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One Man, One Dream and Five Champions Leagues


Azeryk`

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About Myself:

My name is Craig although on here I go by the name of Azeryk - I've been using the forums on and off for the past 8-9 years so ignore my post count as I have a tendency of losing password. In the past couple of years I've grown to enjoy career games more and this time I intend to get a decent way into the game (20 seasons or more). As some of you may have read I am already in season 7 but have decided today to make my own thread in order to gain more feedback off other forum members - due to this some screen shots from the early seasons have been taken several years afterwards.

Objective:

My aim is the same as in FM11 - to start off as a nobody in the lowest English league and go on to win the Champions League in 5 different continents - my game will be without any edits and with a starting reputation of "Sunday League".

I will start off my loading all leagues in England, Germany, Italy and Spain and will use the add/remove feature as soon as required to allow me to move on to the next stage of the challenge

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Season 1

I was determined to start the career with a English side so I turned down several foreign jobs before Boston United approached me in November, ranked 16th in the league despite being tipped to finish in the top three. The club is of a decent stature for the Blue Square North and the stadium holds just over 6000 so I have plenty to work with. The squad is fairly decent; but the club seriously lacks a goalscorer so that was going to be the first place I strengthen.

In comes Jamil Adams, a free signing highly recommended my my scouts and he soon made am impact on the league hitting 30 goals in 30 games and becoming the top scorer for the league. Due to him massive impact we scrapped top spot and promotion at the first chance - it might have only been my one point but is quickly showed how every match is important. Infact three points separated the top7!

We were out of both cups by the time I arrived so I had nothing to distract me from the league although his didn't help us financially.

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Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions

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Season 2

With us getting promoted last season we were tipped to be struggling this season but with Jamil still at the club I had every hope of doing better and aiming for a top half finish - my aim signings wise was to find another goalscorer to at least assist Jamil Adams as we relied on him too heavily last season and if he hits bad form or gets injured then I'm screwed.

Well I failed at finding a friend for Jamil up front although he stayed injury and bad form free so at least them helped. We done as per expectations for the whole season but hit some good form towards the latter end which took us up to second and into the play-off places. We had no chance of top spot (Stockport) but I was thrilled with him we were doing so didn't mind. We met Newport in the semi-finals of the play-offs winning 4-3 on agg. and faced Luton in the finals and lost 0-1 which was massively disappointing.

Both cups went so bad I can't remember how they went.

Jaim Adams hit 41 goals in 46 games = a club legend in the making.

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Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals

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Season 3

After coming so close this time I wanted to finish in top spot - especially as I HATE play-offs as I tend to lose in the finals. I had upgraded a lot of players during the pre-season and we did look much stronger compared to last season. We started the season strongly and looked like we would run away with the league but hit a bit of bad form just as Wrexham hit an unbeaten spell and it let them run away with the league and leave me in second (again). SO play-offs again so I wasn't feeling confident, first off was Grimsby who we beat 3-0 on agg although all three goals came in extra time in the second leg (damn tense game). The final was against Barnet and I lost my one goal (again); 3-4. So yet another season in the Blue Square Premier for me :(

Again the cups went bad enough that I forgot what happened, I just can't explain why the cups are going so bad.

Managed to sign Jamil Adams on a long term deal so regardless of whether I stay or go he will remain at the club for another two seasons - although if I leave I will regret that as it stops me taking him with me as easily. He managed 48 goals in 50 games for us this season.

I decided at the end of this season that season 4 would be my final one at Boston United as I seem to have hit a stumbling spot.

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Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals

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Ahh I did wonder if you were the artist formerly known as Azeryk!

Good start, shame about missing out on a successive promotion.

Yeah I've been around a while, got a few thousand posts if I added all accounts together ;)

and it was a shame, I've never been so close but failed before so many times.

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Season 4

After coming so close twice in a row this was going to be my final season at Boston United so I was going to go all out for top spot. I tweaked the squad but overall we had the talent to get promoted last season so there wasn't much left to do but get on with it. Well to say we hit expectations would be spot on! We romped through the league and after we few games we were top and didn't come close to losing it - it even game me enough of a cushion to concentrate on the FA Trophy for a change and that ended my losing streak in cup competitions. The FA trophy went so well I won every match by 2 or more goals, no scrapping through for me.

So it made a perfect ending to my final season, two trophies - one for the league and one for the FA Trophy

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Jamil Adams screen shot taken 6 months after I left Boston: 163 games and 154 goals whilst I managed him, I've never had a lower league player have as much as an impact

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Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2014/15    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  1st         FA Trophy Winners

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Season 5

So I resigned from Boston United after getting them into the football league and was all set to be joining a team in league 1 or 2. The first offer to come along was Shrewsbury - not bad as they were expected to do pretty well in league two in the new season but I thought I would give it a week before making a decision. Am I pleased I done that! A few days later and Burnley - who had just been relegated from the Premier League offered me a job - making this the biggest jump up the leagues I've ever had. My personal wage went from £800 to nearly £11,000 a week.

So after accepting I went on the task of stopping all of my best players from leaving, I figured if I could keep the whole team intact I could go straight back up - even the press predicted me second. This was also the first time I could spend money on transfers and was giving me a whooping £4M to spend - that is a massive £4M more than at Boston :p I brought in Jack Hobbs from Huddersfield for £1.5M to give me strength in the middle of defence and mid-season signed Ross Turnbull on a free in January. Both turned out to be top signings with Turnbull conceding far less goals that my previous keeper and Hobbs scored 14 goals from DC position!

Squad at the end of the season:

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The season went well, we were always in the top 3 and between us, Huddersfield and West Ham (both also previously relegated from the Prem) we were never in any jeopardy of going lower. Towards the end of the season West Ham hit bad form and we took advantage and went well clear of the runners up - but at least I didn't need to go trough any play-offs! Charlie Austin and Matt Phillps both went to hit 20 goals in the season giving me plenty of goal scorers up front (both go on to my England débuts in the future)

The cups went bad but I put out weakened sides for both cups as quick promotion to the Premiership was my only aim this season

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Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2014/15    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  1st         FA Trophy Winners
2015/16    Burnley             English Championship         1st         Division Champions

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Season 6

So there I was looking forward to life in England's top league and looking to sign a few players and watch Euro 2016 when Wenger retires from Arsenal - so I think - HEY, why not? - so I apply much to Burnley's disapproval. And for some reason why accept!?! I went from Boston to Arsenal (BSP to Prem) in 13 months!?!

So Iuickly identified they still have a goalkeeping problem (hadn't bought a new keeper in the previous 5 seasons) so brought in ter Stegen for £25M and with V.Persie reaching his 30s needed a new striker so got Abel Hernandez for £24.5M. The rest of the squad seemed good enough and there are a few decent kids coming through the ranks so was happy enough to only buy two players. I offloaded a few players to pull back £10M in transfers.

The season went well although we never looked like winning the league, we were always behind Man Utd but several points and despite scoring the most goals (111) and having the best goal difference (+72) we finished in 3rd - so at least an improvement from 5th the season before I took charge. We won the League cup so at least some silver in the first season and lost in the FA Cup final 2-3 to man Utd and lost to Athletic Madrid in the Euro Cup Q-finals. The season basically went downhill when the African Nations started and I lost 6 first team players to the competition.

Next season hopefully we'll be able to compete for top spot.

On a plus note Abel Hernandez did go and score 52 goals in 49 games so at least he was worth every penny.

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League Cup Run:

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Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2014/15    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  1st         FA Trophy Winners
2015/16    Burnley             English Championship         1st         Division Champions
2016/17    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         League Cup Winners

Not long after the season started England sacked McLaren (again) so I applied for the England job - and got that O_O I got offered Euro 2016 champions Spain as well but decided to go for my home nation even if Spain were the better side.

England went well - won every match in the World cup qualification and won all friendlies so couldn't ask for more. The squad is good although England are lacking a proper striker as Rooney is getting old and Wickman is not good enough but will have to do.

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Season 7

After how last season went I though we would have a good chance of winning the league title if we were strengthen so I spent £60M brining in 3 regens, a DR, DC and AMR/ST. Last season we scored plenty of goals and coceded too many so I felt this should have done the trick.

It didn't - by March I was 5th in the league and 16 points away from top spot, KO'd from the Champions league to Athletic Madrid and KO'd from the League Cup to Man Utd early on. The only bright spot was I was in the FA Cup.

I was tearing my hair out at this stage - I scrapped all of my tactics and went back to the basics 4-4-2 and 4-5-1.

This seemed to do the trick, we stopped throwing away silly away matches and turned defeats into draws and draws into wins and managed to wiggle our way up top 3rd (just) and made our way to the FA Cup final where we beat Spurs (who I support) 2-0. So we might have missed out on the big one but at least I won something else.

We still seem off the pace but I think a couple of midfielders could be all it takes - and this time I mean it.

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FA Cup run:

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Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2014/15    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  1st         FA Trophy Winners
2015/16    Burnley             English Championship         1st         Division Champions
2016/17    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         League Cup Winners
2017/18    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         FA Cup Winners

England: We qualified for the World Cup with ease with one defeat (to Croatia) and more recently I have lost a couple of friendlies which has caused problems (inc. 4-0 to N.Ireland!) so am going to change tactics here as well. Something which has failed to help me has been my assistant manager picking the world cup squad for me - not sure how I missed that news post.

Well the World Cup sucked, qualified from the group with ease and faced Morocco in the first Knockouts where despite having 25 shots only managed a 1-1 draw where we then lost on penalties

Did have the chance to take over most nations as nearly every manager was either sacked or resigned but have decided to see how Euro'18 goes so will probably leave after that tournament but we'll just have to see.

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Another manager who's had Jamil Adam? Definitely a forward of choice for smaller UK clubs, thats Boston, Airdrie (with myself), Armagh, Stranraer and Tranmere that I've seen people have him at, mostly with success.

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Another manager who's had Jamil Adam? Definitely a forward of choice for smaller UK clubs, thats Boston, Airdrie (with myself), Armagh, Stranraer and Tranmere that I've seen people have him at, mostly with success.

He does seem to be a lower league legend - I didn't know of anyone else who'd had him (doesn't look like I've looked hard) - he currently plays in league 1 with Derby in my game and appears to be doing well.

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Absolutely ludicrously fast career progression! While you were signing Abel Hernandez I was picking my squad up from relegation from League One!

I'm surprised as well - I never expected this, especially getting to go to Burnley so soon after reaching the football league but it made up for the two play off final defeats :p

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Right, bed for me before work tomorrow - there is ONE point separate me, Man Utd and Man City and Spurs are only 2 points behind us with only 4 games to go - so basically one bad result could mean I win or lose the title :/ and to make things worse congestion wise I'm facing Man Utd in the Champions League semi-finals and Stoke in the FA Cup final. A good season which can go bad quick :?

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But so much glory potential, I'd focus on that.

Am trying, never been so nervous about the end of a season before.

The Champions League semi-final result against Man Utd has settled some of that thought, but I face a rampant Barcelona side who has FIVE times World player of a year Messi still :p

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Season 8

Well I went into this season with high expectations, the new tactics made towards the end of the previous season, coupled with a couple signings to midfield should be enough to see us lift the English Premier League - and for most of the season we bounced around the top three and with just three games to go we were just ONE point ahead of the two Manchester's. We then found a big shiny self-destruct button and picked up only 4 points out of 9, although with a slice of luck we did manage second so a personal best since taking over at Arsenal - and to really rub salt in the wound, Man City won the title over us on GOAL DIFFERENCE :(

and to rub things in further I was manager of the year runner up for the THIRD time - always a bridesmaid never a bride comes to mind.

The end of the season fixture congestion even hit our FA Cup final against Stoke, we should have won easily enough but needed to come from 2 goals down and then needed extra time before finishing 4-3 winners - allowing us to retain the cup.

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The Champions League final became problematic, I had 4 injuries going into the match affecting my midfield and then had Ramsey (MC) called up to play an International game for Wales....... so with a weakened side we went to face Barcelona......... and had an injury to Gervinho (MR) in the first half. We battled hard and switched to 4-5-1 (from 4-4-2) and seemed to start controlling the game, and well you can see the result below.

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Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2014/15    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  1st         FA Trophy Winners
2015/16    Burnley             English Championship         1st         Division Champions
2016/17    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         League Cup Winners
2017/18    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         FA Cup Winners
2018/19    Arsenal             English Premier League       2nd         Champions League, FA Cup & Community Shield Winners

So technically I've completed the part of the challenge in Europe, but it does feel like there is unfinished business as I'm yet to win the league. It owuld also be nice to try a top side in Germany, Italy or Spain but no one seems to be hiring..........any suggestions, opinions??????

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Really glad you've decided to put this in a thread. Amazing success so far, non-league to Champions League winner in eight seasons :thup:

IMO, Germany's always fun. 18 teams in the league, and only one cup competition, so you can fly through the seasons. See if you can overturn Bayern :)

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Thanks for the input guys,

No club in the top division in Italy, Germany or Spain needed a manager over the summer; and I didn't fancy going unemployed when I get the Euro Super Cup and World Club Cup to compete in as well in the new season so I decided one last season at Arsenal and then I'm moving on. I want to win a top league in Europe and if I can't do that in four attempts with Arsenal then I'm on to a new club.

To make matters worse after deciding that I've been unable to sign anyone who's going to have a major impact on the squad (aside from one DC) and my MR position is still too weak for my likings....... where as rivals man Utd have spent £75M on new players.

But I have a good team and who knows what the next 12 months will bring. :)

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Am only half way through season 9 but feel I should update something tonight, so:

The season has picked up, still got more injuries than I want, and despite having no first team strikers I still managed to get the Steam achievement for scoring in 30 competitive matches in a row and then got a 0-0 draw in match #31

and this happened:

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I lost that 500th match 0-2 away to Newcastle in the League :(

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Season 9

Well lets start with the league, after being so close for three years in a row I had decided that if I couldn't win the league this time then it would be my last try at Arsenal. And we started the season bad, we had a lot of injuries, especially in the goal scoring department and quite quickly we found ourselves potentially TEN points adrift. But we worked hard, got a good unbeaten run going and somehow by Christmas I'd caught up the title contenders (Man Utd and Tottenham), despite this we always looked like we would finish runners up again. With 3 games to go Man Utd were 2 points ahead and Spurs had given up, then Man Utd hit the self destruct button and with 1 game to go we were top - on goal difference. We then smashed Ipswich 5-0 to ensure we got the title - mission accomplished! :D

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I did replace keeper Ter Stegen (who cost £25M 4 years ago) with someone better who just cost me £900k........ :p

League Cup, Euro Super Cup and FA Cup all had the same fates - KO'd by Man City in my first round - so at least that helped us with fixture congestion :)

World Club Championship went very well, we were expected to win it and at least didn't disappoint. It was a competition I was looking forward to competing in this season.

After winning last years Champions League I was focusing more on the league, whilst I still wanted to do well I wouldn't have been concerned if we were knocked out. We qualified from the group easily and then beat Spartak Moscow, Real Madrid and Stuttgart on the way to the final - to was slightly shocked and pleased. We faced Napoli in the final, dominate them 4-0 and retained the Champions League making this a memorable season.

Season     Team                League                       Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]Club:[/b]

2011/12    Boston United       English Blue Square North    1st         Division Champions
2012/13    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2013/14    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  2nd         Lost in Play-Off Finals
2014/15    Boston United       English Blue Square Premier  1st         FA Trophy Winners
2015/16    Burnley             English Championship         1st         Division Champions
2016/17    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         League Cup Winners
2017/18    Arsenal             English Premier League       3rd         FA Cup Winners
2018/19    Arsenal             English Premier League       2nd         Champions League, FA Cup & Community Shield Winners
2016/20    Arsenal             English Premier League       1st         League, Champions League, World Club Cup & Community Shield Winners

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Newcastle have turned into top 4 contenders now and have Alan Shearer as manager; their squad:

newcastleunitedsquadpla.png

Am due to leave Arsenal soon, I've won a league title and two Champions Leagues with them. So far no one in Europe that I want to go to needs a manager so I might go unemployed when the Euro's end.

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England Update: Euro 2020

We scrapped through the group stage, we shouldn't have struggled so much but we needed Ukraine to score against Turkey in the 86th minute to get us through :-/ and then we faced the Czech Rep. in the first knockouts, managed 1-1 after extra time despite having ALL of the possession and then lost on penalties. So basically the same story as the World Cup in 2018. Due to the poor performance I resigned on the spot.

It's just a shame I couldn't resign success to England :(

Rafa Benitez took the role up after me, and was sacked after the final when all sackings/resignations usually take place - am guessing that was a bug

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Great final season at Arsenal, although seeing Liverpool down in 16th is a bit of a shocker for me!

and for most of the time they were in the relegation zone their manager was Mourinho :p They looked like going down for a good part of the season.

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Congrats on your success at Arsenal :thup:

I look forward to seeing where you will go next :)

So do I :p I've removed Spain, Italy and Germany and have added Brazil, Argentina and Peru - although the changes will take 6-12 months to take effect (I didn't plan this well). But I want to manage in Brazil as it is a country I've never managed in before.

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Well to answer the question of where I went after Arsenal......

Brazil got added to my game in January (Argentina and Peru will be added in June) and after being added it took another 3 months to get a job, so it's taken 9 months to get a job but I am very happy to be at Sao Paulo FC!!

It has now been 12 years since they won the Brazilian first division; and the past 8 years has seen dominance from Corinthians and Santos - who still have Neymar up front. So it looks like a good place to go next and somewhere I can complete the next phase of my target.

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