Crazy Canuck on Global Managerial Tour - This is the Big (FM12) One!!!

[rancer890]

2018 World Cup - Hosts: Russia

Galatasaray players at the World Cup:

Honduras - Emilio Izaguirre
USA - Timothy Chandler
Hungary - Daniel Raboczki
Switzerland - Steven Zuber
Turkey - Kemal Tokak, Serdar Aziz
Uruguay - Fernando Muslera

Group A - Russia, Wales, DR Congo, Brazil
Group B - England, Honduras, Ukraine, Chile
Group C - France, Turkey, Cameroon, Iran
Group D - USA, Switzerland, Argentina, Ghana
Group E - Italy, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Mali
Group F - Ireland, Japan, Senegal, Belgium
Group G - South Korea, Uruguay, Netherlands, Mexico
Group H - Portugal, Spain, Jamaica, Colombia

Notable absentees:
- Africa - Egypt, Ivory Coast, Nigeria
- Asia/Oceania - Australia, China, New Zealand
- Europe - Germany, Greece
- North America - Canada
- South America - N/A

[cerud]

*Sniff* no Canada...

[rancer890]

2018-2019 Season Preview - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

Media Prediction: 1st
Spor Toto Super Lig Expectations: Title Challenge
Turkiye Kupasi Expectations: Be competitive
UEFA Champions League Expectations: Reach Group Stage
TV Revenue: $21.16 million
Transfer Budget: $38.24 million
Wage Budget: $94 million (currently spending $64,415,604)

[MeLikeFM]

.

[roganp]

Definitely looks like you had to work harder to win the title this year, but well done on retaining it and great work in the Champions League

Demir looks a very good talent.

[rancer890]

Definitely looks like you had to work harder to win the title this year, but well done on retaining it and great work in the Champions League

Demir looks a very good talent.

Thanks mate. Demir is someone I want to keep but some of the bigger clubs are interested in him. As a young Turkish player I want him to be an integral part of GS for a long time.

.

Cheers for the applause mate.

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2018 Friendlies

JULY 20, 2018

A couple more friendlies in June against a tough European team and an easy CONCACAF team.

Switzerland 4-0 Canada

Bermuda 1-3 Canada

Upcoming Fixtures:

Aug. 15: @ St. Kitts and Nevis
Sept. 8: @ St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Sept. 12: @ Paraguay (will cancel for a home game at BMO Field)
Oct. 13: @ Puerto Rico

[rancer890]

2018 World Cup



Hosts: Russia

Group Stages

                 Group A                                             Group B                 
                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts                                  P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
1st Brazil      3  2  1  0  3  1   7                  1st Chile        3  2  0  1  4  2   6
2nd DR Congo    3  1  1  1  3  4   4                  2nd Ukraine      3  2  0  1  5  5   6
3rd Wales       3  1  0  2  5  5   3                  3rd England      3  1  0  2  5  5   3
4th Russia      3  1  0  2  4  5   3                  4th Honduras     3  1  0  2  2  4   3

                  Group C                                             Group D
                P  W  D  L  F  A  PTS                                  P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
1st France      3  1  2  0  6  3   5                  1st Ghana        3  2  1  0  8  3   7
2nd Iran        3  1  1  1  5  5   4                  2nd Argentina    3  2  1  0  6  3   7
3rd Cameroon    3  0  3  0  3  3   3                  3rd Switzerland  3  1  0  2  4  4   3
4th Turkey      3  0  2  1  2  5   2                  4th USA          3  0  0  3  1  9   0

                  Group E                                             Group F
                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts                                  P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
1st Italy       3  3  0  0  7  3   9                  1st Senegal      3  2  1  0  6  3   7
2nd Hungary     3  2  0  1  5  1   6                  2nd Belgium      3  2  0  1  3  2   6
3rd Mali        3  1  0  2  4  5   3                  3rd Japan        3  1  1  1  3  4   4
4th S. Arabia   3  0  0  3  2  9   0                  4th Ireland      3  0  0  3  1  4   0

                  Group G                                             Group H
                P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts                                  P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts
1st Netherlands 3  3  0  0  8  2   9                  1st Portugal     3  2  0  1  6  3   6
2nd S. Korea    3  1  0  2  5  6   3                  2nd Colombia     3  2  0  1  6  7   6
3rd Mexico      3  1  0  2  3  5   3                  3rd Spain        3  1  1  1  3  1   4
4th Uruguay     3  1  0  2  3  6   3                  4th Jamaica      3  0  1  2  2  6   1

Shockers in the group stage include the hosts Russia, England, and Spain all knocked out early.

Knockout Stage



Unfortunate for the Belgians who got knocked out in the 2nd Round. A team from South America won the World Cup but not the one most would expect to win..

Awards

Best Goalkeeper - Luis Guilherme (Brazil/FC Porto)
Golden Ball - 1st: Mamadou Camara (Senegal/Man Utd), 2nd: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), 3rd: Alex Sandro (Brazil/PSG)
Golden Shoe - 1st: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), 2nd: Pato (Brazil/AC Milan), 3rd: Sergio Aguero (Argentina/Man City)
Best Young Player - Angelo (Brazil/Real Madrid)
Dream Team

[B.W.G]

Wow...Chile winning the World Cup,first time I've seen that happen.Keep up the fantastic work at Galatasaray

[rancer890]

Wow...Chile winning the World Cup,first time I've seen that happen.Keep up the fantastic work at Galatasaray

Quite shocking for me as well! And thanks I really want to do well the following season for an extra reason which I will say after the transfer update.

Just rejected a job offer from Wales and Brazil. I'll be honest I haven't really been focusing on Canada lately (and especially during the season while fighting for that league title), and our first games were in June. I want to manage in the 2019 Gold Cup first though and then we'll see after that.

Jason Kreis also just got the head coach job with the USMNT.

[HotChocolate]

Cristiano Ronaldo up front with Hulk and Neymar on the wings?

[Raware]

Notable absentees:
- Africa - Egypt, Ivory Coast, Nigeria
- Asia/Oceania - Australia, China, New Zealand
- Europe - Germany, Greece
- North America - Canada
- South America - N/A

We know who to blame for that!

[City2000]

Doing a great job in Turkey

Bit of a shocker of a World cup there to say the least!

[rancer890]

Cristiano Ronaldo up front with Hulk and Neymar on the wings?

Ehh, Best Eleven and Dream Team were always a little fecked up with some weird selections in FM...

We know who to blame for that!

There's always next year! Erm, or the year after that!

Doing a great job in Turkey

Bit of a shocker of a World cup there to say the least!

Cheers mate. And yep, never seen Chile won a World Cup in any of my saves.

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

Pre-season has been going well so far, and we beat St. Kitts 2-0 in a friendly. I will probably do a formal update on that and the other games after the August transfer window update.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Quite a surprising World Cup. England and Spain out in the groups and Iran and DR Congo getting through, as well as Chile winning.

[rancer890]

I think the crash dumps have returned...

I'm not sure if it's related to the fact that I have a ATI card or something's buggered in my laptop. My other game saves in FM and my other games on this laptop seem to not have a problem.

[AK22]

Excellent season; especially, well done in getting to the semi-final of the Champions League too

Not sure I'm a huge fan of these Championship playoff things though. It certainly turned out to be an advantage for you this season, and I don't want to take anything away from your success, but I just think, if my team has proven itself to be the best over the course of a 30+ game season, I don't want some cheeky bugger snatching the trophy off me by winning a couple of bonus games (I'd be livid if I was Besiktas manager ). That's what the cup's are there for!

[rancer890]

Excellent season; especially, well done in getting to the semi-final of the Champions League too

Not sure I'm a huge fan of these Championship playoff things though. It certainly turned out to be an advantage for you this season, and I don't want to take anything away from your success, but I just think, if my team has proven itself to be the best over the course of a 30+ game season, I don't want some cheeky bugger snatching the trophy off me by winning a couple of bonus games (I'd be livid if I was Besiktas manager ). That's what the cup's are there for!

The championship group were like playoffs to me so it's no big deal (remember I come from watching American sports with a playoff system ). They're all important games and as a manager your goal is to win every game you play so it's only 6 more games for me to win after the 'regular season'.

[cerud]

I think whole crash dump thing is a memory issue. In the bug forum, tonnes of people are having similar issues. I was as well, but I added a bunch of RAM into my machine (as I was going to anyways) and all is good now. BUt hopefull SI is able to lessen the memory requirements.

[rancer890]

I think whole crash dump thing is a memory issue. In the bug forum, tonnes of people are having similar issues. I was as well, but I added a bunch of RAM into my machine (as I was going to anyways) and all is good now. BUt hopefull SI is able to lessen the memory requirements.

I'm not sure, it might be memory related. Although when it crashed I did alt-tab to see what's wrong and the memory problem makes sense. It was really weird, because I didn't have this problem on some saves I tested, only this one. And since I'm planning to get a new laptop (or desktop) in 5-6 months I might as well try my best with this one..the only annoying thing is replaying matches, which was why it took me so long last season in the first place. I don't know if patches can fix it up, because the last patch certainly didn't.

[rancer890]

2018-2019 Offseason Transfers - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

Transfers

It was quite a busy transfer period trying to revamp the squad because of some long time GS players leaving the club but I think the new reinforcements should help us contend this season and many future seasons.

Hesham Elmunir - he looks like a fine player but I'm having a little trouble playing him given the Turkish squad restrictions..we'll try our best

Erdogan Keles - the Turkish U21 international is a decent acquisition to help with the Turkish match day squad quota

Chris Reese - a very young and talented American player. I think he can succeed here in Turkey and fellow American right back Timothy Chandler (as well my Ass Man, and one my coaches and Fitness Coaches) is at the club too so hope he doesn't have a hard time getting acclimated in Turkey

Ferhat Acer - his agent recommended him to me when his contract was expiring and he looks like a solid player so I signed him up. I'm also ecstatic to see that he got his first senior cap with Turkey

Magaye Gueye - with the loss of my MVP Steven Zuber to Man City for $21 million (all upfront) + 50% of next transfer clause, I had to find a replacement and after failing to sign 3 other players, I acquired Gueye from Napoli. He was unwanted there and Napoli offered him to us but he seems like a good fit and stats wise he looked even better than Zuber!

Alper Potuk - I needed a Turkish midfielder to help with the quotas on the match day squad and Potuk seemed to be a good fit at the club. Hopefully he's recovered after an injury in preseason and can contribute and lead us to a league title.

We also lost some solid role players like Ceyhun Gulselam, Serkan Kurtulus, Sercan Yilidirim and a reserve player in Ismail Unsal. I had thought of releasing Selcuk Inan but I wasn't sure if I could acquire another Turkish midfielder outside of Potuk so I kept him for another season, and he accepted a 50% paycut from $7.5 million to $3.3 million. Also excited that Colin Kazim Richards decided to accept mutual termination after I let him rot in the reserves for an entire season earning him $4.3 million in the process. So more or less I gave him over $5 million to come to training on time and play reserve football.

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

UEFA Champions League

Group Stages
Groups A-C
Groups D-F
Groups G-H

Palermo and PSG will be tough opposition in our group but hopefully we can advance. Having faced PSG last year in the Knockout Stages they are a tough opponent so we will have to be at our best. I thought we did well to avoid the big clubs early as Groups A, B,C and F seem to very challenging groups, and with Group F, the Champions League winners (Arsenal) and finalist (Shakhtar) are in the same group.

And if anyone doesn't know where the final is held at, it's at GS's home stadium! So hopefully we can do well in the Champions League.

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2018 Friendlies

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

St. Vincent & The Grenadines 0-5 Canada

Canada 3-1 Paraguay

A shocker to me that we managed to beat Paraguay in a friendly. Considering my previous victories were against: Guatemala, Cuba, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, St. Kitts & Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, it was surprising to also beat Paraguay. They're rated 77th but they have a lot of quality on the team and players who are playing with big European clubs. It's nice to see our hard work paid off in this match and also nice to see we played at Saputo Stadium in Montreal. At least we're unbeaten there in my tenure.

Upcoming Fixtures:

Oct. 13: vs Australia (cancelled the Puerto Rico game)
Nov. 17: at Anguilla
Nov. 21: vs Indonesia

[deltablue]

Wouldn't that be something, if you played in it.

[City2000]

Looks like a decent CL group considering some of the clubs you could have drawn. Also some nice additions to the squad there, Reese looks a bargain and Gueye looks like he should get plenty of goals.

[rancer890]

Wouldn't that be something, if you played in it.

I would love to! But last season might just a fluke getting to the semis so I don't know..

Looks like a decent CL group considering some of the clubs you could have drawn. Also some nice additions to the squad there, Reese looks a bargain and Gueye looks like he should get plenty of goals.

Cheers City. I've been scouting Reese for over a year, and I had no interest in Gueye because I wanted to bring another Romanian (lots of good ones in my save) to replace Zuber but I think Gueye is the best option to replace Zuber out of all my targets in the offseason.

I'm now in October and I'm kind of regretting some of the foreigner purchases because I'm having a bit of trouble getting all the foreigners playing time. League average of domestic players is 64% while I'm only at 48%.

But the good news is the fact that with the recent youth facilities I now have the best facilities possible (top corporate/top training/excellent youth/excellent junior coaching/extensive youth recruitment) so hopefully I can successfully shift to a more homegrown approach in the future.

[Raware]

Maybe fate has intervened? The final at your ground? You won't get another chance like this in a long while...no pressure though .

[rancer890]

It's nice I got a job offer and other clubs are noticing my success at Galatasaray, but sorry, I don't want to leave yet.

[snootyjim]

Doesn't look like the greatest offer to me, low transfer budget and virtually no room to manoeuvre on the wage budget. Not saying it's impossible to work within those confines, but I suspect they've got a load of overpaid ageing 'stars' and as soon as you arrive they'll be expecting you to whisk them up in to the CL places rather than take a season or two to rebuild, since they're a reasonably big club. No reason not to move around, but I should think you'll be getting better offers than that in the near future.

[deltablue]

I'd stay for now.

[Raware]

Nope, you can't leave yet. You have a date with destiny in the CL final at your place.

[iHeadHunta x]

Just read up from where I left 7 weeks ago, Fantastic mate KUTGW

[roganp]

Good decision to turn that down. Your building a very good side at Gala and as Raware said, it's fate that you will reach the Champions League final on home turf

[City2000]

Always nice to be recognised for the work you are doing, right decision to stay though I think.

[rancer890]

Cheers guys. TBF, the only German club I would consider is Stuttgart. Although lately I have been in the rumour mill for a lot of job offers so we'll see...

[AK22]

Right decision to stay for now. Still plenty to achieve in Turkey

[rancer890]

When I say 'no', I mean it. (although tempting budgets, but I never liked Man Utd so easy to reject)

The only job I will consider is Barca.

[deltablue]

Good decision well made.

[cerud]

Yeah...i'd probably reject Man Utd as well. Good choice

[B.W.G]

Nice to see you showing loyalty towards Galatasaray,I would of done the same with rejecting both offers,especially the offer from Utd....rather manage Leverkusen with tighter budgets then Utd

[abulezz]

Reese looks like he could be a fine player - good desicion staying on at Galatasaray, I say. Not time to leeave just yet!

[DazRTaylor]

Great read and career Rancer.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Nobody would have liked you had you gone to manure.

[HotChocolate]

I'd accept Man Utd on my save but that's purely because I'd want to manage all the best teams in the EPL

Great choice on turning them down, much prefer to see you continue with Galatasary!

[Raware]

Nobody would have liked you had you gone to manure.

100% agree with this

[iHeadHunta x]

I hate Man Utd so well done on rejecting it

[dkpark51]

Congrats on the recent job offers!

Good luck with GS! Will stay tuned to see how it goes.

[jackripper]

pfft idiot shouldve taken the united job with both hands lol

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2019 Gold Cup Canadian Preview

I haven't posted in a LONG time, so lots of things to update! Firstly, the Canadian team update with some friendly results, and squad selection for the Gold Cup.

Friendlies:
February 13 - Grenada 1-3 Canada
Goals - Simeon Jackson, Junior Hoilett, Bryce Anderson

March 30 - Costa Rica 1-2 Canada
Goals - Nick Addesa, Xu Wei

Gold Cup Squad

Name (Club Name, Country) - Place of Birth (Youth System)

Goalkeepers:
Kevin Anderson (Kalmar FF, Sweden) - Trois-Rivieres, Quebec (Ventura County Fusion)
Mike Giezen (Zurich, Switzerland) - Vancouver, British Columbia (Vancouver Residency)
Simon Thomas (Huddersfield, England) - Victoria, British Columbia (Vancouver Residency)

Defenders:
Nana Attakora (FC Nordsjaelland, Denmark) - Toronto, Ontario (Toronto FC)
Bart Dijks (Stoke, England) - Hamilton, Ontario (Hamilton FC)
Wesley Gonsalves (Red Star, Serbia) - Toronto, Ontario (Cincinnati Kings)
Andre Hainault (FC Groningen, Netherlands) - Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec (Montreal Impact)
Will Halbouni (IF Elfsborg, Sweden) - Markham, Ontario (TFC Academy)
Gerry Heroux (Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Canada) - Kitchener, Ontario (Ventura County Fusion)
Jason Heroux (Zulte Waregem, Belgium) - Winnipeg, Manitoba (WSA Winnipeg)
Gerry Kawalit (Ajax, Netherlands) - London, Ontario (Forest City London)
Patrick Mude (Teplice, Czech Republic) - Vancouver, British Columbia (Vancouver Residency)

Midfielders:
Bryce Alderson (Laval, France) - Kitchener, Ontario (Vancouver Residency)
Junior Hoilett (Malaga, Spain) - Toronto, Ontario (Blackburn)
Will Johnson (Motherwell, Scotland) - Toronto, Ontario (Blackburn)
Abel Lopez Perez (Al-Wahda, UAE) - Thunder Bay, Ontario (Thunder Bay Chill)
Nick Olazabal (Helsingborgs IF, Sweden) - Grand Prairie, Alberta (Ventura County Fusion)
Jacopo Selmi (Novara, Italy) - Vancouver, British Columbia (Vancouver Residency)
Russell Teibert (Boluspor, Turkey) - Niagara Falls, Ontario (Vancouver Residency)

Forwards:
Nick Addesa (Randers Freja, Denmark) - Laval, Quebec (Ocean City Nor'easters)
Simeon Jackson (Padova, Italy) - Kingston, Jamaica (Rushden)
Adam McIntosh (Helsingborgs IF, Sweden) - Calgary, Alberta (Vermont Voltage)

Group Stage -

Group A - Curacao, Guatemala, Honduras, USA
Group B - Bermuda, Canada, Mexico, Panama
Group C - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, Jamaica

The goal is to win 2 out of 3 in our group.

Schedule:
June 10 - vs Bermuda (Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado)
June 14 - vs Mexico (Motor City Stadium, Detroit, Michigan??) - I actually have no idea where this stadium is located, or whether it exists IRL, since in Detroit they would play in Ford Field
June 17 - vs Panama (Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida)

[rancer890]

Nobody would have liked you had you gone to manure.

The main reason why I rejected. I wouldn't have liked myself!

[rancer890]

And there's a bit of good news for us (and probably the US too later on) as Chicharito didn't make the Mexican squad....despite the fact he's perfectly healthy!

[ManUTactician247]

And there's a bit of good news for us (and probably the US too later on) as Chicharito didn't make the Mexican squad....despite the fact he's perfectly healthy!

Is that good news or bad news? This means the strikers they picked are probably better than Chicharito!

[rancer890]

Is that good news or bad news? This means the strikers they picked are probably better than Chicharito!

They still got some solid real attacking players like Carlos Fierro and Gio and I think are still the best in CONCACAF. Last time we faced Mexico he was unstoppable.

[rancer890]

2018-2019 Season Review - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

League Standings | Championship Standings | Fixtures 1 Fixtures 2 | Past Positions - We nearly threw the league title away in the last 3 games, needing 1 point to clinch, but thankfully we managed to get that one point in the end.

UEFA Champions League - we did well in the Group Stages but we lost to Lyon in the First Knockout Round.

Super Kupa - We defeated Fenerbahce easily in the Super Cup.

Turkiye Kupasi - Very disappointing that we got eliminated at the first hurdle we were in in the Turkish Cup.

Transfers - I'll just discuss the key ones:

Chris Reese - a very good young American right back, who managed to get capped by the USA this past season. The San Diego native has a lot of potential and hopefully we can bring the best out of him in the upcoming seasons and keep improving as a footballer.

Ferhat Acer - he didn't play a whole lot, but hopefully next season he will get a lot more playing time. He was capped once by Turkey in the pre-season, so I know he does have that potential.

Magaye Gueye - a fantastc debut season for him in Turkey. The fact that he rebuilt his value after a couple decent seasons at Napoli means that three clubs (Roma, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla) are after him. At the right price, I will sell him.

Alper Potuk - the now Fenerbahce player IRL (just transferred there a few days ago!) had a very good season for us. He's one player I want to keep for the next few seasons as we continue to become the best club we can be.

Squad 1 Squad 2 - A solid squad but does lack a bit of Turkish depth which I will try to add in the upcoming transfer window.

GK - Fernando Muslera
DR - Chris Reese
DC - Kemal Tokak
DC - Serdar Aziz
DL - Emilio Izaguirre | Alin Voicu
MR - Jiloan Hamad
MC - Alper Potuk
MC - Nikola Loncar | Rodney Strasser
ML - Magaye Gueye
ST - Sultan Demir
ST - Vasile Gavrila | Daniel Raboczki

Cim Bom's Young Guns:

DL - Ali Apaydin - very young and talented player who I hope will develop into a nice left back for us. Next season: another year in the U18s.
DC - Samet Eker - he has some very good physical skills and now needs some first team experience. Next season: Kartalspor
DM/MC - Ramazan Gultekin - he's developed nicely and is now ready for some first-team experience. Next season: Kartalspor
ST/AMC - Onur Comak - has some nice attributes but needs to continue developing.
DC - Mehmet Salihebi - he's developed alright although not sure of his ceiling. He's compared to Aziz at the club but we'll see...
ST - Huseyin Yagmur - a very bad season overall at feeder club Kartalspor, scoring one goal in 32 games, but I still have hope for him. Next season: A spot on the bench with GS (out of necessity...)
MR - Umit Ozan Aslan - I'm quite excited by what he might become so he's probably heading on loan to Kartalspor.

Team MVP - Jiloan Hamad because despite only being 2.5 stars, he had 10+ goals, and 20+ assists, and scored some key ones too.

Overview | Facilities | Finances | Affiliations

Goals:
- we will be the 6th best European nation next season so there will be 3 Champions League spots, where 2 teams are guaranteed to make it to the Group Stages while the 3rd best team go to the Best Placed Q3 round. It would be nice if we're not the only Turkish team in the Champions League Group Stages every year...
- much of the same next year, but hopefully an improved performance in the Champions League. We lacked a lot of depth this season, so during the knockout round some of our were really jaded because I didn't have a whole lot of Turkish players at the right positions. However, hopefully next season will be better and we get the depth we have to succeed at all fronts.

Summary

Year        Team                 Country       League           Position          Notes and Info    Attendance    
2011        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série C               1st               Promotion         2,599
2012        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série B               3rd               Promotion         3,228
2013        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série A              15th                     N/A         5,437
2014        EC Santo André       Brazil        Série A               N/A                     N/A         -----
2014        DC United            USA           MLS                   2nd     US Open Cup Winners        17,930
2015        DC United            USA           MLS                   2nd     US Open Cup Winners        20,342
2016        DC United            USA           MLS                   N/A     CONCACAF CL Winners        ------
2016-2017   Galatasaray          Turkey        Super Lig             1st   Double + EL Finalists        45,556
2017-2018   Galatasaray          Turkey        Super Lig             1st          Domestic Title        47,602
2018-2019   Galatasaray          Turkey        Super Lig             1st          Domestic Title        48,775

[HotChocolate]

Easy!

Unlucky in the Champions League though, if you build on your squad you should be better next year!

[rancer890]

Easy!

Unlucky in the Champions League though, if you build on your squad you should be better next year!

Not easy near the end. We needed 1 point to clinch the title after 3 games in the Championship Group and we just barely did it. We nearly choked the title away.

I think our starting XI matches up with the best teams in the Champions League, but the team has to be better. Most of the squad was jaded at the end of the season because of the lack of Turkish players, which meant they more or less had to play in every game.

[Raware]

Total domination now in Turkey . You obviously rate Jiloan Hamad a lot higher than your scouts do...a fine season for assists and goals from the right winger. It's been a while since I've managed in Europe but I always thought Stancu was an up and coming star? I had him in FM07/08 and he was a scoring machine for me.

[rancer890]

Total domination now in Turkey . You obviously rate Jiloan Hamad a lot higher than your scouts do...a fine season for assists and goals from the right winger. It's been a while since I've managed in Europe but I always thought Stancu was an up and coming star? I had him in FM07/08 and he was a scoring machine for me.

Stancu isn't bad, as you can see here. It's just that Gavrila and Raboczki are better than him and with the foreign restrictions I had that meant that Stancu wasn't chosen in the matchday squad unless one of the two foreign ST I had were injured.

[ManUTactician247]

IRL Stancu has been shipped out on loan to newly promoted team Orduspor and doesn't look like he's coming back.

[cerud]

I always hate ******* away a good season in the final few games. I think I've gotten better...might have been a reputation thing. Congrats on overcoming it! :0

[rancer890]

2018-2019 End of Season News - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

League Reputation: Spor Toto Super Lig is now the 6th best league in Europe, surpassing Russia.

Club Coefficients: Up 5 spots to 14th

League Coefficients: We moved into 6th spot ahead of Ukraine, which means we got an extra Champions League group stage spot!

[rancer890]

I always hate ******* away a good season in the final few games. I think I've gotten better...might have been a reputation thing. Congrats on overcoming it! :0

I know eh? I would explode if we blew that last game against Fenerbahce. Good thing it didn't happen.

[deltablue]

Bringing in the crowds as well.

[HotChocolate]

Great news on taking an extra spot for the Champions League, should, hopefully, be able to attract better players now

[iHeadHunta x]

Great news on taking an extra spot for the Champions League, should, hopefully, be able to attract better players now

Agree ^ well done m8

[City2000]

Congrats on another good domestic season! Tough game against Lyon in Europe.

[B.W.G]

Another fantastic domestic season,unlucky in Europe but there's always next season.

[roganp]

3 successive titles, great work

[AK22]

Well done on another league title.

The Champions League dream of playing the final at your home ground didn't quite happen though. Looks like a decent show from all the Turkish sides in Europe next season could easily put the Turkish Super Lig above the French Ligue 1

[rancer890]

2019-2020 Season Preview - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

Media Prediction: 1st
Spor Toto Super Lig Expectations: Title Challenge (I want to win it!)
Turkiye Kupasi Expectations: Be competitive (I want to win it!)
UEFA Champions League Expectations: Reach Group Stage (Aim for the Quarter-Finals)
TV Revenue: $21.59 million
Transfer Budget: $57.57 million
Wage Budget: $94 million (currently spending $50,846,932)

[rancer890]

And thanks everyone! Hopefully we can attract some players who wouldn't have otherwise thought about coming to Turkey.

Unfortunately, getting to the top 5 might be a bit of trouble as we would need Besiktas and Fenerbahce (and some of the other clubs) to start getting some results in Europe because we can't do this on our own. We had 5 clubs in the Europa League group stage, but only one or two of them advanced to the knockout rounds.

[dkpark51]

Media Prediction: 1st
Spor Toto Super Lig Expectations: Title Challenge (I want to win it!)
Turkiye Kupasi Expectations: Be competitive (I want to win it!)
UEFA Champions League Expectations: Reach Group Stage (Aim for the Quarter-Finals)
TV Revenue: $21.59 million
Transfer Budget: $57.57 million
Wage Budget: $94 million (currently spending $50,846,932)[/LEFT]

Good work so far. You've got lots of fianances to work with both in trasnfers and wages, how's your club in terms of attracting other players?

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2019 Gold Cup

Group Stage games:

Bermuda 1-3 Canada

Canada 0-2 Mexico

Canada 4-1 Panama

A solid group stage and we did what was expected: We beat Bermuda and Panama, and lost to Mexico.



Quarter-Finals

Canada 4-1 Guatemala

Another solid match against Guatemala. We controlled the game throughout and I didn't think we were going to lose this one.

Semi-Finals

Canada 0-2 Mexico

Despite some adjustments, we did a lot better against Mexico the second time around but we had the same result with a 2-0 loss which ended our run in the Gold Cup. We just couldn't contain Carlos Fierro in the 2 games.

---

Up next, are some friendlies before WCQ starts. Not sure if we start in the Second Phase or Third Phase but we'll be ready to attempt to qualify for 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

[rancer890]

Good work so far. You've got lots of fianances to work with both in trasnfers and wages, how's your club in terms of attracting other players?

We can't really acquire players from the bigger clubs unless the player in question is usually transfer-listed and wants to just leave for anywhere, so we utilize the smaller European leagues to acquire players as well as North America. I scout South America but I don't really acquire anyone from there.

[HotChocolate]

Unlucky in the Gold Cup, it will always be tough when you have nations like USA and Mexico in with you.

[cerud]

Tough draw against Mexico in the Gold Cup. Glad that it was a better showing than in the group stages though.

[rancer890]

Unlucky in the Gold Cup, it will always be tough when you have nations like USA and Mexico in with you.

Cheers mate, but it's hard every year. I can bank on the US losing to someone every now and then but not Mexico.

Tough draw against Mexico in the Gold Cup. Glad that it was a better showing than in the group stages though.

I guess the only good thing to come out of it was that we didn't need to face Mexico till the Semi's at a minimum since we were in the same group.

After that terrible run in the last WCQ this was our first real test against CONCACAF opposition and I thought we did really well. Of course, I would have loved to face Honduras or Jamaica to see how we compare to them but that opportunity won't come till the Third Phase of WCQ at a minimum.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Just got to crack Europe. And then the world. Easy peasy.

[rancer890]

Just got to crack Europe. And then the world. Easy peasy.

Hopefully Nobby.

I've just signed a 3 year contract extension with GS until June 2023 worth $3.6 million a year, more than doubling the current $1.5 million yearly wage I've been earning at the club.

[AK22]

Decent showing in the Gold Cup, should set you up nicely for your WC qualifiers

Never going to beat Mexico though

[dkpark51]

Good work getting as far as you did in the Gold Cup.

[rancer890]

2019-2020 Offseason Transfers - Galatasaray S.K. - Spor Toto Super Lig

Transfers

We didn't sign a whole lot of players, but these were the only ones I could get at the right price. And they're all Turkish, because there's no point signing foreigners which such strict guidelines that I probably can't play them much.

Jem Karacan - a player who I've wanted for a while and happy to get him now

Yasin Yildiz - a free signing from RB Leipzig who will be a depth player and rotate with Gueye

Sadettin Kapucu - a very talented goalkeeper who I've been tracking for a couple seasons. His release clause is only $4.8 million so hopefully this can be re-negotiated in a few months to a more market value amount. He'll give us a proven option alongside Muslera, who's contract is expiring at the end of the season, and someone I want to keep at the club, if his agent wants to be fair in the negotiations.

Hakan Selvi - a young centre back acquired from a 2.Lig club who's already capped for the U19s at 16 years old! A low risk, high reward signing given the fact I only paid $120k.

Leaving the club were longtime GS players Stancu and Tekdemir. Stancu went back home to Romania with CFR Cruj while Tekdemir signed with Orduspor. I managed to acquire another feeder in Super Lig club Boluspor and sent Sahin there, who's in the last year of his contract. Three of my youngsters went down to Kartalspor, now in the 2.Lig and hopefully they do better than Yagmur last season.

Also happy to sell Chandler to another club, although I only got $1.5 million + 50% of next transfer clause and I'm paying him $1.2 million this season.

Staff

Three new members joined our staff this past summer:

Physio Ilker Aribas

Youth Coach and former GS player Selcuk Inan

Youth Coach and former GS player Sabri Sarioglu

Inan and Sarioglu have been longtime GS players and I'm happy that they're staying with the club as part of the coaching staff.

Contract Extensions

Sultan Demir and Vasile Gavrila have both signed 5 year contract extensions until June 2024. Their previous contracts were set to expire in 2021. Both are very good players and I want them to stay at GS.

Demir has more or less the same terms but with an increased appearance fee/goal bonus, as well as a 15% yearly wage rise, and Gavrila got a minor increase in this season's salary, with a 15% yearly wage rise and a minor increase in both appearance fee and goal bonus. Both are still on very controllable wages and give us flexibility (well tbf, we're only spending $47 million in player salaries with a $94 million budget ! Although with the current situation that we still have a loan to pay off, this club will lose money if we're around the $60-$70 million mark) for a couple high earners.
--------------

UEFA Champions League

Group Stages
Groups A-C
Groups D-F
Groups G-H

It's a good group overall. It definitely could have been worse! Real Madrid will obviously pose the biggest threat for us but we might have been in Group B or H so I'll take it!

[HotChocolate]

For some reason (I have no idea what that reason is) I absolutely love FC Kobenhavn, everything about them!

Good luck this season, not much money has been spent which is a first for someone on these boards!

[rancer890]

For some reason (I have no idea what that reason is) I absolutely love FC Kobenhavn, everything about them!

Good luck this season, not much money has been spent which is a first for someone on these boards!

Cheers HC, but we're going to try and beat Kobenhavn. (although one of Canada's best players, Atiba Hutchinson played for them so I kinda like the club too!)

And it's not that I don't want to spend, it's that I want to spend market value and some Turkish players are just way too overpriced from what my scouts have been saying!

I've also noticed the average age at the club is 22! So I don't think we will challenge for the Champions League in the next couple years until my key players start entering their prime years. We have a lot of youth in Reese, Voicu, Demir, Gravila, Kapucu, and my GS youth products who based on potential are really good and hopefully we can keep this core together and make a serious run in a couple years.

And on the domestic player bias front, we're now at 65% which is exactly league average. I also didn't spend money because if I was going to spend some serious money, it would be on a foreign player who can take us over the top in Europe.

[HotChocolate]

Cheers HC, but we're going to try and beat Kobenhavn. (although one of Canada's best players, Atiba Hutchinson played for them so I kinda like the club too!)

And it's not that I don't want to spend, it's that I want to spend market value and some Turkish players are just way too overpriced from what my scouts have been saying!

I've also noticed the average age at the club is 22! So I don't think we will challenge for the Champions League in the next couple years until my key players start entering their prime years. We have a lot of youth in Reese, Voicu, Demir, Gravila, Kapucu, and my GS youth products who based on potential are really good and hopefully we can keep this core together and make a serious run in a couple years.

And on the domestic player bias front, we're now at 65% which is exactly league average. I also didn't spend money because if I was going to spend some serious money, it would be on a foreign player who can take us over the top in Europe.

I've always thought building a young side is the best way to go!

You don't have to spend much and you can make some great profit when they get around 27 years old where you can sell them at their peak!

[dkpark51]

Shrewd transfer policy. I quite like the look of Kapucu, looks like a good GK.

What's the domestic player policy like in the Turkish league?

[rancer890]

Canadian National Soccer Team - 2019 Friendlies

Sorry for lack of updates firstly, I have been busy with various things, including my virtual life (Sims 3 ), my real life (school), and Korean dramas (My Princess fyi. I still have several more to go! Which hopefully is only another week or two of watching before I'm up to date )

Anyways, onto more FM related news with Team Canada!~

All of the following matches are friendlies and thus end the 2019 season:

August 14 - Guadeloupe 0-3 Canada

September 7 - US Virgin Islands 0-1 Canada

September 11 - Singapore 0-3 Canada

October 12 - Honduras 1-3 Canada

November 16 - Canada 2-1 Northern Ireland

November 20 - Canada 2-1 Latvia

I was very excited about our results here. I was shocked when Junior Hoilett somehow disappeared from my national team when I found out he actually retired from international football! However, as you can see from the screenshots, I managed to persuade him to unretire from the national team and he made an impact in the final 3 friendlies. I think we're getting a lot better as a team from these friendlies and it's a positive sign heading into the 3rd Phase of WCQ

2022 World Cup CONCACAF Qualifying - Third Phase

Group 1 - Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago
Group 2 - Bermuda, Guatemala, Honduras, USA
Group 3 - Canada, Costa Rica, Curacao, St. Vincent & the Grenadines

It's a favourable group compared to the other ones. So hopefully we do what's needed of us and advance to the Hex. WCQ is in the latter half of the year so the first half of the year will be more friendlies to prepare us for the competitive matches.

--

If I think I'm playing the game too slowly, I might start posting mid-season updates.

[Raware]

Some good results with Canada . I'm surprised Hoilett changed his mind, I've never seen anyone change their mind on FM regarding retirement.

Looks like a good group too. Qualification should be certain.

[abulezz]

Costa Rica might be a minor challenge, but I dont see you losing any of your matches!

[HotChocolate]

How can Sims prioritize FM?

[dkpark51]

Doing great with the Canadian national team!

[rancer890]

Some good results with Canada . I'm surprised Hoilett changed his mind, I've never seen anyone change their mind on FM regarding retirement.

Looks like a good group too. Qualification should be certain.

Cheers Raware. I wasn't very hopeful that Hoilett would unretire but he's only entering the prime of his football career, and I had or more nothing to lose...Hoilett is by far our best player in the national pool and without him we would struggle.

Qualification from this group is a must. There's some unfinished business to take care of...

Costa Rica might be a minor challenge, but I dont see you losing any of your matches!

With the performances I've seen in international friendlies, we're going to go out and win this Third Phase.

How can Sims prioritize FM?

Sims 3 and FM are equals. They take a back seat to my coursework and kdramas.

Doing great with the Canadian national team!

Cheers dkpark! Perhaps we should play some competitive fixtures at Saputo Stadium instead of BMO...because we are certainly doing a lot better there!

[B.W.G]

Some solid results with Canada,good luck in the qualifying

[rancer890]

Some solid results with Canada,good luck in the qualifying

Cheers mate. Gonna try my best to get Canada back to the World Cup as we haven't gone there in my save and Hoilett isn't going to stay in his prime forever...

[Nobby_McDonald]

The final group is always going to be Mexico, USA, Costa Rica and whomever else can get through the Second Round.

[dkpark51]

Cheers dkpark! Perhaps we should play some competitive fixtures at Saputo Stadium instead of BMO...because we are certainly doing a lot better there!

Do it! Play in Montreal! Toronto is NOT the center of the universe.

[rancer890]

Do it! Play in Montreal! Toronto is NOT the center of the universe.

It's the centre of the hockey universe though.

Sadly, it's out of my control because I don't even want to play at BMO for all competitive matches. It's Team Canada, not Team Toronto. Some games at BC Place, Commonwealth Stadium, the new Winnipeg stadium, Saputo and even Olympic Stadium would be nice...

[deltablue]

Vancouver is, have some friends from there so knew all about the Canucks.

[cerud]

Vancouver is, have some friends from there so knew all about the Canucks.

Canucks...eh. I live in Vancouver, but am a transplant from Edmonton. Oilers all the way!

Good on you for getting Holliet back out of international retirement. He ended up on the World Cup Team of the Year in my game.

[Dejay]

Looks like you are doing well, keep it up

[Deisler26]

Do it! Play in Montreal! Toronto is NOT the center of the universe.

LOL Montreal!

Good luck with Team Canada, Rancer!