An African Odyssey

[Alex2011]

Before I start, yes, I am aware that many people before me have managed in Africa and have undoubtedly had great success. However, what I’ll be attempting to do here is something that I (personally) have never seen before.

The database I’m using is one I found in the Editor’s Hideaway (I can’t seem to find it now though) which contains at least one league from every country that comes under the African continent. Yes, it may have a few mistakes, but it’s still got a lot of detail and I’ve very thankful to whoever it was that made it (I’ll also be grateful to anyone who can find the topic). I’m also using the Middle East leagues included in Unknown Hacker’s huge database, to whom I am also incredibly grateful.

Anyway, the aim of this career is...well, I’m not quite sure. Winning leagues and continental competitions would be great, but I’m hardly a tactical genius so my main aim is to have fun and give some small teams a short glimpse of success. I highly doubt I’ll be staying at any club for more than a couple of seasons but, of course, if things are looking promising I might stay a bit longer.

The club I shall be starting at is The Lions in the Seychelles. This is because they are predicted bottom of the league, with not much money, and because they’re amateur I’m expecting a lot of my best players to be taken off my hands. Oh, and the reason for the Seychelles is because it’s the smallest African country in terms of area. The squad itself is not great and with finances and facilties like that, it looks like I’m in for a pretty bumpy ride. However, I’m hoping that good performances from players like Jules Jeanne and Paul Labiche will cement us a good position in the league.

Updates will most likely be once a month, and that should be once every couple of days, assuming I haven’t got too much else to do. Processing time doesn’t appear to be too bad, either. Unfortunately, due to a mess up on my part, the league won’t actually start for a few months but I’ll try and do monthly pre-season updates.

Leagues Loaded

Manager Profile

[Alex2011]

Post reserved for anything that may need to go here.

[Swiifteh]

Never seen that many leagues used before. I'm ready for you to post more news!

What computer have you got?

[Alex2011]

Never seen that many leagues used before. I'm ready for you to post more news!

What computer have you got?

Um...I'm not entirely sure, I'm not that great with computers xD
It's a Toshiba laptop, 2 processors, but that's pretty much all I can tell you.

[cerud]

Sounds like an interesting career! Looking forward to it

[Alex2011]

So, after letting my assistant take control for all of the friendlies, I've whizzed through the first two months and we're now just a couple of days from the first league match. I'm feeling suitably prepared due to the success of the majority of our friendlies, although the shocking amount of my players that were pinched by other teams suggests that maybe we'll have some very tough opposition, both in the league and the transfer market.

However, I was able to get in a few players of my own, including three Ugandan players, all rated 5* by my assistant manager. The pick of these is Hakim Mugumba. I'm hoping that he, along with my other two Ugandan players, can help lift my team to the top of the league.

Unfortunately, the quality of these three players has persuaded my assistant to think that everyone else in the squad is awful and should be sold. And here's the proof.

Finally, thanks for the support that you guys have given me so far, it means a lot. The next update should be up either tomorrow, or Wednesday, depending on how quickly I get through the first month of league matches.

[chile_paul]

Best of luck Alex, I'm personally really enjoying managing in Africa, and you've got a really impressive list of African leagues to work your way through!

I'd imagine winning anything with a club from the Seychelles will be a real challenge, but at least you'll get a nice tan whilst you're doing it

[Alex2011]

Just played the first league match, and we lost 2-0, with an amazing total of 0 shots on target! Man, this better not be one of those "sign of things to come" moments...

[Alex2011]

March 2012

Considering this team is predicted bottom of the league, I really can't complain about the start we've had.

St. Michel Utd (A) - 2-0 (L)
Yeah, this wasn't the best start. No shots on target, and I was left wondering how hard this would really be.

Lightstars (H) - 3-2 (W)
Two goals from Rashim Melanie and one from Hakim Magumba sealed this one, giving me hope that this wouldn't be so hard after all.

Anse Réunion (H) - 3-4 (L)
Despite the loss, this was a cracking match. Rashim Melanie got two again, and Laurence Marie grabbed the third.

Northern Dynamo (A) - 2-0 (W)
Certainly our most dominant match. After going a man down, Paul Labiche and Hakim Magumba got a goal each, and Sam Mubiru unfortunately missed a penalty.

League Table

Pretty pleasing, we're certainly in a position to climb higher. Unfortunately, we're also in a position to drop lower.

Player of the Month

Well who else would it be? Four goals from a left midfielder with those finishing attributes, just shows how crazy this game can be!

[Alex2011]

Sorry about the lack of activity lately guys, I've got exams in a couple of weeks and I need to prioritise revision over Football Manager (it pains me to say it). I will still be playing a bit of FM so once my exams are over I should be able to get an update in, then they'll gradually start to become more regular.

As I've said before, thanks for the support, it means a lot.

[SRL88]

Real life is more important mate .

[Alex2011]

April 2012

I know I said I wouldn't be doing any more updates for a few weeks but I found a spare hour or so this afternoon and seeing as we only had two games this month, I thought I might as well do them. So yeah, two games, both of which went much better than hoped.

St Roch United FC (H) - 1-0 (W)
I'll admit I was hoping for better from this match, seeing as St Roch were (and still are) bottom of the league, but a win is a win, and I can't argue with that. No surprises as to who got the goal - yep, Rashim Melanie was in the right place at the right time once again.

St Francis FC (A) - 2-0 (W)
We completely dominated St Francis and it really should've been so much more, but I'm happy with the 2-0 win. Bob Blade and Jean-Louis Ravinia got the goals for us here.

League Table

Thanks to those two results we've moved up again, and are looking to push on and grab a place in next year's continental competitions.

Player of the Month

This month it was a toss-up between Bob Blade and Rashim Melanie, and because Rashim was my choice last month I plumped for Bob. Both players had a good month, each grabbing a goal and generally helping the team in getting those two crucial wins. And he has an awesome name.

[cerud]

Nice position this early in the season. I assume this is the highest league in the nation?

[Alex2011]

Nice position this early in the season. I assume this is the highest league in the nation?

Yeah, it's the only one that was included in the database I downloaded. I've just had a quick look on Wikipedia and while it is possible to get relegation (and funnily enough, the Lions have this season been relegated) there doesn't actually appear to be a lower league. You can never trust Wikipedia though xD

[cerud]

Fair point. Although Wikipedia has a measured error ratio of 7 entries per 100 000. Not bad considered Encyclopaedia Brittanica has an error ratio of 6 entries per 100 000 and is about 10x smaller

[DazRTaylor]

An interesting challenge. I wish you well and will read your updates with interest!

Plus, any player called Bob Blade deserves recognition

[deltablue]

Plus, any player called Bob Blade deserves recognition

Indeed he does

[Alex2011]

Sorry for the lack of activity with this, guys. Like I said a few posts back, I've had a couple of exams and other important stuff come up and as such, I've had next to no time to sit down and get some matches in. I can't guarantee updates every night, or even every other night, but I should certainly be able to update more frequently than I have been

[Alex2011]

May 2012

It was only during this month I realised we were also competing in the Airtel Magic Cup. The first two matches of this tournament were during this month so I haven't included an update on it during previous updates without realising (did that make sense?). Also, as I said in my last post, I've only just started playing again so I can't remember a thing about the first 4 games of this month.

La Passe (H) - Barclays League Division One - 5-0 (W)
Wow. We weren't expecting much from this game but I guess our form from April had rolled over. Goals from Jules Jeanne, Jean-Louis Ravinia and a superb hat-trick from Hakim Magumba gave us the win.

Cote d'Or FC (A) - Barclays League Division One - 1-0 (W)
Laurence Marie grabbed the only goal in what was a very boring match.

Lightstars (H) - Airtel Magic Cup Group B - 2-0 (W)
We kicked off the cup campaign with a relatively easy win over Lightstars, this time Rashim Ziazor and Sam Mubiru getting on the scoresheet.

St Louis Suns Utd (H) - Barclays League Division One - 1-1 (D)
The only team in the league with a logo managed to end our winning streak, but our unbeaten run continued with Hakim Magumba getting the crucial equaliser.

La Passe (A) - Airtel Magic Cup Group B - 3-3 (D)
We couldn't repeat the 5-0 drumming of La Passe earlier in the month in this second cup game, but I'm sure the crowd were pleased with this action-packed six-goal thriller, with goals from Sam Mubiru, Bob Blade and Jean-Louis Ravinia.

Lightstars (A) - Barclays League Division One - 1-0 (W)
The final game of the month saw us play Lightstars again. Marcus Rose scored a cracker to get us the win.

League Table

Brilliant, we're starting to break away from the main pack, with the leaders still firmly in sight.

Airtel Magic Cup
Not much to say here, I'm just hoping we can qualify for the next round ahead of La Passe, who appear to be our only threat for 2nd. The game in hand might help.

Player of the Month

While he wasn't sensational in 5 of this month's 6 games, his hat-trick in our victory over La Passe was sublime, and earned him this award.

[cerud]

Doing well in the league

[Alex2011]

June 2012

After an amazing run of form stretching all the way back to the end of April, we headed into June with 4 cup fixtures and a tough league match against the current leaders. This month also saw the arrival of 3 players from Madagascar: Babytho, Besabotsy Saodrine and, um, this guy. They arrived shortly before the match against Lightstars.

St Francis FC (H) - Airtel Magic Cup Group B - 2-2 (D)
While it wasn't a win and certainly didn't help our chances of qualifying for the semi-finals, I was pleased with this result as Paul Labiche and Hakim Magumba got a goal each to pull us back from 2-0 down.

St Louis Suns (A) - Airtel Magic Cup Group B - 2-0 (L)
We went into this match with a 10 game unbeaten streak. We came out with nothing.

St Michel Utd (H) - Barclays League Division One - 4-1 (W)
Our only league match this month was against arguably the best team in the league. Going into the match, they led us by 2 points. Two goals apiece from Paul Labiche and Georges Jeanne gave a massive shock to the current league holders and boosted us to the top of the league. Fantastic.

Lightstars (A) - Airtel Magic Cup Group B - 0-0 (D)
Snore.

St Francis FC (A) - Airtel Magic Cup Group B - 2-1 (W)
A close-range finish from Georges Jeanne and penalty from Sam Mubiru gave us a narrow win and pushed our qualification chances back on track.

League Table

With only 7 games left to play, it's looking like a battle between 3 teams for the title. In all honesty, I would be perfectly glad with 3rd, but I'm hoping that we can continue our (reasonably) good run of form and keep hold of 1st, and guarantee us a place in next year's CAF Champions League!

Airtel Magic Cup
2 draws, a defeat and only 1 win this month means are chances of qualifying for the next round are slim. We have a game in hand over La Passe in 2nd but with only 2 games left to play, I think I'm right in saying we need to win both of our remaining matches to qualify.

Player of the Month

It was a toss-up between Georges and Paul Labiche. Both had 3 goals this month and were on fine form. It could've gone either way, but I gave it to Georges because he had only just broken into the first team and seemed determined to make it his home.

[deltablue]

Hope you can hold on

[Alex2011]

July 2012

This month we had 2 cup matches and 2 league matches. Focus was mainly on the cup matches as we needed to win both matches in order to make the semi-finals, which the board expected us to reach.

Ansé Reunion (A) - Barclays League Division One - 2-3 (L)
Our long unbeaten run in the league came to an end with a disappointing loss to one of our two title challengers. Goals from Sam Mubiru and Laurence Marie were not enough to get us a point.

La Passe (H) - Airtel Magic Cup Group B - 0-1 (L)
We dominated this match and to lose it by one goal was, quite simply, infuriating. This also meant the end of our cup hopes.

St Louis Suns Utd (H) - Airtel Magic Cup Group B - 4-0 (W)
If last match was a poor performance, this was the complete opposite. While we stayed where we were in terms of group position, goals from Georges Jeanne, Jules Jeanne, Yelvany Salmyn Odam and a beauty from right-back Paul Grézus ensured we went out with a bang.

Northern Dynamo (H) - Barclays League Division One - 1-0 (W)
A late goal from Fabrice Rakotonandrasana gave us a vital win and keeps us within touching distance of the leaders.

League Table

The loss at the start of the month meant our time at the top was very short-lived, but hopefully we can get it back, or at least hold on to 2nd. I've found out that, depending on the winner of the Land Marine Cup (which starts in September), the team that finishes 2nd can also qualify for next year's continental competitions.

Airtel Magic Cup (finished)
In the end we were still a fair bit off of the top two. Ansé Reunion qualified from Group A and went on to win the cup, beating St Michel Utd 3-2 in the final.

Player of the Month

I decided to give this month's award to the goalkeeper as his performances this month were the only ones really worthy of recognition.

[cerud]

Yikes! If I was "that guy", I'd be 10 years old before I could spell my own name...

[Alex2011]

Yikes! If I was "that guy", I'd be 10 years old before I could spell my own name...

I know, I was tempted to just put "the guy with the long name" in the update but I thought I should at least put some effort in xD

[chile_paul]

Good luck making it to the Champions League - but progressing beyond the first (preliminary) round with a team from the Seychelles may be a challenge!!

[Alex2011]

We're being forced to go the rest of the season without a decent goalkeeper as one of our best players, Salim Magoola, has been signed on a free by a team in his native Uganda. Unfortunately the transfer window is closed for the rest of the season so, even though I can find plenty of replacements, I'm unable to sign them until the start of next season

I've just discovered there's only 3 matches in August and September put together so I'll only do one update covering both months, which should be tomorrow night.

[deltablue]

Bad news losing your keeper.

[chile_paul]

We're being forced to go the rest of the season without a decent goalkeeper as one of our best players, Salim Magoola, has been signed on a free by a team in his native Uganda. Unfortunately the transfer window is closed for the rest of the season so, even though I can find plenty of replacements, I'm unable to sign them until the start of next season

I've just discovered there's only 3 matches in August and September put together so I'll only do one update covering both months, which should be tomorrow night.

The harsh realities of Amateur club football - bad luck!

[Alex2011]

August & September 2012

Form had dropped in July and we were starting to slip off from St Michel. Would be able to turn it around and catch them back up again?

St Roch United FC (A) - Barclays League Division One - 3-4 (L)
I'm sure it was a great match to watch but in my eyes this was, put simply, not good enough. St Roch were, at this point, bottom of the league and we were expected to beat them heavily. Rashim Ziazor, Paul Labiche and Babytho got a goal each but they weren't enough to give us a point.

St Francis FC (H) - Barclays League Division One - 1-2 (L)
St Francis were the form team in the league coming into the match, and we were the team out of form. Hakim Magumba got the only goal in a match that we just couldn't get a hold on.

Red Star (H) - Land Marine Cup 2nd Round - 0-0 (3-2 on penalties) (W)
We received a bye in the first round of the equivalent to the FA Cup. All but one of the teams in the country (all 18 of them) are entered in and it's a simple knock-out format. We didn't get off to a great start, failing to score against non-league Red Star, but fortunately we held them back and were able to win it on penalties to send us into the next round against La Passe. The winner of the cup gets a place in one of next year's continental competitions.

La Passe (A) - Barclays League Division One - 0-2 (L)
The last match of this month saw us visit the team that we would host in the next round of the cup, which is in two and a half weeks. I think it's fair to say that we're not going to get that continental place.

League Table

Three losses in the league this month not only means we fall behind Anse Réunion and lose even more ground to St Michel, but we've fallen within the grasps of La Passe and St Francis. With only 2 games left, we can only finish somewhere between 2nd and 5th, and the holders St Michel have all but secured the league title for the third year running.

Land Marine Cup
Only played one match so far, but I thought I'd include this just to show how things are going.

Player of the Month

It's hard to pick a Player of the Month when you lose 3 out of 4 matches and only score 4 goals. In the end I gave it to Babytho because he was one of the very few players that actually impressed this month, topping off some good defensive and midfield performances with a goal in the St Roch match.

[cerud]

Tough month, but you're still in 3rd place. Is St. Michel just a big budget club?

[Alex2011]

Tough month, but you're still in 3rd place. Is St. Michel just a big budget club?

Yeah, I think so. I haven't got FM open so I can't say exactly but I'm pretty sure their estimated value is about 10 times as much as the second highest xD

[Alex2011]

October 2012/November 2012/Season Summary

I thought I might as well chuck both October and November into one update along with the season summary as I'd found some time and only had four (potentially five) matches left to play.

La Passe (H) - Land Marine Cup Quarter Final - 1-0 (W)
We'd only just lost to La Passe in the league - they'd ended any chances that we had of reaching a continental competition next season. It came as a surprise then, as we managed to beat them 1-0 to send us into the cup semi-final, Jean-Louis Ravinia getting the goal late on. Maybe the team wanted revenge?

Cote d'Or FC (H) - Barclays League Division One - 1-1 (D)
A pretty dull match, this one. Hakim Magumba gave us the lead in the first half, but, like so many times before, we got complacent and conceded an equaliser in the second half.

St Louis Suns Utd (A) - Barclays League Division One - 3-0 (W)
The final league match of the season saw us travel to St Louis Suns. It's a shame we weren't at home as a fantastic 3-0 win was a delight for those who were able to come along and watch. A double from Jean-Louis Ravinia and a third from Rashim Melanie secured us a 3rd place finish in the league.

St Michel Utd (H) - Land Marine Cup Semi Final - 0-1 (L)
Ok, we lost. We dominated the whole match and then they scored in the last ten minutes. I'm not too disappointed though - we were expected to only reach the quarter-finals so to be on the verge of reaching the final was amazing. St Michel had also just won the league so to only lose 1-0 shows how close we are to the big boys.

Player of the Month

I gave him a chance in the first team and he shone. No-one else really came close to his performances this month.


Season Summary

Final League Table - Considering we were predicted to come last, I have to say I'm thrilled at the way the team's performed this year. I don't know whether we over-achieved or if we really are worth 3rd. I guess we'll find out next year.

Airtel Magic Cup - Maybe we should've done better, seeing as we had a considerably weaker group than that of Group A. We had a fair bit of fixture congestion around the big matches, though, which would probably explain our inability to reach the next round.

Land Marine Cup - A really good run, in my eyes. Admittedly we only scored one goal - scoring is definitely something we need to improve next season.

Squad 1 | Squad 2 - These screenshots don't really give the full extent of the story. With the exception of Babytho, Hakim Magumba and possibly Sam Mubiru, I thought that the players with only half a star were better than those with more.

Transfers - Quite a lot of action throughout the year. The first three signings barely got a game, though, as I found better players elsewhere.

Finances - Hardly the most interesting thing you'll ever see, I just thought I should include it in case anyone's interested.

Player of the Season - Douglas Moustache - A strange one, perhaps, seeing as I never chose him for Player of the Month. That's probably because he never really stood out - it's only now, when I look through my squad and their average ratings, that I realise that, while he's never been recognised as a great player, he's consistently been good. Never the best, but always there. For a 16-year-old, I think that's pretty good.


Next Season
I'll be staying on at The Lions for another year, seeing as my contract doesn't expire until the end of 2013. I can't imagine I'll stay on much longer than that, so next season my aims are to cement our place near the top of the table, so the next manager to come along can take them even higher.

On an unrelated note (if anyone actually bothers to read this far) I apologise for the lack of structure to my updates. I'm still trying to find a way to present my results and stuff in a way that both me and you guys like. Any feedback on this would be much appreciated.

[chile_paul]

Well done on getting 3rd place - should be able to kick on and challenge for the title next season.

Structure of your updates looks fine to me

[cerud]

3rd is good and 2nd was so close! A title challenge is not far off.

[deltablue]

Hope you can at least match that.

[Razer82]

Well done on getting 3rd place, a couple of decent signings for next season and you'll be pushing for 1st.

[Alex2011]

Sorry for the inactivity guys, I've had a lot of stuff to do this week and I've barely had any time to play Football Manager, to the extent that I haven't even started pre-season yet. I might be able to get an update out tonight (depending on if my laptop wants to run FM properly or not) but if not, definitely tomorrow.

[Alex2011]

Preseason 2013

Quite a dull and quiet preseason, it was only because of the length of it (3 months) that it took me a while.

For a club that doesn't have to worry about contracts, there was a surprising lack of action in the transfer window, both coming in and leaving the club. All three of our signings is rated 5* by my assistant and none of their stats are really amazing, so it's hard to say who's the pick of the transfers. Amada Ibrahim, a striker, was signed in the hope that he would shine and get the goals we need to improve on our finish from last season. Andry Ratsaratsangara is our new goalkeeper - you may remember that near the end of last season our Ugandan 5* keeper was snatched away from us. Finally, Joelson Rakotoarivony was signed as a replacement for outgoing Sam Mubiru. The squad now looks like this and this.

In terms of friendlies, we won 3 out of 4 we played, including a 3-0 over league opposition Cote d'Or FC. I left out a screenshot as I don't think the friendly results are all that important.

In other news, the draw for this year's Airtel Magic Cup group stage was made, and I can safely say that we are utterly screwed. We're in with the two best teams of last season and two teams that are both very difficult to play. The only consolation is that if we do perform a miracle and make it through, we'd face considerably easier opposition in the next round xD

[Alex2011]

Once again, I apologise for being inactive since last week. I've still had a fair bit going on and, if I'm honest, I haven't been in the mood to play Football Manager recently. I promise that when term finishes on Friday, I'll try to play more. I know you guys don't mind (this hasn't exactly generated a lot of interest) but I always feel guilty if I say I'll update soon and then never get round to it.

[cerud]

Once again, I apologise for being inactive since last week. I've still had a fair bit going on and, if I'm honest, I haven't been in the mood to play Football Manager recently. I promise that when term finishes on Friday, I'll try to play more. I know you guys don't mind (this hasn't exactly generated a lot of interest) but I always feel guilty if I say I'll update soon and then never get round to it.

Take the time you need This is an interesting career and I do enjoy following it.