FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[el sid]

End of Season Update - 2014/2015 - TuS Koblenz

League:
Media Prediction - 18th
Actual Position - 4th - Graph

The league started off horribly for us, we had a total of 1 point after 4 games and we were rooted to the bottom of the table. Then form picked up, as we started scraping out a few wins and draws here and there in between some really superb performances leading to big wins. By the end of the first half of the season, we were clear of relegation danger and in 7th place. The second half of the season saw us keep up the good form, and as other teams at the top slipped up, we were able to attain and hold on to 4th place in the league for the last 8 games of the season. This sees us qualifying for the Champions League best placed playoffs for next season!

German Cup - Winners!
Route to the Final
The Final - Stunning way to win our first silverware :*)

Transfers


Main Players:
Patrice Millet
Denis Alibec
Simon Benson
Lubomir Le Giang
Frantisek Hasek


Previous Season Aims:
Do not get relegated - check
Do not sell Millet - check
4th round of the German Cup - check


Next Season Aims:
Do not sell Millet
Finish in the top 6 again
Semi-finals of the German Cup

  Season  |  Club        |   League                |  Position  |  Comments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/2013 | TuS Koblenz  | German Third Division   |    1st     | Champions and Promoted!
2013/2014 | TuS Koblenz  | German Second Division  |    1st     | Champions and Promoted!
2014/2015 | TuS Koblenz  | German First Division   |    4th     | German Cup winners! Qualified for the Champions League!

I've arranged for these players to join the club next season, bringing a distinct English feel to the squad. Really excited for next season now.
Sharif Adbukadir
Tim Penfold
Steve Moore
Lucas Andersen - a 6.5m signing, by far my biggest signing so far. Expecting big things from this lad

Onwards and Upwards!

[rlipscombe]

great stuff mate... really flying through the challenge. given you've won something every season, the league title next season??? wouldn't put it past you. like the look of Adbukadir and Penfold is a beast of a midfielder!

good luck next season.

[el sid]

Thanks mate I've holidays now, so nothing else but FIFA and FM to do League title maybe a bit too far for next season, as Bayern are immensely strong.

[Almondo]

Nice one on your first silverware el sid and qualifying for the Champions league.

Should have an update up in a bit myself.

[rlipscombe]

Thanks mate I've holidays now, so nothing else but FIFA and FM to do League title maybe a bit too far for next season, as Bayern are immensely strong.

sounds like a great life!! i'm just basing my prediction on your previous success... i'll let you off with 2nd...

[el sid]

Been invited on a pre season tour of France because of the clubs high popularity in the country

[PRDH]

Ok, time for League Cup Part Deux!

Got past Porto on penalties in the semi-final to set up this date with Sporting in the final. Bring it!

Kick-off

2 mins - Sporting fire wide with the first chance of the match.
6 mins - Borodin swings over a corner but, under pressure from Krause the Sporting 'keeper claims it.
7 mins - After rolling the ball out to the full back Sporting surge forward, rounding my 'keeper only to slot it wide of the post. Massive let off!
12 mins - It's end to end stuff here as some nice build up on the edge of the box ends with Borodin firing a left-foot shot into the crowd.
17 mins - A spell of Sporting pressure leads to a corner. It's cleared by Krause, but not far enough, it's fired into the six yard box again. Semenov heads it clear, but it falls to a Sporting player again. The shot fizzes past the upright.
31 mins (Thanks el sid). Cabecinha launches his goal kick forward. Chrysanthou wins the ball, turns and feeds Henrique. He holds off a challenge fires in his shot, it's saved, but he gets the rebound first. Unfortunately it's a weak effort and their keeper takes control of the loose ball.
32 mins Another chance for Henrique. Favreau feeds Yurkin up the right flank. He knocks it past his man, squares it to Chrysanthou who in turns threads the ball through to Henrique. Again, however, his shot is easy to deal with
34 mins Thiago attacks up the left flank. He is chopped down by the Sporting right back. Free kick. He's being called over by the ref. What will the decision be...it's only a yellow.
35 mins - The set piece is knocked up the flank to Thiago again, he crosses the ball, Henrique is beaten in the air, but the header falls to Leclerc, he back tracks and is fouled by a Sporting player. This should be another yellow. Nope, just a telling off.
36 mins - A masterclass in turning attack into defence there. The free kick is knocked across the pitch. Borodin knocks it back to Semenov who plays it all the way back to Cabecinha, he clears it to Favreau whose touch is heavy and the ball is stolen by Sporting. Fortunately they waste the chance.
38 mins - The ball is given away in midfield. Sporting gather themselves. Feed a lovely ball through and they finish it well. 1-0 to Sporting.
41 mins - They are very close to adding a second immediately. Only a fine save from Cabecinha and an excellent last ditch tackle from Osses keeps them to just one goal.
43 mins - Sporting in control just before half time. They have yet another chance, again firing wide.
44 mins - And again. This time they blast the ball well over the bar.
45+1 mins - They have one final chance before half time. Trying to lob Cabecinha from the edge of the area. It drifts wide of the post.

Half time - I've had more of the ball, but they've had a lot of chances and have made one count. They will take a 1-0 lead into the second half.

Second half

51 mins - A great jinking run from Yurkin ends with some terrible decision making as he goes for goal himself rather than crossing to Henrique. A cross which would have left him with a simple tap in.
55 mins - Another poor bit of decision making. This time from Thiago on the left wing, he again goes himself rather than teeing up Chrysanthou. Poljak and Rodriguez come on to replace Yurkin and Leclerc.
56 mins - Chrysanthou sets up Henrique who fires over.
61 mins - Sporting stream forward once more. It's their turn to see a weak shot saved though. Still 1-0.
64 mins - Rodriguez is fouled in the Sporting half. Osses steps up and fires a long(ish) diagonal ball into the path of Poljak. A slightly heavy first touch takes him wide but he still gets a shot in. It flies past the Sporting 'keeper and into the net. 1-1
68 mins - Thiago surges up the left flank. He crosses the ball to an unmarked Poljak, he heads it goalwards but a decent save keeps Sporting level.
70 mins - Borodin flies into a 50-50 challenge winning the ball bravely, he feeds it forward to Chrysanthou who plays the ball round the corner to Henrique. He strikes the ball well but it's beaten away by the Sporting 'keeper. Strong spell this for Lusitania Acores.
83 mins - Chances at both ends illustrate the increasing openness of the game as both teams strive for a late winner.
86 mins - Dias replaces Thiago on the left wing.
90 mins - Dias, with fresh legs, up against a full-back already on a yellow card and starting to tire, surges forward. He puts a low ball into the six yard box. Henrique launches himself at the ball. Makes contact and bundles the ball in at the near post. 1-2 with just three minutes of time-added-on to go.
90+1 mins - Sporting burst forward. Favreau slides in, but misses the challenge. The ball is whipped across the box and knocked in at the far post. Sporting hit back immediately. 2-2

Full-time - After a dramatic final 3 minutes the game ends 2-2 and goes to penalties.

Penalty shoot out - Sporting to go first

Kovacevic (Sporting) SCORES 1-0
Rodriguez SCORES 1-1
Rubio (Sporting) SCORES 2-1
Chrysanthou SCORES 2-2
Gotsis (Sporting) SCORES 3-2
Henrique SCORES 3-3
Monteiro (Sporting) MISSES 3-3
Borodin SCORES 3-4
Carrico (Sporting) SCORES 4-4
Dias (to win it) SCORES! 4-5

Full time - Lusitania win 4-5 on penalties after a 2-2 draw with Sporting. My first proper piece of silverware!

[el sid]

good luck prdh!

[Almondo]

Peña Sport FC season review 2019/20

League, Past Positions, Finances, transfers

League

The league was a great season for us as we were around the top all season. Despite Barcelona trying to throw the title away we couldn't get the league but there have been a lot of positives for us this season not least a 4-2 win over Real Madrid. Going forward we jut need to find a way to beat Barcelona to be able to win the league.


Europa League

Got seeded for the Fourth Qualifying round and as such avoided the likes of Liverpool and the other big guns in the tournament.

4th Qualifying round vs CFR Cluj - 5-1 Aggregate win - Scorers: (A) Roland, Dumont, (H) Cruz, Alvarez, Own Goal,

Group Stage
The group stage saw us drawn with Schalke, Sparta Prague and Genk. The opening game saw us head to Belgium to face Genk. A great performance from Legros and a goal from Alvarez gave us the win. The next game saw us welcome Schalke to San Francisco. Goals from Serderov and Koke (which was his first for the club) couldn't stop us succumbing to a 3-2 defeat. A trip to Sparta Prague was up next. A goal from Serderov was enough for us to come away with the win. Sparta then came to us in the return fixture, goals from Kverkvelia, Alvarez, Lopez and Roland gave us a 4-0 win. The return tie wiith Genk was the match where we could guarantee our continued participation in the tournament. A goal from Kverkvelia ensured our qualification meaning that the next game against Schalke had no pressure on it so with the group sewn up I decided to play some fringe players and give my young keeper Salz his european debut. A goal from Dumont ensured that even though we lost 4-1 we scored in every game during the group stage.

1st Knockout round Vs Tottenham Hotspur - 2-1 aggregate loss Scorers: (H) Cruz

A good run here for our first foray into continental football, it's a bit disappointing that we couldn't get the away goal at Spurs but that's football.


Spanish Super cup

Drawn against Real Madrid

1st Leg
2nd Leg

So a 4-3 aggregate loss which isn't the worst that could happen, we showed that we can compete with the big boys.


Cup

4th Round vs Ponferradina - 4-1 aggregate win Scorers: (A) Serderov, Kverkvelia, (H) Lopez (2)
5th Round vs Barcelona] - 4-3 aggregate loss Scorers: (H) Own Goal, Lopez, (A) Lopez

In a way I was glad to go out of the cup as it gave us a chance to actually get a full rest between league games.


Squad


GK's

Legros - had another good year and has been called up for France's Euro 2020 squad.

Salz - Only played in a couple of games including the 4-1 loss to Shalke but looked good between the sticks, it'll probably be another season before he's ready to reaally challenge Legros.


Defenders

Manangu - Was pretty costly but has proved to be worth it. Is in all probability a lot better than Nyanda who he replaced.

Kverkvelia - Proved he could start the whole season, was a mainstay and looked solid especially when partnered by Miguel.

Miguel - Signed from Deportivo in the summer, he went straight into the first team and played well.

Drachmann - Another good season from the Dane.

Duque - Played well when he came into the side but couldn't really push the three in front of him out of the way.

Fusaro - Played well as the 3rd central defender.

Felipe - Was decent when he came in for Manangu




Midfielders

Alvarez - The Columbian played well down the right and even had a few down the left

Allen - Once again bossed the midfield and was one of the first names on the teaam sheet.

Koke - Allen's partner, he played well but looked lost when Allen wasn't in the side through injury.

Roland - ha a pretty decentyear but needs to be looking over his shoulder for Del Rio.

Etxebarria - Once again anther decent wnough year for the midfielder.

Diego Puente - Didn't play a lot and is now making noise abut wanting more games. Is still decent enough for a squad player.

Dumont - Played well down the right and can give Alvarez a run for the first team squad.

Del Rio - May only be a back up but he is really pushing for the starting spot down the left.


Strikers

Cruz - Had a stand out year as the partner of Lopez up front. Also his 16 goals was enough to take home the Top Spanish Goalscorer award.

López - Played well and scored goals but spent the last couple of months of the season injured.

Serderov - Played fairly well before spending the last 4-5 months of the season out through injury.

Pérez Postigo - Didn't play a lot and is looking to leave, I will probably let him go.

Weuts - Played well enough when he came on but he's still mainly a back up.

Season     |  Division           | League Position  |   Copa Del Rey  |       Europe       |    Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13    | 2nd Division B2     |      12th        |      N/A        |        N/A         |      Stayed up
2013/14    | 2nd Division B2     |      1st         |      N/A        |        N/A         |Champions and Promotion
2014/15    | Liga Adelante       |      12th        |     2nd RD      |        N/A         |      Stayed up
2015/16    | Liga Adelante       |      4th         |     4th RD      |        N/A         |      Playoffs
2016/17    | Liga Adelante       |      1st         |     5th RD      |        N/A         |Champions and Promotion
2017/18    |   Liga BBVA         |      11th        |  Quarter Final  |        N/A         |      Stayed up
2018/19    |   Liga BBVA         |      5th         |    Winners      |        N/A         |Cup winners and European qualification
2019/20    |   Liga BBVA         |      3rd         |     5th RD      |Europa league 1st KO|Champions League Qualification

The 100 Club

This section will be for those player who gain over 100 appearances and/or goals for the club while under my management. this is League and cup competitions.

Player               |   Apps   |     Goals     | Seasons between |     Note
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Javi Jimenez         |   101    |       3       |   2012-2015     |    Retired
Dolly Menga          |   135    |      60       |   2012-2016     |  sold by board
Igotz Garde          |   143    |      13       |  2012-Present   |    Retired
Kurt Weuts           |   265    |     101       |  2013-Present   |
Txitxo               |   108    |       2       |   2012-2016     |    Retired
Bidari               |   206    |      24       |  2013-Present   | Released on a free
Yeray Soto           |   108    |       0       |   2012-2016     |    Retired
Juanma               |   165    |       7       |   2012-2018     | Retired now a scout
Carlos Garde         |   152    |      10       |   2012-2017     |Wouldn't sign new contract
Jorgito              |   119    |      12       |   2014-2017     |Wouldn't sign new contract
Felipe               |   179    |       1       |  2014-Present   |
Nacho Gómez          |   119    |      13       |   2013-2017     |Wouldn't sign new contract      
Alejo Diego Puente   |   162    |      15       |  2013-Present   |
Nenê                 |   137    |      17       |   2014-2018     |Sold to Zenit for £6.25 million
Carl Allen           |   214    |      34       |  2015-Present   |
Sten Drachmann       |   205    |       0       |  2015-Present   |
Óscar Kortina        |   115    |      12       |  2012-Present   | 
Jérémy Roland        |   191    |      19       |  2015-Present   |
Mathias Legros       |   183    |       0       |  2016-Present   | 
Jean-Jacques Dumont  |   147    |      27       |  2016-Present   |
Ignacio Etxebarria   |   101    |       0       |  2012-Present   |
Antonio Pérez Postigo|   115    |      22       |  2016-Present   |

Previous Years

2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19

[jimbowmanuk]

Elgin City - 2012/13 – Season 1(Jimbowmanuk)

Media Prediction: 9th
Actual finish: 1st
Season Tickets: 147

Transfers
Managed to bring in some real talent for this level and they proved to be the catalysts to a great season in the Third Division

League
The board wanted us to consolidate our position but I knew with the squad at my disposal that a playoff spot was more than achievable, but the way the team played meant we were able to win the league.
Suffered a heavy 6-2 defeat in the opening game of the season but soon the team were firing on all cylinders and we won the league with 5 games to spare, scoring exactly 100 goals in the league
Fixtures 1
Fixtures 2

Scottish Cup
The board were expecting us to reach the 3rd round
We were drawn against fellow third division side Clyde, in the 2nd round, and made short work of them. Setting up a 3rd round match against non-league Nairn County which resulted in an easy 5-2 victory. Another non-league team in the form of Deveronvale in the 4th round had me thinking we could perhaps get a big payday match in the 5th round but we underestimated them and went down 4-3 and out of the cup.

League Challenge Cup
Board wanted us to learn from experience

The 1st round drew us against Second division side Cowdenbeath, who we were able to beat 3-1 at home and set up a 2nd round match against recently relegated St Johnstone who we managed to claw back a 2 goal deficit but unfortunately they scored in the last few minutes to knock us out 5-4

League Cup
Board wanted us to learn from experience

The 1st round drew us against St Johnstone, and despite taking the lead we were soundly beaten 4-1


Favoured 11
GK - Ryan Marshall, A bit of an average keeper who seems a bit suspect with long shots, looking to replace him in the summer
DR – Declan Beveridge, Solid enough season making 2 assists
DC – Zander Jack, good stopper who scored 3 times over the season
DC – Jamie Duff, the better of my 2 CB’s scored 14 goals set up 5 and picked up 7 MoM’s
DL – Antons Kurakins, Latvian defender who liked to get forward great pass % and set up 4 goals
MR – Fraser Keast, picked him up on a free and he repaid the faith by scoring 14 goals, and assisting 14 too.
MC – David Gold, injured a couple of times in the season but still managed 5 goals and 18 assists in his 33 appearances
MC – Thomas Bendiksen, Norwegian picked up on a free, he liked to get forward and had great passing all season
ML – Daniel Moore, only managed 34 games in the season, but did set up 19 goals
ST – Craig Gunn, the star striker of the team, played all 42 games of the season, scored 34 goals, and set up a further 18
ST – Marc Hughes, Irishman picked up on a free played 37 games scored 24 goals and set up 16

Season	League	Finish	Cups	Europe	Achievements	
2012/13	Third Division	1st	SC 4th round, LC 2nd Round, LCC 1st round	N/A	Promoted!!

[el sid]

More silverware! German Super Cup winners

[rlipscombe]

Almondo - well done on making the CL - good luck next season.
PRDH - congratulations on winning the cup mate!
jimbowmanuk - well done on winning the title. time for the double next season...

[G-Wiz]

this may be the chance for Dinamo Stavropol to push themselves into the Russian Premier Division!! 21 match unbeaten league run has us 2nd, 1 point off top spot...hopefully we can keep this incredible form going, or Krasnodar slip up at some point, i have everything crossed!!

[el sid]

We're through to the group stages of the Champions League after beating Sporting CP 7-3 on aggregate in the playoffs

[rlipscombe]

this may be the chance for Dinamo Stavropol to push themselves into the Russian Premier Division!! 21 match unbeaten league run has us 2nd, 1 point off top spot...hopefully we can keep this incredible form going, or Krasnodar slip up at some point, i have everything crossed!!

Good luck mate!

[5ergio]

Wow! Sorry for not mentioning all of you guys one by one but boy we do have some serious progress People are starting to bring some silverwares to the trophy room and a few places in the CL already! If you are still messing in the lower leagues like me, keep your heads up! We'll catch up eventually!!

14-15 Pre-Season Summary for Anadolu Üsküdar

--- Friendlies ---

Finances firstly. Those two friendlies broadcasted on TV granted us around €75K. The TV rights is enormous compared to our income level in the lower division. I have also managed to stay under the wage budget of €24K so things look good for now.

Transfers were better than I expected and maybe a bit focussed on the attacking end. 12 players in, 5 out in total. Only 6 of those 12 are in my 22 player senior squad. The rest was bought for future and maybe for the financial moves. Now to see 4 of those 6 senior players:

Phil Jones: The Welshman looks only a bit short of the ideal midfielder. His lack of mental stats when compared to his technical ones is the only thing keeping him away from the starting XI. Also the fact that team captain is playing in his position

Sidouine Oussou: The Benin starter does not look like your magnificent striker but his quickness and agility is what attracted me. Needs to gel with the team and I am pretty sure he'll keep beating that offside traps all year long!

Kerem Zorlu: Product of the famous Dardanel academy, he was touted as next Feyyaz Uçar when he signed. Grabbed himself an injury and now that next blabla mark is gone but at only 17 he looks tremendous!

Ryo Iwadate: Final foreign signing and I am glad I realised I was allowed to sign 3 players! 19 years of age, constant starter for Japan already and a very solid distribution of attributes. Also, I am not entirely sure if it will happen or not but his shirts might sell at Japan as well

We are expected to come dead last 18th but I am pretty optimistic of our survival chances. If only I manage to get these boys gel quicker, we might as well see a push for play offs, maybe.


EDIT: Just grabbed our first win in our very first First Division game against Bucaspor at home. Played in front of a huge 1K crowd, we managed to grab a goal in the middle of second half and hold onto it till 90+ to find the second on the counter. Anadolu has started their adventure with a solid 2-0 win!

[Ohanzee]

FC Mulhouse 2016/2017
1st in Ligue 2 (pred: 10th) | Transfers | Finances | Graph

The League
Took a while to get going, but after Christmas we hit some form and was bouncing about in the top 3 and pulled away in the last couple of matches to win the league. Promoted! Still conceding way to many goals for my liking.

The Cups (french cup | Coupe de la Ligue)
Not much to talk about in either competition.


The Squad (ratings)

Most important players

Yury Baymbetov and Ruben Hol scored most of our goals. Both wanted by other clubs, Yury by Lyon.
Antonio Siano and Nicola De Ambrogi was running the midfield.
Claudio Tagliani and Jacopo Galimberti held our defense together (most of the time)

Mostly I'm pleased that we had 20 different goal scorers. I'm disappointed that some matches our defense just broke down with schoolboy errors and certain players reacted badly when I fined them 2 weeks wages for their abysmal performances. Those players will not be here next season.


The Club
We had a take-over mid season. Nothing to talk about. Just a new name, no oil baron. Good news is we're in the top division obviously. Bad news is my board was forced to upgrade our stadium now that we're in Ligue 1 and it cost £7M. Not been given a loan yet either so we're well in red atm. Average attendance was 1720.

The Future
Depends on what my board plan to do with our finances. All players have at least one year left on their contracts anyways, so worst case I'm stuck with this bunch.

CLUB HISTORY

SEASON	LEAGUE	POS.	CdlL		FC		Europe		NOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/13	FN	5th	-		10th round	-		So close
13/14	FN	5th	-		10th round	-		...
14/15	FN	2nd	-		final lost	-		Promotion!!
15/16	L2	5th	1st round	7th round	-		...    
16/17	L2	1st	2nd round	9th round	-		Promoted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
L1 = Ligue 1 | L2 = Ligue 2 | FN = French National | CdlL = Coup de la League | FC = French Cup

TROPHY CABINET

French Ligue 2 - 16/17

[el sid]

Congrats on promotion Ohanzee!

[rlipscombe]

well done on making Ligue 1 Ohanzee. good luck with getting a loan and some sensible finances next season. good luck keeping your squad together too. Baymbetov could be key for you next season if you can keep him.

[PRDH]

The dust has settled on another Lusitania Acores season. Have we managed to break into Portugal's top two and the Champions' League fortunes it heralds? Well, you'll just have to wait until I finish writing the season update...

[siLKEAPE]

I will be taking a break from this challenge and my Città di Pontedera side. Will still be reading all of your updates, and I will even probably be back in here around christmas time. Good luck all of you!

[rlipscombe]

I will be taking a break from this challenge and my Città di Pontedera side. Will still be reading all of your updates, and I will even probably be back in here around christmas time. Good luck all of you!

sorry to hear that though fair enough. hope to see you back here soon!!

[PRDH]

Lusitânia Açores - 2019/20 - Season Summary

Finances

Key figure - £2,846,031 | Summary

Once more made a profit (especially nice since I spent £1.3m upgrading my youth facilites (an outlay that only got them up to basic). The profit came almost entirely from player sales. My position is very much that of selling club at the moment. Something I fear will continue until I can somehow creep into the Champions' League.

Transfers | 14 In (£575K), 8 Out (£3.1m)

A few surprise sales this year. Kozak departed after years of service and a couple of decent profits with free transfers leaving in seven-figure (just) deals. In terms of new arrivals they were once again mainly free transfers, we splashed the cash on a couple of players. A new right-winger who impressed in patches and a replacement left-back in January as neither pre-season signings looked up to the job.

League | Predicted 9th

League | Graph

A slightly worrying trend emerging here. In my breakthrough season I finished 3rd, then 4th and now 5th. I've still qualified for Europe but will have to go through an extra qualifying round next season.

Finally we did have a different league winner though. Porto had won the league every year since 2013, but this year it was taken by Benfica. A shock seeing as they seemed to have been falling away from the top two.

I'm not sure what the issue was, the squad was almost identical to the one I had last season, but it just didn't quite click this time out. I'm approaching a time for change I think. A couple of player's contracts are running down and they aren't willing to sign improved terms so it might be a case of cashing in and reinvesting, trying to inject some new blood.

Cup

Supertaça | Lost

Not sure how I qualified for this one, but qualify I did. Played Porto in the final and lost.

Taça de Portugal | 5th Round

After a few nice draws I got through to the 5th round without too much effort before, and you won't be surprised to hear this, I met Porto who beat me.

League Cup | Winners

Progressed to the semi-final with very little drama. Here I was drawn against Porto. With little hope I went into the game. It turned into an incredibly even game. We took the lead through a Steven Defour own goal. They equalised in the 56th minute and that was how it stayed. It went to penalties, a shootout we eventually won in sudden death.

With this win behind us we headed to the final, against Sporting, and, as reported above, we again emerged victorious after a penalty shootout.

Europe | Group Stage

Europe is something of a struggle at the moment due to the home grown player rules. I don't have a single Portuguese player in my squad which means I could only register 18 players. With injuries this often meant I was forced to field a fairly depleted squad. We got a couple of decent results but didn't make it out of the group stage.

Squad | Overview

Reminder: names in bold indicate first choice player, those italicised a player I consider an exciting prospect for the future

Goalkeepers

Cabecinha - Undisputed first choice once again. I'm starting to think I may need to replace him with a goalkeeper of true class.

Marcus - Joined as my number 2 (stop laughing at the back there) after Eugenio was sold.

Ali Emam - Homesick Egyptian goalkeeper. Has infuriated me this season. Complained of homesickness so gave him a month off, two days after he returned he complained again. I called him into the office told him once he got his head down and training he'd get over it. He didn't agree. I told him to pull himself together. He got stroppy. I suggested I'd bring in a compatriot. He decided that would only make it worse. I, reluctantly, told him he could leave. He replied that if I was unwilling to help he supposed he had to leave. Aggravating!

Defenders

Leandrinho - Once again the first choice right back, fighting off competition from Favreau.

Alexey Semenov - Strong season for the Russian, he's starting to get noticed by bigger clubs. Hopefully he won't have his head turned too much.

Tobias Grote - Brought in to replace Polegar who my chairman sold at the end of last season. He was unimpressive.

Fabio Raimondi - Part of my all Italian central defence back up.

Felix Krause - The German is another who is getting big interest. Not sure how long I can hold onto him, but he would be missed if we got rid.

Simone Molteni - Pretty decent back up to the established central defence pairing.

Mathieu Favreau - Didn't get much of a chance due to Leandrinho's form, but was part of the victorious League Cup team.

Christian Osses - Brought in during January when it became clear that Grote wasn't really good enough. Performed pretty well as he settled in a new country.

Midfielders

Eduard Borodin - Another good season, he's refusing to play ball on a new contract, may have to sell him soon. He'd be very hard to replace.

Philippe Derrien - French prospect from Clairefontaine. He's got potential and I think could do a decent job replacing Borodin should he have to.

Kristian Bidstrup - Potentially very exciting Danish midfielder. I can see him breaking into the first team in the next couple of seasons.

Thiago - Breakthrough season for the youngster. He performed very well on the left of the midfield.

Yuriy Yoznyuk - Still struggling to break into the first team.

Dirk Hentschel - Eventually emerged victorious in the battle for the right-wing berth. Chipping in with some very handy goals.

Igor Yurkin - Ended up as back up after he was beaten by Hentschel.

Dias - Lost his place to Thiago this season and, after refusing to sign a new contract, will be leaving at the end of the season. Has been a great asset to the club since he joined.

Jorge Rodríguez - Couldn't really decide whether Rodriguez or Leclerc was the first choice. I think Rodriguez may have just shaded it despite suffering a few injuries. He's been recognised by the Uruguayan national team as he received his first cap.

Raphaël Leclerc - Another Clairefontaine graduate. He played well when Rodriguez was injured.

Jorge Muñoz - I see bright things in his future. He needs to push his way into the squad soon. I'm not sure whether he'll be a creative midfielder or playmaking forward along the lines of Henrique.

Erik Jakus - Potentially exciting left winger. He'll get more playing time next season once Dias has left.

Forwards

Henrique - Refusing to sign a new contract and with teams sniffing around I may be forced to sell in order to not risk losing an important player for nothing. It would be a pity to have to get rid as he is a truly class player and has been a supreme servant to the team.

Ivan Poljak - Scored the goal that got me back into the League Cup final. Struggling for game time. He has talent just needs an extended run in the team.

Venizelos Chrysanthou - A slightly sketchy season for the Cypriot striker. He played superbly as ever but suffered a few injuries and got sent off a few times at the beginning of the season.

Jan Kessler - Exciting German striker. If he can get a tad quicker he has the attributes to score a bucketload of goals. Hopefully it'll be for me.

Aims for this season were...

1/ Continue to challenge at the right end of the table. Looking at 3rd-6th again. Check. Though we're getting less competitive.
2/ Sustained good results against the 'big three'. Not really.
3/ I'd like to get my hands on a proper cup. It looks like I'll have to get past Porto in one of them (I've beaten them once) or hope for a lucky draw. CHECK! I even had to get past Porto as predicted.

Aims for next season are...

1/ Push up again. I don't want to continue slowly slipping down the table. I'm looking at 3rd or 4th.
2/ Get out of the European Group Stages.

Story So Far...

Season		League			Position		Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13		Second Division - South	12th			Avoided Relegation (just)
2013/14		Second Division - South 1st			Promoted!
2014/15		Second League		14th			Avoided Relegation
2015/16		Second League		2nd			Promoted!
2016/17		Premier League		13th			Avoided Relegation
2017/18		Premier League		3rd			Qualified for Europa League
2018/19		Premier League		4th			Europa League again
2019/20		Premier League		5th			Europa League again

Previous Updates

12/13
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
17/18
18/19

[Macshimmy]

Vikeologist, if you finish bottom of the third three times, you lose your league voting rights,
It's only if you finish bottom 5!!! times you get expelled into the amateur leagues.

Even then, its only if the other clubs vote you out, so I doubt S.I. bothered to put it in.

[Macshimmy]

Well done jimbowmanuk, you have a couple of players from the elgin city in my universe,
Bendiksen and Mitchell.

What do you think of the previous managers brilliant signing Lister?

[jimbowmanuk]

Well done jimbowmanuk, you have a couple of players from the elgin city in my universe,
Bendiksen and Mitchell.

What do you think of the previous managers brilliant signing Lister?

He played 2 games at the start of the season, after that he never played again, kept getting the message Should Lister be in the team 12% Yes - 86% No - 2% undecided so at least the fans were with me in my decision, the striker Marc Hughes proved to be miles ahead of him

[el sid]

Man Utd, Porto and Copenhagen in the CL group

[jimbowmanuk]

Its quite tight at the top of the table with 14 games to go

[Almondo]

Man Utd, Porto and Copenhagen in the CL group

Ouch. Although I daresay my CL group will be as bad. In other news I just managed to get a 1-0 win over Real at the Bernabéu which was a first for us. Now I just need tofigure out how to beat Barcelona.

Edit: Yep I thought it would be a tough group - Arsenal, Werder Bremen and Dynamo Kyiv

[PRDH]

Right, brief update on my pre-season. It looks as if Henrique, Rodriguez and Borodin will all be leaving. Henrique's and Borodin's contracts are up at the end of the season and have totally impractical demands while Rodriguez kicked up a fuss about me rejecting a bid from Lazio.

[rlipscombe]

sounds like things are a little tough right now PRDH... i'd get rid i think and hope to find replacements if you can't give new contracts.

[PRDH]

sounds like things are a little tough right now PRDH... i'd get rid i think and hope to find replacements if you can't give new contracts.

Yeah, that's what I'm attempting. Henrique is off to Rubin for £4.9m, they've got a bargain I think, but it's a massive chunk of cash for me at the moment and much better than letting him leave for nothing. Borodin has gone for £1.5m, slightly less happy with this deal, but again it's better than nothing.

I should add here, just to put into context the upheaval this will be, that Henrique is my captain and Borodin my vice captain!

Rodriguez was all set to head off to Napoli for £5m but then got injured in training and failed his medical. Hopefully I'll be able to get the same sort of fee for him when he's fit again.

[Macshimmy]

He played 2 games at the start of the season, after that he never played again, kept getting the message Should Lister be in the team 12% Yes - 86% No - 2% undecided so at least the fans were with me in my decision, the striker Marc Hughes proved to be miles ahead of him

I managed.to pick a fight with him 2 days into his elgin career:

http://i1043.photobucket.com/albums/...terminated.png

:-)

[rlipscombe]

Yeah, that's what I'm attempting. Henrique is off to Rubin for £4.9m, they've got a bargain I think, but it's a massive chunk of cash for me at the moment and much better than letting him leave for nothing. Borodin has gone for £1.5m, slightly less happy with this deal, but again it's better than nothing.

I should add here, just to put into context the upheaval this will be, that Henrique is my captain and Borodin my vice captain!

Rodriguez was all set to head off to Napoli for £5m but then got injured in training and failed his medical. Hopefully I'll be able to get the same sort of fee for him when he's fit again.

Some big money made there i guess particularly with 12 months left on contract... good luck using that cash to replace them...

[PRDH]

Cheers rlipscombe! I've decided to replace from within the squad. Borodin to be replaced by Derrien and Henrique by Poljak (see above) and use the money for security and to improve the facilities.

Edit - So Rodriguez recovered from injury just in time to be sold before the end of the transfer window. He went for £4.4m in the end. Along with Henrique and Borodin leaving it's boosted the coffers considerably with a total of £11.25m coming through the doors.

[toonbalmy87]

SV Wuppertaler Go marching backwards

German Bundesliga

League Table -Predicted 13th http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...w_Stages-2.png
Transfer Summary -http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/..._History-5.png
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/..._History-6.png
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/..._History-7.png
Finances - +£20 Million

League Summary
Well i missed my personal objective but 8th still isnt a bad finish considering the bad run we had. I need a new Striker partnership and that's it so i think i should have a good amount of money to spend on that position hopefully

Fixture List
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...Fixtures-8.png
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...Fixtures-9.png

Squad list
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/..._Players-5.png
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/..._Players-6.png
Team Report

Aims for next season are to get into Europe and win the German Cup

[el sid]

Ouch. Although I daresay my CL group will be as bad. In other news I just managed to get a 1-0 win over Real at the Bernabéu which was a first for us. Now I just need tofigure out how to beat Barcelona.

Edit: Yep I thought it would be a tough group - Arsenal, Werder Bremen and Dynamo Kyiv

I'm somehow top after 3 games in the group

[Dexter_Morgan]

After completing the Gundo challenge I fancy something else now. I am really tempted to try and get Barakaldo, I know LLR has put a save up with them but I fancy doing with only Basque players after the first season so would I be be able to add that in the DB? It doesn't give any extra players at the beginning but going by previous saves with Bilbao it does get hard if they aren't loaded in the future. If I do do it and it would be allowed then there will be no other alterations to the DB, so basically it would be a large DB with Basque players totaling 13,000 players. I personally can't see myself getting an advantage out of it due to the limitations i'd be setting myself but i'd rather not assume and make the intentions known so it could be cleared either way

[PRDH]

I just wrote a lengthy post, full of excitement and information, but just before I posted it I decided it was unwise, that it would almost certainly anger the CSE gods and invoke the forum curse so I am, perhaps wisely, keeping schtum.

[el sid]

What a game!
A total of only 12 shots on target producing 9 goals, incredible efficiency. Or **** goalkeeping

[PRDH]

Hmm... Either that was too much for the forum to resist, or it was just a case of an away game at Porto, but my unbeaten start to the season has come to an end.

[brettney1980]

Dardanelspor A.S - Season 2019/20



League Table|Championship Group

I finished this season on the 19th before going away so the report will be short. I'll just say we were a little lucky to make it into the Championship Group and then massively lucky to actually win it! 3 draws in the first 3 games and i thought it was over but then we beat Besiktas for ther first time in my time in charge, followed that up with an hammering of Trabzonspor (who like us overachieved to make it here) then we ended the season with a victory over Galatasaray and Trabzonspor beat Besiktas to hand us the top spot and a Champions League place (and i think the Turkish Title).

Transfers|Finances

Turkish Cup saw us actually try a little more this year and we managed to make it to the Q-Finals losing to Galatasaray.

Squad|Team Report

Season    Division     Pos   Turkish Cup     Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13   Second       2nd    Third Round    Promotion!
2013/14  First Div.    10th  Second Round    Mid-Table - Check!
2014/15  First Div.    8th    Third Rd.      Just below Playoffs
2015/16  First Div.    Top!  Second Round    Champions!!!
2016/17   Premier      5th    Fourth Rd.     Made it into Europe!! Somehow.
2017/18   Premier      4th    Fourth rd.     Champs Group.
2018/19   Premier      5th    Fourth rd.     Snuck into Europe via Fair Play!
2019/20   Premier      4th     Q-Final       Champions League!!!

[Romanista1994]

I haven't been in here much at all and practically haven't touched FM since my last update due to school and life in general. I don't think I'll be able to carry on with my save now, which is a shame as it was fun to play and share.

Congrats on the progress everybody has made.

After completing the Gundo challenge I fancy something else now. I am really tempted to try and get Barakaldo, I know LLR has put a save up with them but I fancy doing with only Basque players after the first season so would I be be able to add that in the DB? It doesn't give any extra players at the beginning but going by previous saves with Bilbao it does get hard if they aren't loaded in the future. If I do do it and it would be allowed then there will be no other alterations to the DB, so basically it would be a large DB with Basque players totaling 13,000 players. I personally can't see myself getting an advantage out of it due to the limitations i'd be setting myself but i'd rather not assume and make the intentions known so it could be cleared either way

It would be lovely if you did an all-Basque save with Barakaldo, which is exactly what I was doing until life took over. I'd definitely follow that. However, I'm not sure whether the people in the thread would approve of database changes.

[neushoorn70]

Congrats on the champions league brettney did you win the league or is the champions group more a formality?

[brettney1980]

Congrats on the champions league brettney did you win the league or is the champions group more a formality?

Yeah it turns out i did pick up the League Title ... Find it a little strange though since i did in all reality finish 4th!?

[toonbalmy87]

i really dont mind about the database changes dexter

[toonbalmy87]

Just managed to sign RVP and Fellaini on a Free

[Dexter_Morgan]

toonbalmy87, Romanista1994 thanks for the support i'd love to do it where I won't always be nicking Bilbao players all the time but the only realistic way of doing it would be to have Basque players loaded imo as Barakaldo won't always produce Basque regens (there would be some i'm sure, but it doesn't have the same strictness Bilbao do) as I said my intention would be to have only Basque players by the start of season 2, i'm not even that bothered about completing the challenge but it'd be a nice experiment to try. If LLR says no then fair enough i'll give it a go without them loaded. I've already holidayed with Basque loaded and just doing another one with them loaded.

[rlipscombe]

toonbalmy87, Romanista1994 thanks for the support i'd love to do it where I won't always be nicking Bilbao players all the time but the only realistic way of doing it would be to have Basque players loaded imo as Barakaldo won't always produce Basque regens (there would be some i'm sure, but it doesn't have the same strictness Bilbao do) as I said my intention would be to have only Basque players by the start of season 2, i'm not even that bothered about completing the challenge but it'd be a nice experiment to try. If LLR says no then fair enough i'll give it a go without them loaded. I've already holidayed with Basque loaded and just doing another one with them loaded.

For me, as one of LLr's deputys ( ) i don't have a major problem with it considering you have mentioned it plus the uniqueness of the challenge. LLR should be around soon though for confirmation...

[Lower Leagues Rule]

It's all good by me Dexter, you have mentioned it before starting, and your challenge will be slightly unique as well, and I just tested it myself it doesn't load any more players, or if it does it is very slim numbers (<1k), go for it and good luck with the Challenge of Basque only.

[rlipscombe]

Just managed to sign RVP and Fellaini on a Free

got yourself a good squad going there toonbalmy... how old are they? RVP must be getting on a bit? how is he holding up?

[Dexter_Morgan]

Barakaldo CF 2012-13



I've decided in the interests of fairness not to go ahead with having Basque loaded as extra, it seems the likes of Sociedad, Osasuna, Betis and Real Union are producing Basque players (even though I can't get any) as well as Athletic, my regens are Basque as well (not that they are of any use).

Club overview

Club Information

Proof of promotion (though everyone knew this)

Manager 1

Manager 2

DB Size (just to cover myself)

Transfers

Main Signing - Personal

Lucky enough there was only 1 non Basque at the club when I took over called Chus Del Prado, he's not exceptional but I can't really afford to let him go at the minute because i'm a bit short in midfield. If anyone comes up equal or better before the end of the season then he'll be straight out. I'll be making no exceptions for any non Basques including players I produce myself, i'll be adding personal pages to all links of signings that aren't well known.

Be warned now, i'm ill and bored so i'll probably fly through the first few seasons (already a few months in) though I only tend to post once a season is over because in past experience if I say i'm doing well it gets jinxed straight away I promise it'll calm down when I am back to work next week

[jimbowmanuk]

Elgin City - 2013/14 – Season 2(Jimbowmanuk)

Media Prediction: 8th
Actual finish: 1st
Season Tickets: 224(+77)

Transfers
Signed several players on free transfers to try and stiffen up the defence, but may have to look at bringing in better players next season

League
The board had expected me to try to avoid relegation and after losing the 1st 2 games 6-1 and 4-0 this looked like a tough ask, but some new signings had the team firing, and with results going our way elsewhere we were able to claw back the leaders, I felt a playoff was reachable but the team kept getting better and better scoring 98 goals on the way to the title, unfortunately the 63 conceded shows me room for definate improvement
Fixtures 1
Fixtures 2
Fixtures 3

Scottish Cup
The board were expecting us to reach the 4th round

We were drawn against fellow second division side Cowdenbeath, in the 3rd round, and made short work of them 5-2. Setting up a 4th round match against another second division side, Brechin who we were able to beat 3-1. The 5th round presented us with an away game at SPL side Dundee we were beaten 3-1 but the money from gate reciepts was very welcome.

League Challenge Cup
Board wanted us to learn from experience

We beat Third division side Stirling Albion 3-1 in the 1st round, setting up a home tie against First Division's Raith Rovers, the game went to extra time and the away side went down to 10 men 5 minutes before scoring a decidely dodgy looking offside goal that the referee didn't see so we lost the game 1-0

League Cup
Board wanted us to learn from experience

We beat East Fife 4-3 in a thrilling match to set up a tie against our fierce rivals, SPL side Inverness Caley and after taking an early lead I had hoped a shock maybe on the cards but they soon took control and dominated the match winning 4-2.


Favoured 11
GK - Adie Boothman, better than Marshall the previuos season but I still need someone more commanding between the sticks
DR – Samuel Bangura, Sierra Leone international, who was fairly solid in the full back roll
DC – Kai Edwards, Welsh defender, solid in the air and scored 12 goals from set pieces
DC – Kim Skogsrud, Norwegian defender realeased by Rangers in the summer, solid enough DC but need to tighten up a bit
DL – Michael Dunlop, brought into the squad more as back-up for the defence but injuries to Kurakins meant he got more game time and had a solid season
MR – Fraser Keast, another good season for Keast scoring 8 goals and setting up 12 in 29 appearances
MC – Dale Fulton, brought in to improve the middle of the park, set up 15 goals in 28 starts
MC – Thomas Bendiksen, a fairly average season, his replacement has already been aquired to improve things in the first division
ML – Christopher Chantler, Voted the fans player of the year, and rightly so with his 10 goals and 20 assists
ST – Jamie Burrows, brought in more as cover but when Gunn got injured he stepped up scoring 10 setting up 9 in 22 games, capped for Holland U-19's before getting a Full cap for his home nation of Curacao
ST – Marc Hughes, The Irishman had another good season scoring 25 goals in 34 games during the season


Next seasons goals are to stay in the First Division and try and improve finances so the board can step up from Part-time to Full-time, with only 1 promotion place I feel 3 seasons in the division should make us strong enough to push for promotion.

Season	League	Finish	Cups	Europe	Achievements	
2012/13	Third Division	1st	SC 4th round, LC 2nd Round, LCC 1st round	N/A	Promoted!!
2013/14	Second Division      1st         SC 4th round, LC 2nd Round, LCC 2nd round      N/A        Promoted !!

[el sid]

Good luck Dexter Morgan!

[Romanista1994]

Good luck Dexter_Morgan.

All the regens you'll produce will be Basque. There's lots of smaller clubs that do the same as well as Aviron Bayonnais in France (and other clubs both in Spain and France get the occasional Basque player).

Nice consecutive promotions jimbowmanuk.

[jimbowmanuk]

Nice consecutive promotions jimbowmanuk.

Cheers Romanista1994 the Second and Third divisions are quite similar, but I think the First is going to give me a real challenge just to survive

[Dexter_Morgan]

Barakaldo half way report 2012/13

Table

Results

Selection

Incoming transfers

Enko (£55k)

Apraiz(£55k)

Arnaez (£60k)

Iker Guereñu (£170k)

I'll start with what I saw as a possible problem, the chairman wanting to sell at the start however there was no need to worry about that as now the club is back where it belongs, with the supporters

On to the pitch now and as you can see it's been a steady start and we aren't too far away from the promotion spots. The signings were arranged in October. It was initially going to just be the three defenders that I bought, Torres at LB was never good enough anyway and there was no cover so Arnaez was a must have. At RB Goiria isn't that bad but his fitness after half time is shocking and it cost us a 3-0 lead against Bilbao athletic which was the final straw for me, as it was too with Iker Guerenu. As for Garcia up front he couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo at the start (not much better now tbh) and when I noticed Eibar had been relegated I put a bid in for Mikel Arruabarrena stupidly not realising he was free if I waited until December.

I'm not actually one for spending a penny in lower league saves, in fact I try and wait until the second year of being a top flight club before I do spend, but the squad needed boosting badly and because of the way I am going about this save I do need promotion within 2 years to get money for my youth facilities and also to be able to compete for the best of the rest Basque players so it was something I felt that needed to be done.

Midfield and the wings I am happy with for this season as I am with the 2 keepers but I am on the lookout for any possible bosmans from the bigger clubs.


Cheers el sid and Romanista1994, the regen bit is brilliant to know as well because i'll be spending any spare cash on youth coaching and facilities rather than first team training for the time being and being able to have all Basque from my academy certainly helps me a lot.

[PRDH]

That's a really good start Dexter and those incoming transfers look very good for that level.

[rlipscombe]

godd solid start Dexter. been tempted a few times to do that challenge too so will follow your game with interest. good luck for the rest of the season.

[Romanista1994]

Good transfers there, Dexter. You've spent quite a bit though, how are the finances holding up? I found them to go downwards very quickly and I didn't spend a penny on transfers first season iirc.

[neushoorn70]

Season review 2018/2019

League table | Position graph | DFB-pokal | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

A pretty decent first season in the Bundesliga, never really in danger of relegation, except maybe after the winter-break. But after going on a 6 games win streak, and it was clear we were going to end in mid-table obscurity.

I'm a bit disspointed we again didn't get very far in the DFB-pokal, as I would really have a bit of a cup run, and we've only ever reached the third round so far. Even Augsburg made the final this year.

Finances - Finances are healthy right now, got a lot of money from our league position and sponsorships, so I'm now upgrading our training facilities.

Squad 1 | Squad 2 - A decent squad even without too many changes in the pre-season, with a couple of good inforcements, we could maybe already challenge for europe, but that might be a bit far-fetched.

Transfers - A couple of young prospect brought in as back-ups.

top players:

5: Gianmarco Zigoni - A good complete striker, but was a bit inconsistent at times.
4: Jacob Gibbons - The english midfielder made good progress again this season, can easily cope with the higher level.
3: Koray Günter - He had a lot of competition for his spot but he still is the best defender I have, and still young too.
2: Teddy Caron - This awesome was again my topscorer, and is now even the club topscorer of all time (in 10 years)
1: Fernando - Great brazilian prospect but due to his low determination he's not really developing. Still had a great season for us though.

[Almondo]

Good solid start there Dexter_Morgan.
Congrats on getting into the Champions League Brettney.
Well done on the back to back promotions jimbomanuk.
nice solid mid table finish thereneushoorn70.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Barakaldo CF 2012/13

League table

Second half of season results

Play off results

Squad overview

Season transfers

End of season finances

After a bit of a slow start to the second half of the season we managed to pull ourselves together. If i'm honest I think a lot of it had to do with changing fro 4-3-3 wingers to a flat 4-4-2. Mikel Arruabarrena was just as useless on his own as Galan was on his own but once I decided to give them a run as a pair their forms dramatically improved.

Bar the games against Osasuna B I felt we had quite a smooth draw through the play offs. The final itself was nerve wrecking though. We got 3-0 ahead quickly only for them to peg us back to 3-3 before a late Arruabarrena winner. In the 2nd leg they took the lead on 37 minutes and should have been ahead on more than away goals if i'm honest. We get a 92nd minute corner which was put in to his own net by a defender at the far post and we fluked our way in to the Liga Adelante

I am already regretting my transfer dealings, not the ones I have brought in, but the fact I let everyone out of contract go. I honestly expected to get a few more players than I have managed so far. The ones I have brought in will all improve us, especially my star signing Daniel Aranzubia who is going to be a very busy keeper I feel The other 5 are

Aritz Borda

Unai Medina

Galder Cerrajeria

Jokin Esparza

Urko Vera

Overall dealings

Our balance did look bad at the end of the season but we've halved the deficit now thanks to season ticket sales and friendlies at Real Madrid and Atletico. I could have fitted one more big game in but thought with the squad being so thin it'd be best to get some morale up and play lesser teams which we duly hammered.

I only have one goal and that is to stay up, I don't care how we do it and i'm already set for us getting a few hammerings but I am sticking to what I set out to do from day one and make the club as big as I can with the best Basque players I can get my hands on. There are a few decent ones that have slipped down to the 3rd tier (first thing I did when I got promoted was check all the relegated teams squads) but they are uninterested at the moment, if finances allow i'll try again in January.

Thanks for all the support everyone and thanks Romanista1994 for the regen info, didn't get anything decent the last intake but it's good to know that I won't be relying elsewhere all the time. Wish me luck, i'm going to bloody need it

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist’s 2017/2018 End of Season Report

Season             League            Pos           Cups                      Europe     Achievements
2012/13            Sc Div 3          1st           No comment                n/a        Manager of the Year
2013/14            Sc Div 2          1st           Challenge Cup Finalists   n/a        Manager of the Year
2014/15            Sc Div 1          3rd           CC Winners & SC Final     qual       None
2015/16            Sc Div 1          2nd           CC & SC Winners, LC R/U   UC 3Q      Manager of the Year
2016/17            Sc Div 1          1st           Challenge Cup Winners     UC 4Q      Manager of the Year
2016/17            Sc Prem           5th           L/C Final                 qual       None

League Table
Squad
Transfers

A fairly good season. My aims were to finish in the top half after the first 33 games, and then challenge in the final 5 Championship group for a European place, and, after a mediocre start, that’s exactly what we did, finishing 5^th and qualifying for Europe.
The task was made a lot easier by Rangers having a seasonus horribilis. Early in the season they were bottom of the table, and they ended up finishing 10^th and wet out of every cup very quickly. Not surprisingly the manager was sacked at the end of the season. The media linked me with the job, but no thanks; I’m too busy with the never ending tour of Scotland.
East Stirlingshire are in theory from Falkirk, but last season we played most of our games in Livingstone (while Stenhousemuir’s stadium was upgraded) and now next season we’re going to play the first half in Dunfermline, while the capacity is expanded. I suppose it’s quite nice. If you live in a small town in Scotland and have a crap lower league team, if you wait long enough we’ll squat at your local gaff for half a season or so and give you some decent footie.

Obviously my aim is to get into the group stages of the Europa League, but starting from the 2 round that will be tough. Our coefficient is creeping up, but we probably still will be unseeded for that critical 4^th round.
The club is virtually a Scot-free zone player-wise. You’ve got our third choice goalie who to be fair is quite good) and 3 youth players I haven’t bothered to release on a free yet, even though I’d rather put our 5-year old Hobbit mascot in the first 11 than any of them. I’d like to develop the cream of the Scottish crop, but I have to shop at Costcutter. There are no Scottish ‘realistic transfers’ on my shortlist.
The total cost of my squad has been £4,500, but at some point we may have to get out our wallet and spend some dosh to upgrade our squad. As you can probably appreciate, money is tight. We make a nice healthy million or so profit each year, but we need that money for facilities, and the wage bill is only going to go up.

Still, things are going very smoothly. The team’s improving and If Rangers have another bad season, we should be in the hunt for a top two (Champions League) spot. In fact this season we were in the hunt until about the last 4 games, though in the end we did finish 11 points behind 2^nd.
We got to the League Cup Final, and Scottish Cup semi, losing both to Hibs. I’d like to win the League Cup once, even though it has no European qualifying significance.

[el sid]

Congrats on promotion Dexter and well done on qualifying for Europe vikeologist

[rlipscombe]

Dexter - it doesn't matter how you get up - just get up!! congrats on promotion at the first attempt especially in Spain's complex play-off system. Aranzubia is a great signing for you. i always feel that to have any success you need to have a good keeper and you have that. good luck staying up next season.
vikeologist - great first season in the SPL and well done on making Europe. enjoy the adventure but go for the CL spots next season. still can't get over Rangers!

As for Mannheim, we are into March now. i was hoping to do a mid-season update but i'm away for the weekend and then when i return i may end u pushing towards the end of the season.

[berty1978]

Excellent season siLKEAPE, Took half the amount of time as me to reach the Champions League.
El sid, you're just making this look so easy.
Well done Almondo, another to qualify for the CL.
Keep going PRDH, well done on making Europe again.

I'll go through more updates later. Also finished the season I got annoyed about, will do an update when I can, I am enjoying this game even though it is taking me forever to win anything. I've made a decent start to the next season, including a double hat-trick for Patrick David in Europe, more later.

[vikeologist]

In the Euro Cup 2nd qualifying round we've drawn Faetano, from San Marino. A couple of seasons ago they managed a draw against a club from the Faroe Islands in the Euro Cup, so could be a tricky fixture.

[PRDH]

In the Euro Cup 2nd qualifying round we've drawn Faetano, from San Marino. A couple of seasons ago they managed a draw against a club from the Faroe Islands in the Euro Cup, so could be a tricky fixture.

Wowzer! That's a brutal draw. Good luck, you might need it. If they have a bad day and your players play to their best, you might just be able to squeak past them with a seven or eight goal margin...

[G-Wiz]

With 3 games to go in the season, promotion to the Russian Premier Division has been confirmed!!

6 points behind leaders Krasnodar, it appears that our 10 league draws this season could cost us the title, although they've taken their feet of the gas and lost a few points in the last few games. If we can get maximum points from our remaining games, heres hoping they slip up some more; the title would be the icing on the cake. Failing that however, im still absolutely delighted with automatic promotion. Gonna be an exciting end to the season

[Dexter_Morgan]

Barakaldo C.F. Half way report

Results

Table so far

Well it's not quite half way, but at the winter break so thought i'd write it now As you can see we had a tremendous start, certainly one I didn't envision. We had the blip recently but I always expected to lose those games (bar Castilla) I was working with a squad of 16 until the winter break and during that bad spell is the the time when we had injuries and suspensions, so considering I never expected anything during that time anyway I am hoping the gods are with us when we are playing teams we can beat. I have Mallorca next then another 4 games where I hope to pick up between 7 and 9 points.

I set myself a target of 20 points from the first 20 games, so I am delighted that we are 6 ahead of the target with 2 games in hand, as you can see from the table Sevilla B are as good as down and Albacete and Logrones (who I play for the first time soon) are really struggling, hopefully they won't be able to strengthen too much before now and the window closing. I'm setting myself a realistic target of 40 points to stay up going by the way the league has panned out so far (though it was 43 last year in this division and 49 the year before, so I have got a bit lucky with the slightly poorer quality in the league this year)

Financially we are in the black again after selling 4,700 season tickets, those friendlies in pre season and having crowds of up to 6,500. The board generously gave me a bit of spending money so I have brought in Gorka Elustondo over 48 months. His natural fitness is a worry but with only 3 CM's and having to use Iker Guerenu (a poor center back) as a default sub to fill in there I had little choice. I also brought in Mikel Alvaro on loan from Athletic (don't see the need for a screenshot). I'd have liked a left back and another center half but there's nobody that I can see worth going for at the moment, I have however sealed a deal for Sociedad's Ion Ansotegi for next season. He is cracking on but he'll still be my best defender.

Jokin Esparza has just announced as i'm writing this he's retiring at the end of the season aged 25, i'm gutted about that because he's been my best outfield player, i'm not sure there'll be a left winger anywhere near as good as him available so i'm hoping Alvaro lowers his wage demand so I can get him.

Edit.

This was 3 points I didn't expect

[G-Wiz]

Dinamo Stavropol - 2014/2015 - End of Season Review

Manager Profile
Team Information

Predicted Position: 14th
Actual Position: 2nd
Average Attendance: 5016
Season Ticket Holders: 1330

A tremendous effort by all saw the club go from strength to strength throughout the season, finishing in 2nd place. For a while it looked like we may be able to push for the league title, but we just didnt have the consistency that Krasnodar had. Also, if a few of our 11 league draws had been wins, things could have been a lot tighter. But overall, i am thrilled we were able to really push on and guarantee promotion to the Russian Premier Division.

The main squad members are as follows:

GK

Vyacheslav Bazilevych - a much better season for my first choice GK, an ever-present, and conceding a lot less than in previous seasons. 15 clean sheets in the league is a great achievement in my opinion

DEF

Constantin Miselaricu - rotated a bit more this season due to the 3 foreigner policy, but always reliable at the back

Vladimir Paskayants - missed some of the season through injury, but another useful man to have around. yet to see who will partner Burnash at CB next season

Georgy Burnash - young CB brought in on a free, Russian U-21 international, and a real danger from set pieces, as evidenced by his 10 goals from 29 apps

Nikolay Fadeev - brought in when my RB left on a free, and along with Ibragimgadjiev was handy in the RB position

Anvar Ibragimgadjiev - another RB/RW brought in to battle Fadeev for RB position, featured fairly regularly but more known for his poor discipline than his outstanding performances

Maxim Kozlovich - brought in to solve my LB problem, having lost my first-choice LB to a cash offer, solid but best is yet to come

MID

Panaiot Hartiyadi - another free in the summer, brought in to replace the outgoing Ndjock, and battled well to make the CM position his

Amir Kashiev - first choice CM, hampered by injury and attracting interest now so his days may be numbered

Alim Mikheev - the star performer besides the front 2, finished the season with 27 assists and 5 goals from 33 apps, hoping he can make the jump up next season

Anton Lunin - used between LW and LB positions, useful players to have around, chipped in with a few assists and a few goals

Giorgi Lomsadze - DM youth product who is the most promising of the youth intakes so far, hence the reason ive tried to give him some first team exposure, hoping the jump to the top division will help his improvement even more

Andrey Pazin - rotated between LW/RW to cover injuries etc, 6 goals and 9 assists a decent return from 23 apps

ATT

Yuriy Sarasek - the star man, finished the season with 22 goals and 8 assists from 33 apps, has however decided he isnt interested in a new contract, and is seeing his current deal out, which ends in a 6/7 weeks time. If theres no convincing him to renegotiate then he'll be a huge loss and it'll be a big stumbling block in our preparation for the top flight

Alin Rosu - signed as an alternative to Sarasek, who at the time was starting to make noise about leaving etc. Rarely used but looks promising

Dzambolat Khastsaev - brought in to add depth to forward positions, scored a few vital goals but yet to really shine

Stanislav Boichuk - surprised me with a pretty good goalscoring season, finishing with 19 goals in all competitions, only 3 behind Sarasek

Levan Gvelesiani - another free, brought in halfway through the season, highly rated by the staff and hopefully will feature more next season if/when Sarasek leaves

Marek Kuzma - didnt feature very often this season, was overshadowed by a few others and may find himself edged out now we're making the step up to the Premier Division. will always be one of the clubs favoured personnel though

Top Scorer - Yuriy Sarasek - 22 goals
Highest Average Rating - Alim Mikheev - 7.60
Fans Player of The Year - Alim Mikheev

Russian First Division Player of The Year - Alim Mikheev
Russian First Division Player of The Year - Garry Maltman - 2nd

So the team made massive strides this year. I feel that the following summer is going to be very busy, as i try to assemble a squad capable of consolidating a place in the top flight. Its going to be a tough jump up, fingers crossed the promotion will result in some investment to allow me to strengthen appropriately.

Season          Division                    Position       Achievements
2012/2013       Russian First Division      15th	   Safety   
2013/2014	Russian First Division	    10th		       
2014/2015	Russian First Division	    2nd		   Promotion

[el sid]

Congrats on promotion G-Wiz!

[G-Wiz]

thanks el sid!

bad news is that Sarasek and Boichuk, my two top scorers last season, have both just seen out their contracts and left the club! got a bit of leeway wage-wise now, but gutted that Sarasek in particular wasnt up for signing a new contract, had the potential to become a club legend in my opinion. With odds of 5000/1 to win the league, and being favourites to get relegated, its going to be a long hard season

[Dexter_Morgan]

Well done G-Wiz, and i'm sure you'll do fine next season, I was written off as favourites to go down myself but i've more than shown ourselves to be a good unit. My advice is to keep playing as you have been rather than start worrying about what other teams can do to you, granted you're going to have a few bad days but in my experience panicing and changing tactics ect is the worst thing you can do

[Amethyst21]

The winner of this football game was the fans. Choi Kyung-Ho was the hero for Wilhelmshaven as he scored 2 and added 2 assists to outduel Mario Gotze who had 4 assists

Was somewhat bittersweet as a real life Dortmund supporter because it essentially ended their title challenge, but hey, we'll take it!

[Dexter_Morgan]

Barakaldo CF - The Basque Battlers 2013/14

Table

Results - 2nd half of season

Squad Overview

Never in my wildest dreams did I even expect to come close to getting near the playoffs, let alone win them. We were going along quite steadily in 8th place, losing and drawing a few games but all of a sudden this game turned our season upside down. As you can see shots wise we were battering them but try as we might it didn't seem to be happening for us, but we got a lucky own goal and the late winner and with other results that day we found ourselves in a position where if we could get through the next 2 games unscathed the run in was all against teams worse than us (Mallorca apart). We finally got in to the playoff position on the penultimate game of the season and managed to scape a win in the final game against already relegated Logrones who decided to turn up for once but we hung on.

The games against Numancia were even in each leg, 1-0 to them at their place and we won 1-0 at home, I was expecting a penalty shootout but we actually went through thanks to our higher reputation (still not sure how they worked that out tbh )

On to the final against Deportivo and with Enoko suspended and joint top scorer Mikel Arruabarrena out injured I feared for the worse, but as you seen in the results section I won 4-2 (did throw a 2 goal lead away at one point). On to the second leg, Unai Medina was injured in the first leg so again we were without 2 important players and with fitness down to 85% on a few players I took the gamble to play those that were 100% instead even though they are quite a bit poorer than my first choice 11. The players did well to hang on until the 40th minute considering how we were quite a bit less fitter, but the inevitable goal came. I made the decision not to rush in to making my three subs and see how the first part of the 2nd half went but then they scored after 50 minutes or so and I called for all the big guns available. For the next 40 minutes the Deportivo goal was being attacked constantly after hardly being troubled before hand but we just couldn't beat the keeper, or the 2 times we did they were given as offside. Cue a 91st minute corner and just like in the playoff final last year this happened to send us up to La Liga

I'm still shocked by it now, plans I made for next season have gone out of the window and it is going to be a tough summer and a long, long season unless we get some decent money/frees but no matter what happens we'll give it a go just like this season,

Amethyst, I bet you was tearing your hair out

[el sid]

Thats brilliant dexter, well played

[Dexter_Morgan]

Cheers el sid Got a few players from Celta and Hercules who have gone down i'm trying to get, not even La liga class but better than what I have, may have to get the best of the rest from the Adelente and hope for the best 37 points has seen teams survive in La liga so far, tough ask with this lot

[toonbalmy87]

SV Wuppertaler Mission German Cup Accomplished

German Bundesliga

League Table -Predicted 13th http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...w_Stages-3.png
Transfer Summary -http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/..._History-8.png
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...istory-9-1.png
Finances - +£2 Million spent a it to get me through the season

German Cup
well it was great cup campaign came away with the title had a couple of hard games mainly Bayern Munich which i thought i was going to lose but we didn't and we got to the final with Glabach who are in division 2
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...iew_Stages.png
League Summary
Well achieved what i wanted to do. Well this was season that i wont forget we started of slow but then we went on this monster winning streak breaking the club record. I had to change my formation to a 4-1-3-2 because my defense wasnt strong enough and by the looks of things it did the trick.

Fixture List
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...ixtures-10.png
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...Fixtures11.png

Squad list
[url]http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/n524/toonbalmy87/Wuppertaler/2016/WuppertalerSVBorussiaSquad_Players-7.png[/url6
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/..._Players-8.png

Player Stats
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...layerStats.png

Young Gems
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...Attributes.png
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...Attributes.png
http://i1138.photobucket.com/albums/...Attributes.png
Aims for next season are to get into to qualify for the knockout round of the Champions League and to Win the Bundesliga

[Amethyst21]

SV Wilhelmshaven Season Report 2018-2019

The defending Euro Cup champions had a very odd season. We had success in some competitions and dismal failure in others. Which ones did we succeed in? Read on to find out.

League|Graph: A torrid start to the season saw the club drop as low as 16th. It was bad enough that some of the club's players were concerned that we were underachieving. I don't think I was getting close to being sacked, but I was definitely close to losing the dressing room in the first half of the season. Fortunately as has been the case for the past 4 seasons or so, the squad hit it's stride and managed to move into more comfortable territory but was never able to really threaten breaking into the top 4 or 5 positions. Some uneven form near the end of the season dropped us to 7th in the league, and I feel that was a fair result for the season. However to move forward the club needs to not have these terrible starts.

Overall the main problem was goals. We can play stern defence, but when it comes to the attack, it often lacks teeth. I don't know if it's my tactics or the players but it's been a common refrain for us over the years.

Super Cup: A respectable loss to Marseille who had won the past two champions league titles

Europe: Yikes. We went directly into the group stage....and then went directly out after the group stage. We were terrible. Frankly a pathetic defence of our championship bowing meekly out to an easily winnable group.

German Cup: For everything the Euro Cup wasn't the German Cup was for Wilhelmshaven. A favourable draw that saw us only play 2 first divison sides to reach the finals surely helped. However sending Schalke out of the semi-final on penalties was a bit sweet as we topped them on penalties to win the Euro Cup last year.
A nervy final that saw Mainz take the lead in the first half, only to be equaled by an Eldar Zoidze strike late in the 2nd half led us to extra time. In extra time, South Korean wonderkid Choi Kyung-Ho found an open Cristian Huertas who fired home from just outside the area to put us ahead in the 118th minute. Mainz couldn't muster anything in response and Wilhelmshaven were confirmed as German Cup Champions! This made up for our horrible Euro Cup run and brings home a 2nd piece of silverware for the club.

Squad:
Keepers:
Farkas- The Slovak is perhaps the best keeper I've ever had. An amazing shot stopper, he is locked down for his best years, though he is the club's top earner
Lindstrom- I thought at one point he'd be the number 1. He has no chance now, plays well but is not as good as Farkas

Defenders:
Andersen- Decent enough season for the 2nd choice left back, and has made his debut for Denmark internationally.
Balan- The young Romanian is the 4th choice in central defence but the coaching staff sees huge potential in him, so I played him where I could
Bell- Okay season for the Cameroonian. With us having a couple of nice prospects in defence he may be moved on.
Dembele- The more cultured defender suffered some poor form this season, though he overcame it near the end of the season
Ivanildo- The Wilhelmshaven captain produced another excellent season. I would like him more if he wasn't playing for USA (as I am Canadian )
Martinovic- Was okay, though according to some of my players he has a poor attitude so he might be moved if I have the funds and an adequate replacement lined up
Musil- Solid, no nonsense left back
Perrone- Fans player of the year and an excellent right back, to think I almost sold him to Boca for 6 million!


Midfielders:
Bogovic- The Croatian that I had originally thought would be a huge contributor at Wilhelmshaven appears to have reached the end of the line. He has been eclipsed by superior players and he never really recovered from a broken leg that he suffered 2 seasons ago. Will almost certainly be moved on.
Falah- The swede is an excellent midfielder. Plays well in defence and adds in several assists.
Fofana- The Malian was supposed to be the right winger for the present and future, however he produced a poor season. He has one more season to turn it around
Huertas- A bargain for 3.5 million especially after I sold Tomasevic for 6. Scoring the winner in the German Cup in extra time should make him a fan favourite for years to come
Jensen- The Norwegian clearly has the world at his feet. Part of my excellent central midfield. Collected his first cap for Norway after I took the screenshot
Jurco- Had a really good season...until some club decides that they want him and then his play goes into the tank. Frustrating.
Urbanek- Came in January and right away became first choice on right wing. Scores goals too which is nice for a club that doesn't score enough.
Uzun- Now 118 appearances into his Wilhelmshaven career continues to be decent backup and a good servant
Vieira- Another good season for the Brazilian. Worryingly he has been somewhat injury prone lately
Wagner- The home grown midfielder is okay, but nothing more than a squad player.
Worn- He is so good down the left. Scores goals with his head more than his feet. They all count though!

Forwards:
Englezou- The mercurial Cypriot plays well but doesn't score. Might be moved on unless he can prove he can hit the back of the net.
Ferry- The Scot was our big summer signing that was supposed to come in and score goals, yet a poor start and injuries derailed him early. When he came back after the winter break he showed his potential with a series of good performances.
Kyung-Ho- A bargain for 900k, the South Korean is lethal off the bench though seems to struggle when starting. He's young though and that may come in time.
Zoidze- A frustrating striker, he appears to have all the talent in the world but rarely scores for us, even though he has 16 goals in 31 appearances for Georgia. I keep hoping he'll eventually become a great goalscorer, though maybe I don't know how to use him tactically.

Youth:
Drum- When you can't bring in talent from you're own academy, buy it from others. Augsburg's loss is our gain.
Duka- Duka is the next big prospect for the club. I'm a bit worried as his attributes don't exactly scream star, but he has potential to grow into.
Oldani- The next Phillipe Senderos apparently, definately need to get him playing time
Schwartz- The left winger of the future, apparently has 'leading first division left winger' potential

The Departed: In this section I'll list the important players that have moved on, noting their contribution to the rise of Wilhelmshaven
Tomasevic- Was no longer important in a crowded midfield, and we got a good (6m) fee for him. 97 career league appearances, scoring 7 goals.
Vila- Wanted to leave when we were underachieving early in the season, I could not make him happy so he left for 500k to Kaiserslautern, where he failed to make an appearance. 121 league appearances, scored 20 goals.

Finances- Strong, but I only have 4.2 million to spend in the summer, so that is disappointing.
Transfers

Next Season: Continue onwards and try not to fall into an early season slump.

[Amethyst21]

Good season toonbalmy! You're putting me to shame with your progress

[toonbalmy87]

Thanks Amethyst21 i just check the free agents in the youth national teams normally pick up a few players , also find some to sell on to make some money

[Almondo]

Just managed to sign Some bloke called Fabregas for £2.3 million.

[el sid]

congrats on the cup win amethyst and toonbalmy!

[DodgeeD]

brettney1890 - Congrats on the title (the bizarre play-off system does mean you are champions!) What is Turkey's coefficient like in your game? I assume that means automtic qualificaiton for the group stages of the Champions Legue still.
vikeologist - A great first season in the top flight. I find your tales of 'touring Scotland' almost as entertaining as your challenge progress! Hopefully, you'll get into a position to build a new home soon.
jimbowmanuk - Congrats on earning consecutive promotions.
nueshoorn70 - I'd take mid-table obscurity for the first season in the top flight any time!
G-Wiz - Well done on reaching the top flight. A shame about losing your strikers but I'm sure you'll be able to pick up decent replacements.
Dexter - a great start to the challenge, especially considering the extra level of difficulty you've added. Best of luck against the big goys in La Liga.
toonbalmy87 - Fantstic job winning the cup. I'm sure Champions League qualificaiton is not too far away now.
Amethyst21 - Nice to see a steady flow of silverware beginning for you now. Do you focusyour match preparation on 'team blend' in pre-season? I always set mine to 'very high' until the lkeague kicks off and we usually have a good start.

[DodgeeD]

Keçiorengücü 2017-18 Pre-Season Report



Premier League
Board expectation: Respectable position
Media Prediction: 13^th

Cup
Board expectation: Be competitive

Europa League
Board Expectation: Learn from the experience

Budgets
Transfer budget: 3.6 million TL
Wage budget: 349,094 TL per week (up 141,993 TL from last season)
Current Wage Spending: 345,625 TL per week (up 143,057 TL from last season)

Facilities
Stadium Capacity: 5040 (all-seater)
Season ticket holders: 1335 (up 71 from last season)
Training Facilities: Good
Youth Facilities: Adequate
Junior Coaching: Average
Youth Recruitment: Fairly Basic

Transfers - Summary

I was generally happy with the squad that qualified for Europe last season. A strong core of young players who have proven talent rather than just potential meant I wouldn’t be looking for many new faces. Several reserve players left the club as their contracts expired or offers came and I sent quite a few youngsters out on loan as well. Only 5 new faces came in. One was sent out on loan straight away but the ones below have been added to the first team squad:

Cuneyt Köz (DRC) – After starting his career with Bayern Munich, this player had a great 2013-14 season with Denizlispor, which earned him a cap for the national side and a transfer to Fenerbahçe. 3 seasons on and he was released having hardly played for the Istanbul side. I signed him as a free agent and I think he will be a useful addition to our squad, especially as he can cover two different positions in defence. Hopefully, he will get his career back on track with us.
Egeman Korkmaz (DC) – My oldest player at the start of the summer was just 25 so I though some experience would be necessary to help the squad push on to the next level. In comes former Trabzonspor and Beşiktaş player Korkmaz. He’s getting on a bit at 34 but can still perform at this level and will be kept busy tutoring the youngsters.
Ercan Erdoğan (ST) – Joins on a free from Trabzonspor having come through their youth system. He needs some heavy training on his physical attributes but he should provide decent back-up to our main strikers as well as adding a much needed home-grown option to our squad.
Gustavo Diaz (ST) – A bit of an impulse buy as I don’t really need more strikers or foreign players. However, my scouts liked what they saw enough for me to take a gamble on a player previously at an Argentinian lower league side.

As I mentioned in previous postings, we have also lost star winger Joe Marshall, who has a January moved arranged to OB in Denmark. He then picked up a long-term injury just after agreeing the deal so he has effectively played his last game for the club. Still, 6.5 million TL for an injured player with 6 months left on his contract is pretty good business!

The aim this season is to reach the play-offs again and hopefully qualify for Europe once more. I am also hoping for a better showing in the cup after early exits in the last two seasons.

[DodgeeD]

A sign that we are improving: just beat Beşiktaş 3-1. Not the first time we have taken points of one the 'Big 3' but it was the first time we deserved to win rather than getting lucky.

[Dexter_Morgan]

toonbalmy87 good season there

Amethyst21, it was still a respectable season, DodgeeD makes a very good point about the match preparation, though I tend to keep it high until October usually.

Dodgee, seems you're going well there mate, some good signings too

Is it wrong that I feel hard done by drawing against a more or less full strength Barca side? (admittedly Fabregas' red helped immensely)

Stats

Player stats



Got 3 more games before the break and then i'll do a half way write up

[G-Wiz]

next dilemma...Alim Mikheev, the Fans Player of The Year last season, is making noise about wanting a new contract as he has 12 months remaining on his current deal. He is demanding wages i cannot afford. He is however attracting interest from a few clubs, and at 1.9 million, his sale would help stabilise the clubs finances (currently just over 1 mil in the red!), so do i sell him now and try to bring in a replacement or get the seasons worth out of him and let him go for free?

think my mind is made up, but just curious what others would do

[DodgeeD]

I would probably sell rather than risk him leaving for nothing...

[toonbalmy87]

toonbalmy87 - Fantstic job winning the cup. I'm sure Champions League qualificaiton is not too far away now.

i qualified through the league but i want to get into the last 16

[Dexter_Morgan]

Barakaldo CF - The Basque Battlers 2014/15 Halfway Report

Fixtures

Table

Squad overview

Transfers

Peio Gomez

Xabi Castillo

Mikel Balenziaga

Markel

David Lopez

Iker Hernández

Winter Finances

Winter Warchest

Winter singings

Asier Illarramendi

Guillermo Fernandez

Total Transfers

A cracking start so far. Only really humiliated 4 times (Real Sociedad and Sevilla away aren't on the fixture list because I closed the tab half way through writing this and had to start again and I have still been playing on and off in between )

The Sporting away game isn't as good as it looks tbh, we took an early 1-0 lead and then they had 2 men sent off within half an hour giving us 2 penalties which were converted so we spent the rest of the game tearing them apart at will.

The goals against column is worrying, though it's not so much our defending but 70% down to the fact that Daniel Aranzubia is 35 and his attributes are declining now and he has let some ridiculous goals in. There isn't a keeper even equal available to me. My targets in the summer will be Asier Riesgo from Osasuna (even though he is 31 he'll still be a better bet) or Raul Fernandez from Bilbao.

My ins over the summer and winter break are probably as good as if not better than I could have wished, Asier Illarramendi is the icing on the cake though. He wasn't playing at Sociedad so I put a bid in more of hope than anything and was delighted to have got him, Raul Garcia from Atletico Madrid is also on my radar, he'd be here now if he'd drop his £40k a week demand but with us making profits each month and me not spending the entire season budget I am confident we can get something tied up in the summer.

[PRDH]

I'd sell G-Wiz. Get some cash in. No player is irreplaceable. I had to let Rodriguez and Henrique go this summer, but it focusses the mind.

[el sid]

Thought I might wait until we get to the next page of the thread, but the thread is a bit slow moving today, so update coming up

[el sid]

End of Season Update - 2015/2016 - TuS Koblenz

League:
Media Prediction - 10th
Actual Position - 2nd - Graph

The season started well as we won the German Super Cup, by defeating Bayern Munich. The league was easier than last season, although we did have more trouble putting away smaller teams, but 12 points more than last season is all I could ask for. As predicted, Bayern Munich were much too strong, and they bought Abel Hernandez who has been banging in the goals for them. 2nd is a fantastic finish though, delighted with the finish! I hope I haven't let you down rlipscombe

German Cup - Knocked out by Werder Bremen in the quarter-finals

Champions League - Qualified to the group stages beating Sporting CP 7-3 on aggregate.
Group Table - The best game was the first one against Man Utd at Old Trafford. United went 2-0 up until Phil Jones conceded a penalty which was converted and also scored an own goal The best was yet to come though, former United player Steve Moore came up with the winner in the dying moments of the game. We also beat Porto once which was a very good performance.
The round of 16 was against AC Milan, who were also defending champions. We lost 1-4 at San Siro, and in the home leg, we came ever so close to an upset, winning 3-1 on the day, but losing the tie on aggregate. One more goal would've taken the match to extra time at home. But overall, very pleased about our efforts in our first season in the CL.


Transfers


Main Players:
Patrice Millet
Steve Moore
Aaron Marriott
Lucas Andersen
Andre Neves

All but one of these players were bought in for free Lucas Andersen was the only one who cost the club in terms of transfer fee.

Previous Season Aims:
Do not sell Millet - check
Finish in the top 6 again - check
Semi-finals of the German Cup - failed

Next Season Aims:
Round of 16 in the CL
Top 4 finish in the league
Semi-finals of the German Cup

  Season  |  Club        |   League                |  Position  |  Comments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/2013 | TuS Koblenz  | German Third Division   |    1st     | Champions and Promoted!
2013/2014 | TuS Koblenz  | German Second Division  |    1st     | Champions and Promoted!
2014/2015 | TuS Koblenz  | German First Division   |    4th     | German Cup winners! Qualified for the Champions League!
2015/2016 | Tus Koblenz  | German First Division   |    2nd     | Super Cup winners! Qualified for the Champions League!

I've arranged for these players to join the club next season.
Nicola Pavlovic - 7.25m
Rui Baptista - free
Sandro Barreto - 1.9m

[PRDH]

Great season el sid! Title next year?

[el sid]

Thanks mate! I think it depends more on Bayern that us tbh

[Almondo]

toonbalmy87 - Nice one on the cup win. Great to see you doing it with Wuppertal.
Amethyst21 - Good season there, hopefully you can push further up the table next season.
DodgeeD - good luck on the season and well done on the win over Besiktas.
Dexter_Morgan - Cracking first half of the season there. Looking at the fixtures you've played well against the big two it looks like.
el sid - Well done on 2nd in the league and on getting out of the group but unucky o osing to AC Milan.
G-Wiz - look to sell him.

[jimbowmanuk]

Elgin City - 2014/15 – Season 3(Jimbowmanuk)

Media Prediction: 10th
Actual finish: 4th
Season Tickets: 460(+236)

Transfers
Several players signed this season, 2 turkish youngsters to cover both wings, Aslan(not the lion) on the right and Kunt(cheeky) on the left, spent £120k on Congo striker Kimbembe who after a shaky couple of games started to find the net, I'm expecting big things from him next season


League
The board wanted me again to avoid relegation, which was duly delivered. The season started well and the team was keeping pace with the leaders but a few draws and a couple of narrow losses meant we lost a bit of ground on Dunfermline, who at one stage were 13 points ahead of second, before they hit a slump towards the end beating me on the last day to ensure the title. Several changes of personnel happened throughout the season and we started finding a more settled line-up which improved as the games went on, happy with my 4th place finish want the team to continue it next season and hopefully put in a real challenge for the title.
Fixtures 1
Fixtures 2
Fixtures 3



Scottish Cup
The board were expecting us to reach the 4th round

A comfortble victory against 3rd Division East Stirlingshire set up a 4th round encounter with fellow league side St Johnstone, and after a 2-2 draw at home we had to travel to Perth for a replay which looked to be going to extra-time til the home side scored with 2 minutes remaining putting us out of the competition.

League Challenge Cup
Board wanted us to reach the 2nd round

Won an easy 1st round tie against Montrose 2-0, to set up a game against Stranraer and after going 4-1 in front looked to be on easy street until they scored 2 quick goals leaving us hanging on for the last 10 minutes. Kilmarnock were drawn in the quarters and we dominated the game winning 2-0. The semi-final pitted us against Falkirk, and after 15 minutes we were 2 goals to the good and looking on our way to the final then the defence collapsed and shipped 4 goals putting us out of the cup. This is a cup I think we can win and hopefully I can achieve that before promotion



League Cup
Board wanted us to reach the 2nd round

The board now view this as an important cup, no longer the cushion of learning from expirience, the 1st round had us travelling to Albion Rovers, and the team played magnificently winning 6-0, setting up a home tie against SPL side St Mirren. We played them off the park and won 3-0 showing that the team may have potential if promotion happens next season. The 3rd round draw gave us a match only small clubs can dream of, an away tie at Ibrox playing Rangers, we managed to pull the game back to 2-2 before they improved to win 4-2 but the £300k for gate reciepts was a welcome boost to the club and gave me a slight transfer kitty for the January window



Squad
I didn't really settle on a favoured 11 this season as new players were coming in left, right and centre all season, but the Scottishness of the team is slowly disappearing

Next Seasons goals are to try and challenge for the title and also win the League Challenge Cup

Season	League	Finish	Cups	Europe	Achievements	
2012/13	Third Division	1st	SC 4th round, LC 2nd Round, LCC 1st round	N/A	Promoted!!
2013/14	Second Division      1st         SC 4th round, LC 2nd Round, LCC 2nd round      N/A        Promoted !!
2014/15  First Division          4th         SC 4th round, LC 3rd Round, LCC Semi-final      N/A         Nothing of note