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Gundo's FM10 European Adventure Challenge™


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Gundo's FM10 European Adventure Challenge™ is back and consists of the following...

The Aim

To take a small club who where previously unplayable in the game from the lower leagues to their Domestic League Title and Champions League crown (doesn't have to be in the same season). I realize it's not an easy challenge, but should be a lot of fun trying.

The Set-up

European Leagues you can't use: England, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Turkey.

League reputations for eligible nations in this challenge:

Austria 12

Belarus 9

Belgium 13

Bulgaria 11

Croatia 11

Czech Republic 11

Denmark 12

Finland 10

Greece 14

Hungary 10

Iceland 9

Ireland 9

N. Ireland 6

Norway 11

Poland 11

Romania 12

Russia 14

Serbia 11

Slovakia 10

Slovenia 10

Sweden 10

Switzerland 12

Ukraine 14

Wales. 5

The nations you are allowed to manage in have been selected using the in game reputations for that Nations top division, the highest eligible Nation in this challenge must have a reputation of 14 or lower. Apart from Scotland who don't currently have a season by season promotion to and relegation from the Scottish Third Division and Israel who don't have active scouts.

Getting started

Load a game with all the available divisions within the nation you have selected; only one nation is allowed.

NEW You are free to use a Large, Medium or Small a database and you are permitted to load all players from your chosen nation however No additional players from any other nation should be loaded.

Attribute masking should be enabled.

The extra levels of detail that you can change while in the game are up to you, as they shouldn't make a difference.

Add yourself as an unemployed Manager (hol_man); the details are not important at all.

Then go on holiday until the new seasons teams are generated (each country will be different). An example: Norway's is: 20th January. (Hint - saving the day before on 19th January for Norway, should give you a better choice of teams by being able to quit and reloading the game). This shouldn't take that long either. A list of rough dates for your relevant nation will be listed below.

League re-set dates

Austria - 23rd June.

Belarus - 14th February.

Belgium - 1st July.

Bulgaria - 29th June.

Croatia - 20th June.

CzechRepublic - 30th June.

Denmark - 5th July.

Finland - 7th January.

Greece - 19th June.

Hungary - 19th June.

Iceland - 5th January.

Ireland - 5th January.

N.Ireland - 19th June.

Norway - 20th January.

Poland - 28th June.

Romania - 1st July.

Russia - 26th December.

Serbia - 9th July.

Slovakia- 28th June.

Slovenia - 28th June.

Sweden - 1st December.

Switzerland - 20th June.

Ukraine - 18th June.

Wales - 18th June.

* These dates are taken from FM09, not sure if some have changed for FM10. Dates underlined have been confirmed as being correct for FM10.

Then retire your original manager profile.

Add a new manager, the options/details are up to you but 'past experience' must be set as 'Sunday League Footballer' or if that reputation isn't available then you must then select 'Automatic'.

I understand that choosing your nationality may have an effect later on, but I trust people will be sensible with this, I would expect people to use their own nationalities/second nationalities.

Take over one of the newly promoted clubs to the lowest playable division within your selected nation. If you are not sure about which clubs have been promoted simply check last seasons league table and the new clubs will obviously be the clubs not in it. To make completely sure that the club is eligible, check the club's history of league positions, it should be blank for the previous season.

It is completely up to you which club you choose, although please appreciate that some clubs may be easier to manage than others. example; Some clubs will have a full squad of players and staff, while others won't. Also some will have higher reputations than others making it easier to sign players ect. So choose wisely. The nation you've chosen to manage in will affect difficulty too.

It is now up to you to manage your chosen club to their domestic title and to win the UEFA Champions League.

You are not permitted to move between clubs unless you are sacked; whereby then you can either take over a newly promoted club to the lowest playable division next time the reset date comes round or simply quit your current save and start over.

Any form of international management is not allowed, until you have completed the challenge.

There are no restrictions on assigning feeder/parent clubs.

Scouting Guidelines

You can only sign players that you are able to scout or trial at the club first, so in short the player must have the 'Get scout report' button on his profile screen. The one exception to this is when you ask a current squad member to recommend a new signing, It is then ok to sign him as the player who recommended him knows of him anyway.

No external utilities such as FMScout should be used and the database should be un-edited. Should SI release a data update, this would be allowed. It is advised that people should update using the latest patches as they are released.

Rules for this Thread

Player naming is allowed. (This is a warning for those of you who do not wish to see this)

Discussion on tactics is allowed. (This is another warning for those of you who do not wish to see this)

Screenshots for anything in-game are encouraged, although I must advise that people link to there screenshots instead of posting them in the thread.

When you join the challenge, could you post a screenshot of your manager's Personal screen on the date you take control at your new club.

Progress of your club should be documented using this thread. We want to hear the story of your club all the way through (success or failure). So please keep us updated, even if you are doing really badly.

At the end of every season, could everyone post some kind of season review, including the minimum of a screenshot of the league table. If you give this a title in bold it makes it a bit easier for others to pick out.

How to Post a Screenshot

1. While in FM, press the 'Prt Sc' button (usually next to F12 on your keyboard).

2. Open an image editing program such as Paint and paste the image

3. Save the file as a JPEG

4. Upload the image to an image hosting website such as Photobucket or Imageshack

5. Post the direct Url to the image here.

Thanks for all the support and enthusiasm you guys and gals have put into this challenge in recent years it's all muchly appreciated.

Good luck on your European Adventure! :cool:

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I've gone over all the reputations again to make sure none had changed, the Polish league was the only change from 11 to 7!

I think the re-set dates we are going have pick them up from you guys as we go along, as it would take an age for me to compile the new ones (if any).

Cookie - who did you start with?

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FK Jerv appoint Marcus Evan Cook as manager!

Well it may come as no shock to the seasoned Gundo challengers that i have embarked once again in Norway. Sadly, the teams i have chosen before (Skjetten and Lillehammer) are both ineligible for the challenge as they are now playing in the second division.

So consequently, i have opted for taking the reins at FK Jerv. No backroom staff and only a handful of players.....and so the epic challenge begins.

http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/o.../Profile-5.jpg Cookie's Profile.

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Weird that Poland, which used to be 11 is now 7. I mean do people really think its a lot weaker than the Icelandic league? Anyhoo I'm off to Switzerland tomorrow. Well not literally of course. ;)

Incidently cookie, I holidayed through Norway myself and took charge of the delightfully named Frigg of Oslo. I got kinda of sick of it though.

I really hope someone takes the reigns with them for the sheer magnitude of puns that await.

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Important information if you are going to manage in Wales.

From the start of the 2010/11 season there is only ment to be 12 teams in the premiership but the game keeps it as 18. I did want to manage there but that has gone out the window now.

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There is a new reset date in Sweden. It is 1:st dec. Sadly all the teams in the lowest division are professonal which is wrong. It doesn`t feel right to start the challenge there until the problem is corrected.

Uffe Johansson-That's great I'll add to the list, thanks.:thup:

Gundo[/b] is it ok if I play with real players switched off as I did last year? Also should I have real fixtures on? Add key staff off? Allow transfer budget in the first window on?

Oxslow - That's all fine with those settings you want.:thup:

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Just a bit of curiosity. You say the leagues in this challenge must have a reputation of 14 or lower yet Turkey are 15?

Think that rep had changed in one of the patches last year? think that's why I missed it, I have removed them from the challenge now.

senorcoo - changed that cheers.:thup:

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Removed Turkey? :eek: After successfully completing the challenge with Yalovaspor last year, I was considering another crack...

Should the Turkish leagues be added to the Big Euro Nation challenge instead?

Sorry DodgeeD just wanted this challenge to remain smallish nations only, fear not I've emailed iacovone, hopefully he add Turkey to his challenge, I don't see why not.

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Sorry DodgeeD just wanted this challenge to remain smallish nations only, fear not I've emailed iacovone, hopefully he add Turkey to his challenge, I don't see why not.

No worries, as long as it's playable somewhere. And now I can go down as the last person to complete the challenge there. :D Besides, after a second look, Yalovaspor are not eligible this year anyway as they got promoted irl last season...

Perhaps I'll be back later in the year for a crack at the challenge in a colder location... ;) This remains my favourite CSE challenge after all. :thup:

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So, do we have anything confirmed about league reputations for this years version? Are they still set in stone? either way, giving this a go in Austria to begin with, will go for Iceland if reps are fluid

Yeah, from what I read, league reps do not change.

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In about 2040 I got a NI team to the CL final. Your teams rep can improve over time but only if you are doing well in europe. Leagues with higher reps mean your teams rep can improve from playing league games

This was in fm09

Right, but Ice was talking about league rep, which I believe is still static.

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I simply do not have the stomach for another game of 20 seasons in the bottom place of the CL group because my regens are crap and nobody wants to come to Iceland. There's only so much I can take of winning the league at a canter but making no headway in Europe. I also do not like how easily the computer takes my players away due to the **** reputation of Iceland (not saying it should currently be higher).

I really, really hope they can somehow incorporate fluid league reps into FM11. Who's to say Iceland won't have the biggest league in the world in 2050? Who's to say England won't have fallen into obscurity?

Static league reps means there's no chance of any changes in the pecking orders. If it comes down to league rep Iceland will always be more appealing than N-Ireland but always less than Austria.

I'm sure I have one berty on here who would agree with my views :D

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I really, really hope they can somehow incorporate fluid league reps into FM11. Who's to say Iceland won't have the biggest league in the world in 2050? Who's to say England won't have fallen into obscurity?

Population of Iceland: 300,000

Population of England: 51,000,000.

:)

Also keep in mind that having one dominant league team is not really indicative of an expanding league. Sure if you dominate the league and then some Arab businessman decide to invest into Icelandic football the rep would increase, but I still think it shouldn't really fluctuate the much.

Anyways, why the hell is Poland 7 ????

For purists sake I would also discount Ukraine, Russia and Greece from this challenge as I would now start to class them as "big leagues.."

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What does population have to do with it, really?

Also, having one team in the league that goes far in Europe increases the co-efficients, that means more teams from that league in European competitions. If they start doing slightly better year on year then you have a snowball starting to roll. Doesn't it seem kind of weird that players could end up choosing to sign for a team in a league with 1 CL place and 2 Europa league places over a team in a league with 4 and 3, respectively? Without changing league reputations that's not out of the question in FM

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I simply do not have the stomach for another game of 20 seasons in the bottom place of the CL group because my regens are crap and nobody wants to come to Iceland. There's only so much I can take of winning the league at a canter but making no headway in Europe. I also do not like how easily the computer takes my players away due to the **** reputation of Iceland (not saying it should currently be higher).

I really, really hope they can somehow incorporate fluid league reps into FM11. Who's to say Iceland won't have the biggest league in the world in 2050? Who's to say England won't have fallen into obscurity?

Static league reps means there's no chance of any changes in the pecking orders. If it comes down to league rep Iceland will always be more appealing than N-Ireland but always less than Austria.

I'm sure I have one berty on here who would agree with my views :D

I got IR past the CL group stages regularly on FM09. Also other teams in Iceland improved and also started doing well so....

Players passed down, more european spots leading to more money etc.

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What does population have to do with it, really?

It prohibits a country from both producing players and then watching the games. A country with a million less population can't sustain a high level domestic game unless you have millions of people watching and giving two friggs about it. There is simply no source to drive revenue.

Also, having one team in the league that goes far in Europe increases the co-efficients, that means more teams from that league in European competitions. If they start doing slightly better year on year then you have a snowball starting to roll.

Er no. What that means is that one team will be holding the torch and unless the other teams are capable of competing at the same level as that one team the coefficient will never get that high. See the SPL as a great example, without Rangers and Celtic Scotland's coeff would be crap. SPL teams may benefit from having more slots available but they are woefully prepared to deal with them.

Unless the teams have a wide disparity of wealth and resources the league will not become competitive. Hence the reason why you would need a mass improvement from all teams or large scale foreign/domestic investment.

The only case where you need fluctuating reps are in the cases of the sleeping giant nations with big populations and big economic potential (i.e., China, India etc.)

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I'd like to point out the rise in the reputation of the Cypriot league IRL, last two seasons they have had a team in the group stage of the CL, IMO their league rep has risen and they will attract bigger players there.

In my Afturelding save I managed to sign two very exciting youngsters from Spain and despite having over £20m in the bank my chairman went over my head and sold them less than half a season later. That's why I eventually gave up because I knew I wasn't going to complete the challenge in those conditions. :(

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When I gave up on my FM09 save the average attendance for the league was well over 20k per game. Compare that with the current numbers which show just over 100k total for the whole season for the league. It took one round of matches to get more people through the gates than currently do in a season irl.

In real life there isn't a chance in hell of an Icelandic team to get so much as to the CL group stages. In game they can. Let me emphasise that part, in FM you can do things you simply can't in real life. The game world has to be able to change as the landscape changes. In game you could get three Icelandic teams into the CL groups. Let's just say you are playing a network game with 3 other capable managers, making that happen quite a lot faster. Why, then, should the league rep of Iceland still be as low as it is now? Why should it not be on par with other nations at the same level?

You can go on and on about population and lack of funds in real life but that isn't how the game works. You won't ever get stadiums in Iceland with 20k+ capacity, yet in the game all teams in the top division will get them. Even if they would get built you'd never, ever fill them in real life, yet in the game you'll see sell-out games every week. Real life comparisons and arguements only go so far. In the end this is what completely ruined the game for me and zapped every ounce of enjoyment I was having. The game world was already completely unrealistic, but it would have been more realistic if the league reputations had changed to match the new reality

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I wouldn't want to see fluctuating league reputations like the one you describe. In the end, it would just make every league play the same, it would just take a longer time to reach a certain level depending on the starting rep. Seeing how easy it is to overachieve in FM, I have no doubt that most users would get their leagues up to maximum reputation and then what? 30 million pound transfers to Afturelding and the Prestatyn Galacticos?

If anything, SI should sort out lower rep leagues and semi-pro football in general, so that clubs from tiny villages don't take out ridiculous loans to buy 15,000 seater stadiums - which they magically start to fill out for every league game, even though two months before they couldn't draw 400 people to their potato field - and make it a bit harder to overachieve.

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Make it harder to overachieve, sure. But when you do get to that level the game should be reflecting the changes that have happened. Yes, it's unrealistic that Iceland might have 3 representatives in the CL groups but then it's even more unrealistic that players wouldn't want to join those teams because the league is still so lowly ranked.

If you'd read my updates from last years challenge you'd see I fell victim of the "low team taking ridiculous loan to buy huge stadium" and it almost killed my game. I did not want that to happen. What I am saying is that while you can make unrealistic things happen on the game, the game should adjust to reflect the new world. Otherwise it's just even more unrealistic.

I really don't see how that can be denied? :confused:

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I just think that the problems you mention can be solved in a different way than making reputation variable. It's just a matter of fine-tuning the transfer system, so that players don't get unsettled by other clubs so easily and that the chairman stop selling players over the manager's head when the club doesn't need money and sorting out other details like the new stadiums (if they're not sorted out already in FM10, that is)

The problem is we're a small market for SI; compare how many people post in this thread and how many manage the big clubs in England, Spain and Italy, or even how many post in dafuge's and jose's challenges, where things are fundamentally different when you get to the very top.

And to finish, people have actually completed this challenge, so it's not like it's impossible :D

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2010 Season Review FK Jerv

When one embarks on Gundo's challenge you're always faced with the inevitable odds of 500-1, your team stands no hope etc etc. So it came as no surprise when that's what the mighty Jerv faced. A squad of seriously average players, no backroom staff, but a very ambitious manager :D

Norwegian Cup

Well we made it to the second round, and got well and truly outplayed, yet only lost 2-0. So the board were pleased, and to be honest i was too.

Second Division Group 3

Well the rules in Norway dictate that 3 teams are relegated and only 1 promoted from each league of 14 teams. Media prediction was one of a tough season ahead and ultimately relegation (shock !). I was immensely pleased with our performance overall and managed to avoid the drop. In actual fact we nearly got bloody promoted!!:cool:

We managed to finish a very creditable 2nd behind Stavanger (who got relegated from the league above the previous season)!

League position - 2nd http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo315/marcus_cook_2008/League2010.jpg

Players

Well here is the crew that managed to outperform even my expectations.

Squad -http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo315/marcus_cook_2008/squad2010.jpg

Only really 2 players worth any mention at all unfortunately.

Simen Grov - DC and player of the season. A real rock at the heart of the defence who looks like he'll have a bright future at the club. http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo315/marcus_cook_2008/Grov.jpg

Espen Khan - ST and top goal scorer. I prefer my ST's to have better finishing, but to be fair to the lad he did pretty well. I'm sure his pace helped carve out a few opportunities.

http://i387.photobucket.com/albums/oo315/marcus_cook_2008/EspenKhan.jpg

And on to next season and see whether the mighty Jerv can go one further and get themselves promoted!! ;)

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SR Delemont - Swiss Challenge League - 2010/11

Ok, scratch Belgium. The transfer business there is annoying and I just read that we can use fictional players, which I like because of Facegen. So, we're moving on to Switzerland. Here I am again. I am the new manager of SR Delemont. This semi-pro club was established in 1909 and the media is tabbing us for 16th. The stadium - La Blancherie - holds just over 5000. I'll be doing a massive purge I'm sure. To say we're a little short-staffed would be an understatement. There's me and the Chairman. That's it. Hmm. I've told them that we can avoid relegation and they've responded with a ZERO transfer budget and 325K pounds per annum in wages.

Gundo, by the way, the reset date for Switzerland is now June 20.

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