Wandering around the globe

This is going to be my 1st ever journeyman save. I normally pick a club in the lowest league of England and try and go as far as i can with them. So to get things started I have created a fictional manager, by using a random country generator for his nationality. Then according to his nationality i have used a random name generator for his name. So let me introduce Horacio Solos. Born in Costa Rica, who also a 2nd nationality of English

Horacio Solos

I have started unemployed with a Sunday League reputation. I have decided to pick the smaller nations in Europe, so i can build up my reputation and move onto the bigger nations in Europe once my reputation grows. I also want to manage in Asia and South America. So the new add/remove feature will hopefully play a big part in my game.

Leagues loaded

I turned down 3 job offers. 2 in Norway and 1 in Brazil, before i decided on accepting a job offer from Vedrich Rechista.

Vedrich Rechista play in the Belarusian 2nd division. I thought it would be interesting to start off in Belarus, rather than one of the other well known smaller countries leagues.

Brief history on Vedrich Rechista from Wikipedia

The team was founded in 1952 and spent Soviet years playing in Belarusian SSR league or in lower regional leagues. In 1991 Vedrich won the First Belarusian SSR league (2nd level).

Vedrich spent 6 seasons in Belarusian Premier League until 1996, when they finished last and relegated. After three years in the First League the team returned to the top level and played two more seasons (2000, 2001) and then relegated again. In 2004 Vedrich-97 finished second and was supposed to be promoted to Premier League. However, the club couldn't obtain the license due to low infrastructure and had to stay in the First League.

Vedrich information

The chairman offered me:

Wage - 775 p/w on a one year contract

Transfer budget - 0

Wage budget - 3.1k

Current wages - 2.98k

Chairman wants - Avoid relegation

Media prediction - 13

Current league table

With 13 matches gone. The team sits in 14th position. With 13 points. 7 points off points off relegation (15th position) and 9 points off a promotion place (2nd position)

League table

So avoiding relegation is very possible and also maybe sneaking into a promotion place. But looking at the other teams players. It would be a big ask to finish 1st or 2nd.

Squad

My 1st impressions of the squad is thats its very strong in defence, but lacking any real quality in the attacking areas. I would ideally like to bring in a center midfielder, a right winger and striker.

Starting squad

Key players

Looking through the squad i would say this player is one of my best players

He can play anywhere along the back line and also on the left wing if needed. If think i might a struggle to keep hold of him as he already wanted by a few clubs in the top league

My best young player is

He can play anywhere in midfield. But his strongest position is on the left wing.

Tactics

Tactics wise, im going to start with a basic 4-4-2. I dont want to stick to 4-4-2, but due to a lack of quality players in anywhere but defence, im really im going to stick to that.

Tactics

Season Aims

My seasons aims are to avoid relegation and finish around mid table. Also to build a squad for next season.

Good luck in Belarus!

Very interesting starting point, good luck

Good luck with Vedrich Rechista

Good place to start, should be able to take your club far if you manage to get somewhere.

All the best

Thanks everyone for the support and the good luck

End Of Season 6th November 2011

End of season review

The season finished well for me and my team. We finished 4^th, only 4 points off 2^nd place. Which would have given us a chance in the play offs against the team finishing 2^nd bottom of the 1^st division. So we finished well above my season aims and everyone’s expectations, including my own. The league table was very tight all year. With only 10 points separating 3^rd and 13^th. If it hadnt been for some dodgy form in September with us not picking up a win in 4 games. We might have been able to finish 2^nd. However we did go on a 10 game unbeaten run just after i took over. So a dodgy patch was inevitable.

My other aim, was to strengthen the team for next season. With me trying to bring in some better quality attacking options. I failed miserably there! I only made one signing all season. It wasnt for the want of not trying. I couldnt find any players better than what i had. The ones i did find that were better than the players i had. I simply couldnt afford their wages or they didnt want to come to my club.

So overall i was very happy with how the season finished. Just a shame i couldnt stengthen the squad ready for next season. All though i do have 5 months before the season kicks off again, so that should give plenty of time to bring in some new faces.

Managers information

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I was offered and accepted a new one year contact on the 1^st of October for 775 p/w

Final League table & fixtures

As you can see the final league table was very tight. Any team from 7^th could have realistically finished in 2^nd place. The league leaders Slavia Mozyr were top throughout the whole of the season, even though they did draw and amazing 10 times.

Fixtures Part 1

Fixtures Part 2

I took over the team just below the red line. Were i went on a 10 match unbeaten run, conceding only 3 goals in those 10 matches. I also only conceded 10 goals in the 17 games i had left to play when i took over. I seemed to perform much better against teams that were positioned higher in the league than me.

Squad

Senior Squad

Squad Depth

I found out as the season wore on that my squad was far too small. As injuries and suspensions kicked in i was unable to field a full match day squad. I was sometimes only being able to name 3 or 4 subs.

Key players

Yuriy Ostoukh – As i highlighted before the season kicked off i thought this player was one of the best at the club. He was solid in defence and very consistent with his performances. He never got below 6.6 match rating. Only thing now is that are some of the division 1 clubs are starting to show interest in him. With reports in the media saying such and such club is prepared to offer 200k for him. I think i would like more for him, but with having a 0 transfer budget. 200k could go a long way.

Dmitry Chaley – My one and only transfer of the season. Attributes wise, he is by far my best CM, which isnt saying much. He performed much better once i settled on a role for him. After trying 2 different ones before i decided on just the standard CM role with either attacking or support mentality. He only managed one assist though, which for a CM is very poor. So maybe something i will have to look at next season.

Dmitriy Ryabstev – I was right to pinpoint this player as one of my best at the start of the season. With 8 assists and 2 goals from LM and an average rating of 7.06. He was the best player in my team. He is only 20 years old, so has plenty of time to improve. Which he should do as my assistant rates him as 5 stars for potential. There is no interest in him from any other clubs which im a little surprised about.

Pavel Beganskiy – I was unsure about this player when i took over the club. I think if i had had an offer anywhere near his value i would have accepted it. The only 2 attributes that jumped out at me where his finishing and jumping. All the other attributes i thought were poor or average for a ST. I played him in the target man role and it took him a few games for him to start scoring and performing. He ended up the season my top goal scorer with 11 goals, 1 assist and a average rating of 6.86.

Under performer

Vitaliy Rushnitskiy – Looking at this players attributes i thought he could do a job for us and score a few goals. How wrong could i have been! He scored only 2 goals since i took over and went on a not so amazing run of not scoring a goal in over 16 hours. My assistant manager does rate him highly though giving him 4 and half stars. Im not sure what i will do with him next season yet. Weather sell him or keep him.

Transfers

Not much activity at all here. Like i said, i only managed to bring in one player and sold only two. I did somehow manage to get a large fee for Artem Klop. 14k considering he was only worth 3k when i sold him. Hopefully come this time next season, the page will be a little more exciting.

Finances

End Of Season Finances

Looking at my finances i am making a loss every month. Even though i am roughly 300 pounds under my wage budget. Maybe i will not have to turn on my floodlights for home games!

So onto the 5 month break. I will update again just before the league starts. Unless something exciting happens before.

That is a good start to your career, and a good season overall. I would say if the offer came in for £200k, go ahead and cash in on Ostoukh. Im sure you can find a youth newgen that would be comparable in a year or so.

Good first season, I agree with abulezz that i'd be tempted to cash in on Ostoukh aswell.

Very good first season,good to see your hard to beat as well.Hope you can turn some of those draws into victories in the new season

That is a good start to your career, and a good season overall. I would say if the offer came in for £200k, go ahead and cash in on Ostoukh. Im sure you can find a youth newgen that would be comparable in a year or so.

Good first season, I agree with abulezz that i'd be tempted to cash in on Ostoukh aswell.

Thanks. Yeah if i get an offer of anywhere the 200k mark i will take it. Because it seems to be to buy any one of any quality in this league you need you need around 100K+

Very good first season,good to see your hard to beat as well.Hope you can turn some of those draws into victories in the new season

Cheers. I actually didnt realize i had so many draws in the league until you mentioned it. 13 is a hell of a lot!

A few bits from the close season

I managed to get 2 players into the team of the year. My LB and LW

A surprising choice for the fans player of the year. My LB, who made 17 appearances, scoring 1 goal and had 0 assists. He got an average rating 6.99. I would have thought it would have gone to either my LW Dmitriy Ryabstev or ST Pavel Beganskiy after their performances last season.

And finally the season summary. Just to see who did what in the 1st and 2nd divisions

Start Of Season 7th of April 2012

Belarus 2nd Division

Season 2012

7th of April 2012

We are finally ready to kick off the season after a 5 month wait. There was abit of bad news in the pre-season as our assistant manager refused to sign a new contract and left the club once his contract expired. A replacement was brought in a matter of days of him leaving, but unfortunately he wasnt as good as the one who left.

The chairman offered me:

Either a top half finish or winning the league. A bit of a jump in my opinion. So i went for a top half finish which gave me:

Transfer budget - 6.7k

Wage budget - 2.8k

Current wages - 2.8k

Chairman wants - Top half finish (Last season, avoid relegation)

Media prediction - 7th (Last season 13th)

Transfers

Another frustrating transfer window for me and the team. I really needed another center midfielder as ones i have are mostly suited to defensive roles. I also needed a striker. As i dont think Vitaliy Rushnitski is up to it. Considering he went 16 hours without scoring a goal last season. I did manage to bring in players in the these 2 positions, but they were not up to the quality i would have liked. I manged to sell two back up players as well to try and reduce the wage budget and gain some income for incoming transfers.

Transfers

Key Players

Yuriy Ostoukh - I didnt have any offers for him in the close season. Although interest is still high in him. He is by far my best defender. Who can play anywhere along the back line and on the left wing. I hoping for another solid season from him.

Ivan Misochenko - The fans player of the year last season. It will be interesting to see how he performs this year.

Dmitry Chaley - One of my best CM. Last season i had him in an attacking role, but with only 1 assist all season. I have dropped him back to a more defensive role. I think he is more suited to a play defensive game. So this season he should perform better in a more natural role. I have also made him my captain.

Igor Trukhov - A new signing. A little older than i normally like to go for. But i wanted someone who could create chances as we were missing that last season and he was the only one with the attributes that looked like they could do that. He has played every season of his career in the top division. So he should be able to bring some class to my midfield.

Dmitriy Ryabstev - My best player last season. I hoping he can perform the same, if not better this year. Worryingly though he has come off injured in 2 out of my 4 friendlies. Luckily nothing more than a slight knock on both occasions.

Mikhail Gornak - Another new signing. Brought in to play as a poacher. Im not sure myself on this player. But i needed a ST desperately and he was the best of a bad bunch. All the better players wanted 500 p/w salary and the max i could afford was 300 p/w. He has had an interesting pre-season with 2 goals and 1 red card.

Pavel Beganskiy - My top goal scorer last season with 11 goals and a surprise performer. I would like more of the same this season from him. Last season he was my captain, he is now the vice captain.

Squad & Squad Depth

We have alot more choice of players this season. So we should be able to field a full squad come match days now.

Tactics

Again another basic 4-4-2. I did consider going for a 4-4-2 diamond. But after experimenting i just didnt have the players capable of playing it.

Seasons Aims

After such a good season last year and finishing very close to 2nd position. Im going for a top 2 finish this season. There is some big clubs in the league, with squads miles ahead of mine in quality. But if last season is anything to go by i will be in with a chance. Squad wise, i hope to strengthen on the RW and the ST positions come the transfer window. But im not holding out much hope, considering my exploits in the previous windows.

I think a Top Two finish is very possible considering how well you did last year - and the quality of your squd has only improved despite not getting the striker you wanted.

It's not too hard to get improve to that level.

Well its not really going to plan!

That's not gone well.

That's not gone well.

Yeah i cant undertsand why. I havent changed my tactics from last season. Im only playing 2 or 3 new players in the team. Morale was reasonably good before is started losing. In the last game i was leading 1-0 until the 88th min. Some slack defending by the 'fans player of the year' gave them a one on one and the AI player tucked it away with ease.

I have managed to get my 1st win of the season. A 1-0 win at home to a team who were mid-table. A change of formation and tactics might have helped. I had little choice on changing my tactics away from my normal 4-4-2 to 4-4-1-1. As my only other decent striker was to unfit to play.

Im playing bottom of the league next, away from home. So im going to try the same formation in that game and see how it goes.

Good luck with that!

Even though i won my last 2 games it looks like my job is under threat. I'd be a little shocked if they sacked me this early into the season though.

Partizan Minsk are 3rd in the league and tipped to come 1st by the media. Miracles can happen.

The game ended up 2-2. So im safe for another few weeks. The game didnt start well with Partizan scoring in the 2nd min. We seemed to settle after that. First making 1-1 then 2-1. Both our goals coming from from indirect freekicks out wide. After we scored the 2nd i think i might have gone to defensive. As Partizan pretty much scored with their next attack.

Considering they are first in the league, its a good result you pulled off

A little update on how many season is going. After being on the brink of being sacked on 2 separate occasions. I have turned the season around. Winning my last 5 games out 6. Im now sitting 10th in the table. Only 9 points off 2nd and 12 off 1st, with 11 games left of the season.

My contract is up for renewal very soon. Im still unsure on what to do. Weather to sign a new contract and stay or decline the contract offer and move onto new pastures. In one way i want to try and get in the top 2 with Vedrich. Which i thought would be possible this season. But in the other way. I just cant compete with most the teams in the league. With the transfer money spent, players wages and quality of players. Also with a no foreigner rule in the 2nd division its very hard to find good Belarusian players as they are snapped up by the bigger teams. I have another couple of months before the end of the season, before i have to make a final decision on my future at Vedrich.

See how close you get.

See how close you get.

Going by last result, not very! The curse of posting on here saying how well i was doing. Ive just gone and lost 3-0 at home to a team i should be beating. Plus have my main striker sent off!

End of Season 12th November 2012

Belarus 2nd Division

End of Season

12th Nov 2012

End of Season Review

This is only going to be a quick review as i have decided to hand in my resignation. After getting no where near to my 'start of the season aims.' Which where to finish 1st or 2nd. After finishing my 1st season with Vedrich in 4th position, i thought this was certainly achievable. This season though i finished 13th and i deserved to finish 13th. We played badly for most of the season. We had one patch where we went on a 5 game winning streak but that was it. The thing is, i should have achieved some where near my aim. As i lost no players close season or through the season. If anything i strengthened my squad. Certainly not as much as i would have liked, but i didnt weaken it.

As i said a few posts before. Clubs in the league can afford to offer higher wages than me. The max i could offer was between 200 or 250 p/w. Where as most other clubs could pay double that. Also transfer funds. For 2 seasons i have had very little to work with. I think the most i had at one point was 5k. But to buy anyone decent it seemed like you had to pay nearer the 50k mark. So i can see the same thing happening next season with the same budgets in place. While teams around me are strengthening their squads, im stuck with the same players and few half decent buys, who i normally wouldnt consider buying. Ok thats enough of my moaning. Lets have have a look at some pictures.

End of Season Table

Squad

Fixtures/Results Part 1

Fixtures/Results Part 2

Key Player

One of my 4 new signings at the start the season. He started off very slow, constantly putting in bad performances. So i dropped him. Later on in the season after a couple of injuries to other RM he got his place back and never looked back. He got 10 goals from RM which is equal to my main striker!

So i have resigned from the Vedrich Rechista after 2 seasons in charge. I have enjoyed my time in Belarus, all be it a little frustrating. I would certainly manage here again given the chance.

End of Season 12th November 2012

Belarus 2nd Division

End of Season

12th Nov 2012

End of Season Review

This is only going to be a quick review as i have decided to hand in my resignation. After getting no where near to my 'start of the season aims.' Which where to finish 1st or 2nd. After finishing my 1st season with Vedrich in 4th position, i thought this was certainly achievable. This season though i finished 13th and i deserved to finish 13th. We played badly for most of the season. We had one patch where we went on a 5 game winning streak but that was it. The thing is, i should have achieved some where near my aim. As i lost no players close season or through the season. If anything i strengthened my squad. Certainly not as much as i would have liked, but i didnt weaken it.

As i said a few posts before. Clubs in the league can afford to offer higher wages than me. The max i could offer was between 200 or 250 p/w. Where as most other clubs could pay double that. Also transfer funds. For 2 seasons i have had very little to work with. I think the most i had at one point was 5k. But to buy anyone decent it seemed like you had to pay nearer the 50k mark. So i can see the same thing happening next season with the same budgets in place. While teams around me are strengthening their squads, im stuck with the same players and few half decent buys, who i normally wouldnt consider buying. Ok thats enough of my moaning. Lets have have a look at some pictures.

End of Season Table

Squad

Fixtures/Results Part 1

Fixtures/Results Part 2

Key Player

One of my 4 new signings at the start the season. He started off very slow, constantly putting in bad performances. So i dropped him to the bench. Later on in the season after a couple of injuries to my other RM's he got his place back and never looked back. He scored 10 goals from RM which is equal to my main striker!

So i have resigned from the Vedrich Rechista after 2 seasons in charge. I have enjoyed my time in Belarus, all be it a little frustrating. I would certainly manage here again given the chance.

1st job offer i received

I have declined it though. As it seems a bit of a step down, especially the wage. I was getting 775 p/w at Vedrich. Maybe thats all im worth now.

That didn't go well then.

Interesting start to your career, shame you couldn't repeat your first season success.

That didn't go well then.

No it didnt. Hopefully my next job will go slightly better

Interesting start to your career, shame you couldn't repeat your first season success.

Thankyou. Yeah i thought in my 2nd season i would be pushing for promotion after how well i did in the 1st.

After turning down Farsta offer i had to wait 8 months for another offer and then 3 came all at once. All from Bulgarian 2nd division clubs.

I have decided to accept the Kostinbrod offer as they are offering the highest wage. The same as what i was on at Vedrich.

Good luck in Bulgaria and hope you're successful there.

At least you have a blank slate.

Good luck in Bulgaria and hope you're successful there.

Thankyou

At least you have a blank slate.

Yes exactly.

An update should be coming later on today. I have been busy at work the past week, hence no updates.

Start of Season 16th of August 2013

OFK Kostinbrod

Bulgarian 2nd Division

Start of Season 16th of August 2013

History

I couldnt find anything on the internet about Kostinbrod. So all the history is coming from the game. Kostinbrod have never played above the 2nd divison (Zapanda B) of Bulgaria. They were relegated from the 2nd division in the 2007/8 season and only returned to the Zapanda B this season.

General Information

Facilities

The chairman offered me:

Transfer Budget 6,750

Wage Budget 9,25 p/w

Current Wages N/A (Everyone is on an amateur contract)

Offered a one year contract at 775 p/w

Chairman wants -Avoid relegation

Media prediction – 9^th (2^nd to bottom)

Division Rules

The Bulgarian 2nd division has a couple of 'different' rules

- League teams play each other 3 times over a season. There are 10 teams in the league including my team.

- There is a wage cap. The wage budget is limited to 60% of a clubs turnover. This could make things very interesting.

- Only 1 non EU player in the playing squad. Looking at the other teams, most have Brazilians as their non EU player

Squad

My 1st impressions of the squad when i took over was that it was very poor. Everyone was on an amateur contract. The only player with any real quality was my G/K. Who is the only player i offered a full time contract to. Looking at the other teams in the league, its going to be a challenge.

I went about signing a whole new team and made 15 transfers, all free transfers. I released 4 players. Im sure there will be more to follow before the end of the transfer window.

Transfers

Starting Squad

Squad Depth

Im happy with the amount of players i have now. I could do with one extra striker though i think. As i only have 2. One is Penev, who was one of my signings and the other is Panayotov who is one of the original players.

Key Players

Anderson Carvalho - My best player at the club and my only allowed non EU player. I plan to play him as a deep lying playmaker as he seems to have the ideal stats for it, well aprt from his stregth.

Kaloyan Kutsarov DM/M(centre) - My anchor man. I managed to fight off a host of other clubs for this player. So hopefully he will be worth the extra i paid on his wages.

Iliyan Yordanov AM(left) AM© - He will be my left or right sided inside forward. Attributes wise, he is very good compared to the rest my team. Although his determination, teamwork and workrate are all little low.

Best young player/prospect

Plamen Penev - A decent striker was by far the hardest position to find when i was seaching for players. In the end i went for youth over experince. Im hoping he can live up to my exceptions and play 1st team football. He seems to to have the ideal attributes for the poacher role and as i said earlier i would like another striker as back up.

Finances

My finances seem to be in good shape at the min and i still have half my wage budget left to spend.

Finances

Tactics

I have moved away from my normal standard tactics with Kostinbrod. 4-2-3-1 at home and 4-3-3 away home. Whether these work or not, we will see.

Home Tactics

Away Tactics

Seasons Aims

My aims this season are to avoid relegation and build a team for next season. Both of these should be achievable as i think my squad is better than the other relegation candidates and as i said earlier, i still have half my wage budget (6.7k) available. So i should be able to bring in a few more players.

good luck with your time at Kostinbrod.

Interesting start. Failed in Belarus and off to Bulgaria.