FM12: Górnik Zabrze - Torcida

History

First years

The club was founded in 1948, three years after borders of Poland had switched westwards and the city of Zabrze (until then called Hindenburg) became part of the Polish Republic. Górnik was based on several smaller sports associations that had existed in Zabrze between 1945 and 1948 - KS Zjednoczenie, KS Pogon, KS Skra, KS Concordia. The clubs merged into a single organisation, which took the name "Górnik", the Polish word for "Miner", reflecting the fact that Zabrze was an important coal-mining centre.

In 1950 Górnik joined the Opole Silesia regional league. In 1952 the club was promoted to the Polish Second Division. Their first game in the second tier was against Skra Częstochowa, and was witnessed by 20,000, with Górnik winning 5-1. The whole season was very successful and Górnik finished second overall, behind Górnik Wałbrzych.

The club was promoted to the top division in 1955. In their first game in the top flight Górnik beat local rivals Ruch Chorzów 3-1, with 25,000 in attendance; the club finished the season in 6th place.

First successes

In 1957, just a year after promotion, Górnik won its first championship of Poland. The team, with star, Ernest Pohl, was third in 1958, to regain the crown in 1959 and 1961, together with such players as Stanislaw Oslizlo and Hubert Kostka. In 1961 Górnik for the first time appeared in European Cups, losing in the first round to Tottenham Hotspur.

Golden years

The next championship, won in 1963, marked the beginning of an unusual streak of five consecutive titles (1963, 64, 65, 66 and 67), which is a Polish record.

Górnik's biggest success in European football took place in 1970 (even though in Poland the team was second, after Legia Warsaw). In the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, Gornik beat all their opponents - Olympiacos, Rangers, Levski Sofia and AS Roma, reaching the final, which took place in Vienna. There, Manchester City turned out to be the better team, winning 2-1. The following season Górnik would once again play Manchester City, with the 1970 final being repeated this time in the quarter-final.

Late 1970s and early 1980s

During the mid-1970s Górnik form deteriorated and in late spring of 1978, the team was relegated to the Second Division. However, it returned after one year and in games of 1979-80, Zabrze's side finished sixth. In 1984, after purchasing of a group of talented players (Ryszard Komornicki, Waldemar Matysik, Eugeniusz Cebrat, Andrzej Zgutczyński, Tadeusz Dolny, Andrzej Pałasz), Gornik finished fourth, which was a sign of better times.

Late 1980s until now

Between 1985 and 1988 Górnik again marked a magnificent streak, with four consecutive championships. Zabrze's side also played versus renowned European powerhouses, such as Bayern Munich, Anderlecht, Hamburger SV, Juventus and Real Madrid.

In 1994 Górnik competed again for the title and with players as Jerzy Brzęczek, Grzegorz Mielcarski, Tomasz Wałdoch, hopes were high. Before the last round of the league the standings at the top were: Legia 47 points and Górnik 45 points. Since the two teams were to face each other in Warsaw, Górnik still had a chance to win the title. However the game ended in a 1-1 tie which gave Legia the crown. Before Legia scored the goal which gave her the title (the score 0-1 would mean the title for Gornik), the referee of the match - Mr Redzinski - sent off one by one 3 players from Gornik's squad, and Gornik had to finished match with only 8 players against 11 players of Legia. It was the last match in Mr Redzinski's career.

In the same year Górnik played its last so far game in European Cups, losing to Admira Wacker Vienna.

In the spring of 2007 Górnik got a new sponsor - German insurance company Allianz. However, after finishing 16th in the Ekstraklasa in 2008-09, the club was relegated to the Polish First League, the 2nd level of Polish football, during the 2009-10 season. In June 2010, the club earned promotion back to the Ekstraklasa for the 2010-11 season.

Achievements

History of Górnik Zabrze classifications in the Ekstraklasa

Ekstraklasa (First League)

1st Place (14-co-record): 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988

2nd Place (4): 1962, 1969, 1974, 1991

Polish Cup

Winner (6): 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972

Finalist (7): 1956, 1957, 1962, 1966, 1986, 1992, 2001

Polish SuperCup

Winners (1): 1988

Polish League Cup

Winners (1) 1978 (Not Official)

UEFA Champions League

Quarter-Final (1): 1968

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (UEFA Cup)

Finalist (1): 1970

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Górnik Official Web Site

Górnik Zabrze in FM12

General Information

Facilities

Meet The Squad

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfilders

Forwards

So we have basic info about Górnik Zabrze. Now let's go to tactic aspect and best formation (in mine opinion).

So best foramtion will be 4-3-3. With one striker and two inside forwards, and three central midfilders. Somthing like this:

Second formation that i will use will be somthing like this:

In mine opinion thous two formation will be the best for squad we have. We don't have great players so we be fighting in league to make 8-10 position in table. I alway like to play offensive football in any team i manage so in Górnik i want to play the same way but when i play with stronges teams like Wisła, Legia, Lech i play more defensive tactic just like second screenshot.

We don't have any money to spend in transfer window, so i decide to play that team what i have with no in and outs. But you can sell some players to other clubs to have some moneys and spend it for some transfers. I alway like to have more players from that country i manage so i like to have more polish players then other countries.

So if you want to have some fun in FM12 make sure you manage Górnik Zabrze!

Chyba nikt nie chce z Tobą Jojko gadać :/

After not getting in to Gladbach and not really fancying continuing Genoa for the time being I decided to take these on after seeing your thread and noticing the top level youth recruitment (this is more important than the facilities themself IMO as it is harder to get increased and also brings a better chance of top class regens)

No money spent but I did bring 4 frees in who are all good enough for the 1st team IMO

Results wise it took a while to get a tactic going that had a good balance so I eventually ended up with a 4-4-2 with DM's I made for Tromso ages ago and it has worked a treat. We're currently sitting in 7th with 10 games left but only 7 points off 4th and with the way everyone seems to beat each other I wouldn't rule out a top 4 place just yet but top 6 is my aim now i've got myself in this position.

Finances drop quite quickly due to only having 3500 capacity at the moment (though other sources suggest it should be 10,000) so the upgrade to 24,000 in March 2013 will be welcome (then up to 32,000 in 2014)

These three were offered to me by agents, I couldn't scout them (board won't extend scouting network) so took them on trail and they impressed.

I've signed them and put them in the reserves for now and see how good they are come next season, if they are anywhere near a first team slot then i'll be putting them in there as their ages mean they can go in the squad without taking either a foreign or other slot up. Their physicals would usually be a worry but I think in this division I will able to get away with it for a while. I've mainly signed them for resale anyway tbh, currently worth between £500k and £600k each which would mean an offer worth £1M upwards would be too hard to turn down as it stands.

Long term I want a more realistic Polish/German/Austrian squad but needs must at the moment and any Kid who could be worth something will be signed.

(Guess i'll treble post then )

Managed a 4th place finish and thanks to Lech winning the cup it meant I made the Europa places

Player of the year (no matter what the average ratings suggest) was Tomaz Zahorski

Seemed to be involved in everything good about us and I hope he can do it for another few years for us yet.

Milik has been progressing nicely (i'll do a screenie tomorrow) and has had game time, i'll try and give him even more next year. A pair of sponsorship deals came through which totaled just over £1M a year (slightly better than the previous ones) and I have £115k to spend, my plan is to get young players cheap/free though and spend next to nothing.

Europa League

FA Cup

Player of the season

Transfers

Ogaga

Bagaev

Absolutely delighted with the way the season went. We were playing catchup to Lech in the first 20 games (5 points behind) and wasn't overly consistent so I used the winter break to make big changes to the tactic (I actually went back to the classic screen for the first time since FM09 ) and play against bigger clubs in friendlies, where bar the odd defeat (to be expected) it worked quite well so I stuck with it for the remainder of the season and eventually overhauled Lech after beating them at home 3-2 to put us in top spot where we stayed.

The regens I brought in last season didn't really feature much but Diallo and Traore are pushing for a place now and with a weak depth to the squad they'll be needed to step up. As you can see from the screenie Malik has been developing well, anyone taking the save on should really think about starting him from the off as he does seem to get better and better with each game.

I'm finding it hard to get any good Polish players interested in coming apart from a magnificent free capture of Pawel Brozek who should score goals for fun in this league. I am hoping another strong campaign will go some way to sort that but for the time being I am going to have to just go abroad as I can't really afford for us to stall with finances the way they are.

The first stadium upgrade is done and we were getting between 5,000 and 7,000 which was a bit of a help.

One good thing is Poland have gained an extra CL spot and will have to play a qualifying round less thanks mostly to us and Lech making the Europa group stage and having 3 other clubs make the final qualifying round.

Transfers in are all frees.

I am testing out a 3-5-2 tactic for this season, so far it's working ok but I might revert to the 4-4-2 depending how it goes. My main aim is simply to get in the group stages of the CL which should be achievable and finish in the top 2 so we are in it again next year.

Table

CL group (lost 4-1 on agg to Chelsea in the first knockout)

Cup (Lost in quarter final)

Player of the year

Bak

Nocoun (both youth intakes)

Kasusula (£100k signing in Jan)

A better season this time around I feel, I ended up going 4-3-3 wingers with a slight defensive mentality with the champions league in mind and whilst against Real Madrid and Chelsea it failed (to be expected really) over the course of the season it worked well. The money brought in from the CL run means the training and youth facilities get their 1st boost without us needing to worry about the cost.

The squad is going to get a big overhaul in the summer so I can bring a few kids through and buy a few as well.

I am going to put this on hold for the time being as the lack of interest in the thread is making me feel like i'm talking to myself I'll either wait a few weeks or if the thread gets more active then come back to it, if anyone has been thinking about giving this a go then I say you should do it, it's been a good little save so far and like I say it's only the lack of interest that is making me put this on hold as I like being in active threads where I can about it to other people.

Nice job so far. Shame you're putting on hold. Was fun reading your updates. I'm having too much fun with Red Star now but I usually get bored after my 1st season with any team so who knows, perhaps I might give this a shot later on.