Ronaldos or Lione Messis or Francesco Tottis.

Since the HK league do not have a second tier playable league, the closest job I could possibly get should be the worst club in the first division, thus 28 year old Joe Yue has become the manager of Tuen Mun Progoal. This season is the first season TMP joins the HK first division. There are 13 teams in the first division and media prediction for TM progoal is to lose every match heavily and to finish bottom in the league. Since its the first time TMP play in the top tier league in HK, the board didnt expect too much from me, they just want me to give my best to fight against relegation, bottom 2 teams relegate in HK I might add. They gave me 7k pounds to spend which I didnt expect from a club with such nature. Their balance is only 50k. Many of the players are even part timers, who have a job at day time. I cant blame them as most of them only earn 25 pounds a week playing for TMP, might not even enough to cover the transport cost to come to train.

After visiting the basic training facilities and even more basic youth setup, I take a long hard look at my squard. To be very honest most of the players in the squard are pathetic. Hardly have any 2 digit attributes for some players. And hardly find any standout player. Nigerian striker Chou might proof to be the main man if we stand any chance of avoiding the drop, with his staggering finishing ability of 11.

I have decided that to revamp the squard from upside down is the only hope, thus I just keep 6-7 team members and signed a bunch of free transfer players. Most of them dont have much experience playing at the top level and only played in the amature league. However im still able to sign a few who have played top level football in HK before. Most notable is 30 year old former HK national attacking midfielder Kwok Man Tik, Im delighted to have him on board as he could give much valuable experience to the young boys. Also I was able to loan a few decent Chinese players from Shenzhen 2, who is also playing in the HK league. As for my backroom staff its nothing better,so i have to fire them all and re hire. Unfortunately, all I can choose are regen staff as its obvious that TMP doesnt sound an exciting job for most people.

South China is the best club in HK, which Kitchee, TSW, Sun Hei and Happy Valley, Citizen are also strong teams, thus I do not hold much hope when facing these teams as long as we give our best and keep the scoreline respectable. My main rival for the relegation dogfight is Shenzhen 2 and Mutual. Thus head to head results against these 2 teams are crucial. Tuen Mun is a rather large community in HK, and Im banking on this to fire my medicore squard up and hopefully get a few positive results at home.

Just played the first 2 matches of the season, lost 0-1 away to Fourway and 1-3 at home to TSW. Fans reaction to both match are positive as they are please to see the fighting spirit of the team and we did played well for both match that we expected to lose heavily, encouraging signs? Hopefully the team will gel better as we play more games, next game we will travel a long way to Shenzhen2 hopefully we could get our first points in the league against our relegation rivals.

Thanks for reading I will keep posted!

Good luck joeissimo As i'm living in Hong Kong, i'll be following this thread closely. I had a game on FM08 where i played as Happy Valley and had great fun managing in HK. I hope you have just as much fun and hopefully, some success too

Come on Tuen Mun Progoal!

Thanks Raware, its gonna be a tough challenge as there are very few decent players in HK, most of them have poor attributes, let alone managing the worst team in the league. I hope I can do well enough to have a chance to jump ship to those upper club such as Happy Valley, so that I can have a realistic chance to go for some silverware to up my reputation. Haha do you have any tips for me?

It is gonna be tough for you, especially at TM Progoal. What i'd suggest is to send your scouts out (if you have any ) and look for up and coming talent. If i remember correctly, you're allowed up to 7 foreigners in your squad aren't you? So, try and get the best foreigners you can get and then fill out the rest of your squad with the best HK players you can get. For the future, look for good, young players then after 7 years they'll be eligible to gain HK citizenship. That's what i did anyway and i managed to win the league regularly, the conf.cup once and the asian champions league once...albeit, i was Happy Valley so i had more chance as i was already at a 'big club'. Maybe you'll be able to get a parent club too like South China or Kitchee so you could get your HK players from them.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck and i'll be following your progress.

Thanks a lot Raware,well i still able to get 2 regen scout, unfortunately my board only allow them to scout in HK which to be honest is not gonna be very useful as its TMP unlikely to attract quality HK players to join. hehe 7 years? I certainly hope I wont stay in TMP for that long Hopefully I would have jumped by then. I would also like to get South China as my parent club, but unfortunately my board do not allow me to look for one. What have I get myself into?!! haha its like the toughest job you can get. Oh well im gonna grit my teeth and hope I could do miricle with this team.

Ive just moved to Hong Kong side Happy Valley in my game (It Began In Africa), looking forward to playing in a new league.

good luck.

also you mentioned Shenzen2 were relegation rivals......they won the league on mine a few years ago.

Hello Charles, maybe i judge them from real life, coz in real life they are relegated.

A bit of update on my game, Im into 8 games this season and still havent manage to get a win yet, 1 draw and lost 7. The positive thing is that non of the defeat is more than 2 goals. And we came close to some surprise result as we only lost to South China 0-1 and came close to another draw against Kitchee only to lose it at the final 15 mins. It seems that my players are no friend of the goal post and refs, half of the match we played in we concede penalty, and hit the post at least once or twice. Our main problem is the lack of fire power, only 3 goals was scored. Our main Nigerian striker still looking to off the mark after 8 games! Board already voice their concern as they think i should be doing my job a better. Things doesnt look so bright to be honest we need a couple of victories sooner rather than later to stand a chance in the relegation battle.

Breaking News: TM Progoal boss Joe Yue step down and heading to Italy.

"I have done all I can but nothing goes right..." Thats the final words for former TM Progoal boss Joe Yue before leaving Tuen Mun Sport Stadium.

Media found proof that Joe Yue has applied through his agent for a vacant managerial position of a lower leauge club from Spain following the team's disasterous 0-8 defeat at the hands of Shenzhen2 in Senior Shield. Its not long before the chairman of TMP discover the news and he is not very pleased to say the very least. He immediately called Joe Yue for an emergency meeting in early morning to clarify the situation. After about an hour, the visibly upset TMP board members left the office without answering question of the gathered reporters. At noon TM Progoal announced through the club official website that manager Joe Yue has resigned. Rumours said that TMP board was angry to find out that Yue has applied for another job while still under contract with TMP, thus they have decided to end the relationship with the 28 year old and offer him to resign to save face from the sack. However the unamed Spanish club has decided to avoid feuding with TM Progoal and went for another manager.

Yue was in charge for TMP for 12 games. In the league TMP only secure a single point in their 11 league matches. According to sources, the heavy 0-8 defeat against ShenZhen2 in Senior Shield disheartened Joe Yue. To be fair, series of discipline problems on field plus bad referee decision and luck has undermined TM Progoal chance of fighting against relegation, it seems Joe Yue has done all he can to this medicore part time squard.

Few days later, Yue's agent has announced that his client was contacted by Serie 2C club Igea Virtus and have agreed terms to become their next manager, Yue will earn four times of what he earned at TMP and will sign a 1 and a half year deal. Yue gave an interview at the airport before boarding the plane to Italy for his new adventure. "I have done all I can at TM Progoal, but nothing seems to go right." Said the first ever Hong Kong manager to coach outside Hong Kong. "In the last few games we have lost it, the determination and discipline, I feel my players do not have the desire anymore to do well. The 0-2 loss against relegation rival Mutual told me that we would not stand any chance to stay up, the gap between us and the rest of the leauge are too large. Both me and the club agreed that its the best interest to end it here to pursue our own direction. I admit I've lost my head after the heavy defeat that night and I would have handle it a bit better." Hinting at making a mistake of not resigning first before knock on the doors of another club. Ask if he has any last words for the fans of TM Progoal, Joe Yue said " Im very sorry to leave Tuen Mun, I will always be grateful to them for giving me this opportunity to learn as a man and as a manager, its a shame that im unable to proof myself here. I wish them well no matter what happens in their battle to avoid relegation."

On his new job in Italy Joe Yue can hardly hide his excitement. " Im very excited to have this opportunity, I could hardly believe it when my agent rang me about the offer, afterall im an unproven manager from a less than prestige football nation. I here vow to do the best I can for my new club to repay their faith in me and really prove myself as a manager." Joe Yue will meet up with his players in time for the club's 17th league game of the season. Igea Virtus currently sit at the bottom three at 16th, the board hope Joe Yue can bring the team out of the bottom three for a mid table finish. His first task will be assessing his squard if any reinfocement is needed.