FM10 Small Club to Big Club Big Euro Nation Challenge

[Cardiomolester]

I intend to start this tomorrow in Scotland but I would like to know what the reset date is in Scotland?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I am not sure Cardio, but I holidayed to June 1st when I started there, and the old season had finished meaning I could select the last placed team in the Third Division.

My Final Three Games

11.05 at Sporting (Liga Sagres)
18.05 vs Porto (Portuguese Cup Final) at Estadio Nacional
24.05 vs Real Madrid (Champs League Final) at Millenium Stadium

[Razer82]

Though confused as to why my attendance at this game was only 2000...? Is it because the crowd must be seated for the Champions League? If so thats CRAP!

It is seating only in European competition. I was surprised my by reduced attendances but still managed to get 10k for the home games.

I am not sure Cardio, but I holidayed to June 1st when I started there, and the old season had finished meaning I could select the last placed team in the Third Division.

My Final Three Games

11.05 at Sporting (Liga Sagres)
18.05 vs Porto (Portuguese Cup Final) at Estadio Nacional
24.05 vs Real Madrid (Champs League Final) at Millenium Stadium

Good luck for the run in. Would be great to see another Portuguese side lift the Champions League.

[rlipscombe]

Thats 3 big games.... Surely we can't have gone nearly two years without a Portugese completion only to get two in a couple of days...??

Good luck Des.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Des Tiny's
Lusitano de Evora


End of Season
2024/25 Liga Sagres
Double the Fun, Triple the Trophys

The Current Season

The Quick Reference

Predicted: 3rd
Actual: 1st - CHAMPIONS!!!
Portuguese Cup: Final vs Porto - CHAMPIONS!!!
League Cup: Semi Final vs Porto
Super Cup: vs Sporting - CHAMPIONS!!!
Champions League: Final vs Real Madrid
Euro Rank: 48th (^43) [3rd Por]
Finances: £40M (4th Por, 72nd World)
Season Tickets: 1493 (^269)
The Squad: All Players
Transfers: 2024/25
The Manager: Des Tiny - History

The Season in General

We had a great season in general, the results were awesome across the board, and then we started raking in the money with huge winnings from the Champions League as well. We ended up make about £27m in profit and only making a few changes to the side, as we strengthen and build while trying to keep the core of our side the same. We now have ten current players with over 100 appearances for the club.

The League

We took 23 wins, 6 draws and only 1 loss in the entire season, we scored 67 goals and only conceded 13, I was absolutely delighted. Of course because of such a great season as we went back to back in the title hunt the club now want us to win the title no questions asked. But they have given us a huge budget to make sure we acheive it. Of course I don't believe there are really any weaknesses in our side at this moment, but I may use this budget to bring in some superstars who could improve our performance in the Champions League. We ended up tying Porto's record for games without losing as we went 29 straight through 2024. The board were happy with the retention of our title, as we took it twice in a row

Player Stats
Team Stats

The Cups

Completing the Double and the board are delighted with Tiny's effort in leading Evora to the Portuguese Cup. The fans then proceeded to sing my name as they celebrated the victory. In our run to the Portuguese Cup Title we defeated Sporting, Louletano, Boavista, Vit. Guimaraes, Naval (Over 2 Legs) & Porto. A huge victory as it meant we had now won all of the possible titles for our team, Three Leagues & Two Cups.

LC Stats
PC Stats

Europe

Our long trip to Europe was the main reason we made a profit, we gained about £25m in prize money from the time we spent in Europe, and we defeated some huge names through the season including Olympique Lyon, Manchester Utd, At. Madrid & Inter Milan. And we were finally defeated by Real Madrid in the final, a huge season and the delight of my team is impressive, I cannot ask for more out of them.

Vs the Top 3



vs Sporting 3:3
at Sporting 3:2e, 1:1
Sporting (NV) 2:1
vs Porto 2:0, 2:3
at Porto 1:1
Porto (NV) 2:1
vs Benfica 4:1, 4:1
at Benfica 1:2

The Club's History

League Records

|----------|----------|-----------|----------|--------------|
|  Season  |  League  | Final Pos | Playoffs | Achievements |
|----------|----------|-----------|----------|--------------|
|  2010/11 |   2DS    |    6th    |          |     None     |
|  2011/12 |   2DS    |    1st    |    2nd   |   Promoted   | Won 2nd Div South
|  2012/13 |    LV    |    8th    |    N/A   |     None     |
|  2013/14 |    LV    |    3rd    |    N/A   |     None     |
|  2014/15 |    LV    |    3rd    |    N/A   |     None     |
|  2015/16 |    LV    |    4th    |    N/A   |     None     |
|  2016/17 |    LV    |    3rd    |    N/A   |     None     |
|  2017/18 |    LV    |    1st    |    N/A   |   Promoted   | Won Liga Vitalis
|  2018/19 |    LS    |   10th    |    N/A   |     None     |
|  2019/20 |    LS    |    5th    |    N/A   | Qualified EC |
|  2020/21 |    LS    |    9th    |    N/A   |     None     |
|  2021/22 |    LS    |    5th    |    N/A   |  Won Lg Cup  | Qualified EC
|  2022/23 |    LS    |    3rd    |    N/A   | Qualified EC |
|  2023/24 |    LS    |    1st    |    N/A   |  Won League  | Qualified CL
|  2024/25 |    LS    |    1st    |    N/A   |  Won League  | Qualified CL
|          |   Cups   | Won Super | Won Port | 2nd Champs L |
|----------|----------|-----------|----------|--------------|

Club Records & Competition History

All Records:
Highest Attendance: 15000 vs Porto (Sellout)
Highest Gate: £180,000 vs Benfica
Avg Attendance: 8575
Games Won in a Row: 13 (02.10.24-07.12.24)
Games without Losing: 31 (03.03.24-07.12.24)
Games without Conceding: 6 (10.11.24-07.12.24)
Career League Apps: 168 (Francisco Javier Sanchez)
Highest Fee Paid: £2.7m (Pedro Banos)
Fastest Goal: 15s (Wilson Mateus)

Competition History:
Champions League - 2nd 2025
Liga Sagres - Winners 2024, 2025, 3rd 2023
League Cup - Winners 2022
Portuguese Cup - Winners 2025
Liga Vitalis - Winners 2018, 3rd 2014, 2015, 2017
2nd Division South - Winners 2012
Reserves:
Group 3 - 3rd 2017
Group 2 - Winners 2025, 2nd 2019
U19s:
Group 4 - 2nd 2024, 3rd 2025
U19s Cup - Winners 2023, 2nd 2018

The Players

The Squad

Current Teams Stats

Goalkeepers

33. Oscar Carrera - Last season was huge for Carrera, but this season was even better, he got more clean sheets for our club in this season than anyone else has had in their Evora Career. With 31 Clean Sheets in 55 games is exactly what the team needed, he is definitely growing into the position and even though he is not a superstar he is just what our club needs.

          Apps    Conc  Clean MoMs AvgRat
2024/25    55      35    31     2   6.94
Career    191     166    87     2   6.87

Defense

3. Pablo Roman - 9 Goals, & 9 MoM's leads to Evora having the best possible combination at the back, we have an unbeatable defensive line, and I hope between my Keeper and the backs that I have a great line that will last for a fair few years to come. Roman will soon take over from Sanchez as the lead back the way he is going.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   49 (0)    9     1     9   7.33
Career    80 (7)   12     2     9   7.21

4. Francisco Javier Sanchez - Our Captain fantastic has made it into the record books for the most appearances for Evora of all time, he added another 5 man of the match awards, and he had one of his best seasons to date playing alongside Roman at the back.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   48 (0)    1     0     5   7.12
Career   242 (5)   46     9    38   7.31

36. Ferhat Yildiz - One of the best players at the club, Yildiz was named as the fans player of the year, he ran the game from the back for Evora. He is definitely a huge name for this club and I hope he continues to be ours for a long time to come. Definitely think he is the best fullback in the Liga Sagres.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   47 (0)    1     8     5   7.44
Career   106 (2)    2    12    10   7.35

5. Adolfo Silveira Reis - He barely played this season, but he is likely to fetch a bit of a price when I send him off elsewhere in the new season.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25    3 (1)    0     0     0   7.20
Career    98 (3)    0     2     3   7.03

63. Peter Kalu - He played in a huge 51 games this season, and he is slowly building up his role in the team, and he also managed to get his first cap for Nigeria in this season. He got a total of 14 assists this season and then he just played the exact role he is needed for.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   51 (0)    0    14     5   7.42
Career    91 (4)    0    29     5   7.34

80. Alejandro Etxeberria - Solid cover for Yildiz, but he did manage to get the Runner-up for Player of the month at one point.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25    7 (6)    0     1     0   6.84
Career    37(30)    0     2     0   6.85

2. Peter Cooper - Our American back-up, he will stay behind Kalu, but he is good enough to start at all other Liga Sagres teams.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25    5 (7)    0     1     0   6.73
Career    24(15)    0     2     0   6.80

50. Pedro Banos - The best of the new kids on the block, he is only injury cover for the club, but he has some huge potential to become a superstar in the future.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   10 (8)    0     1     0   6.95
Career    10 (8)    0     1     0   6.95

Adrian Cuevas - He is the other part of our cover, and he spent the second half of the season on loan, but he will come back to battle with Banos for the bench spot.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25    0 (3)    0     0     0   6.83
Career     0 (3)    0     0     0   6.83

Midfield

26. Ernesto Vazquez - He is our playmaker and supposedly the best centre midfielder in our squad, he had a poor start to the season, but once he got into it he was able to turn out some goals and double figures of assists once more.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   45 (4)   10     8     4   7.11
Career   190(15)   31    32    10   7.03

16. Gabriel Bazan - Playing as part of the rotation policy as well, he got a fair few good games in during the season, though he wants to leave for a bigger club. He is one player I would like to keep if I can as he can do the job right across the middle.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   25(19)    5     3     1   6.83
Career    73(34)    6    11     1   6.84

13. Andre Santos - Our lucky number 13 continues to play in majority of the games each season and to show why he has been selected as one of the building blocks of our team which is still the youngest in the league.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   39 (3)    2     9     2   7.06
Career   154 (7)   16    33     6   7.12

24. Sergio Torres - He is our second longest serving player, but he has never really been a starter, he is just some of the best cover I can find, he doesn't expect much and he does the job when he is called on.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25    1(12)    2     2     0   6.74
Career    48(89)    8    14     1   6.75

42. Paulo Cordeiro - He is cover and that is all he does, he gets some game time and that leads to goals and assists. Also the only Portuguese player who has even really got a look in for our club and while we are not getting any good youth through he will continue as the only Portuguese star.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25    4(25)    2     5     0   6.82
Career    62(85)    6    26     1   6.79

19. Yasin Erdem - The Swiss-Turk was replaced by Markovic in the middle of the season, but he still managed to get a fair few starts as a rotation policy began with 4 clear favourites for my midfield, and another who is close as well.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   33 (8)    1    12     1   7.00
Career    38(19)    2    14     1   6.95

14. Borivoje Markovic - Our newest signing came in and was straight into the starting line-up, he moved in alongside Vazquez & Santos, but the others all rotate through now and Markovic had a very solid season after his start.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   19 (0)    1     4     0   7.14
Career    19 (0)    1     4     0   7.14

Strikers

10. Wilson Mateus - Alongside Myklebust & Zeric he was the main strike leader, but he didn't score as many goals as either of the other two. At least he managed to get almost double his worst season and Colombia are glad for his goalscoring as well.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   40 (9)   18    10     5   7.01
Career   138(15)   59    24    13   7.03

44. Johnny Myklebust - He surprised me last season as he stepped up and managed to acheive some great efforts all around the park, but he did even more this season as he scored 21 goals in his 50 appearances, he has now become one of the first names on the team sheet, he is the perfect target man with Zeric inside him.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   40(10)   21    11     4   7.06
Career    77(20)   35    23     7   7.05

1. Haris Zeric - Our top goalscorer for the 2nd year running even though everyone believes he is only the 5th best striker we have. I love his skills, for some reason he can just finish them all and as such he will definitely continue for the club as he scores 24+ goals a season.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   45 (3)   28    12     4   7.02
Career    89 (9)   53    20     8   7.00

11. Erik Graziani - He is getting on a bit, but he doesn't mind playing as a back-up so he will stay in the squad, and he can provide a good back-up across the front.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25    8(15)    2     3     0   6.70
Career    39(19)   15     6     2   6.79

71. Fatih Erol - I signed him as a possible new boy to join the exciting line we have upfront. Well he acheived a pretty good season getting a lot of game time while there were injuries, but he didn't quite score as many goals as I would like.

          Apps    Goals Assts MoMs AvgRat
2024/25   29(18)    9     4     1   6.78
Career    29(18)    9     4     1   6.78

The Best of the Best



The 100 Club



Francisco Javier Sanchez 247*, Ernesto Vazquez 205*, Gabriele Federici 203, Oier Torres 198, Matteo Jehl 194, Oscar Carrera 191*, Hector Cruz 182, Jose Manuel 179, Benjamin Addo 172, Carlos Perez Rojo 170, Andre Santos 161*, Wilson Mateus 153*,Diego Galiano 151, Paulo Cordeiro 147*, Sebastian Visentin 147, Raphael Lopes 146, Abraham 146, Pablo Cabezas 141, Sergio Torres 137*, Alberto Gonzalez 136, Guilherme Afonso 132, Theo Tsotetsi 117, Jose Maria 113, Ferhat Yildiz 108*, Gabriel Bazan 107*, Carsten Littman 107, Adolfo Silveira Reis 101*, Ander Suarez Rodriguez 100.

The Awards

Liga Sagres

Fullback of the Year: Ferhat Yildiz
Best Goalkeeper: Oscar Carrera
Central Defender of the Year: Pablo Roman 2nd, Francisco Javier Sanchez 3rd.
Young PotY: Johnny Myklebust 1st, Ferhat Yildiz 3rd.
Team of the Year: Oscar Carrera, Ferhat Yildiz, Peter Kalu, Pablo Roman, Ernesto Vazquez.
Manager of the Year: Des Tiny
Golden Boot: Haris Zeric 2nd (18)
Quickest Goal: Wilson Mateus 1st (15s)

Player of the Month - Dec: Alejandro Exteberria 2nd, Johnny Myklebust 3rd, Jan: Haris Zeric 2nd, Apr: Johnny Myklebust.
Manager of the Month - Aug: 1st, Sep: 3rd, Oct: 1st, Nov: 1st, Dec: 1st, Feb: 1st, Mar: 2nd, Apr: 1st.

Portuguese Cup

Goal of the Year: Gabriel Bazan 3rd

League Cup

Goal of the Year: Borivoje Markovic

Evora

Fans PotY: Ferhat Yildiz

Best XI: Carrera, Yildiz, Kalu, Roman, Sanchez, Markovic, Vazquez, Santos, Myklebust, Zeric, Mateus.
Subs: Constantino, Erdem, Etxeberria, Bazan, Banos, Cooper, Erol.

All Time XI: Littmann, Tildiz, Kalu, Sanchez, Franjic, Jehl, Lopes, Manuel, Leao, Afonso, Gomis.
Subs: Martins, Alves, Santos, Maria, Galiano, Roman, Wesllem.

Thoughts of the Future

Predicted Finish: 1st
Odds: 5-2 (Fav)
Expectations: Win
Transfer Budget: £25.5m
Wage Budget: £140k p/w
The Signings: None Currently

We have once more seen an addition to Favoured Personal as I made it in myself, and we also saw Ferhat Yildiz join the list, while Sanchez is now a Club Legend.

For the new season I am hoping to make it a threepeat in the League, I would love to clean up all the trophies in Portugal, and hopefully make it over that final hurdle in the league as well.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well guys, I wish I could've made the second Portuguese completion, but it really was a write off in that final game we are just not of the level of Real Madrid and they got a good early lead and left us behind.

[rlipscombe]

unlucky Des - the result seems to flatter Real Madrid. nonetheless a great season and i'm sure you can go one better next season with this experience under your belt.

and an awesome review once more too.

[Cardiomolester]

Well, having holidayed to the first of June as Des suggested (thanks!), Annan Athletic, who replaced Gretna in the Scottish Football League, finished bottom of the Scottish Third Division. So, that means James Bruce takes them over in the hope of leading them to bigger and better places.

Fantastic update Des, unlucky on the CL loss.

[Razer82]

Des - So close to completing the challenge. Well done. The prize money will make a difference for next season, I'd expect a few more seats in the stadium at some point too.

[rlipscombe]

welcome cardiovascular - good luck with Annan. i don't think anyone has been them yet???

[rlipscombe]

Well Venezia's season is complete. but did we make it back to Serie A??? the season review will reveal all. (probably be tomorrow though....)

[Lower Leagues Rule]

The Big Euro Participants Update

|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| User       | Club        | Nation    | League    | C. Season | Last Pos. |
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Cookie15   | Pisa        | Italy     | Serie A   |  2015/16  |    1st    | Completed 2015/16*
| Minisav    | Darmstadt   | Germany   | 1st Div   |  2015/16  |    1st    | Completed 2015/16*
| w.Wonka    | Stuttgart   | Germany   | 1st Div   |  2017/18  |    1st    | Completed 2017/18*
| El sid     | Munster     | Germany   | 1st Div   |  2018/19  |    1st    | Completed 2018/19*
| Daemonic   | Montevarchi | Italy     | Serie A   |  2018/19  |    1st    | Completed 2018/19*
| Ohanzee    | SD Noja     | Spain     | Liga BBVA |  2019/20  |    1st    | Completed 2019/20*
| Razer82    | Fafe        | Portugal  | Sagres    |  2022/23  |    1st    | Completed 2022/23*
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Aof Drown  | Elgin       | Scotland  | 1st Div   |  2018/19  |    1st    | League 2017/18 
| Ohanzee II | Albion      | Scotland  | Premier   |  2019/20  |    1st    | League 2016/17*
| StellaF1   | Hospitalet  | Spain     | Liga BBVA |  2020/21  |    1st    | League 2019/20*
| LLR        | Evora       | Portugal  | Sagres    |  2025/26  |    1st    | League 2023/24*
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Yababo     | Emmen FC    | Holland   | Eredivise |  2016/17  |    4th    |1
| DodgeeD    | Bc Branco   | Portugal  | Sagres    |  2019/20  |    5th    |1
| Benjaminoo | Farense     | Portugal  | Sagres    |  2014/15  |   14th    |1
| Paul Hart  | FC Libourne | France    | Ligue 1   |  2031/32  |   16th    |1*
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Iacovone   | Castillo    | Spain     | Liga BBVA |  2021/22  |    2nd    |1*
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Rlipscombe | Venezia     | Italy     | Serie B   |  2018/19  |   20th    |2*
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| G-Wiz      | Lubeck      | Germany   | 2nd Div   |  2011/12  |    1st    |2
| Duccio     | Casertana   | Italy     | Serie B   |  2012/13  |    1st    |2*
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Ghostwriter| Renato Curi | Italy     | Serie C1B |  2016/17  |    5th    |3*
| Deltablue  | RW Essen    | Germany   | Third Div |  2012/13  |   15th    |3
| Corintiano | Babelsberg  | Germany   | Third Div |  2010/11  |    N/A    |3*
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Cardiovasc | Annan       | Scotland  | 3rd Div   |  2010/11  |    N/A    |4
|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|

There you go all of the clubs currently competing in the Big Euro Challenge

[rlipscombe]

top work Des - love the logo!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I tried to make it a little smaller, but when I did it went all Pixellated But this one works for me, and the list shows that we need a completion in France, Scotland, Holland & Turkey to have one in every league this year.

[PaulHartman71]

oh don't worry Des, you'll get a French completion, it's a matter of when not if

[Lower Leagues Rule]

oh don't worry Des, you'll get a French completion, it's a matter of when not if

I would say thats the same with myself and my Evora (Portugal) completion, its just a matter of when

Also while I am here, is there anyone who has not signed up for my Commonwealth Games who would like to?

[rlipscombe]

shameless plug Des..... i'm in.

[rlipscombe]

FCB Venezia - Serie B - Season Review 2018-19


Media Prediction: 3rd
League Finish: 3rd Graph

It would be fair to say that this was a season of two parts. We struggled badly at first, failing to shake off our losing mentality from our disasterous Serie A campaign. We won only 2 of our first 8 matches which left us with too much to do ultimately in our promotion push. Once we got our act together we got on a great run and climbed the league steadily. Ultimately we fell just short in the rush for an automatic place, so we had to make do with the play-offs.

The semi finals saw us face Empoli, a team I had had some troubles with. Thankfully we got the better this time, winning away 3-1 before rounding it off with a comfortable 3-0 home win. This left us with Atalanta in the way in the final. A nervous 1-0 away win in Bergamo set us up and we won 3-0 at home to secure our return to Serie A. I would honestly say that we did deserve to return in the end as, our poor start withstanding, we were probably the best team in the league.

In the Coppa Italia, we finally made it through to the first round proper for the first time. This included a home win against Lazio, which was very pleasing. We finally fell to their Roman rivals AS Roma but we could hold our heads up high with our performances in the cup this season.

Transfers 1 Transfers 2
Squad 1 Squad 2

Here is a look at the players that saw us back into Serie A.

Goalkeepers


Devis Terranova - I put my faith in the young Italian and he didn’t let me down with some fantastic performances over the course of the season

Full Backs


Mick McInnes - The young Scot was one of my big Serie A signings that I kept and he did a decent job for a while. His form started to tail off in 2019 so he lost his starting place to…
Carlos Gomes - Young Portugese RB came in and did a great job, and kept McInnes out of the line-up. Still todecide if he can handle the step up.
Rouven Herzog - this year was the Germans to occupy the LB spot and his inclusion in the team occurred around the time of our upturn in fortunes

Centre Backs


Ruben Dario Guarino - The Italian youth international was probably our most consistent CB over the course of the season. Looking to move on though.
Andrea Adamo - Italian CB signed from Rangers managed to just about keep his spot despite some inconsistent performances. Centre defence is probably my weakest position.
Adam Magee - The young American did an ok job as cover but probably needs more experience before fully developing.

Wingers


Vicente Cannone - The Italian youth international was once again the only option for the RM berth and performed well again. After about two seasons, he also finally came off the transfer list. Hopefully he his happy to stay for a while yet.
Simone Camolese - Once more he defied the coaches and out-performed all other LM contenders. The club captain put in some more cracking performances.
Nicky Kole - Provided some good cover at LM. will only get better with experience.

Centre Midfielders


Ottavio Mattioli - Our big money signing had a decent season, though I was hoping for more. Asked to be transfer listed at end of season which I granted. will hope he does same as Cannone and comes off it.
Giannis Papadopoulos - Greek international brought in to try and replace Kokes’ departure. Did a solid job - I am yet to decide whether to offer him a new contract.
Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma - Argentine attacking midfielder was also signed to fill the Koke-shaped hole in the centre of the park. Put in some good performances. He will add strength in depth to the squad next season, though I doubt he’ll be a regular.

Strikers


Danilo - For those who doubted the Brazilians capabilities (croman…) Danilo smashed all records this season and scored at a rate of almost a goal a game. Broke Schmitts record for goals in a season. amd finished Serie B Top Goalscorer. He will be better prepared for this assault on Serie A.
Janos Orosz - The Hungarian provided a great partner for Danilo, and matched his record for a while. Broke his foot in the spring and could have caused our promotion push to wobble.
Cedric Cavada - The young Swiss was possibly the reason we made it to Serie A - stepping into Oroszs’ shoes and scoring the goals to earn us promotion. He was also named Serie B Player of the Year. Already courted by AC Milan, he is a kid with huge potential.
Oscar Cardozo - Veteran Paraguayan who I brought in to add some experience to the front line. Weighed in with a few important goals when brought on from the bench. Another waiting to see if he’ll get a new deal.
Marco Maresca - I had almost written the Italian off after 1 ½ seaosns of poor performances, but he weighed in with a few imprtant goals at the end of the season which were probably enough to give him another season at the club.

As for the finances, we made a hige profit in the summer with all the transfers, only for that to erode during the season. this was due to our huge wage budget - something that wouls surely have been slashed had we failed to gain promotion. hopefully this will settle down a bit next season, though we do have an over-inflated squad which needs trimming.

Targets for next Season


ØSurvival. It can be our only target really after our last humiliating appearance in the top flight. We need to tighten at the back and pass the ball better, as well as being clinical in front of goal. I’m not going to predict we’ll stay up, but we will try.

Career History

Season   League      Pos.  Serie C Cup  Cup       Europe         Achievements
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2010/11  Serie C2/A  2nd   group stage  N/A       N/A             Lost in play-off semis
2011/12  Serie C2/A  3rd   group stage  N/A.       N/A            Promotion in playoffs
2012/13  Serie C1/A  8th   N/A             2nd Qual. N/A            None
2013/14  Serie C1/A  1st   Winners      3rd Qual. N/A            Serie C1/A Champions, Serie C Cup, Serie C Super Cup
2014/15  Serie B     9th   N/A              3rd Qual. N/A            None
2015/16  Serie B     9th     N/A             2nd Qual   N/A            None
2016/17  Serie B     2nd     N/A             3rd Qaul.  N/A            Promotion
2017/18  Serie A     20th    N/A             4th Qual   N/A           Relegated
2018/19  Serie B     3rd     N/A             1st Round N/A           Promoted in play-offs

[rlipscombe]

well i'm now ploughing my way through pre-season trying to strengthen enough to avoid a repeat of our shambloic last season in Serie A. This has mainly focused on trying to strengthen the defence which i think is our weakest point. i'm trying not to overhaul the squad too much as i want to keep the core together and avoid early problems blending the squad.

[Fraggle497]

I think I may try this. I've already done it in Germany with Trier 05 so i may try another country

[PaulHartman71]

Does anyone think that Russia will be part of this challenge in FM11?

I know that Turkey was "promoted" to Big Euro nation after it's league rep was changed from 14 to 15 last year, with Russia on 14 at the moment surely it's only a matter of time before it to becomes 15. CSKA Moscow are of course in the Champions League quarter finals which will have boosted Russia's real life coefficients, although they were already 6th behind only France, Germany, Italy, Spain and England. Although I'm not entirely sure of the standard of the Russian league, as I don't really follow Russian domestic football.

[Cardiomolester]

I think they probably will be.

In Annan news, we're doing terrible in the league but we did knock out SD1 Stirling in the Scottish Cup 3rd round so there's a slight positive.

[corinthiano]

LLR - Well done on a great season, unlucky on the Champs League final, but judging by the progress you are making I think you will be able to give the likes of Real Madrid a game in a couple of seasons time. Thanks for including me in the table, just a small correction, the club is called Babelsberg, not Babelsburg, thanks!

rlipscombe - Well done on bouncing back to Serie A, even if it was through the playoffs! Hopefuuly you will put up a good fight in Serie A this time!

My internet was down yesterday so I carried on playing without updating on my transfers. Am halfway through the league, so will wait unitl the end of the January window to do a little update. Things are going ok though, relegation is definately out of the question!

[corinthiano]

Sportverein Babelsberg 03 10/11 Main Signings

As I pretty much released and signed a whole teamI am oing toreport on the main signings, positive and negative.

Bobo Balde - The Celtic legend has been a rock in defence, he is one of the main reasons we have the best defence in the league.

Benedikt Pliquett - Cracking GK, has saved us in a few games.

Rincon - He had just been released from Inter Milan when I igned him. Our best player with bags of potential.

Waldemar Schattner - Very good and young DMC, has been a very effective Anchor Man so far.

Onur Kaya - Signed him in November and could only play him now. Am hoping he can provide us with better service as an AMC, although he is already claiming that he isn't settling in the area...

Tuta - the big flop. Signed him because I remeber him from RL, so when my scouts recommended him I thought he could do a job despite his age. Well he can't, he is as mobile as a brick wall and has contributed very little to the team.

We are doing very well at the halfway stage of the league, in 6th and 6 points of 3rd place, which would result in a Promotion Playoff. I don't think we will be able to challenge for promotion but I will be aiming for a top 10 finish.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Congrats on promotion Rlips, hopefully this time you can actually manage to win a game, but remember you don't need superstars to beat the top league, though you may need them to beat Real Madrid...

And correction to Babelsberg has been made.

I am going to crack on with Evora today after spending yesterday getting my sign-up under way.

[rlipscombe]

Does anyone think that Russia will be part of this challenge in FM11?

I know that Turkey was "promoted" to Big Euro nation after it's league rep was changed from 14 to 15 last year, with Russia on 14 at the moment surely it's only a matter of time before it to becomes 15. CSKA Moscow are of course in the Champions League quarter finals which will have boosted Russia's real life coefficients, although they were already 6th behind only France, Germany, Italy, Spain and England. Although I'm not entirely sure of the standard of the Russian league, as I don't really follow Russian domestic football.

i asked Gundo about this before FM10 came out, asking whether he wanted to let us have it as they are really a 'Big' nation. He decided, perfectly within his own right, to keep Russia in his challenge which was fair enought. i Do think it is better suited here but he wanted to keep it which is fair enough.

i wouldn't want us to just take it for next year so it's up to him really if he wants to let go of it.

[rlipscombe]

corinthiano - some decent signings there. Rincon is a good player and someone i'm aware of. Balde is a good signing too. good luck for the second half of the season.

LLR - i would like to point out i did actually win THREE matches last time round!! I'm hoping for better than that this time.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Rlips - I would like to point out I realised that, but 9pts might as well be 0 when competing against Inter...

[rlipscombe]

cheers for the support mate.......

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I am supporting you this season, lets go Venezia!! FORZA!! UP UP UP!

[rlipscombe]

FORZA LAGUNARI!!! going to need more than support this season i think..... a large slice of luck might be required.

[ghostwriter]

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

2 games left and we are top and 3 points ahead of Mantova. We have a better head-to-head record so we only need one win to confirm the title and promotion...

Match 1 - at home to bottom club, Pergocrema, who have not won away from home all season and have not scored a goal in 7 games. 30 seconds in they take the lead, no problem, this kind of thing has happened before, today a big problem as we never equalise, it is not like we were ever that threatening either, only 5 shots on target. Mantova win a very difficult away match

Match 2 - away at 15th placed Rodengo, we play better but can't breakthru, 85th minute they score a winner, this happened the day before Mantova's match so I have to go thru the pain of watching them win 2-0 against another difficult opponent. We finish the league in 2nd.

And, not only do we have to now go thru the playoffs but before those 2 matches I had a fully fit, free-scoring squad, now I have one MC, one DC and my most in-form ST all injured and out of the playoffs and 2 matches without a goal for the first time this season...

I simply cannot believe that has just happened.
We are so going to fail in the playoffs aren't we?

[rlipscombe]

that's really bad luck ghostwriter... but i'm sure you'll make it through the play-offs.....

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Hmmm I am in trouble...Yildiz, (The screenie is from EoS), will not renew his contract which expires in 11 months time, I could sell him, looks like after feelers were put out that I could get 15m for him, but I would be selling my superstar irreplaceable DR to a top class team, he is a Wonderkid and its going to be hard to get a better one, but he won't sign a new contract...

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well I ended up playing with him, I annoyed a couple of other players and it cost me some results, but I transfer listed him, then offered him to clubs for 100m, there were no offers wow really? waited a few days offered to clubs at 100m, and then his personal page said "Doesn't want to Leave" and bang offered a 5 year extension and he took it Just what I wanted, but was a bit of game play there

[corinthiano]

Sportverein Babelsberg 03 - 3. Liga - 2010/11



3. Liga

Media Prediction: 16th
Actual Finish: 11th - Graph

The league started pretty well and we were able to shut down far superior teams, keeping a lot of clean sheets. This meant that we were able to keep ourselves around 6th-8th place in the first half of the season, even though we scored very few goals. The second half of the season was not as good, we had a lof of key players out injured - mainly in defence and could not grind the results we were at the start of the campaign. In the end this meant we dropped to 10th place, still a lot better than the 16th that the media had predicted.

DFB-Pokal

We were not entered in the Cup this year, I am not quite sure how you get entered in it, but hopefully we will be there next year.

Squad, Transfers and Key Players

Squad - Had some quality players in defence, but a weak attack. The main problem was the extreme lack of depth.
Best Eleven
Transfers - A major overhaul of the club, but only frees and loans coming in.

Rincon - Elected Fans Player of the Year, Rincon was absolutely outstanding. A lot of clubs are already Monitoring him and it will be a struggle to keep him at the club.
Manuel Gulde - On loan from parent club Hoffenheim, he started as a sub, but soon convinced me to keep him in the side with rock solid performances.
Onur Kaya - Signed in the second half of the season, was a very good playmaker and our top assist maker. Have a couple of AMCs lined up, so he will move to his natural MC position next season.

Others

Finances - Very, very bad. Lost a lot of money and will have to pay another 200k on some extra seats.
Seat Addition - Not very happy with that, it won't bring in any extra places...but it is being done to meet league compliances.

Summary

I am relatively pleased with our performance, although I am a bit disappointed with how things went towards the end of the season. Our main problem was upfront, we did not have enough quality to create and finish chances in a few matches we dominated. Our defence was rock solid until the injuries to Bobo Balde and Rincon late in the season. This showed we don't have the squad to compete in the league yet. The problem is I don't have the money to build a squad, as the board have slashed the wage budget by 5k. I pre-signed a lot of Spanish players before this though as my scout was around there in the second half of the season. This means I will have some more quality players, but I will let go of a few back-ups, which will leave me a bit short again. I will hope to find some good loan players and I will have to be very careful as I am only allowed 4 a season.

Season      League        Position        DFB-Pokal         Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11     3. Liga       11th            Not entered       None

Goals for Next Season

-Top 6 finish in the league.
-If we get entered in the cup, hope for a draw againt a big team.
-Try to find good back-up players to loan.

[corinthiano]

East German Football Report

As an additional update, I though I would do a quick report on how the other East German teams in the leagues are doing, just to see how East Germany is faring.

1. Bundesliga

17th: Rostock - An awful year for the north coast side as they are relegated straight back to the second tier.

2. Bundesliga

3rd: Cottbus - A good season by Cottbus sees them promoted through a playoff against a strong Hannover 96 side.
14th: Union Berlin - A disappointing season by the East Berlin side, who dropped 8 places compared to last season.

3. Liga

3rd: Aue - Aue were the Overachievers of the year in the 3. Liga and managed to get promoted thrugh the playoffs against FSV Frankfurt.
6th: Dresden - East Germany's most traditional club will have been disappointed to have missed out on promotion, having been thereabouts all season.
9th: Erfurt - A decent season by the Thuringen side, although they should be challenging more towards the top of the table.
10th: Babelsberg - A good debut season, with relegation never in danger.
18th: Jena - An awful season, with the second relegation in succession. One of the best East German clubs in recent times now leaves the playable leagues.

As you can see there are very few East German clubs in the top divisions in Germany. The top tier is where it is the grimmest. Rostock did not last a season there and Cottbus will be favourites to go down. A top flight without an East German club is more than possible for the season after next.

[rlipscombe]

good little update there corinthiano. decent first season and hopefully something to build on. Finances seem a bit of a worry so hopefully they will settle down. interesting little feature on the other East German teams! looking forward to Babelsberg climbing that list soon hopefully.

Des - lovely little manipulation of Yildiz there! i'm sure it'll be worth the little unhappiness it created....

As for Venezia, we played our first Serie A match last night. the baptism of fire saw us away to AC Milan. the result? 5-1 defeat... Trying not to read too much into that as i don't expect to win these matches....

[corinthiano]

Ouch, that is not the ideal start...I wouldn't read much inot it like you said though, it is the games aginst the smaller teams that will make the difference! Good luck for the rest of the season!

[Cardiomolester]

2010/11 - Annan Athletic



Media Prediction (10th) | Final League Table (5th) | League Graph

In all honesty, if we were basing this on August - December form, we didn't deserve to finish 5th. But it doesn't work like that, it's based on the entire season and after our form picked up, it all went right from there. After the victory over Scottish Division One side Stirling in the Scottish Cup, we lost 5 league games out of a possible 23. This lifted us away from 10th place and we began to soar up into the dizzying heights: at one point, there was even a chance of play-offs. But it was not to be, but I am really happy and satisfied with a 5th place finish.

Cups: Challenge Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup

The cups which came early on in the season were an absolute disaster. Thumped by Queen of the South and the recently relegated Kilmarnock in the Challenge and League Cup respectively. Even then, our shocking form only just saw us scrape past Lossiemouth to make the 3rd round. Chances looked slim against Stirling but then came the change of tactic and the change of the season. A 4-2-3-1 was deployed successfully and we eliminated Stirling to face yet another SD1 side, Morton. But it would be the SD1 side who'd make it into the bag for the 5th round as they deservedly eliminated us.

Annan Athletic Squad Stats | Transfers

Key Players

David Cox - David wasn't spectacular nor was he bad but he had good games, bad games, the odd great game and the odd awful game. But he scored 15 goals, making him our top scorer and you can't ask more than that from your lone striker.

Jamie McCluskey - Jamie joined late in the season around the time our form picked up and he may have been one of the reasons for it. A 4 week trial (trialists are allowed to play in the Scottish Divisions) saw him score 3 and set up 4 which was enough to offer him a permanent contract and he clearly enjoyed his stay, accepting our contract over the likes of Arbroath. He played very well but a torn hamstring meant he missed the last month of the season.

Mark Baxter - Another late arrival. Baxter arrived around the same time as McCluskey and he instantly strengthened the defence. His leadership qualities ensured the defence were tighter and made less mistakes and he made the right back spot his own in what was a great debut season.

Jean-Yves Anis - A great player for our side. He scored a few, assisted a few and generally played well. He did have his bad games (who doesn't?) but the majority were good/average games so he pleased me throughout the season.

Career Summary

|Season  | League | Finish | Achievements |
|-----------------------------------------|
|2010/11 |  SD3   |  5th   |     None     |

[ghostwriter]

that's really bad luck ghostwriter... but i'm sure you'll make it through the play-offs.....

Thankfully, you were correct.

But, as per usual, we made it a lot more difficult than necessary. Just like our Serie C2 playoffs 4 years ago, we relied on our superior league position to qualify after each tie ended level. The final was particularly nerve-wracking as, again, I forgot that there was extra-time in the final (but not semi-final) if the tie ends level after 90 minutes, so we had another 30 minutes to hang on. And hanging on it definitely was but we managed it, mainly thanks to our GK.

So Serie B, here we come and if we have the same wage restrictions as we have had for the last 4 Summers then it will be a very long season...

[rlipscombe]

ghostwriter - congrats on promotion. doesn't matter how it's done!! good luck in Serie B.

cardiovascular - turned into a decent season in the end once you settled on your formation. sure you'll carry that form forwards next season. good luck.

corinthiano - that's the mentality i'm taking. it's what we do against the 'smaller' teams that will decide whether we stay up or go down...

[PRDH]

Just to let you all know, that despite my absence I am still playing, I've just not had time to post much recently, I will be trying harder. Romorantin are still pretty dominant in France (last season I won everything there was to win domestically) but I still cannot make any progress in Europe. Also, I'm currently in the 2024/25 season.

[rlipscombe]

PRDH!! long time no see!! looking forward to hearing some more about Romarantin....

[PRDH]

Ha! You may have a fairly slipshod update of the period in between last update and now, I think something like 4 seasons. And then I'll just start again with a proper update. All that's really happened though is a case of repeated European failure. Despite a heroic 4-2 victory at the Nou Camp!

[G-Wiz]

its been a while...actually wrote this out weeks ago i think lol




VfB Lubeck - 2011/2012 - End of Season Review

Predicted Position: 17th
Actual Position: 9th
Average Attendance: 14227
Season Ticket Holders: 2637

A season of consolidation and i acheived pretty much all i could hope for in that i finished safely in mid-table. This was disappointing however as at one stage in the season i was in 3rd place.

A few of the players of note this season were:

Ron-Robert Zieler - consistent without being spectacular, but an ever-present in the team this season

Benjamin Weiner - my youth project, again fairly consistent and didnt let me down when called upon

Gustavo - the veteran, and rock at the heart of the defence. also chipped in with a few valuable goals from corners, for an old guy he is an aerial threat

Mozart - brought in on a free, i hoped he could orchestrate things from midfield (see what i did there ), and he didnt disappoint, forming a good CM partnership with Vranjes

Jurica Vranjes - another free signing, the experienced Croat international was invaluable in midfield

Serkan Atak - Turkish winger brought some much-needed pace to the team, and gave a decent return in terms of goals/assists

Lukasz Piszczek - Polish striker finished top scorer and was the all round top performer for the season


Top Scorer: Lukasz Piszczek - 14 goals
Most Assists: Maik Kegel - 14 assists
Highest Ave. Rating: Lukasz Piszczek - 7.20
Fans Player of The Year: Lukasz Piszczek

The aim for the upcoming season is to push on and try to achieve promotion to the Bundesliga, which may be a tough task, but im confident with a few fresh faces the team can push on

Season          Division        Position       Achievements
2010/2011       Third Division	1st		Promoted 
2011/2012	Second Division 9th

[rlipscombe]

decent season there G-Wiz. loved the mozart pun!!

[rlipscombe]

FCB Venezia - Serie A - Season Preview 2019-20


So having made it back to Serie A at the first attempt, I spent the summer trying to strengthen the squad in order to avoid a repeat of the disaster that was the 2017-18 season which for those of you who don’t know, saw us win only 3 games all season in our debut Serie A season. I feel that our defence is the weakest point so I worked on improving in this area. Secondly, having spent all season reading about the lack of harmony in the squad I tried to offload the unhappy players in an attempt to improve this situation.

Transfers

So let me introduce you to the new signings at Collauto Park who will try to keep us in Serie A.

Goalkeepers


Giuseppe Spano - Young italian goalkeeper signed after his release by Genoa. Will provide back-up alongside Guarna for Terranova.

Full Backs


Aziz De Kok - Spent over the odds at £15 million signing this Dutch international from FC Twente. Felt we were a little lacking in this area and considered I couldn’t sign better, I settled on Aziz. Time will tell how much of an overspend he was.
Sebastien Pocognoli - Belgian LB brought in on loan from Sevilla. Will compete with De Kok.

Centre Backs


Catello Ferri - Italian U-21 international signed from xxx. He is a great player on paper and the best centre back at the club. A lot of our success will depend on him. Should form a decent partnership with Guarino.
Rui Kosaka - Japanese international signed from Monaco to add depth. I signed him partly hoping for a merchandising boost but I’m not sure whether this will actually happen. Not started too well in pre-season, he will provide back-up.

Wingers


Haris Handzic - A signing the fans got excited, Handzic was signed from Burnley for £4.5 million following the departure of the unhappy Kole. Will push Camolese hard for the starting berth on the left flank.
Gaucho - Some of you may remember me having Gaucho on loan from his Brazilian club a few years ago, when he did well for us. Signed from Galatasaray for £1.5 million, he will push Cannone on the right flank.

Centre Midfielders


Zoltan Tajti - I signed Tajti last winter for a £7 million fee but he was ineligable to play having previously played for two clubs. If he gives us performances of the standard of his countryman Orosz, I’ll be very happy.

Strikers


David Cole - Young English striker in on loan from Arsenal for aquad depth.

I also thought I’d introduce a couple of other youngsters who will also feature this season, who you may not have previously been introduced to:

Tommaso Gemmitti - this 17 year old is already a decent Serie A midfielder and will provide cover for Mattioli. His ability was one reason I let so many midfielders go in the summer.
Eduardo Vurchio - Another Argentine / Italian player, this time a DM. Signed for £500k. Will provide cover.

So that’s it, the new signings I hope will blend with the current squad and keep us up. Financially we don’t have too much money in the bank after the spending spree but I have decided that I have to speculate to accumulate so to speak. if it backfires and we go down then there will be a fire sale but it’s a gamble I decided I had to take to try and survive. Time will tell if we can survive or not.

FORZA LAGUNARI!!

[rlipscombe]

well in our fourth league game we have chalked up our first Serie A win of the season, a 2-0 home win over Udinese. Hopefully that's the first of many.

[Ohanzee]

Big congrats on completing the challenge Razer82 !! Well done!

Real life just got super busy on me, and still is. Not complaining though, got to eat. Haven't had time to read through all the updates since I was last on, just skimmed through. I'll try to find the time to read up and maybe get going again myself soon.

For now, good luck to everyone.

[G-Wiz]

well in our fourth league game we have chalked up our first Serie A win of the season, a 2-0 home win over Udinese. Hopefully that's the first of many.

well done...hopefully thats the first hurdle out the way and the wins wont be as few and far between now...

im currently sitting 3rd with 9 games left, but its soo tight at the top, its literally 6 points between the first 5 teams at the moment...hoping to maintain my form to the end of the season, im defo in with a shout at auto promotion

[rlipscombe]

cheers G-Wiz. we just followed it up with a 1-1 draw away at Napoli. conceded a 94th minute penalty... good luck for your run-in. sounds tight!!

[rlipscombe]

it's the 6th October an we have just won 3-0 away at bottom club Catania. 2nd win of the season. It was April when we won our second league game last time round!! a good place to stop for the night...

[rlipscombe]

looks like it's just me at the moment....

just jumped out my seat as Vicente Cannone scored a 91st minute equaliser at the San Siro vs Inter to draw 2-2. We're 2-0 down at half-time too... The wife thinks i'm sad!

[PaulHartman71]

I'm in May, so you'll see an update from me sometime tomorrow, well today technically.

[Cardiomolester]

Likewise, I have two games to go and I can confirm Annan are in the play-offs!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I am in September I was doing my Commonwealth Updates and working my butt off :P Hopefully this weekend I will have some spare moments

[PRDH]

I have just finished yet another season that my go un-updated. I've got out of the habit. I really ought to just do it shouldn't I! next season, will definitely get one. All I'll say about this one is that after winning all 4 domestic trophies last season, we followed it up with a fantastic performance and ended the season trophyless. Oh wait, that's not a great performance. THere are going to be some major re-workings this season. Actually that might be the next update, I will put up where my squad is after the transfer window slams shut. There are some great palyers in there that you may never have seen. Kresic is still here though. He's 32!

[edit] - Kresic has played a total of 506 games for the club scoring 315 goals. Not a bad return on the £110K he cost me!

[PRDH]

Sorry for the double post, but I thought this guy deserved more than to just be added on the end of the previous one. I've just had the new youth intake and Cédric Bilger definitely looks like a decent player for the future!

Most importantly though, what's the best way to get some pace into him?

[rlipscombe]

looking forward to a flood of updates then.... congrats on getting into the play-offs cardiovascular.

[Cardiomolester]

That guy is insane PRDH Ihave no idea how to get his physicals up, perhaps heavy training on whichever one is for physical

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - that guy is seriusly talented.... if only i could get someone through like that... as for training i can't really help as i don't work much on training etc.....

[PRDH]

This is just a round-up of where I've finished over the last few seasons in the form of the table.

Season			League			Position			Achievements/Wins
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11			National			15th				Avoided relegation
2011/12			National			10th				Consolidated
2012/13			National			8th				Steady progression
2013/14			National			1st				Champions!
2014/15			Ligue 2			11th				Survived
2015/16			Ligue 2			1st				Champions!
2016/17			Ligue 1			18th				Relegated
2017/18			Ligue 2			1st				Champions! (Again)
2018/19			Ligue 1			6th				French Cup winners
2019/20			Ligue 1			6th				Consolidated
2020/21			Ligue 1			1st				Champions, FC Winners
2021/22			Ligue 1			1st				Champions
2022/23			Ligue 1			3rd				FC + Coupe de la Ligue wins
2023/24			Ligue 1			1st				Quadruple
2024/25			Ligue 1			3rd				Trophyless

[Cardiomolester]

2011/12 - Annan Athletic



Media Prediction (7th) | Final League Table (2nd) | League Graph

An unbelievably good season, regardless of our lack of success in the play-offs. It started alot better than last season and finished ALOT better than last season. We were hovering just outside the play-offs, occasionally moving up into them and then falling back out until there were 10 games to go where we hit a marvellous run of form, winning 8 out of a possible ten and picking up 25 points out of 30 which shot us up into second place and into the play-offs. Sadly, East Stirlingshire overpowered us at their place and despite pulling it back at Galabank, we lost out on penalties. A slightly disappointing end to the season but I'm sure we'll take heart from it and maybe push for the title next year.

Cups: Challenge Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup

We started well in the Challenge Cup by beating Albion Rovers of our division in a scrappy affair. We then knocked SD1 side Morton out on penaltyies before Partick Thistle were too strong for us and we succumbed to a defeat. The League Cup was never going to go well against Caley Thistle and we did well to keep the scoreline respectable against them. And the Scottish Cup was also ok, we breezed past Forres and almost caused an upset against Peterhead but they won it in stoppage time.

Annan Athletic Squad Stats | Transfers

Key Players

Thomas Cruise - Tom was our best player this year, probably defensively and throughout the squad. He was consistent, and sometimes covered the defensive midfield position. He was a rock on the left side and throughly deserves a mention here.

Diarmuid O'Carroll - An absolutely fantastic buy. He had his off games which may be why his average rating is so low but when he was on form, he was unstoppable. A late arrival to the squad but took no time to settle in, made the striker spot his own and finished with an excellent total of 18 goals, our top scorer.

Adam Pepper - Another late arrival. Adam Pepper joined after our scout found him following his release from Liverpool and he was a great addition. His ability to hit a great long shot and set up others meant he ousted Hewson out of the AMC spot and made it his. Good season for him, he contributed where neccessary.

Sam Hewson - Another fantastic signing if I do say so myself. Joined after the scout found him, was originally an AMC but upon Pepper's arrival, I slotted him into a support role as a DMC. He was fantastic, threading through balls for other players to get 9 assists and even popping up with the odd shot or free-kick.

Career Summary

|Season  | League | Finish |    Achievements   |
|----------------------------------------------|
|2010/11 |  SD3   |  5th   |       None        |
|2011/12 |  SD3   |  2nd   |  Lost in playoffs |

[G-Wiz]

VfB Lubeck - 2012/2013 - End of Season Review

Predicted Position: 13th
Actual Position: 2nd
Average Attendance: 15654
Season Ticket Holders: 2803

Overall this season was a great success for the club. Not only did we finish runners-up in the league, but we also had a good run in the German Cup. I managed to overcome Dortmund in the 2nd round before finally losing to Gladbach in the Quarter Final on penalties.

I decided to do a more thorough update on the players i currently have, as there has been quite a lot of activity over the last 2 seasons which would've been missed due to my lack of updates...

GK

Marco Mura - signed on a free after his release by Inter Milan, was brought in to replace Zieler who declared he was bigger than the club and buggered off to Rostock

Dominik Picak - young croat keeper, rarely called upon but brought in originally as cover for Zieler

Alex Annunziata - another free, after his release from Palermo, one for the future

Def

Marco Castellani - another free released by Inter, has turned into my first choice left back with some solid performances

Noah Gautheron - signed in Jan 2013, finished last season as my first choice right back

Christophe Grondin - madagascan international, another free, used as back up for a number of positions

Gustavo - old timer, yet again a rock at the heart of the defence when called upon, got a good number of games despite his age

Ruben Lima - 2nd choice left back, toss up between him and Castellani for the starting place

Moses Sichone - the other resident old-timer, one of the clubs 2 favoured personnel, alongside myself has just signed a years extension, as i wanted him to experience the Bundesliga before he retires

Benjamin Weiner - the youth prodigy, who scored a solid 6.89 over 36 appearances last season, hopefully his ratings will improve a bit more now he's of age for senior training schedules

Mid

Serkan Atak - another solid season, but didnt deliver half as much as last year, might be time for him to move on, i have a few other wingers in the pipeline

Helder Barbosa - provided a good pacey threat this last year, and chipped in with 10 assists. but again, may be on his last legs

Binya - alongside Mozart, controlled the midfield until a younger alternative was brought in in January

Ferhat Dag - the replacement for Binya, signed for a million from Fenerbahce, was the star of the run-in, with 5 goals from his 12 starts

Dusan Djuric - another freebie, this time released by FC Zurich, he was a real creative spark and a really good signing, chipping with a few big performances

Reginal Goreux - signed last summer, was basically back up for the right side, whether at right back or wing. decent without being spectacular

Will Jenkins - released by Liverpool, a player who i think, with the right training and game time, could be a big player

Maik Kegel - a decent performer when called upon, but i think his abilities may restrict his chances in Bundesliga

Mozart - the boss. continues to dominate midfield and scores his fair share of goals too. probably my favourite signing of this save so far

Jurica Vranjes - another one whose experience has been vital over the last few years. his time may be due to come to an end tho

Att

Ishak Belfodil - a freebie, released by Lyon, never had much opportunity to impress

Odion Ighalo - another free, Ighalo is the one who i view as being able to take over from Piszczek when the time comes for him to move on, as he started to pick up towards the end of last season. i hope he's a definite one for the future

Gardar Johannsson - finished the season with 11 goals from 16 appearances, a good return when called upon

Steven Lennon - consistent over the previous 2 seasons, but completely frozen out this past year. time to move on i guess

Lukasz Piszczek - the top scorer for the last 2 years, and generally the man whose performances got us to where we are

Alessandro Riedle - another free signing who looked promising but has been stuck in reserves pretty much. i think i saw the name and automatically assumed he'd develop into a world-class striker lol who knows

so thats the team as it stands. i expect a few players to leave and am hoping to bring in a few improvements to a number of positions, but as you can see my policy so far has been with the odd exception to rely solely on free transfers, and to be honest im really pleased how its turned out. In a year or 2 hopefully if ive established the team in the top division, then it will be the time to really spend some cash. Until then, its more wheeling and dealing for me

Top Scorer: Lukasz Piszczek - 22 goals
Most Assists: Helder Barbosa & Lukasz Piszczek - 10 assists each
Highest Ave. Rating: Ferhat Dag - 7.42
Fans Player of The Year: Lukasz Piszczek

I was also 2nd in the Manager of The Year i shouldve won it!

Looking ahead to the following season, things are all changing at Vfb Lubeck in preparation for life in the Bundesliga. The board have announced investment in the Youth and Training facilities and are also in the process of planning stadium expansion as well! Hopefully they dont spend all the available funds on these areas and leave me with nothing to improve the squad with!

Season          Division        Position       Achievements
2010/2011       Third Division	1st		Promoted 
2011/2012	Second Division 9th		  
2012/2013       Second Division 2nd	 	Promoted

[PRDH]

**Squad update - SO Romorantin - 2025/26 Season - Ligue 1**

This is just an update on who is in my squad after such a long break between updates. This is solely my first team, I've been investing heavily in youth players over the last few years and they'll crop up in my end of season update. But this is just for now. Of course, players have come and gone in the absence, some of them successes, others failures, but this is not for now!

As is usual, I will mark first teamers in bold and most interesting in italics

Goalkeepers

Alexandre Lascaux - 3rd choice 'keeper been around for a while. He's starting to get unhappy about it - could be time for him to move on.

Ibrehima Kone - Brought in on a free at the beginning of the season from PSG where he was first choice, here he is the number 2.

Gokhan Korkmaz - First choice 'keeper - the young 'keeper occasionally has bad days but generally he is a good player.

Defence

Richard Hue - One of the players you may remember, he's been around for a long time now, lost his automatic starting place, but still a very useful guy to have around the club.

Vangelis Kostopoulos - Versatile full-back and one of an ever increasing number of Greeks at the club. Excellent player to have on the bench.

Dimitris Raptis - Very exciting young defender, made his debut in the first game of the season and scored.

Anis Fekih - Was second choice last season behind a supremely talented Iranian who has now moved on. Unfortunately picked up a serious injury so has not been able to make the most so far.

Henk 'The Boss' Bosschart - Another one you'll remember. The Boss joined with a lot of potenial and s now approaching the finished article. Strong, quick and an uncomprimsing defender, he's a real Romorantin legend.

Mikki Ropponen - The Boss' partner in defence - slightly more cultured, but still a great defender.

Savas Bilgin - Another young defender, been around the first team for a season and a bit now but is still very young.

Abderraouf Jedidi - Young Tunisian defender, slightly further along the line than the other youngsters and basically a ready made replacement whenever one is out injured or suspended. Attracting interest from big clubs, I'll not be able to hold onto him for long I fear.

Nestor D'Angelo - Yet another young defender, the giant Argentine has only just been registered despite being at the club for a season - he was waiting his turn for someone to get French citizenship before taking up a non-EU spot.

Vangelis Katsaros - Someone else you might remember. Left the club a while back, but returned on a free when Fekih got injured. He is competent back-up and knows the club well.

Pietro Pane - Brought in at the beginning of the season. He looks a good defender to me, and at 20 has time to get better.

Danilo - Young left-back, initially back-up to Fekih but has been thrown into the starting eleven after the injury.

Midfield

Wilson Mosquera - Great player, not sure if he was around last time, but he's certainly one of the best in the team. On the right his pace and skill can tear even the best teams apart as Barcelona can attest to!

Jackson Yomby - Possibly a bit of a mistake as despite being a great player he can't get past Parvu, may be offloaded soon.

Dorel Parvu - The team's captain Parvu has been at the club for a while. He is a great midfielder, combining great technical ability with a strong challenge and impressive creative, he really is the complete player.

Jason Papadopoulos - The Aussie has been at the club for a while and has proved a useful deputy, I feel it's getting to the stage where I should let him go and make a career for himself elsewhere.

Josef Novak - Another young midfielder, he probably should be looking to make an impact on the first team in the next season.

Barry McDonnell - Right winger bought from Chelsea as he was all I could get, he may be off soon if I can get some money for him.

Yegor Safin - The reason McDonnell may be off. Bought in at great expense the young Russian has impressed in his short time at Romorantin already getting himself a hattrick.

Yunlong Jin - Another expensive player, brought in this year as I thought the left side of midfield was a bit weak. He is the first Asian player at Romorantin, and is not only a great winger, but should raise revenue too.

Nikos Chatzis - The other left-winger. No slouch, and had some really impressive games last season, but was also sometimes worryingly anonymous.

Francisco Reyes - Definitely about when I left you. He's quick, technically proficient, skilful - all you could want from a midfielder, and yet has lost his place to Traverso.

Fernando Traverso - The usurper, and you can probably see why - he's a fantastic player. He has no real weaknesses and is still very young.

Dann Cooper Mbiyavanga - This youngster is being trained to be a right-winger where I think he can have a good impact, and be an interesting alternative to the pace and aggression of Mosquera.

Attack

Marko Kresic - What needs to be said? Well, he was a legend when I was last about, and still is. Scoring less frequently, but never the less the team doesn't look the same without his link up play.

Peter Achterberg - Kresic's understudy, I'm hoping he can be another great when he gets a longer chance.

Salaheddine Zaboul - Has his ups and downs, but on form he's my most clinical striker.

Ugur Nergiz - Recently replaced Zaboul in the starting line up. His ability with both feet makes him a dangerous opponent in the box. If only he was a little quicker...

John Roberts - New signing. Yet to see what he can do. He's Welsh.

Sorry about the length of this, I quite enjpyed that though, I look forward to having a season update to write.

[rlipscombe]

good to see a PRDH update!! feels good doesn't it!

cardiovascular - unlucky in the play-offs. good luck next season.

G-Wiz - congrats on promotion to the top flight. hope you have some money to spend!

[ghostwriter]

Welcome back PRDH. Great update. I have 4 comments.

1) Cédric Bilger is the best 15yo player I have ever seen. I suspect he must be one of the best 15yo players anyone has ever seen.

2) how has Kresic still not got a cap for Croatia?

3) Zaboul's strike rate for Morocco is insane

4) Dann Cooper Mbiyavanga has an awesome name

Good luck for the next season ahead

[ghostwriter]

Renato Curi Angolana - Serie C1/B - 2016/17

At least the playoffs looking likely at Christmas

No activity during the January transfer window but I did sign a Bosman for the Summer as a fantastic Argentinian AM L (better than Vonk who is basically our best player) decided that he would cross the ocean for the fantastic wage of £100 p/w in July. No idea why but I am happy he made this decision.

I would go into detail about the rest of the season but if you read my previous 2 posts you know more or less what happened so I will be brief. We took 1st place from Gallipoli in the first game of 2017 as we started the year off with 3 straight wins. We had a dodgy patch with 2 points from 3 games and suddenly, out of nowhere, Mantova joined us at the top. We won the next 4 without conceding a goal but so did Mantova and when we only got a draw in the next one Mantova went ahead of us as they won their 11th(!!) match in a row. Not much we could really do about form like that. We won the next 2 again without conceding a goal and as Mantova only took 1 point from those games we were 3 points ahead with 2 games left. And you all know what happened in those 2 games...

In the playoff semi we played OK against Spal and had more chances but they got a winner in the 91st minute (3rd straight 0-1 defeat). We scored after 90 seconds in the 2nd leg and hung on for dear life and qualified thanks to our higher league position. The final was against Gallipoli and we surprisingly won the away leg to put ourselves in the driving seat. Unfortunately nerves again took hold and we conceded before h/t in the home leg and again hung on for dear life. This time was much stressful as Gallipoli were the team having all the chances. So, our 2nd promotion via the playoffs and we have not actually "won" any of the 4 ties!

The final table looked like this whilst as can be seen we more or less spent the whole of the 2nd half of the season top.

Phew! Obviously it was kind of ridiculous that we not win the title and the playoffs were hardly convincing but overall we were definitely one of the 2 best sides in the division.
We were the top scorers, conceded less a goal a game and, thankfully, halted last season's habit of throwing away points in the last 5 minutes. Tacchinardi was again the league top scorer and nearly beat the record (whilst in 2nd place was a Kazakh AM/F C who was dreadful for me in Serie C2 4 years ago, he seems to have improved). Also Vonk was 2nd in the Player of the Year award and whilst him, Agudo and Tacchinardi were in the Team of the Year. Overall, apart from the last 2 league games, a total success.

One key to this success could have been stability. None of last Summer's £100 p/w signings played very much so we basically had exactly the same 1st team squad as last season. And as De Rose and Napoli played a lot, apart from the 2 MCs, it was very close to the same 1st 11 as 2 years ago. Due to the wage restrictions I am forced to bring youth thru to the 1st team squad (in a perfect world players like De Rose, Sguera, Danese, Picone etc. would not be at the club let alone playing regularly) whilst the older players have to be sold because of their comparatively high wages. Maybe this squad is not as good as it was last year (on the right hand side of the pitch it definitely wasn't) but they have played so much together that they have gelled really well.

Squad
Summary
Finances - still around £100k losses per month but we sold more season tickets and had higher crowds but still nowhere near enough to cover the loan repayments, hopefully Serie B will bring me money
Transfers - all the arrivals were £100 p/w guys except Cuvillier who was brought in as a potential (albeit inferior) Vonk replacement as I feared he would not sign a new contract, he will be leaving this Summer as I now have someone arriving even better than Vonk, Ailton has the potential to be fantastic whilst the others definitely won't be good enough now we have won promotion, out went money and wages and 4 of last years £100 p/w signings (and the dreadful Avallone) on loan, only 1 of them is probably good enough to stay here

The best players this season were:

Best GK - Fabian Remy - more of the (very good) same, he played every game as I had no faith in the backup and Ailton is not ready, made some fantastic saves, saved us in the playoff final and several other games whilst I can't really remember any errors, should be good enough for Serie B and I will not be actively looking for a replacement and I suspect any better players will want too much money
Best Defender - Marcos Agudo - a revelation, is our record signing from 3.5 years ago and played at DR for the first few months and then got moved to DC the season after, he was not very good there so got dropped and never regained his place until Kipré injured himself at the end of last season, started at DR this season and was utterly brilliant, best average rating of all our players (unheard of for a DR), our Player of the Year and probably the best defender in the division, he is supposedly even better at DC but I avoided playing him there principally as I had much more cover there than at DR, also after his poor performances in the past at DC I am hesitant to put him back there, where he will play next season depends on the Summer signings
2nd Best Defender - Andrea De Rose - only mentioned as he has not been so far (apart from in the youth section), this was his 5th season here and 2nd season as more or less first choice DL, he started on the bench as I experimented with Loeschbar but when he got injured De Rose came in and never lost his place, great season, very consistant, not the greatest going forward but a great defender, not really sure if he is good enough for Serie B but he is getting better all the time so we shall see
Best Midfielder - Asier Sarriegi - even better than last season, much more creative and contributed a very nice number of assists, again a little more injury prone than I would like but thankfully his backups aren't bad, would say he is one of the better MCs in the division, I think he should be fine for Serie B and if an MC arrives it will probably to replace Kuipers who has yet to really 100% impress
Best Winger - Hein Vonk - ridiculously brilliant, got off to a slightly dodgy start as he was very unsettled in the Summer but once he got himself sorted out around October he was unstoppable, improved the assist rate as well, joint top in the club, very rarely did he under-perform, and yet somehow a supposedly even better ML is joining in the Summer (why could he have not been an MR) so although it sounds ridiculous I might actually sell Vonk, his wages are amongst the highest in the club and although he is clearly worth them I suspect we will have wage problems of some sort again so this could be a way to reduce them
2nd Best Winger - Francesco Stella - still the best £500 I will ever spend but nowhere near as good as Vonk, 4 years here and some very good performances again last season, and is perfectly good enough for this division but doubt he will up to Serie B level so this is one position I am looking to improve in the Summer
Most Profilic Striker - Francesco Tacchinardi - was hoping for something similar to the 24 goals of last season but I got even better, started off at better a goal a game and although his rate slowed down after Christmas he was still fantastic, some of the goals he scored were spectacular as well, yes, there were tap-ins etc. but there were numerous runs from the halfway line followed by unstoppable 20 yard drives, a great player and I am hopeful that the forward line is not part of the team that I will need to replace during the Summer
Best Forward - Aiman Napoli - had been reduced to the bench last season due to the arrival of Keita but when he was out for 2 months Napoli stepped up and played really (and unexpectedly) well, I tried to reintroduce Keita after the injury but it never worked so he kept his place and proved to be a key part of the team, a key problem of his in the past was his inconsistancy but he never showed that trait this year and this was by far his best season at the club so far which is not bad for a player signed 5 years ago, as mentioned I won't be actively looking for forward replacements in the Summer
Best Impact Substitute - Andrea Bolzan - mentioned mainly because in 3 games after Christmas when we were losing / performing badly with 20 minutes he replaced an out-of-sync Tacchinardi and scored very important goals to win us valuable points, like De Rose he has been around for 5 years and like De Rose he is still improving, I would have no problems with giving him an extended run in the team even in Serie B and I fully expect him to be around the 1st team next season

As I mentioned above, this is very close to the same squad as last year but, unless the board continue to deny me money for wages, some changes will have to be made. The problem with the wages is that already we are way over budget and most players have a 25% increase on promotion so the board need to significantly increase the budget otherwise I can't see many signings being made.
I think the core of the squad is good enough for Serie B but I definitely need some changes in defence and I would like a new MR . Apart from that, I am happy enough with what I have (until we lose the first game 6-0 of course!). On the way out will be Della Rocca, maybe Kipré, hopefully Cuvillier whilst with the new ML arriving I might see what I can get for Vonk. I don't want to sell him but if the new guy is actually better (my scouts are convinced he is) then I can't keep him here on his wages as a backup, plus the money I would get for him would be very useful. Also I might attempt to flog some of the £100 p/w players from 2 years back who have not really improved, failing that they will go back out on loan.

All I want is survival.

Best 11
Overall Best 11 - a little odd, no Tacchinardi, Napoli

10/11 - Serie C2/B - 7th
11/12 - Serie C2/B - 13th
12/13 - Serie C2/B - 2nd (promoted via playoffs)
13/14 - Serie C1/B - 8th
14/15 - Serie C1/B - 10th
15/16 - Serie C1/B - 5th (lost in playoff semi-finals)
16/17 - Serie C1/B - 2nd (promoted via playoffs)


Team I Would Like To Play Every Week - Bassano - H3-1, A4-0 (17th, relegated via playouts)
Team I Would Not Like To Play Every Week - Pergocrema - A0-0, H0-1 (last, 2nd time we have got promoted despite having failed to score a single goal against the worst team in the division, we gifted them their only away victory of the season, the match which cost us automatic promotion, they picked up more points against us than any other team, all-in-all a total and utter embarrassment )

[rlipscombe]

congrats again on promotion ghostwriter. as for promotion, doesn't matter how you get it - take it!! good luck in Serie B.

[PRDH]

Welcome back PRDH. Great update. I have 4 comments.

1) Cédric Bilger is the best 15yo player I have ever seen. I suspect he must be one of the best 15yo players anyone has ever seen.

2) how has Kresic still not got a cap for Croatia?

3) Zaboul's strike rate for Morocco is insane

4) Dann Cooper Mbiyavanga has an awesome name

Good luck for the next season ahead

All good points.

Bilger is insanely good, I'm worried by his lack of physicality, but hopefully it will improve as he matures.

I really don't know how Kresic hasn't played for Croatia! I've looked at their strikers, and none of them are anywhere near his standard!

I've honestly never noticed Zaboul's strike rate. It is indeed very good.

Dann Cooper Mbiyavanga is made even better by the fact that a goalkeeper just came through my youth set up with exactly the same name!

[PaulHartman71]

FC Libourne-Saint-Seurin, 2031-32, Ligue 1

League Position - 10th: Past Positions

Squad

Transfers

Summary

This was certainly an interesting season, I was expecting the relegation battle that I've gotten accustomed to in recent years, but it wasn't to be. We picked up more wins and draws than I expected and at the end of the season we found ourselves in a comfortable 10th place. Whether we can duplicate this kind of performance next year, well we'll have to wait and see.

First lets talk transfers. I sold back up Goalkeeper Sergio Diomande, he was demanding higher wages and I could get a better backup in for free who would take less wages. Aging defender/midfielder Hakan Koot was past his best and still demanding lots of moneys so I sold him for a reasonable fee of 800K. I was then forced to sell two of the brightest prospects the club had, Iker Aramalo wanted to move to a bigger club when Bordeaux came calling, but he ended up going to FC Lorient instead because Bordeaux couldn't afford him which was odd. Promising Argentinian midfielder Jonathan Gonzalez was also sold in January for just 1.7M, he wanted to leave when Barcelona came calling which was fair enough, but they couldn't have him because they already had too many foreign players. I signed Pruvot in as my replacement backup Goalkeeper, he's alright. Young striker Jose Lopez was signed on loan from Man United for 425K. After being robbed of a bright defensive prospect I decided to rob Heerenveen of one of the brightest left back's in Europe, Frank Nok. It was a bit of a crap robbery considering he cost me 1.5M but I am sure he can reach his potential at the club, well I'm not, he'll probably be signed up by Barcelona or Real Madrid or some other robbing git. Romanian defender and midfielder Sergiu Istrate was signed for 2.6M from Legia, he replaced Hakan Koot. I signed young Brazilian central defender Lucas for 1.9M from FC Brasov, unlike Liverpool's Lucas he's pretty good. I signed Rogerio on loan from Corinthians because I needed cover in the middle of midfield. At the end of the season I spent 6M on Gonzalo Rizzi an Argentinian central midfielder, lets hope he lives up to the big price tag.

The First XI

GK: Maxim Gavrilov, 25, Ukraine - A decent season for the Ukrainian Goalkeeper.

DR: Jose Luis, 20, Brazil - He was a decent player for us at right back although he never really adapted and wanted out, so he's moving to German side Leverkusen at the end of the season.

DL: Marlon Dahm, 21, Belgium - The young Belgian improved upon last season but still doesn't seem to have reached his full potential.

DC: Lucas, 21, Brazil - The new signing did a good job in the center of defence.

DC: Sergiu Istrate, Romania, 23 - The young Romanian did a good job in his debut season for the club.

MR: Jerome Hebert, 30, France - Despite not scoring as many goals as the Libourne faithful are used to, the hometown hero had a good season for the club.

ML: Stephen Sharp, 27, Scotland - The Scottish left midfielder had a good season for the club, picking up the fans player of the year award, a very prestigious one I might add.

MC: Rogerio, 18, Brazil - The young Brazilian on loan from Corinthians had a decent season, I wont be signing him on a permanent basis though.

MC: Matthieu Causse, 35, France - Causse is starting to show signs of old age and will find it hard to keep his first team place next season.

ST: Donovan Leferink, 27, Holland - He didn't achieve the 15/20 goal season I had hoped for, in-fact he scored less goals than he did last season. I'm hoping for better next year.

ST: Brice Gosset, 22, France - The Frenchman showed some signs of promise this season, scoring 10 goals.

-

Official Fans Player of the Year - Stephen Sharp

Unofficial Young Player of the Year - Lucas


-

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
2022/23  Ligue 2     1st       Promoted as Champions
2023/24  Ligue 1     13th      None
2024/25  Ligue 1     15th      None
2025/26  Ligue 1     7th       None
2026/27  Ligue 1     6th       French Cup winners
2027/28  Ligue 1     12th      Champions Trophy winners
2028/29  Ligue 1     11th      None
2029/30  Ligue 1     17th      None
2030/31  Ligue 1     16th      None
2031/32  Ligue 1     10th      None

Trophies won:

Ligue 2          (x2) - 2020/21 & 2022/23
French Cup       (x1) - 2026/27
Champions Trophy (x1) - 2027/28

Unofficial Club Hall of Fame/Alumni:

Legends            - Joel Kouassi, Sergio Marbus 
Icons              - Paul Hart, Matthieu Causse, Jérôme Hebert, Razvan Ionica 
Favoured Personnel - Alexandru Musca, Vivaldy Joaquim, Stephen Sharp,

[rlipscombe]

good season Paul and good to see a step up in league position. hopefully that upward momentum can continue next season too.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Wow so many updates, great efforts by Ghost & G-Wiz to gain promotion, a few good players there PRDH. And a good improvement there Paul, I also love your logo at the top now

As for me well we just travelled to Camp Nou and came away with a 2 nil victory. A great result to put us at the top of our group currently as Galatasaray only got a draw at Stade Rens, after a 0-0 draw against us.

[Cardiomolester]

Interesting. Only time will telll if he invest in the long run. He has since let me keep my job.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well at least you got to keep your job CV that's a good sign.

[rlipscombe]

great result there at the nou camp Des.

[Razer82]

great result there at the nou camp Des.

Indeed, cracking result Des, well played.

We've been to the Camp Nou this year also. Managed to blow a 2-0 lead, to come away with a draw but away goals are always useful.

[rlipscombe]

they certainly are. look at Man Utd v Bayern!!

[rlipscombe]

My idiot of a chairman has just accepted a £20 million offer for Ferri, only months after i signed him for £10 million. a good profit but he's a real star of the future. Offered him a new contract but i reckon he'll be on his way.....

EDIT: And now he's accepted a miserly £2.6 million bid for Gomes....

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well on another note 4th round of the Taca de Portugal (Cup) is drawn with Lusitano de Evora travelling to AD Fafe... Woot the old and the new.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

We All Fall Down

The tale of the tape is early in our match away to Galatasaray, a corner for our side and the comic tells the rest. Description below:



1. Ball comes in towards Yildiz, he stands alone surrounded by a Quintuple of Markers.
2. All five charge in on my star Turkish right back.
3. A five man huddle, called "Yildiz in the Middle"
4. Yildiz's header bounces harmlessly away.
5. We ALL fall down...And a Foul against Yildiz when he was 5 man marked haha.

[Razer82]

Razer82 – Associacao Desporitvo de Fafe – Portuguese Liga Sagres – 2023/2024

Liga Sagres – Media Prediction – 1st – Actual – 1st – Champions!
Portuguese Cup – Winners! – Defeated Benfica 3-1
Portuguese League Cup – Winners! – Defeated Braga 3-0
Portuguese Super Cup – Winners! – Defeated Vit Guimaraes 2-1
Champions League – Winners! – Defeated Man United 5-4 on penalties.
Euro Super Cup – Winners! – Defeated Lazio 3-2
Club World Championship – Winners! – Defeated Corinthians 3-1

Team Stats
Transfers

Top Scorer: Hector Diaz (47)
Top Assists: Adrian Vaquero (38)
Honourable Mention: Liam Bajek – 31 Goals & 25 Assists

There I was thinking that a season couldn’t get any better than the last one – then this one comes along!

It seems that we’re continuing to improve in the league, running away with it more and more whilst Benfica & Sporting are falling back a little. This year we were crowned champions after 23 games when a Benfica defeat allowed us to move a massive 24 points clear at the top of the table. Just one significant record in the league evades us – most goals scored, currently held by Benfica @ 95.

The domestic cups were retained, but not without a couple of scares! We needed penalties to get past Sporting in the League Cup Semi finals & past Braga in the 5th round of the Cup.

After winning the Champions League last season, I was aiming for a Semi-Final run this season. We were handed probably our toughest group to date but the team stepped up and took us to our first unbeaten group stage. The 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield was a particular highlight.

The tale of the knockout stages was simple. 5-4. Our progress through each round was secured by this scoreline. FC Bayern, At Madrid & Barcelona all seen off in nervy affairs as we can have a habit of conceding late goals.

The team standing in our way of retaining the title, Manchester United. The venue for the game – Old Trafford. Home advantage in a major final, I was not confident. The game was a close affair, with United having a 2nd half goal disallowed for offside. Normal time finished with the score 0-0. Deep into extra time, Gorka De Pedro, our captain was sent off for a second yellow card & I was thinking game over but we managed to hold off a superior United side to send the game to penalties.

The score from the penalty shootout – 5-4, in our favour. Fafe retained the Champions League.

Champions League Summary

We played in the Club World Championship before Christmas and were entered straight into the Semi-Finals where we were paired with Kaizer Chiefs. A routine 2-0 win put us into the final against Corinthians. The final was all over by half time, we were 3-1 up against 10 men but weren’t able to add to the scoreline, ending up 3-1 winners.

Another wonderful season complete, driven forwards by record £17m signing Hector Diaz. I'm looking to push for the same success next season, give the current stadium a great send off.

[Razer82]

Razer82 – Associacao Desporitvo de Fafe – Benfica Watch!

Only 3 meetings with Benfica this season, so just the one cup game for a change & it happened to be a final! It's coming up to 3 years since we've lost to them.

Fingers crossed for more years to come.

Season 2023 / 2024



Overall Record

[Cardiomolester]

Heh Des, I've seen that before and it's funny to see

Congratulations Razer, fantastic season.

[PRDH]

Great season there Razer. It's nice to see Fafe doing so well after their last manager never quite got there (sorry LLR).

[rlipscombe]

Razer - awesome season there.... good to see you keep up your form from last season. Hector Diaz is a great signing. how has he only been capped twice by Argentina??

Des - very funny that comic. Looks great too! Nice little sentimental game vs Fafe toon...

[rlipscombe]

my first Serie A job offer.... Chievo. I don't think so!!

[PaulHartman71]

The biggest names I've rejected are Lyon, Marseille, PSG, Sweden and Turkey

[rlipscombe]

The biggest names I've rejected are Lyon, Marseille, PSG, Sweden and Turkey

i rejected Lyon, PSG and Marseille... blah blah blah... Ha Ha

[Cardiomolester]

2012/13 - Annan Athletic



Media Prediction (5th) | Final League Table (3rd) | League Graph

This was quite a strange season. We were, compared to last season, awful yet we still finished third. I was amazed too find us near around the playoffs at Christmas. Form picked up for about two months which moved us into them... then form dropped again and we were lucky to scrape third. I was fearful for my job when a Spanish businessman tookover but he did let me keep my job so I was thankful for that. The playoffs were a disaster, I thought that a home first leg might mean we could've went through but I was wrong. I knew we were never scoring 3 goals to win away at Fife, and I was right. We couldn't even manage one. Hopefully next season will be a major improvement, I want this title!

Cups: Challenge Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup

I never expected to do well against Kilmarnock so we were trying to keep the score respectable. To an extent, we did but we should've done alot better. The League Cup was good, we beat our parent club (forced link by our ex-chairman) Morton in the first round by a goal and were trounced by Hearts in the next round at Tynecastle, but the experience was good. We needed a replay against Lossiemouth but we scraped through before beating fellow Highland League side Keith by three goals. But we were no match for Raith and unfortunately, we could not progress any further.

Annan Athletic Squad Stats | Transfers

Key Players

Adam Pepper - Our best player alongside Hewson, again. Almost finished as our top scorer but eventually he had to settle for the top assister. I can see some big clubs sniffing around but hopefully I can hold onto him for a while longer.

Sam Hewson - Joint best player with Pepper because he was our top scorer. Yes, our strikers were awful this year and Sam filled in nicely when needed. He was our captain and a fantastic leader for the season and hopefully next season as well.

Ignasi Miquel - Best defender. Chipped in with a few goals here and there and was solid at the back. Good season for the Spainish youngster.

Career Summary

|Season  | League | Finish |    Achievements   |
|----------------------------------------------|
|2010/11 |  SD3   |  5th   |       None        |
|2011/12 |  SD3   |  2nd   |  Lost in playoffs |
|2012/13 |  SD3   |  3rd   |  Lost in playoffs |

[rlipscombe]

unlucky cardiovascular... that breakthrough season must be around the corner....

[PRDH]

I've got 5 games to go this season, and I promise there will be an update. I'm going to dig around in a bit to get screenshots showing stuff I've done. Also see if I can find some screenshots of great players that have passed through the doors. That's less likely but I might have a few.

[ghostwriter]

Renato Curi Angolano - Serie B - Summer 2017

Now we are with the bigger boys, the squad definitely needed improving. And thankfully, despite the wage issues, I was able to do so. In spite of the board increasing the wage budget up to the level it was 3 years ago, all the 25% wage increase promotion clauses kicked in and took us back over it. But I managed some sales to give me a) money to purchase players with and b) money to actually offer them acceptable contracts with. In the end I made 10 signings and got rid of £1.2m worth of players.

Transfer Summary

Here are new arrivals:

Félix Martínez - the reason why I decided to cash in on Vonk, the scouts said he was better and when he arrived the coaches agreed so I decided to risk it and Vonk was sold even before the first friendly, hopefully once he settles I will see some cracking performances, plus, excluding the youths, he is also the lowest earner at the whole club
José - worth £800k, sold by Sporting for £5k, not too sure why but I am certainly not passing that bargain up, especially for a very promising teenager, already not bad and has the potential to be as good as our best, in the U20s but will probably play a bit as he will essentially be our 3rd/4th DC
Ádám Dancs - we can now scout Eastern Europe and this is the result, a very promising 17yo Hungarian ST, already our best forward and apart from lacking a bit mentally he looks very promising, very good record for the U21s and scored 2 on his friendly debut here, a bit young and in a new country so he might not start as 1st choice but hopefully will be before too long
Antonio Revuelta and Jacobo - MR was one position I was actively searching to improve and these 2 definitely do it, both young and released from Primera Liga clubs and lacking in stupid wage demands, both looks good and the former can cover ST and the latter DR so it is likely that excepting injury both will be in, at least, the squad for most matches, hoping they are better than I thought Stella would be in this division
Jörg Hain and Harald Rahn - and these will cover them, both very young, released from Bundesliga clubs and again sensible wage demands, will start with the U20s but should see some playing time this season, Ruhn, in particular, looks very promising
Amadeo Fucili - our sole Italian signing, on loan from Fiorentina and will be our first choice DR, with his arrival I decided I could try Agudo again at DC (supposedly his best position and our best DC), to be seen whether it will work, if not then Fucili will be back up, looks a very good player and one with a very promising future
Germán Puertas - another Spaniard that their club was will to let go for far less than his value, that said £275k is not cheap, by far our record signing and only 17yo as well so a bit of a risk, I needed another MC and he certainly fits the bill, my scouts think he could be very very good, already a Spanish U21 international, determined, fast, brave, should do very well at MC, whether we will see all this the first season I don't know yet
Abdelkrim Hamrouni - another useful right-sided player, a Chelsea youth product that my assistant recommended, only issue at the moment is that he does not actually play MR but some training will soon sort that out, all looks a useful ST so good for cover there, in the U20s at the moment but he will surely get some matches sooner than later


On the departures side, there were some signficant ones...

First of all Hein Vonk, the ML who was basically our best player left for £450k, as mentioned Martínez is better so keeping him as backup on those wages was not going to happen plus I needed to free up as much money as possible and £450k is not to be turned down. Another was my best ST of 2 years back, Sega Keita, who had not shone last season and with Dancs' arrival was going to play less and again his wages were too high for a sparsely used reserve. Also, one of my highlighted youths from a year back, Pirro (one of our products), was attracting attention all over the place and eventually when Serie A Siena offered the £400k I was asking for I let him go; my coaches say he will never be as good as Martínez but let's hope this is not a mistake. I also wanted to get rid of Cuvillier (my back up ML) but he damaged his knee ligaments and is out for 8 weeks and with Pirro gone he will stay at least until next Summer. I raised over £100k with my £100 p/w signings of 2 years ago while Stella, my previous first-choice MR, was sold to Serie C1 and Strukelj also left in that direction as he was not going to get many games and was annoying a couple of players for some reason.

So there we go...
A definite improvement, provided everyone settles quickly enough. One issue is the amount of youth and distinct lack of experience. Again because of the wage issue, I could not afford the older players as they were asking much more money than the players I signed. Hopefully this all enough to avoid relegation.
Plus, somehow, I am still below the wage budget(!!) as none of the signings wanted silly wages, in fact, the most expensive is only our 5th highest earner. The only issue is now re-signing all the players who have 12 months left on their contracts That could be difficult especially as our 2 best DCs (Antonelli and the aforementioned Agudo) are both unhappy about me refusing offers for them; I was tempted to sell Agudo because of this but I hope that after a couple of months he will calm down...


Have so far qualified for and then lost in the 3rd qualifying round of the Cup and started of the season with one home win and one home defeat (admittedly against a club who was in Serie A last season). Let's see how it goes...

[Lower Leagues Rule]

The biggest names I've rejected are Lyon, Marseille, PSG, Sweden and Turkey

I have only rejected Benfica & Porto, and Sporting are discussing sacking their Manager so that will give me the set, no international teams have chased me since Nigeria did back when I made Liga Vitalis.

[PaulHartman71]

I offered the Turkey job about a month after winning the French Cup which was kind of understandable, but I got offered the Sweden job last season. They must have been pretty desperate!

[rlipscombe]

some good signings there ghostwriter... good luck in Serie B. it's a competitive league so a good run could get you near the top somewhere....

[rlipscombe]

F.C.B. Venezia - Serie A - February 2nd 2020 - Season Update

I thought that with the transfer window shutting i'd give a little update as to where we're at.

Table

As you can see we're in a dogfight at the bottom but we're a lot healthier than last time round. We've tightened up at the back which has helped and we're battling a little more. We already have the 3 wins we achieved last time, so hopefully we can better that this time!

January was a busy month for transfers as i (and more frustratinlgy the chairman) tried to arrest our financial losses. The main departures were Catello Ferri (Torino, £20m), Carlos Gomes (Valencia, £2.8m), Kosaka (Frankfurt, £7m), Maresca (Torino, £3.3m) and Ledesma (Flamengo, £2.5m).

Four players came in through the doors to join the relegation dogfight:

Tiziano Rosato - Italian CB signed from Saint Etienne for £7m. After the enforced sale of Ferri and my axeing of the disappointing Kosaka, i needed a CB badly. Hopefully Rosato is the man.

Stuart Anderson - Northern Irish midfielder signed from Hibernian for £8.5m. Felt i needed some competition for Tajti and hopefully Stuart can provide that. Good prospect for the future too.

Jari Kuikka - Finnish midfielder in on loan from Panathianikos. Will provide cover.

Valentin Kolev - Bulgarian striker signed for £2.1 million from Arsenal. I have tracked him for a couple of years and now i have him. Will provide competition up front.

So that's it. We're on the final run-in now so it's time to see if we can stay up. Wish us luck!!

FORZA LAGUNARI!!

[PRDH]

**Season Update - SO Romorantin - 2025/26 Season - Ligue 1**

Transfers

A few big name exits from the club. Carlos (a Spanish striker you may have never seen) he arrived at the club for an enormous £20M+ fee and left 3 years later for just £8M - it's a mystery why he couldn't do better, but he goes down as a big flop. The rest can be seen here.

As for entrances, you've seen most of them, but in January Reda Khellaf, a player I've had my eye on for a while was transfer-listed by Liverpool, and so I swooped, he should be a huge player for us. I can see him replacing Kresic! And I don't say things like that lightly!

League

Well, after last season's shocking trophyless season it was important to stamp our authority on the league again. Fortunately we did. We were top of the league for all but 2 weeks. And, despite a slight wobble towards the end of the season we held on to claim the title with three games to spare. A strong performance from the team.

Cup

Success in the Coupe de la Ligue (we won it) was not matched by the French Cup (we didn't).

Europe

Another dramatic failure. We didn't even get past the Qualifying round of the Champions LEague losing over two legs to Galatasaray. We then went into the Europa league, where we didn't get out of the group. We really need to start doing more on this stage!

Where I've been as part of my European Adventures

Hungary, Serbia, Austria, England, Russia, Italy

Moldova, Montenegro, Slovakia, Belgium, Turkey, Croatia, Italy, Spain

Serbia, Italy, Germany, Spain

Greece, Spain, England, Germany

Portugal, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Belgium

Spain, Belgium, Germany, Germany, Italy, England

Players

The same system stands - I will put the first choice player in each position in bold, and will italicise the players I think most important or interesting. So here goes:

Goalkeepers

Gokhan Korkmaz - A great season from the Turkish 'keeper, won all the awards going for them in France. Yet to really make an impact for his national team, but time s definitely on his side.

Ibrehima Kone - Capable back-up, made his debut late in the season when the title was already secured.

Alexandre Lascaux - I'm looking to sell and move a youth player up from the junior sides as third choice.

Defence

Richard Hue - Fell out of favour for the first time in his Romorantin career, signed a new contract, likely to see out his career as back-up now. There should be a place in the backroom for this devoted servant.

Vangelis Kostapoulos - Rotated at right back with Pane, but the Italian just edged first choice. Both performed well.

Dimitris Raptis - A great first season in the main squad. Played regularly, and at just 18 is putting pressure on The Boss, and Ropponen.

Anis Fekih - Felt sorry for him, missed a huge chunk of the season through injury but came back and played the last few games, and did well.

Henk "The Boss" Bosschaart - Another good season from the Dutch defender. He's not subtle, but he takes some beating!

Nestor D'Angelo - A solid few games for the Argentinian defender.

Abderraouf Jedidi - Played more games and is starting to look like a very good player, I now have at least five defenders who can do the job in the middle.

Mikki Ropponen - Stayed at first choice despite the emergence of Raptis and Jedidi - another good season.

Pietro Pane - First season in France, and he performed pretty well.

Danilo - Thrown in at the deep end when he was only meant to provide concentration due to Fekih's injuries, but he performed admirably, securing the slot and keeping Fekih out even when he got back to fitness.

Midfield

Wilson Mosquera - A very good season only marred by some injury problems.

Dorel Parvu - Not his best season, but still, captained the side to the title again.

Josef Novak - Not many games, but played very well when called upon, he might be coming of age.

Dann Cooper Mbiyavanga - Stagnating. May have to go.

Yegor Safin - A hugely impressive first season at the club, got more chances due to Mosquera's injury and he didn't disappoint. In fact he was top scorer - netting 17 times.

Nikos Chatzis - Fell behind Jin in the pecking order, but really they rotated. Both did well.

Yunlong Jin - Probably just first choice, but could never relax.

Francisco Reyes - Similar situation here to Chatzis and Jin. Reyes was probably back-up but made some telling appearances when Traverso lost form or was injured.

Fernando Traverso - His first season ahead of Reyes and apart from a few blips he did well.

Attack

Marko Kresic - Strange season for Kresic, he scored infrequently but provided a huge number of assists. He continues to bely his 33 years and notched up his 14th competition win with the club. A true legend. Still no international recognition!

Emmanuel Boateng - Promoted from the youth ranks during an injury crisis. Probably did it a year before I would have done, but the exposure has done him good. I think he could be very exciting.

Reda Khellaf - Joined from Liverpool, injury prevented him making an immediate impact. But he has all the attributes to be a long-term successor to Kresic.

Ugur Nergiz - Probably just first choice, but didn't reproduce the form of last season, even if the team performed better.

Salaheddine Zaboul - Became something of a forgotten man, still, when called upon, scored some vital goals.

Awards

Internal

Top Scorer - Yegor Safin - 17 (from the right wing!)
Fans' Player of the Season -

External

Korkmaz- 'keeper of the year

Youth Watch

Home-grown

Cedric Bilger - After bursting onto the scene I will try and manage his progression sensibly, if he had a bit more pace, he would have been straight into the first team, but given his lack of it, I will build him up, made a few appearances.

Mouloud Ait-Mouhoub - Our only other youth product, has had a couple of great seasons with the U-18s - he might just about have what it takes to make the first team, but I'm not confident.

Non-home grown

Too many to mention now.

Aims For This Season Were

I didn't make any. BUT, I wanted to regain some form after a very disappointing season last time up and I managed it.

Aims For Next Season

Having won everything going in France I really need to make progress in Europe.

Other News

So what else happened then. Well this:

erm.. not a lot!

Best Elevens

10/11
11/12
12/13
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
17/18
18/19
19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26

Overall

Story So Far

Season			League			Position			Achievements/Wins
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11			National			15th				Avoided relegation
2011/12			National			10th				Consolidated
2012/13			National			8th				Steady progression
2013/14			National			1st				Champions!
2014/15			Ligue 2			11th				Survived
2015/16			Ligue 2			1st				Champions!
2016/17			Ligue 1			18th				Relegated
2017/18			Ligue 2			1st				Champions! (Again)
2018/19			Ligue 1			6th				French Cup winners
2019/20			Ligue 1			6th				Consolidated
2020/21			Ligue 1			1st				Champions, FC Winners
2021/22			Ligue 1			1st				Champions
2022/23			Ligue 1			3rd				FC + Coupe de la Ligue wins
2023/24			Ligue 1			1st				Quadruple
2024/25			Ligue 1			3rd				Trophyless
2025/26			Ligue 1			1st				Champions + C de la L win

Trophy Cabinet

French National - 2013/14
Ligue 2 - 2015/16, 2017/18
French Cup - 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024
Ligue 1 - 2020/21, 2021/22, 2023/24, 2025/26
French Champions Trophy - 2023, 2024
Coupe de la Ligue - 2023, 2024, 2026

Previous Updates

2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21

[Cardiomolester]

What makes 'Hands on Approach' go down in your profile? I know holidaying is one but I haven't holidayed once in my Annan save yet I'm at 5.