Adventures Abroad: An American Goes to Europe

Hello all!

This is going to be my first real FM story- I tried one last year but never got into it, so I decided now to do a game starting unemployed with a number of Euro Leagues loaded and seeing what happens.

Here's the status of my game

Leagues loaded (all playable, with Large DB): Belgium 3rd div+, Denmark 2nd div+, England Championship+, France National+, Germany 2nd Div+, Israel National League +, Italy Serie B+, Holland Erste+, N. Ireland 1st Div+, Poland 1st Div+, Scotland 1st Div +, Slovakia 1st Div, Spain Liga Adelante+

Manager profile (yes, that's my real name- don't stalk me!!! Also, I will update these two pictures at the end of each season):

Profile

Personal Info

History

This is going to be an alternate save I have going with my Athletic Bilbao main save. I will try to update at least once a week (IRL week), but will post whenever major things happen in-game, or when I feel like it.

I will write the updates as though I am writing a diary. This post and the reserved slot below will be used for overall summaries of my career. I may also ask for advice because I am indecisive- any time my diary refers to "asking my friends" about something, anybody here can chime in with a thought or two.

SEASON 2010-2011

NO CLUB

SEASON 2011-2012

TuS Koblenz

Joined: June 20, 2011

Left: November 26, 2011 (fired)

Transfers (Summer)

Final League Position: 18th (as of sacking)

German Cup: N/A

Star Player: The whole team sucked

Crusaders FC

Joined: December 5, 2011

Left: January 18, 2012 (quit)

Transfers: N/A

Final League Position: 10th (as of quit date)

Irish Cup: Fourth Round

All-Ireland Cup: N/A

Star Player: N/A

Welcome to FMS, Arrano. There are house rules at the top of the main forum page, and I'd suggest you give them a good read. Pictures aren't allowed in stories here, but links to them are, so you'll have to edit them out.

Welcome to FMS, Arrano. There are house rules at the top of the main forum page, and I'd suggest you give them a good read. Pictures aren't allowed in stories here, but links to them are.

Thanks for the tip- I'll change to links!

AUGUST 25, 2010

Happy birthday to me!

I have been in Poland now a bit over two months. Why did I come here? I remember loving Krakow when I visited in 2009, but that was before I needed a job- needed to get real responsibilities. It was good to have a few days vacation, though- it was nice to see the old friends from my semester in Slovakia.

I have applied with Dundee, but they just announced their coach- someone with "experience". I suppose lots of Football Manager experience and an idealistic worldview count for nothing. I've been talking about how I am interested in jobs, Kaiserslautern among them. Of course they came back saying they don't want me, but, hey, at least I'm getting my name out there. But, damn, the economy sucks right now, nobody is hiring!

JUNE 27, 2011

Well, I haven't written anything in a while. The reason? I've mostly been vacationing, spending time back in the States while still looking desperately for jobs. Finally, though, a breakthrough!

A job with Koblenz became available, and on June 20th I got the call- they had hired me. Of course, it took me a while to get all of my stuff together and to move in, but I got here today! I saw my office at the club- I like it, and the new apartment is good. A job with a second division German Team that isn't terrible for $1,900/week is much more than I had expected. The players at this club seem solid, but there's no staff so the first order of business is to fill the offices.

I had a chance to walk a little bit around Koblenz as well, and it seems like a nice little city. It is actually also twinned with Austin, Texas- one of my favorite cities, so hopefully that connection counts for something! I like it here, but we'll see how long I actually stay.

AUGUST 14, 2011

Well, the pre-season has ended some time ago now. We did okay, I suppose, but winning and then drawing our last two friendlies was probably good for confidence going into the season.

The first match was played away against Karlsruhe. Even though we were down a goal for most of the game, the team played fairly well against opposition that was pretty tough. Massimo Cannizzaro did well to come off the bench and bring us back to rescue a draw in the dying minutes. Again, the team looked pretty good during that match, though we were still pretty lucky to come away with a draw. It was nice to go to some of the beer halls around Karlsruhe and be able to celebrate a point back up in the 2 Bundesliga.

Today, though, we are back home to play Fortuna Dusseldorf. We are favored for this match, but I'm sure it won't be an easy match. I must go for now, though- it's time to go back down to the stadium to make the preparations.

Overall, I am enjoying life in Germany. I enjoy the beer here, but I do miss a good old American IPA- maybe I'll get someone back home to mail me one.,

SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

The transfer window is closed, and I definitely went a bit transfer-happy! Still, most of these were frees, and that means that they can be sold for some profit at the very least.

I am pleased with our signings for the season- being able to stay up in the 2 Bundesliga shouldn't be a major problem. Daniel Ginczek is a decent youngster, who is on loan from Dortmund- though we'll see just how many minutes he can get as we have a number of strikers in this squad. Among those strikers are new boys Kim Olsen and Javier Chevanton. I signed Aufhauser and Essa because they are both durable players, so they should be able to provide cover at a number of positions if needed to do so. I made the mistake of signing two goalkeepers- Wetklo and Schober, but all this means is that I have quality here- I'll very likely sell one of these two in January, though to bring some cash into the club (I won't be telling either of them this, though- at least not now). The defense has been bolstered by Andre Hoffman, Jaques Faty, and Mirko Casper, while Charles Dissels and Adem Kocak add something to the Koblenz midfield. Here's to hoping my team can gel and begin to win some matches!

So far, the team has drawn both of our away matches, while losing 1-0 in the first home match against Dusseldorf and then 3-0 at home to 1860. Up next is Dresden at home a week from today- I'll be keeping an eye on my players in training and will pick my starters a bit more carefully this time around. I desperately want our team to win in front of the home fans- they deserve to see their team play some serious football at this level after a season down in the Third Division.

Nice start mate.

Good to see yet another obscure team covered by a FMS story. I wonder actually if we should create a thread showing all the teams in the world who have been used by FMS writers as their primary side? Still, that's a discussion for somewhere else.

Good luck with your season.

OCTOBER 22, 2011

Late goals- this is so disappointing.

We won at home against Dresden on Sept. 9, so far the only three points my Koblenz side has picked up in the Second Division. The next game was a 4-1 loss at Bochum, which is somewhat expected as they're a pretty good side. Then, we returned home to play Furth. Bojan Zajic scored in the 71st to give us the lead, but then Furth took two goals in the 74th and then the 85th. Next was a 1-0 loss at Oberhausen, before traveling to Paderborn and earning a draw after they drew level in the 84th, then yesterday Paderborn scored in the 90th minute to beat us 2-1. I may well be reevaluating my tactical approach, as the 4-4-2 doesn't seem to be getting the job done. Also, it may help if I stop spending so much time at the beer halls and more working on my team.

NOVEMBER 26, 2011

Well, I have been fired.

Things here were rough- I like Koblenz as a city, but this team was underachieving. In my frustration, I applied to some other jobs. The board wasn't happy and warned me, I apologized, and they did not accept. Hopefully I can find a new job somewhere soon, and hopefully the team isn't as hopeless. I left Koblenz with them in 18th place- bottom of the table. That was a disappointing way to begin my managerial career...

DECEMBER 5, 2011

I didn't have to wait long for a job!

I applied everywhere I could, and declared interest in any job that could soon be available. Of course, only one club was willing to take the risk on me- Crusaders FC of the Northern Ireland Premiership. I arrived in Belfast immediately, and was able to negotiate a salary better than the one I had previously- $2,000 per week, a full $100 better than what I earned with Koblenz.

I can't say this is a dream job, but Belfast seems like a decent place to be (and it's English-speaking!) and at least now I'm in a top-flight league (even though that isn't saying much). Crusaders are currently underachieving, but don't seem hopeless like my Koblenz side ended up being. Time to work on tactics and familiarize myself with the team a bit.

JANUARY 18, 2011

I quit my Crusaders job. This team is bad, or maybe I'm just a bad manager. This level of football not only isn't good, but my team just is useless- there's no depth in central midfield, all of the strikers are bad in basically any role (only one key attribute per role), and the match load wears on my players but there's little depth to rotate. After an embarrassing exit from the Cup, I quit. I want a job somewhere else- but I need to figure things out this time.

I GIVE UP

This game is very slow, so it looks like I loaded too many leagues with too many players. Additionally, I think most of the leagues I loaded have too high a reputation, as it's basically impossible for me to find a job. I'll be starting another one of these stories immediately, though.

I don't think you gave enough time to Crusaders really. The league has a low reputation for a reason, I'm not sure what you expected.

Shame you've decided to call time on it, but any new story you plan on starting can only be done so seven days after this one was. That would make it four more days til you can do so.

I don't think you gave enough time to Crusaders really. The league has a low reputation for a reason, I'm not sure what you expected.

Shame you've decided to call time on it, but any new story you plan on starting can only be done so seven days after this one was. That would it make i four more days til you can do so.

I see- I already started a thread for the new save concept, but I suppose I'll save any story writing in notepad and then put it up here when the time passes. If I must create a new thread, I will.

The problem wasn't that the quality in N.Ireland was bad, it was that I had a pretty good team for that league but was getting trounced- and, as I said, none of the Strikers were strong in any attribute area. They were doing terrible, so I was regretting leaving Koblenz, etc. Oh well, next story I plan on using more patience!!!!