Rikulec

Thanks for the kind words, glad you've enjoyed my updates. We do have some good players indeed, although in general many coaches (and Polish people in general) have a very peculiar way of thinking and speaking about football. They tend to largely focus on defensive play and generally ignore many trends that can be observed in the biggest European leagues. Maybe my own way is a little bit skewed because of the way I gained my knowledge, but I just can't relate to the typical Polish perception of the game.

Thanks for sharing your experience @cruise_control, was a great read. Best of luck in your coaching career! I've also been coaching for almost seven years now, and the journey also started with FM - or CM, to be precise. A gaming magazine in Poland came with a full version of CM 4 in 2006, and I got hooked straight away. My knowledge of English helped me a lot, especially in later years when I found these forums and started to read about tactics, expanding my knowledge in areas that not many people in Poland really explore. We're unfortunately a very backwards country in terms of our approach to football, luckily FM pointed the way for me and inspired me to pursue a coaching career and try to do things my own way. I've got the UEFA A licence now, I work as an assistant coach in a semi-pro senior team and if all goes well, I might be able to go fully pro and move abroad in a couple of months. It's been a fantastic and rewarding journey so far, I can't imagine doing anything else for a living!

What a season, over 100 goals scored in the league as well. Congratulations.

That's still lower than what I'd expect Lechia to have with the sort of results you're achieving. Given the potential of the city alone, I'd say you should already be averaging something between 25-30k for regular league games and sell out for the big ones and obviously Europe.

Brownlie looks like a proper generational talent.

Well done getting to the promised land!

Making good progress there, both in terms of results on the pitch and the quality of your intakes.

Alright, confession time. If you remember my previous FM24 save, you'll also remember how it started with the Latvia U19 national team and how fresh that felt to me, and then the whole journey that followed, involving climbing through the ranks of Latvian football and then other European nations as well. I really enjoyed that, it was pretty much the first time I managed to have such an unrestricted journeyman save work so well for me. You may also remember that the success was largely based on a variant of 4-3-3 I came up with that seems to be almost an exploit in the current match engine. Nevertheless, I went with is as it was something I had legitimately put together myself without any external help, copying known exploits, etc. Now, you may have already noticed that this save has been going down a very similar path, starting with managing a youth team and using the same tactic. Since the beginning I've been open about my intentions of trying to regain that enjoyment I felt in the initial stages of my previous save. Well, now it's time to admit that it simply doesn't work for me. It feels more like doing the same thing over again, more of a chore rather than something to genuinely enjoy. It has unfortunately missed the point. It also doesn't feel right to suddenly change course and restrict myself from using this tactical approach or whatever, especially having already played through a few seasons. At this point I hardly have any motivation to carry on with this save at all, even if it's in a part of the world that's really interesting to me, both in terms of football and culture. I simply can't replicate the feeling I've tried to go for. I have a couple of ideas for different saves that could potentially reignite that spark in me, both based on tactical ideas, challenges, and explorations that would be something largely different from what I've done so far. It's quite likely that I'm going to create another thread in a few days or so. In the meantime, thank you all for following and commenting on this one. Take care, and see you soon!

Erkki Karpela's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2026 - Pärnu JK Vaprus Friendlies Close to perfection. We also beat teams from Latvia and Finland. Transfers Three players were signed by the previous manager. Raimond Mets - a fairly decent backup for the left back slot. Andri Rõõmus - not a player I would have signed. Aleksandr Alteberg - same as above. Giovani Yapi - a good creative player to improve our midfield, although his lack of pace might be a bit problematic. Moreover, Mathias Villota has been promoted from the U21 side.

Maybe you're right, but I don't think I'm a Youtube kind of person. That kind of stuff requires a bit too much time and effort, especially combined with all the stuff related to my work. Good shout though, maybe at some point in the future, who knows?

I've already posted this in my current career thread, but I know there are some people who are not following it at the moment but are nevertheless going to be interested to hear that, so here goes. In May I'm going to Tallinn for a six-day study visit at FCI Levadia. I'll be observing the training process and games of both the first team and the academy. My mentor is going to be the academy's head of methodology and I'll be meeting him daily for various presentations and discussions as well. It's still up in the air whether I'll be going alone or as part of a group, although I'd very much prefer the former as it would give me much bigger access, potentially even including the opportunity to get actively involved in some training sessions. With the end of the season approaching, it may not be a bad idea to expand my network! Happy Easter, FMCU!

Happy Easter everyone! I'm currently at home to spend some time with my family, so it's going to take a couple of days before I properly dive into my new club. In the meantime, I have some exciting news for you that's very much related to this thread. In May I'm going to Tallinn for a six-day study visit at FCI Levadia. I'll be observing the training process and games of both the first team and the academy. My mentor is going to be the academy's head of methodology and I'll be meeting him daily for various presentations and discussions as well. It's still up in the air whether I'll be going alone or as part of a group, although I'd very much prefer the former as it would give me much bigger access, potentially even including the opportunity to get actively involved in some training sessions. With the end of the season approaching, it may not be a bad idea to expand my network!

Szczepankiewicz looks decent already with a nice attribute spread, he could develop into a quality player.

Thank you!

They didn't wait very long to make the offer. I got my wage up to £250 p/w, here we go! Erkki Karpela's Management Career - New Club - Pärnu JK Vaprus A change of club means that Erkki Karpela has to quit his job as a PE teacher and relocate from Tallinn to Pärnu to become a full time football manager. Club Name: Pärnu JK Vaprus Nickname: - Year Founded: 1922 Status: Professional Stadium: Pärnu Raanastaadion (2,501 capacity, 1,501 seated) The squad is large, larger than it needs to be really. A little bit of trimming here and there should help the club's finances as well. Our best players at the moment appear to be Gaudentas Ralys, Magnus Villota, and Kristjan Kask. Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of board expectations. Given the quality of the team, we should be able to avoid relegation without getting too involved in the battle, I believe.