FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[Britrock]

I almost started as them, so yes they are playable

Excellente! Thanks for the quick reply. Will try and reach an end on my Newcastle fm11 save and then I'll look into fm12 and this challenge.

[PRDH]

Nothing like being told your first game of the season is a massive game in the fight against relegation to boost hopes for the season!

[Charlesbeams]

Things are going well for me this time around, it's nice to actually win some games I'm taking a bit more time too with match preparation and the opposition scout reports.

Still hoping to see some flares, none yet.

[siLKEAPE]

Congrats on promotion Ohanzee and Amethyst. Good work staying up PRDH, exciting season!

Good luck to the rest aswell, I will probably finish my first season tonight.

[Ohanzee]

global1 - Good job with such a tiny squad.
Almondo - That's a good first season. Looks like you got a good core in defense. Couple of strikers that score goals and you're set.
Twellman24 - Good luck in your next adventure.
PRDH - Tough season, but good job staying up. I actually had Daniel at the back myself, but I stopped using him after he kept passing the ball straight to the opposition, or getting caught in possession, handing them a goal a game the few he played. I had the same issue with wages towards the end of my season and ended up mutually terminating 4-5 players 2-3 weeks before their contracts ran out just to get below the wage budget and be able to offer extensions to some of my better players.

I think LLR said a lot about first season strategy, but I'll add my few cents. For me 4 things are important.

1. Get players with high determination. First thing I do after signing key staff is filter my search result by 12+ determination and scout every single free transfer that fit that bill. If players don't have determination they will give up when you're losing. It's always been my favorite attribute. That's not to say I don't sign players with low determination, but the majority of my squad will always have a decent value. I know filtering with attribute masking on means losing out on possible stars, but this is usually a good start for me. And scouts will find the ones I miss eventually through their trips anyways.

2. Morale is everything. If I lose a couple of games in a row, I tell my players the pressure is off, no matter how big a favorite we are. If it's not an option for the full team-talk, I usually say something like "for the fans", and use what ever version of "no pressure" is available for each individual team talk instead. I also ditch every friendly that the game has set up for me, and make 6-8 home game friendlies against the worst teams available. That is the ones in the "very low reputation" category. This usually nets me easy wins giving the players good morale going into the season.

3. Stick to my tactics. I have 3 tactics I use that are all basically the same, but with 1 player moved from MC > AMC > SC between them. I put my match preparation to very high on "teamwork" until the last friendly is done, then put it down to average untill all 3 tactics are at full blend. Then I turn it down to very low with no special focus. Sometimes I forget to change it as the season starts and every time I start badly. It seems to have enormous effect. I also never change things around in my tactics. If I'm losing I make substitutions, nothing else.

4. This is kind of tied to #3 and #4, but when looking for an assistant manager there is one thing I look for and it's "motivation". If possible I also want "tactical knowledge", but it's almost impossible to find one with both at this level. I want 15+ motivation and I don't care if he's horrible in every other way. He handles the media for me, I never talk to them, never respond to comments from other managers, nothing. He doesn't do team-talks though, I do those myself. As for tactical knowledge, I use that for "opposition instructions". I honestly have no idea if it's actually working, but I do seem to have much better success the higher attribute for this the person doing these for me have. Now that you can actually pick coaches to do them for you as well, instead of the assistant, I have tried to sign at least one coach with a high value here to do them. I ask this person to do the "opposition instructions" at the start of the match, at half time, and after about 60-70 minutes when I make my first 1-2 (unforced) subs.

(5) Scouting. I've gone through my strategy there in huge detail in earlier threads so I'll leave it. This is getting long already and I doubt many will read this far.


Anyways. I'm just about done with my pre-season. Painted myself into a bit of a corner as I've got no natural left-back in my first team. Have to rely on a reserve team player who's really not good enough while I retrain the position of at least one of my (to many) center backs.

Been a bad start to the season as we've played 3 league cup matches (group stage) and got 1 point from them, meaning we're already out of that competition. We were hammered 4-0 at home to P. Ferreira, who are now in the same division as us, so that's not a good sign. We also lost at home to Freamunde and drew away to Sp. Covilha who are also both in our division. Hoping for a better start to the league, but it looks like we might be in for a tough season.

[Veriloquent]

My surprise best player so far this season, Cengiz Dilaver, only 16 when he was forced into the first team due to injuries, his performances since made it impossible for anyone else to get onto the left wing for me, his attributes look nothing special but when he plays we are a far better team, he even managed a hat-trick against Istanbulspor in the first round of the cup.

Into February now so should not be long before the season is done so I can post a season review.

[Charlesbeams]

Things going well this time around, 10 games into the season and i'm currently sitting in 2nd place with 5 won, 3 drawn and just 2 losses. 22 more games to go.

[DodgeeD]

After suffering through 90 minutes of the Manchester derby, I loaded up FM for some light relief and promptly got stuffed 4-1 at Konyaspor... To be fair they were relegated from the 1. Lig last season and the only reason we were given a chance by the media was our 9 game unbeaten start to the season. I just hope it's a blip rather than the bubble bursting (excuse my pundit-speak )

[Charlesbeams]

Surprised to see this in my inbox, hadn't had any notices about it before Highest attendance has only been 2,199, doubt the new 15,197 all seater stadium will be getting filled any time soon.



It's named Yeni Afyon Sehir, maybe it was already planned from the start of the game.

[DodgeeD]

I noticed that when I looked at Afyon in my game - it is scheduled in. Like you, I'm not sure a team of that size can fill a 15,000 capacity ground but I think it may be owned by the local council rather than the club (that's quite common here).

[Twellman24]

Ohanzee--I appreciate the advice. I think I am just used to cruising through seasons fast just to get going--this time it caught up with me. I think I am going to sacrifice watching matches and just do commentary to spend some more time in prep and squad analysis.

PS - Could you link me to your scouting post? I enjoyed your other points and I'd like to see what you have to say about scouting.



Pre-season report - 2013/14

Peter Donnoban takes charge of Zamora, who just got promoted from the Third Division. Zamora was reegated two years ago, but they bounced back--and here is where we come in.

The squad was rather unbalanced, but we managed some transfers that make it more competitive. The club's finances are solid, so we got some decent players in. Here are the key ones:

Matias Alonso - Uruguayan striker with experience in the first division of his country as well as Liga Adelante--he was already here but he will be a big part of our success--or failure.

Rheda Djellai - This RM from Belgium I had in Haro last year, and was amongst the best. I signed him from E300k--I could have SWORN that the offer I made was of 30k (bug?), but ended up paying 300k. I don't think he's worth that much, but we'll see.

Miguel Erice - We are signing him because of his talent with the ball-he could potentially break the league apart with his skill. Might be too irregular, though. We'll see.

Vicente Flor - Ex-Villarrean ald Lugo keeper, should be the man on goal all season long. We hope he'll pull through for us.

The squad is balanced, and we have more class than Haro last year. Now I just have to make sure we show it. I feel more confident this year to avoid relegation. We'll just see!

T24

[Ohanzee]

We're not doing amazing in the league, 3-3-3 is our current win-draw-loss record. That's on route to avoid relegation with good margin though, so I'm pleased. However in the Cup we just had a shocking 2-0 win over Sporting! Bit lucky maybe looking at the ccc, and they rested 7-8 first team players, but still and amazing win!


Twellman24
I think it was this post in the 2010 thread I thought about. Think we may have had a minor discussion last year to though, but couldn't find anything in a quick search.

I also had someone ask me for some advice in a PM last year, and here's the scouting part of what I replied to him :

As for scouting players here's how I do it:

1. Get scouts with as high Judge Potential/Ability as possible. 3rd stat I look for is Determination, cause I think it makes them scout faster.

2. 1st of July (contracts of many have expired), I go to "Player Search" and ask my Assistant to filter out unrealistic targets. I also add a attribute of 12+ determination to the filter, and also "contract status = unattached". Then I just scout every one of those players manually. You can click 1 player (not to go into his profile, just to mark him in the list), then hold down SHIFT (on windows) and then click another player further down the list to select many players at once. Then right-click -> Scout -> Report Card (I think it's called that, not got the game open atm).

3. Every 1st June I go to the Nation list, and sort them by rating. I then go into each of the big Nations squads and check the U23, U21, U20, etc for people out of contract or cheap enough for me to afford. I then do the same as in player search. Choose all that's interesting and "get report card".

4. For both 2 and 3, you're gonna get ALOT of scout reports in your news. The great thing is that you can see the scouts star-ratings right away without going into the actual report. So I just click fast through them all (using my SPACE BAR), and if I see someone with 4+ stars for potential I stop and check them out. Also once you are done, make sure you go to your shortlist, and remove anyone below 4 stars (or what ever limit you want), or you'll game will slow down from all the players on there.

5. Lastly I use the normal scouting system as well. I send each scout to 4-5 nations (queue them up) each year. I also send some scouts to the major Regions of the world. And I make sure to add all competitions as well, especially the U20s. You can get really lucky if you scout the World Cup for instance, or the U20 World Cups.

6. I also use Player Search with filter set to "Transfer Status = Transfer Listed". And scout anyone that I can afford. It's amazing how many gems you can find transfer listed especially regens from Spain after a few seasons. The clubs there just throw them away.

7. In January I always use Player Search with filter set to "Contract Status = Expire in 6 months". And then scout the most valuable ones. If you can get some 4+ star players for free at the end of the season this way it's very much worth the effort. If there's way to many players to scout I also filter by wages, limiting it to those I think I could possibly attract.


I think that's about it. It takes a lot of time. But I enjoy the Scouting part more than the Tactics. I usually spend hours in transfer windows, and go through seasons in "commentator view" during matches.

I think that's about the same as I do now, but I'll let you know if I think of something new. *edit* Obviously some of this is only possible at the highest level, #5 in particular, when more nations are open for scouting.

[StellaF1]

Good to see so many people taking on this challenge this year.

A quick update on Seregno, this is the Serie C2/A table at the halfway stage.

It's all a bit tight and could go any way at this stage.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Amethyst - Nice first season there, congrats on the league and the move up as well. I really like the look of Silva, young and has his attributes in the right places as well.
Charles - Good luck with the Afys, I had a season with them last year. A nice team.
DodgeeD - Another Turkish team, nice to see the reasons why teams are picked, good luck with Keciorengucu, hopefully you can build a strength in Ankara. Nice start through 5 games as well.
Flashman - Crazy that the season starts only ten days after the opening of the window, wonder if that will change as the seasons progress and the Russian season moves slightly? Welkinho looks good, just needs a bit of composure in front of the net really.
Danger_mouse - Also ran into Castilla on my save, that game was not nice to say they least for us we lost 3-0.
Almondo - That's the same scouting range I have, found a few gems in Portugal, had to wait til some players would leave first though as my wage budget is a bit tight even with 13k (p/w). Excellent first season there, good to see a solid finish in Spain, and staying up has to be the number 1 aim in the first season.
Global1 - Nice looking 2nd season there, a solid finish away from relegation, as for the finances we all seem to lose money early on (except Germany), so I wouldn't let that worry you. As for lowering wage budget your best chance may be to actually sell anyone earning too much just to try and make a profit and then get in as many frees as you can cheaply to pull away and expect a slight drop in performance.
PRDH - That was a bit close to call on the relegation front for you, hopefully you can attract some better players to fly out for life on the islands. Your squad currently looks solid if unspectacular. OUCH to the wages at 35 p/w
Ohanzee - Some more excellent advice there, it is another thing I like about this thread everyone is willing to offer some advice and give a hand.
Veriloquent - A nice surprise to have a player performing like that.
Twellman - Good Luck with Zamora.

As for me well feeling a bit under the weather on this Holiday Monday as the All Blacks finally ended 24 years without a World Cup Trophy, so very happy, and my daughter decided I needed to be up at 5:15pm (I hate scheduling of World Cup matches for the British TV public - 9pm here finishes well after 11pm :P)
Hoping to be back to Parla a bit later today.

[Mafino]

Setting up the game in Portugal my home country!

I will take this opportunity to offer my services: If there are any names or places in Portuguese and you'd like to know how they are pronounced, I'm your man!

[Biscotti]

Setting up the game in Portugal my home country!

I will take this opportunity to offer my services: If there are any names or places in Portuguese and you'd like to know how they are pronounced, I'm your man!

Well seeing as you're offering: I had a Brazilian in my FM11 save named Buíu that I could never get my mouth around in a way that sounded right

[Mafino]

That is quite a tough one but the accent on the I means that you stress the I, so you should pronounce it as so:

Boo-EEE-oo

[danger_mouse]

Danger_mouse - Also ran into Castilla on my save, that game was not nice to say they least for us we lost 3-0.

I was shocked at how well we played, considering they had not lost until we beat them.

[Romanista1994]

Should be getting the game between the 29th of October and the 9th of November. Lower Leagues Rule if you'd upload the Barakaldo save I'd be really grateful.

Good luck to everybody already taking part in the challenge and congrats to those who already finished a season and stayed up/got promoted.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Should be getting the game between the 29th of October and the 9th of November. Lower Leagues Rule if you'd upload the Barakaldo save I'd be really grateful.

Will definitely do that later today

[Mafino]

Okay, just loaded it up and got the team I wanted in my first go, so let's go...

Associação Desportiva de Machico
Portugal

Yes, it is arguably Madeira's 4th biggest team, after Maritimo, Nacional (the one Cristiano Ronaldo started at) and Uniao de Madeira. Seeing as I am from Madeira myself I know this club a little better than I should!

[DodgeeD]

January 2013 Update

Reached the winter break in my first season now and all is going well. Our 5 game unbeaten start eventually stretched to 9 games (won 6, drawn 3) before we came unstuck at Konyaspor. A dodgy patch then followed as we drew our next two and lost again to Adana D.S. (and we were also eliminated from the cup at this time). We got back on track though with 4 straight wins to take us into the break on a high. The main worry at the moment is the defence. In our opening run, we only conceded 3 goals in 9 games. We have since conceded 16 times in 8 matches. We'll need to tighten up at the back if we are to stay in the promotion hunt. Still, I'm very happy with our position at the moment as I was expecting to be battling it out in the lower half of the table before the season began.

Current Table

[Charlesbeams]

Really like the new youth/regen thing, shame most of the players in the game i had weren't that good.

Still going well with Afyon, but quite a few games where i should have won easily. In 5th (last play-off place) with 8 more games to go, still have to play the 3 of the 4 teams above me too.

In the cup i reached the 3rd round, getting knocked out by Kayseri Ericyesspor, only just though.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Right a quick update on the first page saves for everyone, I have the normal saves for Russia, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Turkey & Spain as well as the below list in Scotland & France where it is decided by the save dates (Teams in Brackets) - There is also a Spanish save uploaded where there were a few seemingly rare teams all come up at once, and also because Romanista wanted Barakaldo. At this point only three teams in Scotland as they are only ones to finish bottom through 25+ holidays (Clyde 13x, Queens Park 11x, Elgin once).


France - 18th June - Save (Veendee, Raon-I'Etape, Cannes & Romorantin)
France - 18th June - Save (Plabennecois)
France - 18th June - Save (Dunkerque, Amneville)
France - 18th June - Save (Jura-Sud, Alfortville)
France - 18th June - Save (Carquefou)

Scotland - 1st June - Save (Queens Park)
Scotland - 1st June - Save (Clyde)
Scotland - 1st June - Save (Elgin)

Spain - 9th July - Save (Barakaldo, Caudal, Diter Zafra, Lanzarote, Algeciras)

[danger_mouse]

Jan 2013 Update:

Ok so were doing better than expected, were currently sitting 5th but 9 pts behind the leaders. I dont think were strong enough to break into the playoff's this season due to the fact we've lost to all the top 4 teams.

The other bit of news is our finances, as you can see by January were nearly £1m in debt, i haven't spent a penny so far and im £10k under my wage budget aswell, i dont have the players to sell to make the money back up either. Not to sure what my future is with Alicante at the moment, we really need a promotion soon and possibly a stadium upgrade of some sort.

[Gilbster]

Some great scouting advice Ohanzee that I will definitely be looking to follow as and when I get hold of my game. Its about the only reason I want to come home at the moment!

[Ohanzee]

StellaF1 - Just 10 points from playoffs, with a good run of form you could do it. Good luck!
Mafino - Good luck in Portugal!
DodgeeD - Looking good! Hope you can tidy up that defense and stay up there, maybe even nick that 1st place and avoid playoffs.
Charlesbeams - Glad to hear things are going so well! Good luck in the run in!
danger_mouse - Good luck in the hunt for that playoff spot! I know what you mean about finances. I was a few pounds above our wage budget last season and still ended up well into red numbers.


No one noticed that I beat Sporting in the cup? *sadface* That is the Sporting that's won the Primeira Liga 18 times, been runner up 21 times, and 3rd placed 26 times btw.

* Gilbster - Are you coming back in here or going somewhere else? I remember your very long Scotland career, great stuff. Would love to see more of that

[Trevanator]

Zenit-Izhevsk Izhevsk - 2012/13 Mid-season Update

I've just reached the winter break in Russia, so no league game for 4 months and a good time for a mid-season update.

Transfer History
Team Report

I decided to spend to my entire transfer budget on Nikita Zhdankin, mainly because of his versatility. All six players I signed have been heavily involved and I feel I strengthened the areas I really needed to but the team is still relatively weak compared to a lot of the teams in the First Division. I had trouble offloading players, there's still a number of players in the reserves i'm looking to get rid of. My best player is probably Armen Ambartsumyan who was already at the club when I joined.

The Russian First Division campaign kicked off on 11th August with a 2-0 defeat to one of our relegation rivals Metallurg-Kuzbass and we lost our first five league games before finally picking up a point at home to high-flying Yenisey. Since then, the team's form has been patchy but gradually improving and has included a memorable 2-1 win against the then table-topping Tom Tomsk. With the team currently sitting just outside the relegation places, I don't have too many concerns about being sacked at the moment.

League Table
Board Confidence

These first few months have been difficult and the games come thick and fast, between 11th August and 14th November we've played 23 league games, so I often have to make a number of changes before each game due to the players' condition. The only plus side in the Russian First Division is 4 subs allowed per game!

[danger_mouse]

Ohanzee - Yeah mate its pants, only time will tell. And yeah i did notice but didn't realise it was the same team, Congrats thats a very good win, bet it will be financially beneficial for your team aswell.

[Mafino]

Yeah thanks for that advice Ohanzee I think I'll use it!

[Gilbster]

* Gilbster - Are you coming back in here or going somewhere else? I remember your very long Scotland career, great stuff. Would love to see more of that

Completely undecided yet, will be going into the version completely blind as this netbook wont run FM so havent been able to play demo even. My current thoughts are start in Dafuges challenge for a couple of attempts, my first few usually end up with sackings or relegation within 3 seasons (and I tend to play quite fast), and then move into either here or Gundos. Definitely want to try and get another good long save going somewhere this year, as my FM11 attempts were really bitty, so havent had a decent save since Elgin I think, or Eastwood town the previous year in Dafuge.

[Ohanzee]

Ohanzee - Yeah mate its pants, only time will tell. And yeah i did notice but didn't realise it was the same team, Congrats thats a very good win, bet it will be financially beneficial for your team aswell.

Not really. We filled our stadium for the first time. 5,000 people gave us £26k gate receipts but we still lost about £60k that month. Looking at our finances closely now I see that Staff Wages is actually our biggest expense. I honestly never though much about those. Will have to think hard about who to keep and not next summer when all their contracts run out.

[Mafino]

Anyone got tips of letting players go? I want to wipe my team but I can't afford those compensation deals? And no one is going to buy them?

[Flashman\'s School Days]

Trevanator good first half of the season there, you seem to have been doing better than I am finding it at the moment. I just can't find a tactic that works on a consistant basis and seem to concede bucket loads against much better teams. I also had Armen Ambartsumyan already at the club when I took over which is a strange coincidence.
Ohanzee thanks for that, it might make me get better players in so that I don't waste time with the rubbish I bring in at times.

[global1]

Couldnt get anywhere with Rotor squad was so small and nobody i could sell so in addition to the board being unwilling to budge on anything......

Round 3

My new team is Dinamo Barnaul.

With a bank balance of over 1.3m this club has a solid foundation and a hefty transfer budget of 280,000 (which minimum will be spent) and wage budget ot just over 14k a week.
Also noticed the club recived a grant of 1.3m but more on that later.

Put in 14 hour over night session playing first season and went to work with my eye balls falling out. Signed a lot of young player hoping to make a profit in the first year as well as some how stay up over the season.

Finished a very satisfactory 12th in the league a massive 19 point clear of relegation which never looked likely as my experience of previous seasons with Rotor helped.

Star players

None really we signed so many players and many didnt get a run in the team for long.

Sergey Shumilin

Was probably the star of the team with 10 goals a generaly put in good performancys

Soumiala Diarra

Unspectacular on the field but the free transfer sold at the start of the season for a whopping £975,000 as we looked to break even for the year.


Finances

Over the season we lost around a 1m with net transfer profit of £110,000 thousand allowing us to break even when the sale of Diarra went through.

But........ couldn't believe it when our grant of 1.3m came through again

Leaving us with a 2.2m in the bank.


This season

With transfer budget of 300k there is money to spend and a spare 6k in the wage budget. Finding it tough to get decent Russians they all seem average or way to good and with scouting limited, agent offers from Africa seem to be the way forward as they are often young and can be sold on at a profit. The board are helpful finding a parent club and agreeing to fund a physio which is more than can be said for the previous lot. Will look to consolidate mid table this season and break even again before a big promotion push next season.

[global1]

can some one please tell me how you do something like this...

Code:
CLUB HISTORY

SEASON LEAGUE POS. T-CUP Europe NOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/13 2DC 1st 4th round - Promoted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Code:
TROPHY CABINET

Portuguese Second Division (Central) - 12/13


thanks

[Gilbster]

Global you need to put it within [ code] [/code] tags. I tend to have it all lined up with spaces (not tabs) in a notepad document and copy and paste it into my end of season reports. The tags obviously dont have the space between the "[" and "c"

[minisav]

I'm back! I'm also returning to be RB Leipzig!

So here we go:

Profile
Club Overview
Club Information
Sqaud

[danger_mouse]

I'm back! I'm also returning to be RB Leipzig!

So here we go:

Profile
Club Overview
Club Information
Sqaud

I was going to start with RB Leipzig but i wanted abit more of a challenge

[minisav]

Well I completed it with them last version and although I made it look easy it wasn't!

[danger_mouse]

They just look like they've got alot of things already in place and i had that on FM11 with Mantova.

[rlipscombe]

welcome back minisav - looking forward to your latest RB Leipzig game.

[Amethyst21]

Quick update

Despite the fact we are newly promoted to the Second League - we have taken the league by storm and sit atop the table comfortably a third of the way through the season.
This is actually quite unexpected to me, there are clearly some players that can play at this level, but to be undefeated is actually quite shocking. And to be completely honest, I didn't want a promotion this year, I would prefer to stay in the Second League and build for an eventual push to the top flight. But with our current form I might not get much say in the matter! I'm also usually not this good at FM, so maybe Portugal agrees with me? Or after posting this I'll go on a terrible run and just avoid relegation .

I'd also like to figure out what I'm doing so well! FM never fails to amaze

</humblebrag>

[Britrock]

Football Club Unione Venezia



Club history (from Wikipedia)

Founded by a merger in 1907, Venezia have spent a large part of their history bouncing between the top-two tiers of Italian football.

Venezia's home stadium, the Pierluigi Penzo, is the only ground in Italy's top flights that must be reached by boat.

The club was founded as Venezia Football Club on 14 December 1907,[1] by members of two local sports clubs coming together; Palestra Marziale and Costantino Reyer. It was originally based at Campo San Bartolomeo in the city of Venice; fifteen men including the first president Davide Fano were involved in the club's founding;[1]

The most notable trophy success in the history of Venezia was winning the Coppa Italia during the 1940–41 season. The early 1940s was the pinnacle of the club's footballing prominence so far, as they also recorded their highest ever Serie A league finishing during that period with a 3rd place in 1941–42.

Venezia won the Coppa Italia in 1941. That team contained some of the players who went on to form part of the Torino F.C. side of the 1940s who died in the Superga air disaster in 1949, such as Ezio Loik and Valentino Mazzola.

In its history, Venezia has spent a large part of recent years bouncing between Italy's two top divisions (they were last relegated from Serie A in 2002). It was this last season in Serie A which signalled the beginning of the end for the old club. Frustrated with the team and the inability to agree plans for a larger stadium with the council, then President, Maurizio Zamparini, decided to purchase U.S. Città di Palermo, and took with him a large portion of the squad.

Notable recent former players include Álvaro Recoba, Filippo Maniero and Christian Vieri.

The original club, going under the name Associazione Calcio Venezia 1907, was declared insolvent because of bankruptcy and relegated from Serie B in 2005. At the end of the 2008–09 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season, the club declared bankruptcy again and was refounded, changing its name to Foot Ball Club Unione Venezia, and starting in Serie D – the top level non-professional league in Italian football.

--------------------------------

The club has chosen yours truly to guide them on their journey back to the promised land of Serie A and hopefully by the end of the journey that boat trip to the ground will be made on a nice super yacht and not the dingy that I imagine we're all using at the moment...

Here's me: http://imgur.com/rYwPs
Here's the club: http://imgur.com/eoDEw

A nice safe mid-table finish is all that's required from me this year, and looking at the team there's a lot of holes to be filled, mainly right back, centre midfield and up front. http://imgur.com/EsdJW

After my success with 4-3-1-2 in FM11 the aim is to build a team capable of playing that way but that might have to stay on the backburner for a while whilst I have no CMs.

Oh yeah, that stadium:

[Mafino]

Okay, I managed to lost £40k in pre-season alone with Machico... I've just realised that being on island will cost the club a lot of travel expenses :/ Tried to set up a friendly against someone in my league and the board refused!

[vikeologist]

Question. If I manage in Scotland, am I allowed to take over the bottom team as soon as they have finished their league campaign, i.e. about 6 May?

I was just about to start with Queens Park, who finished way bottom of the Scottish Third, when I noticed that their capacity and value is far bigger than all the others, so i'm going to Holiday Man again. I feel that maybe it would be less of a challenge later in the game, though given how dire they were that first season, I'm sure it would have been quite the challenge early on. I know there's saves for other teams, but I may as well try to have my own 'universe'.

I holiday manned a Spain save, and there's a tiny little club, with a capacity of 1,000, that became playable. They're calling out to the massochist in me, so maybe if Queens Park finish bottom again, I'll dive in there. I was quite tempted by Barakaldo, because I like their pink away strip, but since someone else is going to manage them I'll look elsewhere.

[duccio]

I was just about to start with Queens Park, who finished way bottom of the Scottish Third, when I noticed that their capacity and value is far bigger than all the others, so i'm going to Holiday Man again. I feel that maybe it would be less of a challenge later in the game, though given how dire they were that first season, I'm sure it would have been quite the challenge early on.

Wether Queen's Park would be less of a challenge later on, or the biggest challenge of them all depends on wether the club will go professional on this game. IRL they will never become professional, but what about on FM12? Does anyone know? On some game versions they have turned pro and on others they have not.

I might fancy a save as Queen's Park, but only if they eventually can become professional. I once took them all the way to Scottish Premier League, but they remained amateur and the game was basically over as I could not hope to improve their fortunes anymore.

[Ohanzee]

global1 - Good first season! Looks like you've found yourself a good club.
minisav - Good luck in Germany!
Amethyst21 - Looking good, that's an amazing run! I had a below average start to my own season, but now we're on a 13 game unbeaten run and in the fight for 2nd place. I'm sure all my players will combust into flames now that I said that on here though.
Britrock - Good luck with Venezia! I had good fun with them last year.

[vikeologist]

Wether Queen's Park would be less of a challenge later on, or the biggest challenge of them all depends on wether the club will go professional on this game. IRL they will never become professional, but what about on FM12? Does anyone know? On some game versions they have turned pro and on others they have not.

I might fancy a save as Queen's Park, but only if they eventually can become professional. I once took them all the way to Scottish Premier League, but they remained amateur and the game was basically over as I could not hope to improve their fortunes anymore.

After my message I spotted that they were amateur, but the inability (I presume) to dabble at all in the tranfer market, plus possibly never becoming professional means that I'm going to go with East Stirlingshire, who finished bottom on my second Holiday man spell. I'll post screenines once I've fully come to terms with my situation, but I dd dio the screenshots before doing anything.

Queens Park may have just been frustrating and futile rather than a challenge, but like you, I'll be intrigued if anyone else takes them on to see what happens.

[Long Islander]

Clyde

After a 5-3 friendly record in preseason and being eliminated in the first round of both the Challenge Cup and League Cup, Clyde has now gone 3 wins and no defeats in its first 3 matches. Goals are 8-1. Team is really gelling. Beat East Stirlingshire 2-0 (where Sir Alex Ferguson is a legend) and beat Queens Park 4-0.)
Prediction for Clyde was dead last (10th), but things are looking up.

Good Luck vikeologist with your Queens Park save.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well for France i have now uploaded 14 of the possible 23 teams in saves if anyone is looking, just going to keep doing holidays in Scotland when doing other things now. But back to Parla for me now...a quick glance at the table:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team              |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   |
 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Conquense         |       | 15    | 9     | 4     | 2     | 27    | 14    | +13   | 31    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Valencia Mestalla |       | 15    | 9     | 3     | 3     | 40    | 23    | +17   | 30    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Parla             |       | 15    | 9     | 3     | 3     | 33    | 19    | +14   | 30    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Castilla          |       | 15    | 8     | 5     | 2     | 36    | 17    | +19   | 29    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Hospitalet        |       | 15    | 7     | 6     | 2     | 29    | 16    | +13   | 27    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Albacete          |       | 15    | 7     | 6     | 2     | 24    | 13    | +11   | 27    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|


| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  |       | Gandía            |       | 15    | 3     | 5     | 7     | 13    | 22    | -9    | 14    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I'm pretty happy with that effort so far, unbelievable to me that we have managed to make it to this point in 3rd...still 23 games to go though so it could all fall apart. 16th is in the table to show the relegation playoff slot.

[Ohanzee]

Looking very good LLR! How many teams get promoted directly and through playoffs in that division again?

Forum curse has hit me again, hard. After a loss and a draw my assistant suggested a team-meeting. Worst idea ever. 90% of the team went from very good or superb down to abysmal and very poor morale. 1-1-5 win-draw-loss for the last 7 matches since then. And now we need help to have a chance on 2nd place. Annoyed! But we're probably not ready for the top division anyways, so maybe it's for the better. Crossing fingers for a miracle return of form, but with 2 matches left and 3p up it looks like we're in for another season down here.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Looking very good LLR! How many teams get promoted directly and through playoffs in that division again?

The top 4 teams go into the playoffs across all four divisions, 1st Placed meet each other (2 Winners Promoted), 2nd teams face 4th teams, 3rd teams meet each other. The two losers of the 1st placed games fall down and go into a knockout with the 6 winners from the other games and two more promoted from there. (Got it?)

Forum curse has hit me again, hard. After a loss and a draw my assistant suggested a team-meeting. Worst idea ever. 90% of the team went from very good or superb down to abysmal and very poor morale. 1-1-5 win-draw-loss for the last 7 matches since then. And now we need help to have a chance on 2nd place. Annoyed! But we're probably not ready for the top division anyways, so maybe it's for the better. Crossing fingers for a miracle return of form, but with 2 matches left and 3p up it looks like we're in for another season down here.

Good Luck Ohanzee, hopefully you can turn around the run of form, I had a bad experience with my first team meeting as well...Building in the lower division can often be a better overall for advancement later.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's Post-Appointment Report

Fans of East Stirlingshire today reacted with shock and dismay at the news that Vikeologist, the winner of the reality TV show Big Apprentice Idol, has been appointed manager of their club, despite having no experience in professional football.

'I'm a winner," Vikeologist, who wore a crown throughout the press conference announced, adding 'I win things'.

Asked whether he would be bringing in experinced or young, promising players, he said, 'I'll be looking for players that excite me, that have the X-factor. I just want to sign winners, but obviously I won't be signing anyone really old, like over 25.'

As to whether he would be getting rid of existing players and staff, he said, 'I've seen a couple of people wandering around in football shirts and tracksuits. That's not a winning way to dress. Winning begins in taking pride in your appearance. Now if you'll excuse me I have a interview with Heat magazine.'

Manager Profile

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...ew_Profile.png

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...iew_Stages.png

http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/...nformation.png


Having problems with doing the short versions of the links. Sorry.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Good Luck Vikeologist...

For the team logo, I would suggest uploading it to photobucket first and then putting it in as an image here, uploading straight from your machine seems to cause issues...

Also for links, I generally type up what I want, then highlight that and use the link button to link it

[vikeologist]

Good Luck Vikeologist...

For the team logo, I would suggest uploading it to photobucket first and then putting it in as an image here, uploading straight from your machine seems to cause issues...

Also for links, I generally type up what I want, then highlight that and use the link button to link it

yep, for some reason, just not working. I always have formatting problems posting to this site. I don't know if it's a Great Firewall of China thing, or just some weird gremlin. Maybe it will work for my next post.

[Ohanzee]

... (Got it?)

Hehe, yea I think I remember it now. Looks like you're in for an exciting season.

vikeologist - Good luck in Scotland!

[Ohanzee]

Casa Pia Atlético Clube - Season Review 2013/14
3rd in Second League (pred: 16th) | Transfers | Finances | Graph

The League
It started slow with just 2 wins in the first 8 matches. 3 of those were also draws though and we were jumping up and down just below mid-table. Then we went on a 13 game unbeaten run taking us right into the fight for the top 2 promotion places. We even were top of the table for one round. Then it all went wrong as I explained in an earlier post with a horrible team meeting and we never managed to turn it around. Even with our horrible form, a win at home in the last match of the season would actually have given us promotion. Sadly we only managed a 1-1 draw and Estoril took the 2nd place instead. Close but no cigar.


Taca de Portugal (fixtures)
Great run to the 5th round, including a 2-0 win over one of the big 3, Sporting CP. Gil Vicente was to strong in the 5th round.

League Cup (fixtures and table)
Horrible performance here, not much more to say.


The Squad (ratings)
Some new stars this season as you can see from the ratings. Two new strikers in particular.

Lapa (SC) - The young Brazilian was simply brilliant all season scoring a goal per match, and I really hope we can keep him.
Ralf Christ (SC) - If only he was a bit quicker I think he'd be close to Lapa. Still his other skills gave him 15 goals in 28. Job well done.
Igor (DC) - My best defender this season without doubt. He was injured the last 5 weeks of the season and I can't help wonder ...
Raoul Esseboom (DC) - Igors partner in the heart of our defense.

I also want to mention Mauricio as the most wasted talent of the season. The few games he got he was great, but 4 injuries for a total of 14 weeks kind of killed his season.

I will let a lot of players go as their contracts run out to free up wages for new signings, but I hope to keep the core.


The Club
Finances are still looking bad even after being awarded £435k for our league position. I already mentioned that our biggest expense is actually staff wages, which kind of surprised me. Everyones contract is running out though, so I have a chance to do something about it. Some I'll want to keep though. Interestingly my own wages just went from £1.4k a week to just £525 a week after I was offered a new contract. That's fine with me. Our average attendance also increased a lot to 3,147 this season.

I kind of screwed up this season, but at least I've learned not to tinker with team meetings when morale is already good. If I can keep hold of our key players from this season and bring in some better options in certain positions I hope we can fight for promotion next year, but I don't think I'll tell my board that.

CLUB HISTORY

SEASON	LEAGUE	POS.	TACA		L-CUP		Europe		NOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/13	2DC	1st	4th round   	-		-		Promoted
13/14	2L	3rd	5th round	1st phase	-		So close...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TROPHY CABINET

Portuguese Second Division (Central) - 12/13

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Hehe, yea I think I remember it now. Looks like you're in for an exciting season.

I forgot to mention that our next game out was away to the top team Conquense, well a great effort by Manu & Memo (Including a penalty miss by Marrero) saw us win 3-0, and move to the top of the table (Though Valencia B have a game in hand 3pts back)

[Charlesbeams]

Just 2 games left to play now, against 6th and 3rd, i'm in 4th. So really i can't lose any of the games or i'll end up missing out on the play-offs, but it also depends on the team in 5th, if they lose i'd be ok Will most likely have the end of season update done at some point today.

Lost the first game 3-0, Won the second game 3-1 (was 1-0 down), meaning i'm in the play-offs.

[Charlesbeams]

Afyonkarahisarspor - End of Season 2012/13
Squad | Club Info | Finances

League: (Finished 4th)
Things started quite well but as the season went on i struggled a bit more and lost some games i really should have won, mainly against the bottom teams. I did however just make it into the play-off places, which exceeded mine and the boards expectations.

Play-offs: (Lost in Quarter Final)
Unfortunately didn't go too well as i lost 2-1 against Alanyaspor meaning my chances of promotion were gone already. Hopefully i can do a bit better next season.

Turkish Cup: (Lost in 3rd Round)
I thought i did ok in the cup as the board just wanted me to have a go. But i got to the 3rd round, beating a team from the First Division on the way.

Transfers
Brought in 9 players overall, all free or loans. Pretty pleased with most of them, but Ramazan Erarslan, Evren Erdeniz and Mustafa Ozkaya the best of the bunch. There is a few positions i'm hoping to get new players for and already have a new DC coming in, Hakan Cevik.

Overall
I'm pleased with the season overall and only slightly disappointed i didn't get promoted. But because i've exceeded expectations i'm currently Untouchable. Finances are the only problem with the club at the moment, we are 55k up, but i'm sure that'll go down as soon as players get their wages a few more times, which started off at £2k and are now at £10k(includes staff).

I'm a little confused at the teams estimated value, it's gone from £110k to £1.1m

History

Season       League           Pos.    Cup          Europe     Achievements
12/13        Turkish Div.2    4th     3rd Round    ------     Reaching Play-offs

[Almondo]

Good season there Charlesbeam. Unlucky about the playoffs but hopefully you'll get through them next time.

[Charlesbeams]

New Season



New Players

DC - Hakan Cevik
D/WBL - Mutlu Illengoz
ML - Serdal Oz
AMR/ST - Ozcan Dag

Will possibly bring in another striker for free or on loan if i can find someone i like.

[Mafino]

Well done Charlesbeams that's a lot better than I managed... Finished pre-season improving every area in Machicos squad, or so I thought... got battered 4-1 and 3-0 in my first two league matches. Losing interest already :/

[Charlesbeams]

Well done Charlesbeams that's a lot better than I managed... Finished pre-season improving every area in Machicos squad, or so I thought... got battered 4-1 and 3-0 in my first two league matches. Losing interest already :/

Cheers, if you look back in the thread i started off in France and i only managed 1 win in something like 18 games, only scoring about 7 goals. I gave up and tried another country and this time it went well and i'm trying to take my time with things a bit more too.

[Almondo]

Don't know how I didn't see it before but having just looked at the Second Division B2 Table I spotted both Barcelona B and Racing Santander B in addition to the teams of Osasuna B and Bilbao Athletic who were there last season. I think that could be two losses tere but you never know.

[Supermas2]

I usually try out a challenge with FM, so after just reading along last year, thought I would give it a go this time.

I've opted for Germany and...




KSV Hessen Kassel

The side is based in the city of Kassel (population around 200,000) in the state of Hesse.

Brief recent history from Wiki:
Those runs at the Bundesliga in the 80's, alongside an advance to the quarter final of the German Cup in 1991, represent the apex of the team's achievement. The club was bankrupted in 1993 and the football side set off on its own as FC Hessen Kassel. They too had financial problems and in 1998 also found themselves bankrupt, but this time plunged all the way down to Kreisliga Hessen A (VIII). Kassel began their recovery by going unbeaten over the course of the next two seasons and advanced to the Oberliga Hessen (IV) which they won in 2005–06 to earn a promotion to the Regionalliga (III). In 2007–2008 they failed to qualify for the new 3rd Liga, so they remain in the Regionaliga Süd, which is now tier four.

And so the important screenshots:
Manager profile 1

Manager profile 2

Team Overview

Facilities

Kassel Info

I have actually got underway... I had a full squad, although some with contracts due to expire - so I let all but one of those players go. I have brought in 8 players - 7 of them straight into the first team squad.

It looks like I have a decent enough side - although lacking quite a bit in pace. I am optimistic of a solid first season in the Third Divison.

The stadium is also a very decent size at around 18,000 capacity - so I expect that should keep us going for a good few years. Although disappointingly it does have an athletics track around it IRL - so I hope we build a better one at some point

Oh and thanks for the kit links on the OP. I have added the kits into the game and its looking good now

[Mafino]

Cheers, if you look back in the thread i started off in France and i only managed 1 win in something like 18 games, only scoring about 7 goals. I gave up and tried another country and this time it went well and i'm trying to take my time with things a bit more too.

I might give it another go, but I know Machico IRL and I really wanted to take them to success

[blackdevil]

http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...ew_Profile.png

Greetings all. I've taken the task of guiding this lowly French team to...hopefully...the top of the food chain in French, European and world football.

http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...ew_Profile.png
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...BlackDevil.png

My new office is located less than 1km from the coast:


I think the chairman is the ambitous sort:
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...pectations.png

The squad:
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...SquadDepth.png

The transfers:
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...sferwindow.png
Only Samir Hadji & Charles Boteng are my signings....I think...can't remember if it was both or just Hadji....


The season so far:
I've played 11 games so far and i've been amazed at the start. Seems the chairman's expectations are realistic.
http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/...1gamesgone.png


I've never done a career in CM/FM before that's started so low down the pecking order. So I don't know if I'm going to stay with one club or if it'll turn into a journeyman career should I be approached to manage a bigger club and temptation wins...or any club should I be sacked

So far it's been fun.


edt: I forgot to mention that the board arranged for Bologna to be a parent club which came as a surprise. No players loaned from them as yet though.

[Biscotti]

Quick update

Despite the fact we are newly promoted to the Second League - we have taken the league by storm and sit atop the table comfortably a third of the way through the season.
This is actually quite unexpected to me, there are clearly some players that can play at this level, but to be undefeated is actually quite shocking. And to be completely honest, I didn't want a promotion this year, I would prefer to stay in the Second League and build for an eventual push to the top flight. But with our current form I might not get much say in the matter! I'm also usually not this good at FM, so maybe Portugal agrees with me? Or after posting this I'll go on a terrible run and just avoid relegation .

I'd also like to figure out what I'm doing so well! FM never fails to amaze

</humblebrag>

One of the things I noticed in FM11 was that the skill gap between the regional leagues and the Liga de Honra isn't at all big. In fact, the jump to Liga Sagres isn't all that huge either. I didn't start noticing much of a class gap until I had to play against one of the "big 3" teams.

[Flashman\'s School Days]

Torpedo Armavir - Winter Break Update 12/13

Well it has been quite an eventful first half of the season and it ended in a good run of results that brought us up out of the mire. After a pretty pointless pre-season, in which the new signings could only appear once due to the season beginning after 10 days of the transfer window opening, the team struggled to do anything worthwhile on the pitch too.

The season started with a record of 1 win, 4 draws and 7 defeats in the first 12 games, which was a 1-0 against fellow relegation candidates Spartak Kostroma and that solitary goal was part of only 7 goals scored in that sequence. Then somehow with a surprise win against a high flying Shinnik side turned all of that rubbish aside and we only recorded 2 more defeats in the next 11 games and manged to score in every game on our way to 6 more wins.

League Table

Hopefully now being ahead of the relegation spots by 5 points means that the team can push on and not slip back into them, because the team were second bottom for what seemed like forever and I felt that gap was going to widen to a point that it would be insurmountable.

Many of the players have been hit and miss but the two players that deserve a special mention are:
Welkinho - After he recovered from injury the team started to show some attacking potential and the results got better, also top goalscorer and assist leader.
Igor Lutovinov - Good young defender, Welkinho seems to find him often at corners.

For the rest of the season I am hoping that we will be able to keep it steady and avoid relegation, I don't think that we will challenge anywhere near the top. Also the schedule changes after the winter break so that there are occasional 7 day breaks between games which I haven't had yet, I think the games have been played every Saturday and Wednesday without fail up to this point which means the squad are rotated very often.

[Romanista1994]

Spain - 9th July - Save (Barakaldo, Caudal, Diter Zafra, Lanzarote, Algeciras)

Cheers. Now I'll just have to wait for the game.

Solid first season global1 and unlucky Ohanzee and Charlesbeams. Good luck to all the new starters as well.

[Amethyst21]

Ohanzee - Nice update, shame to have missed out on promotion on the final week. Still, looks like you have some young talent to build around
Charlesbeams - Good season, promotion on the cards next season?
Supermas2 - Looks like Kassel could be a nice little sleeping giant, good luck in Germany!
Blackdevil - Cannes looks like a fun club, lots of history but no real success, though they are really putting the pressure on by asking for promotion at the first time of asking. Though off to a great start
Flashman - Off to a decent start in Russia, it's got to be a tough league with all of those relegation spots. Still, some nice young talent to build around

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Charles - A nice season, a bit of consolidation can be good for you, and at least you know you can compete. I love the look of Mustafa Ozkaya, solid in all the right places.
Almondo - Don't write them down as losses, the B teams do sometimes have very weak sides. I have Valencia B, Zaragoza B, & Castilla (RM) and feel I can compete with them.
Supermas - Welcome aboard and good luck with Hessen Kassel, its nice to start with a stadium as well. You're welcome to the kits, I just think it adds an extra dimension to the game.
Mafino - Having played on the islands a couple of times on FM11 I can tell you it was really tough to attract players out to the team. I got sacked from Machico in my 2nd season, and then by another team as well. But if you go slow and steady and build a team to avoid relegation then work upwards it is possible. Iacovone had a great game out there in FM11 (7 seasons in the 2DB though).
Blackdevil - Welcome aboard and good luck with Cannes, hopefully you can go on to dominate Ligue 1.
Flashman - That's a pretty good first half there, sitting above relegation, you just need to keep the current form on track rather than the old stuff.

[viiralx]

I cant seem to get into the Portugal save., so im sad to say I will be retracting my participation in this thread.

Good luck to everybody else though!

[Supermas2]

Supermas - Welcome aboard and good luck with Hessen Kassel, its nice to start with a stadium as well. You're welcome to the kits, I just think it adds an extra dimension to the game.

Thanks. I played a game on FM11 with Leamington - and got to around 2020 in League 1 but was stuck with a stadium of only 1500 and despite a new one being apparently approved it never got built for whatever reason - so hopefully I shouldn't have that frustration with this game!

Cheers Amethyst21 - they do look like they could be a sleeping giant. We've averaged 7,724 in the few games I've played so far which is the 6th highest in the division - so there should definitely be a fanbase there if success can be delivered.

First game went quite well too : http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...Overview-2.png

But they did also lose 4-0 and 5-0 in their next two games too, so a bit of a combination of luck and them being shocking at set-pieces!


Good luck to everyone else too!

[minisav]

Plenty of cash with Leipzig again. Mainly in the wage budget which is what I like. Lack of good players available for free though. And Leverkusen just stole in for a player I was after

[Amethyst21]

Academico de Viseu F.C. 2013-2014 Season Report

League : After promotion from the second division last year, I was hoping for a season of consolidation before embarking on a promotion chase the following year. However a fantastic start gave hope that we would be quickly and easily on our way to the top flight. However, the forum curse struck and immediately our form dipped, so that after gaining 28 points in 10 games, we gained only 28 points in the final 20 games. It all game down to the final game, and we needed a result against Beira-Mar or for results to go our way. Beira-Mar hammered us 5-0 to clinch their promotion, however both Trofense and Leioxes failed to gain the necessary points to overtake us and we were up! Quite an achievement as we spent the fewest amount on wages, however we had good attendance for the division

I was of course, praised for leading the club to the promised land of the top flight
Cups : Nothing much to write home about

Key Players:
Tiago - Club captain and solid performer at left back
Simoes - Played at right back this year, though he's still not truly comfortable there. Still a good season.
Nion - A bit of a sob story here as Nion was going to be a key player and was on fire during the league cup (5 in 3 games) but broke his foot in a game, was out for 5 months and was never the same. His attributes are way down and despite me telling him that he has to improve to stay in the first team, he's fallen way off. Sad because Nion was going to be a key performer for the team, now he's expensive deadwood.
Leitao - Our main goalscoring threat, Leitao was outstanding. 15 goals from 28 starts is a great record. I don't know if he's cut out for the top league but will be given a shot
Krivokapic - My big Serbian defender was offered to me by an agent and I was glad he did, great season and great prospect
De Cuyper - Decent winger
Abdou - Midfield general, lacks strength and stamina to compete at the next level I fear
Vracevic - Star midfield man. Scout found him in Croatia without a team! Almost certainly the best player at the club
Assis - Our number 1. A few bad games but generally solid.

Transfers - All free transfers, haven't spent a dime on a player yet
Finances - Looking good after the prize money from the Second Division came in
Youth - Suprisingly there were some decent youth candidates coming through this year. I signed 4 but Santos and Sergio appear to be the most promising. Santos has the higher ceiling but his attributes are all over the player, Sergio looks like he could be a decent winger

Next Season: I think we are in trouble. The club was promoted too soon, and there isn't a whole ton of talent around. I have two options, sign a bunch of youngsters, play them and assume i'd get relegated, however it should build me a core of players that I can come right back up with. The other option is to loan in a bunch of players and claw and scrape for survival in the top flight. My preference would be to buy the youngsters, however the board told me I should avoid relegation, so I fear the sack if I do this. Could be an interesting season

[Almondo]

My starting right winger has got himself a three game ban for a nasty tackle. Moron means the 34 yr old or the 16 yr old is going to have to play there now.

LLR I know I shouldn't write them off as losses but I just get this feeling they will be. Ah well you never know till you play them.

[StellaF1]

Things have steadily improved for me and Seregno, were not going to be be getting one of the playoff spots but more importantly we are not goin to be relegated or have to go through a playout. Mid-Table obscurity.

Anyway my main striker, Christian Spampatti, has just scored a goal which i thought i would never see in this game let alone from a player in such a low league. Hopefully there is a video below to demonstrate!

[Almondo]

nice goal there Stella. Good to see that kind of goal scored.

[Charlesbeams]

Charlesbeams - Good season, promotion on the cards next season?

Cheers, hopefully yeah, but i won't be disappointed if i stay in the league really.

Charles - A nice season, a bit of consolidation can be good for you, and at least you know you can compete. I love the look of Mustafa Ozkaya, solid in all the right places.

Thanks, yeah i think going straight up wouldn't have been that great either, i'd have most likely gone straight back down. Yeah, i think i was pleased with him most of the 3 better signings. Unfortunately it was Erarslan who took the fans favourite and the first name in favoured personnel for the club.

Couple of things i forgot to mention, we are predicted 8th in the league this season, and i've been put into Group A with some new teams i haven't played against before.

Also we sold 998 season tickets this season, 194 more than last season, hopefully the attendance will rise more as the season goes on. I did get 8k in the stadium for a friendly against Fenerbahce, most i'll get for some time i think.

4 games into the new season, 2 won, 1 drawn and 1 lost, not a bad start really.

[DodgeeD]

Ohanzee - so close but perhaps another season of team building will be more beneficial in the long run.

Charlesbeams - a good first season there and I'll be happy if I can match that. Nice to see an increased budget for next season as well. As for the increase in club value, I wonder if it may be to do with the new stadium.

Supermas2 & blackdevil - best of luck in Germany and Italy!

Amethyst21 - wow! Best of luck in the top flight. I hope it's not a step too far. My experience of Portugal in FM10 was that the bottom half sides in the Liga Sagres (or whatever it's called now) were about the same level as those in the Second League. The big problem was that none of the top teams were willing to lend a 'divisional rival' their players. We stayed up though!

[tommy1872]

will be getting the game on thursday when i get paid and hopefuly start this challenge

[blackdevil]

Cheers for the welcome guys Cannes does seem to be a club with a good foundation to build from. I think the previous manager deserves credit as I've just picked a team and it's started off so well. No doubt I'll hit some patchy form soon enough to mix it up a little as I'm a little disappointed to be doing so well...was hoping for a scrap challenging for promotion.

Blackdevil - Welcome aboard and good luck with Cannes, hopefully you can go on to dominate Ligue 1.

Not out of the National yet so not counting my chickens too soon....but it's looking good early doors.

Supermas2 & blackdevil - best of luck in Germany and France!

Had a bit of a wobble recently, drawn a couple of games and conceded two golas as well. \o/ The millstone of not conceding has been lifted.

[DodgeeD]

Apologies blackdevil - got my geography mixed up

[TanO]

Great opening post, very inspiring especially thanks for the honorable mention from FM09. Great memories with Monsanto so I'm currently holidaying in Portugal for another crack at the Liga Sagres. Hopefully this season I'll get enough time to see it through and post lots of updates

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Des Tiny's AD Parla

Mid-Season 2012/13
Second Division B3
February 1st Update

2nd Division B3

This season has been a bit of a surprise to me, when I was signing players my aim had always been that we would fight for avoiding relegation or at best to be in the mid table fight and managing to stay here for two seasons. After a few games I thought maybe we had a chance to set ourselves up for a promotion shot this season, so I have started to bring in some guys who should be able to do it at Liga Adelante level as well as at the current level. We have already scored 50 goals in our first 22 games, while only conceding 32. This says to me I need to work on the defense a little bit, so that is something going forward.

My Star of the Half: Cristo Marrero

Good Results: vs Avila 5:1, vs Sporting Mahones 4:2
Bad Results: at Hospitalet 1:5, at Valencia B 1:4
Big goals in the Avila game, and a huge come back in the Mahones game delighted me, those are the exact sort of results I love to see. The Hospitalet & Valencia games were just terrible, we need to work out how to beat some of the top teams.

The Table

| Pos   | Inf   | Team              |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Valencia Mestalla |       | 22    | 14    | 4     | 4     | 56    | 31    | +25   | 46    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Parla             |       | 22    | 13    | 5     | 4     | 50    | 32    | +18   | 44    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Hospitalet        |       | 22    | 12    | 6     | 4     | 44    | 22    | +22   | 42    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Albacete          |       | 22    | 11    | 7     | 4     | 37    | 22    | +15   | 40    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Castilla          |       | 22    | 11    | 6     | 5     | 47    | 32    | +15   | 39    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Relegation Playoff Spot
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  |       | Alicante          |       | 22    | 5     | 10    | 7     | 27    | 34    | -7    | 25    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Spanish Cup

We are not entered in the cup this year...

The Transfers
Since September 1st

In Brief
In: 9 Players (Free)
Out: 10 Players (€8k)
Loans: 1 Player (No Fee)
Wages Total: €14,668 (p/w)
Wage Budget: €15,421 (p/w)
Remaining Transfers: €0

New Signings
First Team

|-------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Player            | Position | Price | Comments                                        |
|-------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Emrah Yetgin      |  AMR/ST  | Free  | He is cover for our strikers, and can also play |
|                   |          |       | on the right good choice, and huge future.      |
| Steeven Willems   |   DLC    | Free  | He is straight into the centre of defense we    |
|                   |          |       | really needed cover and support for Dumast.     |
| Jose Sa           |    GK    | Free  | The new back-up keeper, our 40yr old Icon was   |
|                   |          |       | past it. So a young guy with potential.         |
| Alessio Innocenti |   MRC    | Free  | Italian youngster, Midfield Cover.              |
| Ricardo Alves     |    MC    | Free  | Portuguese youngster, Midfield Cover.           |
| Nuno Malheiro     |    DL    | Free  | Portuguese youngster, Left Fullback Cover.      |
| Franck Grosjean   |    MR    | Free  | Our new French superstar, even though Manu was  |
|                   |          |       | doing pretty good, I thought it could improve,  |
|                   |          |       | so here is the new right midfield straight in.  |
| Taygun Kuru       |  DL/MLC  | Free  | Very versatile, can play with both feet, and is |
|                   |          |       | is a direct replacement for Juanma who was      |
|                   |          |       | starting to lose his way.                       |
| Miguel Herlein    |    ST    | Free  | Straight into the team and a goal on his debut. |
|                   |          |       | The Portuguese youngster looks like the perfect |
|                   |          |       | poacher for my team and will star from here.    |
|-------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|

Youth

|-------------------|----------|-------|------------------------------------------------|
| Player            | Position | Price | Comments                                        |
|-------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|

Future Transfers

|-------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Player            | Position | Price | Comments                                        |
|-------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|

Transfers Out
First Team

|---------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Player              | Position | Price | Comments                                        |
|---------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
| David Barrero       |   MRC    | Free  | Really not good enough. (Cornelia)              |
| Sergio Alcolea      |   MC     | Free  | Out he goes to cut wages. (Alzira)              |
| Lionel              |  MRL/ST  | Free  | A poor signing (Diter Zafra)                    |
| Pablo Ancos         |   GK     | Free  | Club Icon, Fans Hate me for sale. (Alzira)      |
| Pedrito             |   MC     | Free  | Just never really gelled into the side. (Ejea)  |
| Angel Luis Vega     |   DC     | Free  | Terrible. (Alzira)                              |
| Butra               |   MLC    | €4.5k | Wasn't making the side. (Antequera)             |
| Juanfer             |   MR     | Free  | Not even close to team. (Ferrol)                |
| Vittin              |  DM/MC   | Free  | A young possible. (Pena Sport)                  |
| Hector Pena         |   DLC    | €3.5k | He did ok, Others are better. (Avila)           |
|---------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|

Youth

|---------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Player              | Position | Price | Comments                                        |
|---------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|

Players out on Loan

|----------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Player               | Position | Price | Comments                                        |
|----------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|
| Richi                |    MC    | None  | SF de Henares                                   |
|----------------------|----------|-------|-------------------------------------------------|

Other News

When I signed Grosjean, I noticed this little gem, good to see that a player coming in has signed because of our league position.

[DodgeeD]

Looking good so far LLR. Which teams get automatic promotion? Or do they all go into a play-off?

In Keçiörengücü's 20th league game of the season, we just had our first 0-0 draw. We have also kept bkac-to-back clean sheets for the first time this season! I think I identified the (somewhat obvious) reason we leaked goals earlier in the season after a bright start - my first choice DM has just returned to the side after a 3 month injury layoff. He provides much better cover for the defence than his back-up!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Looking good so far LLR. Which teams get automatic promotion? Or do they all go into a play-off?

All into playoffs. The top teams go against the other top teams from other groups, winners of those games promoted, losers into next round. The 2nd placed teams play 4th placed teams & 3rd placed teams play each other, those 6 winners + the 2 losers (From 1st placed matches) then enter the next round. Win two games and you are through from here...makes it tough, but we will keep pushing on.

In Keçiörengücü's 20th league game of the season, we just had our first 0-0 draw. We have also kept bkac-to-back clean sheets for the first time this season! I think I identified the (somewhat obvious) reason we leaked goals earlier in the season after a bright start - my first choice DM has just returned to the side after a 3 month injury layoff. He provides much better cover for the defence than his back-up!

Yeah that's probably the reason :P Glad you are looking at having a defensive record again, keep it up and push on.

[Charlesbeams]

Just had my first Postponed match on FM12, not sure if i got any in FM11.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

One of the games in my season (Not my game), was postponed 3 times, twice for snow, and a third time because of waterlogging...

[Ohanzee]

Charlesbeams - That's a great season! Hope you can take it one step further next year.
Supermas2 - Best of luck in Germany!
blackdevil - Good luck in France!
Flashman\'s School Days - Good job turning things around! Hope you can continue that good form and stay well safe from relegation.
Amethyst21 - Big congrats! Playing with the big boys next season. Looks like we had very similar seasons once again, I just couldn't finish the job. Really well done! And good luck against the big 3!
StellaF1 - That's a brilliant goal!
TanO - Good to see you back! Hope you'll enjoy Portugal. Good luck!
LLR - Looking good. How many points do #6 have?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

LLR - Looking good. How many points do #6 have?

They had 37pts at that point...

[Veriloquent]

Bursa Niluferspor 2012/13 season review
Table | Transfers | Manager 1/2 | Club

Squad - Selection/General Info/Formation

Atilla Polat: He was released by Galatasaray at the end of last season, I thought he had a lot of potential and signed him up right away. He played every game of the season and despite letting in a lot of goals at times a good portion can be attributed to my defence, he did come second overall with clean sheets from both groups of the 2nd league. He started out at 2 star potential and raised to 2.5 so his progress is slow but he is young and can hopefully make Galatasaray regret letting him go one day.

Anil Sarak: When I arrived Sarak was about to go back to Bursaspor as his loan was almost finished, I decided to try my luck and asked them to extend the loan to the end of next season, they accepted and now I have him on loan for another season after this. A young and very capable defender with amazing potential, he started the season with a 3.5 star rating, now he has a 4.5 star rating.

Sonmez Uysal: He is one of my oldest players, he has reached his potential which is somewhat low but he has been one of my best performers this season and has rarely disappointed when he has played no matter which defensive position he has been put into, mainly the central role but sometimes forced to rb/lb due to injuries.

Fatih Turkmen: He was Bursas first choice right back last season and despite numerous signings in defence this season he continued to be first choice for my team, he suffered a lot of injuries so he did not play as many games as I would have liked, he is still young and able to develop a bit more so if he stays injury free he should be able to stay in the team, for now at least.

Cengiz Dilaver: Simply put, the best player of the season. He only played 2 games last season and I was in no hurry to extend that number this season, then injury hit my best midfielders, I took a risk and stuck the kid on the left wing and he was there for the rest of the season. He was setting up goals, scoring more than anyone else in the team and generally playing better than everyone else, ended up being on the shortlist for the 2nd division player of the season, I am still waiting to hear if he wins or not, his rating was 2nd best out of everyone from both groups. He started the season at 1.5 star potential and quickly rose to 3.5 star potential I have big hopes for the future for him, he is already a favoured personnel at the club the only other one being myself.

Gokhan Vuran: The fans were a little angry with me when the signing was first announced, they thought he would be a disruptive influence on the team, but I decided to stick with my free transfer and he rewarded me by staying injury free scoring some vital goals and assisting a couple too, he started on the right wing until injuries forced me to move him to a central role, he made it his own and started playing even better than previous games on the right.

Ismail Sonmez: Released by Gaziantepspor at the end of last season and my scouts made me aware of his 5 star potential so I quickly signed him before anyone else got the chance, he was only 4.5 silver stars when he arrived so naturally he was not given much of a chance but just after December my coaches told me his progress had stalled due to not playing enough matches so I decided to give him a match or 2 as his rating had moved to 1 star, he did not manage to become a regular starter before the end of the season but as he is now 2.5 star rating it may not be too much longer before he is.

Levent Tuncel: Another player brought to my attention by my scout, told he had a 5 rating and would normally have ignored as he was with another club, luckily for me it was an amateur club so he was signed for low pay and without compensation, he came in during the January transfer window and only played 10 games as sub to help him get some match experience in, he did not do anything spectacular but he made no mistakes either so there is potential for the future.

Mesut Eslik: Started out as my first choice left winger, he does play better in a central role but I had better rated players there, so with injuries he started covering my right wing and was left there due to the rise of Dilaver as my god like left winger, he only made slight improvements over the season but has the potential to be a good player, out of my attacking midfielders he is most likely to be replaces for this season but I have more pressing concerns so he is likely to stay.

Timur Dosmagambetov: Was going to be my number one choice for striker this season but sadly he got injured for a good portion of the season, he came back for a short while and got injured again, before his injuries he was showing quality and starting to score, sadly he did not have much time at the end of the season to get a good load of matches together to get back into form, hopefully he can avoid injury for next season to we see what he can do, he was a Khazak international before his injury.

Finances: I may have went a little crazy with my free transfers, too many were signed for somewhat big money and ended up not being good enough to be given a chance or having played a couple of games and being a flop, luckily I only signed most of my flops for 1 season so they will be gone at the end of June, low attendance (ave. 611) meant we did not bring in enough to cover my signings and we constantly lost money for all but 1 month of the season, I will have to cut the wage bill by around 2-3k for the coming season if I am going to break even next season so around 6k will have to leave if I will have enough to spare for a new signing or 2 to help me stay in the 1st division.

Competitions 1/2: I crashed out of the cup in the 3rd round to a 1st division side in an away match after beating another at home in the first round, I cannot help but feel I could have got through if I had been at home 3rd round too as my home form was a lot better than my away form, even when I won away matches I seemed to struggle and get lucky a lot. In the league the team took a while to settle, I was trying out a lot of new players and that probably didn't help, we got some easy first matches that boosted Morale and helped us get a run of form going but we struggled badly away from home. Injuries early on forced me to use some players who while not high with star ranks managed to keep their place in the team due to their amazing displays on the pitch which players with more stars disappointed, November was tough as we ran into some quality teams at the higher end of the league, once a tough December was over in which we won just 1 out of 4 league games I changed things up a little, I started using more youth players with good potential and got away from the older higher rated players, by the time the youth hit their form around the end of February the team was looking nearly unstoppable and managed to go the rest of the season unbeaten to take the league by 2 points on the last day of the season.


All in all I think Turkey is a good place to go, it is easy and yet hard, there are a lot of talented youth players released to give you a good team to start with once you come up, it lets you challenge right away but you still need to be careful with the wage bill, I was given a generous one and went a little too crazy which led me into debt even though I was under budget. The bad thing about this league which can make it hard, the players tend to kick lumps out of each other, you will get a lot of cards and injuries playing in this league, there have been times I went down to 8-9 players not just due to players getting sent off, I would get a player sent off, then after 60-70 minutes when I had used all my subs ( a lot of the time due to slight injuries I did not want to get worse) the other team seemed to foul a lot more, get a ton of yellow cards then injure my players seriously enough to get 1-2 taken off with no more subs to replace them.

I will be releasing a lot of players (also my scout who is refusing to sign a new contract) to free up some of the wage bill to let me make a few necessary signings, I need at least 1 defender, 1 possibly 2 central midfielders and a new striker who are capable of playing in the 1st division/super league. I am wanting to avoid relegation for the coming season and will avoid promotion as well, I know I am not prepared for the super league and neither are my younger players who I am trying to build the team around so if the unlikely happens and I find myself in a promotion spot I will be purposely losing some games to give my youth at least 1 more season to get better before I look to challenge for promotion.

Edit: you can tell the fans are not used to success if they have done this after only 1 season

2nd edit: My board have decided to add seats to the stadium, 3750 capacity will stay the same but it will go from a no seater to an all seater at a cost of £450k that I do not have, more debt, but seats may hopefully improve the attendance if the fans like to sit, promotion is likely to increase the fan numbers too with any luck.

[rlipscombe]

LLR - good season there mate - setting the bar for me. looks like you've found a good squad there. not sure about the Liga BBVA mention???
Charlesbeams - good season there mate. hopefully you can go further next season.
Supermas2 & blackdevil - good luck with your careers.
Amethyst21 - congrats mate! fantastic. good luck next season. how do you think your current squad will do?TanO - welcome back. good to see you here again. there are some players in Portugal now. it's the place to be!
Veriloquent - congrats on the league win. fantastic. good to see people having success in turkey.
Ohanzee -unlucky mate - sure you'll manage it next season though.

[rlipscombe]

just checked my finances... i might seriously bankrupt this club!!

[Charlesbeams]

Ohanzee & rlipscombe - Cheers, things are going ok at the moment, currently in a play-off place but there are still 15 games to go.

Good to know my players think i should be offered a new contract after some news items claimed i might end up leaving at the end of the season.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

LLR - good season there mate - setting the bar for me. looks like you've found a good squad there. not sure about the Liga BBVA mention???

Hmmm no idea why I didn't edit that out (Was from my Haro updates), as for finances, I have had 125k injected by board already, fighting bankruptcy here.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Wow...talk about Forum Curse...since I posted the midseason update I have had 6 injuries, 2 suspensions and 2 losses & 2 Draws to drop to 5th, ouch!