FM10 Small Club to Big Club Big Euro Nation Challenge

[iacovone]

Good luck ghostwriter that's a great team you found there, never seen them before in my Italian adventures!

bjoggi - don't forget Portsmouth in that list of Prosinecki's clubs!

bad luck brambleten

[Uffe Johansson]

Casa Pia Summer transfers 2017/18
Transfers

El Hadji Diouf could not be persuaded to renew his contract despite the fact Casa Pia is a Liga Sagres team again. But not to worry I found his replacement in Cameroon. Meet Mr George Song, only 20 but already as good as Diouf was and potential to become better. Belfodil has always been a terrific striker but the other one has had trouble finding the net. I hope Rondon will change that. I got him for free after my ass man had recommended him. His been good in preseason and I hope he will continue to produce.

Defence was the big issue last time in Liga Sagres. Now we have tried to enhance that part of the pitch. Djuricic old and slow, but I still think he is going to be an improvement to the net. Kouril, regarded by my scouts as the next big star in Liga Sagres looks really impressive and should make wonders together with Massa in the back.

I think this activity during the transfer window has strenghtened the squad, to bad Matias left but thanks to the money we could get a better keeper. It´s worth it I hope as we look forward to be in Liga Sagres next season as well.

[rlipscombe]

Uffe - i like the look of Song, and Kouril looks to have some decent potential too. good luck with the season.

[iacovone]

Song looks excellent Uffe

I've had my CB's sent off 5 times now this season . Costing me valuable points the idiots!

EDIT: Right so we just had stand in CB Cabezas sent off and old man Luna came on in his place at half time. He proceeded to rack up a rating of 3.4 . Worst signing I've ever made

[rlipscombe]

thats some going with the CB's iacovone.... do you tell them to break your opponents in two????

[PRDH]

It doesn't seem long ago that I was introducing Giorgio Zanetti as a player that might make a decent impact at National level. Well he's just broken the record for goals for the team with a hat-trick in a 5-4 win.

[iacovone]

thats some going with the CB's iacovone.... do you tell them to break your opponents in two????

Seriously I've never known anything like it. Alejandro has just been sent off and cost us further points. Luna is the main culprit though! He is rated as a good BBVA CB - absolute rubbish!!! 10 games, 6 yellows, 2 reds and an average rating of 6.12. Diabolical form.

[iacovone]

November 2020

Hercules           0 - 0          Castillo

Raul (69)                         Canini (1)
                                  Stepanovsky (44)



Castillo           0 - 2          Mallorca

Cabezas S/O (47)                  Tsvetkov (85)
                                  Kadlec (94)




Alaves             2 - 4          Castillo

Lertxundi (11)                    Andreev (5,71)
Etxabe (81)                       Merola (7)
                                  Kantimoiris (59)



Castillo           1 - 1          Albacete

Andreev (20)                      Gomila (8)
Andreev S/O (53)




Girona             5 - 3          Castillo

Diez (2)                          Merola (39,59,63)
Fernando (55,66)                     
Disic (88)                        Alejandro S/O (7)
Altobelli (93)

We are still sitting 4th which is good going considering the points dropped this month. Only 5 points taken from a potential 15 is really shoddy but the blame can only lie at the feet of my CBs. They have been awful. Fortunately the long wait for Lisandro Dure's return is over \o/, this 20 year old Argie CB was magnificent in the 2nd half of last year so I hope he can bring some strength to our very shaky backline!

[iacovone]

Haha R. Madrid Castilla have had their west stand closed by the health and safety inspectorate

[rlipscombe]

Haha R. Madrid Castilla have had their west stand closed by the health and safety inspectorate

ha ha. not seen that before. in FM09 they were always in poor financial situations, which i found ridiculous really.... made me laugh though.

[iacovone]

December/January 2020/21

Osasuna (14th)    0 - 3      Castillo (4th)

                             Merola (37,45)
                             Cabezas (54)


Castillo (3rd)    1 - 0      Athletic Bilbao (4th)

Schober (72)



JANUARY 2021


Castillo (3rd)    3 - 0      Valladolid (1st)

Andreev (21)
Merola (78,84)




Rayo (22nd)       2 - 3      Castillo (4th)

Diaz Diaz (15)               Merola (13)
Sandro PEN (58)              Cabezas (23)
                             Stepanovsky PEN (51)




Castillo (3rd)    1 - 2      Castellon (2nd)

Andreev (38)                 Etxaniz (22)
                             Murat Satilmis (24)




Castillo (4th)    1 - 0      R. Sociedad (11th)

Kantimoiris (45)             Gomez S/O (33)

This was a great month (other than the Castellon defeat) and largely down to the return of Lisandro Dure. Now though we have had to release him for the South American U20 Tournament for a month. This started on the Castellon match - obviously why we lost. I nearly sold Ezequiel Luna to River Plate but they couldn't agree terms with him . Shame as I'd love to get rid of the overpaid useless waste of space. On the plus side, the transfer window has shut and we've not lost anyone major and have set up the transfer for a very highly rated Turk called Samet Kaplan (MC). He is just 16 and I'll screenshot him on his arrival in the summer.

Back to the league and we are currently in 3rd place, which is the last promotion spot. We played a lot of our rivals this last two months and did reasonably well, particularly at home to Valladolid. Now we need to pick off the average sides to ensure we're in the race in a few months time. Our attendence record was broken in the Valladolid game to the tune of 6500 give or take. Promising for the future.

The youth facilities have been completed and are up to 'average' from 'adequate'. The board are refusing to improve them further though sadly. Still no academy

[el sid]

Take THAT beautiful football w@nkers

[Uffe Johansson]

Song looks good but I can not get him to send in good crosses to my strikers. That will come later when he is more adapted to my tactics.

I have playeyd five games so far but only recorded one win in the League Cup against Fatima. In the league we have two draws against Porto and Benfica (!) and two losses against worse teams. Strange. We can get a draw against Porto away but not win against Leiria at home. But I think will get better after some teamgelling. I have new players in important places in the team.

Iacovone are you playing hard tackles on the sending off central defender because I have medium and they almost never get sent off. An occasional yellow and suspension.

[iacovone]

Uffe - yes I was! needless to say that's been changed

[Uffe Johansson]

Uffe - yes I was! needless to say that's been changed

Good !

I have a problem. I won against Sporting but I lose against bad teams. Five of my six points so far are against the big three in Portugal.

[DodgeeD]

You're doing better than me on that score Uffe. In only my second game in Liga Sagres, I got whipped 4-0 at Benfica. We also lost 1-0 at home to Porto. Our only point off the big 3 so far was a 0-0 home game with Sporting but we should have lost heavily...

[Uffe Johansson]

But I suspect that you win against Vit Setubal and others. After 4 min I´m already one down after a horrendous mistake in the back. Make that 1-1 now. I hope to get my second win now...

Edit 1. 1-2. I don´t know what my defenders are doing. Certainly not defending thats for sure...

Edit 2 2-2 Kovacevic sends a beautiful free kick in the right corner.

Edit 3 3-2 OG.

Edit 4 3-2 FT. Good. Now it feels better.

[iacovone]

February 2021

Levante (14th)        5 - 1        Castillo (3rd)

Francisco Javier (9)               Merola (70)
Sanz (26,47,57)
Iborra (35)




Castillo (4th)        0 - 0        Salamanca (20th)




Racing (3rd)          1 - 3        Castillo (4th)

Rondon (40)                        Merola (24,58,93)




Castillo (4th)        2 - 0       Lleida (19th)

Cabezas (12)
Kantimoiris (69)

Don't ask me what happened in the Levante game! I've never had a performance like it. By half time we were 4-0 down and everyone had below a '6' for their rating. They just didn't turn up. This was followed by a poor match with Salamanca before we found our rhythm again against promotion chasing Racing. That Merola hattrick spectacularly brought up his 100th Castillo goal . We are 2nd and 1 point off the top at the moment. 16 games remain.

[Uffe Johansson]

Racing (3rd) 1 - 3 Castillo (4th)

Rondon (40) Merola (24,58,93)

Is that Jose Salomon Rondon in Racing? If so he just scored for me against Rio Ave. We are up 2-0 now.

[iacovone]

Is that Jose Salomon Rondon in Racing? If so he just scored for me against Rio Ave. We are up 2-0 now.

Blimey someone reads my updates

And yes amazingly it is Jose Salomon Rondon!

[Uffe Johansson]

Blimey someone reads my updates

And yes amazingly it is Jose Salomon Rondon!

Well. He is really good for me. 5 goals and 5 assists in 7(2) matches.

[Uffe Johansson]

Since complaining about not winning against weaker teams I have played six matches, three Liga Sagres and three cupmatches, won five of them with a score of 19-7. To bad I have to get some sleap now. It has been fun this evening with Casa Pia on a winning streak.

[tomsmith1989]

Pau FC

French National
2010/11
Games 1 - 5

30/07/2010 - Game 1

Pau FC              1 - 1            AS Beauvais Oise

Viola (87)                           Samir Bertin d'Avesnes (89)


04/08/2010 - Game 2

SO Cassis-Carnoux   0 - 4            Pau FC

                                     Dieudonne Bikoyoi (20, 28)
                                     Pierre Aristouy (74, 83)


07/08/2010 - Game 3

Pau FC              2 - 0            Evian TG FC

Viola (55)
Jardel (85)


14/08/2010 - Game 4

Hyeres FC           1 - 1            Pau FC

Yoran Kalkoul (34)                   Viola (11)


20/08/2010 - Game 5

Pau FC              1 - 1            AS Cannes

Medhi Leroy (26)                     Frederic Fouret (47)

The League Table

|----|----------------|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|---|
|Pos |Team            |GP|W |D |L |GF|GA|GD|PTS|
|----|----------------|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|---|
| 1  |FC Gueugnon     |5 |4 |0 |1 |6 |1 |+5|12 |
| 2  |La Berrichone   |5 |4 |0 |1 |10|2 |+8|12 |
| 3  |Nimes Olympique |5 |3 |2 |0 |5 |0 |+5|11 |
|----|----------------|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|---|
| 4  |FC Rouen        |5 |3 |1 |1 |6 |2 |+4|10 |
| 5  |Pau FC          |5 |2 |3 |0 |9 |3 |+6|9  |
| 6  |AS Cannes       |5 |2 |2 |1 |7 |4 |+3|8  |
|----|----------------|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|---|

So, a fairly decent start to the campaign. I'm happy to start the season with a five game unbeaten run, and feel the team is performing well. Viola stands out at the minute. Despite being 40 years of age, he has still managed to net himself 3 goals in 4 starts and a sub appearance. Pierre Aristouy is also showing what he can do with two goals, although he hasn't quite lived up to the pre-season promise he was showing.

Our two wins were very satisfying. The team played well, and the result looked to go no other way. One issue is that in all three of the draws we have gone in front, only to conceed an equaliser. I'm happy to see Pau sit in 5th with only a three point gap to first. A few more wins in the next five games should see us push into the promotion places. It's still early days.

[iacovone]

March 2021

Tenerife (7th)      0 - 2       Castillo (2nd)

                                Andreev (40)
                                Merola (91)



Castillo (1st)      2 - 2       Numancia (7th)

Schober (39)                    Saucedo (20)
Merola (42)                     Binder (52)




Castilla (16th)     1 - 2       Castillo (2nd)

Javier (75)                     Stepanovsky PEN (28)
                                Merola (52)




Recreativo (16th)   2 - 4       Castillo (1st)

Campana (6)                     Andreev (45,90)
Martin (80)                     Stepanovsky PENS (55,96)

An unbeaten month means we maintain our position at the top of the table. As you can see Alberto Merola has been in fine form keeping us scoring. Its worth noting that last year's signing of the season Axel Elgh has now gone over 1000 minutes without scoring

[PRDH]

**Season Update - SO Romorantin - 2014/15 Season**

Transfers

Right let me start with the bad news of this pre-season's transfers.

After all my talk of Nicola Maglione being good enough for Ligue 2 it seems others thought so too and Aberdeen swooped with a £625K bid which my Chairman accepted on my behalf. I must say I'm annoyed by it. He is worth at least double that and is very difficult to replace at this level.

The other exits? Nothing particularly exciting. The aging Fabrice Fernandes left for £35K and Mohamed Soly left for £100K. Turns out I was wrong in the update. Shows how useful he was that I thought he left though!

Now for the more exciting part. Transfers in. I had a bit of money to play with and used it to strengthen fairly widely.

First through the doors at Romorantin was Vangelis Katsaros. He's Greek, he can play on both sides as a full-back and is technically pretty good if a little naive defensively but at £120K he is young enough and cheap enough to be worth a punt.

Next in was an Australian who I had been looking at on trial. Jimmy Sama is not necessarily world-class and probably never will be but at £26K he will do a decent job as back-up.

Then came Krzysztof Krol, an experienced defender who should add some steel to the back. He arrives on a free.

Next we have Axel Ngando who arrives for £250K from Saint-Etienne. He is a skillful winger who should be a handful at this level.

The next transfer is the one I'm most excited by. Marko Kresic, a young Croatian striker, arrived for £110K. He looks to be the complete striker in the making. He's young, reasonably quick, good in the air, and with good skills with the ball at his feet. He reminds me of a young Diego Pastore. And many of you will know there is no higher praise than that!

Then came more experience, Ivan Stevanovic, technically a replacement for Maglione, he arrived on a free. He's a decent player, no more, but can hopefully help guide the youngsters that have mainly been arriving.

The penultimate signing of the window saw me return to Eastern Europe after my scouts found Darko Knezivic, an 18-year-old central defender who look like he can make an impact in defence straight away and should be a fixture for a few years at least. He cost £300K.

Finally, in the dying moments of the transfer window Romorantin pulled off the most expensive signing in the club's history. Richard Hue is a right sided or central defender who joined for £900K. He is another young player and has just recovered from an injury.

So that was the situation after the pre-season shopping and it ahs just been stolen from an earlier post (the screenshots later will show season's performance and improvements)

The only other transfer was Abdou Traore who came in on a free in December as cover and competition for Marseille.

League

Well I certainly didn't start the season particularly impressively! A couple of defeats by 4 goals in the first two games indicated a season of struggle. However, over the next few months I pulled the team together and we survived comfortably in the end with an 11th place finish. Disappointingly we were struck by inconsistency as we have been in the past and never managed to put together any sort of form that could put pressure on the top half. Still with a bit of strengthening I think I've got a chance of doing more in a couple of seasons time.

Cup

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

Kola Agbo - Started the season as first choice after fulfilling the role well in our promotion season, but after conceding about 13 in our first three games he was demoted to the bench. He came back towards the end of the season and did well.

Cedric Mensah - Took over first team duties after Agbo's abysmal start to the season. Performed well enough.

Jason Payne - He was again just a decent 3rd choice, still young, but I no longer really think he has what it takes to break through into the first team here.

Defence

Krzysztof Krol - A real mixed season for the experienced defender, he had som good games and he had some truly awful games.

Darko Knezevic - Young defender who was a key member of the team, could do big things.

Ivan Stevanovic - Generally disappointing but provided experienced back-up.

Lucien Owona - again a decent enough back-up played fewer games than he did last season.

Richard Hue - Big money signing, the young French right back has a good future in the game. Struggled to break into the team this season after breaking his leg on debut.

Vito Wormgoor - Another good season for the Dutch defender. He's a very useful player at this level.

Ard van Peppen - played a fair amount back on the right of defence again this season. He's very solid.

Vangelis Katsaros - The young Greek full back, may be naive defensively but is a real force on the overlap, a good player who is starting to attract interest.

Midfield

Jorn Vermeulen - This season underlined why he had been so good in the National League. He's too good for Ligue 2 too!

Stephane Marseille - The captain continues to be an influential player in the middle of the park establishing a strong relationship with Boateng.

Abdou Traore - Came in on a free and initially went into the team ahead of Marseille. He didn't do particularly well though and Marseille came blasting back in.

Nathan Dalton - Struggling to make an impact as the team improves. It may soon be time for the young man to move on.

Axel Ngando - First choice on the left-wing for much of the season, though Roca displaced him in the run in. Performed well enough.

Marcos Roca - Limited appearances this season but generally played well when he got on.

Kevin-Prince Boateng - Key member of the midfield a lot of our play goes through him.

Attack

Claudio Keseru - Not much playing time for the Romanian striker this season and if I recall he didn't score a goal. I think Ligue 2 is a step to far for him. Bless.

Marko Kresic - Being compared to Diego Pastore is a fairly weighty burden for any striker but coming to a new country as a youngster it must be even tougher. Luckily Kresic dealt with the pressure superbly to top score with 20 goals. Well done him!

Giorgio Zanetti - A definite breakthrough season for the striker, established himself as first choice and was a regular goal scorer. He and Kresic have the potential to be a frightening pair at this level and possibly do the job at a higher level too.

Jimmy Sama - Didn't set the world alight.

Ladislas Douniama - Reduced playing time but still got goals occasionally.

Awards

Top Scorer - Marko Kresic - 20
Fans' Player of the Season - Giorgio Zanetti

Youth Watch

Home-grown

No-one worth mentioning yet.

Non-home grown

No-one really.

Aims For This Season Were

Well with the new stadium on the way in a year I'd like to have Ligue 2 football to greet it. So:

1/ Survive in Ligue 1 - I meant Ligue 2! Yes
2/ Try to rebuild my finances - Yes
3/ Generally strengthen the team - Yes
4/ Convince the board to improve the youth set-up. - Yes

Fairly successful I'd say!

Aims For Next Season

Well, a solid season overall - so for next year:

1/ Consolidation
2/ Push into the top half
3/ Further strengthen finances

Other News

So what else happened then. Well this:

Best Elevens

10/11
11/12
12/13
13/14
14/15

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

Trophy Cabinet

French National - 2013/14

Previous Updates

2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14

[PRDH]

There we go. That continues the trend of me putting up an update as I near the end of the following season!! Oh well. I promise I'll do better next time!

[tomsmith1989]

Nice update PRDH. Kresic looks like he'll be a really good buy. Top scorer in his debut season isn't too bad, and it's nice to see he's improved a little too. Knezevic and Hue look like really good signings as well. Both look gifted for their age.

[iacovone]

Nice read PRDH. Forgot to say to you tomsmith that you've started really strongly with FC Pau

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - good solid season there Kresic looks a great signing there! hopfully you can hang on to him.....

iacovone - my fingers and toes are crossed for you in the run-in.... SURELY La Liga is waiting....

as for me, apologies for the lack of updates. i've been busy the last few days with the wedding getting closer, but i should hopefully be able to get back on with a bit of Venezia tonight.....

[tomsmith1989]

Pau FC

French National
2010/11
Games 6 - 10

28/08/2010 - Game 6

US Raon-l'Etape       0 - 4             Pau FC

                                        Pierre Aristouy (16,18)
                                        Charles Devineau (34)
                                        Viola (45+2)


03/09/2010 - Game 7

Pau FC                1 - 0             Nimes Olympique

Medhi Leroy (68)


11/09/2010 - Game 8

Chamois Niortais      1 - 2             Pau FC

Cyrille Watier (61)                     Pierre Aristouy (35, 81)


17/09/2010 - Game 9

Pau FC                3 - 2             FC Rouen

Viola (3, 45+2)                         William Louiron (88)
Jardel (79)                             Jean-Marie David (90+1)
                                        Oscar Olou Sent Off (80)


25/09/2010 - Game 10

Paris FC              3 - 0             Pau FC

Remi Souyeux (27, 48, 81)

The League Table

|---|--------------------|--|--|--|--|--|--|---|---|
|Pos|Team                |GP|W |D |L |GF|GA|GD |PTS|
|---|--------------------|--|--|--|--|--|--|---|---|
| 1 |La Berrichonne      |10|7 |0 |3 |19|6 |+13|21 |
| 2 |Pau FC              |10|6 |3 |1 |19|9 |+10|21 |
| 3 |Nimes Olympique     |10|6 |3 |1 |11|2 |+9 |21 |
|---|--------------------|--|--|--|--|--|--|---|---|
| 4 |FC Gueugnon         |10|6 |2 |2 |13|5 |+8 |20 |
| 5 |AS Cannes           |10|5 |4 |1 |17|9 |+8 |19 |
| 6 |Evian TG FC         |10|5 |3 |2 |13|11|+2 |18 |
|---|--------------------|--|--|--|--|--|--|---|---|

We move up to second in the league with another good 5 game run. Games six to nine went to plan as we secured maximum points, but leading into game ten things seemed to go horribly wrong.

After being comfortably in front and cruising at 3-0, a red card for Rouen seemed to spell trouble for us. A quickfire double for them saw the last two minutes feel like an eternity. We were close to a huge meltdown. We managed to hold on but we lost two players, one half of my so far fantastic CB partnership Jeff Strasser and my influential AMR William Mocquet, through suspension. Strasser absence at the back was far too obvious, and our defence was all at sea for the entire game against Paris. It was a shocking performance and made us feel like the newly promoted team we are.

I'm hoping with Strasser and Mocquet's return we can turn things around immediately, but it seems we are starting to show some defensive frailties which will need to be addressed if things continue on trend.

Anyway, back to the positives. Aritouy and Viola are really on song. Both have scored six goals in their opening ten games. Another player who deserves a mention is Dieudonne Bikoyoi. The second half of my CB partnership has played in nine of the ten league games played and has performed superbly in every game. Carrying an average rating of 7.34, and having helped the team with two headed goals, his impact has been fantastic so far this season.

[Polar Bear]

Doing well tomsmith. Is that the same Viola who performed a memorable cameo for Brazil at the 1994 World Cup, then apparently disappeared from view?

[iacovone]

April 2021

Castillo (1st)       0 - 0        Celta (13th)




Granada (12th)       2 - 0        Castillo (2nd)

Acosta (17,76)




Castillo (2nd)       2 - 1        Hercules (6th)

Schober (37,56)                   Jaron (92)




Mallorca (16th)      0 - 1        Castillo (2nd)

Jaume S/O (87)                    Stepanovsky PEN (30)

A dubious start to the month saw us drop 5 points but we've responded well with two big wins to keep the pace with Valladolid. We're just 2 points off the top and looking as if promotion is within our reach now

[tomsmith1989]

Doing well tomsmith. Is that the same Viola who performed a memorable cameo for Brazil at the 1994 World Cup, then apparently disappeared from view?

Thanks. It certainly is. 10 caps and 2 goals to his name. At the time he was playing for Corinthians, and then had a season stint at Valencia in 1995-96. Then moved back to Brazil for the rest of his career, except for a couple of seasons in the Turkish top flight with Gaziantepspor in 2001-03. I also have Jardel who has 9 caps and 1 goal for Brazil.

EDIT: Going really well iacovone. Bit of a shame to get beaten by Granada, but at least it didn't get to the team.

[Flashman\'s School Days]

Wow tomsmith, you are going really well in your first season with Pau, currently half way through my 3rd season with them in Ligue 2 and I am looking dead certs for relegation atm

[iacovone]

May 2021

Castillo (2nd)        3 - 1        Alaves (15th)

Schober (11,14)                    Etxabe (56)
Kantimoiris (46)




Albacete (22nd)       0 - 4        Castillo (2nd)

                                   Stepanovsky (7)
                                   Schober (8)
                                   Merola (65,76)




Castillo (1st)        1 - 3        Girona (16th)

Stepanovsky (91)                   Bueso (3)
                                   Potato (35,51)




Athletic Bilbao (4th) 0 - 0        Castillo (1st)

                                   Bognar S/O (81)




Castillo (1st)        2 - 0        Osasuna (19th)

Andreev (1)
Cabezas (85)

A mixed month really. The loss to Girona was really surprising particularly after the thumping 4-0 win over Albacete. Perhaps it was overconfidence? Anyway we secured a solid draw at Bilbao and remained top before beating Osasuna to...wait for it...SECURE PROMOTION \o/

I actually didn't realise how close we were to securing promotion so the news came as a welcome surprise. So now the challenge is to ensure we finish top and claim our first ever trophy! We have 1st v 2nd next away at Valladolid before and away trip to Castellon. Finally we celebrate at home against relegated Rayo. We have a 1 point lead over Valladolid.

[iacovone]

FFS

The big clash with Valladolid and this is what my squad looks like: madness

[Polar Bear]

Ouch. I've been lucky enough to avoid that sort of thing so far. But well done on promotion

[iacovone]

May 2021

Valladolid (2nd)      1 - 0        Castillo (1st)

Gomes (19)




Castellon (10th)      1 - 2        Castillo (2nd)

Satilmis (37)                      Merola (48)
                                   Cabezas (67)




Castillo (2nd)        3 - 1        Rayo (21st)

Cabezas (28)                       Mokoena (45)
Schober (44)
Merola (76)

Well as expected we lost to Valladolid with such a depleted squad. 1-0 was actually far better than I expected given that 2 of our defenders were making their senior debuts. As it turned out our final two wins weren't quite good enough to clinch the title. A real shame that this was taken away from us by the unavailability of my youngsters. Oh well. Its top level titles we want now.

Season report should be up shortly

[rlipscombe]

\o/ congrats iacovone!!! fantastic. shame about the depleted squad and the loss to Valladolid, but you've gotta be chuffed with promotion!!

[iacovone]

Juan Baldomero's...

Castillo C.F 2020/21 End of Season Review
Liga Adelante

The "cruising to our destiny" Edition

2nd|Graph

Predicted Finish: 10th

Transfers
Squad
Finances

Season Ticket Holders - 126 (last year 119)
Estimated Value - £10.25m (up by £3.5m)

The Generalities...

A fantastic year for the Canary Islanders saw us unexpectedly promoted. I say unexpected but to be honest once we got into our rhythm it never looked in doubt. I'm certain we were the best side in the division but we did drop points inexplicably now and again. This prevented us winning the title, which was a bit of a shame but I'm just happy to be moving up to Liga BBVA.

The Players...

As is customary I introduce you to the promotion achieving Castillians:

Gks...

Reinhard Thiessen - Played the vast majority of the season and did really well. Is definitely the clubs number 1, just a question of whether or not he can shine in the top flight. Secured second in the goalkeeper of the year award.
Fran - stepped in and did admirably as our back up. He holds the record appearances at the club but will be leaving this summer on a free.

Defenders...

Petr Stepanovsky - Started off very badly but grew with us over the season and was relied on from the spot. Scored plenty of goals and became part of a strong defence.
Sergio Rodriguez Ortega - Solid season from the ever-improving Ortega. Shame to see him demand a transfer in January but I have the feeling he might stay now
Serafin Gago - an up and down season for the RB. He started well but had to play all across the defence and so performances sometimes suffered.
Lisandro Dure - the young centre back held us together once he returned from a torn calf muscle early in the season. Suffered from intense media pressure but on the whole had a great year.
Giannis Athanasiou - Greek left back started really badly and then wanted to leave so I decided he'd contribute no more to our season.
Alejandro - didn't expect him to play from the off but the injury to Dure meant he had to step in and by all accounts did well.

Midfielders...

Riza Bozdag - on the fringes this season really and made the majority of his appearances off the bench.
Christos Kantimoiris - followed up with another strong season for us in midfield contributing well in both the goals and assists column.
Marco Carletti - Club captain played a bit part this year and is leaving the club on a free this summer, he has been a good servent to the club.
Airam Cabezas - my player of the year for his consistent performances in CM. Scored far more goals than his attributes indicate he is capable of.
Peter Bognar - an average to good season for the Hungarian. Basically very steady, not much more to say.
Sergey Andreev - Had a great first year at AMC setting a new assists record for the club. He is going to be the clubs new vice-captain next year.

Strikers...

Robert Schober - was 3rd choice striker this year but really did well when required. With better composure he could be class but I think he may struggle to get there. Still, a good first year for him.
Alberto Merola - The main man comes back to prove the doubters wrong with his best ever season for Castillo! Started slowly but grabbed us by the horns and hauled us up into Liga BBVA. Also scored his 100th goal for Castillo this year.
Axel Elgh - What an awful season for my player of last year. Scored just twice and by the end of the season had gone over 1300 minutes without a goal
Matias Canini - Did well as 4th choice, but didn't impact the club as much as I'd hoped.

Average Attendance: 5790 (last year 4259)
Fans Player of the Year: Alberto Merola
My Player of the Year: Airam Cabezas

The League Campaign...

Well it was a comfortable promotion chase in the end. After about 10 games we found consistency and strolled to the top of the league. Alberto Merola's attacking prowess was key, as was the solidity of keeper Thiessen and centre back Dure.

We go up with Valladolid and Bilbao (who made a late surge) and replace Alicante, Las Palmas and Malaga. Real Madrid won their title back finishing a long way ahead of Betis (!) and Valencia. Barcelona slipped to 5th in a poor season. The highlight goes to Cordoba who were one of last year's promoted sides. They finished 8th.

The Copa del Rey...

Same story for us this year, losing at home in the 3rd round to a recently relegated side (Bilbao). We have a better chance next year.

Other Stuff...

Club Info
Facilities - Youth facilities were improved to 'average' this season.

Best XI
Best Overall XI

We set a new attendence record in our last game of the season against Rayo

The Plan...

Well its likely to be a very busy summer as we have about £5m in the bank. We need to strengthen all over if possible but in particular we need some experience in the ranks. Ultimately though we need to survive. This is our first year in the top flight after 11 seasons of toil in the Spanish lower leagues.

Progress so far...

Season   Division          Position     Achievements
2010/11  2nd Division B1   15th         N/A
2011/12  2nd Division B1   12th         N/A
2012/13  2nd Division B1   8th          N/A
2013/14  2nd Division B1   13th         N/A
2014/15  2nd Division B1   10th         N/A
2015/16  2nd Division B1   2nd          Lost in 2nd Round of Playoff Phase, Quarters of Federation Cup
2016/17  2nd Division B1   3rd          Promoted via the Playoffs
2017/18  Liga Adelante     18th         Survived
2018/19  Liga Adelante     13th         N/A
2019/20  Liga Adelante     5th          N/A
2020/21  Liga Adelante     2nd          Automatic promotion!!

[rlipscombe]

good old review iacovone... i reckon you'll need some good signings to survive but the finances will be great if nothing else... remember you were relegated with Savona first season and remember where that went... the main question is though... "Will you get more than 126 season ticket holders!!"

[DodgeeD]

Congrats of promotion iacovone. What to do about Elgh though? You must be having doubts over his suitability for the Liga BBVA...

[iacovone]

good old review iacovone... i reckon you'll need some good signings to survive but the finances will be great if nothing else... remember you were relegated with Savona first season and remember where that went... the main question is though... "Will you get more than 126 season ticket holders!!"

Haha! Surely, surely, we can get more than 126 season ticket holders! And yes I remember Savona well...that is why we HAVE to stay up this season. Can't be doing with another year in Liga Adelante

Congrats of promotion iacovone. What to do about Elgh though? You must be having doubts over his suitability for the Liga BBVA...

Very concerned with Elgh to be honest. I'll have to keep an eye on him in pre season but I'm open to any forward I consider an improvement. Such a shame as he was dynamite last year.

EDIT: We can scout the world now \o/

[iacovone]

I'm on the verge of signing the great Andres Iniesta!! He may be 37 and fairly unable to run but he still has the technical and mental attributes that will make him a star at Castillo for a season anyway.

EDIT: Signed him . New club captain . I'm mighty pleased with myself . Over and out .

[Lower Leagues Rule]

*wonders why Iacovone is cruising to him*

Hehe Hey guys I need to catch up been a hell week at work, one to go then I can relax down towards Christmas...

[iacovone]

*wonders why Iacovone is cruising to him*

Hehe Hey guys I need to catch up been a hell week at work, one to go then I can relax down towards Christmas...

Took me a few minutes to get that. Des.

Be good to have you back!

[iacovone]

258 season tickets sold

[iacovone]

Well it was a far less active transfer window than I expected with us signing just 4 players . Iniesta was joined by IRL goalkeeper Luckasz Fabianski who is 36 but still a Poland international and now first choice for me. I found a young Scottish AMC called Gordon Hart to come in on a free and signed a Finn called Ake Honland. He is a young CM and one for the future.

We came close to signing a very good Brazilian CM but he damaged his cruciates and thus failed his medical . Basically my problem was not wanting to blow my whole budget on players I felt were just shy of an improvement on the squad. So I've decided that I'm going to let my scouts do their job for the next 6 months and spend the cash in January. Just need to hope we can rack up a few decent results in that time to keep us in the division!

[rlipscombe]

iacovone - Iniesta will be a great player for you even at that age. he can just stand in the centre circle and pass the ball around!!. good luck in the run to Christmas.

LLR - will be good to see you back.

[TanO]

258 season tickets sold

I bought one of those coz I haven't had any time to play my own game in the last week at all !!

Hopefully tonight and Sunday I'll get a little match time

[iacovone]

I bought one of those coz I haven't had any time to play my own game in the last week at all !!

Thanks, you're Castillo mug is in the post

We've had a rollercoaster first month in Liga BBVA, coming soon...

[iacovone]

Aug/September 2021

Almeria              0 - 0          Castillo



At Madrid (15th)     6 - 1          Castillo (13th)

Lenges (10,51)                      Gronlund (50)
Revuelta (21,45)
Fabianski OG (55)
Pons (60)




Castillo (17th)      4 - 3          Villarreal (13th)

Canini PEN (40)                     Rubio (2)
Iniesta (47)                        German (33)
Gronlund (80)                       Jose Andres PEN (84)
Schober (91)




Castillo (11th)      2 - 2          Getafe (7th)

Schober (9)                         Carlitos (49,55)
Kantimoiris (59)





Zaragoza (5th)      1 - 0           Castillo (12th)

Kopecky (28)

So, an interesting start. We secured our first point in the first game of the season, giving a false sense of security perhaps. We were then destroyed by a rampant Atletico Madrid 6-1 (we only had 1 shot all game!) before facing Villarreal. On paper it was always going to be tough but I was delighted to see my players triumph at the death. We followed it up with a hard-fought draw with Getafe and ended the month with a narrow defeat to a very strong Zaragoza side.

We've conceded way too many goals for my liking but I don't think much can be done about that - we just don't have the players. However our attacking prowess from Liga Adelante has been carried with us to Liga BBVA seemingly as we've notched 7 goals in 5 games so far.

Early indications seem to show its going to be an extremely tough season ahead. I will need my scouts to provide me with some cheap options for January because I am struggling with the squad at the moment. Whenever there is an U20/U21 fixture I lose about 4 players

Oh also our first home game with Villarreal at home drew in 6105 fans - a new Liga BBVA LOW

[rlipscombe]

Oh also our first home game with Villarreal at home drew in 6105 fans - a new Liga BBVA LOW

Marvellous!! love records like that.... Decent start there iacovone, but it sounds like your defence needs strengthening...

[iacovone]

Yep it really does. Although we only just narrowly lost to Real Madrid in the Bernabeu. We held them til the 70th minute but lost 1-0 to a long distance strike. Nearly

[rlipscombe]

Yep it really does. Although we only just narrowly lost to Real Madrid in the Bernabeu. We held them til the 70th minute but lost 1-0 to a long distance strike. Nearly

unlucky... close... but there'll be other opportunities.

[iacovone]

October 2021

Espanyol (7th)          2 - 1         Castillo (18th)

Wiik (5)                              Andreev (46)
Kuzmin (14)





Real Madrid (12th)      1 - 0         Castillo (18th)

Urso (71)





Cordoba (15th)          1 - 1         Castillo (19th)

Valdes (92)                           Gronlund (37)





Spanish Cup 4th Round

Valladolid (BBVA)       2 - 1         Castillo (BBVA)

Aaron (37)                            Gronlund (44)
Perez (46)





Castillo (19th)         0 - 0         Elche (4th)
                                      Bacaicoa S/O (56)

A couple of draws this month see us languishing in 18th out of 20 come November. We should have won both the Cordoba game and perhaps the Elche game too. At least our defence has tightened up for the time being. Special mention to new boy Ake Gronlund who now has 4 goals this year from CM. Not bad for a 19 year old.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Hmmm need to improve yourself a little bit there Iacovone or you will be stuck in relegation territory...

[iacovone]

I think being in relegation territory is a given really. I've made barely any improvement to the squad and am playing the same tactic as last year. We're the most predictable top flight team ever

[rlipscombe]

I think being in relegation territory is a given really. I've made barely any improvement to the squad and am playing the same tactic as last year. We're the most predictable top flight team ever

i don't know... Real Oviedo were very predictable too... played pretty much the same tactic week in week out for about 6 seasons....

With 3 games to go, Venezia have ensured that they won't be back in Serie C2 next season... But will they still be in C1??

[iacovone]

Ooh the suspense!! I predict the playoffs

We just beat Valladolid on penalties to make the 5th round of the Copa del Rey. We have Real Madrid . Boost to the finances at least

[PRDH]

**Season Update - SO Romorantin - 2015/16 Season**

Transfers

Well the main story of the pre-season window this year was that of my chairman deciding to be a total ar*e! He sold my first choice keeper Kola Agbo, and second choice Cedric Mensah without consulting me, and then decided to get rid of first-choice centre-back Darko Knezevic. Not a great way to start the season!

So with that in mind I had to rebuild a team that had been looking very promising, and it took a while. I was not hopeful. Fortunately we got a total of £8M in from all of the transfers including those mentioned above, so I had a war chest that I could do something with.

First through the door were a couple of midfielders (if you don't mind I'll talk about the circumstances of the entrance here, but the results in the players section and screenshots will be there).

Serkan Dinc (£275K) came in as cover for the stalwart Jorn Vermeulen and Aristide Bolou (£220K) came in as central midfield cover. Not inspire yet, both talented, cheap and young.

Then came the attempt to cover the loss of the 'keepers. Giorgi came in on a free. A panic buy really, good enough for back-up but not much else.

Then a trio of centre-halves. Vincenzo Antonucci arrived on a free (he left in January for £525K), Aymen Nasri (£80K) arrived on the cheap, and Martin Zuleta arrived for a record breaking £1.8M.

Finally came a proper 'keeper. Roger (£450K) arrived from Spain and was clearly going to be the first choice.

That was the end of the spending before the season.

In January we went again. Michel Slavik (£95K) arrived to add competition in midfield and then some highly rated youngsters came through the door. Moez Jebali (£250K) in defence, Salvador (£130K) in midfield and Robert Pavlovic (£3K), another Croat in goal.

Finally Jurica Dumancic (£230K) arrived as more competition for our strikers.

League

Without wishing to blame our infuriating chairman too much, the season started and we definitely looked like a team that had lost the core of our defence. We stuttered out of the blocks. Fortunately our strikers were on top form and kept us in some high scoring encounters. Despite that, five games in we were in 19th. It was not looking good. An early-season rally saw us climb the table into our predicted mid-table anonymity. 11 games in we were in 9th. A position I would very much have been happy with at the start of the season. The rally continued though. 16 games in and we were in 3rd challenging for promotion. This would have been fantastic. But, it kept going, Kresic and Zanetti were firing on all cylinders together as a front-pair and they shot us to the top of the league after 18 games. Half a season to hang onto the top spot. Could we do it? Well the simple answer is yes, yes we could! They continued firing, we avoided any major crises and stayed top. A brief wobble towards the tail end of the season, briefly saw us caught, and for a couple of games we were only top due to our huge goal difference. But a strong last five games saw us claim the Ligue 2 title. We did it in style to, we broke the record for goals scored with a staggering 93. Of them the strike force clearly dominated. Kresic finished with 33 in the league and Zanetti with 29. Kresic won the players player of the year award and I got the Manager's award.

Cup

This season marked our first foray into the Coupe de la Ligue. It didn't go brilliantly we got to the third round before going out. More disappointing was out performance in the French where we went out in the 8th round to Chamois Niortais who got relegated from Ligue 2 at the end of the season.

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

Roger - Brought in at the start of the season and held the no.1 jersey throughout. Performed well enough.

Jason Payne - continued his role as back-up but is being sold before next season.

Franco Giorgi - Didn't play, but was number 2 for a chunk of time.

Robert Pavlovic - Young and unsurprisingly Croatian. Time on his side.

Defence

Richard Hue - A good season for the right back, really improving. Not a marauding full-back like Katsaros but very solid defensively.

Vito Wormgoor - Again just makes it into the first-choice category having rotated a lot with Nasri. Transfer listed by request, but wants to stay, but won't accept a new contract, he might end up leaving.

Ard van Peppen - Relegated to back-up this season, but is a very good utility sub to have.

Moez Jebali - The young Tunisian arrived in January. I foresee great things for him. If he could just grow a little!

Aymen Nasri - Another Tunisian centre-back, arrived for just £80K and did a very good job.

Martin Zuleta - Biggest signing of the summer and did not disappoint, he's ready for the league above.

Vangelis Katsaros - Had another good season, popping up with good crosses from the left.

Salvador - Another youngster, this time Spanish, he looks to have a lot of potential, my coaches think enough to be a leading Ligue 1 left back.

Midfield

Jorn Vermeulen - The legend had another good season, but refused to sign a new contract, he's off this summer. He'll be missed.

Stephane Marseille - The captain kept his place and was again impressive. Keeping his competition on the bench.

Abdou Traore - arrived from Rosenborg on a free and is going back on one too. Never really made the impact I hoped he would.

Aristide Bolou - talented centre-mid who rotated with both Marseille and Boateng thtough the season, he looks to be a good prospect.

Nathan Dalton - Didn't play. Going to Southampton.

Serkan Dinc - Arrived, broke his leg, came back with 2 games to go. Poor bloke.

Michal Slavik - Came in in January. He should get a chance with Vermeulen off.

Axel Ngando - Relegated to the bench by Roca's excellent form. Off at the end of the season.

Marcos Roca - Took his berth back from Ngando and deserved it. Performed well all season.

Kevin-Prince Boateng - Still first choice in midfield but can he do it in Ligue 1, we'll have to wait and see.

Attack

Jimmy Sama - Didn't play, will most likely leave at the end of the season.

Marko Kresic - Stunning season, scored assisted, did everything. He's a top player. 37 goals is an amazing return.

Giorgio Zanetti - Again a stunning season, also reached 30 overall, I think these two could cause Ligue 1 defences some problems.

Daniel - Lyon sent him to me on loan. Didn't get on the pitch. Adequate back-up I won't be wanting him back!

Ladislas Douniama - Limited playing opportunities. May well have to let him go.

Jurica Dumancic - Arrived didn't play much, but scored when he did. Another Croatian!

Awards

Top Scorer - Marko Kresic - 37 in 42 games (a new record)
Fans' Player of the Season - Marko Kresic

Youth Watch

Home-grown

No-one worth mentioning yet.

Non-home grown

Nope!

Aims For This Season Were

Last year I said: "Well, a solid season overall - so for next year:

1/ Consolidation - YES
2/ Push into the top half - More than YES
3/ Further strengthen finances - YES

Aims For Next Season

1/ Survival
2/ Cup Run
3/ Build a team for Ligue 1

Other News

So what else happened then. Well this:

1/ Stadium to be expanded by about 4500 seats to meet Ligue 1 regulations.
2/ Expansion meant we could not afford for the youth and training facilities to be upgraded and they were cancelled.
3/ I got the Manager of the Year award
4/ New sponsorship deal
5/ Broke loads of records - attendance, gate receipts went.
6/ Kresic established himself as an all round legend by breaking the record for goals scored in a season, the highest average rating, and most assists in a season. Not bad!

Best Elevens

10/11
11/12
12/13
13/14
14/15
15/16

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!

Trophy Cabinet

French National - 2013/14
Ligue 2 - 2015/16

Previous Updates

2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15

[bjoggi33]

Great update, Roger looks class so does Kresic.

[PRDH]

He's doing it again!! He's sold Zuleta, and he's trying to sell Kresic! I may have to chin my chairman at the next board meeting!

[edit] - Ha! Screw you Mr Chairman!! Kresic accepted my contract offer. He's staying at Romorantin for now at least.

[el sid]

Kresic looks fb

[iacovone]

Great season PRDH , Kresic does indeed look great. Wish I had a Kresic at Castillo

[iacovone]

November 2021

Castillo (18th)         2 - 2           Athletic (14th)

Canini (51)                             Muniain (9)
Merola (89)                             Velez (15)




Castillo (17th)         1 - 1           Murcia (18th)

Hart (52)                               Debey (77)





Spanish Cup 4th Round Leg 2

Castillo (1)            2 - 1           Valladolid (2)

Merola (77,84)                          Vossen (70)
                                        Haugen S/O (112)

Castillo win 4-1 on Pens





Castillo (17th)         1 - 1           Valencia (7th)

Hart (30)                               Stiemens S/O (47)
                                        Ritz (83)




Castillo (16th)         1 - 0           Sevilla (5th)

Merola (25)





Sporting (8th)          3 - 2           Castillo (15th)

Da Jager (42)                           Stepanovsky (11,PEN58)
Carlos (73)                             Stepanovsky S/O (87)
Estevez PEN(90)

Other than the Sporting loss, this was a promising month. We went 6 unbeaten if you include the Elche draw at the end of the October. Strangely we had 5 home games from 6 this month! We've set ourselves up with a 5th round cup match with Real Madrid, its 2 legs meaning we'll get some decent gate receipts for the away leg. The Sporting match was a big disappointment, as you may be able to see, Stepnovsky had a bliner and then conceded a penalty in the last few minutes to lose us the game. Frustrating.

We're just a month away from January now and sit 16th, just above relegation. Its going to be tight, as expected, but at the moment I think we'll scrape through to the second season in Liga BBVA.

[iacovone]

Just to let you all know I'm going to be giving Gundo's challenge on the side to this as well. I'll be in and out of both threads

KUTGW everyone

[el sid]

Leverkusen have secured their 3rd straight Bundesliga title. Give others a chance ffs

[el sid]

SC Preußen Münster

Predicted Finish - 3rd
Actual Finish - 3rd - League Table - Graph

Profile Page

Yet another roller coaster season Wildly fluctuating form saw us as low as 7th and even top of the table for a week. Finished the season with a decent run of form to finish 3rd yet again, and was unlucky to not get second place due to GD

We were absolutely fantastic in the Champions League, defeating Roma to first qualify to the group stages, and then handing out 0-3 and 1-3 defeats to defending Champions Barcelona in the group stages. We finished first in our group and Barcelona finished second.

First knockout round was against Genoa. We came away with a 1-1 draw in Italy, but could only manage a 2-2 draw at home. The result meant we were knocked out on the away goals rule. We were actually undefeated in the Champions League

Squad
Transfers

Euro Cup Final
Champions League Final

Season        Division        Position       Achievements

2010-2011    Third Division      1st          Promotion
2011-2012    Second Division     3rd          Promotion via Playoffs
2012-2013    First Division      12th          -
2013-2014    First Division      3rd           -
2014-2015    First Division      3rd           -
2015-2016    First Division      3rd           -

The Awesome Twosome -


Also, the board have announced new stadium plans. Definitely good news as our average attendance was amongst the lowest in the league. Really hope they don't affect our finances though. A really unimaginative stadium name too :|

[bjoggi33]

Nice uptade el Sid, i'm sure you'll be able too secure the league next season and go further in champions league . Best of luck.

Edit: wow! those strikers sure do look awesome.

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - congrats on promotion. i echo everyone with regards to Kresic- congrats on keeping him.

iacovone - i'll et you off playing both challenges. i had been toying with the idea myself.

el sid- another good season there.

[rlipscombe]

Ooh the suspense!! I predict the playoffs

season complete.... you were close but not quite... review to come at some stage.

[brambleten]

Just finished my first season in Germany (first complete season on FM10), finishing 12th after being predicted 18th out of 20. i'll do a propper write up tomorrow, but we saved our best performance for the last day of the season, beating inform Oberhausen 4-1 on their turf, with 2 of my 3 loanees getting on the scoresheet before they go back to their clubs.

also, over the entire 38 games, i only failed to find the net on 4 occasions, and 3 of those were draws

[iacovone]

season complete.... you were close but not quite... review to come at some stage.

Ooh bad luck. Look forward to the report

[PRDH]

Ligue 1 is not going well. I'll have a Pre-season update around soon.

[brambleten]

this game is really annoying me now. i complete a season, and now i am greeted by the message saying that an error has occurred and a crash dump has been created. not a happy bunny

I'll throw up a season review then its time to start again elsewhere

[iacovone]

Sorry to hear that brambleton, some have been really unlucky with crash dumps

[PRDH]

**Pre-Season Update - SO Romorantin - 2014/15 Season**

Transfers

Right let's begin with the farewells in this year's transfers.

There were quite a few established faces to leave at the end of last season. Largely because they didn't want to sign new contracts. Therefore we saw Jorn Vermeulen, Vito Wormgoor and Ladislas Douniama leave at the end of their contracts. Less disappointingly Abdou Traore and Axel Ngando left too, though as they'd not threatened the first team for a while I wasn't sad to see the back of them.

The biggest news though was the chairman's interference. He accepted a £5.5M bid for Martin Zuleta, by far our best defender, and frankly impossible to replace at such short notice really. He also accepted a bid for Marko Kresic but he decided to stay put he did though break his foot in the last friendly before the start of the season meaning he's out for 3 months. I will struggle without him.

Right now to the new players. Firstly the board imposed a minimum expectation of a mid-table finish. I have a fear that I will be sacked if I get relegated which is at present looking a distinct possibility.

First through the door was Vitaly Antonov who joined just after the end of last season for £1.8M at 19 the right-midfielder has plenty of time to improve but is already a quality looking player.

Next came a couple of squad players Giorgos Karabelas (£575K) a Greek centre-half, and Metin Raychev (95K) a Bulgarian striker joined to add depth to the squad.

Then came the biggest signing in Romorantin's history. Carlos Silva arrived from Brondby for £3.8M, a record fee. He is an Argentinian striker who can hopefully make the step up from the Danish leagues to French football.

Next in was another Argentinian, this time on loan with a view to a permanent deal. Leandro Gonzalez, an either footed left-winger arrived from Napoli. He should do well. He was quickly followed by a rather less heralded move. The free-transfer signing of Riccardo Cosentino an Italian forward. He's probably back-up but affordable back-up.

Then came another record-breaking signing. Silva's signing only lasted a month as the most expensive before Konstantin Kireev arrived from Russia in a £5.25M deal. Probably overpriced but I was in desperate need of a solid centre-back and he was the best I could find. He was soon joined by the bargain signing of Wilco Michel (£275K) from Germinal Beerschot. A right back, he should put pressure on Hue.

The final two transfers saw me bring in a temporary replacement for the aerial power of Kresic and some competition and experience in midfield. Denilson arrived on loan from Flamengo. He's only 19 and has a low minimum fee release clause which I intend to take advantage of if he's a success. Finally it was Andreas Ivanschitz who arrived on a free. At 32 he is the oldest player I've signed for a while but he's still good enough for the league and should be a good figurehead for the youngsters to learn from.

And one for the future, I lined up the signature of Ahmed Darwish a young Egyptian midfielder for January in a £250K deal.

[brambleten]

SV Waldhof Mannheim
Season 2010-11

Media Prediction: 18th
My Prediction: 15th
Board Wanted: Mid-table safety
Final Position: 12th

Finances
Transfers

The Players
(my main XI players in bold)

Goalkeepers

Ratajczak - The main keeper, signed on a free at the beginning of the season. solid enough, and in the Team of the Week on numerous occasions.

Knodler - One of three back up keepers (including GK coach), but the only one to get game time. nothing special and leaving on a free at the end of the season along with one of the other spares.

Defenders

Schwall - First choice left back. not rated highly by the coaches, but a lot better defensively than the next best left back. the main corner taker from the left.

Gajda - back up left back. better going forward than defending, but thats not really saying a lot. did alright in two games and then fluffed it the rest of the time.

Washausen - one half of the first choice centre back pairing. signed for not a lot over 48 months was a good partner to Thamm.

Thamm - Mr Utility, but he played all but one of his games at centre back and was a good source of goals early in the season. solid and dependable, even if he was outclassed by several forwards on occasion.

Schulz - first choice right back, and almost played the entire season only to get injured 2 days before the last game of the season. the main corner taker from the right hand side, one of the best players in the team.

Schommer - backup DL who could play elsewhere as well. not a lot else to say.

Orum - one of the stand in DCs for when Thamm or Washausen were injured. did a solid enough job, but probably wouldnt last another season or two.

Geissinger - 3rd choice DC, prone to making mistakes.

Crone - DC that complained for most of the season about not getting any games. this combined with not brilliant stats left me inclined to leave him rotting on the bench.

Bocher - another utility player, but with better cover in most of his positions, he didnt play very much at all.

Adiele - another DC that complained when not playing. when he was given a chance, he messed it up.

Midfielders

Ismailij - found him in the reserves after half the season was gone and he did well enough from the bench. not good enough to start and only going to get worse.

Kegel - a free transfer that didnt make the best of starts playing as an MC, but when my tactics changed to using an AMC he became deadly.

Babatz - The captain. mostly unnoticed when he was there, but noticed when he wasnt. A very good DMC who popped up on multiple occasions to smash one home from distance or convert a penalty to win us points. at 36 he may be declining, but an essential part of the team.

Blum - one of the three loan signings made in a panic buy at the beginning of the season, but did well for his age either at ML or DMC when Babatz was out.

Ghasemi-Nobakht - Along with Kegel and Karabulut, probably signing of the season. probably wasted playing on the left of midfield, but thats where the space in the team was, and he came in and filled it. always a threat to defenders, would have been better if he was left footed, but as it was this let him cut inside and score a few scorchers for us.

Groß - one of 3 right wingers at the club and the weakest. probably leaving at the end of the season.

Hock - back up right winger. seemed to fail to make any impact crossing wise, but did add a threat from crosses from the left as for some reason he is actually good in the air, despite having a 4 for heading.

Kluft - started out playing as a striker, but as i started using an AMC he moved there when Kegel was injured/suspended and he played well.

Laping - was injured when i played with MCs, and didnt fit the formation with AMC/DMC, but still managed to pick up a couple of appearances. competent enough cover.

Mehring - played well enough when i used MCs alongside Babatz, but didnt fit the AMC/DMC tactic so lost his place in the team.

Rummenigge - back up DMC for Babatz, not really good enough so was behind Blum in the pecking order.

Wittke - AMC that would have played more but for having Kluft in on loan in the only position he could play effectively in.

Zent - originally brought in as one for the future, Zent made the right midfield position his own and didnt let go of it easily, chipping in with a few goals as well.

Strikers

Reule - didnt start many games originally, but as the tactics changed, he became an important part of the squad and scored a reasonable number of goals in the starts he made.

Klaus - the final loan signing. again, the stats say he didnt do badly for himself, but with a few more points in off the ball and composure, he could be very good at this level.

Karabulut - not the best of starts at the club for the young Turk, but as the season progressed he gradually made his way to the top of our scorer's chart and stayed there. i am amazed he got to double figures after the start he had. i expect more from the free signing next season.

Ginter - not the most prolific of strikers, but at the beginning of the season, looked the most likely out of all my forwards to get the goals. gradually drifted out of the team as Klaus and Reule started playing better.

Barwolf - didnt play much in the second half of the season, but when he did play during the season he looked reasonably lively for his age. not sure he will make it to next season as my player as he declines and new players are brought in.

Burgio - 3rd choice striker all season, chipped in with a few goals but still needs to improve a lot.

The League Campaign

We started the league well enough but dropped off during mid-season. when we lost Babatz to injury we struggled to get points and went 7 games without a win. however, we never looked like we were going to go down, it was just a case of how close to the middle of the table can we climb?


Achievements

Season        Division        Position       Achievements

2010-2011    Third Division      12th         N/A

Aims for next season
There wont be a next season, as my game refuses to move past 5 days after the end of the season. damn.

[el sid]

brambleten, try holidaying past that date. Do you have the latest patch?

[brambleten]

brambleten, try holidaying past that date. Do you have the latest patch?

that was the first thing i tried. it crashed on exactly the same day as when it crashed the first time. and i'm on steam - i get patches automatically. its currently 1.1 patch isnt it?

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - some good signings there - i like the look of Silva.

brambleton - as el sid says, try holidaying past the date... might work?

[StellaF1]

Pisa - End of Season 5 - 2014-15 Review.

LEAGUE ¦ GRAPH ¦ SQUAD ¦ TRANSFERS

PRE-SEASON
After managing to scrape into the Serie B playoffs last season i was looking forward to another good season. With a lot of players contracts up for renewal i was able to clear out most of the deadwood from the team. With the board enforced transfer of Luca Arena to Celta for 2.7m i was also able to spend a bit of money.
I therefore looked at improving my squad across the board.

One of my main decisions over the pre-season period was what to do with my number 1 GK - Davide Petrachi. His contract runs out at the end of this upcoming season and because i had rejected a transfer approach from somebody he refused to sign a new contract. Despite having the money from the Luca Arena transfer i couldn't find a suitable replacement that was interested in joining my club. The only other GK's at the club are a pair of decent youngsters who i decided weren't ready for the step up to the first team.
My decision was not to cash in on Petrachi, could have got something in the region of 1m, and hope that if we had a successful season we would be able to attract some better Gk's next summer.

The Season

The season started off brilliantly in the league with Pisa leaping to the top of the table very early on and starting with a run of 4 straight wins. We then continued our unbeaten run for a total of 13 games before we came up against Cesena and were battered 2-6.
Our season then seemed to go off the rails a bit as i couldn't settle on a striking partnership as nobody seemed to want to score. I ended up trying out 6 strikers to try to find the right pairing.
Due to the registration restrictions in Serie B of no more than 19 over 23's I had taken the decision to not register 26 year old Daniele Paponi, who was rated as our 4th or 5th best striker by my Assistant Manager and who had only scored 3 goals in the previous season. Due to my Striker problems i took a risk and decided to sacrifice a defender who hadn't played much and register Paponi. The Risk paid off as Paponi became my number 1 striker again in the second half of the season scoring 10 goals in 20 games. It was at this point that i also started playing my young English Striker Luke Ball who i had got on a free a season or 2 ago and he looked lively and a player in the making at the end of the season.

In the end we went into the last game of the season with a 3 point cushion over Bari. But as the main league sorting rules was results between the teams tied on the same points we were guaranteed promotion as we had beaten Bari both Home and Away. The final day draw therefore didn't matter. So we managed to achieve promotion from Serie B as runners-up despite having a top scorer with a measly 10 goals.

The Players

Davide Petrachi - In the end I think the risk I took at the start of the season of not cashing him in paid off. Davide had a great season achieving 15 clean sheets and saved us countless points whilst our strikers misfired. He will be missed but hopefully with the promoton we can find a suitable replacement.
Jorn Vermeulen - Played at DR Jorn had a extremely solid season achieving an average rating of 7.09. He was missed in defence when he picked up an injury and missed several games.
Antunes - I remember him being good in FM09 and when my Assistant recommended him to solve my DL weakness I snapped him up. Solid - and well worth the record 1.3m fee i paid for him.
Francesco Bini - Another good season from him at CB.
Jose Goncalves - Brought in on a free and was a solid CB with a good season.
Ruben - The player that probably annoyed me the most during the course of the season. He is rated as my best midfielder and plays best in the DMC position. Too often did he pick up 2 bookings in a game to get sent off. Managed a record 3 Red Cards in only 20 league starts and would have probably have achieved a higher number if i didn't have to constantly sub him once he had been booked.
Manuel Majearu - Young prospect who i bought in for 500k after being recommended by 1 of my scouts. He filled in when Ruben was suspended and through a period when i dropped Ruben because of his discipline problems.
Leandro Vitiello - Leandro was brought in on a free and had a good season and made some valuable contributions but with him sharing the same position as Fonjock the number of games he played were slightly limited.
Divine Fonjock - Not his best season by a long way but he still contributed 5 goals and 9 assists.
Iriome - Brought in for 350k from Rayo, Iriome had a good season and provided a fair contribution for the team.
Dudu Paraiba - I paid 900k for Dudu and he didn't disappoint. He scored 4 times but more importantly he contributed the highest number of assists this season with 14.
Admir Mehmedi - Admir played the most of all the strikers that i played this season and managed to bag 10 goals but 8 of these had come in the first 10 games of the season.
Luigi Scotto - Another striker who started the season brightly managing 4 goals in the first 2 league games of the season. He then picked up an injury for 3-4 weeks and then contributed only 2 more goals for the rest of the season.
Daniele Paponi - Why i didn't register him at the start of the season was probably the big mistake of the season. Saying that getting his place back in the team probably gave him motivation to prove himself to me and resulted in an excellent season.

Next Seasons Aims

Well the aim for next season is obvious - SURVIVAL.

I would also not like to pick up the award for 2nd worst signing of the season!

Having got the board to invest money in our training and youth facilities i have finally got my first good youth prospect. I introduce to you Giuseppe Valcrenghi.
I can't wait to see how he develops!

[brambleten]

PRDH - some good signings there - i like the look of Silva.

brambleton - as el sid says, try holidaying past the date... might work?

i had another go and got stuck on Monday 9th May. again.

so here is a new save at Elgin, with a new Profile and a new Personal. Ignore Megan Fox

[rlipscombe]

congrats on promotion Stella!! good to see Paponi still going well - guves me further confidence in him.

brambleton - good luck with Elgin. it is hard to ignore Megan Fox mind!!

[brambleten]

brambleton - good luck with Elgin. it is hard to ignore Megan Fox mind!!

true

this challenge was almost over before it started as i got a crash dump a couple of times on the same date. however, this time i have managed to holiday past it, although the game took that as a hint to tell the board that i wanted to consolidate after last season rather than push for mid table to have an extra few hundred quid in wages

[PRDH]

Kresic is back from injury. Time to turn our horrible form around.

[Uffe Johansson]

Casa Pia 2017/18
Table ~ Graph ~ Stats

We started really well and took points of all of the big three in Portugal. But after new year we hit a slump that hold on to the season ending really. But we did reach both 3rd rnd of League Cup and actually semifinal in the Portuguese Cup. With some luck we would have made it to the final against Benfica.

Season   Division          Pos   PC         PLC     Achievements
2010/11  2:nd Division C   11th  1st Rnd    N/A     NOPE
2011/12  2:nd Division C   5th   1st Rnd    N/A     NOPE
2012/13  2:nd Division C   4th   3rd Rnd    N/A     NOPE
2013/14  2:nd Division C   1st   Qtr final  N/A     Champions, Promotion via playoff.
2014/15  Liga Vitalis      2nd   4th Rnd    3rd Rnd Promotion
2015/16  Liga Sagres       16th  3rd Rnd    2nd Rnd Relegation
2016/17  Liga Vitalis      2nd   2nd Rnd    2nd Rnd Promotion
2017/18  Liga Sagres       7th   Semi final 3rd Rnd Survived

[iacovone]

This is completely unrelated to the challenge but I'm watching an old episode of Top Gear and they're driving from Monaco up the Italian riviera past...SAVONA \o/

[rlipscombe]

This is completely unrelated to the challenge but I'm watching an old episode of Top Gear and they're driving from Monaco up the Italian riviera past...SAVONA \o/

Marvellous.... were you name checked????

[brambleten]

Do you think i made Dundee annoyed by scoring first?

not a good first competitive game in charge. especially with a new keeper between the sticks

[rlipscombe]

Do you think i made Dundee annoyed by scoring first?

not a good first competitive game in charge. especially with a new keeper between the sticks

Ouch!! looks like you might have....

[rlipscombe]

F.C. Unione Venezia - Serie C1/A - Season Review 2012/13

League Finish: 8th Graph

So our first season in Serie C1 saw us finish a creditable 8th in the league. On the one hand i'm pleased in that we comfortably avoided the relegation play-offs, but at the same time i'm a little disappointed our form tailed off a little and we slipped away from the promotion play-offs at the end of the season. We were never in with a chance of promotion as the top 4 were almost in a different league. Unfortunately Pro Patria, who finished 5th, were promoted so 2nd-4th will be here again next season.

Transfers
Squad 1 Squad 2

A brief overview of some of the key players:

Goalkeepers
Poncelet - young Belgian GK was no.1 for most of the season and did well. lost his place to Kuchar due to injury though and din't really get it back.
Kuchar - Czech GK who came in for Poncelet andperformed well. i have a tough choice regarding GK next season, as i have another Belgian GK, Ahn, who could come in too

Defenders
Semenzato - First choice RB for most of the season again. However his place is under threat for next season from....
Angel - Spanish RB not given much of a chance but who may get the RB slot next season.
Di Bella - Fabrizio had another solid season at LB. however it was his last season at the club.....
Alcibiade - young CB released by Juventus. Formed a good partnership with Goikoetxea.
Goikoetxea - Experienced Spaniard played well at CB, save a few dodgy performances.

Midfielders
Sam - English winger got better as the season went on and did well overall. retraining him to LM also to provide cover there
Camolese - Another solid season. Got injured in the latter stages and this affected his form, but still 1st choice.
Borbely - Veteran Slovakian was brought in to play Anchor man and did well in his debut season. I'll be looking for another good season this time, before he gets too old.
Javi Ros - another Spaniard, who formed a good partnership with Borbely. More to come from him.
Venema - struggled to get a starting spot this season due to form of Ros and Borbely, as well as my decision to play 2 DM's. Still great cover though.

Strikers
Paponi - star striker for the season. handled the step up with ease and was 1st choice striker. Named in Serie C1 team of the year and also named 2nd best player in the league.
Schmitt - young Belgian came flying out of the traps and formed a great partnership with Paponi early on. the broke his shin at Christmas which put him out for the season. i have high hopes for the coming season.
Perelli - suffered due to form of Schmitt early on, he came back in and re-formed the PAP strikeforce late on. scored a few important goals late in the season.
Garcia Diaz - Spaniard who is possibly my best striker on paper, but who struggled to force his way into the team. looking for a response from him this season.

FInances

Finances took a battering this season with us ending the season some £600k in the red. this was mainly due to my transfer expenditure, but wages didn't help. the chairman has put in £300k to help, and i've been clearing out some players, more of which is below.

>>> THE NEW SEASON <<<

As mentioned above, i have been trying to reduce the debt this summer. i have cleared out a lot of the youth dross, as well as releasing a few fringe players on frees. these included Carbone, our veteran RB, and Chiazzolino our RM. I have also sold the following:

Moran - CB - Pisa
Sergi - AMLC - Pisa
Fernandes - ST - Pisa
Di Bella - DL - Verona

The main departure is obviously Di Bella. I rated him quite highly early on, but he became unhappy and wanted to play at a higher level. He slapped in a transfer request which i accepted. with him only having 1 year on his contract left, i decided to cash in and he has gone to Verona for £180k + clauses. The fansa weren't happy but it had to be done for the good of the club. Besides, i have good cover there and i don't actually think he'll be badly missed. Fernandes never really showed his potential, as didn't Moran and Sergi, depsite having good potential. i decided to sacrifice these for some cash, and reinvest the money better.

I have already brought in a few players, mainly on free transfers. I have however signed a Croatian striker i'm quite excited about, who has scored plenty for the national youth teams. A screenie of him will follow.

>>> Targets for the new season <<<

- A play-off spot. i think this is possible with a little luck and consistency. too many times we went infornt only to concede, which is something i'll try to rectify
- Manage finances a little better. i envisage making a loss again, but hopefully it won't be as bad.
- Progress a little further in Coppa Italia. my finances could do with a big game against an Italian giant.

So onwards we go with the Lagunari.... Can we make the play-offs this season? We shall see.

FORZA LAGUNARI!!!!!

[PRDH]

That's why I'm going down, that's why I'm going down. Why am I singing that? Well I just lost to 20th placed Laval 3-1 after taking the lead. I'm fairly resigned to it now. Just hope my board stick with me. The did when I got relegated with Domegliara but this chairman seems much more of a d**che!

[ghostwriter]

Renato Curi Angolana - Serie C2/B - Christmas 2010

I started with this squad and no staff at all. Not ideal.

Thankfully I soon found some staff and some willing players. By the end of the transfer window I had signed the allowed staff members and 21 players for a total of £63k. Basically a whole squad. In fact only 3 original players have featured at all; 2 GKs (one a very promising 16yo, the other who is 3rd choice but on the bench so the 16yo can play in the U20s) and a D RLC who made a couple of sub appearances until I realised that he was about 6/7th choice and his versality alone did not merit being even a reserve.

We started off in the Serie C cup with 1 win, 1 draw, 2 defeats, very few goals (F2 A2) and non-qualification.
The league campaign started off in a similar goalless vain, 1 point and no goals in our first 2 games. We then got off the mark with a fine thrashing of Sangiustese. There followed 1 point from 4 games and some distinctly average performances, thanks to the ineptitude of others we were not really that near the bottom.

Next up were 2 difficult looking away matches so I went for the no pressure counter attacking option and it went well. In the first match against Cassino their pretty good striker (Adil Mezgour) dominated proceeding with 1 goal, 1 own goal and giving away our winning penalty. Next up was Manfredonia who went down to 10 men after 120 seconds and then 1 up 120 seconds after that, hmm. They totally out-played us and were unlucky not to score at least one more. We then promptly scored 2 in the last 10 minutes to snatch a very undeserved victory. 2 disappointing and dull home draws followed, especially the 2nd one which was against the worst team in the whole division , despite 14 shots we could not break thru.

We were dire at Avellino and this time got the defeat we merited. And that defeat has actually been the last we have suffered. 5 wins in 6 followed this match and it really should have been 6 as we took the lead 3 times at home to Colligiana but never held on.

So all this means we have reached the giddy heights of 4th place . However it is not as impressive as it sounds as despite this position we are still only 6 points ahead of 14th and the playout. To say the division is tight is a slight understatement! I think half the teams have been in both the playoff and playout positions at some stage so far this season (us included). Basically 2 things are sure; we are not going to get directly promoted (Foggia are ridiculously good) and we are not going to get directly relegated (Montevarchi, and Viterbese to a lesser extent, are ridiculously dire). Anything else in between is pretty much up for grabs and I have no idea what to expect. Basically my objective is still to avoid relegation and I will be happy with that. Anything better than that is a bonus...


2 other things to note:

1) there are a lot familiar faces in this division, I have so far played against Enrico Chiesa, Luigi Sartor and a 42yo(!!) Diego Fuser. Vlatislav Gresko is also around (although he is better than this division) plus my scouts keep on recommending a 41yo Luis Oliveira!

2) the weather here is dreadful, every 2nd home match it rains, and in the middle of November we were playing in a freezing downpour with an orange ball .

[TanO]

Managed to get some long overdue playing time this weekend so 2 season updates will follow tonight, it has been a battle !

PRDH - Nice update, as everyone said Kresic looks very good
El sid - Good Champions League results, unlucky. How did you get rich so quick ? I can only dream of the days when I can afford to pay players like Maranho & Larrea 35-45k a week !
Stella - Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a 16yr old with dribbling, finishing and work rate so high. I would play him every game to get experience.
Good luck at Elgin brambleton
Uffe - Good season in the Liga Sagres there, taking points off the big 3 is always a highlight.
Rlipscombe - I like Venezia's logo so hope to see it climb up the league !
Ghostwriter - really interesting close division you're in there, 4th is good even if it is only 9pts from 16th !

[el sid]

I'm not rich mate My balance goes into red zone in like 2 months of a new season starting and stays there until I get the tv money and the final position money.

[rlipscombe]

cheers Tano - looking forward to the updates.

[Bobbinho]

Hi Guys,

Anyone here can upload a saved game between 2012 - 2014 please?

Any game...

Thank very much in advance!

[el sid]

Half the season in and top of the table