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laBOMBA's World Class Journey


laBOMBA

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Hi all, I'm laBOMBA and I am a regular visitor and since last year also a contributor to the LLM-forums. I think LLM is the best way to play FM, and pretty much play every FM game in that manner. I'm running a thread over there "Trout fishing in Norway", but I wanted to expand a bit more about that savegame and go in a bit more detail so I am posting updates with pictures and videos about my progress as a manager who tries to work himself up the ladder to become a "world class manager". I find it a bit more fun if there is a bit more feedback from the community about your team/game/tactics/... something I find is lacking in the LLM-forums due to the "no naming" and "no tactics" discussion policy they have over there. So after seeing Moonshine's threads, I decided to do the same and I will be running 2 threads as well, one in here with loads of pics, and one in the LLM forum stripped down to the requirements of that forum.

I am not using real names, gave myself Sunday League experience, started unemployed and have loaded the following leagues: Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, Finland, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Wales.

I love adding graphics to my games so don't be surprised to see different looking regens, logos, kits, etc...

I'm already in my 6th season so I will briefly describe them first, before going into more detail about the current season.

EDIT:

Since I achieved World Class Reputation fairly quick (season 2023-2024), I decided to set a few new goals before I reach retirement age: (based on titles I have never conquered in an LLM-way in any FM version)

  • Win the Seria A in Italy
  • Win the Liga BBVA in Spain
  • Win the World Cup
  • Win the Champions League. I have won the Champions League before (FM11), but I'll put this on my list for this save as well
  • Be a one club manager and bring a lower club to the top of the country. I'll do that with a new manager once I reached retirement age and hopefully achieved all of the above.

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Career:

[TABLE]

[TR]

[TD]Season

[/TD]

[TD]Club

[/TD]

[TD]League

[/TD]

[TD]Result

[/TD]

[TD]Comments

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2011[/TD]

[TD]Valdres FK[/TD]

[TD]Norwegian 2nd Division Group 2[/TD]

[TD]6th[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2012[/TD]

[TD]Valdres FK[/TD]

[TD]Norwegian 2nd Division Group 2[/TD]

[TD]2nd[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2013[/TD]

[TD]Valdres FK[/TD]

[TD]Norwegian 2nd Division Group 2[/TD]

[TD]1st[/TD]

[TD]Promoted[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2014[/TD]

[TD]Valdres FK[/TD]

[TD]Norwegian 1st Division[/TD]

[TD]8th[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2014-2015[/TD]

[TD]KAS Eupen[/TD]

[TD]Belgian 2nd Division[/TD]

[TD]11th[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2015-2016[/TD]

[TD]KAS Eupen[/TD]

[TD]Belgian 2nd Division[/TD]

[TD]2nd[/TD]

[TD]Lost in playoffs[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2016-2017[/TD]

[TD]KAS Eupen[/TD]

[TD]Belgian 2nd Division[/TD]

[TD]4th[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2017-2018[/TD]

[TD]KAS Eupen[/TD]

[TD]Belgian 2nd Division[/TD]

[TD]2nd[/TD]

[TD]Lost in playoffs, Resigned[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2018-2019[/TD]

[TD]Coventry City FC[/TD]

[TD]English npower League 1[/TD]

[TD]3rd[/TD]

[TD]Lost in playoffs[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2019-2020[/TD]

[TD]Coventry City FC[/TD]

[TD]English npower League 1[/TD]

[TD]3rd[/TD]

[TD]Promoted via playoffs, Contract offer from Club Brugge[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2020-2021[/TD]

[TD]Club Brugge KV[/TD]

[TD]Belgian Pro League[/TD]

[TD]1st[/TD]

[TD]Winners![/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD]European Champions League - Group Stage

[/TD]

[TD]3rd[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD]Europa Cup

[/TD]

[TD]QF[/TD]

[TD]Lost to Wolfsburg[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2021-2022[/TD]

[TD]Club Brugge KV[/TD]

[TD]Belgian Pro League

[/TD]

[TD]1st

[/TD]

[TD]Winners

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD]European Champions League - Group Stage

[/TD]

[TD]3rd

[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD]Europa Cup

[/TD]

[TD]2nd Knock Round

[/TD]

[TD]Lost to Leverkusen

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2022-2023

[/TD]

[TD]Club Brugge KV

[/TD]

[TD]Belgian Pro League

[/TD]

[TD]1st

[/TD]

[TD]Winners!

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD]Belgian Cup

[/TD]

[TD]1st

[/TD]

[TD]Winners

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[TD]European Champions League

[/TD]

[TD]QF

[/TD]

[TD]Lost to Real Madrid

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Awards:

[TABLE]

[TR]

[TD]Season

[/TD]

[TD]Club[/TD]

[TD]Award[/TD]

[TD]Result[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2015-2016[/TD]

[TD]KAS Eupen[/TD]

[TD]Belgian 2nd League Manager of the year[/TD]

[TD]3rd[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2018-2019[/TD]

[TD]Coventry City FC[/TD]

[TD]English npower League 1 Manager of the month April[/TD]

[TD]1st[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2019-2020[/TD]

[TD]Coventry City FC[/TD]

[TD]English npower League 1 Manager of the month November[/TD]

[TD]1st[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2019-2020[/TD]

[TD]Coventry City FC[/TD]

[TD]English npower League 1 Manager of the Year[/TD]

[TD]3rd[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2020-2021[/TD]

[TD]Club Brugge KV

[/TD]

[TD]Belgian Manager of the Year[/TD]

[TD]3rd[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]2021-2022

[/TD]

[TD]Club Brugge KV

[/TD]

[TD]Belgian Manager of the Year

[/TD]

[TD]3rd

[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

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The first club that responded to my resumes is a Norwegian Club from the 2nd Division: Valdres FK.

After a quick look at the job offer (AU$ 1300/week) I decided to join them.

Valdres FK is based in Fagernes in the Valdres district in Norway. Fagernes only has about 1800 inhabitants and is known for its tourism, cross-country and excellent trout fishing.

(*NOTE: I didn't save at the end of 2011 so I only have a few screenshots of what I could find in the history)

6805734979_04d96eef75_t.jpg

2011 Early-Season update

Valdres FK - Norwegian 2nd Division Group 2

Facilities - Transfers

The team seemed ok and should be able to remain in the 2nd division. They were ranked 9th (out of 12) when I took over the managament of the club. They have a few good players, but also a bit of deadwood that I'll try to get rid off during the first 2 seasons. I signed 3 players recommended to me by our crappy scout (who then got the boot and was replaced by 2 better scouts). Tactical training was upped (training formation 4-3-1-2) and I got a negative response from the board regarding trial players. We have nobody in our u19 team and I would like to be focused on youth with this club so maybe we'll get some good ones in at the end of the season.

Media Prediction: 4th

Board: Respectable league position

6805734979_04d96eef75_t.jpg

2011 End of Season update

Valdres FK - Norwegian 2nd Division Group 2

League Standings - Match Results

With the new tactic, we at least won more games than we lost and we climbed up the ladder. Not by a lot, but enough to finish on a respectable 6th spot and to get a new 1y contract with the club.

Highlight of the season was getting a new 1year contract, and that says a lot about the football we produced.

Results:

League: 6th

Cup: 3rd round loss to Start

MVP: Erik Sandberg

Top Goalscorer: Frederik Andersen: 13 goals, 24 games

Best youth Prospect: -

Best 11:

GK - Halvor Gilje

DL - Borut Causevic

DC - Erik Sandberg

DC - Geir Hamsun

DR - Jesus Gonzalez

MC - Sven Erik Solsvik

MC - Eirik Sæther

MC - Hans Martin Iversen

AMC - David Owino

ST - Adem Grinna Normann

ST - Fredrik Andersen

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6805734979_04d96eef75_t.jpg

2012 Pre-Season update

Valdres FK - Norwegian 2nd Division Group 2

Manager - Club - Facilities - First Team - Transfers

The board gave me a slight wage budget increase so I was able to sign a few new players. Most players were on a 2 year contract when I joined the club so nobody left the club this season. Abdul Hussein, 25yo strong Pakistani striker joined the ranks, as well as Mathias Økland, a 21yo Norwegian defender.

Media: 6th

Board: respectable league position

6805734979_04d96eef75_t.jpg

2012 End of Season update

Valdres FK - Norwegian 2nd Division Group 2

League Standings - Progress - Match Results - First Team

We started off pretty bad as 3 key players got injured during pre-season and could only play their first game after a quarter of the season had past. We started to play well when they returned and were 4th by mid-season. Hussein wasn’t as good as I expected, but luckily his younger apprentice (Adem Grinna Normann) played better and became first choice. There was one team in the league (Bærum) that played better than everyone else and had a big lead in the league. We started to play really good and they slacked off a bit towards the end but with 5 games to go we were still separated by 12 points. I declared Bærum the winner of the league during a press conference and they won it a few games later. We ended up 2nd, 6pts behind them, and 2 pts in front of Valerenga 2. The board was happy and offered me a new and shiny 1year contract

Results:

League: 2nd

Cup: 3rd round loss to Løv-Ham

MVP: Frederik Andersen

Top Goalscorer: Frederik Andersen as well with 18 goals out of 28 games

Best 11:

Formation

GK - Halvor Gilje

DL – Borut Causevic

DC – Erik Sandberg

DC – Mathias Økland

DR – Jesús González

MC – Jørn Langerud

MC – Eirik Sæther

MC – Hans Martin Iversen

AMC – David Owino

ST – Frederik Andersen

ST – Adem Grinna Normann

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6805734979_04d96eef75_t.jpg

2013 Pre-Season update

Valdres FK - Norwegian 2nd Division Group 2

ManagerClubFacilitiesFirst TeamTransfers

The only positive thing about the board is that they offer me a slightly bigger wage budget to play with every year. Everything else I requested was always prompted with a “no”. I desperatly want to extend our scouting range as we don’t get any talented youths scouted that are willing to play for cheap. Africa is full of those but my board keeps refusing to send scouts there.

I also let a few players go against their will as I don’t want them to sit on the bench for a 3rd season in a row. I’d rather free up some wage budget for new players. I brought in a fat Serbian goalie who wasn’t having fun at a lower Finnish Club, and also signed 2 young Norwegian defenders and a Midfielder.

Media: 5th

Board: Top half

6805734979_04d96eef75_t.jpg

2013 End of Season update

Valdres FK - Norwegian 2nd Division Group 2

League StandingsProgressMatch ResultsFirst Team

The serbian goalie turned out to be all class as he saved heaps of shots. My 3 strikers were on a rotational system and they all scored their share of goals, so defence and attack were sorted. What we didn’t have in the squad is depth so we struggled at the start of the season with all the Cup games and league games. But once we got kicked out of the cup in the 4th round vs Stabæk, my squad got fit and started winning games quite easily. Mid-way the season we climbed to first spot and we stayed there for the rest of the season. I was going to walk if we didn’t get a promotion as the board keeps refusing to extend the scouting range. I might do that next season if they still refuse.

Results:

League: Winners!

Cup: Out in 4th Round vs Stabæk

MVP: Mathias Økland

Top Goalscorer: 26yo Abdul Hussein

Best 11:

Formation

GK – Nikola Nikolic

DL – Borut Causevic

DC – Mathias Økland

DC – Kristian Tømmerdal

DR – Jesus Gonzalez

DMC – Stian Johansen

MC – Einar

MC – Hans Martin Iversen

MC – David Owino

ST – Abdul Hussein

ST – Fredrik Andersen

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6805734979_04d96eef75_t.jpg

2014 Pre-Season update

Valdres FK - Norwegian 1st Division

ManagerClubFacilitiesTransfers

With a new kit sponsorship and 7 players in (and out) we are hoping for a battle against relegation this season. Most notable signings were a 19yo Sudanese playmaker/long range shooter, a 29yo Argentinian winger/striker, a young Danish AMC, a young talented Norwegian DC and a few Norwegian Midfielders and Defenders to give our squad more depth.

Expectations:

Media: 14th

Board: avoid relegation

Cup: 3rd round

6805734979_04d96eef75_t.jpg

2014 End of Season update

Valdres FK - Norwegian 1st Division

League StandingsProgressMatch Results

We started off great and barely lost. We were constantly in the top 5 in the first half of the season. However, we lost some momentum in the second half of the season and drew heaps of games, making us drop to an 8th place and later ending on that very same spot.

We had a few issues that stopped us from performing better in the league. Firstly there was Abdul Hussein who only played a handfull of games because he suffered from long term injuries and secondly our attacking force missed composure in front of goals.

Highlight of the season:

The board decided to place undersoil heating and expanding the stadium from 600 to 1750 capacity. The stadium was ready 10 games into the season.

I wasn’t very happy at Valdres because of the board restricting my scouting range but the board did 1 thing correctly to secure a healthy financial future: expanding the stadium. Crowds flocked to see us play and even with the expanded stadium, we pretty much sold out every home game giving us a good income and a profit every month. I was thinking I should stay and see how I go, but when they offered me a new contract for a lower wage I was furious and wanted to leave the club. A few days after I rejected the contract offer, a Belgian 2nd div club offered me a contract for 30% more the wage I have at Valdres. Goodbye Norway, and hello Belgium! I will be managing KAS Eupen for the next 1.5 season.

Results:

League: 8th

Cup: 4th round loss vs Stabæk (again)

MVP: Mathias Økland, he just wins everything in the air.

Top Goalscorer: David Owino

Best Youth Prospect: Magne Flatner

Best 11:

Formation

GK – Nikola Nikolic

DL – Borut Causevic

DC – Mathias Økland

DC – Hans Petter Evjen

DR - Morten Skårland

MC – Stian Johansen

MC – Majdi Bulabek

MC – Stian Skrettingland

AMC – Henrik Jasar

ST – Adem Grinna Normann

ST – David Owino

Best Goals:

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  • 2 weeks later...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]0[/ATTACH]

6844315879_2c75fa0fd4_m.jpg

2014-15 Mid-Season update

KAS Eupen - Belgian 2nd Division

Club - Facilities - Transfers

Eupen is in financial trouble because it has way too much players. We have 6 goalkeepers in the first squad! My first task is to reduce the wage bill by selling/releasing players. It made me an unpopular manager, but it was needed for financial survival. So 5 players left during the winter break and I signed 1 talented young German winger, Heiko Werner. More people will have to leave at the end of the season when their contracts run out.

Expectations:

Media: 5th

Board: respectable league position

Cup: 6th round

6844315879_2c75fa0fd4_m.jpg

2014-2015 End of Season update

KAS Eupen - Belgian 2nd Division

League Standings - Match Results

The season with Eupen felt like wearing a cheap suit. It doesn’t really feel right, doesn’t fit and no matter what you do with it, it makes you feel uncomfortable. I took over the squad when they were in relegation zone (16th out of 18) and managed to scrape a few wins, but it wasn’t easy. I was playing a 4-6-0 formation as we had lots of AMC who could score, but no real strong striker. Players were unhappy and started moaning nearing the end of the season, nobody extended their contract and the supporters were hard to please, even though the squad managed to play attractive football. So my mission is to stay clear of relegation and rebuild the squad for next season with the few players that stayed. We caused some upsets, but also some unexplainable losses during the season. We won the last few games and rised to an 11th spot in the league, which I am actually quite happy with. The board was as well as they offered me a new contract for 2 years with a 20% pay increase.

Highlight of the season:

The first goal of Heiko Werner:

Results:

League: 11th

Cup: 6th round loss to KV Mechelen

MVP: Marc Alabi, a 32yo German winger

Top Goalscorer: he is also topscorer with only 7 goals out of 27 games.

I let him go at the end of the season as he was causing trouble and unbalancing the harmony of the squad.

Best 11:

GK – Frederic Rousseau

DL – Theo Marchand

DC – Jozef Chevalier

DC – Niels Hilligsman

DR – Maxim Willems

DMC – Oscar Dumont

DMC – Jan Arnould

AML – Marc Alabi

AMC – Gerd Pierre

AMC – Xarophino

AMR – Heiko Werner

Best Goals:

,
,
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6844315879_2c75fa0fd4_m.jpg

2015-16 Pre-Season update

KAS Eupen - Belgian 2nd Division

Transfers

No less than 18 players left the team so I got some wage budget to play with now. 13 players came in with the most promising to be Mats Burhenne from FCV Dender, Greame Elliott from Germany/USA, Nassim Bastian from Mons, Loic M'Goua Mebale from Gabon and I also put the Finnish Jyrki Kainu on a good wage. I just had to sign him since I see a great playmaker in him.

Expectations:

Media: 11th

Board: top half

Cup: 6th round

6844315879_2c75fa0fd4_m.jpg

2015-2016 End of Season update

KAS Eupen - Belgian 2nd Division

League Standings - Match Results

We started off firing with convincing wins, draws and hardly any losses, even against former Pro League teams. With these results in the first period, we were ranked 2nd after first period winners Wetteren. We continued more or less at the same pace and moved up to first place midway the season, 3 points ahead of Lierse and Visé. With winning an important 0-1 game over Lierse we increased the gap to 5 pts and the fans are silently dreaming of winning the league. Lierse started to win everything soon after while we struggled and drew a few games. With 4 games to go, Lierse and us had the same amount of points, but they had a better goal difference. We drew and won twice while Lierse won, lost and drew once putting us 3 points clear with 1 game to go. We play Visé and only need 1 point. We lose 1-0 while Lierse wins 0-2 in Oostende. Great… playoffs for me…

In the playoffs we meet FC Brussels (D2), Wetteren (D2) and Lommel United (D1). We play well and end up equal with Lommel with one game to go. We have a better goal difference so we just need a win, and preferably with lots of goals. We draw Wetteren 0-0 while they win in Brussels 1-2. Missed promotion again! Close, but no cigar…. twice!

Nothing major happened in the cup. Lost to Genk 0-4.

Highlight of the season:

Making the tactic 4-6-0 that I never tried before work for the team.

Results:

League: 2nd

Cup: 6th round loss at home vs. Genk

MVP: Nassim Bastian who came over from Mons at the start of the season

Top Goalscorer: he is also the top goalscorer

Best 11:

GK - Felix Rousseau

DL – Mats Burhenne

DC – Jozef Chevalier

DC – Niels Hilligsman

DR – Maxim Willems

DMC – Oscar Dumont

DMC - Loic N'Goua Mebale

AML - Yohan Lacroix

AMC – Nassim Bastian

AMC – Xarophino

AMR – Heiko Werner

Best Goals:

,
,
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I'm going to follow this just because of your utterly ridiculous username. :D I like the rubbish clubs too, never managed in Norway or Belgium before, sounds interesting. :thup: Will give it a more thorough read later, just skimmed past it now.

4-6-0 is an awesome tactic in theory, I like it.

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6844315879_2c75fa0fd4_m.jpg

2016-17 Pre-Season update

KAS Eupen - Belgian 2nd Division

Manager - Club - Facilities - Transfers

I must have not paid much attention since I forgot to extend Burhenne’s contract, and I somehow agreed on loaning Greame Elliott to div 1 club Roeselare. My wing back now plays for Mons. Nevertheless, I got another German winger/striker in (Jürgen Röser), together with Mauro Fioretti, Gian and 2 youngsters for the u19 team. I also got a Latvian winger/striker (Bespalovs) on loan from Club Brugge.

Expectations:

Media: 3th

Board: challenge for title

Cup: 6th round

6844315879_2c75fa0fd4_m.jpg

2016-2017 End of Season update

KAS Eupen - Belgian 2nd Division

League Standings - Progress - Match Results - First Team

High expectations this season, and I feel we should be challenging for the title again. We should’ve, but Mons, STVV and Vise did the same thing and were head and shoulders above the rest. Aside from their great performance, we also lost or drew a few games we should have won. We were always around 7th spot in the first half of the season, and performed better in the second half to finish 10 points behind the top 3, with Mons winning the league. We didn’t even get a playoff place since other teams performed better during the 3 periods. Mons, Tournai and Westerlo (D1) battled it out for the second promotion spot. I really would have thought the same tactic from last season would’ve worked as well. I guess I was wrong.

Highlight of the season:

Scoring a first

!

Results:

League: 4th

Cup: 6th round loss vs. Lommel after penalties

MVP: same as last year: Nassim Bastian

Top Goalscorer: Heiko Werner

Best 11:

GK - Felix Rousseau

DL – Mats Burhenne

DC – Jozef Chevalier

DC – Niels Hilligsman

DR – Younes Sakim

DMC – Oscar Dumont

DMC - Loic N'Goua Mebale

AML - Eduards Bespalovs

AMC – Nassim Bastian

AMC – Xarophino

AMR – Heiko Werner

Best Goals:

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6844315879_2c75fa0fd4_m.jpg

2017-18 Pre-Season update

KAS Eupen - Belgian 2nd Division

ManagerClubFirst TeamTransfers

The board reduced my wage budget to $23000 in an effort to bring our account back in black. We were spending about $5000 over so I had to take some measurements. I released all my youth players except for a lucky few and offered my best player Nassim Bastian to several clubs. Bristol City snapped him up for $800k. Jürgen Röser was also loaned out to Roeselare, with an option to buy for $450k. I was still $1000 over, but I could live with that. I also got 3 players on loan for free from Club Brugge as we are their satellite club. The players are Thiebaut Desmedt, Özcan Öksüz and George Cristide.

The board offered me a new contract for another 2 seasons for $500/week less. No way, as I don't want to earn less, and I want to wait until the end of the season to see how we performed.

6844315879_2c75fa0fd4_m.jpg

2017-2018 End of Season update

KAS Eupen – Belgian 2nd Division

League StandingsProgressPlayoffs - Match Results

I thought this season was going to be a transition season, since we got rid of our best player, but it turned out to be quite successful. We had everything against us though:

  • I forgot to extend the physio's contract and only realised this midseason when I was wondering why we had so many long term injuries. After I hired a new one, it didn't really improve much as we still had to deal with injuries. I promoted 3 youth players to get a squad together. At least they were happy as they got some play time

  • I offered the squad low league and cup bonuses since I wanted to help the club financially. Having never done this before, I didn't realise my players mood would be very low all season. I had to call several team meetings and threaten to sell players to get their performance up. They were only happy when they beat a team with 5-0.

Despite all that, we played well and were ranked 2nd behind STVV at the January break. We stayed top 3 all season and managed to secure a playoff spot by finishing 2nd in the league behind STVV. The playoffs was between us, Roeselare (D1), Antwerp (D2) and Visé (D2).

Playoff Results:

  • Antwerp - Eupen 1-0
  • Eupen - Visé 0-0
  • Eupen - Roeselare 1-1
  • Eupen - Antwerp 1-1
  • Visé - Eupen 1-1
  • Roeselare - Eupen 2-1

What was mindblowing is that we reached the semi final in the cup. We beat KV Kortrijk at their own turf with 1-3 in the sixth round, Charleroi at home 1-0 in the seventh round and were drawn versus our linked club: Club Brugge for the quarter final. We surprisingly won at home 2-1, and had little chances in Bruges. But we kept our nets clean and got one counter where

0-1, and Bruges couldn't score so we went through to the semis where our current season nemesis awaits: STVV. We lost 3-0 away and only won 1-0 at home. They played Anderlecht in the final which STVV lost.

Results:

League: 2nd

Cup: Lost in semi final to STVV

MVP: Heiko Werner

Top Goalscorer: Heiko Werner

Best 11:

Formation

I switched between 4-6-0 and 4-4-2 diamond all season since I always had midfielders or attackers injured. I found that I had the best reulsts playing 4-4-2 diamond.

GK - Gian

DL - Thiebaut Desmedt

DC - Jozef Chevalier

DC - Mauro Fioretti

DR - Özcan Öksüz

DMC - Loic N'Goua Mebale

ML - Yohan Lacroix

MR - Greame Elliott

AMC - Jyrki Kainu

ST - George Christide

ST - Heiko Werner

Best Goals:

,
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After having failed to secure promotion, the board giving me a contract for less pay and getting a reduced wage bill again, I decided to resign as I don't see a possibility to get promoted anytime soon. I went on holiday and dropped a resume here and there. I mostly got laughed at, but in November I received a positive response from Coventry.

6845780855_4573ffe6c8_b.jpg

I happily accepted and off to England I went.

6845844711_7235f5675c_m.jpg

2018-19 Mid-Season update

Coventry FC - English npower League 1

ManagerClubClub2 - First TeamTransfers - Facilities

The club got relegated to league 1 last season and was in 8th spot when I took over. The board expected to try for promotion so I needed to lift the game and make them rise up the ladder. Being a Belgian manager myself, and having an all Belgian board (taken over last season) makes me feel at home at this club. The squad and finances both look good, and the quality of the players allowed me to play my favourite tactic. I got a few important wins when I just joined so were 6th at mid season, and the morale is going upwards.

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2018-2019 End of Season update

Coventry FC – English npower League 1

League StandingsProgressMatch Results 1Match Results 2

We played ok, but didn't have the winning streak I was hoping for. Nevertheless, we kept climbing up the ladder because the teams around us lost games as well. We had the chance to finish 2nd and avoid playoffs, by getting 1pt more than Swindon in the final 2 games of the season. We win our game while

Swindon draws which made us jump over them to 2nd place. We just needed to win against Burton at home. After 2 goals disallowed and a penalty not given, score was 0-0 after 90 minutes. Unfortunately we dropped to 3rd place again and into playoffs since Swindon won their last game and we were 1 point behind them again. Paul McCarthy lead Derby County to the league victory.

We play Luton in the Semi Final of the playoff. They were quite good, but we kept a 0-0 up intil the 80th minute when they scored once, and a second time a few minutes later. When we then played them at home, we got ahead 1-0 and got a goal against in the 65th minute which pretty much killed our prospect of promotion. We went all out to attack but could only score once more. Luton then lost vs. Sunderland in the final.

I seem to struggle with playoffs and missing promotion at the last game.

Results:

League: 3rd

FA Cup: 2nd round loss to Kidderminster

Carling Cup: First round loss to Cambridge United

Johnstone Paint Trophy: Semi Final loss to Bristol Rovers

MVP: Joey Barnes

Top Goalscorer: James Wilson

Best 11:

Formation

I could play my favourite 4-3-1-2 formation with Coventry as they had the players to do it.

GK - Alexander Lundmark

DL - Jon Gray

DC - Nigel Young

DC - David Thomas

DR - Charley Hodgson

MC - Sam Lepage

MC - Maxim Chevalier

MC - Jon May

AMC - Joey Barnes

ST - Wesley de Wit

ST - James Wilson

Best Goals:

(player on loan),
,
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2019-20 Pre-Season update

Coventry FC - English npower League 1

Here is an overview of the players coming in this season:

Danny Ferry - on loan from Wolves, to give a bit more depth to the defence

Stuart Upcott - I'm hoping this guy can score heaps of headers, he is huge! With his height and jumping skills he should win lots of battles in the air. Just need to work on his strength a bit more.

Rhys Williamson - fast midfielder, can also kick a corner or free kick

Stephen Monk - fast striker, but needs to work on his composure

Greg Hopkins - pretty eccentric goalie, but very talented. I'm going to give him lots of game time.

Precious Morris - just in case I need a sweeper

Kyle Dodds - a guy for the future, and potentially on the left wing when I play 4-6-0.

Cyrus Creswell - a guy for the future, but I'll give him a few games this season

Gareth Forsyth - another Scottish lad. Will bring some finishing up front, and might pair up well with Upcott and/or Wilson with his teamwork.

Gary Francis - strong defender. Hopefully wins a lot of balls

Ollie Lay - very fast and determined player. Has a lot to learn though.

Bill Whitehead - not a great player, but good enough to be my first choice wing back.

The board is expecting promotion this season and I hope to score more from corners and free-kicks this season with Stuart Upcott up front to head them in. This is what stopped us from winning the league I believe. I also strengthened the defence as we had so many late goals against. So now I got a bit of depth to substitute when they get tired at the back.

Media prediction: 3rd

Board: win promotion, reach 3rd round of FA Cup, reach 2nd round of League Cup and they don't care about the Johnstone's Paint Trophy

Pre-season games were ok, but we did a lot of tactical training. I decided to train 4-3-1-2, 4-3-3 and 4-6-0.

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Okay, gave this something more resembling a proper read now. Seems like you're suffering from the same curse I had in the early days of my FM11 career, loads of playoff defeats! I know that's very frustrating. I think you're jumping ship too early from club to club, the norwegians had potential (altho I understand being given a lower wage would look like an insult for the work you had done there!) and the belgians while frustrating, promotion would've seemed all the much sweeter when you finally clinched it.

On the other hand, I did the very same thing in my career (jumping early) then regretted most moves because I couldn't find better jobs. Whereas you actually seem to be climbing slowly in the career, Coventry is clearly a bigger club. Hopefully you break the playoffs curse or gain automatic promotion this season. :thup:

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Thanks for your input. I like to play the game as realistic as possible. When I get an offer from Eupen for more money, most managers would accept. And with Eupen, I needed to get promotion in the 2nd season as I was spending lots of money and we needed to go to the pro league to get more money and keep the club going. By not getting promotion, we had to make cutbacks twice, and since I want to move up I didn't want to stay with Eupen and rebuild the squad to try again in a few seasons. I was hoping another decent club would hire me, and it happened.

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2019-20 Mid-Season update

Coventry FC - English npower League 1

I ended up not playing 4-6-0 at all, and decided to train a similar tactic. I just moved a central attacking midfielder forward as a lone striker up front.

It took a bit of shuffling around to find the right tactic and the best spots to play my players. Upcott, as predicted, performed well and scored quite a bit of goals at the start. Funnily enough, his very first goal for Coventry wasn't a header, but

! We mostly played a 4-3-3 formation, but found we weren't in control of the game and had narrow victories instead of convincing wins. With the narrow wins, a few losses and lots of draws, we dropped to 11th and the board started questioning my leadership.

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So I decided to move Upcott to an AMC role and he did ok there as well. Since we play a narrow formation with no wingers, it was kinda pointless to have a tall Target Man since there were hardly any crosses. He still scores on free kicks and corners though. This plan worked a lot better. Our passing improved, we had more possession and we won games by more then 1 goal difference. We moved up the ladder and reached a 4th spot halfway the season. My players, the board and me were glad to see were on schedule to get promoted. Luckily we turned things around as a few players had a chat with me about the club underperforming. I all told them we'll be up there by the end of the season so I'll be in the sh!ts if we don't get promoted.

Other nice goals in the first half of the season:

,
,
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Nice mid-season turnaround, surely it's partly to do with those tactical tweaks but I have some doubts on your plan for Upcott, if he's your major future star then it's worth considering switching the team overall plan to suit him, he's mildly creative but basically you're throwing away his whole key ability which is in the air.

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You're probably right noikeee. I don't have any decent wingers though. I did a bid on a good winger during the January transfer window but he decided to go to Swansea.

My plan is actually to play a narrow formation at home 4-3-1-2 and start Upcott on the bench. Mainly because I have a narrow pitch and I like the strikers to dive into the space onto through balls. If that fails then I switch to a formation with wingers and put Upcott on the field to head them in. This tactic I would likely use in away games as well, but I need to get the right players for this to work still, so its a work in progress. Once Upcott has improved a bit, I might use this tactic as my starting tactic.

For now, I like Upcott to hang around on the field since he is a great header and very dangerous at freekicks and corners.

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2019-20 End of Season update

Coventry FC - English npower League 1

League Standings - Progress - Player Stats

I was lucky to sign 1 player during the January transfer window: Chris Vendeville

January wasn't a very good month, we had three 0-1 losses vs teams that we should have won against. I called a team meeting but nobody really improved after that. We dropped to 7th at the end of January, just outside of playoff zone.

Something had to be done to turn the team around. So I had a look at my players again and saw that Jon May might be better in a DMC position than in a MC position where I have played him at this season. So I tweaked my tactics again and moved the AMC to a DMC position. I also made sure I had the fastest poacher playing up front and my midfield had good passing skills. I also moved Upcott in the Target Man position next to the poacher (Luke Buckley) and the two found each other very well. This worked really well and we started winning again, with huge differences: 5-0 vs Walsall, 3-1 vs Hereford and Burton, 5-1 vs Rotherham. We stayed up there and with 3 games to go, 5 clubs are still in the race for promotion behind winner Swansea. Only a few points separates the positions 2-5. Our next game is vs Bristol Rovers which we skilfully managed to lose with 2-0. We then win 3-2 at home vs Luton with Upcott receiving a red card and a 1 match ban. By then it was too late as Sheffield Wednesday had won all of their games and was out of reach for the 2nd spot. The last game against winners Swansea didn't matter. We finished 3rd and qualified for play-offs again... hope I can break the play-off curse.

We were losing a lot of money as well so a win in the play-offs would be great for our finances. It's a bit odd though as I stayed under my allowed budget ($132,664 used out of $138,127 available) and got rid of a few high paid players last season.

I have also been linked to jobs in the Belgian Pro League: STVV and KV Mechelen have shown an interest, but I declared I wasn't very interested.

Our first play-off game is against Stockport: We lose 2-1 in Stockport, and with a scoreline of 1-1 at home, my midfielder gets red carded in the 67th min for a 2 footed challenge. Scary as we continue with 10 and still need to score at least 1 goal. Luckily Upcott scores the 2nd goal in the 83rd minute after a nice cross from Buckley. Extra Time! Nothing happened in the first extra time, but in the 2nd extra time, Upcott heads in a corner and a freekick and we win with 4-1! That was a very close game.

In the final, we meet Walsall who we have pushed aside before with 5-0. The game at Wembley was another highscoring game, with Coventry as winners:

! This time Luke Buckley was in form with a clean hattrick. We are promoted to the Champioship and I have broken my play-off curse.

I was voted 3rd best manager of the year of the npower league 1

A few good youth prospects came through our ranks. The Assman highlighted Garry Proudlock as being the best one. Another guy who is not that good, but I'll keep him because of his name: King Arthur

Results:

League: 3rd, promotion through playoff

FA Cup: 2nd round loss to Tamworth (L2)

League Cup: lost in 2nd round vs West Ham (PRM)

Johnstone Paint Trophy: lost in semi final to Barnet (L2)

MVP: Luke Buckley

Top goalscorer: Stuart Upcott

Best 11:

Formation

GK - Greg Hopkins

DL - Jon Gray

DC - Chris Venderville

DC - Gary Francis

DR - Adam James

DMC - Jon May

MC - Sam Lepage

MC - Dimitris Karabelas

MC - Joey Barnes

ST - Luke Buckley

ST - Stuart Upcott

This goal from

was also voted "best goal of the season".
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When my head cleared from the hangover of the promotion victory, I checked my inbox and saw following message:

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Club Brugge wants me?Steam told me it was a childhood dream come true, and with Club Brugge as my favourite club I could not refuse. The money is a lot more too and the club plays in the championship league next season. I just had to accept. The previous manager won the double and retired on a high so I got big shoes to fill.

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Euro 2020 Results

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2020-2021 Pre-Season update

Club Brugge KV – Belgian Pro League

Manager - Club - Facilities - First Team

Most notable players: Daniel Graciani, Bife, Iván Varela, Ewerton

Lots of South American flair in the team. I'm low on Home Grown players and I need at least 6 in every Belgian League game. So I made it my mission to focus on Belgian youth and bring in very young foreign talent to train for 3 years and become home grown.

New signings:

Josh Dunleavy - Welsh striker/winger that I had my eye on while at Coventry. Great finishing skills and a good prospect for the future

Mathieu Cadoret - a guy for the future, but he'll make a few appearances this season as he'll be a great playmaker one day

Zarko Jakovljevic - right back on load from FC Bayern. Could use someone good on that spot.

Alain Christian Nzoghe - fast winger/poacher. Can play opposite of Dunleavy on the wings

Expectations:

Media: 2nd

Board: challenge for title, reach playoffs of the Champions Cup, reach the Final of the Belgian Cup.

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Bloody hell, that's another very big career jump. Some class players there too. I think you have a very good chance of making the Champions League groups stage, and maybe even steal some points from the top sides there.

It sure is. I remember with my LLM FM11 save I only started with Bath City in the BSS in 2020. In this savegame I'm already at Club Brugge in 2020.

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2020-2021 Mid-Season update

Club Brugge KV – Belgian Pro League

Standings (January) - Progress

I tried a few formations but was most happy with a 4-2-3-1. Graciani as a lone striker and 3 attacking midfielders behind him: Nzoghe on the right flank and Dunleavy on the left flank, both as inside forwards. The AMC changes according to whoever is available and not injured. The AMC should be the playmaker but I don't have a really good one so a few people rotate on that spot. I am looking around for a great AMC playmaker but so far couldn't find anything that I like and is within my budget.

The league is going great. Convincing wins, and we're battling it out with Genk for the title at the moment. Genk is having a great season as well and it took a while for them to start losing points. Halfway the season we are 1st, and just took over Genks spot. We had a bit of a dip in November and lost a few games, only 1 league game luckily, but we lost our seventh round Cup game vs KV Mechelen. We managed to keep our act together and kept performing in December to claim the first spot at the January break. Mind you, we haven't played Genk yet as our game got reshuffled due to a cup game clash.

Graciani is doing really well and scoring a lot. I had to get rid of Ivan Varela unfortunately. He asked me multiple times for a move to a bigger club. So I sold him to Velez for $7m. Ewerton is now complaining about the same thing...

The champions league was very interesting: first of all, we immediatly qualified for the group stage, which is great, but we get a tough group with Barcelona, Juventus and Zenit. My goal is to finish 3rd and qualify for the Europa Cup. We start really well with a home win 3-2 vs Zenit, and a lucky 1-0 loss in Barcelona. We could have scored in Barcelona but my strikers missed composure. Luckily my defence was focused. We play well in Juventus: 1-1 and then lose to them at home 1-3. This is when our bad form started. The crucial game in Zenit needed to be drawn to stay ahead of them, but we lose 3-0. All goals in the first 15 minutes. We were just hopeless that game... Both Zenit and us are on 4 points before the last game so we need to get points at home vs Barcelona and Zenit needs to lose against Juventus. Zenit did lose with 2-1, and we did something magical:

Very interesting game as we get a goal behind in the 67th minute. We then score 1-1 in the 71st and scored another one in the 83rd minute with a close range header by Dunleavy. Mind you, Dunleavy was attacked by the media because of underperforming and not scoring. He shut them up with that goal didn't he? If we wouldn't have the Barca goal against we actually would have jumped over them and qualified for the next round. Oh well, maybe next season, Europa Cup is good too. We draw (what I think is) a relatively easy opponent in the Europa Cup: SK Rapid Wien.

A few players came in, mainly young kids for the youth squad since I am focusing heavily on youth. The board also approved a youth facilities upgrade...yay!

The new kids on the block are:

Jorn van Thiel - young dutch striker. Dreams of being a good poacher one day

Michel Oparaugo - Great attributes! Just a bit low on physique, but I'm hoping to work on that

Denis Rocher - Could be a great anchor man.

Then I also got 2 loans in for the rest of the season:

Joaquim Pereira - Goalie from our sattelite club Benfica

Marko Drndar - Great player for my squad, will fit in nicely where Ivan Varela left off.

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2020-2021 End of Season update

Club Brugge KV – Belgian Pro League

League Standings - Champions Group - Progress - Matches 1 - Matches 2

Our lead was increased even more when we beat Genk. We were now 10 points clear of the number 2. We got a bit sloppy in February but had enough lead to be in first spot before the champions group stage.

We start the group stage with 3 points ahead of the nr2 Genk. We don't have that great spirit that allowed us to easily win games anymore, and now we have to fight for every point. It didn't help that Graciano was injured for the rest of the season. We managed to scrape a few victories which kept us in the lead and with 2 games to go, we suddenly had 1 great game: a 4-1 win vs Genk, which increased my chances of winning the league by heaps, as long a Anderlecht didn't get points. Anderlecht lost that weekend 2-1 vs Standard. We were crowned Pro League winners with 1 game to go.

Our first game in the Europa cup was not too bad. A 1-0 loss in Vienna is ok. Especially when we beat them 6-0 at home. Betis is next: not very convincing, 0-0 away, 1-0 at home. We go through to the quarter finals where Wolfsburg was too strong for us: 3-0 away and 0-0 at home. Pretty happy of getting to that stage though.

I got 3rd place in manager of the year, which I am not happy about to be honest. I should be at least second! Graciani is top scorer of the league with 30 goals.

Results:

League: 1st

Cup: lost to KV Mechelen in 7th round (board was not happy with that)

Champions League: 3rd in group stage

Europa League: Lost to Wolfsburg in Quarter Finals

MVP: Daniel Graciani

Top goalscorer: Daniel Graciani

Best youth Prospect: Stan Mortier

Best 11:

Formation 4-2-3-1 has proved to be our best line-up

GK - Abdurahim Brack - the shortest goalie I've ever played in my first team.

DL - Ewerton

DC - Bife

DC - Teun van der Plas

DR - Håkon Hagen

DMC - Ammar Bourenane

DMC - Marko Drndar

AML - Josh Dunleavy

AMC - Xaxá

AMR - Alain Christian Nzoghe

ST - Daniel Graciani

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Great work there, that's a cracking move.

Best of luck in Belgium.

Cheers mate.

Great league progress, awful league logo.

I should actually update my logos. I once downloaded heaps of logos with FM09 and have copied them over to the future FM versions.

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2021-2022 Pre-Season update

Club Brugge KV – Belgian Pro League

The board made a few great decisions regarding our facilities:

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We got some extra cash as well with the chairman injecting $20m and 2 new sponsorship deals for a little bit more money...not much though.

During Pre-Season, I've predominatly signed young players for the future, but since the board gave me a good transfer budget ($31m) and associated wage budget ($550K/week), I was able to go shopping and get some great players in.

The new players to be seen in the new Club Brugge outfits are:

Michael Wisniewski - will be a good fast winger one day

Erwin Brown - Not sure where I should play him. At the moment he would be taking over Nzoghe's spot in the future on the right wing as an inside forward, but I could also let him evolve to a winger.

Bram Rutten - Snatched him away from our rivals Genk. I needed good home grown players and he is one. I'll play him in a DMC role as he has got good passing, teamwork and tackling. Will make his first cap soon I believe.

Christos Lebrun - Had my eye on him last season as well but couldn't afford him. Another great home grown player who'll play in a similar role than Rutten.

Ahmed Yildirim - this goalie came cheap and is a fair bit better than Brack. He'll be my first choice this season

William Aubert - Same story as Lebrun, wanted him last year but couldn't afford him. Not a playmaker, but he's my spare winger on the right, or maybe play as a target man.

Jean-François Cerullei - left winger for the future, I've loaned him out to our sattelite club Dinamo Tbilisi this season

Ignacio Durán - without a doubt my best buy. He was expensive but he is worth it. I'm counting on him to form the backbone of the defence and be involved in every part of the game.

Luc Lambert - I also found this guy for free. He was released by Olympique Lyon where he has played all of his life. Unortunately he doesn't have home grown status so I'm not sure if he'll play a lot, but I got him in case Yildirim gets injured, and also to teach the younger goalies in the squad

Media Prediction: 2nd

Board Expectations:

  • Win the Pro League
  • Reach te Belgian Cup final
  • Qualify for Group stage of the Champions League.
  • Don't care about the Super Cup.

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Excellent career so far,congrats on the title win with Brugge.Keep up the good work :thup:

Congrats on the new stadium as well,Durán looks like he will be a class signing for you.

Cheers, it keeps getting better... more big changes to follow in next update.

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