FM10 Small Club to Big Club Big Euro Nation Challenge

[Jack no Coke]

Thanks lads

Looks like it will be a struggle for me alright,I'm in pre-season at the moment so we'll soon find out.

Lecce have just made me an offer of 220K with a 25% of the next sell on fee for Varriale http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/660/varriale1.jpg

What do ye think ?

I'm around 30K in debt at the moment

[minisav]

Got any potential replacements lined up?

30k isn't that much in debt so if not I'd keep him and hope they go closer to the 500k mark personally.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

*laughs* 30k is nothing I currently sit at 437k in the red, I know that I can afford to keep losing money so long as I stay below wage budget and I keep up the steady progression up the leagues, I only buy in frees until I clear the debt in the top league and then we we will go for the top.

[minisav]

473k in the red?

Try 46m in the black

Update to be delayed. Going to watch CSI: New York with my parents. Will probably do it after that.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Haha that's about where I got Fafe too, at one point we were 900k in debt, Portugal has this serious problem with money and almost every club is losing money at a huge rate.

[Jack no Coke]

Yeah I no I'm not too bad with the money situation,437K now I feel alot better

I think I'll take your advice Minisav,If he plays well this season then he will be worth alot more next year.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Glad I could make you feel better Jack. The money is no issue so long as you keep moving upwards, I really think you only need to focus on it once you get to the top league, generally by which time you have some stars you can afford to sell to make it back pretty quickly.

[PaulHartman71]

FC Libourne-Saint-Seurin, 2020-21, Ligue 2

League Position - 1st: Past Positions

Squad

Transfers

Summary

The season started out very well, despite being 25-1 for promotion, for the first time in a few seasons there didn't seem to be the 2/3 'dominant' teams. Going into 2021 we were top of the table, however... At the end of January, we'd reached absolute crisis point, well I thought we had anyway! Despite having played 23 games and being 11 points clear of 2nd place, 13 of 4th, we were breaking down! We'd lost Svec (star RB), Fischetti ( a CB who left because he randomly started hating me), Nikolov (who was our best CB, basically lost 2 starting CB's) and Harguindeguy (our star LM)! Then I found out the chairman was looking to step aside! It was almost as if by achieving everything I'd wanted in the 11 years at the club, we would now literally, have to limp to the finish line. We still had our GK, our star MC's, our star striker, and the YP's Herbert and Joaquim! But the scouts and ass man couldn't find decent replacements at all, I was literally stuffed. The 6.5M I'd made that season, where the hell had it gone? Our bank balance was around 1M! Where did that 5.5M actually go? It's not like our wages were that high, they were higher last season and we only spent 8M on wages last season. So in half a year, how did we lose 5.5M? It was madness! To top it off, my Scout found 2 ML's that were worth bringing in on loan, and I was really excited, then realized it was the 1st of February. This was the table on the 1st of February. 13th March we got a new Chairman, originally a director. He said he wasn't investing anything, which was fair enough I suppose. However, less than a fortnight later he was allegedly looking to 'step aside'. He did leave about a week after that and a different director took over, who also didn't want to invest. Despite my initial worries, we did win the League. I was Ligue 2 manager of the year.

Onze de départ

GK: Matthieu Dreyer, 32, Français - He's probably not going to be good enough for Ligue 1, but he had a good season this year.

DR: Mladen Tsvetkov, 24, Bulgare - Signed for a fairly cheap price, he's not that great and wont make it in Ligue 1, but he was decent enough for this season.

DL: Alexandru Muscä, 23, Roumain - He's quite good and might be good enough for Ligue 1.

DC: Kevin Gomis, 32, Sénégalais - Once most of my DC's had left the club I didn't have a lot of options, so played this guy there.

DC: Adama Macalou, 18, Francais - He was a good solid loan signing, originally signed as rotation, he ended up being first team when players left.

MR: Jérôme Hebert, 19, Français - He had a good season, he got injured near the end of the season, but a solid season from the home grown hero.

ML: Zakaria Bathily, 24, Français - Another rotational player that found himself playing a lot more than expected. He did a decent job on the left.

MC: Sergio Marbus, 28, Néerlandais - The captain had a great season and was a crucial part of our title run, without him we wouldn't have been champions.

MC: Matthieu Causse, 24, Français - The midfield pair continued their fantastic partnership this season, Causse had a fantastic season, and was crucial in our title run.

ST: Vivaldy Joaquim, 26, Congolese - Another home grown talent, he had a good season, scoring 11 and assisting 6. He's also now a Congo player, which is nice for him.

ST: Geslin Schafer , 25, DR Congo - An absolutely crucial part of our season, top scorer, without him we wouldn't have been Champions as his goals won so many games.

-

Official Fans Player of the Year - Sergio Marbus

Unofficial Young Player of the Year - Jérôme Herbert

Career Overview

Season     League   Position   Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11  National    4th       None
2011/12  National    5th       None
2012/13  National    7th       None
2013/14  National    2nd       Promoted 
2014/15  Ligue 2    18th       Relegated
2015/16  National    3rd       Promotion
2016/17  Ligue 2    13th       None
2017/18  Ligue 2    12th       None
2018/19  Ligue 2     7th       None
2019/20  Ligue 2     6th       None
2020/21  Ligue 2     1st       Promoted as Champions




Trophies won:

Ligue 2 (x1) - 2020/21

P.S - Apparently due to 'comply with requirements' we have had to expand the stadium by 10,000 seats. This has cost us 12.7M.... and any hope of avoiding relegation.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Evora's Quick Mid-Season Review

Well the league has been rocking along pretty well, the media were predicting us for relegation once more, this time in 15th. Except bar a 2nd game loss we have not lost a single game so far this season in the league, we are slightly ahead of my target I set at the end of the last season as we have gone 7-7-1, we really need to do something about these draws as a lot of them are in games we should be winning. We currently are on a 16 game unbeaten streak including our three games in the cup. So at the midway point we are in 2nd and on for promotion, but if we want to grab it the team really need to wrap up some wins to confirm the slot early. The Player of the first half has to be Jose Manuel 20 games, 6 goals, 4 assists and 4 MoMs for a rating of 7.34.
Elia Motta - 1 (7) 4G 1A (7.10).

League Table

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Congrats on promotion there Paul, hopefully the Stadium purchase doesn't hold you back and you can manage to stay up anyway. It seems this forced increases has changed back into FM10 as a lot of people have had that problem, I would be trying to find as many frees as I possibly can and try to get them in prior to the season.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well we have made it to the Quarter-Finals of the Portuguese Cup after a 2:2 (7-6 on pens) victory over Leira and we will travel to face Sporting in the next round. I don't expect us to go any further, but we are unbeaten through 18 games have one more game before that match-up.

[daemonic]

Montevarchi are promoted at last

Congrats Jack...and as for the debt, I managed to take Montevarchi from 4m in the black to almost -2m in an attempt to stay in Serie A so a little debt is necessary sometimes. Good luck in Serie C1

[minisav]

Darmstadt - Minisav - German 1st Division - 2012/13



Table
Transfers 1
Transfers 2

Cup Final

Awesome season. Extremely pleased that we will have European football next season. Not even sure if we will do better than this next season. Or as well. Hopefully we can repeat it. Will be looking for some wingers as Pepper hasn't impressed so Merida will take AMC and I lost Filkor so RM is left open.

Season			League			Position			Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11		    Third Division		  1st			    Automatic Promotion
2011/12             Second Division               1st                       Automatic Promotion
2012/13             First Division                6th                       German Cup Winners

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Hang on 20M for coming 6th come on that's completely unfair, nothing like that in Portuguese Football haha. Well we are now at 19 games unbeaten heading into the Sporting game and 3pts clear at the top of the league (I've played 17 to their 16), its going to be close I have 34pts, behind me Santa Clara 31, Varzim 31, Fatima 30, & Freamunde 30. So for two promotion spots I really have to win 3 out of the four games against those opposition. Only Fatima have a better G.D and also more goals as they have scored 35 to my 33.

Edit: Well after they have played their games the table is now:

|-----------|--------|-----|-----|
| Team      | Record | G.D | Pts |
|-----------|--------|-----|-----|
| Evora     | 9-7-1  | +14 |  34 | 
| Fatima    | 9-6-2  | +20 |  33 |
| S.Clara   | 9-5-3  | +11 |  32 |
| Varzim    | 9-5-3  | +10 |  32 |
| Freamunde | 9-4-4  | + 6 |  31 |
|-----------|--------|-----|-----|

[minisav]

Yeah, suck on that! Hoping I get an awesome transfer budget. Although could do with a reputation boost as still not a huge amount of players that will come I don't think

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well we are now out of the Cup in the Quarterfinals, we lost 4:2 to Sporting, but as the stats showed we didn't actually do as badly as the scoreline shows. Stats

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well with 5 more games gone in the league there are now just 10 left, so 2/3rds way through the season and its still a very tight race, I beat Freamunde, but Varzim ended my unbeaten streak at 17, tied for the all time Liga Vitalis record.

|-----------|--------|-----|-----|
| Team      | Record | G.D | Pts |
|-----------|--------|-----|-----|
| Evora     | 11-7-2 | +15 |  40 | 
| Fatima    | 11-6-3 | +22 |  39 |
| Varzim    | 11-5-4 | +11 |  38 |
| S.Clara   | 10-6-4 | +12 |  36 |
| Freamunde | 10-5-5 | + 6 |  35 |
|-----------|--------|-----|-----|

This has to be one of the tightest title races I have ever been involved in, and no one is clear of relegation with 15th & 16th on 12pts each.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Des Tiny's
Lusitano de Evora


End of Season
2013/14 Liga Vitalis

The Current Season

The Quick Reference

Predicted: 15th
Odds: 14th (50-1)
Actual: 3rd
Portuguese Cup: Quarterfinal vs Sporting
League Cup: 1st Round vs Fatima
Finances: 1.5M (21st Por)
The Squad: 1 & 2
Transfers: 2012/13

The Season in General

Well this season I decided to stick with the team I used in the 2nd half of last year, and just go for a few small changes and hope that they had enough to make it to a better position than the year before. So with only three signings and a lot leaving I was hoping to be well under the wage budget and have a shot at making money. That was nothing but a dream as we lost even more and ended the season at 467k in the red, the only month we made money was when we faced Sporting.
Des Tiny Storms out - They asked me about the sending off of one of my players when it clearly wasn't a card, he came from the front and hit the ball.

The League

Well we started the league with a win and a loss, but after that we went on a long run of 17 games without a loss, this put us on top of the league and left us with a great shot at promotion. When we eventually lost it was to Varzim the eventual champions, but then our team fell apart over the last few weeks and we dropped to 3rd and could never recover, we missed promotion by a mere 2pts, as we finished with 55pts (1 more than my aim). I am happy with the season results, but I hope to improve again in the next season.
Player Stats

The Cups

Well the League Cup was up first as per normal, but we were drawn against Fatima again, and it seems that they were out for revenge as they beat us 2:1 over the two legs. In the end I was a little disappointed, but then I thought I could try and make a run in the Portuguese Cup and see what happened. We started off with two 4:0 victories as we decimated Lousade & then Farense, the entry to the 4th round saw us drawn against Operairo de Azores, we beat them easily in a 1:0 victory. This saw us face Leira in what would likely be a huge battle for us, but we fought all the way and eventually won 7:6 on penalties after my keeper saved one and got us through. This saw us into the top 8 and drawn to visit Sporting, I didn't think we had a shot at all, so we went in looking to put in a good effort and nothing more. In the end I was pretty happy with the final score of 4:2.

Player Stats League Cup
Player Stats Portuguese Cup

The Club's History

League Records

|----------|----------|-----------|----------|--------------|
|  Season  |  League  | Final Pos | Playoffs | Achievements |
|----------|----------|-----------|----------|--------------|
|  2010/11 |   2DS    |    6th    |          |     None     |
|  2011/12 |   2DS    |    1st    |    2nd   |   Promoted   |
|  2012/13 |    LV    |    8th    |    N/A   |     None     |
|  2013/14 |    LV    |    3rd    |    N/A   |     None     |
|----------|----------|-----------|----------|--------------|

Goals Home & Away

|----------|----------|---------|---------|-------|
|  Season  |  League  |  Home   |  Away   | Total |
|----------|----------|---------|---------|-------|
|  2010/11 |   2DS    |  36-15  |  18-29  | 54-44 |
|  2011/12 |   2DS    |  39-10  |  31-20  | 70-30 |
|  2012/13 |    LV    |  33-22  |  20-25  | 53-47 |
|  2013/14 |    LV    |  27-17  |  26-19  | 53-36 |
|----------|----------|---------|---------|-------|

Win-Draw-Loss Records

|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------|
|  Season  |  League  |   Home   |  Away    | Total    |
|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------|
|  2010/11 |   2DS    | 10-03-02 | 05-01-09 | 15-04-11 |
|  2011/12 |   2DS    | 13-03-01 | 07-06-04 | 20-10-05 |
|  2012/13 |    LV    | 09-01-05 | 03-07-05 | 12-08-10 |
|  2013/14 |    LV    | 07-06-02 | 08-04-03 | 15-10-05 |
|----------|----------|----------|----------|----------|

Club Records & Competition History

New Records: Highest League Pos 3rd LV, Highest Gate 12k, Avg Attendance 2018, Unbeaten Streak 19, Without Conceding 4, Career League Apps: Jose Maria 98, Highest Fee Received 12k (Amarilla).
All Records: Part 1 & 2.
Competition History: 2nd Division South Winners 2012, Liga Vitalis 3rd 2014.

The Players

The Squad

Current Teams Stats: This Season & Evora Career.

Goalkeepers

30.Andre Martins - Martins stepped into the lead role comfortably, Braun had an early injury that saw him drop out, and Martins continued right on from there. An improvement on last year as he only conceded 38 goals in the 32 games he played.

31.Leroy Braun - With an injury he dropped back behind Martins, but Braun still looks like the future. He did only concede 6 goals in the games he played, and went 20 games for 24 conceded for the reserves, he does look like a solid possibility.

Right Backs

64.Carlos Alves - He was a complete disappointment when he first stepped in after an injury, but he still sat on the bench.

39.Fabio Semprini - The clear number one right back, while he was injured Visentin and others seemed to cover more than Alves. If the young Italian can stay fit he will soon have a career defining season.

Left Backs

53.Lorenzo Semioli - He looks pretty good, but he is just below the level of Federici. With the inability to keep on the field he was just cover when needed, other than that this season he was unable to play much.

17.Gabriele Federici - The third Italian across the back is the clear best left back, he did have a few problem periods, but he always rebounded and showed his class. Until the end of the season he looked on for over 7 avg rating.

Centre Backs

28.Franco Zennaro - With only 2 appearances there was nothing he could even show.

7.Sebastian Visentin - Another Italian defender for my club, Visentin was one of the best defenders this season, playing at DC & DR he showed skill, he did have a few bad games, but he was still the definite second choice.

6.Diego Galiano - The star centre back, he had an amazing season on corners, free kicks, penalties, and also defending at the back. He ended the season with 9G 3A 6MoM & a 7.25 rating. No one can debate the Spaniards class at DC.

5.Miguel Serodio - The young Portuguese centre back was a bit of a super sub for Evora, he got 9 starts while Semprini was injured.

Right Wings

37.Christophe Lacroix - The frenchman is now supposedly better than Inzaghi at the position, though really I believe I am lacking in a true star at MR. It was split evenly between these two & Mengy.

27.Inzaghi - The old man of the team failed to really shine this season.

Left Wings

73.Revy Rosalia - He looked poor early in the season and hence dropped to the bench with Lopes running the left hand side.

78.Luis Pereira - A disappointing season saw Pereira into the reserves.

Centre Mids

22.Jose Maria - The true super-sub this season, our leading capped star. Maria is on top of the team, but he was not up to the standard of any of the other centre midfielders this season, he was solid, but not spectacular.

43.Raphael Lopes - He ended up taking over on the left wing and had his best season of his career. Playing 34 games he ended with stats of 6G 7A 3MoM & a rating of 7.05.

23.Jose Manuel - He became a solid force in the centre of the field, he was able to provide some great passing, he got a few goals, some great assists and he led the team in every game we played.

13.Carlos Perez Rojo - With two Spaniards now in the middle of the park Rojo was on fire, he got 13 assists on the season and showed real class as he played a more defensive role than his partner.

15.Victor Manuel Uria - As a new signing in January Uria managed to become a great substitute for our club, but couldn't break through the starters.

Strikers

57.Addy Menga - He ended up playing a lot more on the right wing than upfront this season. A disappointing season considering the skill I know he has at the position.

11.Wesllem - The only striker I could count on this season, he slotted home a very good 21 goals, not as many as others have, but it was definitely a very solid season, hopefully he can stick around and do it again.

77.Elia Motta - He came in and moved into the starting line-up when Willian went down injured, and he was injured on his debut, when he finally returned he scored 28s later, and then again in his next game. With 9 goals & 6 assists in 16(9) games he was clearly well worth the effort as a youngster.

1.Willian - He really had a poor season, but I put a lot of that down to his time off injured, only 4 goals in his 16 games is a disappointment.

The Best of the Best


The Awards

Portugal

Most Improved Club: Evora

2nd Division

Player of the Month: Aug - Wesllem (2nd), Sept - Diego Galiano, May - Diego Galiano.
Manager of the Month: Oct - Des Tiny (3rd), Feb - Des Tiny (2nd).
Goal of the Month: Sept: Manuel (2nd), Oct: Wesllem (2nd)
Team of the Year: Diego Galiano, Andre Martins.
Most MoM: Diego Galiano 6 (2nd)
Most Assists: Carlos Perez Roja 12 (2nd)
Overachievers: Evora
Signing of the Season: Elia Motta (Free)

Portuguese Cup

Most Goals: Wesllem 5 (3rd=)

Evora

Fans PotY: Diego Galiano
Best XI: Martins, Visentin, Federici, Galiano, Serodio, Inzaghi, Lopes, Perez Rojo, Manuel, Wesllem, Motta.
Subs: Braun, Semprini, Menga, Maria, Willian, Semioli, Zennaro.
Overall XI: Martins, Visentin, Federici, Galiano, Mauro, Inzaghi, Lopes, Maria, Manuel, Wesllem, Menga.
Subs: Festas, A. Alves, Perez Rojo, Costa, Edson, M. Silva, Motta.

Where are they now?

Evora - Martins, Visentin, Federici, Galiano, Inzaghi, Lopes, Maria, Manuel, Wesllem, Menga, Perez Rojo, Motta.
Others - Edson (Olhanense), A. Alves (Aves), Mauro (Doxa), Festas (Moscavide), Costa (Esmoriz), Nilton (Free Agent).
Staff - Mario Silva (Unemployed Manager)
Retired - Caetano

The Next Season

Evora Youth Project
In this section I will basically be following the career of the best player through my academy, and also if I buy a star youth their career as well. (A) Players are through my academy & (B) Players are bought.

Player A1: Pedro Alexandre Pinheiro (MC)
Starting Profile (June 2014)

|----------|-------|------|------|-----|------|
|  Season  | Games | Goal | Asst | MoM | AvgR |
|----------|-------|------|------|-----|------|
| 2014/15  |  0(0) |   0  |   0  |  0  | 0.00 |
|----------|-------|------|------|-----|------|

I have no bought players at this point, though I am bringing in another 5-10 20yr olds for the new season, but here is someone we should follow his career.

Player B0: Elia Motta (ST)
June 2014

|----------|-------|------|------|-----|------|
|  Season  | Games | Goal | Asst | MoM | AvgR |
|----------|-------|------|------|-----|------|
| 2013/14  | 16(9) |   9  |   6  |  2  | 7.00 |
| 2014/15  |  0(0) |   0  |   0  |  0  | 0.00 |
|----------|-------|------|------|-----|------|

Aims

1. Promotion
2. Get some better players (in particular DR, GK & DM)
3. Make QFs of Cup
4. Make 2nd round of League Cup
5. Stop losing money

Actual aim for points is to get more than 60. And once more I am Untouchable. The board love me.

[Razer82]

Razer82 – Associacao Desporitvo de Fafe – Portuguese Second Division North - 2010/2011

Second Division North – 1st
Promotion Playoff – 2nd – Promoted
Portuguese Cup – 4th Round – Lost 3-0 to Beira-Mar

Team Stats
Transfers

Top Scorer: Filipe Azevdo (21)
Top Assists: Ricardo Martins (24)

My first season at Fafe could be described as nearly the perfect season of football. We bounced back from an opening day defeat in the league to go on a run 12 games unbeaten that propelled us to the top of the table. More good runs of form saw us say there and progress into the promotion playoff.

It was there that our form seemed to disappear, score draws in the first two games left us in a must win position for game 3. The team delivered an amazing 3-0 win to secure 2nd place in the playoff and promotion.

Our season also benefited from a decent cup run, mainly due to favourable draws, but a 4th round tie with Liga Sagres side Beira-Mar would always do the finances some good. The loss didn’t even seem to affect the team either as it came during the 12 game unbeaten league run.

An added bonus to the season was being named Manager of the Year.

I only have 1 aim for season 2. Survival. Anything above a 15th placed finish in the league will be a good season.

[rlipscombe]

Des - seriously unlucky with missing out on promotion, although still a decent season. good luck with the promotion push next season.

minisav - great first season in the Bundesliga.

Razer - good season for you too.

[StellaF1]

Hospitalet - Season 5 - 2014-15 - Liga Adelante

Table ¦ Graph ¦ Squad ¦ Transfers ¦ Finances

Pre-Season

After the previous seasons 5th place finish in Liga Adelante my aim for this season was to push for a promotion place. With the stadium being regularly sold out for home games we were now able to make a consistent profit month by month as well which enabled the chairman to stop selling all the players that had a 1m+ bid for them.

In terms of transfers it was the quietest pre-season I have had in charge of Hospitalet as the only players that i brought were youth prospects or backup players to ensure the squad was strong enough for the promotion push. The first of 2 main departures was Juan Carlos Alvarez, the young DMC for the last couple of seasons, who hadn't progressed as much as i would have liked so wasn't too fussed when he went to Udinese for 1.2m. The second main departure was Kevin Dos Santos, DL, who went to Tenerife for 975k.

The main transfer out actually came in January as i sold my DR Daniel Opare to Braga for 975K up front with another 2m being paid in monthly installments with a 10% sell-on clause. So the full transfer value was in the region of 3m - not bad seeing as he had a minimum release fee of 1.8m!

The Season

The league season started off well enough with 2 wins and a draw but with so many of my games being rearranged due to international call-ups i was left in mid-table having played 3 or 4 games less than most of the teams in the league. The inevitable backlog of games that followed saw our form drop as the team was not fully recovered from the previous games. By about the 10th game of the season things had evened out in terms of games played and this was were our form improved as we quickly went from 10th place up to 5th place after game 15.

At this point we were only a few points off the promotion places of 3rd and 2nd but Tenerife had made an awesome start to the league and had already built up a sizable gap over everybody. More good results leading up to the halfway stage of the season saw us move into 2nd place in the league. We then went chasing after Tenerife and had a good run off form but we were never able to get within 5 or 6 points of them. During this period we had at least managed to pull away from the teams behind us and as it turned out we would maintain 2nd place all the way from game 20 till the end of the season, eventually finishing 10 points behind Tenerife but more importantly 9 points ahead of Mallorca and Xerez.

The Spanish Cup saw our best ever performance as we took our league form over into this competition. We won our Second round matach away at Malaga 2-0. The board was now happy as we had been told the minimum expectation was to reach the third round of the competition. We were then drawn at home against newly-promoted Girona and we were able to beat them 2-0.

This was the first time that we had reached the fourth round in 4 seasons and we were drawn against Almeria of Liga BBVA. The first leg was at home and we were able to sneak by with a 2-1 win with goals from Bagi and Bolado. The second leg was another close game with Almeria taking the lead on the 73rd minute but a quick reply from Bolado saw the match finish 1-1 and we were through 3-2 on aggregate.

So we had managed to reach the fifth round for the first time and we were drawn against the mighty Barcelona. The first leg was again at home and we battled away but ended up losing 1-0 to a 74th minute Albin goal. The away leg was a no contest as we were easily defeated 4-0. Out of the cup in the fifth round but the ticket revenue was a nice bonus.

The Players

Bas Van Duijn - GK - Young and improving all the time. He was again my number 1 keeper and had another excellent season.
Martin Prokop - GK - Used mainly on the bench but i decided to give him some match experience now and again. Was disappointed with him really as he seems to concede at least 90% of the shots that are on target.
Luca Bianco - DR - Was my backup DR really at the start of the season but after the sale of Opare he stepped up really well to become my number 1 DR again.
Juan Jose Trueba - DL - Played a lot of games and looks a good player. I have one major reservation about him though and that is his pace (6) as he gets beaten too easily by quick wingers. Will be looking to make some money from him in the summer.
Ricardo Alonso - DLC - Played the majority of the games this season switching between left back and center back. At 18 he is a quality player who I'm sure will easily adapt to Liga BBVA. My only aim is to keep hold of him as he will be essential in my aim for survival next season.
Nasief Morris - DC - Brought in on a free to provide experience and cover at the heart of defence. He didn't play much but when he was called upon he did a good solid job.
Sergi Gomez - DC - Brought in for 275k Sergi played most of the games this season and did an excellent job keeping Nasief Morris out of the squad and being a key component in our promotion.
Vasily Ignatjev - DC - Played 20 games over the course of the season mainly covering for injuries and during periods of tightly congested matches but he played well when called upon.
Aimen Demai - DMC - Brought in on a free after the sale of Alvarez. He provided experience and quality in a key position as he achieved the best pass completion % in my team.
Armando De Marco - DMC - Used as a backup to Demai so didn't feature too often.
Francesco Viola - MC - Another great season from this Italian youngster as he managed to get himself 10 goals and also provided 12 assists.
Josip Knezevic - AM LC - Used as either a left winger or in the center of midfield i played him as much from the bench as i did from the start. Even so he was excellent throughout as he managed to score 11 goals and get 8 assists.
Adam Dudas - AMR - Used mainly as a backup he did contribute to 2 goals and assists.
Zoltan Bagi - AMR - Another great season from the Hungarian youngster. His 8 goals and 10 assists were a valuable contribution for the team.
Mihajlo Zaric - AML -He didn't play as much this season due to injury but despite only playing in 16 league games he contributed with 10 assists which i would say is a great return.
Pablo Sarabia - AML - Was in the squad as a backup but due to the injuries Zaric had he almost played as many games as him. His contribution was 5 assists.
Jean-Pierre Kremer - ST - My third choice striker but he is still young. He got 4 goals and 5 assists in his appearances this season. Not sure how he will cope with the step up in class next season.
Fabio Caracciolo - ST - Fantastic season for Fabio as he really improved this season finishing with 19 goals.
Ivan Bolado - ST - For the third season in a row he finished as top goalscorer, though he was pushed all the way by Fabio. His full season stats of 25 goals and 11 assists no doubt helped him win the Fans Player Of The Year. He now holds the club record of league goals scored for the club with 65.

The goals score by Fabio and Ivan saw them finish 4th and 5th in the top goalscorers in the league.

Next Seasons Aims

Well with my focus on youth due to the club finances having paid off I am hoping that they will continue to improve as players and that i might have a chance of surviving relegation. Sorting the finances out this season was key as my chairman wasn't accepting every single bid that was made this season. With the bigger financial burden next season, especially on wages, my chairman might come back to haunt me again. Not that there is a lot I can do about it as we are now regularly getting full attendances of 6400 and we can't get planning permission to expand the stadium.

Aim = Survival.

[daemonic]

Montevarchi Calcio Aquila - Italian Serie A 2015/16

Transfers - I spent quite a bit but the two 1m+ signings were worth every penny as they played a large part in our survival with Baan being the only player to average above 7 for the season, picking up the Fans Player of the Year for his efforts.

Italian Serie A
Predicted: 20th | Final Position: 13th | Graph
We started well remaining unbeaten for the first 5 games, although only one of those was a win and that set the tone for the season as we proved very hard to beat but an inability to score meant we drew a lot of games. At the mid-point of the season we were 11th and most importantly, 11pts above the relegation spots.
Hopes of a nice safe mid-table cruise to the end of the season was wrecked by a run of 11 games without a win when we picked up only 3 points and dropped to 16th, within 3pts of the drop zone. Our first win in over 2 months was an uninspiring, backs to the wall 1-0 against Frosinone who were 12pts adrift in 20th place but a wins a win. As luck would have it our next game was another home tie, this time against 19th placed Palermo and another tight win took us to 39pts and within 1 of my pre-season target of 40. A couple of games later we'd amassed 43pts, climbed to 13th and were officially safe with 2 games to spare.

Italian Cup - 4th Qualifying Rnd.

Other News
Finances - Only finished in the black thanks to the Serie A prize money. Next year will be tough too as we pay the loans on our New Stadium.

Club Records

Stars
Most Assists: Edoardo Schirripa - 7
Most Goals: Peio Eizmendi - 12
Most MoM: Herman Baan / Domenico Oliveri - 4
Highest Avg Rating: Herman Baan - 7.07
Fan Player of the Year: Herman Baan

Best Eleven: Season | Overall

Montevarchi Calcio Aquila Trophy Room
Serie B x 1 - 2014/15
Serie C1/A x 1 - 2012/13
Serie C Cup x 1 - 2012/13
Serie C2/B x 1 - 2010/11
Italian C1 Super Cup x 1 - 2012/13
Italian C2 Super Cup x 1 - 2010/11

Career History

Season   League      Pos.  Serie C Cup  Cup       Europe         Achievements
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2010/11  Serie C2/B  1st   2nd Rnd      N/A       N/A            Serie C2/B Champions, C2 Super Cup
2011/12  Serie C1/A  7th   2nd Rnd      1st Qual. N/A            None
2012/13  Serie C1/A  1st   Winners      4th Qual. N/A            Serie C1/A Champions, Serie C Cup,
                                                                 Italian C1 Super Cup
2013/14  Serie B     3rd   N/A          3rd Qual. N/A            None
2014/15  Serie B     1st   N/A          4th Qual. N/A            Serie B Champions
2015/16  Serie A     13th  N/A          4th Qual. N/A

Next Season...Survive again.

[rlipscombe]

congrats on promotion stella and on survival daemonic....

[yababo]

1.FC Saarbrucken End of season update

Relegated and Sacked

Can't believe I am gonna be sitting next to Gary Megson on the goals on Sunday sofa.

[rlipscombe]

seriously unlucky yabobo.... Were you badly relegated? What's next?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Hard Luck yababo, what happened exactly?

[yababo]

Couldn't turn draws into wins. My policy of youth players was probably a mistake. Not sure what to do next. Might go back to Holland and WKE as I thought had deleted the file in a hissy fit but have just discovered I didn't.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Portugal is alright getting up the leagues, the problem is how hard it is once you get into the top league.

[Jack no Coke]

I'm half way through my first season in serie c1 and I'm currently 14th and struggling.I've managed only 4 wins and 4 draws out of 19 games and shipped 43 goals in the process.Update at the end of the season,I'll probably avoid automatic relegation but will definately be in involved in the playouts.

I can't seem to find a formation to suit me as I'm the underdog in almost every game,any suggestions?

[daemonic]

I'm half way through my first season in serie c1 and I'm currently 14th and struggling.I've managed only 4 wins and 4 draws out of 19 games and shipped 43 goals in the process.Update at the end of the season,I'll probably avoid automatic relegation but will definately be in involved in the playouts.

I can't seem to find a formation to suit me as I'm the underdog in almost every game,any suggestions?

Being underdog is down to reputation and form so I wouldn't worry about that too much. As for a formation, pick one and stick to it, switching too much means players never settle. Also, try taking the pressure off with a few 'No Pressure' team talks.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I would suggest building a simple 4-4-2 and going against the odds and trying to go slightly attacking rather than letting them control the game. I play a Standard setting at the start, if they score first I go attacking, if I score I stay standard, if I go 2 goals up I use retain possession shout to hold them out. If its a tie at 35mins I go back to attacking to try and score a goal, if still tied by half time I come out attacking, similarly if down. If I am up by a goal its standard all the way, if I get 2 up then add the retain possession. It seems to work, I am still underdog in nearly every game I play.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I had to show everyone the atrocious condition of our pitch. Is it any surprise the club agreed to relay it even though we are broke?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Evora's New Signings

El Mehdi Ouaddou - ML (Injury cover for Rosalia).
Matteo Jehl - MR (The new starter).
Koen Koster - AMC (A replacement for Jose Maria, looks solid).
Ander Suarez Rodriguez - DR (The new man on the right fullback).
Dimas - GK (He will probably start in a rotation policy with Martins & Braun).
Diederik Van Dijk - DM (This guy will be part of a rotation in the midfield).
Guilherme Afonso - ST (The new star upfront 3 goals on debut).

So now my Starting Line-up includes the following nationalities:
ESP - 4
ITA - 2
FRA - 1
NED - 1
BRA - 1
SUI - 1
ANT - 1

Though this is only the core team, there will be a few more who play normally.

Edit: I have to report on our League Cup match-up, we faced Maritimo B (Newly Promoted), first was our home leg and we won 3-2 with a great Afonso hattrick. So I was travelling knowing that I had to fight for a draw and it might be a bit tight. I told the boys to complete it for the fans and they went ballistic. We added 8 more goals, Afonso Man of the Match again with a second consecutive Hattrick & 2 assists. Final score 11-3, WOW is about all I have to say.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

The Challengers as it Stand
Well I have gone through the thread because I couldn't sleep and the below table shows where everyone is at. The breaks in the table are simple. Top section = Completions, then going down "Completed Season Top League", "Promoted to Top League but no season yet", "Relegated from top league", and this pattern continues down the leagues, list sorted by closeness to completing.

|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| User       | Club        | Nation    | League    | C. Season | Last Pos. |
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| El sid     | Munster     | Germany   | 1st Div   |  2018/19  |    1st    | Completed 2018/19
| Ohanzee    | SD Noja     | Spain     | Liga BBVA |  2019/20  |    1st    | Completed 2019/20
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| ElDani     | Farense     | Portugal  | Sagres    |  2016/17  |    1st    |1
| PRDH       | SO Romo     | France    | Ligue 1   |  2021/22  |    1st    |1
| WillCarr   | Stuttgarter | Germany   | 1st Div   |  2015/16  |    2nd    |1
| Gilbster   | Elgin       | Scotland  | Premier   |  2032/33  |    3rd    |1
| Cookie15   | Pisa        | Italy     | Serie A   |  2015/16  |    3rd    |1
| ToMexico   | Elgin       | Scotland  | Premier   |  2016/17  |    6th    |1
| Minisav    | Darmstadt   | Germany   | 1st Div   |  2013/14  |    6th    |1
| UffeJohan  | Casa Pia    | Portugal  | Sagres    |  2020/21  |    7th    |1
| DodgeeD    | Bc Branco   | Portugal  | Sagres    |  2017/18  |    7th    |1
| iseemonster| Racing Club | France    | Ligue 1   |  2014/15  |   12th    |1
| Daemonic   | Montevarchi | Italy     | Serie A   |  2016/17  |   13th    |1
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Cadley X   | Kirikkale   | Turkey    | Premier   |  2013/14  |    1st    |1
| Paul Hart  | FC Libourne | France    | Ligue 1   |  2020/21  |    1st    |1
| Iacovone   | Castillo    | Spain     | Liga BBVA |  2021/22  |    2nd    |1
| StellaF1   | Hospitalet  | Spain     | Liga BBVA |  2016/17  |    2nd    |1
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| LLR        | Evora       | Portugal  | Vitalis   |  2014/15  |    3rd    |2
| Dave.      | Ostuni spt  | Italy     | Serie B   |  2017/18  |    5th    |2
| Berty1978  | Lorca       | Spain     | Adelente  |  2013/14  |    6th    |2
| Sazchu     | Stranraer   | Scotland  | 1st Div   |  2016/17  |    7th    |2
| G-Wiz      | Angri       | Italy     | Serie B   |  2015/16  |    8th    |2
| Rlipscombe | Venezia     | Italy     | Serie B   |  2015/16  |    9th    |2
| Polar Bear | Magdeburg   | Germany   | 2nd Div   |  2015/16  |   10th    |2
| TanO       | Pajara      | Spain     | Adelente  |  2015/16  |   13th    |2
| Gareth K   | Velez CF    | Spain     | Adelente  |  2019/20  |   14th    |2
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Quackje    | Saarbrucken | Germany   | 2nd Div   |  2012/13  |    1st    |2
| Jobnik     | Merida UD   | Spain     | Adelente  |  2012/13  |    1st    |2
| Thistles*  | Martigues   | France    | Ligue 2   |  2015/16  |    1st    |2
| Razer82    | Fafe        | Portugal  | Vitalis   |  2011/12  |    1st    |2
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Twellman   | Algeciras   | Spain     | 2 Div B2  |  2015/16  |    3rd    |3
| Liverbird  | Casa Pia    | Portugal  | 2 Div C   |  2012/13  |    5th    |3
| Deltablue  | RW Essen    | Germany   | Third Div |  2011/12  |    5th    |3
| TaylorB    | Infesta     | Portugal  | 2 Div N   |  2011/12  |   10th    |3
| Kabajingai | Saarbrucken | Germany   | Third Div |  2011/12  |   11th    |3
| Brambleten | Mannheim    | Germany   | Third Div |  2011/12  |   12th    |3
| Flashman   | Portugalete | Spain     | 2 Div B3  |  2011/12  |   16th    |3
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| sydneyTili | Albion      | Scotland  | 2nd Div   |  2011/12  |    1st    |3
| AdamFitz   | Elgin       | Scotland  | 2nd Div   |  2011/12  |    2nd    |3
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| JacknoCoke | Montevarchi | Italy     | Serie C2B |  2012/13  |    7th    |4
| Heat02     | Elgin       | Scotland  | Third Div |  2011/12  |    8th    |4
| Ghostwriter| Renato Curi | Italy     | Serie C2B |  2012/13  |   13th    |4
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Rancer     | Sannois SG  | France    | National  |  2010/11  |    ???    |3
| Tomsmith   | Pau FC      | France    | National  |  2010/11  |    ???    |3
| Tharros    | RW Essen    | Germany   | Third Div |  2010/11  |    ???    |3
| Saab693    | Famalicao   | Portugal  | 2 Div N   |  2010/11  |    ???    |3
| CharlesB   | Fafe        | Portugal  | 2 Div N   |  2010/11  |    ???    |3
| XXXtreme   | Leca        | Portugal  | 2 Div N   |  2010/11  |    ???    |3
| 5ergio     | Maltepespor | Turkey    | 2nd Div   |  2010/11  |    ???    |3
| Robert 296 | Montevarchi | Italy     | Serie C2B |  2010/11  |    ???    |4
| Bjoggi     | Montevarchi | Italy     | Serie C2B |  2010/11  |    ???    |4
| Dougeh     | Venezia     | Italy     | Serie C2B |  2010/11  |    ???    |4
| OccamsRazor| Venezia     | Italy     | Serie C2B |  2010/11  |    ???    |4
| LtPS       | Annan       | Scotland  | Third Div |  2010/11  |    ???    |4
| Gers15     | Annan       | Scotland  | Third Div |  2010/11  |    ???    |4
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|

If I have made any mistakes just point them out to me. The year listed is the one you are now in, not the one you just completed.

[rlipscombe]

great work with the list of participants Des. As for your new guys, the screenie for Afonso is Van Dijk again............

[minisav]

I reiterate everything said in the above post.

This challenge keeps drawing me in. I'm trying to give it a rest and play other saves but I want to see how much I get in my budgets!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

The Afonso link is fixed, and thanks guys, the Challengers Table took a bit of work, but I am pretty sure I got everyone, and sorted correctly as well.

[Razer82]

Razer82 – Associacao Desporitvo de Fafe – Portuguese Liga Vitalis – 2011/2012

Liga Vitalis – Media Prediction – 15th – Actual - 11th
Portuguese Cup – 5th Round – Lost 3-1 on penalties to after a 3-3 draw with Chaves
Portuguese League Cup – 3rd in Second Round Group B

Team Stats
Transfers

Top Scorer: Miguel Angelo (8)
Top Assists: Delfim (13)

A media prediction of 15th means relegation, something that would not be acceptable. So when we started the season with 8 games unbeaten I thought that things were going to go pretty well. After that though, indifferent form hit us and we slowly slipped down the league.

Only managing two draws in our final 8 games basically ruined the fine start we had to the year but I would think that surviving relegation was the best part of the season.

Our good cup form continued this season as we managed to get one round further in the Portuguese Cup this year, but needed an extra time goal to send the game with Chaves to penalties at which point the players fell apart and we crashed out 3-1. Still, an extra round is still progress.

After being promoted, we took part in the League cup for the first time. An easy tie with Freamunde got us into the Second Round Group with two Liga Sagres sides. Total opposite to the first round, saw us lose both matches, but prize money is always great - £35k for two defeats!

Last season’s aim of avoiding relegation was easily meant at the end of the day. 11th place is great progress for the side.



Aims for next season –

Again, avoid relegation. Still being a semi-pro side will continue to make things a little difficult.
Improve the squad – The only way to really avoid relegation is better players.
Better finances would be better, but can't really guarantee or doing anything about that as we don't get great attendance and are currently spending £6k a week on wages.

[daemonic]

Good luck next season Razer

And that's one prodcutive case of insomnia you have Des, great to see everyones progress in one place ...could probably be kept up to date without huge effort now the initial work is done. Maybe post it near the top of each page or every 3 pages or so because the thread can move quickly at times.

[Willy Wonka]

SV Stuttgarter Kickers - German Bundesliga 2015/16

Champions of Germany for the first time.

Table

Progress

After Bayern were so good last year I was worried we wouldn't be able to match their consistancy. We did. Top throughout really, except the one game you can see in the graph, where we had two games in hand. At one point we threatened to really run away with it, but Bayern went on a ridiculous run and I became worried they might catch us. Luckily they started losing and when we beat them 1-0 away I knew we couldn't be stopped. Great to win the league.

Squad

You can see how dependant we were on Tarik, who performed incredibly. You can see a few more Germans emerging this year, which is a far cry from a couple of seasons ago where we had literally no home grown talent. Grob and Buschman in particular are brilliant youngsters, Grob a regular at only 17.

Transfers

Talent exodus this season. Really disappointed to lose Gyenes and Farina, both my centre backs, but White stepped up, with Buschman and Grob, who were also great. Gago went to make room for Acampora (7m profit in one season), but Acampora was an incredible disappointment for 15m, but he's only 19, so plenty of room for him to get better.

Champions League

Disappointing to lose to Athletico, after beating them last year in the Europa League, but a good debut season anyhow.

German Cup

Won for the second time in my career, against my bogey side Gladbach.

Tarik, Player of the Year

This guy is ridiculous. Carried my team this year. His stats might not be the best but he gets results.

Manager of the Year

Super Cup; justice.

My aim is to bring in more German players, and to win the Champions League.

Code:
     Season     League   Position   Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11  Division 3    3rd       Promoted through play offs.
2011/12  Division 2    2nd       Promoted, Lost in German Cup 1st Round
2012/13  Bundesliga    5th       Qualified for Euro Cup.
2013/14  Bundesliga    9th       Won the German Cup, Euro Cup 1/4 Finals. 
2014/15  Bundesliga    2nd       Won Euro Cup, German Cup Semis, CL qualification
2015/16  Bundesliga    1st       Won German Cup, Super Cup, League, CL 1/4 finals.

[rlipscombe]

congrats Will on your 1st Bundesliga title.... pretty good performance in the Cl in debut year too.

[deltablue]

That was swift progress you made there. Congrats on already half done. Will be at least few days before my next update. This because after I spent a lot of time making the most of being back online I had a lot on my mind and didn't feel like playing too much, still early Nov on my main save season. Admitedly going on to the thread now has given a little bit more motivation to plough through that (like I did last sunday/monday). I'll be sure to get back up to speed soon.

[ghostwriter]

Great summary there LLR but you are going to have to change mine I am afraid .

But, my word was it a struggle. We lost the away leg in both ties and struggled to victories in the home matches and only won each tie due to the fact that we were the highest placed club (we finished 2nd). I like this rule in Italy (for the moment at least...). Also celebrated a bit early in the final as I did not realise there was extra time . I then had to endure another 30 minutes of hoping we'd hold on but our promotion was confirmed.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

And that's one prodcutive case of insomnia you have Des, great to see everyones progress in one place ...could probably be kept up to date without huge effort now the initial work is done. Maybe post it near the top of each page or every 3 pages or so because the thread can move quickly at times.

Thanks all, I think posting it near the top of each page would be manageable, just depends on how many updates as to whether I can keep up really. I have it saved as a txt file so easily changeable

Congrats on the Title Will, the Promotion Ghost & staying up Razer.

[daemonic]

Thanks all, I think posting it near the top of each page would be manageable, just depends on how many updates as to whether I can keep up really. I have it saved as a txt file so easily changeable

Congrats on the Title Will, the Promotion Ghost & staying up Razer.

I wouldn't get too worried about missing the odd update. I scan other challenge threads for updates to see if anyone has completed a challenge so I can add them to the Hall of Fame and the updates tend to stand out from other posts. But if I miss someone's update then its up to them to let me know.

[Benjaminoo]

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3016/01262010133738.jpg

Here's my Profile, decided to start in Portugal with Farense - should be a nice game

[cookie15]

Welcome on board Benjaminoo, best of luck in Portugal.

[Bednar]

I am a bit late to the party this year, but really fancied giving this a go! Have decided to go with Portugal as i enjoy the leagues.

So holidayed my way to season 2 and took a look at what clubs i had to choose from... Was very tempted by the legends of fafe, but could never live up to previous adventures there, also looked at BC Branco, but in the end i had to go for......

S.C. Farense



A club who only 15 years ago were playing in Europe. Time for fortunes to be revived me thinks.....

The manager who shall try to achieve this

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/7996/typrofile.jpg

Inherited a squad containing 2 goalies, 9 defenders, 3 midfielders and 1 striker.....work needed....

To my delight, my Ass Man gave me some recommendations when commenting on the strenghth of the squad. The highlight was him recommending nikao

No way i can compete with the quality of the other portugese updates, but hopefully i can have some fun along the way!

[rlipscombe]

Welcome and good luck Bednar - never too late to join the party!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Welcome aboard Bednar, and Fafe was a great delight for me, though I am really enjoying Evora this season. I have this great love of Portuguese Competition, so much my Fafe Jersey is on its way.

[minisav]

You're only late joining the party if you join after the release of the next version .

[Benjaminoo]

Thanks cookie. Almost finished the first season now - will probably post an update later on today

[Jack no Coke]

Montevarchi update - relegated via the playouts in my first season in serie c1/a

Didn't get the sack though and I'm ready to bounce back straight away

Full update later tonight

[Benjaminoo]

Really annoying - trying to do my season update but having a problem with the screenshots. When i click the link they're either really small or the link has expired. I'm using Imageshack Quickshot - can anyone help with this?

[el sid]

Great work in doing the table LLR

Congratulations to all those who have made progress, particularly to PaulHartman, minisav and will

[Benjaminoo]

Sporting Clube Farense - Season 1 End of Season Update - 2010/11

The Competitions..

Portugese Second Division - North - 4th - League Table|League Graph

Not a bad season, seeing as our prediction was 6th - still an under-pressure manager tough, the board obviously wanted more .. ?
We probably would've finished higher if it wasn't for a mid-season slump which saw us lose 3 and draw a few in successive games.

Portugese Cup - 2nd round - Match - Didn't really want to stay in for long if I'm being honest.

The Team..

Squad - We really lack depth imo, but there's a few nice little signings on their way already so that should be sorted.



Players of The Season

Lovro Scrbec - Got him on loan, and he couldn't stop scoring at one point in the season. Still in two minds whether to get him back next year. Also came 3rd in Second Division Young Player of the Year.

Luis Afonso - Suprise of the season, really didn't expect him to perform as well as he did - Fans Player of The Year

Ricardo Gomes - We might've stood a chance had he not been injured at the end of the season - 7 goals in his last 5 games before he got injured, there was no stopping him.

Celsinho - Another loan signing, was solid in the center of midfield, will most likely try and get him again next season.

Around the World..

World Cup - Germany
Champions League - Real Madrid
Euro Cup - Liverpool
Liga Sagres - Benfica
Best National Player(Portugal) - Liedson
Footballer of The Year - Frank Lampard
World Player of The Year - Frank Lampard

[minisav]

Predictions for next season Benj? Obviously do better but is promotion a realistic goal?

Good season though

Back to my Darmstadt save. I missed it so!

[Benjaminoo]

With a few classy signings, I'm pretty sure we could gain promotion. Let's hope so
The tough thing is that there's only one spot to fight for, plus the play off at the end of the season so it's whether or not we can be consistent and see it through.

[Willy Wonka]

SV Stuttgarter Kickers - German Bundesliga 2016/17

I felt the squad was weaker this year than last, so I wasn't expecting to be so good.

Table

Progress

We were brilliant this year. The last few matches we tailed off a bit, me resting players for the champions league, but the title was wrapped up with 4 games left. The defence wasn't as tight as I would've liked but still, we're a cut above anyone else in this league.

Squad

More Germans in the squad this year. Mostly young upandcomers, they all got a bit of first team action which bodes well for the future. At the back, White and Buschman were brilliant in the middle, and Grob was decent at left back. The midfield contributed more this year, especially Ferstl but Acampora, my £15m signing from last year was again disappointing. Up front, again Tarik was pretty good, he didn't hit the heights of last year but he assisted more. My rising star, Muller had an impressive season, a highlight being his rating of 10, my first on FM.

Transfers

A relatively low key year in the market. Unfortunately we couldn't hold on to long term right back Mijatovic but at £10.5 we got a fair price.

Champs League Final

Champs League Results

Arghhh. So close. Losing in the final made the whole season seem a failure.


Close but no cigar. I need to keep the team together this year and hopefully I can go one step further in the CL and complete the challenge.

     Season     League   Position   Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11  Division 3    3rd       Promoted through play offs.
2011/12  Division 2    2nd       Promoted, Lost in German Cup 1st Round
2012/13  Bundesliga    5th       Qualified for Euro Cup.
2013/14  Bundesliga    9th       Won the German Cup, Euro Cup 1/4 Finals. 
2014/15  Bundesliga    2nd       Won Euro Cup, German Cup Semis, CL qualification
2015/16  Bundesliga    1st       Won German Cup, Super Cup, League, CL 1/4 finals.
2016/17  Bundesliga    1st       Won German League, CL Finalists.

[minisav]

Well played. Unlucky on the CL Final

[minisav]

I was given 22m

All gone though!

Will do a mini-update before my first match.

Turns out it was a very successful season for Leverkusen last season. They won the league and the UEFA Cup but we trumped them in the German Cup Final

[daemonic]

Unlucky in the CL Will, shouldn't be long before you complete the challenge

[rlipscombe]

unlucky Will. next year for sure though.

[minisav]

Incase you haven't met him, here is my youth project

Ahmet Akman

[rlipscombe]

Incase you haven't met him, here is my youth project

Ahmet Akman

not bad for 14 years old.....

[minisav]

Yeah, great pace. Being tutored by Seleznyov so hopefully will turn out awesome.

Transfers

Yeah, looks like a lot. Most of it over 48 months. Hopefully another good cup run, possibly a Euro run and give the board my promised Qualification for Europe through league position...

[iacovone]

Some top notch progress occurring in here chaps

Des that table puts me to shame . Cracking work. Immediately noticed my name and my Castillo save....Hmmm....is it approaching the time for a return to Spain!?

[Jack no Coke]

Montevarchi update

Ok where do I start......

Well as I've already said I suffered relegation from Serie C1/A last season,here's the final table http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4977/relegation.jpg I scored 50 goals but my defence was shockingg and shipped 83 goals in 34 games

I played Novara in a playout and to be honest I deserved to go down,I just wasn't ready to make the step up and was doomed from the start.But as the club keep faith with me and I kept my job,I decided that next time I would be ready.

So we found ourselves once again in the lowest tier of Italian football,the last time we got promoted via the playoffs, this time I'm determined to win the title.I first needed to acess my squad and remove alot of the dead wood.So players like Lo Socco,Marzocchi,Rossi,Casu,Cases and Novinic where all released or sold for small sums,yes some of them had been loyal servants to the club but after relegation managers need to be ruthless.

I managed to sign Villalva and Luca Arena on full time basis from Juventus,they both cost me 275K but I spread it out over two years.I sent my scouts around Europe to search for young and cheap (free) talent,Christian Vieiri who now is one of my scouts went to Holland,slept in his car eating beans on toast for a month because when you're 300K in debt,5 ***** hotels are out of the question

He came up with two players...Kees Poel http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/9883/keespoel.jpg and Hennie Velder http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/7...nnievelder.jpg They both sgned up for free and have settled in nicely to the team even without a word of Italian.

I am now ten games into the new season and things are looking pretty sweet,here's the table http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3806/table4i.jpg

I've just played Fogligno who were top before the game,were undefeated and only conceded four goals.Up step the dutch master http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/3...lehattrick.jpg A double Hat-trick from Kees Poel

8 nil against my closest rivals has surely sent out the message to all the division that we're going all the way (hopefuly)

Oh and Villalva is doing alright as well,19 goals in 15 matches http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1185/villalva.jpg he has scored in my last 8 games http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/49/vi...ringrecord.jpg

That's it for now

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Some top notch progress occurring in here chaps

Des that table puts me to shame . Cracking work. Immediately noticed my name and my Castillo save....Hmmm....is it approaching the time for a return to Spain!?

Definitely time for a return to spain, and no it doesn't put you to shame, we are the Big Euro collective...We will do it all together and blow away dafuge's challenge sooner or later.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Haha just got the "Low turnout" email stating a crowd of only 2000 expected, but my avg attendance is only 1518 so far...ummm yeah.

[daemonic]

Montevarchi update

Ok where do I start......
..

Hard luck on the relegation JNC but looks like you're bouncing back in style

[rlipscombe]

Definitely time for a return to spain, and no it doesn't put you to shame, we are the Big Euro collective...We will do it all together and blow away dafuge's challenge sooner or later.

here here!!! dust off the Castillo save iacovone.... Kaiserslautern can wait a little...

[minisav]

Spain is definitely calling!

1st game of the season: Werder Bremen 3 - 4 Darmstadt

Dentinho inspired signing as he has 6 goals in 3 games so far.

[Benjaminoo]

LLR, any chance of you letting me know where you got the Portugese kits and logos please?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Sure thing Ben, I am still using the ones I downloaded for FM08 as I haven't liked the updates and these have been the most comprehensive packs I have found. Logos are here & Kits are here.

[Benjaminoo]

Thank you mate, appreciated!

[minisav]

Came in to say we were into the group stages of the Euro Cup.

A disappointing away draw to Swiss side Bellinzona was followed up with a 3-0 win. We were drawn Inter, Rangers and Dinamo Moscow.

Instead, the game crashed after that. I then won 5-0 in the 2nd leg. Then I got drawn a much easier group of Ajax, NK Dinamo and Almeria.

I reckon I can take them!

[cookie15]

Not much game time for me this week so far, hoping for a bit tonight and maybe some titbits of information as to how my quest with Pisa has been going!

Will certainly be able to report on the group stages of the Champs League later.

[StellaF1]

Hospitalet - Season 6 - Liga BBVA - 2015-16

Table ¦ Graph ¦ Squad ¦ Transfers ¦ Finances

Pre-Season

Pre-Season for me was all about ensuring that my best young players were signed up to long-term contracts with significant minimum fee release clauses to ensure they couldn't be poached too easily. With the finances in reasonable shape the chairman has stopped accepting every bid that comes in and I have therefore been able to keep my best players.

I was able to generate some extra transfer cash by selling on some players in the team that i felt (with the Ass Man's advice) weren't good enough for the step up in class. The likes of De Marco (1.3m), Gomez (900K), Helan (475k) and Trueba - who was very good but too slow - (1.3m). Also my young goalkeeper Prokop, who i had been unimpressed with when he played, went out on loan to Chelsea for 350k with a potential 2.3m purchase fee if they wanted him. Chelsea took up this option in January.

With the money I had available I was able to strenthen the squad as i felt fit and brought in key players such as Romao (825k), Garibaldi (1.6m), Marcio (725k) and Daniel (325k).

The Season

The season started off fantastically for newly promoted Hospitalet as we found ourselves in a comfortable mid-table position in Liga BBVA. We had also found a new star in Daniel. I had bought Daniel in the summer for a min-release fee of 325k from Rayo Vallecano but despite being only 17 years old he quickly earned himself the accolade of being my best striker. This transfer would also become the best bargain of all the transfers in Liga BBVA.

For some reason the fixtures pitted us against most of the teams in the bottom half of the league at the start of the season and then let us play most of the top teams in the league one after the other. This resulted in me realising that we needed to get the points on the board because the final fixtures of the season looked like a complete nightmare. For instance - my last 4 home matches were against; Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia. Just to top this off we all had away matches against Villarreal and Sevilla mixed in. Unsurprisingly then we scored no points in these fixtures and actually only scored 5 points in the last 10 games.

Thankfully though when we had the run of fixtures against the lesser teams in the division we were able to get the points on the board and as a result we finished the season in an excellent 14th place in our 1st top flight season. SUCCESS, .

The Players

Bas Van Duijn - GK - The young keeper kept his place as first choice keeper as i had failed over the summer and during the January transfer window to find anyone better. Saying that, he had some truly inspired performances and wasn't out of place in this division.
Luca Bianco - DR - Played a lot of the games this season but didn't find the jump in class as well as some of the others in the team. Will have to see if he can improve with his first top flight season under his belt.
Ricardo Alonso - DLC - He is 18 years old and he has already made 104 league appearances for the club. I think that shows how good he is and how vital he is to the clubs success so far and in the future. Have rejected so many offers for him and every transfer window is a battle to keep him but thankfully I have so far succeeded.
Vasily Ignatjiev - DC - I hadn't expected to use Vasily much during this season but felt i needed to keep him in case we had some injuries. As it was he actually played quite a lot and played very well desite the step up in level.
Bruno Bianchi - DC - Was brought in to improve the defense and to be one of my first choice centre backs. However his performances were riddled with mistakes that led to goals conceded which in turn relected on himself with poor ratings and ultimately a poor Av. Rating.
Marcio - DRC - Marcio was bought on transfer deadline day for 725k from Sevilla as I felt we were still too weak in defense. It turned out to be money well spent as he provided some of the extra quality we needed as he played the majority of the games.
Antonio - DC - Antonio was my record transfer signing when i bought him for 1.8m in January. I felt I needed an extra defender and he looked very good. But in all honesty I was expecting more from but hopefully now he has settled in he will show he was worth the money next season.
Silvano Raggio Garibaldi - DMC - Silvano was bought for 1.6m and is my most expensive player as i felt that i needed a quality DMC if we were to survive in this league. Silvano definately provided the quality we needed and was worth every penny of the transfer fee.
Aimen Demai - DMC - Aimen was mainly used this season as a backup to Garibaldi and also when we had a run of games in short periods of time. He has started to show his age a bit now and so he will be leaving in the summer when his contract runs out.
Francesco Viola - MC - Francesco had an average season with him getting good average ratings but not providing and scoring as many goals.
Zoltan Bagi - AMR - Zoltan keeps getting better and better each season. Despite moving up a division he actually managed to get more assists this season as he develop as a player and more clubs came sniffing to try and claw him away - it will cost them at least 10m
Martin Kozhuharov - AMR - Bought from Real Madrid for 230k, Martin provided cover for Bagi though he isn't going to threaten his place in the first team.
Adam Dudas - AMR - Nothing more than a backup at AMR and as I feel he is out of his depth in this league he will also be leaving in the summer.
Mihajlo Zaric - AML - On the whole he had a poor season compared to the standards he had previously set. He only managed 1 goal and 1 assists for the season and if he doesn't improve quickly I am going to have to cash in on him.
Josip Knezevic - AMLC - I only used Josip as a substitute this season as he didn't make an impression on the first team. I haven't renewed his contract so he will be leaving in the summer.
Joaquim Romao - AMLC - Bought for 825k Joaquim looks like a good prospect for the future and I hope he improves on what he achieved this season. His arrival is the main reason why Josip Knezevic didn't play too much.
Jean-Pierre Kremer - ST - Used mainly as a backup this season as i felt he wasn't able to take enough of the chances he had during the mathces he actually played in.
Ivan Bolado - ST - The top goalscorer for the club in each of the last 3 seasons in Liga Adelante. Ivan struggled with life in Liga BBVA as he only scored 11 goals which is much less than what i had hoped for.
Daniel - ST - Daniel was bought for a min-release fee of 325k from Rayo Vallecano and proved to be the sensation of the season. He was brought in as a hot prospect and wasn't expected to be a first team regular. His performances in the early part of the season were simply awesome and he quickly became one of my most important players. He was easily top scorer with 16 goals and also won the Fans Player of the Year.

Next Seasons Aims

What I am hoping for in the coming season is to maintain what I have but also improve the squad where i can. A similar league position is what I want to establish the team in this league. The training facilities are now finally being upgraded so hopefully i will get better youth prospects for the season after next as the upgrades wont be completed until October time.

[rlipscombe]

congrats on staying up Stella - well done.

[ghostwriter]

Renato Curi Angolana - Serie C2/B - 2012/13

4th place at the turn of the year

Only 1 new arrival in January as a clubless 21yo Kazakh AM/F C joined - he was born and bred in Germany hence how my scout found him. I sold one of my original year 1 DCs as with the new youth I had got in September he was not needed.

Following a solid 2-0 win in our opening game we had the visit of leaders Celano as we wished to prove that we could beat them again. And we did, 2-1. They had also lost their opening 2013 game so we were only 5 points behind. A tight 3rd straight home win was followed by our first real thrashing of the season as Gubbia were dismissed 4-1. A 5th straight win followed as we brushed aside Cisco and moved up to 2nd and now only 3 points behind Celano.

Obviously it was time for a dreadful away performance against a relegation threatened side so 0-2 to Barletta followed. 2 more wins later (one very very good at Juve Stabia) and it then started to go wrong; horrible at Sanguistese, an embarrassing 0-0 at home to Viterbese, another defeat and another home 0-0 and we were nowhere near Celano but much nearer to 3rd and 4th than I would have liked. Still miles ahead of 6th so the playoffs were not in much doubt.

Thankfully we refound our ability and reeled off 4 straight wins, the 2nd confirmed the playoffs, the 3rd gave me hope of catching Celano whilst the 4th confirmed 2nd. We lost the last game of the season but it made no difference. To the playoffs...

Our best striker catching flu just before the first match at Foligno did not help, neither did 2 long range efforts from their midfield, we did get one back though and given our respective league positions we only needed to win the return leg; none of this away goals, extra time rubbish. Which we did, and although we were pretty dominant we never got the 2nd goal to make things more secure so the 2nd half was nerve-wracking.

So the final was against Sanguistese. In the first half of the away leg we were awful and lucky to be only 0-2 down. We battered them in the 2nd half but could find no way past their GK. Have to say at this moment I was not feeling too confident. Especially when 40 minutes into the home leg it was still 0-0, then Napoli my best ST scored. And he got another on the hour. And we held on until full time. And then to my horror, I realised there was extra time in case of a tie. But we managed to hold on for those extra 30 minutes as well as both teams were so knackered that the standard of play deteriorated to park football level.

This is the final table and the positions graph shows how steady we were.
So up we go. Considerably better than last year's disaster. Rather unexpectedly it was our defensive record that was the main reason for this; we only scored 2 more than last season but conceded 16 less. We were in fact quite dull, only just over 2 goals per game, we scored more than 2 only 5 times and only once conceded more than 2. Just the one home defeat and solid away with some good victories.

Squad - Panama, Ivory Coast, Romania, Argentina, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, it has all gone a bit international
Summary
Finances - same again, and probably the same next season as both wages and gate receipts should go up
Transfers - the Summer ones were pretty much all a success although the purchase of Bolzan was a bit unneccessary, he will probably be sold, whilst Pasechenko hardly shone, the youths are highlighted below whilst the 2 April arrivals are Belgian and quite good; one is our best DC (did not play as did not want to disturb the team), the other an ML

The stars this season were:

Best GK - Julian Gardette - my assistant recommended him and he was correct to do so, played every match, a clean sheet pretty much every 2 games, several classy saves and very few errors, think he can probably step up a division, depends on if my scouts or assistant spot anyone better
Best Defender - Mijat Maric - fantastic at DL, very few goals were conceded from that side of the pitch, did not set up much but given the winger ahead of him (see later) that is no issue, I think I recall 1 very mildly poor match but all the rest he was very classy, should have no problem doing his stuff in Serie C1
Best Midfielder - Isaac Cuenca - freebie from Barcelona and initially he was a backup to Della Rocca but after consistantly impressing during his cameos I decided to change formation to play him more and went from DMC-MC to 2 MCs just to fit him in, he then continued being awesome week after week, several assists and a nice number of goals, and never a simple tap in either, he has a fantastic left foot and got the 1st and 2nd place for Goal Of The Season for 2 long-rangers
Best Winger - Stephane Marseille - another great new signing, was great at ML, most number of assists and MOMs and Player of the Year, he and Maric had a great partnership on the left hand side, another one who should step up without a problem unless somebody better is uncovered
Best Strikers - Aiman Napoli and Alberto Quintero - I expected a lot from Napoli and he more or less delivered, a lot of goals but also wild inconsistancy, 6 games without a goal and then 6 in 4 kind of stuff, if he can sort that out he will be fantastic, the midget Quintero was great as his partner, very rarely played badly, did not really score enough goals but got a few assists, has a chance of going to next year's World Cup as well
Best Loanee - Nicola Semenzato - came in as backup DC and that is what he was until February, then Ortiz got injured for 2 months so he came in and he never lost his place, great performances with Grieco, is going to be a great player, as Ternana will be in the same division as us next season I really can't see them loaning us him again, in fact they really should play him themselves to be honest

And here are some youths:

Stefano Mainini - came thru upon my arrival and was going to be my first choice until Giorgi arrived, now we are up I might try to loan him out for 1st team experience, doubt he will ever be 1st choice for us but he should have good C1/C2 career
Lorenzo Pisani - another one of mine, came up last season, getting better all the time, was on the bench as DR backup for the last few weeks but never played, probably the same again
Andrea De Rose - came in on a free in September after 2 seasons and 10 appearances in Serie B with Ancona, already looks good to me and he played a couple of solid matches when Maric was out, will probably get a few more matches next season
Leonardo Strukelj - got on a free, we're his first club, looks very promising, got 10 minutes of first team football this season, might get a little bit more next season
Luigi Piccinni - was in non-league last year but my scouts liked him, looks quite good except his mental stats, I'll see how he looks in 12 months time
Andrea Bolzan - another freebie at his first club, looks as promising as Strukelj, might get rid of an ST to give him and Puccinni a chance at a couple of appearances

Don't really know the difference in quality between C1 and C2 but I would like to think that I would be able to survive without changing my squad that much (although Jake No Coke's immediate relegation concerns me). The one position that definitely needs improving is MR but apart from that, I am not actively searching to replace anyone but undoubtedly better players will now be available so I will pick and choose them. Objective has to be relegation avoidance.

Hope there are no stadium requirements in C1, we filled it to capacity (3,000) for the 2 playoff matches but otherwise it was around 1,300 for the most of the others so I don't think it will be expanded unless we are forced to.

Best 11
Overall Best 11


10/11 - Serie C2/B - 7th
11/12 - Serie C2/B - 13th
12/13 - Serie C2/B - 2nd (promoted via playoffs)

Team I Would Like To Play Every Week - Fano - H4-0, A3-1 (14th, avoided relegation via playout)
Team I Would Not Like To Play Every Week - Viterbese - A0-2, H0-0 (18th and last, the shame that we failed to even score a single goal against them )

[rlipscombe]

Venezia - Serie B - Eeason Preview 2015/16


Well it’s been a pretty tough summer to be honest, following the clubs decision to build a new ground and the debt that that entails. I have spent the summer trying to raise some funds and slash the wage bill in order to assemble a decent squad.

The chairman also decided to sell two of my better players - Branko Vasovic and Mohammed Sissoko against my wishes which has meant I have had to try and find reinforcements.

So, who are the newbies I hear you ask…..

Transfers 1 Transfers 2

Goalkeepers


Jerson - Brazilian GK signed for £600k from Palmeriras. the deal was actually done last summer for this promising keeper. He will play understudy this season.


Angelo van Haaren - Dutch keeper brought in as cover for Aranda.

Defenders


Kay Voser - Swiss LB signed on a free from Grasshoppers. Good player, though the fans feel he may unsettle a little. time will tell.

Rouven Herzog - the young German will be cover for Voser this season. decent prospect.

Stoyan Kostadinov - the first of the two Bulgarian imports. Will provide back up mainly. One for the future.

Ismet Stoyanov - Our second Bulgarian defender. Will start as one of our CBs. Decent little player.

Jose Luis Aramayo - another youth prospect, signed for £500k. Has Serie A potential which is good. Highly rated

Midfielders


Jurgen Saumel - Austrian DM signed on a free to bring some experience. Will battle with Temperino and Koke for a starting berth.

Luis Fernandes - Portugese DM prospect - definitely one for the future and a bit of a bargain really.

Strikers


Lewis Ellis - signed on a free after his release by Arsenal. Taken a bit of a gamble on him. hopefully it may pay off. time will tell.

Janos Orosz - Another gamble really on deadline day. £200k bought me this young Hungarian. He looks good, I just hope he is.

So there are the newbies. I have brought in a few other loanees to bulk out the squad a little following the mass exodus of players. I decided to cash in on those who weren’t starters but who had a year left on thir contracts, to get some money for them. the main players in this bracket were Crotti, Poncelet, Venema, Sebo and Perelli. With a bit of luck I haven’t weakened the team too much but many of the changes had to be made to secure the future of the club and bring me down on the wage budget.

So we now prepare to face our final season at the Guiseppe Penzo. Will we christen the new Collauto Prk with Serie A football?? we shall see….

FORZA LAGUNARI!!!

[rlipscombe]

congrats ghostwriter on promotion. as for the step up, i didn't find it too bad to be honest. and no there aren't any ground requirements to worry about.

[minisav]

Well done Stella and Ghostwriter

So glad I splashed the cash now. Dentinho has 7 goals in 12 appearances. Merida still showing why he is a legend in my eyes when he gets a game

EDIT: I was wrong, that's his assists. 15 appearances, 16 goals

[ghostwriter]

well, i hope the step up is not too bad as i will probably be stuck with more or less the same squad. possible takeover -> transfer embargo mid July .
just one DC signed so far. hope this does not drag on for months, never gone thru one of them before.

[minisav]

Gutted

Through the 3rd round of the German Cup. 26000 people sell-out

[cookie15]

Champions League Group Stage 2015/16

Pisa were drawn in a group with Benfica, Zenit and Liverpool. The results went as follows:

Benfica 1 - 1 Pisa
Pisa 4 - 1 Zenit
Liverpool 0 - 1 Pisa
Pisa 3 - 0 Liverpool
Pisa 4 - 2 Benfica
Zenit 3 - 5 Pisa

Pisa won the group winning 5 of the 6 games. This saw the boys get drawn against Arsenal, away in the first leg.

The boys took the trip to the Emirates and ran out 2-1 winners, this meant we could return to Italy with a great chance of progressing to the Quarter finals. The whole team played incredibly well and a brace from Di Maria helped us to a 5-1 home victory (7-2 on aggregate).

The European adventure continues.........

[DodgeeD]

A lot of updates to catch up on!

Stella - well done on survival. That should give you a good platform to build on.

ghostwriter - congrats on promotion and best of luck in Serie C1.

rlipscombe - looks like you found some good prospects there. I especially like the look of Aramayo and Fernandes.

cookie15 - great stuff in Europe. Feeling confident?

I think it's time to take a break from my career game and dust off my BC Branco save.

[DodgeeD]

B.C. Branco - 2017/18 Summer Transfers

When I last played this game, I had established B.C. Branco in the Liga Sagres as we had finished 7th in our second season up. Hopeful of a push for a European place this time, I set out to bring in some new faces.

Alas, my chairman had other ideas as he went over my head to accept bids for my Portuguese DM Pele, Mexican left winger Cuevas and Spanish right winger Alberto. The sales brought in 7.5mil, 5mil of which was made available for transfers but I was left fuming at the late August sales of three key players from key positions in the 4-5-1 formation we had been using. (That was why I put the save to one side for a while )

The following players came in:

David Pons (AMC) - in on a free from Barcelona. The only out and out AMC at the club, he'll give us increased attacking options.

Ernesto (ST) - also a freebie from Barcelona. Frustrated by lack of first team action at Camp Nou but with a good scoring record when he did play (6 goals in 9 starts last season), he should do well here.

Marcos Ledesma (DM, MRC) - Pele's replacement and what a bargain! 2.5k from Boca Juniors = money well spent.

Pablo (DL) - a bit on the young side but will be back-up for now and I hope he'll be ready for the first team within a season or two.

Rafael (ST) - another 17 year-old and another Spaniard. My scouts say he has potential to be a leading star in Liga Sagres and I think they are right!

[DodgeeD]

First game of the season home to Sporting and we get a 2-2 draw. However, the game is marred by a horror tackle on new boy Ledesma late in the game, leaving him with a broken leg and 6 months out.

[minisav]

Gutted Dodgee

Just got the news that the chairman is looking to step aside.

And Duad

[minisav]

Our first European defeat come away to Dinamo who beat us 3-2.

However, it was too late as we had already qualified as first.

[cookie15]

Champions League 2015/16 Quarter Finals

This round saw Pisa drawn with Spanish giants Valencia. Understandably Valencia were favourites and David Villa was considered the main threat.

The first leg had Pisa at home and we managed to come from behind to win 2-1. This put us in a good position to head to Spain and see if we could progress.
The boys started well and when Gallardo was pulled down in the area Di Maria strode up and buried the penalty. 1-0 to Pisa Sadly, this was shortlived A quick fire double from that man Villa saw Valencia take the lead and it stayed that way until the end of 90 minutes. I made a couple of changes and bought Lima, my young Brazilian ST, on for Dekker. This proved to be decisive. After 113 minutes of the tie, with the scores level, in he strode to head in the cross to score his first goal of the season. What a time to score. This made the final score 2-2 and fired Pisa into the semis.

We've drawn Bayern Munich in this round, can the boys go one step further.........

[minisav]

Congrats Cookie. Good luck with Bayern. What's their team looking like?

[PaulHartman71]

FC Libourne-Saint-Seurin, 2021-22, Ligue 1

League Position - 18th: Past Positions

Squad

Transfers

Summary

Obviously our first season in Ligue 1 was always going to be a big challenge. The first thing that happened was that the Board got us a link with Lyon. This seemed strange since they were in our division, so any cash from them would be pointless, they also didn't play a friendyl with us, nor did they send us any loan players. Anyway... despite the stadium being expanded, the board gave me money to spend which I spent. I did cash in on a few players, namely Geslin Schafer, who I valued at nowhere near 3.5M, I would have taken 1M for him. Although it looks like we were extremely close to staying up (one point), it actually took us 14 games to pick up our first win. We did manage to draw a lot of games (11) which helped us pick up points, a lot of crucial goals came from unlikely sources as well, our home grown hero Jerome Hebert for example, scored an incredible seven goals this season. Although the relegation may seem like a bad thing, in many ways it isn't. Only one player wanted to leave following it, which means we should absolutely dominate Ligue 2 next season *touch wood*. The financial security we now have following the Stadium being expanded, means that I can strenghten where I need to next year, which ultimately means we'll have a much better squad going into Ligue 1 for the second time.

Onze de départ

GK: Matthieu Dreyer, 33, Français - I've signed another Goalkeeper that has the potential to be just as good as Dreyer, but I opted for Dreyer as first choice this season due to his experience.

DR: Mladen Tsvetkov, 25, Bulgare - The Bulgarian had a good season at right back in his second season at the club. He's not great as a Ligue 1 player yet, but he will be great in Ligue 2 next season.

DL: Alexandru Muscä, 24, Roumain - The Romanian had a good season despite the clubs poor defensive record. He was the only player that expressed interest in leaving the club at the end of the season, he's been fairly loyal to the club so it's only fair for me to cash in on him.

DC: Edgardo Flores, 27, Honduras - A decent player, has the potential to turn into a good Ligue 1 player so should have a good season in Ligue 2 next year.

DC: Mickael Nelsen, 32, Francais - He didn't start many games, but he played in the last 15 games of the season, and since that was the best form of the season for us, he's probably one of the better DC's we had.

MR: Jérôme Hebert, 20, Français - The home grown hero had a good first season in Ligue 1, amazingly he scored 7 goals. At one point he was our top goal scorer!

ML: Gianmarco Gigli, 25, Italien - A fantastic freebie I found in the summer, Gigli had a good season on the left, even if the statistics don't support that.

MC: Sergio Marbus, 29, Néerlandais - The Dutch captain went through a bad patch at the start of the season, I even dropped him at one point in favour of a Korean midfield prospect who looks good. He regained his place in the end though, and played well in our last few games attempt to survive.

MC: Matthieu Causse, 25, Français - The central midfield pair which for the last two years has been brilliant had trouble adapting to Ligue 1, but the experience will have done both Causse and Marbus the world of good.

ST: Vivaldy Joaquim, 27, Congolese - He wasn't really that good, I'd label him crap if he wasn't a youth product of mine. I wouldn't say he was worth the 275K loan fee I payed, but I'll take him next season if I can get him for free on loan.

ST: Razvan Ionica, 24, Roumain - I cashed in on my main striker from last season, for about 3.5M (he was nowhere near worth that kind of money imo) and signed this man as a replacement. He did well, scoring 13 in 33 starts. I expect big things of him in Ligue 2 next year.

-

Official Fans Player of the Year - Jérôme Herbert

Unofficial Young Player of the Year - Jérôme Herbert

Career Overview

Season     League   Position   Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11  National    4th       None
2011/12  National    5th       None
2012/13  National    7th       None
2013/14  National    2nd       Promoted 
2014/15  Ligue 2    18th       Relegated
2015/16  National    3rd       Promotion
2016/17  Ligue 2    13th       None
2017/18  Ligue 2    12th       None
2018/19  Ligue 2     7th       None
2019/20  Ligue 2     6th       None
2020/21  Ligue 2     1st       Promoted as Champions
2021/22  Ligue 1     18th      Relegated



Trophies won:

Ligue 2 (x1) - 2020/21

[cookie15]

Congrats Cookie. Good luck with Bayern. What's their team looking like?

Pretty useful if i'm honest. Full of Internationals, but i reckon it'll be a close game.

[DodgeeD]

My chairman seems intent on selling every midfielder I've got! After selling ym best wingers and DM in the summer, he's now accepted a 2.4mil offer for a central midfielder even though we have over 5mil in the bank and 2mil left in the transfer budget!

[minisav]

Good luck with next season Paul

Crunch time. After Bayern crashed to their first defeat of the season I'm now up against 3rd placed Leverkusen. They are only 2 points behind so this is a potential big game to start the tail end of the season as we start February. I bought a new CB but it's another Brazillian so I've run out of foreigner spots /o\

[cookie15]

Semi Final First Leg vs Bayern Munich

First leg saw Pisa at home. Naturally, we were seen as massive underdogs, but could we give ourselves a fighting chance?
0-0 at half rime, a few choice words and we'd see what happens. Mariga (MC) got the ball some 25 yards out and moved the ball onto his right foot and rifled a shot into the top right corner, 1-0. IN the closing stages AMR Keko met a cross from Di Maria at the far post and nodded in, 2-0.

Can we hold on and make it to the final? Second leg in due course...........

[minisav]

Come on Pisa! \o/

Just won a massive game. New 2nd placed team HSV came to us. 1-0

Sadly I lost my 3rd and last DM to injury so will have to change tactics for the upcoming Euro Cup Knock-out game against West Ham!