FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[PRDH]

That's my Champions' League over for another season. Out in the 1st Knockout Rd again to Man City. Back to the league I suppose.

[Edit] - I do at least have the pleasure of introducing the latest player to come through the club's increasingly absurd youth academy. Welcome aboard Sérgio Rodrigues, another Azorean to look like they have a future in the first team. Born in Madalena do Pico (not on my island of Terceira, but instead Pico) he does not have quite the potential of some of the more recent products, but if I can train his physical stats up a bit and he can learn the mental side of the game then he has a place in the first team squad.

The success of the youth academy is making me wish this was happening in a challenge like the old San Marino double challenge (which I notice no-one has started this season, I might think about putting that right) and the youngsters were going into an Azorean national team rather than just the Portuguese team.

[Edit2] - And he's making his debut in the League Cup Semifinal, becoming the youngest player in our history. And he's just gone and got himself a goal on his debut!

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - the way you churn out good youngsters is very irritating as i never get any really!! can't argue with a debut goal either!!

[aldojags]

Mid-Season Report.

Ok, well it's the winter break in France, I've played 18 of my 38 league games, and despite media predictions of 20th place, I currently sit in 1st. Although you will notice, if the 3 teams below me win their game in hand, I will fall out of the promotion places.

Sounds great, and you'd think I'd be delighted in my first season with a small club to be challenging, but I can sense we're going off the boil, as my recent run of defeats will show you...

Also really annoyed to get knocked out French cup by lesser opposition, it was my fault, I tinkered with team, trying to give fringe players a run out, and we were hopeless.

A lot of my wins were by 1 goal, scoring late on, which is great, but you can't keep it up over a season, and I am sad to say I fear we'll tail off into mid table obscurity. We've sufferred injuries to key players, who are all out for a month or 2. Vincent DiBartolomo is out for a while, and is pretty solid at the back for me, but I've brought in Maikel Verkoelen who's slotted in right away. Top scorer Abdou Dieye is also out for a while (he was going off form anyway), and experienced midfielder Pierre Goaziou is also a long term absentee.

So my form is stagnating a bit, and I'm desperate to try and capitalise on our great first half of the season, so I've brought in a few new faces from africa, all of whom I think have the quality to make an immediate impact for me (send your scouts to Ivory Coast and Cameroon!). Dramane Koffi looks a real find, and should hopefully deputise for Dieye and get me back amongst the goals (I am first in the league, with only 23 goals in 18 games, hardly league winning stuff). Other gems my scouts found in Africa are Assomption Kessou, Dom Abiodoun, Dom Abiola, also worth a mention is Bruno "The Belgian" Barras.

So for the remainder of the season, I would obviously like to hang in promotion spaces, but I don't see it happening. I only need another few points to avoid relegation, then I can plan for next season, but I think I'll hold off on offerring new deals, see which league I'm in. I've got a ridiculously big squad, signed WAY too many players! So will trim the fat between now and the summer, and see where we are. We're losing money every month, I'm 2k over my 11k wage budget, I keep getting board to increase it though so hopefully won't matter too much!

I'm also struggling with which tactics to employ. Had my most succesful period with lone striker and 2 wingers. But I then started to struggle for goals, so went to 442, but still losing with that. So need to settle on a system that suits my players.

But hey it's my first season in FM12, I'm learning all the time, if I don't get up this year, I'm sure I'll be in a position for a good year next season. And to anyone else playing France, if you don't already know, scout Africa!!

Edited to add PRDH that is a hell of talent for 15 years of age! You've got plenty of time to get him up to scratch physically, and the mental stats will come with age too, but technically he's amazing for someone so young. Good on you mate. What level of facilites you got etc? So you've got a few young prospects have you? I don't know about you, but there's nothing more satisfying in FM than seeing one of your kids come through the ranks then get capped for their country. I well up every time! hahaha

[PRDH]

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about the April Fool message built in. Momentary excitement at the prospect of a huge windfall.

aldojags - Yeah, got a few knocking about the team now. Cardoso, Vieira are the leading lights, both of them are first team regulars but there are a number of others knocking around. Facilities are top of the range, as is the level of junior coaching and I've got an above average recruitment policy.
rlipscombe - It's getting a little embarrassing. There was no depth this year though. Only one player who looks like they've got any future in football. Signed a couple of others just to keep the numbers in the U-19s up, but I'm not expecting any real progress from them. Hopefully I can train them into decent players and make some money from them.

[corinthiano]

PRDH - shame you went out in the CL, but nice to see another great Azorean youngster!

aldojags - hope you manage to keep the fight at the top, either way it is an impressive first season. I also signed so many players in my first couple of seasons, seems like it takes a while to make the side look like it is really "yours".

[iseemonsters1]

Hi folks - it was time for a new FM game and I thought I'd give this year's challenge a shot. I was tempted by France (where I had a pretty good run at this challenge in FM10) and Portugal (where I've always wanted to get a long term game going but never managed it) but in the end plumped for Italy - mainly because I've been reading Calcio by John Foot recently.

There were quite a few interesting teams to choose from, but in the end I settled on Brindisi - I wanted a team from the south of Italy, and being from the "heel" of the peninsula is even more fun. That means, if all goes well, the opportunity to be the first footballing powerhouse from that part of Italy (the best teams nearby being Bari and Lecce) and, unless I'm much mistaken, if all goes very well, the champion from the southern-most part of the mainland in Italian history (if it weren't for Cagliari over on the island of Sardinia, the southern-most champion full stop).

That's all in the future though - for now, here's my starting screenshots:

Manager Profile
Manager Information
Brindisi Club Overview
Brindisi Club Information
Brindisi Club Facilities

[PRDH]

Just about to head into my 1000th game in management. Unfortunately, unlike iacovone, it won't be the Champions' League final. Instead it's the final game of the league season at home to Chaves!

edit - Welcome aboard iseemonsters1. Good luck in Italy.

Another edit - A goal made in the Azores. Dias rolls the ball out to Lopes. Lopes knocks it forward to Teixeira who plays it square to Vieira. He then fed the ball forward to Cardoso whose first touch took him round the defender and onto his left foot to place it into the bottom corner. Everyone involved in that goal is home grown.

[aldojags]

iseemonsters welcome to the breach comrade! I was looking at your manager profile there, why do so many people dislike you despite you being a brand new manager!? You must have ruffled a few feathers

Good luck in Italy.

[iseemonsters1]

PRDH - congratulations on reaching 1,000 games! And thanks for the welcome.

aldojags - I know! I don't know what I did to deserve that! Maybe they don't like foreigners?

So, I started my game a little while ago - wanted to make sure I was going to get into it before I bothered to post a profile etc. Approaching the end of season one and my participation in the playoffs hangs on a knife edge...

One game to go...

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - gotta love a goal like that with all homegrown players involved... obviously though i wouldn't know about that though...
aldojags - good first half of the season. doesn't matter how you get there, just make sure you do. hopefully the new africans can keep you in the top part of the league.
iseemonsters1 - welcome and good luck with Brindisi. can't blame you for being inspired by the book 'Calcio'... it is a great read. 'Morbo' about Spanish football is also a good read.

[corinthiano]

PRDH - congrats on a 1000 games,I have a long time to go before I reach that mark!
iseemonsters1 - welcome to the challenge and good luck with Brindisi, hope you can cling on to tha playof spot!

Real have just secured Europa League qualification with 3 games to go in the league Now it is all about holding off Sporting to keep 4th spot and enter the competition in the 4th Qualifying Round.

EDIT: Not such good news on the facilities front...stadium move blocked due to the local council not giving us planning permission again and the facilities were downgraded as well. Of course there is no money to improve them

[iacovone]

PRDH - gotta love a goal like that with all homegrown players involved... obviously though i wouldn't know about that though...
aldojags - good first half of the season. doesn't matter how you get there, just make sure you do. hopefully the new africans can keep you in the top part of the league.
iseemonsters1 - welcome and good luck with Brindisi. can't blame you for being inspired by the book 'Calcio'... it is a great read. 'Morbo' about Spanish football is also a good read.

I've just ordered this. Looking forward to getting stuck in!

[PRDH]

Lusitânia Açores - Season Summary - 2033/34

Finances

Key figure - £28,313,609 | Summary

I almost broke even this season off my own back this year. I lost about a million over the year, but as always my responsible transfer dealings saw me bring in a nice profit to strengthen my position. From the summary it must look as if I'm sitting pretty financially, but I'm only maintaining it through keeping a tight grip on the purse strings. It'd be very tempting to go out and spend big on players to try to drive me on to the next step in the Champions' League as the board insist on throwing huge transfer budgets at me, but I know if I spent them I'd cripple myself.

Club News

1/ The training and youth facilities upgrades were both completed in October making sure they stayed as highly rated as possible. Though I still don't have an academy - do they still exist in the game?
2/ The board has agreed to another upgrade to the training facilities, again to be completed in October.

Transfers | 6 In (£82K) and 20 Out (£16.5m) plus 10 loans

Once again I worked cannily in the transfer market, bringing in a hefty profit. Offered £43m to spend at the start of the season I could have gone out and blown a hole in my carefully tended finances in an attempt to get CL progression but instead I stuck to my guns on bringing in talented (and cheap) youngsters who can hopefully replace established players when they move on. My commitment to this process is made easier my two factors. Firstly the youngsters coming through the ranks are at least good enough for general squad players but also big name established players do not want to join me.

The outgoings were a drip feed of players who hadn't quite broken through in the summer but then a couple of slightly more complete players went in January. The world of Sefer Ercan nearly sums up my transfer process. He is an excellent player and arrived in the summer at the end of his contract. He didn't quite break past Partida or Vieira and I sold him on for £5m in January. A nice bit of profit on a short term deal. Finally Salto left after getting upset about not being able to push past Fink on the left wing. He was replaced from within.

We were able to give our feeder clubs less help this season as a number of our back up/youngsters left on permanent deals and others were unwilling to spend another season away. Consequently Oriental dropped out of the Second League, interestingly it might not be a bad thing for me as it will give some of my less talented, or at least those less far along the process, youngsters somewhere to go.

League | Predicted - 2nd (Yup, still)

Table | Graph

I won't try to drag out the suspense here as the league has become pretty predictable of late. A tight defence and potent attack are a good combination and we had both as we went on an excellent run to start the season. We were pretty comfortable and claimed the title in the penultimate game of the season. The only disappointment was my inability to claim another unbeaten season. We lost to Porto and, even more upsettingly, União Madiera on our way to our 12th consecutive league title.

Encouragingly a number of players from the youth ranks got a good deal of match experience.

Cups

Supertaça | Winners

A nice extra time victory over Porto saw us start the season with another trophy.

Taça de Portugal | 4th Rd

The youngsters were given free reign again, often not even the first ranks of youngsters who were needed for more important league matters. Unfortunately they didn't have as much success as they have done in the past losing in the 4th Rd to Sporting in a rather embarrassing 1-8 result.

League Cup | Semi-final

Again the youngsters got their chance to shine and again it was Sporting who spoiled the party beating us 2-5 in another poor performance.

Europe

Group Stage | Table

A nasty group draw for me here as we came up against Barcelona, Juventus and Wisla. I expected Barcelona to progress easily (they've won the last four years running) and they did, I then expected us and Juve to battle it out for the next spot and Wisla (a feeder team of mine) to be the whipping boys. Here I was wrong, Wisla beat me in my first game and were the team I battled for the qualification spot with while Juventus only picked up a single, solitary point from a 0-0 draw in Polan.

1st Knockout Rd | First Leg | Second Leg

My unkind draws continued into the knockout stages when I was dealt the tough task of beating Man City over two legs if I wanted to progress into the quarter final. The first leg, in Angra, was a tight affair. We had more of the ball and just about the most chances but we were unable to take advantage and Man City came away with a 1-1 draw. At this stage I must admit I feared the worst, a fear that was confirmed when I went to Manchester and the statistics were reversed with the English team showing more ruthlessness as they beat me 2-0, seeing me at this stage for the seventh time.

Although we came up against a team with resources beyond our wildest dreams we really should be getting farther than this now and I'm disappointed with the European season. I'm hoping for a nicer series of draws next season.

Squad | Overview

'Keepers

Ales Svoboda - 23 apps, 16 conc, 13 cln, 1 MoM - Finally something new to report about Ales. He started the season as first choice but lost it, about halfway through thanks to the form of youth product Dias. He came back in for a couple of games when I wanted to rest the youngster and we lost them, he was dropped and didn't get back this season. He faces a real battle for the first time in his recent career.

Ricardo Dias - 22(2) apps, 32 conc, 11 cln, 1 MoM - His 'goals conceded' column looks like he's a liability but that was due to the heavy cup defeats. Nice to see him take over the number one spot in the second half of the season. I'll give him a chance to start the season knowing that Svoboda is about if he's not ready.

Defenders

Pitoco - 37 apps, 3 asts - Another solid season for the right back. He's a reliable performer but looks like he might be about to face some serious competition in the next few seasons. More on that later!

Juan Ignacio Cortez - 1(2) apps - A bit of an intriguing project here. He's got some great technical and physical attributes, and he only cost £1,000 so I'm willing to take a chance on him and see what I can produce. I'm thinking of turning him into a centre half, that would make him an excellent bench player. Thoughts?

Silvio Nicastro - 38 apps, 2 asts - A similar story on the left side of defence as on the right. A very solid and dependable season from the Italian. If he can continue to develop then I've got a special player on my hands.

Sébastien Gautier - 37 apps, 1 gl - Not quite up to his own high standards this season, and he had a bit of a paddy after our Champions' League exit. I calmed him down and he's signed a new contract which may be able to keep him at the club for the foreseeable future.

Hrvoje Bule - 0(2) apps - A player who has stalled somewhat. His hopes of breaking into the team have rather been scotched by the emergence of the two local defenders. Next up,

Rui Lopes - 9(15) apps, 1 gl - His most involved season yet and really showing signs that he can be a part of this team. Excellent news for one of the youth academy graduates.

João Paulo - 6(1) apps - Behind Lopes in his development and he hasn't improved as much this year as I'd hoped, but there's still talent there and hopefully I can get him to realise it.

Meraneh Descazals - 38 apps, 4 gls, 2 asts, 5 MoMs - Father time appears to be catching up with him. Don't get me wrong, he's still a fantastic player, but you can tell he's on his way down. He's starting to lose his physical stats. Fortunately for him they were so incredible at his peak they are now merely good, and also he's technically so good that he could probably get in the team with one leg.

Stipe Pesic - 5 apps, 1 ast - The man (boy) I can see putting some serious pressure on Pitoco over the next few years. He's been progressing solidly and quietly at the club since joining and is beginning to look the part. He's been part of the cup team and I would like to start getting him involved in the league campaign next year.

Steve Hoggan - 2(3) apps - Game time for the American has collapsed this year and I think it's only fair on him that I let him move on over the close season.

Christian Minniti - 5 apps, 3 asts - Part of the cup squad, he's not moved on as much as I hoped he would but he's ahead of Hoggan and so buys himself a bit more time to impress.

Midfielders

Kim Jae-Chun - 1(1) apps, 1 ast - Will be disappointed with his time on the pitch, I'll look to get him more time next season either with me or on loan because I still believe he'll be a quality player.

Miguel Teixeira - 10(8) apps, 1 gl, 1 ast, 1 MoM - Another of the local lads to make real first team progress this year. He got good game time in the league as well as in the cups and played reasonably well. Definitely got the ability to be a part of the squad.

Roberto Scaricamazza - 34 apps, 3 gls, 6 asts, 4 MoMs - The man in possession of the jersey Teixeira is after. He'll take some displacing as he's a top player. He's got the first team berth sewn up for the time being. Hopefully by the time he starts to decline the youngster will be ready.

Emin Dalkali - 17 apps, 2 gls, 3 asts - A combination of injury, lack of form and the emergence of others in his stead meant a fall from grace for the Belgian and one which I think is terminal. I'm looking to get rid over the summer.

Mike Okoro - 14(3) apps, 6 gls, 2 asts, 1 MoM - The man to benefit most from Dalkali's fall. He played most games from January onwards and did a pretty good job chipping in with goals and good performances. Not sure he's really good enough to be first choice for a team looking to win the Champions' League and this is one position I'm looking to strengthen over the summer.

Stefan Fink - 31 apps, 6 gls, 11 asts, 4 MoMs - Started the season in his usual imperious form chipping in all over the pitch. Season was ended early by an injury which was unfortunate.

Antonin Zak - 13(3) apps, 4 gls, 6 asts, 1 MoM - Fink's injury gave Zak a chance to prove his first team credentials. He wasn't entirely convincing but he showed enough to justify my decision to let Salto leave in January.

Bernardo Hoyos - 3(1) apps, 1 gl - An interesting player this. He joined on a free after his move to an Israeli team fell through. He didn't break into the first team this year, but he has made me think about cashing in on Partida.

Paulo Jorge Vieira - 23(9) apps, 1 gl, 4 asts - Really emerged as first choice this year, which is nice to see for the local lad. He didn't play as well as I hoped but I think he's got the talent to be an important part of this team so he will continue to be given the chance to demonstrate his gifts next season.

Jorge Mendes - 3(1) apps, 1 gl, 2 asts - Another player to graduate from the youth ranks. I don't think he's ever going to be an important part of the team but he's played games in the cups and could develop into an adequate back up player.

Héctor Partida - 15(3) apps, 5 gls, 1 ast, 1 MoM - He's a talented player and has done a great service to the club but I'm considering moving him on over the summer as I think he will struggle to reclaim his place from Vieira and he is a valuable asset.

Álvaro Pinto - 13(9) apps, 2 gls, 6 asts - Yet another player who has come up through the ranks, he is never going to be the leading light of the team, but he is more than competent when required.

Sérgio Rodrigues - 1 app, 1 gl - The latest player from our now prestigious youth set up. Made his debut in the League Cup semi-final and impressed despite our defeat as he grabbed a goal to become not only our youngest ever player, but also our youngest ever goalscorer. If I were Pinto, I'd be looking over my shoulder.

Forwards

Alan Neira - 39 apps, 20 gls, 16 apps, 8 MoMs - Continues to be a huge presence leading the line. I honestly think he'd be the most difficult player in the squad to replace. A true great of the club.

Mihajlo Djokovic - 4(1) apps, 2 gls - Possibly the man who will replace him eventually though is Mihajlo. He's a very talented young guy and appears to have the right abilities to do the job when called upon.

Edemilson Mendès - 11(17) apps, 9 gls, 3 asts, 1 MoM - The club's record goalscorer lost his place in the first team this year, and was often consigned to the bench. His goals:game ratio dropped to. He's worth keeping around as a club legend and someone I know can score goals when needed.

Joaquim Sousa - 0(1) app - I think this is one experiment that has come to an end. He's a talented player but he's not going to get past the rest of the strike force at the moment, and for that reason I think I'll look to cash in this transfer window.

Pedro Cardoso - 30(11) apps, 26 gls, 13 asts, 5 MoMs - Yup, you guessed it, it was the local lad who took Mendès' place in the team and he did not disappoint. He scored a hatful of goals and laid on a load more for his team mates. A very good season for him and hopefully the first on his way to becoming a complete legend.

Abakar Tigabe - 6(3) apps, 6 gls, 2 asts, 1 MoM - The Chad-born youth graduate has decided he wants to represent Portugal and has done so at youth level. He seems to score goals, and that is a very valuable talent for a striker. He's young as has the talent to become a real asset to the squad.

End of Term Reports from the Lusitânia Açores Crèche

Rui Lopes - '29 - Encouraging progress.
Álvaro Pinto - '29 - Secured a squad place.
Pedro Cardoso - '30 - Led the line brilliantly.
Paulo Jorge Vieira - '31 - Slightly disappointing.
Ricardo Dias - '32 - Breakthrough season.
Miguel Teixeira - '32 - Looking encouraging.
Jorge Mendes - '32 - Hanging by a thread.
Abakar Tigabe - '32 - Seems to have a knack for goalscoring.
João Paulo - '33 - Stalled slightly.
Sérgio Rodrigues - '34 - Early signs look good.

Aims For This Season Were...

1/ Champions' League semi final should be a minimum after this amount of time. - No
2/ Continue building the future of our youngsters. - Yes
3/ Thin out some of those who haven't quite made it. - Yes

Aims For Next Season Are...

1/ Strive for improvement in the Champions' League.
2/ Further the cause of the Azorean players in my squad.

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
2020/21		Premier League		1st			Champions!
2021/22		Premier League		2nd			CL Qualification again
2022/23		Premier League		1st			Champions!
2023/24		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2024/25		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2025/26		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2026/27		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2027/28		Premier League		1st			CL Semi Final
2028/29		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2029/30		Premier League		1st			CL Semi Final
2030/31		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2031/32		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters
2032/33		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters and domestic quadruple
2033/34		Premier League		1st 			CL 1st Knockout Round

Previous Updates

12/13
13/14
14/15
15/16
16/17
17/18
18/19
19/20
20/21
21/22
22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27
27/28
28/29
29/30
30/31
31/32
32/33

[iacovone]

End of Season Report - Novese - 2034/35 (Season 23) - Serie A

Serie A - 1st

We won our fifth consecutive Scudetto in relatively easy fashion. I was annoyed to lose our second game of the season to Lazio as it meant we'd again be without an unbeaten season. Despite that, at times we were unplayable. A 10-0 win over promoted Alessandria showed what we were capable of and goals were never a problem.

We scored a new Serie A record of 141 goals in 38 games - and I'm not sure if we'll ever beat that. We finished just shy of the 100 point mark. Genoa, who finished 11th last year pushed us hardest, ending a fine season in 2nd place.


Results 1 | Results 2
Progess

Champions League:

Our group contained Atletico Madrid, Sporting and Shakhtar and we won all the games except a 1-0 loss in Madrid. This meant we qualified in second and drew PSG in the first knockout round.

A 3-1 home win was followed by a 2-2 draw in the French capital to take us into the quarter finals.

Here we met Barcelona, the side that defeated us in our maiden Champions League final. We conceded an away goal just seven minutes in and although Della Corna scored twice, a late Barca goal kept us on the back foot for the return leg.

In the Camp Nou we again conceded early. This was followed by two more and we found ourselves 3-0 down before half-time. We pulled one back before half-time to give us hope but two second-half goals killed our hopes of another CL final and we bowed out.

The Cups:

Played the reserves and they went out in the quarter finals on penalties to Juventus.

The Squad:

Goalkeepers

Wallace (GK) - signed in the summer to improve our goalkeeping spot but overall, he disappointed and ended up benched.


Defenders

Kevin Schultz (DRC/WBR) - imperious as ever. Such a great defender, wanted by the top clubs around the world.


Midfielders

Alfredo Casillas (MC) - summer signing settled in nicely alongside his Mexican teammate Velazquez.

Apostolos Zarkos (MRL/AMR) - Greek winger finally had a relatively injury free year and contributed more assists than anyone else in the league

Ally Guillano (M/AML) - started the year at left wing and showed he is an excellent back up to van Roosmalen.

Peter van Roosmalen (AMRL/ST) - another great year from wide left. He really is one of our most important players and I realise it more and more each year.

Luca Della Corna (M/AMR) - injury hit year saw him make almost half the appearances of last season. Did contribute well though.


Forwards

Sebastian Pasquali (ST) - a lengthy suspension was the only thing stopping him from playing almost every game. Scored bucket loads as usual. Phenomenal striker.

Steve (ST) - sprained ankle and a broken arm meant he missed quite a few games. Still scored a goal a game when fit though.
Eduard Dobrovolny (ST) - the young Czech striker was made our 3rd choice striker as Ripa continues to deteriorate. Did brilliantly and justified his wonderkid tag.


Squad Stats
Finances
Club Information
Facilities
Transfers

Training and youth facilities are getting an improvement over the summer.


Objectives Complete?

• Win Serie A

Success! Yep. Easy. New goals scored record too.

• Win the CL

Failed. Out in the quarters to Barcelona.

• Have an unbeaten league season

Failed. And after two games. Disappointing.
New Objectives:

• Make the CL semi-finals
• Devise a more robust tactic
• Have an unbeaten league season

I was probably a little too bold with my predictions last year so it's time to take a step back. We're not far off the CL but let's just focus on making the final. As for our tactic - it's time to have a more regular 4 at the back option, particularly for Europe, where we're conceding far too many goals.

Joining us in Serie A this season are: Livorno, Albinoleffe and Bari. Departing Serie A are: Alessandria, Udinese and Verona.

Seasonal Best Eleven
Overall Best Eleven

[PRDH]

iacovone - Excellent season in the league there. Pity you went out in the CL quarters, but no shame in losing to Barcelona. You've got some great players too. Pasquali is a beast and I'd love to have Roosmalen in my side. And of course Schultz, who is a stunning player. Him and Descazals in his prime would have been a superb central defensive partnership if they'd lived in the same universe!

[corinthiano]

Real Sport Clube – 2021/22 Liga Zon Sagres

Liga Zon Sagres

Media Prediction: 12th
Board Expectation: Mid-Table
My Target: European Qualification Challenge

League Table: 3rd ǁ Position Graph

What. A. Season. We were brilliant from the start and even managed to keep the distance to Porto short in the first third of the season. Naturally we tailed off a little and even though we were 4th for ages I struggled to keep Sporting off me. We maybe undeservedly pipped Braga into third on the final day, but I didn’t care! What impressed me hope and gives me confidence for the future is the fact we were very competitive against the big sides. We did the double over Sporting and beat Porto at home, whilst never losing by more than one goal when we did get defeated.

Taça de Portugal Millennium

Fixtures

This in contrast was slightly disappointing. We eased past lowe league opposition in our first couple of matches, but were then lucky to get through on penalties against Moreirense. We then put in a lifeless performance against Estoril and deserved to be knocked out on penalties.

Bwin Cup

Third Phase Group C: 2nd ǁ Fixtures

Our league standing last season meant we went straight into the third phase group stage as second seeds. Never expected to go through and am happy we played well in all 3 games.

The Royals

Transfers ǁ Squad 1 ǁ Squad 2

With a very settled side this was my least busy year in terms of transfers. I brought in Teté, who I couldn’t believe was playing for such a lowly team, as well as Vince Jordan from the U.S. as centre-back. The rest were loan players to give us a bit more depth and players with some potential. I feel our squad is a little thin though and we were quite lucky to have few injuries this year, but I don’t have the wage budget to beef up the squad, so we will have to ride our luck again.

GK: Buick – No surprise to see him around again, made the odd mistake this year, but I am still not thinking of replacing him, unless someone spectacular and cheap comes up.
DR: Teté – Whilst Gutiérrez was good, Teté is excellent. Our only player to get injured for slightly bigger spells, Vasco keep trying to get a loan deal for him, but he seems to be keen to stay.
DC: Carazinho – Had a solid season.
DC: Vince Jordan – Eid Sayed was doing my head in, he spent more time complaining than actually playing decent football, so I signed Vince. Now the question is: Sayed who?
DL: Seyithan Bilir – Mr. Excellent and Fans Player of the Season, was shortlisted for best full-back in the league. Won his first two caps for Turkey in June as well.
DMC: Arturo Domínguez – This guy had some trouble settling in when I brought him in January last season. Now that he is settled he has been very good for us and the room for improvement is massive as well.
MC: Esteban Cardona – Solid as ever, was shortlisted for the 2022 World Cup squad, but didn’t make it in the end.
MC: Elia Agnesini – Swapped Elia and Cléber as I figured Elia’s better physical attributes would serve him better as a box to box midfielder and Cléber’s better technical attributes would suit him more to a playmaker role. Elia didn’t adapt well to the new role and only showed few glimpses of quality during the season.
AMC: Cléber – Flourished as a playmaker, but might be moving back to the MC position with the arrival of South African Clement Mazibuko from Orlando Pirates.
ST: Yukinori Sugimoto –He had another good season and his partnership with Milton just works perfectly.
ST: Milton – Scored more goals this season and linked up better with Sugimoto.

Other News

Finances – We lost money this season, although not as much as I expected, the good league finish and player sales contributed to that.

In the awards end I was elected Manager of the Season and Real were the overachievers of Liga Zon Sagres.

This Season Targets

1. Challenge for a European place Yes - Easily got anEuropa League place
2. Do better n the Taça de Portugal Yes-ish, we got through a further round, but didn’t play well.

Next Season Targets

1. Establish ourselves as a top 5 side.
2. Get to the Europa League group stages.
3. Try to deepen the squad somehow

This season we definitely broke into that select group of top Portuguese clubs, the big question is will we be able to maintain that with the distraction of Europe? I certainly hope so and that will be our main goal, as bridging the gap to Porto and Benfica might take a little bit longer.

Career Overview

Season       League                     Pos      Taça de Portugal     Bwin Cup        Europe             Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13      2. Divisão - Zona Sul      7th      First Round          N/A             N/A                None
2013/14      2. Divisão - Zona Centro   3rd      Second Round         N/A             N/A                None
2014/15      2. Divisão - Zona Centro   1st      Third Round          N/A             N/A                Promotion
2015/16      Liga Orangina              10th     Second Round         First Phase     N/A                None
2016/17      Liga Orangina              10th     Fourth Round         Second Phase    N/A                None
2017/18      Liga Orangina              8th      Runners-Up           First Phase     N/A                Europa League Qualification 
2018/19      Liga Orangina              2nd      Third Round          Second Phase    EL Group Stage     Promotion
2019/20      Liga Zon Sagres            9th      Fourth Round         Third Phase     N/A                None
2020/21      Liga Zon Sagres            7th      Fifth Round          Third Phase     N/A                None
2020/21      Liga Zon Sagres            3rd      Sixth Round          Third Phase     N/A                Europa League Qualification

[PRDH]

corinthiano - Wow! Cracking season. Great effort to separate the big three. Just a case of slowly strengthening what is already a very good squad and you should be able to start closing in on Benfica and Porto. Milton's a cracking player, looks like he should be scoring more to me, although I suppose his lack of acceleration might explain that.

[aldojags]

PRDH Cortez looks a real find, yeh if he can play centre half then he's a great utility man you'll have. Well done on your domestic success.

corinthiano well done mate, great season. good to see Bilir get International recognition he's brilliant. All the best for Europe.

iacovone that greek winger is excellent. unlucky in Europe, Barca just seem to have the better of you just now but hopefully your new tactic will get you closer just now. Your goals tally is mental! What a season, I wouldn't mind a season ticket to Pastorino Stadium!

[PRDH]

World Cup squad announced - Cardoso and Dias are off to Australia for World Cup 2034. Vieira made the provisional squad but was cut from the final 23. Still, two youth products going isn't bad!

[corinthiano]

PRDH - yet another solid season there, good to see Cardoso leading the line, even better to see him going to the WC! Are cardoso and Dias starters or squad members? And I am actually more disappointed at only 2 assists from Milton, than his 12 goals. I employ him as a supporting target man and he should be setting up more than he has. It seems my tactics never result in a striker scoring loads, goals tend to come from all over the place...

iacovone - that is one hell of an imposing league campaign, you absolutely destroyed Serie A, best of luck getting that CL title next season!

Got a toughie in the Europa League, AS Monaco stand between us and the group stages...dont feel too confident.

[iacovone]

Thanks guys! Looking forward to reading your season reports PRDH and ​corinthiano

[corinthiano]

Talk about blowing it. We put in a magnificent performance at the Stade Louis II to beat Monaco 2-0, only to collapse at home to a 3-0 defeat. Very disappointed, but now very eager to get back in there next season. A top 5 finish is a must.

[iacovone]

PRDH - can't believe how bad Juve were in your CL group! As for the academy question, they don't exist on paper anyway. I think Junior Coaching is the equivalent now.

As for Cortez, I really like him. The only downside is his mental attributes but if you could get him tutored by Descazals for a while, I'm sure they'd rocket up. Even Nicastro if they'll let him tutor someone. I really like your youth project, Pedro Cardoso is great. It'll make an eventual CL win all the more satisfying if you have one or two of the youngsters involved. Keep it up

corinthiano - nice season! Your defensive record was superb this year, if you can add a few more goals I see you claiming the title in a year or two. What tactics do you use?

Oh and bad luck vs Monaco. Pity.

[PRDH]

corinthiano - Both started the warm up games but didn't get much of a look in during the, frankly embarrassing, World Cup campaign. Drawn in a group with Serbia, Peru and the USA they contrived to lose every game finishing bottom of the pile.

If Milton is a second striker then his goals are pretty good. That's the position I play Neira, but yeah, it'd be nice to see him setting more up for those around him. Bad luck against Monaco. I fear it might be a good way of setting you up for years of European disappointment, if you're anything like me at least!

iacovone - Yeah, Juventus were staggeringly poor. I need to look to see who I can get to take Cortez under their wing. He has the makings of a cracking player, just need to get rid of the rough edges.

[Adam "Le God"]

My first foray into lower league management has been a disaster. I was sacked just before Christmas with the club languishing rock bottom of the league 6 points from safety. This lower league management is a lot harder than it looks. I'm not going to let this initial failure demoralise me and I have jumped straight back in to the challenge where Im currently holidaying in the nation of France.

[aldojags]

French National



End of Season Report 2012/2013 - ES Viry-Chatillon

French National - 4th Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Graph | Table

Ultimately disappointing conclusion to season. As I mentioned in my mid season report, I had a feeling I'd fall away, but for a short time I continued my habit of winning games in my opinion undeservedly! But for some reason, the wheels started to come off, and as you can from my results, I was absolutely hammered a few times. Was in promotion places until 2nd last day of season, I went to Guingamp (who were in ridiculously good form) knowing if I beat them I'd go up, but I was slaughtered. I was so average for a lot of that season, I can't believe I had a chance at promotion. Start of season I just wanted survival, but to come so close to promotion then lose out is disapointing, but to be honest, I didn't deserve it, negative goal difference, and so many games I didn't compete, scratching a point here and there.

And the amount of goals from corners I concede, I could cry! I then change my training focus to defend set piece, but I notice little difference. I really struggled tactically, I couldn't get possession in a lot of games, no real shape to team. I think a lot of it is lack of quality, especially in central mid.

Metz romped the league in the end, no real suprise, got some real quality in their team.
Cannes and Guingamp join them goin up, got Nimes Olympique, LeMans and Red Star 93 coming down, so still some tough opposition. My biggest threat this season was myself though, although my board are delighted with me, I totally blame myself for throwing away promotion.
French Cup-8th round Fixtures

Drew against lesser opposition, mainly played fringe and youth team players, and was heavily beaten by a non league team, really dissappointing. Toulouse ended up winning it.

Players

GK: Stephane Trevisan. Brought him in for his experience about half way through season, I'm not blaming him for our poor form at all, but he did concede 45 goals in 25 games, we were awful defensively come to think of it.

Defence
Mikal Gamondes. Solid season for the experienced full back. Equally steady in both full back position, he did well, especially first half of season.

Maikel Verkoelen. Like the look of this guy, think he'll get better with age, and gets the odd goal or 2 as well, good first season, looking forward to him maturing.

Christophe Lowinsky. Pretty much same as Verkoelen, young centre back with good potential, hoping those 2 could form my centre back pairing for years to come if they fulfil potential.

Ameth Biaye. Decent season, nothing spectactular. Still weighing up if he's worth a new deal.

Midfield
Gerald Forschelet. Average hard working midfielder, didn't impress too much will probably release him.

Dominique Abiodoun. Brought this kid in in January. He's only 19, still a bit inconsistent, but we missed him when he got injured, 0and I can see him being a key part of my team for seasons to come. Ideally could be quicker, but he's got otherwise superb atributes for someone so young. Expecting good things next season from him.

Noui Laifa. Highest ave rating of my players that played 20 or more games, but a pretty average uneventful season from him. Good physical attributes, but nothing this season that made me stand up and take notice. Got him signed on for another year, as my other midfielders are all young.

Dominique Abioula, brought in same time as Abiodoun, done well for his first season, expecting him also to push on next year.

Jonathan Beauliue. My coaches fancy him as a future key player, I've yet to be convinced, but I'll persevere.

Fawzi Ouaamar, Jacques Fey, Otman Djellilahine, and Ziri Hammar were all a bit of a let down. I thought they were be creative and go past full backs regularly, but they were pretty ineffective. All still young right enough, but I need more from them next season.

Strikers
Assomption Kessou. Done well, come off the bench and got a few important goals at the time. Again, young, so will need time.

Abdou Dieye. I had him out as my star man pre-season. Started season great, but completely fell away following an injury and never recovered. Still hit double figures which I'm pleased with, but if I can keep him fit, and get service to him, I don't see why he couldn't hit 20.

Dramane Koffi. His average rating might not say, but for me, the success of the season. Came in half way through, and rejuvenated the side, getting important goals, and terrorising defences with his pace. Sounds like I'm repeating myself, but he's still young, and I think it'll be a few years until we see the best of him, hopefully with us, but I think he's a premier league player in the making.

Club

We lost quite a bit of cash this season, averaging 50k a month, which for a club with average attendance of 634 and only 99 season ticket holders is quite a lot. The board, for some reason I'll never understand, have just announced they are installing an extra 825 seats, which will cost me £100,000. Do not ask me why, as we've not had close to 1 sell out all season. Madness.

I'm currently listed as Untouchable in Job security section, but in my manager profile I'm under fire apparently, I guess because I keep getting hammered, so I'll need to keep an eye on that.
Finances | Facilities | Transfers 1 | Transfers 2 | Club information

Season Objectives

Avoid relegation - Achieved quite easily, was never anywhere near bottom of league, but my form at times was that of a team near the bottom!

Trim the squad- failed! Signed way too many players, but I've got a huge portion of them about to be released in summer. Got this guy on pre contract to try and give me more quality in midfield, where I'm definitely weakest.

Bring on the CA of the youngsters. Overall, its probably a minor achieved. The african kids I signed are all dynamite and have benefited from me playing them, but my own prospects are not up to it yet.

New Objectives

Trim squad further

Be competitive in top half.

Go further in French Cup.

Find a formation that works!!!

Season     Division        Pos    Domestic Cup                European Competitions         Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13   National         4th   French Cup 8th round      N/A                              Survived Relegation

[/QUOTE]

Edited to add, I got 3rd in league manager of the year which I thought was quite cool, forgot to tell you!

[PRDH]

Adam "Le God" - Bad luck. Don't let it get you down. It is tricky, but the satisfaction is proportional!
aldojags - I can see why you'd be disappointed after your excellent form in the first half of the season but only missing out on promotion by four points in your first season is great going. If you can concede fewer goals I can definitely see you challenging at the right end of the table again next year.

[aldojags]

PRDH yeah your right, I wrote that report, then read it back and thought I was maybe being a bit hard on myself. Just really frustrating!

Adam Le God good on you for getting back on the horse! Frustrating but we've all been there, I'm sure you'll get it right next time. And seeing as your holidaying in France, incase you missed my advice, scout africa! particularly Cameroon and and Ivory Coast, I have got about 15 players from there, all of whom have at least 4 star potential.

[Adam "Le God"]

Adam Le God good on you for getting back on the horse! Frustrating but we've all been there, I'm sure you'll get it right next time. And seeing as your holidaying in France, incase you missed my advice, scout africa! particularly Cameroon and and Ivory Coast, I have got about 15 players from there, all of whom have at least 4 star potential.

Cheers for that aldojags got one of my scouts out in Africa as we speak, the other is plying his trade roaming around central Europe. Brought in a new Ass Man and a couple of decent players already, so things are looking decent at the moment.

[Adam "Le God"]

Im not sure if its is the same in other nations, but in France all of my players are on part time contracts. This has raised a few problems with training my players. Basically I can't use my normal schedules that I use on my other saves because they are full time schedules. I was wondering is it worth me creating dedicated P/T schedules or shall i just plug on with the default game schedules until I can use my F/T ones? Does the P/T schedules even have that much effect on players development?

Edit to include: I should also mention to you guys that I am the proud new manager of Football Club de Mulhouse. Im going to wait until after i have finished pre season to update you so that i can roll two updates into one longer, better one.

[aldojags]

Adam Le God I made my own schedules mate, I find general p/t just doesnt have enough specialisation. Good luck with Mulhouse. Another tip, ask the big clubs for a friendly at home, I usually manage to get a few, and I raise 50k a time, handy for a club struggling for cash. Every little helps! I should work for tesco!

But you can end up raising around 300k in pre-season, serious cash for a part time club.

[Adam "Le God"]

Bloody hell my board are really generous. They have already increased my number of scouts from 2 to 6 and after a cheeky bit of negotiation i have manged to get them to uprgade my youth facilities. Im chuffed.

Adam Le God I made my own schedules mate, I find general p/t just doesnt have enough specialisation. Good luck with Mulhouse. Another tip, ask the big clubs for a friendly at home, I usually manage to get a few, and I raise 50k a time, handy for a club struggling for cash. Every little helps! I should work for tesco!

But you can end up raising around 300k in pre-season, serious cash for a part time club.

Cheers for the tip aldojags, I was thinking about doing this but I wasn't sure whether the cash would be better than a poorer morale. So I decided to sort of do both in a tour to Switzerland, I have arranged two friendlies against so called 'bigger' opposition but have included a number of friendlies against smaller clubs to keep the morale up.

Also did you find that your players where disgracefully unfit at the start of your game? is it something to with the P/T contracts or Training? or is it just my players being lazy buggers.

[efrumttr]

Bloody hell my board are really generous. They have already increased my number of scouts from 2 to 6 and after a cheeky bit of negotiation i have manged to get them to uprgade my youth facilities. Im chuffed.



Cheers for the tip aldojags, I was thinking about doing this but I wasn't sure whether the cash would be better than a poorer morale. So I decided to sort of do both in a tour to Switzerland, I have arranged two friendlies against so called 'bigger' opposition but have included a number of friendlies against smaller clubs to keep the morale up.

Also did you find that your players where disgracefully unfit at the start of your game? is it something to with the P/T contracts or Training? or is it just my players being lazy buggers.

Really? Man, I wish I had your board. Mine only allows me 2 coaches total, I have 3 youth coaches that I started with too but they're useless and I can't replace them and hire new ones. The board won't let me hire more coaches, either. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to train properly. Good luck with Mulhouse, they were my second choice behind Romorantin.

aldojags, solid first season mate. Hopefully I can do something similar. I'm actually playing Viry-Chatillon in my final preseason friendly. Game just randomly scheduled them and I didn't realize til now. Looking forward to seeing you on the other sideline

We've had a pretty good preseason, played some good football and signed some new faces. I'll have a preseason report up after this last game, I've been busy settling back in at school after break

[efrumttr]

SO Romorantin
2012-13 Preseason Report

Preseason Fixtures

Overall, I'm very happy with our preseason. The only game I'd characterize as 'bad' was the game against the CSKA Moscow reserves, and I think that one was due in large part to me fiddling around with formations and not really knowing what I was doing The Wigan game was incredibly exciting as we actually scored first and led 1-0 for about ten minutes. Tried to park the bus but they finally broke through for 2 goals. I still thought it was a fantastic result. The rest of the five matches were all against teams that I'd characterize as being at or around our level, and we represented ourselves incredibly well.

The thing I might be most excited about is our defense. I wanted to set up a formation and a team that would be solid at the back and difficult for people to score on, since I feel like it'll be very tough for us to get relegated if we can do that consistently. To keep 4 clean sheets and concede only 1 goal in the non Wigan/Moscow Reserve matches is a great sign.

The concern I listed in my initial report is still present: scoring. We did score in all but one of our matches, but I'm still concerned with quality up front. Only two of our goals came from strikers. We actually had quite a few goals from defenders, which is nice, but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to count on that once we get into league play. I'm definitely keeping my eyes out for good forwards and attacking mids. That's a nice segue into...


Transfers

Transfer List

6 in, 7 out so far. The 7 were all players whose contracts expired a month in and that I chose not to renew. There will definitely be more transfers as I haven't touched any of my $100k transfer budget and the 7 guys I let go has given me a lot more to work with in wages, which was getting tight after I signed Gastien and Badra. The 6 guys I've signed so far:

Mickael Bernardo (ST)--The first guy we brought in. Had a cup of coffee at Porto (2 appearances, 1 goal) but washed out and left in June 2012, we picked him up on a free. Also capped at the U19 level for Portugal. Very encouraged by his finishing, he probably won't bang too many in from long range but that's okay. Wish he had a little more pace and determination, but for this level I couldn't pass him up. He's only 19, 5* potential and I think with some development he's got a very high ceiling. He needs to stay healthy, though--he's had 3 injuries in a 3-year career (plus 1 incident of food poisoning), and he promptly pulled his hamstring in his second game as a member of our squad and will probably miss our first two league matches.

Guillaume Norbert (D/M)--Maybe this is just my inner noob coming out, but I have no idea why my assistant only rates this guy at 2.5*. I love his stats, especially as a defender, and he can play on either side which is helpful considering we're still pretty thin on fullbacks. Wish his determination and stamina were higher. Played at Arsenal in the late '90s and Nantes in Ligue 1 3-4 years ago. Probably on the downhill end of his career but hopefully he can give us a few years and help us with stability at the back.

Yan Marillat (GK)--Hopefully our keeper of the future. Numbers look very solid for a 17 year old. Can stay in the youth ranks for awhile.

Benjamin Fortuna (MC)--By far our biggest dearth in terms of depth was in central midfield. I'm not in love with Fortuna's numbers, his determination is way lower than I'd like, he's not really great in any area either offensively or defensively. We'll see how he develops, I might be able to sell him in a few years and in the meantime he can provide some much, much needed depth in central midfield.

Johan Gastien (DM/MC)--Another guy who can play in central midfield if needed. I'm kind of torn between him and another guy Biaou as to who should start at central midfield vs. defensive midfield. I guess we'll see.

Mourad Badra (MC)--I'm so excited to see what this guy can do. I had to pay him--he's the highest paid player on the squad now--but I had to beat out the 3 Ligue 2 sides who also offered him contracts. He started 32 games for fellow National side FC Rouen last season and had 7 goals, 5 assists, and 3 MoM awards. He's only 24, too, so still plenty of time to develop his 4.5* potential.

I still need to bring in some new guys. We're pretty solid in central midfield now I feel. Our only pressing need in terms of depth now seems to be left back, other than that we're good depth-wise. Quality wise, I'm still on the lookout for strikers and/or attacking midfielders. A true defensive midfielder would be a nice bonus, too.

Starting XI

--------------------------------------------Girard------------------------------------------------------
---------Bahamboula------------------------------------------------------------Robic-------------------
-------------------------------Saytaifa------------------Badra------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------Gastien------------------------------------------------------
---------Melet-----------------Balde--------------------Johnson----------------Kelsch------------------
-------------------------------------------Cattier------------------------------------------------------

Looking Ahead

I was definitely focused in the beginning on just surviving in season one, but I'm tentatively optimistic about our chances to do well. The early matches aren't going to be easy, however, with the very unkind schedule maker giving us the predicted top 3 teams in 3 out of our first 5 matches (2 of them on the road). Snatching as many points as possible while keeping morale up is going to be key.

[aldojags]

Bloody hell my board are really generous. They have already increased my number of scouts from 2 to 6 and after a cheeky bit of negotiation i have manged to get them to uprgade my youth facilities. Im chuffed.



Cheers for the tip aldojags, I was thinking about doing this but I wasn't sure whether the cash would be better than a poorer morale. So I decided to sort of do both in a tour to Switzerland, I have arranged two friendlies against so called 'bigger' opposition but have included a number of friendlies against smaller clubs to keep the morale up.

Also did you find that your players where disgracefully unfit at the start of your game? is it something to with the P/T contracts or Training? or is it just my players being lazy buggers.

I actually haven't found morale a problem after getting beat from bigger teams. PSG beat us 5-0, but I told them they played well and not to worry about it, and the lowest morale I have present is fairly good.

Well done on the youth facilities! Yeah I got my coaches and scouts increased, they always initially refuse me, but when I tell them I fear we'll be left behind by our rivals, that always seems to terrify them!

Yeh the fitness is shocking, but after a few games and putting them into the conditioning training I usually get them up to the 90%'s.

Really? Man, I wish I had your board. Mine only allows me 2 coaches total, I have 3 youth coaches that I started with too but they're useless and I can't replace them and hire new ones. The board won't let me hire more coaches, either. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to train properly. Good luck with Mulhouse, they were my second choice behind Romorantin.

aldojags, solid first season mate. Hopefully I can do something similar. I'm actually playing Viry-Chatillon in my final preseason friendly. Game just randomly scheduled them and I didn't realize til now. Looking forward to seeing you on the other sideline

We've had a pretty good preseason, played some good football and signed some new faces. I'll have a preseason report up after this last game, I've been busy settling back in at school after break

Good pre-season there mate, against some good opposition. I don't think you need to worry about going down mate. 42 points will keep you up in that league I think. Well done on the 3-0 at our place!

[iacovone]

Meet Oscar Bardales - the man to win us the Champions League. Cost me a cool £30m!

[sebs]

75 goals in 71 matches for honduras who did you sign him from?

[iacovone]

75 goals in 71 matches for honduras who did you sign him from?

He's been at Genoa for the past three years. They came 2nd last year so I decided it was time to weaken them! He was recommended to me as a 20 year old but I chose not to sign him at the time...oops.

Oh and he's got 77 in 72 now

[aldojags]

Superb he looks like a 50 goal a season man.

[PRDH]

Meet Oscar Bardales - the man to win us the Champions League. Cost me a cool £30m!

I think you made a mistake there. Surely you meant to type Usain Bolt! He's lightning!

[Adam "Le God"]

Meet Oscar Bardales - the man to win us the Champions League. Cost me a cool £30m!

Jeez iacovone that guy looks like an absolute monster.

aldojags glad to see its not just me who had a crappy fitness problem.

efrumttr Hopefully your board will allow you some more staff soon. Oh and good signings there 'Badra' and 'Bernardo' look decent.

[aldojags]

Pre-Season 2013/14

Well after the last day drama of missing out on promotion at the end of 12/13, I've had a bit of clear out and brought a young promising squad together.

Transfers

Quentin Beunardeau, young goalkeeper who I'm going to have as my number 1. Tried getting in a more experienced keeper but they were all on the way down stats wise, poor agility etc, so I've brought this guy, isn't the best keeper I could have signed possibly, but I think after a couple of years of 1st team football he'll be solid, I'm happy with him so far from pre-season.

Ibrahima Seck, needing a bit of competition in midfield, this guy should hopefully help us win a few tackles and dominate possession. Going to re-train him as a centre back too.

Claude Roland Videgla, similar to Seck, give us some more quality in the middle, I really struggled for possession in a lot of games last year, hopefully those 2 will beef up the team a bit, think this guy could be important, if we keep him fit.

Christian Kouakou is signing I'm most excited about, could be a good prospect, going to play him from the start, but he's bloody injured already!! Got a few injuries pre-season, to important players, does my nut in! Really going to hamper my first month or 2.

Chabi Akakpo was brought in to add depth to centre back area, I'm happy with Lowinsky and Verkoelen but outside of that I'm struggling for someone who could play first team.

Fixtures

Chose all bigger rep teams to get some cash in. Played well in all games, the PSG result obviously wasn't that great, but it was my first game, all the players were so unfit. But to draw with Marseille, and also Vannes (they equalised with last min pen), it's encouraging for the season. Beating Cercle Brugge was a good performance too.

If we carry the performances into the competitive fixtures I can't see how we won't do well.

Board wants top half, I've got wage budget of £12,000, but I adjusted it to 11,000, so I had finds to sign Kouakou.

Be happy when transfer window shuts, Stade Lavallois are sniffing around Koffi and Abioudoun, so I slapped £1m asking price on them to frighten them off.

Happy with squad, mainly 19-24 year olds, so expecting a bit of inconsistency, but I think on our day we'll beat any team in the league. I'm not going to pressure myself and say I want to go one better and win the league, major changes usually take a while until it all comes together, but we'll see how we go.

[G-Wiz]

need to get back into my save, been on holiday in Paris the last 2 weeks, need to refresh my memory as to where Ac Viseu are at the moment...great to see so much progress in the challenge

[iseemonsters1]

End of Season Report - Citta di Brindisi - 2012/13 (Season 1)

Competitions

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B - 6th (Lost in Playoff Semi-Final)

A pretty satisfying first season in charge, though it didn't exactly blow anyone away. I was actually quite surprised at the level of expectation that surrounded the club when I first took over - the board expected a top half finish, while the press were predicting Brindisi to finish as high as 7th. Meanwhile, our two fellow promoted clubs were expected to finish last and second to last. Clearly, while no sleeping giants, Brindisi were a cut above some of the other new Serie C2 clubs. Having said that, even though we pretty much met the expectations placed on us, it's not easy to build a team from scratch that can live up to battling it out in the top half of the table all season, so I'm pleased that I managed to do it.

Things got hairy at times, and in the midst of one particularly bad run around December my job was actually under threat, but after a good team meeting things got back on track and we were in the playoff picture (though never even within shouting distance of automatic promotion) for the rest of the season.

It took until the final day of the campaign for us to secure our place in those playoffs, but despite losing our last game we managed to hang on to our 6th place, and so had the prospect of facing 3rd place finishers Gavorrano in the semi-finals. Despite not being beaten in the ensuing two games, drawing both the home and away legs 1-1, we were unceremoniously dumped out of the promotion race by virtue of being the lower seed. No extra time, no penalties. Oh well.

Coppa Italia di Lega Pro - Group I (knocked out in Group Stage)

Not a lot to report here - won two, lost two, and dropped out in the group stages of a tournament that I'm really not too concerned about!


Squad and Transfers

Club Overview | First Team Squad | Transfers

It probably comes as no surprise to see a lot of players brought in on free transfers, and not a lot of players leave, as I sought to put together a workable squad with enough depth to make it through the season in my first year in charge. Nobody really stood out head and shoulders above the rest this year, with nobody in fact managing an average rating above 7.

Mirko Guadalupi (AM C) - 27 apps (9 gls) - 6.93 average rating: Club captain Guadalupi could always be relied on to provide key goals when it mattered from his attacking midfield position in our 4-3-2-1 formation. Guadalupi is by far the highest paid player at the club, and while he maybe struggles to justify the outlay, he is undoubtedly one of Brindisi's key players.

Michele Stambazzi (D RC) - 35 (4) apps (0 gls) - 6.94 average rating: Only 20 years old, Stambazzi was nonetheless a key cog in our defence, as well as managing to charge forward to provide an impressive seven assists, even though he never managed to get on the scoresheet himself.

Luis Fernando Centi (M C) - 26 (8) apps (5 gls) - 6.91 average rating: At the other end of his career, 36 year old central midfielder Centi proved a steady influence at the heart of our team, laying on ten assists and notching five goals himself. He has announced he'll retire at the end of the season, deciding to bow out "before he's forced to play at a lower level". To which I would reply - "It's too late for that, my friend."


Objectives and History

Time to set some objectives for the coming season:

• Get promoted
• Reach 1st Round of Copa Italia Lega Pro
• Bring through some youth players

The board are already demanding promotion, so it's Serie C1 or bust for me this year - at least I know I won't be spending my time at Brindisi languishing in Serie C2. It's either get promoted, or get fired. The squad will need some strengthening to fulfill those expectations though. I don't care too much about the cup, but the minimum board expectation is to get through the group stage into the 1st Round, so I'd like to at least make it that far. Finally, I've got a couple of good players who came in as youth prospects - particularly attacking midfielder Mattia Damiani, who has already made an impact on the first team - I'd like to give them a run in the side and see how they develop.

Seasonal Best XI | Overall Best XI

Season     Division        Pos    Domestic Cup                European Competitions         Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13    Serie C2/B      6th    Lega Pro - Group Stage      N/A                           Lost in Playoffs

[PRDH]

iseemonsters1 - Hard luck in the playoffs, but it's a great basis for next season.

[aldojags]

How do you do the code thing to list your seasons

[PRDH]

How do you do the code thing to list your seasons

I create the table in a notepad-type program to get it lined up properly then copy it over to here starting with [code*] and ending it with [/code*] removing the *s.

[PRDH]

Big decision just been made in Angra. I've decided to sell Ales Svoboda. He was complaining about wanting a new challenge in the summer. I placated him, but now, in September, he has been complaining about his lack of first team football (Dias has continued to do well in goal) and so, to preserve team harmony he is off to Stuttgart in January, getting £8.5m for him. And of course his £30,000/week wages off the books.

[corinthiano]

iacovone - Bardales looks brilliant, definately one that can give you the edge against the big sides in the CL. As for my tactics I use these two, depending on whether I am favourite to win the match or not:

Defensive - Attacking

With both tactics I use the shouts: Retain Possession, Play Wider, Work Ball Into Box and Play Out of Defence

Basically I try to play a short passing game, down the middle and get my full-backs to overlap. When I am playing defensively I leave it a little bit more rigid and let them be more creative when I am attacking.

Adam "Le God" - Unlucky on your first attempt, nice to see you having another go though, best of luck with Mulhouse!

aldojags - Thats is a very solid first season despite you not going up, sets you up nicely for next season.

efrumttr - Best of luck in the National, Badra looks like he could be a key player for you.

iseemonsters1 - Very good first season, must be tough being expected to get promotion in the second season though!

[vikeologist]

1st knockout round, I was terrified of drawing man Utd who have knocked us out the last 2 years, and managed to finish 2nd in their group.

Instead we drew Chelsea, who we have knocked out 4 of the last 5 seasons in this round. Boy they must be sick of us.

Once again, not a single one of our players was in the shortlist for World Player of the Year. I guess the problem is the low reputation of the club. we're not even the highest rep club in scotland. That's Celtic who have got to the UEFA Cup Final (winning it once) in recent seasons, depsite the fact that we finish 30-40 points ahead of them in the league. (I think last season might have only been 20-something). Our rep won't go up until we win the Champions league, at which point it won't matter because once the challenge is finished I'll leave quicker than a laowai who gets a Chinese girl pregnant.

[aldojags]

I'm needing help guys getting ready to throw this computer out the window, something I struggled with in FM11 without there appearing to be anything u can do about it. My discipline is awful, at least 4-5 bookings a game, and I'm top of red card count too. I fine every straight red for violent conduct 2 week wages, but what about the constant 2 yellow dismissals. I always warn them, sometimes fine, but some players are unhappy. It drives me insane. What do u do for controlling discipline?

Journalists a;ways ask me about, i say I would prefer a more conservative approach and i'll speak to the boys about it, but how do u do that

[ri916]

have you set tackling to more cautious?

[aldojags]

You mean easy? No, I thought I would lose more percentage of my tackling?

[ri916]

Do you use the tactics creator? if you do set tackling in the team instructions to cautious. This will mean your team is more likely to not dive in and get sent off

[PRDH]

You mean easy? No, I thought I would lose more percentage of my tackling?

Do the worst offenders have any tackling-related PPMs? You could try telling them to learn to stay on their feet when tackling.

Edit - Portugal continue to be terrible internationally (they've now dropped to 30th in the rankings, behind Guinea-Bissau!) , but in better news the latest squad sees Vieira and Lopes called up for the first time, joining Cardoso and Dias in the squad taking it to four of my graduates in the international squad. Not bad!

[iseemonsters1]

aldojags - this isn't super helpful, but sometimes I find there are some players that I just can't seem to bring under control no matter what I do. If that's a player with high influence or even the captain, maybe it's my imagination but their attitude then seems to spread to the rest of the team. If there are one or two serial offenders, maybe consider moving them on?

[iseemonsters1]

Sorry iacovone, I guess they're just not the same team without you... But that 4-0 win means that the last day of the season will be super tense again.

[corinthiano]

iseemonsters1 - you do like your last day drama, don't you Best of luck, hope you can maintain that second spot and avoid the playoff lottery!

[aldojags]

End of Season Report 2013/14 (Season 2)

French National - 8th | Graph | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

Average season, never threatened the top places, got off to too poor a start, and just hovered around mid table for rest of season.

Wasn't help by a few issues. The first and most important of which, injuries...again. I know I sound a bit Arsene Wenger or somethin, but it really was beyond belief how bad it was, in particular, Koffi, and Abioudon, 2 of my most important players without doubt.

2nd issue was my lack of knowledge as to what our best formation is. I've been brainwashed by my success in FM11, playing 41221, with wingers and lone striker. I won so many trophies in FM11 with this, but it wasn't working for me. In that formation, your front 3 have to be up to scatch, and my winger's probably aren't just up to it. Off the top of my head I could probably ring off 3-4 different formations I've used this season, I get a run of results with them, they inexplicably get beaten off bottom of the league at home. So frustrating, no real consistency. Finished season playing 433, and 352 with wingbacks, going to run with them early season see how I go. I'll no doubt change them when it starts going tits up again!

French Cup - 7th round

Poor cup form, played my full strength team in both games, knocked out on pens to non-league team for 2nd season in a row. Board were non too chuffed.

Players

GK
Quentin Beunardeau started and finished season as my number 1, but had a spell of few months where I dropped him, had poor average ratings and just about every coach advised me to drop him. Still young, still think he could make a good keeper at a higher standard than this.

Abdel Adjahouinou. Brought this guy in for Beunardeau when I dropped him, done well, but I think he'll still be number 2 this season. But pleased with 2 good prospects in this position.


Defenders
Thorgan Lienard - really promising centre back, only 16 when I signed him, broke into first team near end of season and played well, think he's destined for bigger clubs than Viry Chatillon in the future.

Matteo Bianchetti, undoubtedly player of the season. Solid at the back, a threat at set pieces. I was really pleased with the centre backs I started season with, but a scout brought this guy to my attention, and I had to sign him, and he's been excellent.

Christophe Lowinksy. Another one of my solid centre backs, pleased with his contribution.

Mid
Dominique Abiola. Had ok season but will be looking for more next season.

Dominique Abiodoun. Another missed through injury. 13 league games out of 38 isn't a lot!

Claude Roland Videgla. Will be looking for more from him next season. Missed a few important games on International duty with Togo which was frustrating.
Strikers

Gianmarco Zigoni - big physical striker I brought in when I was suffering with injuries to bolster our numbers, done well initially, mainly from the bench, but faded away for some reason when we went to a front 3, didn't seem to fit into it, I thought that's when he'd do well, played as a target man and winning flick ons for the other 2 strikers, but he was anonymous.

Abdou Dieye. Done well,roughly a goal every 2 games in the league, happy with that ratio. Hopefully can bring that up a wee bit next season again.

Dramane Koffi. Really missed this guy through injury. As you can see he didn't play half the season until he was ruled out for rest of campaign. Really frustrating.
Club Info--Transfers 1 | Transfers 2 | Finances

Another busy season with transfers, mainly youngsters, not many that can go straight into team. But I'm hoping I've unearthed a few gems there, and given time they'll come good for me. Released a lot of the dead wood at end of season.

Losing money every month. Board had to inject 425k. I'm in line with my wage budget, but my average crowd is little over 300, and I only have 104 season ticket holders, we just don't make any money at all. Really need promotion soon to get some money in I think.

Objectives

Be competitive in top 10 - success. Too inconsistent to get higher in table, but still able to beat top teams and not look out of place. Although points tally and overall position dropped, I improved my goal difference and reduced games lost from last season.

Go further in French Cup - fail. Really disappointed with losing out so early.

Trim squad- success. Still got some players I want to lose to take the next step. Going to offer a few out on loan/free transfers.

Season     Division        Pos    Domestic Cup                European Competitions         Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13   National         4th   French Cup 8th round      N/A                              Survived Relegation
2013/14   National         8th   French Cup 7th round      N/A                              N/A

[/QUOTE]

[PRDH]

Pedro Cardoso has just scored his 100th goal for me. It comes in a Champions' League group game against Man City. He's twenty.

Edit - Bad luck there aldojags. Sounds like injuries did for you. Certainly losing a player of the standard of Abiodoun for more than half the season is going to have a massive impact on how it pans out. Decent goal difference and not too many lost games means you're heading in the right direction though. Turn a few of those draws into wins and you'll be right in amongst it at the end of next year.

Edit 2 - Champions' League group stages are over and for the first time in a very long time (if ever), three Portuguese teams have made it out of the groups. Porto, Sporting and, of course, Lusitânia Açores will all be taking part in the knockout stages. Good news for our co-efficient and general reputation.

[aldojags]

PRDH 100goals by the time you are 20? That is outrageous, you got him tied up for long? Are you one of his favoured clubs?

Yeah thats my thinking too, last season, too many defeats, I thought if I could turn some of the losses to draws, I'd be amongst it. But I turned too many into draws. And considering my goal difference was negative last season, and positive this season, I've got to be pleased, some progress made, but it's baby steps.

CS Sedan have just offerred me £475,000 for my keeper, had to accept it, in too much debt, need to find another keeper now. I've got 25% transfer income into my funds, so that'll be over £100,000 I'll get, going to hopefully allow me to bring in one or two quality players.

[PRDH]

PRDH 100goals by the time you are 20? That is outrageous, you got him tied up for long? Are you one of his favoured clubs?

Yeah, he's on a five year deal. Upsettingly we're not one of his favoured clubs, despite the fact he came through the youth set up.

[aldojags]

Aye that's unusual. Well at least you've got him tied up.

What is the average length of time for all you guys for getting out the lowest tier? I'm getting an ominous feeling about my challenge!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

What is the average length of time for all you guys for getting out the lowest tier? I'm getting an ominous feeling about my challenge!

Well it took me 3 seasons in Spain this time around, my efforts seem to fluctuate.
FM09 (Fafe) - 2 Seasons in 2nd Div, 2 in Liga Vitalis
FM10 (Evora) - 4 Seasons in 2nd Div, 2 in Liga Vitalis
FM11 (Haro) - 4 Seasons in 2DB, 4 Seasons in Liga Adelante
FM12 (Parla) - 3 Seasons in 2DB, 4 Seasons in Liga Adelante, 1 in Liga BBVA, 1 in Liga Adelante

I believe on the front page you can look back at some of the stories and I think Iacovone took 9 seasons one year...

[efrumttr]

We've had a slow start to our season, only managing to get 7 points in our first 7 games with a 1-4-2 record, putting us in 14th/20th. Not the greatest, although our schedule was kind of loaded to begin the season. I did finally persuade the board to increase the coaching allotment from 2 to 4, though. Hopefully we can get things rolling and get some more wins.

[iseemonsters1]

End of Season Report - Citta di Brindisi - 2013/14 (Season 2)

Competitions

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Girone B - 2nd

It was promotion or bust this season, with the board ensuring that we knew what was expected of us in only our second season in Serie C2, but despite threatening to blow it several times, we eventually came good, and even avoided the agony of the playoffs. Our season was more or less split fairly neatly into thirds - for the first third, we were not quite up to scratch and when we dropped as low as 7th, outside even of the playoff spots, my job was once again under threat. But then for the second part of the season, we gradually hit our stride, climbing steadily upwards until we hit 2nd place, and the automatic promotion spots, at almost exactly the 2/3 mark. From there, for the final third of the season, while never pulling away, we only relinquished 2nd for a couple of isolated weeks and always looked like we were going to be in the mix for that final promotion place. Then we threatened to blow it again, losing to mid-table Catanzaro to drop into 3rd place with three games to go. But we won our final three games to eventually grab that final automatic promotion spot on the last day of the season.

I'm delighted with the overall result, but we really rode our luck to get there and there's a lot to fix to have a hope of staying up next year. There were a few too many last minute winners and scraped one goal victories for my liking. But we'll take promotion in our second season.

Coppa Italia di Lega Pro - 3rd in Group I (def. by Como in 2nd Round)

Once again, this competition wasn't really a priority for us this season, but we did achieve our objective, scraping through the group stage as the best 3rd place finisher, and defeating San Marino in the 1st Round proper before going out to a clearly superior Como side in the 2nd Round.


Squad and Transfers

Club Overview | First Team Squad | Transfers

Less players coming in this season, but of a higher quality, with Serpico (yes, I know) and Rizza in particular making big impacts. A lot of players left on free transfers, which meant our squad was pretty thin on the ground at times, but I took the risk that I'd rather spend my wage budget on quality over quantity, and thankfully we avoided a major injury crisis so the gamble paid off. I'm definitely looking to enlarge the squad a little this summer though.

Mirko Guadalupi (AM C) - 43 (1) apps (16 gls) - 7.13 average rating: Once again, the club captain came through for us, this time justifying his high wages in a major way. Without his 16 goals - by far the team's top scorer - there is no way we would have got promotion. He also provided an impressive 15 assists, making him easily the team's most indispensable player.

Antonio Serpico (D C) - 38 (1) apps (6 gls) - 7.07 average rating: A new signing this season, the 23 year old central defender was extremely effective at the back. Not only that, but he managed a return of six goals - which was more than any of my strikers managed!

Giuseppe Rizza (D/WB/M L) - 43 apps (0 gls) - 7.07 average rating: Another newcomer this campaign, Rizza was solid as a rock at left back and only missed one game all season. He didn't do a lot going forward, but he certainly did his part at the back.


Objectives and History

Last Season's Objectives

• Get promoted - Success: We'll be in Serie C1 next season and that's a good feeling - particularly since if we had failed this objective, I'd probably be out of a job.
• Reach 1st Round of Copa Italia Lega Pro - Success: I didn't place a lot of emphasis on it, and we only did it by the skin of our teeth, but we did at least satisfy the board's expectations.
• Bring through some youth players - Fail: Mattia Damiani and fellow youngster Franco Ibba did get quite a lot of run outs this season, but most of them were off the bench and I don't feel like they quite played the role I was hoping for.

Next Season's Objectives

• Survive - Obviously our number one goal next season will be to stay in Serie C1. I don't have a good sense of the difference in class between the two divisions, but I sense we'll definitely need to be better than we were this season to do that.
• Add some depth to the squad - We looked threadbare at times this season, and I'm sure we'll need greater strength in depth to survive at the next level. Let's hope the board give me a higher wage budget so I've got a bit of cash to attract more players. Which leads me to...
• Right the financial ship - I've stayed within my wage budgets (though not by a huge amount) but despite that, we've lost £600k in the past season, to add to the £700k we lost the season before. That's put us nearly £500k in debt. Hopefully we'll have improved gate receipts and maybe better TV revenue streams to help bring us back on to an even keel, but there will definitely be some tension for me between improving the squad and being mindful of the financial situation.

Seasonal Best XI | Overall Best XI

Season     Division        Pos    Domestic Cup                European Competitions         Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13    Serie C2/B      6th    Lega Pro - Group Stage      N/A                           Lost in Playoffs
2013/14    Serie C2/B      2nd    Lega Pro - 2nd Round        N/A                           Promoted

[iseemonsters1]

Wow... so the board actually cut my wage budget, and they also expect a mid-table finish. This is going to be an interesting season!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Des Tiny's
Agrupación Deportiva Parla

Liga BBVA
End of Season 2019/20
A Fight and Relegation

The Season

In Brief
Predicted: 20th
Actual: 19th (Graph)
Cup: 4th Round vs Leganes 3:3a
Manager: Des Tiny - History
Season Tickets: 4860 (^1889 [Avg Att: 5824])
Finances: €17M (21st in ESP [^13])
Transfers: 2019/20 - 12 In (€6.75M) 9 Out (€1.1M) 12 Loaned (€500k)

General News

Well and truly financially stable now and able to buy better players, we made a lot of transfers over this season, but it may have been a big outlay for what was always going to be a failure. No big name players would come to the club as our reputation was waaay too low, infact there was only 1 Liga Adelante club with a lower rep than us. We are now aiming to go straight back up so we can play in the top league with our new stadium next year.

The League

I really don't have much to say, we got some good results against some good teams, but we were crap against the bottom teams and as such we went straight back down. Most of my players were a bit disappointing, so I know I need changes, but I have listed the three I thought were the best below.

My Players of the Season: Def - Norberto Ruiz, Mid - Tayfun Sen, Fwd - Metodi Stoynov

Season Review

Fixtures 1-21
Fixtures 22-42

Cup

Leganes were first up as we went straight into the 4th round and lost to them on away goals, we won 2:0 at their place, but somehow went down 3:1 back at home. A disappointing Cup run.

Fixtures

The Players

My Top XI (And their Prospects)

GK: Lukas Kaminski - He is not good enough, he will be replaced in the offseason, even if only by my young replacement.
DR: Sergey Afanasev - He is solid, but he is looking to move in the offseason, so I may need a replacement anyway.
DC: Norberto Ruiz - Very solid at the back, will look to build a new backline around him.
DC: David Sedlacek - He was injured a fair bit last season, but made some good stops.
DL: Tobias Wagner - Looks good enough, but will battle with Moravec in the preseason.
MR: Ricardo Gomes - Really not good enough, my weakest position, need a replacement.
MC: Karol Petras - I already have a replacement for 2020
MC: Ercan Yildrim - He will probably captain the side from the middle of the park in 2020
ML: Tayfun Sen - Maybe the best, but Bumbera may be a go as I move to a 4-2-3-1
AM: Phil Jones - The Welshman is ok, but I think I can find a better replacement, who really knows.
ST: Metodi Stoynov - Will be replaced early in the offseason, will spend transfer money on him.

The History

The Club Awards

|---------|----------|-------------------|---------|------------|
| Season  | Division |     Fans PotY     | Best XI | Overall XI |
|---------|----------|-------------------|---------|------------|
| 2012/13 |   2DB3   | Guillaume Dumast  | 2012/13 | 2012-2013  |
| 2013/14 |   2DB3   | Miguel Herlein    | 2013/14 | 2012-2014  |
| 2014/15 |   2DB3   | Miguel Herlein    | 2014/15 | 2012-2015  |
| 2015/16 |    LA    | Miguel Herlein    | 2015/16 | 2012-2016  |
| 2016/17 |    LA    | Miguel Herlein    | 2016/17 | 2012-2017  |
| 2017/18 |    LA    | Erwan Briand      | 2017/18 | 2012-2018  |
| 2018/19 |    LA    | Erwan Briand      | 2018/19 | 2012-2019  |
| 2019/20 |    LA    | Norberto Ruiz     | 2019/20 | 2012-2020  |
|---------|----------|-------------------|---------|------------|

Club History

|---------|----------|----------|------------------|--------|------------------|
| Season  | Division | Position |       Cups       | Europe |     Comments     |
|---------|----------|----------|------------------|--------|------------------|
| 2012/13 |   2DB3   |    6th   |        NA        |   NA   |       None       |
| 2013/14 |   2DB3   |    4th   |   SC 2nd Round   |   NA   | Lost in Playoffs |
| 2014/15 |   2DB3   |    2nd   |   SC 2nd Round   |   NA   |     Promoted     |
| 2015/16 |    LA    |   10th   |   SC 2nd Round   |   NA   |       None       |
| 2016/17 |    LA    |    7th   |   SC 4th Round   |   NA   |       None       |
| 2017/18 |    LA    |    3rd   |   SC 2nd Round   |   NA   | Lost in Playoffs |
| 2018/19 |    LA    |    1st   |   SC 3rd Round   |   NA   |    Champions     |
| 2019/20 |   BBVA   |   19th   |   SC 4th Round   |   NA   |    Relegated     |
|---------|----------|----------|------------------|--------|------------------|

The Future

In Brief
Predicted: 20th
My Aim: Winning the Title
Expectations: Title Challenge
Transfer Budget: €2.77M
Wage Budget: €108,437
Wages at 10.07.20: €70,434

A very quick update for me as I am nearing the end of the preseason and wanted to just show where my previous season had been, I have made several signings already. Some players with high determination and a good looking future, I still can't get top players so instead I have gone for players I think could be great in the future.

[efrumttr]

iseemonsters1-Great job on earning that promotion! Good luck staying up next year

LLR-You'll be back in BBVA in no time, keep chipping away at it.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Des Tiny's
Agrupación Deportiva Parla

Liga Adelante
Preseason 2020/21

In Brief

Predicted: 20th
My Aim: Winning the Title
Expectations: Title Challenge
Transfer Budget: €2.77M (€2.33M remaining)
Wage Budget: €108,179
Wages at 10.07.20: €71,588
Season Tickets: 3986 4860 (v874)
Transfers: 8 In (€5.5M) 19 Out (€4.8M) 2 Loaned (€200k)

Transfers
In
Claudiu Balaci (DC,ROU,Free) - I needed some more solid Central Defensive options, and this guy is one for the future.
Willian (DRC,BRA,€1.4M) - More DC cover, but he will not play as I have too many foreigners.
Hector Billordo (ST,ARG,Free) - My first attempt at a new Striker, but he will miss out.
Paulinho (DRC,BRA,€1.4M) - DRC cover, looks solid for a youngster and has German 2nd Nationality, cover off the bench.
Pablo Re (GK,ARG,Free) - An amazing signing on a free, he will be my starter and 1 of 2 Foreigners.
Bife (MC,BRA,€1.3M) - I was looking for ways to strengthen my side and this guy will be my new ball winning midfielder.
Jesus Montiquin (ST,ARG,€1.3M) - As it was getting towards the games I still needed a new Striker, this guy was my answer.
Alessandro Schwangart (DR,GER,Free) - My replacement for the Right back slot after Afansajev left.

Future
Mauricio Ferrari (MR,ARG,€3M) - Joins 02/01/21, only issue is that I have no foreigner slot for him...
Besik Gabelia (MR,GEO,€140k) - Joins 07.08.21, he is coming next season will see.


My First Matchday Squad

GK: Pablo Re (ARG)
DR: Alessandro Schwangart (GER)
DC: Norberto Ruiz (ESP)
DC: David Sedlacek (CZE)
DL: Zdenek Moravec (CZE)
MR: Radisa Krasic (SRB)
MC: Bife (BRA)
MC: Ercan Yildrim (TUR) - INJ
ML: Mario Bumbera (SVK)
AM: Javier Arregi (ESP)
ST: Jesus Montiquin (ARG)

Subs: Paulinho, Tobias Wagner, Ales Mitrovic, Rastislav Roznik, Tayfun Sen, Phil Jones, Lee Wilcox.

Well we won every game we played in the preseason, I am mostly happy with my side, but I am still undecided on my Attacking Midfield, and whether the young fullbacks will actually be able to do the job I need them to. Going to be an interesting season, hopefully I can get straight back up.

[aldojags]

well done iseemonsters, I'm sure you'll manage to stay up despite your boards best intentions of sabotaging your season! Where do you play Guadalopi? Left wing or behind the strikers? I always struggle with AMC, I can't remember ever really having a player make a success in that position for a long time, game always seems to pass them by.

LLR you sound ready made to come straight back up, here's hoping for a successful season. You've got some good talent there, the turkish winger you have is a flying machine, he'll do some damage for u this season. Montiquin too looks like 30 goals a season if he stays fit.

[aldojags]

Pre-Season Report

Fixtures

Played well against some higher rep teams, trying out some of the new signings, cautiously optimistic for a good season.

Transfers

Released most of the players we had whose deal ran out. Havre camein with £475,000 for my 20 year old keeper, which I thought I had to accept due to my financial problems, but negotiated that I wanted a cut of any future fee, and they backed down, so I'm more than happy to still have him on the books.

Brought in Mondor Kessou, think he'll do well, my pace up front should scare the living daylights out of most defences in this league, I don't have many forward with pace/acceleration below 14. We were too reliant on Abdou Dieye last season so hoping this guy will pitch in with a few goals, and if we keep Dramane Koffi fit, think we'll be successful. Jorge Mosquera is also another pacy striker, I thought seeing as I was planning on playing 433 a lot at home, I'd need some depth up front, I've got about 6 strikers now I'm really happy with. This guy done well in pre-season, hoping he'll do well in competitive fixtures.


Objectives
Win promotion - this is my 3rd season in this league now. If I can stay injury free, I don't see why I can't come in top 3. Amiens, Bastia, and Vannes all have great squads at this level so will be a struggle. But I'll give it a go....

[rlipscombe]

iseemonsters1 - well done on promotion. despite the wage reduction i am sure you can compete in C1
LLR - unlucky with the relegation but i agree that you can challenge for an immediate return to La Liga
aldojags - good luck going for promotion this time. hopefully you can do it.

As for me and Mannheim, i have got to April so it seems pointless doing a season preview! should hopefully finish the season in the coming days.

[PRDH]

Congratulations iseemonsters. Last time I did this in Italy, the gap wasn't too great between C2 and C1 so I'd say you've got a chance of doing more than just surviving.
LLR - Bad luck on relegation. It always feels like a kick in the teeth, but sometimes it makes you come back stronger. You've got the makings of a team which id definitely ready for the top flight and I'd be amazed if you weren't fighting at the right end of the table this season. I'm a big fan of Norberto Ruiz in particular, he looks like being a cracking player.

[iseemonsters1]

LLR - Shame about the relegation - but it often seems like in these challenges that that one relegation can be the springboard for much bigger and better things. You weren't kidding about getting some good results against the big teams - I see wins over Atletico Madrid, Villareal and Sevilla. One question: are you really predicted to finish 20th this season, or was that a copy/paste thing from last season?

efrumttr - Thanks! It's definitely looking like a challenge, but we haven't made the worst start - played five, drawn five!

aldojags - I guess I can't blame the board - we are losing money every single month! The wage reduction, coupled with contractual promotion wage increases that were triggered by getting promoted, has pretty much prevented me from signing anyone at all and led to me cutting even more players from the squad. This is a bare bones operation now! I play Guadalupi as one of two AMCs in a 4-3-2-1 formation. I don't know what the magic formula is but I've only found a very small number of players who I've managed to get to thrive in an AMC role.

Hope you can get that promotion this season! Pace can be absolutely killer at the lower levels (well, at all levels really), so good plan stacking the attack with speedy players. This is going to be the year for you, I have faith!

rlipscombe - Thanks! We're at least competing, though not exactly thriving so far. Here's hoping we keep it up!

PRDH - You're right, my first team squad has barely changed from last season and has been at least able to hold their own so far by drawing all our games. I'm a bit concerned, given the threadbare nature of my squad, about what will happen when we begin to get injuries - especially since these draws aren't exactly the best way to accumulate a points cushion...

[PRDH]

Welcome to Madrid for the first leg of my CL 1st Knockout Rd tie against Atletico Madrid.

The boys have made the journey from the Azores to the European mainland hoping for a decent result to build on back home.

Lusitânia Açores don't have many injury worries, the only regular out is left back Silvio Nicastro while the Spanish side have six out injured.

Kick Off

9 mins - Atletico have the first chance in a snowy Madrid as a cross is put in from the left. The resulting header is diverted behind for a corner. The corner's delivered to the far post where Gautier clears to the edge of the area. The second attack builds but comes to nothing as the Madrid forward is caught offside. 0-0
11 mins - Madrid attack up the right this time, beating Minniti on the left and whipping a ball across. Again Gautier comes to the rescue and feeds the balls out to Fink giving the Angra side a chance to counter. 0-0
12 mins - Fink holds the ball up well before knocking it in field to an onrushing Cardoso. He in turn gives it to Neira who gets to the edge of the box. He turns inside onto his stronger right foot and fires a shot on goal. It's straight at the 'keeper but the pace on the ball takes it past him and into the goal. Lusitânia Açores have the lead and an away goal. 0-1
16 mins - Corner. Fink's cross is punched away as far as Vieira. He passes it sideways to Scaricamazza who hits the ball first time. It's parried by the keeper. Atletico's counter comes to nothing. 0-1
28 mins - Neira breaks with the ball. He makes good progress through the middle of the pitch before swinging a pass out to the left wing where Fink continues. He hits a lovely cross into the box where our right winger is arriving at the far post. He gets there before the defender. Shoots first time. It's on target but the keeper saves. Should have scored. 0-1
35 mins - A superb passing move from the Lusitânia Açores team ends with Cardoso turning his man on the edge of the area. He has a great chance but blasts over. Out of character that from the youngster this season. 0-1
39 mins - Atletico's first spell of pressure for a while ends as a weak, speculative effort loops high and wide of the goal. 0-1
45+1 mins - The Spanish side are still on top and don't look like they want the half to end. They might now. A cracking strike flies past Dias in goal and they're back level. 1-1

Half-time - A good performance in the first half and we should probably have ended it ahead. If we can keep playing well though we've got another goal in us at least.

49 mins - Cardoso is put through on goal by a wonderful pass from Scaricamazza. He shapes to curl it into the bottom corner. It beats the keeper but just doesn't come back enough and it zips inches wide of the post. 1-1
50 mins - Gautier wins the header from the goal kick and the ball gets to Fink. He knocks into the area to Neira who, rather than shooting, passes it on again to Bentalaa who wastes the chance. 1-1
51 mins - Great spell of pressure this as Bentalaa gets up the right and puts a very dangerous ball in. There's a bit of a scrum in the six-yard box but the result is a goal kick. 1-1 - Will we regret these misses?
52 mins - Yes we will. Atletico score another from outside the area after some baffling defending leaves them with a huge amount of time to pick a spot. 2-1
82 mins - Corner to Lusitânia Açores. Doesn't beat the first man. 2-1
85 mins - Have that! Taste of their own medicine as Scaricamazza picks the ball up on the edge of the area and puts it into the top corner. 2-2
90+3 mins - Bentalaa has a chance to win it as he picks up on a long boot up field from Dias but he fluffs his chance and it's an easy take for the keeper. 2-2

Peep, Peep, Peeeeeep - 2-2 - A decent result away from home and means we've got a good chance of progressing.

[iseemonsters1]

Good result PRDH - can't complain about two away goals! Gives you an excellent chance in the second leg. Good luck!

I don't normally do mid-season reports, but I can't help but say how blown away I am by the first half of this season - our only defeat coming away to league leaders Crotone. Of course, now I've jinxed it, but hopefully we've already more or less put to bed any relegation fears with confidence high in the squad.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Thanks everyone for the support, and I agree I am impressed with Norberto Ruiz & Montiquin, I am hoping they are the guys to build my team around for the future as they are only 20 & 21. As for Tayfun Sen, I am not really sure, he always seems inconsistent one great game and then on poor game, Bumbera seems to be slightly better on the left wing.

And yes I am predicted 20th, its because it is based on reputation alone, and there really seems an issue with rep this year. In the past it has gone up too quickly, but it seems in FM12 to go up waaaay too slow, I am still ranked among the 2DB teams, and of course a relegation meant my rep dropped back down too.

[PRDH]

LLR - I agree. The reputation is weird this year. Porto are still ranked above me despite the fact I've won however many consecutive titles and got further in the CL too.

And a 3-0 win back in Angra puts us through to the CL Quarter finals.

Edit - Just had the new intake of youth players. Absolutely no one worth mentioning. Useless! Still, I ca't complain too much with the recent run of talent I've had.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

PRDH - Ok I am now baffled, I spent a season in the top league, I beat some big teams and then I am now ranked behind 32 of the 80 2DB teams on reputation. I did bring this up in the bugs forum, but seemingly nothing was done in the latest patch, fo course I think reputation is a major part of the game so it might need significant testing, but hopefully they will look into it for FM13. I do remember in FM10 with Evora I was ranked higher than all the other three big teams after a single title win, so that was too fast, but this is seemingly waaay too slow.

And Congrats on the Champions League effort, hopefully you can carry on the movement towards a Champions League.

[Adam "Le God"]

Good result away from home PRDH those away goals leave you in a good position for the second leg. Good luck.

You look like your doing very well there iseemonsters1. Your in a good position for the second half of the season. Keep it up.

Just started my first season and I have played what is probably the most exiting game i have had on FM in a long time. I managed to see of Rodez 5-4. But after being 4-1 up after 50 minutes i wasn't too chuffed when they pulled 3 goals back.

[aldojags]

iseemonsters well done on your start, as you say, your not going down after that start, try and get wage budget increased stay in the play offs. What division is next, I am unfamiliar with structure of Italian football. Serie B next?

[Adam "Le God"]

Adam “Le God” - FC Mulhouse – Pre Season Review – 2011-2012

Forward as one!

Profile – Personal Info - Fixtures - League Table - Transfers - Tactics

Fixtures:

A pleasing start to my first season in charge of Mulhouse there were some very encouraging performances against so called ‘better’ and ‘bigger’ teams. A particular highlight of preseason was a 3-0 victory in our first match against Marseille, a match where we outplayed them and thoroughly deserved our victory. Unfortunately we couldn’t add another scalp and where defeated by Lyon, but we were able to bounce back with a well worked 3-1 victory over Ligue 2 FC Metz. We also recorded victories over Grenoble, Paris FC, Strasbourg and ASM Belfort.

All in all then a very pleasing pre-season, some good performances against some bigger opposition, which could be a good sign for any future cup competitions that we can play our game and get results against much better opposition.

Transfers:

After looking at my team report I decided that, whilst most of the players where of a decent standard, I would need to bring in some better players if I am to achieve my season target of challenging for a playoff spot.

In total I brought In 14 players, with some good prospects and released 20 players who didn’t meet the grade. It’s a harsh world.

Abdou Dieye: I brought this guy in on a free after his contract expired. As you can see he is rapid and he should cause havoc amongst defences. Dieye should be a key player for us with his abundance of pace and decent finishing and dribbling, stats that I will be looking to increase. At age twenty four, Dieye should be a key cog for a few years.

Jordan Ferri: When I saw that this guy had been released by Lyon I jumped at the opportunity to sign him. He has decent stats already and my scout rates him at being a potential leading Ligue 1 midfielder in the future. This lad will probably get the majority of game time as my more defensive minded. Whilst I don’t know if this is linked but his value is now 275k so even if he doesn’t make it I can shelve him on for a hefty profit.

Florent Diallo: I signed this lad after my scout unearthed him whilst scouting The Ivory Coast. I had to pay 100k compensation for the deal but my scout rates him as being a good Ligue 1 midfielder in the future. This guy will probably play a fair amount of games in either the more defensively minded central spot or my more attacking playmaking role. I want to develop this guy into a defensively minded central midfielder who is not afraid to spray his passes around.

Other notable signings were:

Wilfried Louisy-Daniel: Brought this guy in because he offers an alternative option up front. We will be able to 'lump' it up to him and he is capable of holding the ball up. Should provide more of an aerial presence than Dieye.

Richard Trivino: Brought this guy in as my new first choice goalkeeper. He offers the vital experience that we need in goal at this level. Plus his stats ain't bad either.

Maxime Le Borgne: This guy was singed becuase he is a good alround defender, He can tackle, is decent in the air and has a bit of pace on him. Should be my first choice.

Donatien Cotinet: This guy was brought in after impressing at a club organised trial day. Whilst he is lacking in a few areas i liuke his dribbling ability and i feel he can fill a role as an impact player.

Christian Bassila: This guy offers a wealth of experience and should be a rock at the back. Despite his lack of pace, he is a good reader of the game and he is preety good in the air too. Hopefully he can pass on some of his knowledge to improve my younger players.

Tactics:

Tactics wise I will be playing a 4-2-3-1. I chose this formation because I thought the extra man in midfield would allow me to play some slick passing football. My wingers are set up to cut inside and make runs in between the opposition centre back and full back to latch onto any through balls made from my rangey centre Mids. This shape allows me to easily change my style of play and with the options I have in my squad I could easily push the centre mids back to play more defensively if I need to.

Season Objectives:
- Challenge for a playoff spot.
- Develop my youth prospects
- Improve finances

[Adam "Le God"]

I don't get this game sometimes. Just had to sub off one of my centre backs injured after 11 minutes. His replacement has just been sent off for a stupid foul after 14 minutes.

[iseemonsters1]

Final day drama for the third year in a row? Oh, go on then...

[iseemonsters1]

End of Season Report - Citta di Brindisi - 2014/15 (Season 3)

Competitions

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Girone B - 7th

On the one hand, we blew this season spectacularly. As late as the end of March, we were sitting pretty in 2nd place, having the season of our lives. We'd only lost twice all year, we'd just beaten league leaders Crotone 2-0 at home, and opened up just the slightest possibility that we could overtake them and, unthinkably, get automatic promotion. Then we lost six of our last seven games, and slid out of the playoffs and the promotion picture altogether. But honestly, just being in that position in the first place was so incredibly impressive and utterly unexpected that I can have no real complaints that the dream eventually died. With our wage budget slashed and a threadbare squad in our first season at this level, my personal goal was just survival, though the board was expecting a little more than that. Nevertheless, nobody expected us to be within touching distance of the very top of the table at the business end of the season, and for that reason we can be satisfied with an extremely good season, no matter how it eventually finished up.

Coppa Italia di Lega Pro - 2nd Round (def. by Crotone)

As usual, this competition wasn't at the top of my list of priorities. We cruised through the 1st Round against Serie C2 side Gubbio, but we met our match in Serie C1/B leaders and eventual champions Crotone, who easily disposed of us 4-1.

TIM Cup - 2nd Qualifying Round (def. by Sassuolo)

While this is obviously a much more important competition than the Coppa Italia de Lega Pro, I still wasn't too concerned about our results - a good cup run would be nice for our finances, but performing well in the league was still the focus. We beat fellow C1/B side Andria BAT in the 1st Qualifying Round in a tight encounter, scraping a 1-0 win, before bowing out to mid-table Serie B side Sassuolo, who took care of us in a deceptively one-sided 2-1 win.


Squad and Transfers

Club Overview | First Team Squad | Transfers

I think the transfer screen really tells the tale of the financial plight of the club and the measures I took to try to bring it under control. I released 20 players and only brought one player in. I'm left with just 19 players in my first team squad - and five of those should really be in the U-20 squad and have little long term future at the club. Despite our great season, I'm planning on taking a gamble and releasing several of my more established players in the hope I can get some comparable young players who will have lower wage demands.

Mirko Guadalupi (AM C) - 36 (1) apps (16 gls) - 7.15 average rating: At this point, it goes without saying that Mirko would be on my list of top players. Top scorer with 16 goals for the second season running (and now our all time leading goalscorer), once again he was far and away our best player and without him we would have been nowhere near the top half. When I say I'll be releasing some of my higher earning more established players - obviously Guadalupi won't be among them. He even took a pay cut at the start of the season to help the club's financial situation.

Antonio Serpico (D C) - 36 apps (5 gls) - 7.02 average rating: Another returning character from last season, Serpico again anchored our defence admirably, and cemented his record as a goalscoring defender by grabbing another 5 goals. Once again, he'll be the key cog in my defence next season.

Mattia Damiani (AM LC) - 31 (7) apps (12 gls) - 6.86 average rating: By far the best player to come through our youth system, Damiani made his debut two years ago at the age of 16. Now 18, the youngster has established himself in the first team as the attacking midfield partner of Guadalupi, a player he's attempted to emulate by scoring an impressive 12 goals himself. He's still far from the finished article, but his pace is dangerous at this level and he's undoubtedly our most valuable asset because of his long term potential.


Objectives and History

Last Season's Objectives

• Survive - Success: And then some! 7th place was a finish I definitely would not have predicted at the start of the season, and hopefully is enough to establish us comfortably in the division so survival isn't even too much of a consideration next year
• Add some depth to the squad - Fail: Our financial situation actually forced me to remove depth from the squad as anyone who wasn't a first team regular was let go in an attempt to stay afloat.
• Right the financial ship - Fail: We managed to staunch the bleeding ever so slightly, "only" losing £500k this season rather than the £700k we lost the season before, but the club is in dire straits, almost £1m in the red. I've trimmed everything I can from the squad and intend to lower the wage budget even more if possible during the summer. We tripled our gate receipts (we have the 3rd highest average attendance in the division on pure numbers, and the highest on percentage of capacity) and doubled our match day income, but we're being crippled by loan repayments and interest, tax, and nebulous "other" expenses and I don't know where the solution will come from.

Next Season's Objectives

• Another mid-table finish - I think it's entirely possible we could make the playoffs next season, having come so close this time around, but a lot depends on how my gamble of rebuilding part of the squad with younger, cheaper players comes off. It could be great, with their hunger driving an already successful squad to the next level - or I could be disturbing the balance of the side by releasing key components and bringing the whole thing crashing down. We'll see.
• Try to bring the wage bill down more - The financial situation is getting critical, and even though I've stayed within my wage budget, I think at this point I have to take matters into my own hands and try to cut back even further. Being able to do that and maintain a functioning squad will be an interesting challenge though.
• Defeat Barletta - Our most hated rivals in the division, we were unable to beat Barletta this season, and lost 4-2 to them in our terrible end of season slump. They ended up finishing in the 2nd place that we had so recently been occupying, and their defeat in the playoff final means we get a chance to take another shot at them this season.

Seasonal Best XI | Overall Best XI

Season     Division        Pos    Domestic Cup                                   European Competitions         Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13    Serie C2/B      6th    Lega Pro - Group Stage                         N/A                           Lost in Playoffs
2013/14    Serie C2/B      2nd    Lega Pro - 2nd Round                           N/A                           Promoted
2014/15    Serie C1/B      7th    TIM Cup - 2nd Qual. Rnd, Lega Pro - 2nd Rnd    N/A                           N/A

[efrumttr]

Still a very solid season there iseemonsters even though the results down the stretch obviously weren't what you wanted. Good luck with the financial aspect as well, that's something I've started to struggle with in my game as well.

Question for all: is there a way you can request to have one of your home games be a fan day? We're only averaging about 600 attendance for our 5k stadium, which is just gross, and I'd like to get that number up and get some more income flowing in from gate receipts. I can't find any option though in the boardroom interaction menus.

[iseemonsters1]

efrumttr - thanks! One of the big challenges with these smaller teams I suppose is dealing with the finances!

If there is a way to have a match be a fan day, I've never found it. I think I've seen a tip during load screens that says that if you're not filling the stadium regularly, your board might choose to have a home game be a fan day, but nothing about requesting it. I'm guessing there's a bunch of factors that go in to when the board decide to hold a fan day - what your attendances are like compared to capacity, compared to the other teams in the league, compared to the amount of people that might potentially come (i.e. there's more potential to increase attendance if you're a small club in a big city than if you're a small club in a tiny village where everyone who lives there already comes to your games), etc.

[corinthiano]

aldojags - shame you didn't do as well in your second season, looks like you are lacking a bit of consistency. I personally don't like playing around with my tactics too much, I usually stick iwth one attacking and one defensive one and let them team get used to playing it. I have had seasons where our performance has been a lot better with the same players, just because they are more used to the system.

iseemonsters1 - well done on promotion to Serie C1. A shame you didnt manage to make the playoffs, but that is a very solid first season in the third tier

LLR - shame you got relegated straight away, seem like the gap between the teams that went down to the rest was quite big. Your squad definately looks good enough for an immediate return, but that reputation thing sure is strange. In my game our reputation usually took a couple of seasons to catch up with the rest of the league, but it always did, strange you being below so many third division teams.

PRDH - That is a very decent result against Atletico Madrid away, hope you can finish the job at home!

efrumttr - good luck with Mulhouse! Interesting to see that you signed Abdou Dieye too, seems to be a handy player to have in the lower french leagues.

As for Real, this season has not been as good as last season, but it seems we will be qualifying for Europe again nonetheless. The gap to the big three has been massive this season though...

EDIT: The local council has blocked ou stadium move for a third year in a row We really need to move out to start generating more matchday revenue...

[PRDH]

The rest of the Champions' League draw has been made. I face Bayern Munich in the Quarters with a tie against the winners of a contest between Seville and Man Utd awaiting the victors. On the other side of the draw there is a mouth-watering quarter between Real Madrid and Barcelona while Porto fight it out with Lyon.

Bayern is going to be a very tough game, but I think I have a chance.

[corinthiano]

Real Sport Clube – 2022/23 Liga Zon Sagres

Liga Zon Sagres

Media Prediction: 7th
Board Expectation: Top-Half
My Target: European Qualification

League Table: 4th ǁ Position Graph

The league just didn’t run as smooth as last year. Everything that went right last year went wrong this year as there were quite a few injuries and silly red cards, leaving our relatively thin squad exposed. As the second half of the season started it was clear it would be a fight between us, Braga and Nacional da Madeira for two Europa League spots. Again we pulled off a great run of 7 wins and 4 draws at the end of the season to claim 4th spot and a place in the EL.

Europa League

Fixtures

Well, the draw made me uncomfortable as Monaco are quite a decent side, but after beating them 2-0 away I was feeling confident of making it to the group stages. However an abject performance at home saw us get trounced 3-0 and crash out early this campaign.

Taça de Portugal Millennium

Fixtures

Everything was nice and easy until we got a tricky tie away to Vit. Guimarães away. A scrappy game saw them beating us by the single goal. Have to say I am disappointed as I always fancy us to win a tie unless it is against the big three + Braga.

Bwin Cup

Third Phase Group A: 2nd ǁ Fixtures

Bloody Vit. Guimarães again. A very tight group saw us knockout even though we won 2 out of 3 games. After easily beating Boavista and Moreirense we went to Vit. Guimarães only needing a draw but they managed to beat us by the single goal again.

The Royals

Transfers ǁ Squad 1 ǁ Squad 2

Another quiet season in terms of transfers. All signings were back-ups or promising youngsters. The only player that was expected to be playing more regularly was Jens Andersson, who came in halfway through the season. But he was unsettled and spent more time in Sweden than in Portugal. I hope he sorts himself out for this season as he could turn out to be a key player for us. On the outgoing front I sold youngster Guba for a nice € 2.4M, he was a player with some future, but he was demanding first team football too early and already getting on my nerves.

GK: Buick – Another solid season and I don’t see me replacing him anytime soon. If he plays regularly next season he will reach 200 league games for the club.
DR: Teté – Another great season by Teté, which seems to have come at an expense. He thinks he needs to be moving to be a bigger club and asked to be put on the transfer list. He is worth € 1.4M so I will be looking for at least € 2M.
DC: Eid Sayed – Him and Carazinho fought for the second CB spot, with Eid performing better. Have pre-arranged a transfer for a Belarusian defender to replace him.
DC: Vince Jordan – Vince had a good season, even though the defence were not as mean. Is still young so will only improve.
DL: Seyithan Bilir – Seyithan was excellent as usual and has become an Icon at the club. Besiktas have upped their game to try and sign him, hopefully I will be able to hang on to him.
DMC: Arturo Domínguez – Arturo had a good season and has established himself as our anchor man.
MC: Esteban Cardona – Another solid season by Esteban which were rewarded with his first couple of international starts.
MC: Cléber – As expected Cléber moved back to MC with the arrival of Mazibuko and did OK. I think Jens Andersson will take his place next season.
AMC: Clement Mazibuko – Good first season, being a creative force with 14 assists in 27 games, but he was another one who struggled to adapt to Portugal at the start.
ST: Yukinori Sugimoto –Yukinori’s best season so far bagging 20 goals. He is another one who wants to leave, but with an injury keeping him out until Spetmber to October I think he might end up staying a bit longer.
ST: Milton – Slightly weak season by Milton, won’t bring in someone new for now because I have no budget for it, but will see how he does next season and evaluate his position again.

Other News

Finances – First time in years that our balance is close to zero! In large part due to the Guba transfer and the continuous cash injections provided by the board.

I reached my 400th game for Real and at the end of the season I was offered the Braga job. If only I had a budget like that!

This Season Targets

1. Establish ourselves as a top 5 side. Yes – Looked like being tough at the start of the season but another great season finish saw us do it.
2. Get to the Europa League group stages. No – Wouldn’t have been disappointed to go out to Monaco at this stage, but letting such a lead slip was a big disappointment.
3. Try to deepen the squad somehow No – Injuries and Suspensions showe our squad cannot compete with the big boys yet, it is difficult on such a low budget at the moment.

Next Season Targets

1. Another top 5 finish
2. Get to the Europa League group stages.
3. Reach a cup semi-final

It was nice to see we are really a top 5 side, but the gap to the big three was quite big this year, mainly to Benfica and Porto. I think it will take quite a few years to bridge that gap and we will have to do so with good European campaigns to raise our rep quicker. We are already the 11th club in terms of reputation in Portugal, but some decent European performances could bring us closer to the big three.

Career Overview

Season       League                     Pos      Taça de Portugal     Bwin Cup        Europe             Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13      2. Divisão - Zona Sul      7th      First Round          N/A             N/A                None
2013/14      2. Divisão - Zona Centro   3rd      Second Round         N/A             N/A                None
2014/15      2. Divisão - Zona Centro   1st      Third Round          N/A             N/A                Promotion
2015/16      Liga Orangina              10th     Second Round         First Phase     N/A                None
2016/17      Liga Orangina              10th     Fourth Round         Second Phase    N/A                None
2017/18      Liga Orangina              8th      Runners-Up           First Phase     N/A                Europa League Qualification 
2018/19      Liga Orangina              2nd      Third Round          Second Phase    EL Group Stage     Promotion
2019/20      Liga Zon Sagres            9th      Fourth Round         Third Phase     N/A                None
2020/21      Liga Zon Sagres            7th      Fifth Round          Third Phase     N/A                None
2021/22      Liga Zon Sagres            3rd      Sixth Round          Third Phase     N/A                Europa League Qualification
2022/23      Liga Zon Sagres            4th      Sixth Round          Third Phase     EL 4th Qual Rnd    Europa League Qualification

[PRDH]

It's Quarter Final time. The first leg will be played in Munich. Hoping to put in a similar performance to that the team produced in Madrid.

Kick off

4 mins - Corner. Fink's ball in clears everyone in the box and goes out for a throw in. 0-0
15 mins - Vieira plays a one-two with Neira which sets him free but his shot goes wide. 0-0
27 mins - Bentalaa's cross is cleared off the line. 0-0
33 mins - Some indecisive play in the back four allows Bayern to get a dangerous cross in. And it's volleyed home. 1-0
44 mins - Cardoso with a chance to equalise but he bends his shot just wide. 1-0
45+1 mins - Dias pulls off a great save to keep us in it. 1-0

Half time

52 mins - Another Fink corner goes out for a throw in. 1-0
67 mins - A nice move breaks down when Neira shoots tamely straight at the 'keeper. 1-0

Full time - well, the second half rather fizzled out there. A 1-0 defeat in the first leg. We were their equal everywhere except for in the finishing stakes. We're still in this tie though, make no mistake there.

[corinthiano]

Thats not a bad result away from home, just a shame you didnt get an away goal. Hope you can turn this around in the Azores

[PRDH]

Nope. We won 3-2 to lose on away goals. A terrible first half put us out as we were 0-2 very quickly. We rallied and got back in it, but not quite enough. Dream over again.

Edit - To rub it in Porto have just beaten Real Madrid over two legs to get into the CL Final. A stunning performance and very good for Portugal's co-efficient, but if they win it I'll be mighty frustrated!

[corinthiano]

That is a shame mate...cant believe Porto are in the final as well! Who are they playing in the final?

[PRDH]

That is a shame mate...cant believe Porto are in the final as well! Who are they playing in the final?

Sevilla. A winnable game.

[corinthiano]

Definateli winnable!


I have made it to the Europa League Group Stage, but got a very tough group: At. Madrid, HSV and Galatasaray. I will be happy getting any points this year!

[PRDH]

Well, it was a winnable game, but they didn't win. They lost on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Sounds like a decent performance. But, a look at the match report revealed that it was actually pretty poor. Sevilla had a man sent off in the 35th minute and then another one off in the 77th. Despite that they won the game. Porto must be gutted about that. And to make matters worse they haven't qualified for next season's tournament.

[aldojags]

adam le god I signed Abdou Dieye too he's done well for me in my 2 seasons so far. Lightning pace and an eye for goal, can't beat it.

iseemonsters unlucky there, but a good solid season none the less

[corinthiano]

I just had the best long(ish) term injury happen to a player so far, as weird as that may sound.

Sugimoto was complaining about wanting to go to a bigger club and wouldnt sign a new deal, which would expire at the end of the current season. But then he got injured at the end of last season with a broken foot, which kept him out for 4 months past the transfer deadline day. He of course didnt move and on his comeback performance he scored 5 goals and got a 10.0 match rating. Even better, he stated to the media that he wanted to repay the faith I had showed in him and signed a new deal! Such a bizarre turn of events!