vikeologist

Nation with 2 cups advice still stands then. However, there are 2 usual / easiest ways to start this challenge. A) start in China / S Africa and finish in Europe B) Start in English lower leagues (or i guess any of the Big 5 lower leagues you can get a job in, but for some reason the other 4 tend to be quite tough), shoot up the english league as soon as poss, (probably changing jobs a couple of times), do Europe then the rest of the world. Which is the best approach kind of depends how good you are. But people have started elsewhere recently like Hungary or S America, (I think partly to do something different)

What are you after; progressing in the challenge quickly, or an interesting challenge? (As a preliminary piece of advice, if you're going to start outside the Big European 5, choose a nation with 2 domestic cups, since people usually fall behind on the cups).

I would encourage people to offer advice. Really, there's no limit to the things people can discuss on here. Let's share our anguish.

Not sure what your question means. Obviously there's a section for discussing tactics. It's not that you can't discuss it elsewhere. It's just that the most knowledgeable people are to be found there. Of course they know they're the most knowledgeable, and occasionally they're the most knowledgeable but also maybe wrong, which can lead to spikiness. They obviously do have an etiquette, but i personally don't know what it is. If someone tells you that you're wrong, don't get into an argument. Anyway, on this particular thread, I don't think there's any particular etiquette. I don't personally give infinite advice on which nation to start in, which jobs to take etc. I'm sure I do that quite a lot, but I sort of want people to forge their own path. But everybody else is welcome to discuss tactics and advice as much as they like.

Vikeologist's 2027/8 Canterbury Tales It was an awful season, apart from reaching the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round. (So, nothing to add to the leader board). I couldn’t get any decent players to join us, and believe me I tried. We were mid-table all season until a late spurt gave us a slim chance. We stood a chance of reaching the playoffs in our final match, but that would have involved beating the league champions away from home and about 4 teams above us losing or drawing. Anyway we lost and finished 5 points and 5 places outside the playoffs. There was nobody worth signing in the youth intake. We’re in debt and we’re going to have to expand the stadium to abide by league rules. If I can’t improve the team this is going to be difficult. Our future is not great. Top Goalscorer - Dennis Bossman – 13 13 goals in 45 matches. He’s supposed to be by far our best striker, but I’m going to export the stats and look at whether that’s really true at the start of next season. Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Lewis Hooper – 7.23 The only player above 7. Man of The Match - Lewis Hooper - 9 Most Valuable Player - Lewis Hooper Season Division Position Notes 23/24 Southern Counties East League Division 1 1st Won league on last day of season 24/25 Southern Counties East League Premier Division 1st League / County Cup double 25/26 Isthmian League South East Division 1st Won league on last day of season 26/27 Isthmian League Premier Division 6th League Cup Losing Finalists 27/28 Isthmian League Premier Division 10th Awful season Southern Counties East League Division 1 15 Southern Counties East League Premier Division 20 Southern Counties East League Cup 10 Isthmian League South East Division 30 Total 75

Welcome to the illustrious 3-timer's club, and congrats on being the first to complete on FM24.

Vikeologist's Víkingur 2032 Season Report Lots of 5 star potentials in my intake, and a few that I will consider starting next season, but as I can’t register them straight away, next season seems a long way away. I’m conscious that this might upset people, but I’m finding it hard to get into the save because of the long Icelandic names. I know that they only seem long because they have ‘son’ on the end of every one, but their names just feel long and similar. I’ve had to give a few of them short nicknames because I kept mixing them up. It also doesn’t help that even though I’m quite strict about which youth candidates I sign, with this lot of candidates on trial, I currently have 74 players on the books. I suppose our first season in the top division went well. We finished 5th, one place outside European qualifying. We lost a surprising amount of money though, so not qualifying for Europe is unsustainable. Squad Season Division Position Notes 2024 1 4th Icelandic Cup Q/F, Playoffs S/F. 2025 1 10th Survived on last day of the season. 2026 1 4th League Cup losing finalists. Playoffs S/F 2027 1 4th Playoff S/F 2028 1 5th Icelandic Cup. Qualified for Europa Conference. Lost in playoff final. 2029 1 5th Lost in playoff final. 2030 1 5th Lost in playoff S/F. 2031 1 1st League Cup, Icelandic Cup R/U, League champs and promoted. 2032 P 5th One place outside Euro qualification. At the moment the only changes for next year will be 3 of my intake for this year making it on to the bench. However I might start them for the league cup campaign, and sometimes once I blood the youngsters they never relinquish their place. Top Goalscorer – Vilhjálmur Gestsson 30a – 16 My lone striker. Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Kristófer Máni Atlason – 7.24 Atlason was my striker until Gestsson emerged. Now he’s almost entire a sub or fill-in, in either attacking midfield or attack. Man of The Match – Vilhjálmur Gestsson 30a – 4 Most Valuable Player– Konráð Freyr Eiríksson 29a 19 year old central defender.

I've been there, believe me. Which trophies do you have left?

Vikeologist's Víkingur 2031 (very long, I'm sorry) Season Report I decided that the League Cup (which all happens before the regular season) didn’t matter much, and we were unlikely to reach the final again soon, so I put together a young team with potential to blood them, before maybe using the mediocre veteran players in the regular season. Reader, we won the cup. I stuck with the kids throughout the cup campaign, even though it meant leaving a couple of indisputably better players on the bench. So, now I had to stick with this lineup in the regular season, which is good news. I mean, them doing well is the best scenario. Winning the cup did nothing for us financially by the way. Dominating the league, we also reached the final of the Icelandic Cup, and the prospect of all that lovely continental money was within reach, but we lost in the final. The cup run meant that our schedule was crazy and our players exhausted. We lost 3 out of 4 league matches around the loss in the cup final, and the teams behind us caught up. 2 matches to go, and we were 3 points ahead of KR, and that penultimate match was away to them. We scored a goal in the final minutes of the match, but with injury time expired they were awarded a penalty. Our goalie saved it. It went out for a corner, and from that corner one of their guys swung a leg at it and it went in for the equaliser to deny us the title. Gutting! That still meant that we were 3 points ahead for the last match, but now with 2 teams behind us, one of them with a better goal difference. Those 2 teams, KR and Leiknir, played each other. All we needed was a draw, and we were ahead twice in the match, but as went into stoppage time we were 3-2 down and the wrong team Leiknir was winning their match.We threw everything at it, and scored an equaliser in stoppage time. We held on for the draw and were champions.I simply cannot express how stressful and how much a torrent of emotions those last 2 matches were. I need therapy now. However one cup, two cup finals and a league win means that it was a quite a good season in the end. Squad The only envisaged change to my team next season is my latest top regen, 31a, maybe getting a space on the subs bench. The previous 5 years top prospects are now in the starting XI. A good right back would be nice. Top Goalscorer – Jón Árnason 27a – 23 I use a lone striker, and had a new starter this season. However, Jón Árnason 27a is not that striker. He’s my longstanding (well 4 seasons) attacking midfielder. My 17 year-old striker Vilhjálmur Gestsson 30a who came through a year ago did fine with 18 goals. Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Jón Árnason 27a – 7.48 Man of The Match – Jón Árnason 27a – 8 Most Valuable Player– Jón Árnason 27a Season Division Position Notes 2024 1 4th Icelandic Cup Q/F, Playoffs S/F. 2025 1 10th Survived on last day of the season. 2026 1 4th League Cup losing finalists. Playoffs S/F 2027 1 4th Playoff S/F 2028 1 5th Icelandic Cup. Qualified for Europa Conference. Lost in playoff final. 2029 1 5th Lost in playoff final. 2030 1 5th Lost in playoff S/F. 2031 1 1st league Cup, Icelandic Cup R/U, League champs and promoted. Update As our stadium doesn't meet premier league requirements, we have to build a new one, and temporarily relocate to another city. trouble is, we're on a peninsular, so It's probably not that far if you have a boat. No idea when we'll be able to build a new stadium. yet more news, the board have agreed to have an U10 team and improve junior Coaching even more.

Vikeologist's Víkingur 2031 Intake Reports Youth intake On the face of it, my worst intake, but it probably only appears that way because my team is getting stronger. However, now that my entire first XI consists of regens, it becomes ever harder for newbies to get opportunities. Atli Fannar Hafsteinsson 31a – Will be my backup right winger, (although with only 7 subs, that won’t guarantee him a place on the bench) and I needed one, but might be stuck behind my top prospect from 3 years ago for a while, or forever. Bad (Fickle) personality, but I put a lot of work into mentoring. Kristján Haraldsson 31b – A central defender, and I’m already pretty strong in that position, but will be useful if anybody leaves. YP26 Review Þorsteinn Kristjánsson 26a – was a very promising keeper, but there was a great goalie at the club at the start of the challenge. Kristjánsson finally took over as starter at the start of this season, even though the ‘veteran’ was still slightly better at that point. The question is whether he can still realise his potential. I forgot the most interesting thing about him. He's the best penalty taker in the squad, so might do well in the Big fat Goalie thing, but i won't be aiming for it, especially if disaster ensues from him taking a spot kick. Ólafur Karel Garðarsson 26b – He was a right winger. I needed a right winger, and he did start for two and a half seasons. Picked up good ratings, but didn’t seem to improve. Now he’s a forgotten man. He’s leaving at the end of the season. His personality has gone from Fairly Loyal to Jovial, (which when you examine it means that I probably improved his pressure attribute, but not much else). I don’t know whether the problem was his personality or just lack of actual potential. My 26c had the personality easily discouraged. Probably why he’s left football already. Guðmundur Haraldsson 26d – was my backup striker for ages, but never made much of his opportunities, and is 3rd on the depth chart now. Has developed, but won’t get many chances now. Gunnar Ellertsson 26e – A central midfielder, but I don’t use them. Have tried to turn him into a central defender, but that ship has sailed, so I’ve changed his training to defensive midfield. In summary, the intake probably wasn’t that great, (though opportunities played a big part).

Vikeologist's Víkingur 2030 Season Report We had an awful start to the season. We won the first match, then picked up one point in the next 6. Then we won 5 in a row, and were top. Then we drew too many matches and the end result was that we had to win our final match of the season to be sure of even the playoffs. 2-1 up and the team below us losing. Then we had a player issued a straight red and ended up losing 3-2. Luckily the team below us also lost, so we’d limped in. Then we lost the home leg of the playoff semifinal 4-0, and although we edged the second leg, our season was over. It’s the same old story. The weak positions in our team are killing us, and long-term injuries to our top players don’t help either. I do believe the team is getting better, but there are 2 positions (DM and MR) where we need better players. Top Goalscorer – Kristófer Máni Atlason – 16 Slightly better tally than last year’s 11, but I’m going to start my 30a striker in the League Cup. I think it’s time to move on. Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Kristófer 24b – 7.25 So about the DM and MR problem. The players with the best ratings were Kristófer 24b at MR and Jón Kristinn Þórhallsson who actually had a better rating (7.33) but only played 7 matches. When I exported the data at the end of last season, they came out top in those positions (by averaging the key attributes). They obtained the top ratings. What’s the problem? Well, my coaches rate them both as 2 stars with little extra potential. I guess, I trust the JCA/JPA ratings more than the data and average match ratings. It’s hard to keep playing them when there are other players with 5 star potential and better current ability; supposedly. (These screenshots below were from a year ago. They take a while, so not going to do the next set until immediately before the start of the next regular season). Man of The Match – Kristófer 24b - 7 Most Valuable Player– Hlynur Vilhjálmsson 25a Like I said in my 5 season review above, my best player. I am starting to get slightly grumpy at my inability to gain promotion. Season Division Position Notes 2024 1 4th Icelandic Cup Q/F, Playoffs S/F. 2025 1 10th Survived on last day of the season. 2026 1 4th League Cup losing finalists. Playoffs S/F 2027 1 4th Playoff S/F 2028 1 5th Icelandic Cup. Qualified for Europa Conference. Lost in playoff final. 2029 1 5th Lost in playoff final. 2030 1 5th Lost in playoff S/F.

Vikeologist's Víkingur 2030 Intake Reports Youth Intake Well, hello, Vilhjálmur Gestsson 30a! My starting striker is quite good, but doesn’t actually score enough. I don’t think that’s his fault, but Gestsson will definitely get a chance next season. Despite an unpromising preview, this looks a good intake. I hope that I can use the Model Citizen for mentoring eventually, although I suspect that he just won’t develop enough to have a big influence. 2025 Review Hlynur Vilhjálmsson 25a – A Central defender, and our star player. Has been a starter since I could register him. I thought he was going to run out his contract after 4 seasons, but I managed to get him to sign a new one which lasts another 2 years. Davíð Jakobsson 25b – He’s my other staring central defender. He’s good. Just not as good as Hylnur. Páll Gísli Víkingsson 25c – A midfielder who can play in either defensive or attacking roles, but has only ever appeared 3 times for us. A candidate to be released. Árni Þór Ingason 25d – A central midfielder who’s never played for us. Even more of a release candidate. Anton 25f – Left winger who’s started for the last 4 seasons. Not because he’s good, but because there’s nobody better. I mean, he’s fine, and has developed because of getting a lot of matches, but hopefully one year I’ll get a better prospect. Jón Svavarsson 25g – Soon became a key player in attacking midfield. Broke his leg this season, but will get his place back when healthy. A few other players who were released and are now with other clubs. 4 of my first team came from this intake, so it was pretty good, though it benefitted from being the second intake, after a disappointing first.

Gez takes us through the wringer. When he does complete the challenge, it will be the joint happiest I'll have ever been for someone else on this challenge.

I noticed this yesterday, but I don't know if it's the same problem.

I don't have an U19 team. We kind of share an U19 team with about 4 other clubs. Anyway, the board repeatedly approve improvements to Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching which are now both excellent, but refuse everything else, despite us now having a lot of money because of our short Europa Conf experience, meaning training facilities and Youth facilities is rock bottom. I'm not overly worried. I'd hope promotion if we ever achieve it, will solve some problems.