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Around the World with a Footballing Nobody


GylfiAsCharged

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Around the World with a Footballing Nobody

Leagues Loaded:

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I've returned after getting FM12, last year I did a Journeyman career thread, despite me having little success in-game I really enjoyed it. I'm back this year with another career thread, where I will utilize the new function which allows you to add and remove leagues, by the end I hope to have managed in every single playable nation. The leagues loaded present opportunities in 5 continents, and many different sorts of leagues which I've never experienced, and am excited to do so. There are a few teams I hope to manage during my career too, these are:

Reading: The team I support. I'd love to lead us back into the Premier League and relive the glory days of the Steve Coppell era.

Borussia Dortmund The passionate support and fantastic infrastructure of Dortmund make them a very attractive team for me to manage

Torino: Currently in Serie B, a club with a rich history, I'd love to try and replicate the successes of the legendary side who were tragically killed in a plane crash in 1949.

Ajax: Once considered the greatest team in the world, in the 1970s they were comparable to the current Barcelona side. Could they become Champions of Europe again?

Vancouver Whitecaps: A recently installed team in one of the fastest growing leagues in the world, I like the task of raising the profile of 'soccer' even further in North America.

Season Preview

I started the game in January 2012 as a former Sunday League player and applied for every available job. Clubs from Russia, South Africa, Brazil and Northern Ireland all wanted to take a gamble on an English rookie manager who never made it as a footballer either. The club which appealed to me the most was Gangneung City in the South Korean second tier. They play in blue with white shorts, and have been in existance for only 12 years, which have all been spent in the Korean National League. I hope to eventually take them up to the K-League to boost my reputation.

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Gangneung City FC

The team had a fairly solid base, the only problem being that the previous manager was obviously a big fan of the 3-4-3 because there was only one full-back in the first team. I signed up another local scout and dug out a few players with the potential to fire us to glory.

Five to watch:

Kim Tae-Jin (AM C) Aged 27, and with K-League experience, excels physically and technically.

Servulo (ST) The 32 year old Spaniard will form half of a gifted and experienced strike partnership.

Shim Jae-Won (FB R) Aging but still useful, and the only full-back present when I joined.

Kim Tae-Soo (GK) The experienced man between the sticks will need to perform this season.

Kim Jae-Ho (ST) With 15 for finishing and long shots, expect goals from this man.

Aims for the season:

The board’s expectations are a safe mid-table finish, and qualification for the 4th round of the National League Cup. I’d like to see my team progress further than that in the cup, and possibly go all the way to the final. In terms of the league, I’d love to finish near the top as many of my star players are already in their early thirties and don’t have too many years left in them. My first goal is to finish in a play-off spot, and then we’ll see how it goes from there.

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Ajax and Dortmund are very attractive clubs to manage.

They both have some exciting young players, hopefully if I get the chance to manage them they will have developed into senior players.

Also I've found out that one team does get promoted, so there's even more to play for.

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Preseason Review

Our first test was an away fixture against non-league side Korea University. They scored early on however we turned the game around and dominated for a long period, winning 4-1 with goals from Kim Jae-Ho (2), Kim Sung-Hwan and an own goal. Following this, we welcomed 3 strong K-League outfits, to garner some extra income and to test ourselves against the best teams we possibly could. In the first game, the visitors were Guangdong, and as expected they were hot favourites. They took an early lead but we equalized minutes later, and just before half time the lead was ours. We looked capable of holding on to that scoreline however we were broken down around the 80 minute mark, conceding from a free kick. But then, in stoppage time, a long spell of pressure resulted in a last-gasp goal for us. It finished 3-2, with Kim Jae-Ho, Servulo and Kim Tae-Jin on the scoresheet for us. Following this we welcomed Seoul, who are predicted to come fifth in the K-League this coming season. The game couldn't have started any better, with Kim Tae-Jin scoring quarter of an hour in. Sadly it didn't take Seoul long to respond, and subsequently take the lead. It looked as if we would go into half-time trailing, until Na Il-Kyoon hit a delightful volley from the edge of the penalty area. The second half was goalless, we were on the back foot for most of it but defended very capably, and it finished 2-2. The final fixture was against Ulsan, predicted to finish one spot below Seoul in the league. They took a two goal advantage within half an hour, and it took us until the 40 minute mark to reply, and when we did, it was with two quickfire goals from Leeroy Chinthengah, the Zimbabwean U-20 international, and Kim Jin-Suk. Ulsan regained the lead after the break, and Kim Jae-Ho put away his fourth pre-season strike to equalize 5 minutes from time, however it wasn't quite enough as we conceded another goal from a corner late on. The game finished 3-4, however the attacking display was terrific.

Overall the forwards, Kim Jae-Ho in particular, have been very impressive. However we've leaked goals like a sieve, 9 in 4 games. Although they were against strong opposition, we will need our defense to tighten up if we are to succeed in the league. Very encouraging signs, perhaps we're strong enough to reach the K-League ourselves...

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Transfers

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As you can see I've strengthened the side with a bunch of players, using my 3 foreigner allowance all on forwards. A player not mentioned in the '5 To Watch' who I've since signed is C.J Sapong, an American forward who looks the strongest out of all of my men up front. Out went about 30 unneeded players on much needed wages, 9 of whom were called Kim... there are still too many Kims in the team, it's so confusing!

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Midpoint Review

The season started with a hard fought win, followed by a defeat. In the game after that, we fell behind and it looked to be a struggle, at this point I began to reconsider my aims for the coming season. Perhaps mid-table was all I could expect? But later on in the game we came back and won 4-3, and after this we won 5 out of our next 6, losing to a strong Suwon City side. Another four wins came before the next defeat, which came against Changwon, who looked good value for the title, with me fairly close behind. Our FA Cup draw was cruel, pitting us against debatably the strongest side in the nation, Chunnam Dragons, who have also won more FA Cups than any other side. We put up one hell of a fight, and they only managed to squeeze past us with a scoreline of 3-2. Following this came a run of three draws and then a win, luckily the top side Changwon had slipped up a couple of times against weaker opposition, allowing me to claim the top spot, if only on goal difference. We're the highest scorers in the league with 34 goals in 15 games, but our defense has remained fragile like it was in preseason. The men at the back will need to be at the top of their game if we are to make this position our own. Jae-Ho is the leagues top scorer, with Sapong in second and Il-Hyoon in fourth.

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Good luck! I also want to manage Torino at some point!

Thanks Deisler26, and yeah I think they'd be a nice challenge. :)

I'm off school at the minute with glandular fever so I have masses of free time on my hands, of course, nearly all of which is dedicated to FM, so I'll be getting through seasons pretty quickly.

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League Review.

Our next task was the League Cup. We began with a 2-1 victory over a capable Police side, who play in the highest reserve league but are still a strong team. Following this, we lost to Goyang, the team with the most League Cup wins, and then managed a draw against Kimhae. The draw wasn't kind to us but we managed to sneak through to the quarter finals, which was the board's goal. We faced Daejon, who proved too much for us and we lost 2-0, following this we travelled to their ground for a league game and once again were beaten 2-0. Things weren't going according to plan, we then lost another game against Mokpo. However after this, we got our act together and managed to climb back to the top spot. Sadly, we couldn't extend the gap beyond two points, and 2 games before the end of the season, we had to face the team immediately behind us, and then Goyang who had been tough opposition both times we played them, we hadn't managed to beat them yet. The first game couldn't have gone any worse, we fell 3-0 down early on, and that's the way it finished. Ansan Hallelujah were top of the league by one point, going into the final game, while we had to get points against Goyang to give ourselves any chance of finishing first. Luckily we beat them 3-0, and Ansan slumped to a defeat, meaning we entered the play-off phase as the top side - the league hadn't been won yet. Kim Jae-Ho and Kim Tae-Jin were our most consistent performers throughout the second half of the season.

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Play-offs Review.

The format for the play-offs goes like this - the teams placed 3rd to 6th engage in a mini-tournament, in the same way teams in England battle for the promotion spot, then the winner of that plays against the 2nd place team, and the winner of that game plays against the first place team, which is us. Busan TC and Changwon won their first games, and Busan managed another win, which pitted them against Ansan. Having lost and drawn to Ansan, and beaten Busan twice, it was clear who we wanted to face in the final - and we were lucky. Busan held out for a 0-0 and managed to sneak through on penalties. The final was expected to be very close, in the first leg we travelled to their stadium and won 3-0 in front of their own fans. All we needed was not to be thrashed at home and we were a K-League side next season. They came back stronger and forced an own goal out of one of our centre backs, then their central midfielder struck from long range around the 70 minute mark. With plenty of time to go, and Busan in the ascendency, it was a nervous spell for the Gangneung City fans. Luckily, Wang Jeong-Min scored from a free kick to settle the nerves, and we went through 4-2 on aggregate. The Busan forward had pipped Jae-Ho to top scorer, and their winger beat Kwang-Myung to the assists prize, since they had to play an extra 3 games in the play-offs. I wasn't included in the top 3 managers of the season despite being expected to finish midtable, which was surprising. I signed a new contract with a slight wage rise to £1000 per week, and the players went off for their holidays. The planning for the K-League begins here.
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Career Overview.

Season    Team              Nation        League                   Position     Wage        Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012      Gangneung City    S. Korea      Korean National League   1st          £700 p/w    Gained promotion to K-League

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Good luck with Gangneung! Ive never coached in the K-League before, so Im very interested in this :)

Thanks abulezz! It's my first time too, looks like we're in for a very tough season. The K-League uses the same play-off system as the National league did, which I'm not too fond of, but I highly doubt I'll be high enough in the table come the end of the season for it to impact me at all. :p

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Preseason Review.

A short preseason of three games this year. First up were Beijing Guo'an at home, they play in the Chinese Super League. A close game was expected and that's exactly what it was, with C.J Sapong scoring what looked to be a late winner, and a Beijing player slotting home a few minutes later, the game ended 1-1. Next up was a trip to China to play against Beijing IT of the National League, the second tier. We comfortably beat them 3-0 with Mohammed Ali Slama, our big money signing for £80K up front opening the scoring, followed by strikes from Kim Jae-Ho and C.J Sapong. Finally we welcomed Seongnam, the title favourites, and held them to a 0-0 draw. With our defense having been shaky for the majority of last season, the stability shown in these three games has been encouraging.
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Midpoint Review.

A great cup run taking us to the semis has been overshadowed by a quite frankly appalling league performance. With one win and one draw out of 15 in the league, you wonder just how we managed to win 3 and draw 2 in 8 against those very same teams in the cup. A change to 5-4-1 had seemed to bring a bit more stability, but we're just not scoring enough, and conceding too many. I want to stay at Gangneung until the end of my contract in a year and a half, but I really don't want to be relegated as a manager only in my second season. We're still in touch, a few good results could save us, but how will we get those results? Mohamed Ali Slama has looked quite dangerous up front but nobody else is performing.

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Four losses later, we fell 8 points behind Gwangju and I decided that my time with Gangneung City was up. There was such little chance of getting anything out of this team, lacking in ability, morale and motivation. I can't say I'm at all surprised, but I'm still disappointed. I very much enjoyed my spell with the side, but it was time to jump ship.

Career Overview:

Season    Team              Nation        League                   Position     Wage        Comments/Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012      Gangneung City    S. Korea      Korean National League   1st          £700 p/w    Gained promotion to K-League
2013      Gangneung City    S. Korea      K-League                 16th        £1000 p/w    Resigned in August

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Real Avila C.F. or 'Los Abulenses' as they are affectionately called, play in the Spanish 3rd tier. They are predicted to get relegated, among the 4 teams that do every year. The season is already 3 games in, the caretaker manager led them to a draw and two defeats, so I'm disadvantaged from the start. However they look like a decent side and with a little strengthening could meet and exceed their initial expectations under my management. My Spanish forwards Mario Juez, Pito II and Miguel Larsson look like the best players in the side.

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Midpoint Update.

Our predicted position was 19th and I'm afraid to say we're not far from that in 17th, but still in danger. I'd have liked to steer clear of the relegation zone, but sadly it's been tough so far. A few signings and the good form of Miguel Larsson and Pito II have helped us to 6 wins out of 19. Sadly we've only draw two and that leaves us with 11 losses, out of those 11 we deserved at least a point in about 5. We had a nice run of wins after a tactical change to 4-5-1, but it seems we're back to the sort of inconsistent form that has put us in danger of relegation. I'm confident that we're better than the three teams below us, Eldense, Extremadura U.D. and Parla, while we are yet to face Denia at home, and Sporting Mahones seem like a similar quality side to us. There are worse teams than us in this league, and we're capable of getting results against those above us. I'm really enjoying the challenge that Avila has presented me with, and am optimistic about our final position.

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Thanks ArsenalMetro! I've never managed in the Spanish lower leagues so it should be interesting.

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Hopefully I get to keep my job!

The takeover has been completed and they've let me stay on as manager - sadly they don't seem intent on putting much money into the club at all.

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6 draws and 7 losses later, we are sat rock bottom of the league, 9 points from safety with 5 games to go. It was difficult but I had to resign, I'd enjoyed my spell with Avila and had hoped to take them further, but for the sake of my career, it was the only thing to do before I was sacked. 7 league wins in my last two seasons in football management isn't a record I'm particularly proud of, hopefully I'll be the right fit for my next club, and will last a bit longer.

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Season    Team              Nation        League                   Position     Wage        Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012      Gangneung City    S. Korea      Korean National League   1st          £700 p/w    Gained promotion to K-League
2013      Gangneung City    S. Korea      K-League                 16th        £1000 p/w    Resigned in August
2013-14   Real Avila C.F.   Spain         Segunda Division B3      20th        £1000 p/w    Resigned in April

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Its a shame, but it happens. Im sure there will be no lack of suitors considering what you accomplished with Gangneung!

I really hope so! Hopefully the two poor seasons haven't overshadowed that first season, which I'm pretty proud of - I hadn't even made that many changes to the squad, it was mainly down to tactics that year.

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Dongjin FC are my next stop, they're bottom of the Chinese Super League and expected to be relegated in 15th out of 16. The squad isn't bad, and Araujo, my Brazilian striker, could be a very important player for the side when he returns from injury. My wages increased by £300 per week - perhaps the only sign that I'm making progress as a manager! They've drawn 3 and lost 5 of their first 8 games, hopefully I can haul the club out of the drop zone and establish them in the Super League! Their stadium seats a massive 60,000. I could see this season panning out like the previous two, the starting scenario is similar, hopefully that's not how it ends up.

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Firstly and foremostly, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil was won by England, who were ranked 15th at the time! A Rooney hat-trick in the final sealed it for them.

Secondly...

Midpoint Update.

The cup competition wasn't important to me, I fielded a weak side for that, and focused on lifting the team out of the drop zone. 10 points from 8 games was definitely an improvement on what the previous manager had achieved, and we hauled ourself up to 13th, but very much still in the mix. Araujo's injury kept him out of most of the games, but it wasn't a problem, Zhang Hao stepped up and netted 3 in 5 to fill the gap he left. For the final 15 games I aim to get 15 points at least, that would surely keep us out of danger. Our simple 4-4-2 was fairly effective and I'll be sticking with it. Sadly our fan favourite 18 year old full-back was poached by Guangzhou for £1.1M, a large sum of money but that just shows the quality he had.

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Season Review.

The next 10 games were winless. 3 points from a possible 30 had made me reconsider my 15 point target. But, in all fairness, we had come up against all the strong teams during that period. We finally broke that run by beating relegation threatened Henan, to bring the gap between us, who were bottom, and Shenzhen, to 1 point. Another two losses, and the gap hadn't changed. We travelled to the Shenzhen City Stadium with hope, but mainly fear of losing. A loss would cast us 4 points adrift and relegate us almost certainly. However, goals from Alex and Zhu Dayi sealed a 2-0 win, which was very well received by the fans. 1 point clear of the drop zone, in 13th, we had to win to be certain of safety. Away at Changchun, we kept a clean sheet but just couldn't find the net. However, none of the teams below us won and we ended the season in 13th, having been rock bottom two games before. The two clean sheets to conclude the season were very pleasing. My contract has a year left and I intend to stay for that year, and maybe longer. Next season's aim is to finish higher, and avoid relegation

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Season    Team               Nation        League                   Position     Wage        Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012      Gangneung City     S. Korea      Korean National League   1st          £700 p/w    Gained promotion to K-League
2013      Gangneung City     S. Korea      K-League                 16th        £1000 p/w    Resigned in August
2013-14   Real Avila C.F.    Spain         Segunda Division B3      20th        £1000 p/w    Resigned in April
2014      Shenyang Dongjin   China         Chinese Super League     13th        £1300 p/w    Avoided relegation

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Thanks abulezz, I don't know really what I should be aiming for - I'd really like to progress up the table but there's a pretty big gulf in quality from the bottom five, and the rest of the league. I guess we'll have to try and break that barrier!

And I'm honestly so relieved, another relegation would have just been awful!

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Congrats in not getting relegated! :p Have you thought about following a tactical model? Or implementing any IRL tactical ideas?

Thanks Deisler26! I used a simple 4-5-1 and sometimes a 4-4-2 for most of last season but I think it would be interesting to try something else, a fair few teams in this league either play 3 or 5 at the back and I might look to give that a go.

Interesting start to your career,well done on avoiding relegation with Dongjin.Hopefully you'll be able to build up your squad and start going places.

Thanks B.W.G, I've made a few signings for free already, they all show a lot of promise and hopefully with a few more additions we'll be a far stronger team. Our side was the lowest value in the whole division last year, that reflects our lack of quality, I'm hoping to strengthen massively this time round. :)

Very tight, hopefully it'll be more comfortable next year.

Cheers deltablue, I'm aiming not to get caught up in a relegation battle at all, and hopefully to finish mid-table.

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Just catching up on your career, nice job with Gangneung getting them promoted and good luck in China, hopefully you can push up the league next year :thup:

Thanks very much City2000! After the end of the season I ended up with a hugely thinned squad of 10, with a lot of excess wages to throw around, the additions so far look promising, and young too. :)

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Preseason Update

To put it in short, three losses and a draw made up our preseason. However the squad was still being built during that period, and now we are stronger in terms of depth and quality. The signing of four top quality youth internationals has bolstered out side and hopefully they will mature over the season and lead us up the table. Zhang Yao is a pacy left winger with a very good touch, Sun Xianjun is a strong and fairly pacy centre back, who is very strong in the air. Shi Jun is a talented forward who also takes a very good corner, and finally, the pick of the bunch, Shang Hongchen is a forward with ability in many areas, I'm hoping for a good return from him this season.
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Yep, you guessed it, I jumped ship like the total rat I am, not even having the courtesy of seeing out the season and fighting till the death. The European season was about to start and I figured it might be worth a shot, nothing's worse than rock bottom.

Season    Team               Nation        League                   Position     Wage        Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012      Gangneung City     S. Korea      Korean National League   1st          £700 p/w    Gained promotion to K-League
2013      Gangneung City     S. Korea      K-League                 16th        £1000 p/w    Resigned in August
2013-14   Real Avila C.F.    Spain         Segunda Division B3      20th        £1000 p/w    Resigned in April
2014      Shenyang Dongjin   China         Chinese Super League     13th        £1300 p/w    Avoided relegation
2015      Shenyang Dongjin   China         Chinese Super League     16th        £1300 p/w    Resigned in June

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Wrexham will start the new season in the npower League Two, they are predicted to finish 20th and avoid relegation however the squad is looking good and I think we can do better than that. They play at the Racecourse Ground, which seats 15,500, it is perhaps the most modern in the division. They're paying me less than I've been getting in the past 4 years but that's not a problem, I'm confident this is a step forward for my career.

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Preseason Review.

Our preseason was tough, we came up against Newcastle, Leeds, Peterborough and Middlesbrough Reserves, losing all four, 2-1, 2-0, 2-1 and 3-0. The final result was disappointing but the other three weren't bad, 3 of the goals we conceded in those 4 games were flukes, supposed to be crosses but ended up looping in. We've strengthened with another two forwards, Ivica Sarlija and Willie Scrobbie, both look classy for this level. Hopefully we can get into a winning habit. Our first game is at home to Wycombe Wanderers, hopefully we can kick-start our season.
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Shame things didn't work out in China,good luck at Wrexham :thup:

Cheers B.W.G, things are looking good so far, I've settled pretty quickly. Brought in another forward, Faton Trstena from Fortuna Sittard for £6K, my scouts alerted me to him after he scored 2 in 2 at the start of the season, while transfer listed. Absolute bargain.

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He's settled very quickly, notching 4 in 7 and winning two awards in the same month, Player and Goal of the month.

Also I thought it would be a nice idea to do a little goals compilation of the best ones from each season from now on... thoughts?

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