Moneyballing around the world

"There are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there's 50 feet of crap. And then there's us." -- Brad Pitt as Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane

I'll make this part brief, as the track record of my previous FM 12 saves isn't good, so this one may go nowhere like the others.

As in the previous attempts, the idea is to use the add/remove leagues function. So to start, I'm loading only the leagues with a top division rated 2-1/2 stars or less at the start. So no English, Italian, Dutch, etc. systems. But we do get all of the Asian and African leagues, South America bar the big 2, all of the Nordic nations, and most of Eastern Europe (except Ukraine and Russia).

My first job was with Bulgarian side Akademik Sofia on a 2-year contract. The bookies had them going off at evens, the media were predicting 4th. Unfortunately the players had no respect for their American Sunday League manager and we were quickly sucked into the relegation fight thanks to a leaky backline and toothless attack. We briefly dipped into the relegation zone, but began turning our fortunes around after the winter break when I switched to a 4-3-3 formation. We looked much better, scoring in our final 10 games en route to a 6-1-3 run. Unfortunately we couldn't make up ground on the teams ahead of us and finished 7th out of 10 teams. The board decided they'd seen enough and sacked me the day after our season ended.

I wasn't out of work long though, and my job applications were met with offers from newly promoted sides DEAC in Hungary and Brantwood in Northern Ireland. I opted for the DEAC job, mainly because they came in first and offered a great deal more money ($1300/week as opposed to $300/week)

DEAC have no staff, and all their players are currently on part-time deals (the club have gone professional upon their promotion into Division II). The team is definitely not good enough to stay out of the bottom 3, IMO, and I've turned to the shortlist I assembled in my time at Akademik (it's heavily loaded with Serbian players, though)...

League

Season	Club		Nation	League			GP	W	D	L	PTS	FINISH	ATTENDANCE	CONTRACT
2011-12	Akademik Sofia	BUL	Western "B"		27	10	5	12	35	7th	326		$1,400/week (Sacked end of season)
2012-13	DEAC		HUN	Division II - West	25	4	5	16	17	15th	443		$1,300/week (Resigned, 5 May)
2014	NS Betaria	MAS	Premier League

Cups

Season	Club		Nation	Cup		Result
2011-12	Akademik Sofia	BUL	Bulgarian Cup	2nd round
2012-13	DEAC		HUN	Hungarian Cup	4th round
2013	NS Betaria	MAS	Malaysia Cup	Group stage

International competition

Season	Club		Nation	Competition	Result

Good luck with DEAC mate

Good luck in Hungary

Hahah, I was reading Moneyball and Soccernomics today and then this thread pops up.

Good luck in Bulgaria Jason, although I guess this rules out you managing in MLS already.. (bugs if you don't load it from the start)

Good luck in Bulgaria Jason, although I guess this rules out you managing in MLS already.. (bugs if you don't load it from the start)

You need to read closer.

I got sacked after 1 year in Bulgaria. Now in Hungary.

EDIT: I already have MLS loaded, as it's a 2-1/2 star league. So hopefully it won't present problems down the road.

Good luck in Hungary

You need to read closer.

I got sacked after 1 year in Bulgaria. Now in Hungary.

EDIT: I already have MLS loaded, as it's a 2-1/2 star league. So hopefully it won't present problems down the road.

Erm good luck in Hungary. Hope you stay there for over a year at least!

I always think MLS is a 3 star league, dunno why...

DEAC 2012-13 Season Preview - Hungarian Division II West

Media prediction: 13th

Board expectations: Stay clear of relegation/Reach Hungarian Cup Third Round

Been a busy pre-season as I get a squad together to begin life in Division II. There have been no more cash deals since the ones I posted above, but a number of free transfers and the loan of 2 strikers from Nyiregyhaza (including one who was loaned to DEAC last season) means I have full-time players everywhere except for left midfield and one of the two center backs (that dude is also our captain. At least, until I don't renew his contract). The 2 strikers also mean I meet the league requirement of 2 U21 players in the match squad (they'll be starting since they're better than our part-time forwards).

I've also managed to put together a pretty solid backroom staff. Apparently there are some good Hungarian coaches floating around unattached, because I really couldn't believe my luck with some of the job applicants. (it's not that they have all "20" ratings, but at least they're not binary like most of the applicants I've received at other clubs).

My ass man is upset that I've only got us training under a 4-4-2 now, but with us pulling in players from all over I just want a simple formation until the boys reach a level of understanding.

The cup draw was a bit kind, with us entering in the 2nd round and being drawn away to lower league part-timers Velence. Of course, with this really being our first match of any sort with all the current players, it has the potential to be tricky. The league starts 3 days after that.

EDIT: We sold 192 season tickets, up from 96 last season and in a lower division.

Couple of managerial appointments of interest:

Mjallby hire Henrik Larsson

Central Coast hire David Trezeguet

Start as you mean to go on Jason.

Good luck with Hungary!

I've just handed a trial to a Hungarian midfielder named ... Attila Fritz.

Is Belgium loaded? (I don't know if its lower or higher then 2.5 stars)

No. (Top league is rated at 3 stars, IIRC)

I don't like updating game-by-game or month-by-month, but because I almost never get cup wins over teams even in the same division, let alone one from a higher division...

Hungarian Cup 3rd round, DEAC (12th, Division II - West) vs. Siofok (4th, Division I)

I was set up in a 4-1-4-1, with defensive mentality, rigid, less expressive. All I wanted was to keep the score down...

[video=youtube_share;iEM8UyOZYcs]

DEAC - Hungarian Division II - West. Mid-season

So we've hit the 3-month-long winter break in Hungary, and it looks like we've got some work to do. We're just inside the relegation zone (for some reason FM isn't shading that last spot, but we're in there). The GF and GD don't look bad, but it looks better than it is due to a 6-1 demolition of bottom side Gazmovek. We especially have a problem dropping points in the last 10 minutes of game.

I'm hopeful that things will be fixed with the return of our central defender Peter Mate. The former Hungarian U21 player has 3 goals for us, as his jumping/heading ability makes him a force on corners. He went out for 8 weeks with strained knee ligaments and we were a lot leakier without him in the side.

Our main problem is we don't have much in the way of depth, so any injuries really take a toll on us. It means I have to throw in one of the part-timers that are still on the books. Hopefully our attack will also improve with the signing of a Uruguayan forward (he received 1 cap from the Uruguay U21 side) who scored on his debut off the bench.

I'm also (again) having problems with player power. Most of the full-timers were signed with "key player" roles, and I've been dropping them to "first team player" at the recommendation of my ass man. They're not happy with such demotions and have not been shy about letting me know.

We're also burning through cash like the K Foundation, even though I'm still well under the wage budget. I'll probably see if I can't use the winter transfer window to sell a bunch of the part-timers, and find some upgrades at the fullback spots. My center backs are good enough, but I think there's still a language issue between them and my Serbian goalkeeper. The ass man isn't impressed with our fullbacks though: they're only rated about 2, 2-1/2 stars.

At least you won't finish bottom!

It boggles my mind how you ended up West of all things, as Debrecen is really far on the East. Getting to Mosonmagyaróvár is an east-west trip all across the country!

By the way, there are two DEACs at the moment. One is yours - the semi-pro university club - and the other is DVSC-DEAC, which is the reserves of Debrecen.

The "mighty Siófok" cracked me up, if there ever has been a small regular top-flight team, it's them Good luck managing in Hungary!

It boggles my mind how you ended up West of all things, as Debrecen is really far on the East.

I noticed that, too.

The "mighty Siófok" cracked me up, if there ever has been a small regular top-flight team, it's them

Is it like saying "mighty Fulham"?

I noticed that, too.

Is it like saying "mighty Fulham"?

And no one's really said that before.

DEAC - Winter break update

Been a very interesting winter break, especially in the transfer market.

Just before the window opened, we sold part-time goalkeeper Zoltan Herczeg to bottom side Gazmuvek for $325. Alas, he was the only departure as none of my other part-timers brought any interest.

We then moved to sure up our midfield Laszlo Vass, and brought in goalkeeper Balasz Pinter on loan from Ferencvaros II. I felt I needed a better backup, with the idea that maybe Pinter could step into the No. 1 slot to ease our communication troubles at the back.

With the idea of tightening our defense, I devised a 5-3-2 (more of a 3-2-3-2 given its use of wingbacks) and tested it in friendlies against lower-league opposition (winning 3-0 and drawing 0-0). And that led to a staggering signing for a club of our profile....

Yes, I was offered a 19-year-old Venezuelan international just a few days before the window slammed shut (tm, Sky Sports). His contract had expired, and his agent was looking for a new club for him. I arranged a trial to get a better look at him, and he joined us a few days later after a World Cup qualifier. I liked what I saw (certainly a lot better than the prospect of shoe-horning one of my left backs into a WBL role) and signed him up. It required several clauses to make it work, but he could be a very exciting player for us.

Unfortunately, this puts me at 4 non-EU players, and I can only have 3 in the match-day squad. I expect this means one of the two Serbs will have to sit. I'm leaning toward Novakovic, but he looked very good in a deep-lying playmaker role at the heart of our 3-man central midfield. May have to just throw Pinter in at the deep end and sit Todorovic (26 goals conceded in 15 league matches, 6.55 rating; 12 mistakes with 1 leading to a goal; 2 clean sheets in 18 total appearances)

Looks like an excellent coup.

Is it like saying "mighty Fulham"?

I wouldn't say no-one, they once made the Europa League final!

Mighty Siófok is more like mighty Wigan Since the 80s they spent quite a decent amount of seasons in the top flight, had some excellent seasons, too and won the cup as a second-tier team back in the mid 80s. Once the team I support (another small one, BVSC - not having a senior team atm ) met them and the ultras got into some kind of a fight - well, the 9 on 'our' part successfully made the away fans run. All seven of them!

DEAC - Hungarian Division II West - 2012-13 review

When it goes wrong, it really goes wrong.

Bolstered by our signings in the winter window, I expected us to kick on and push our way out of the relegation zone. We did no such thing.

Long story short: We couldn't score in a brothel (unless Gazmovek were one of the ladies of the night. But everyone in the league scored on them. They finished with a mark of 1-1-28, 12 GF, 97 GA), and my defenders suddenly played like they'd never even seen a football before. Yet again I had reports of the players being "unable to motivate themselves to play for a manager of your low reputation."

By the time I'd had enough and walked out (having earlier delayed an inexplicable offer of a contract extension) with 5 matches remaining in the season (4 of them against teams in the top-7), we had picked up the grand total of 4 points out of 30 in the second half of the season, were mired in a losing streak of 4 games and a winless run of 7 (in which we didn't score in 6 of them). And the fellow who took the job after me didn't do any better: He lost all 5 matches to end the season. Final mark for DEAC: 4-5-21, 28 GF (13th in the league), 55 GA (15th in the league)...although that goal difference really blew out after I left. I had 25 GF, 40 GA.

(technically, I wasn't the one who got them relegated. That happened when the new boss lost his first match)

It took a couple of months to land a new gig. Malaysian sides Fulda Utd and ATM, Hong Kong side Kam Fung, and Uruguay side Atletico Torque really didn't acknowledge my applications. Danish side Koge laughed at me. South African side Highlands Park thought I might be the man, but opted for someone else.

In the end, I am heading for Asia though, agreeing a 1-year deal with NS Betaria. The semi-pro club plays in the Malaysian Premier League, having been relegated from the Super League a year previously. It's a slight pay cut, but still $1200/week, and there is a little room to maneuver in the wage budget.

I will join the club with only a couple of days before they begin play in the Malaysia Cup. With Super League sides in our group, I don't expect us to get one of the tickets to the quarterfinals. But, it'll give me 10 games to look over the players (although some are already out the door on pending transfers)

And for those interested in this sort of thing, Belgium will host Euro '20, beating out Turkey for the honor.

USA beat Mexico 4-3 in the 2013 Gold Cup final, in which Klinsmann was coming under heavy fire for less-than-impressive performances against some of the weaker teams.

Another 'Belgium 2020'? Interesting.

Turkey got beaten by France IRL for Euro 2016 as well, not exactly UEFA's favourites

One win, that's impressively abysmal! Better luck in Malaysia!

Good luck in Malaysia - its like everyone's save is programmed to have Belgium host the Euro 2020!

NS Betaria FC - Malaysian Cup 2013

The Malaysian Cup is pretty much just a money-spinning tournament at the end of the season, featuring all the Super League teams and a handful of Premier League teams. With 4 Super League teams in our group, we were pretty much on a hiding to nothing. We avoided the Group C wooden spoon only on goal difference (ahead of our fellow Premier League side Johor MPM). There was a little bit of joy though, as we stunned Super League side Negeri Sembilan with a smash-and-grab 0-1 win. We nearly shocked another Super League side, Perlis, until we ran out of gas at the end of the match (they're a professional side, we're semi-pro) and conceded an equalizer in the 72nd minute, and the match-winning penalty just the match went to stoppage time.

Since the board just wanted us to "learn from the experience," I used it mostly to look over the playing squad. And we have a lot of work ahead of us. That said, we looked much more assured when I switched us into a "very rigid" philosophy. It looks like we may have to play anti-football next season.

League

Season	Club		Nation	League			GP	W	D	L	PTS	FINISH	ATTENDANCE	CONTRACT
2011-12	Akademik Sofia	BUL	Western "B"		27	10	5	12	35	7th	326		$1,400/week (Sacked end of season)
2012-13	DEAC		HUN	Division II - West	25	4	5	16	17	15th	443		$1,300/week (Resigned, 5 May)
2014	NS Betaria	MAS	Premier League

Cups

Season	Club		Nation	Cup		Result
2011-12	Akademik Sofia	BUL	Bulgarian Cup	2nd round
2012-13	DEAC		HUN	Hungarian Cup	4th round
2013	NS Betaria	MAS	Malaysia Cup	Group stage

International competition

Season	Club		Nation	Competition	Result

Uh-oh....