Britain and India Challenge

[taifun]

Taifun - National Football League season 2012/13 - New Delhi Heroes - Christmas update

Well, it's been tough, and we're just about where we were supposed to be at this point, 9th place with 4 points ain't much to brag about, but I'm still happy. We're rarely outplayed (like Pune was) and we took a point off 4th place JCT while beating fellow relegation candidates ONGC 3-0. We create chances and score against most sides (except East B.) and there's actually some talent around.

Some of the better ones:

Franky Das - 16yo goalkeeper signed on a free, fantastic handling and reflexes, but slightly lacking physically (yet). The AM is raving about him though, saying he's already a leading NFL keeper, with the potential to far exceed his current ability.

Surojit Rai - 17yo Bhopal left winger signed on a free. Outstanding mentally and potentially a fine technician. 4 assists in his first 6 league games proves he's got something.

Obinna Musa - 20yo Nigerian striker who I find a bit on the selfish side, but four goals in eight is a decent enough contribution from the kid who signed on a free from Dempo, where he scored seven in eighteen last season.

Rakesh Dhaubanjar - 20yo Nepalese international winger signed for €1K from Pune FC. The typical winger, quick, light on his feet, falls over easily :-)

Sanjeev Kumar Maria - 32yo centreback who was alreaduy at the club. Slower than George Bush, but one of the rare cases of Indian defenders who can actually jump and head the ball.

And then there's David Bikim, but you all know about him. 30 years old now, but still has it.


East Bengal are running away with the league again, this will be their fourth win in five seasons. The funny (or maddening) thing about it is their first eleven contains three of my prospects from United. Oh, what could have been....

[milanfan_apoorv]

I was waiting for something like this

mebbe I'll have a go but having already achieved world domination with Dempo on 07 after 14 mind rending seasons (had to wait for the regens ) there may not be too much impetus

IRL has Barreto been cleared? That dude from Churchill kicked butt, but let us see.

Good to see Hamara Hindustan in the forums

[milanfan_apoorv]

Originally posted by crouchaldinho:
I am growing to love Indian football though

somehow i find it so infuriating. You watch a couple of matches at the Ambedkar and you'll know what I mean.
Nehru Cup my foot!!

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by milanfan_apoorv:
mebbe I'll have a go but having already achieved world domination with Dempo on 07 after 14 mind rending seasons (had to wait for the regens )

When you say you 'had to wait for the regens', what do you mean?

I'm probably being really naive here but how do they work?

I presume that what you mean is that as you were more successful and you improved youth & training facilities, the players that were coming through were improving?

Is that the way it is programmed into the game? It would be good if it is because then we all have a really excellent chance of improving Indian football.

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by taifun:
Taifun - National Football League season 2012/13 - New Delhi Heroes - Christmas update

Keep at it Taifun - if you keep them up then you will earn extra respect from me. I found it almost impossible to keep them up.

I reckon anyone who starts with a 500 reputation team (i.e. Amity Utd, New Delhi Heroes or ONGC) and keeps them up deserves a round of applause! Nightowl is doing a terrific job with ONGC. Well done mate!

I am progressing through my season slowly as usual. Three games gone in the league. I'm not giving anything away until my update. Needless to say that I am hoping for a less dramatic season this time around, i.e. no must win games for survival on the last day!

One thing I will say is that Mumbai's reputation has not changed at all. They are one of the 1000 reputation teams (see the first page for the listings). Everyone is favourites to beat me and I am still predicted to finish in a relegation spot, despite the heroics of last season!

Ah well, takes the pressure off I guess. Apart from the spiralling out of control debts, which the board are unhappy with, and which put the pressure right back on of course!

C.

[cletus]

Thought I'd give it a go.

Profile

Got one of the bigger teams: Mohammedan Sporting Club also known to their fans as The Black Panthers.

No staff at all, but I've found a few new ones. Can't find any fitness-, or GK-couch though? Have any of you experienced the same?

[Nightowl]

Welcome to the challenge, Cletus. It's fun and frustrating all at the same time! As for coaches, I found similar issues at the beginning. The best unsigned coach had a goalkeeper coaching rating of 2, and I don't remember any decent fitness coaches. It does improve slightly later on.

I've had limited time lately to play, so here's a brief update of some major events occurring with my team prior to the 2011/12 season. As you can see, changes are afoot. A season report should hopefully come tomorrow.

Preseason 2011/12
A very eventful off season, a quick summary of players bought and sold to get everyone up to speed.

Players Out (first 2 sold by chairman):

Surajit Firoze, 250k + 20%, Mohun Bagan
Vijay Dias, 60k + 10%, SC Goa
Arun Sengupta (youth signed in first season, first team backup), 24k + 50%, Mohammedan
Plus several young players out of contract.

Sad to lose Firoze, I think he's one of the best (and most profitable) stop gaps I've ever signed. This is actually more than my chairman accepted for my former star Coutinho, makes me wonder how much we could have received for him. Dias never panned out, not really sorry to see him go.

Players In:

Saiful Islam Rahman, out of contract, George Telegraph
Shafiqul Hossain, 1k, East Bengal

Rahman is another attempt to find an extra striker, while Hossain appears to be a real steal. Very solid central defensive attributes, he was buried on the East Bengal bench.

As well, I received 4k + 12k over 24 months from the 30% sell-on from one of the 100k defenders my chairman sold previously. Sadly, he sold for only 55k. Nurul Rahman's sell on will also bring in 2k over the next 24, hardly a drop in the bucket.

Because of the chairman sales, the team balance on June 1 was 162877, by far the highest since I joined. I decided to embark on a plan to re-shape the team to improve finances even more, by trimming the squad, and trying to profit from any non-replaceable players. I think I have a good idea by now what kind of player I require, and its time to move out the surplus. The aim is to have a smaller squad of solid players, and hope injuries don't hit too hard. Dangerous, but I need to make this club some money.

In accordance with this plan, I sold Sunil Kumar Dora (AM C)for 65k + 10%, and Dinesh Pires (AM L) for 80k + 30%. Mohammed Oliveira (ST, 53k + 50%), and Surkumar Singh (D R, 150k) are leaving in October. Singh was a starter but fetched a high fee, while the other were youths developed earlier who hadn't managed to crack the first eleven. I've found that it is hard to get decent fees unless one of the big clubs is interested, so as soon as one of them comes looking, its time to sell the excess. My balance as of October 1, 2011 is 410701. Good, but I'm hoping for better.

I also signed a new contract until 2013 (determined to finish what I started).

In other off season news, Hardip Singh finally made the move from East Bengal to Europe, joining RC Lens for 300k plus clauses. I'm glad I don't have to face him anymore. I'm very interested in following his career, with an eye to the second part of the challenge.

Title odds this season were 8-1, at least the media is starting to show some respect. Season tickets went up to 118.

For the third consecutive season, I lost to East Bengal in the semi of the Federation Cup, and again lost the third place game. This is getting tiring. Does anyone know how they decide on the structure of the Federation Cup, is it drawn or set geographically or what? In the four years I've managed ONGC, I've met (or would have met, in one case) East Bengal in the semifinal.

As you can see, a busy off season. Hopefully everything doesn't blow up in my face. We'll see in my next update.

[taifun]

Originally posted by crouchaldinho:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by taifun:
Taifun - National Football League season 2012/13 - New Delhi Heroes - Christmas update

Keep at it Taifun - if you keep them up then you will earn extra respect from me. I found it almost impossible to keep them up.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

No respect earned then. We continued fighting for every point throughout the season, but everytime I thought we had it, we gave away a late goal. A desperate switch to a 3-4-3 late on didn't help either. I think I need to do a serious tactical rethink. My short-passing style ain't no good in the quagmire of the NFL lower reaches.

Considering what to do now, as both promoted sides (HASC and Indian Bank) already have managers, and none of the established sides seems to be even remotely interested in signing me. For now, I'm on holiday in the Maldives while my agent is looking for a new gig. Applied to Liverpool again for a laugh, Van Gaal only lasted 3/4 of a season, event though he was leading the premiership by a mile. A 0-3 thrashing by Real in the CL seems to have been too much. For some reason they wanted Thomas Schaaf rather than me....

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by cletus:
Thought I'd give it a go.

Profile

Got one of the bigger teams: Mohammedan Sporting Club also known to their fans as The Black Panthers.

Welcome Cletus - good luck with your new side.

You have got a good club there with plenty of potential for building a great Indian side.

I hope you enjoy the challenge and good luck for your first season in charge!

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by Nightowl:
I decided to embark on a plan to re-shape the team to improve finances even more, by trimming the squad, and trying to profit from any non-replaceable players. I think I have a good idea by now what kind of player I require, and its time to move out the surplus. The aim is to have a smaller squad of solid players, and hope injuries don't hit too hard. Dangerous, but I need to make this club some money.

Good luck with your plan to sort the finances and trim the squad. It is a brave one indeed.
In my second season in charge at Mumbai FC, I have decided to do exactly the opposite. Well, you'll see when I do my end of season update.

I'm badly hoping that my attendances will suddenly improve. That could really solve my financial woes.

Does anyone know how attendances are worked out in FM? Is it all to do with club reputation?
I mean, Mumbai is the biggest city in India as far as I remember. The potential for attendances should be huge if the club is considered a big one.

I wonder if it is just a case of improving the club reputation and then maybe the fans will start coming and the finances will finally be sorted. That could be hard work though!

For the third consecutive season, I lost to East Bengal in the semi of the Federation Cup, and again lost the third place game. This is getting tiring. Does anyone know how they decide on the structure of the Federation Cup, is it drawn or set geographically or what? In the four years I've managed ONGC, I've met (or would have met, in one case) East Bengal in the semifinal.

I don't believe that there is a trend, however it might be based on league position or maybe seeded in some way? Perhaps it is just a coincidence? It's a crappy coincidence because East Bengal are unbeatable as far as I am concerned!

As you can see, a busy off season. Hopefully everything doesn't blow up in my face. We'll see in my next update.

I'm impressed by your hard work. Hopefully it'll be a good year of stabilising the finances and I hope that your performances don't suffer too much.

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by taifun:
No respect earned then. We continued fighting for every point throughout the season, but everytime I thought we had it, we gave away a late goal.

Stick at it Taifun - I'm sure your luck is about to change. Hopefully a decent job will come up for you, perhaps with one of the bigger sides. Like I said, starting with a 500 reputation team is really tough - I don't know how Nightowl pulled it off, he must be a tactical genius!

Plus, that first season at a newly promoted club is all about luck. Some seasons 14-15 points would keep you up, while other season you'd easily go down with that many points. Plus, getting that lucky result makes all the difference.

A desperate switch to a 3-4-3 late on didn't help either. I think I need to do a serious tactical rethink. My short-passing style ain't no good in the quagmire of the NFL lower reaches.

Yes, I would have a tactical rethink if I were you. I have been playing defensive, direct, counter-attacking football the whole time. I've used a few formations but I prefer to flood the midfield with 5 men and play 1 up front. I play awful football but I figure that I can adapt the style when I've settled in the division. The time for champagne football will come - I hope! Meanwhile, I've found a mixture of fast tempo counter-attack with pace up front to be very effective. If you can find yourself a target man, that would also be extremely useful in this division. Most of the defences are extraordinarily bad in the air.

Fingers crossed that a good job comes up for you in India.

C.

[taifun]

Originally posted by crouchaldinho:


Yes, I would have a tactical rethink if I were you. I have been playing defensive, direct, counter-attacking football the whole time. I've used a few formations but I prefer to flood the midfield with 5 men and play 1 up front. I play awful football but I figure that I can adapt the style when I've settled in the division. The time for champagne football will come - I hope! Meanwhile, I've found a mixture of fast tempo counter-attack with pace up front to be very effective. If you can find yourself a target man, that would also be extremely useful in this division. Most of the defences are extraordinarily bad in the air.

Fingers crossed that a good job comes up for you in India.

C.

Yeah, I thought I had it figured at United, playing 4-5-1 short-passing, but that fell on its face from the third season on. Will try to rework this into something more direct.

Luck turned my way for once, and Indian Bank switched chairmen. I was hired on Oct 5, 11 days before the transfer deadline, and handed a €191K war chest, although the club is in the red. The transfer money turned out to be real this time, and I proceeded to retrieve as many of "my" starlets as I could. Not too many as it turned out, but enough to make me cautiously optimistic (I never learn...) Most notably I signed left winger Norbert Babu from United and in a real shocker, East Bengals starting striker Anwar Ahmed (ex-United) on a free. Ahmed already has four goals in three games for East B. and he scored 10 in 19 for United. My only regret is that David Bikim refused to sign a €150/week contract, holding out for twice that, way out of my already strained budget.

4th time's the charm.

[taifun]

Now, I'm not going to start some sort of game-by-game commentary here, but needed to share this.

Oct 16 2013: Transfer window ends, Indian Bank having signed a metric sh*tload of players, including a few Indian U21
Oct 18 2013: Taifun redesigns his 4-5-1 into a counter-attacking underdog tactic
Oct 19 2013: Indian Bank visits Mahindra Utnited at The Cooperage having amassed one solitary point sporting a 3-10 goal difference.

01:00: India Boss Bobby Houghton and his wheel chair is spotted in the stands.
01:53: Indian Banks €75K record signing Norbert Babu cuts in from the left, looks up, and chips the keeper. 1-0 Indian Bank
11:00: Wadoo heads home a corner for Mahindra. 1-1
36:04: Babu snaps up a risky backpass and leave the goalie stranded. 2-1 IB!
73:17: Relentless Mahindra pressure finally pays off as Manjit Banneree floats past lumbering carthorse Beny Hhhhh and score. 2-2
84:00: Shafiqul Alam (€22K, Viva Kerala) picks up a rebound and sends all four Indian Bank supporters into hysteria. 3-2!


Statistics say chances were 13-4 for Mahindra. I say Scorpions played the Winds of Change on my stereo.

[taifun]

Originally posted by taifun:
Beny Hhhhh

Thats a real cool name, pity it's a placeholder. His real name is Benoy Kunuvilla, and he's still a carthorse. A big and mean one though.

[crouchaldinho]

I knew you'd be back for more punishment Taifun and it looks like you are bouncing back quite nicely! Great result!

Indian Bank ought to have a bit of money, you would imagine. I wonder what their supporters are like? Do you think they are all accountant types, coming to games in suits and judging your signings by their goals to current marketplace value ratio?

I do wonder whether football hasn't become really popular in India due to the commercial aspect of the game.

I mean, if your local team was called Air India, Indian Bank, Oil and Natural Gas Cooperation or Hindustan Aeronautics Sports Club etc. etc. etc. - then how likely would it be that you had a passionate relationship with them?

Most communities build up a relationship with a football club because it represents their community in some way. I guess that isn't always true but for the most part it is.

I might be wrong - some of these institutionalised football clubs might be very popular.

Anyway, I'm hoping that you do well with Indian Bank - if you can beat Mahindra Utd, then you should pick up some points in the other games. Four more wins would see you safe for sure! Good luck!

C.

[taifun]

Taifun - National Football League 2013/2014 - Indian Bank Sports and Recreation Club

Finally! A bit more direct football, and a club that actually has a transfer budget, and relegation was no longer a certainty. Actually we were in the running for 6th all the way into the last game, and we finished 10 points clear of the drop. HASC and JCT were so poor they should've been disbanded altogether.

The vital players were my three rush signings:
Norbert Babu - AM L - 11(1) apps 5 goals 8 assists 7.75 avg - €75K from United SC
Shafiqul Alam 9(1) - AM RC - apps 2 goals 3 assists 7.30 avg - $22K from Viva Kerala
Anwar Ahmed 13(2) - ST - apps 8 goals 1 assist 7.20 avg - €0 from East Bengal

Indian Bank U18s won the Youth Cup! talented academy winger Stanley Kumar scoring the winner in a 2-1 thriller with HASC

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">
13/14 Indian Bank 8th 18 5-3-10 31-43 -12 18
12/13 New Delhi Heroes 10th 18 1-3-14 21-52 -31 6
11/12 Pune FC 10th 13 1-1-11 10-36 -26 4
10/11 United Sports Club 9th 18 4-4-10 25-33 -8 16
09/10 United Sports Club 6th 18 6-8-4 32-30 +2 26
08/09 United Sports Club 6th 18 6-3-9 34-46 -12 21
</pre>



East Bengal won the league (five in six) and the Fed. Cup, Mahindra won the Durand and came 2nd in the league, a most impressive season for new manager Subhash Bhowmick.

[taifun]

A bit of messing up there, oh well..

There's not much money in the Indian Bank apart from the initial transfer pot. I'm thinking they may be a sand bank rather than a finiancial institution.

@FM India Is there an effort to bring some more variety into staff names in India? There are too many Deys and Basumatarys and Das'es to be realistic. Or maybe that's how it is in India, I don't know?

[crouchaldinho]

Taifun - I agree, the naming is extremely repetitive. I have so many players called Singh in my team! I think the lack of variety is a reflection of FM and certainly not of real life. The regens must have a limited amount of names to pick from, I guess.

Anyway, to the main point of your post, congratulations on staying up and exceeding expectations.

What sort of attendances are you getting with Indian Bank, out of interest?

I've been looking at other teams that play at the Cooperage, which is Mumbai FC's home stadium. Other teams playing here include Mahindra United, Air India and ONGC. None of these clubs are getting particularly high attendances. Even Mahindra United, who seem to be one of the 'big three' alongside East Bengal and Mohul Bagan. My attendances, by the way, are absolutely crap again this season.

It has got me wondering how attendances are worked out in the game. I wonder if I significantly improve the repuation of Mumbai FC, whether the attendance will grow to a reasonable enough level for my club to start making some money?

Mahindra United though, who like I said also play at the Cooperage, are of a similar reputation to East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, and yet they are getting no where near the same attendances. I wonder if it is worked out on a city basis? The population of Mumbai should mean that I have a huge potential fanbase.

Anyway, congrats again on your success Taifun !

C.

P.S. My season is moving slowly - I've only managed to fit in a game a day just recently, so I am only 5 league games into the season. Hoping to have a big session on Friday night, so hopefully will have another huge update for the weekend!

[taifun]

Crouch

Average attendance was 1862 in the 40K Chennai stadium, with the East Bengal game being the biggest draw with 2315. Not nearly enough to compete, and I have no proper local rivals to bring in the crowds either, the closest one is Chennai Customs who finished third in the Chennai state league back in 2004. Somehow I don't see them promoted to the NFL.

Mahindra averaged only 697 this season, while Mumbai FC were lowest in the rankings with 450, even though they finished 2nd and 5th in the league respectively. This was Mumbai's 4th season at the top level, they've finished 10th, 6th, 8th and 5th while attendances have remained more or less static, topping out at 537 when finishing 6th.

Air India went down first season and haven't been seen since, but they averaged respectable 2981 that season. ONGC spent one season up in 12/13 averaging 613.

I really wonder what it would take to bring people to see Mahindra?

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by taifun:
Crouch
Mahindra averaged only 697 this season, while Mumbai FC were lowest in the rankings with 450,

Yes, that's around about what I'm getting at the moment I think. It's depressing!

even though they [Mumbai FC] finished 2nd and 5th in the league respectively. This was Mumbai's 4th season at the top level, they've finished 10th, 6th, 8th and 5th while attendances have remained more or less static, topping out at 537 when finishing 6th.

Sounds like Mumbai FC have done quite nicely! If I can do the same with them, then I will be pleased!

I really wonder what it would take to bring people to see Mahindra?

Yes, it is really bizarre. Especially as they are one of the more successful sides.

I'm certainly look to stay long-term with Mumbai FC and win something if I can. However, it may well be better for me to jump ship to one of the Calcutta or Goa sides eventually, purely for the financial advantage. Otherwise it looks extremely difficult to dominate domestically and win the Asian Cup. At the moment, my chairman is quiet but we're getting deep into the red. Pretty soon we're going to be a selling club and the chairman is going to be selling over my head - I can tell it is coming soon.

C.

[cletus]

Update from Mohammedan

3 months in India and it's been a very interesting start.

The Federation Cup went very well and the boys made it to the semi's, where SBT unfortunately ended the dream for the black panthers. Lost 1-0 in extra-time. Also the 3rd place playoff were lost to Churchill Bros. In previous rounds we won over Mahindra Utd and JCT. The board was very delighted.

After 6 games in the league, the results are as follows:
Home games - 3 won,
Away games - 2 losses, 1 draw.
That puts us in 4th place: Table

As for the attendances, I can't complain: Team stats

With an average around 36500, the finances are very solid. October month gave a good 31,3 million Rupees in gate receipts and the current balance lies at 55 million Rs.

Also an nervewrecking takeover was pulled out in september, as the Jalandhar consortium failed to agree a price with the club-director. There were rumours that the new consortium would hire a new manager!

[crouchaldinho]

Very nice update Cletus and an excellent start to your campaign too.

Keep up the good work!

C.

P.S. Dead jealous of your attendances!

[Razer82]

Crouchaldinho This is a great idea for a challenge and I shall be watching all the progress with great interest. This will probably be the next challenge I attempt, if and when I finish Gundo's.

Good luck to all the participants.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by Razer82:
Crouchaldinho This is a great idea for a challenge and I shall be watching all the progress with great interest. This will probably be the next challenge I attempt, if and when I finish Gundo's.

Good luck to all the participants.

Cheers Razer82 !

Look forward to you attempting the challenge. No doubt I will still be struggling in India by then!

Halfway through my current season lads. My end of season update will reveal all, of course. It's been a rollercoaster ride so far. But then it always is when I'm in charge, and not normally in a good way!

C.

[sarge]

Having been reading this for a few days thought i would give it ago.
It is my first challenge, so go easy on me.
I also do not get that amount of time to play, so may not be able to post that much, Sorry...

Profile

Decided to go as Mohammedan for two reasons. They had a better squad than the other team (Vasco) and couldn't resist the 120,000 seater stadium.
Squad

[FM_India]

I'm quite excited to have you post to this thread! It sounds as though we have ourselves a resident Indian football expert!

Will you be taking on the challenge?

I take it you live in India?
To start off with, I would like to know who you support / who is your favourite team in India?

I have been reading a great deal about Indian football after creating this challenge and I know that the Indian leagues have gone through a major change to become the I-League - I believe this was the first season of the new format. I'm hoping that FM09 will reflect the new format more accurately as I am intending to run this challenge again for the new game.

I am currently studying the historical relationship between Britain and India for my postgraduate degree and that has played a big part in the creation of this challenge. I am hoping to visit India for the first time next year and I will have to go to a game of I-League football while I am there!

Incidentally, I notice that you have the Indianfootball.com website as your location - are you anything to do with that?
I think the Indianfootball.com website is excellent. I really like the intelligently written articles about Indian football that you can find there.

That sounds fantastic! Will you be going to the game?

Thanks for posting.

C.

Hey buddy,

Sorry for the late reply - work's been driving me crazy

Yes I live in Calcutta, and am working for SI as the Indian Head Researcher. I am a huge Mohun Bagan fan

Yup exciting times are here for Indian football. All new rules will most certainly be accurately represented in FM - for starters the no. of teams in the league have been increased to 12 for the new season. Even now, all rules, IRL are accurately represented in the game, though it is still known as NFL instead of I-League in the game.

You must come down here and get in touch - we'l go for the games together. I'll definitely be going for the Bayern game !

We work a lot on the site and positive feedback such as yours means a lot. We have been the only complete source on Indian football on the net for 10 years now, and we're very proud of it. Of course the common aim is to help the world realise that India is not just a cricketing nation as most people believe. And do whatever we can in our small little way to help India move up the rankings..

Cheers

[FM_India]

A bit of messing up there, oh well..

There's not much money in the Indian Bank apart from the initial transfer pot. I'm thinking they may be a sand bank rather than a finiancial institution.

@FM India Is there an effort to bring some more variety into staff names in India? There are too many Deys and Basumatarys and Das'es to be realistic. Or maybe that's how it is in India, I don't know?

Hi Taifun,

Thanks for the feedback. While you are right, the problem also is that there are 3 areas where football is most popular in India - the Northeast, Calcutta, and Goa.

Goa - thanks to Goa's history, several of the names are similar to Portuguese names - e.g. Rodrigues, Pereira, Fernandes, Afonso, Alemao, Barreto, Coelho etc

Kolkata - the home to Bengalis, names will invariably be Das,Dey,Bhattacharya, Banerjee, Ghosh, Chatterjee, Roy etc

NorthEast - particularly Manipur, where name will always end in Singh . e.g Renedy Singh, Bungo Singh, James Singh etc.

In several other areas, there is hardly any football played . e.g Gujarat (Shahs, Patels) or other states like Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh etc

Having said that Basumatary is a name restricted largely to Assam, and certainly should not be repeated too often!

Cheers

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by sarge:
Having been reading this for a few days thought i would give it ago.
It is my first challenge, so go easy on me.
I also do not get that amount of time to play, so may not be able to post that much, Sorry...

Great to see you here giving it a go!

Don't worry about being a slow player. I'm really slow too but then I do have an MA to study for!

The idea of this challenge is that, due to the fewer amount of games in India, those with less time to play can get really involved and get to the end of seasons a bit quicker.

Don't worry about posting too much - just enjoy the challenge and let us know how you're getting on.

Decided to go as Mohammedan for two reasons. They had a better squad than the other team (Vasco) and couldn't resist the 120,000 seater stadium.

Good luck with the Black Panthers!

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by FM_India:
Yes I live in Calcutta, and am working for SI as the Indian Head Researcher. I am a huge Mohun Bagan fan

Excellent - being head researcher must be really fun and rewarding.

I have just become FM researcher for my local team here in England - a Blue Square South side called St. Albans City. I'm going to have a lot of fun with it.

Yup exciting times are here for Indian football. All new rules will most certainly be accurately represented in FM - for starters the no. of teams in the league have been increased to 12 for the new season.

Excellent. I was planning to run this challenge again for FM2009 and so it is pleasing to know that the game will reflect the real life rules of the newly structured league.

You must come down here and get in touch - we'l go for the games together.

That is very kind of you. I will almost certainly take you up on that offer.
I haven't got any firm dates yet but I am planning to come next year for my first visit to India.

We work a lot on the site and positive feedback such as yours means a lot. We have been the only complete source on Indian football on the net for 10 years now, and we're very proud of it.

Yes, I think the website is terrific.
I posted the articles from your website somewhere earlier on this thread.

It is nice to see intelligent writing about football. I really enjoyed reading through them and learning about the game.

Of course the common aim is to help the world realise that India is not just a cricketing nation as most people believe.

Yes, it seems strange to me that there is a kind of ambivalence about football in India (from what I have read). On the one hand, you have very passionate fans of both Indian football and European football too. However, on the other hand, it seems that certain areas of India just haven't got the football bug yet.

One thing that I found interesting about the articles on Indianfootball.com was that they highlighted the technical abilities of the Indian players and suggested that it was the physical side of the game in which Indian footballers are weaker than other nations.

I haven't exactly found this reflected in FM. I wondered what you thought about this?

The other thing I noticed in the articles, is that the I-League, naturally, compares itself to other Asian leagues. In particularly, the J-league is mentioned a great deal as the footballing example that India must follow. So my question is, how far behind the J-league do you think Indian football is? Can you see it realistically improving to that kind of level?

And do whatever we can in our small little way to help India move up the rankings..

Yes and we all hope that we can push India up the rankings on Football Manager!

C.

[crouchaldinho]

FM India - one more thing, what can you tell us about football rivalries in India? In other words, what teams really hate each other? Who really hates who?

Obviously this is reflected in FM but it is always nice to hear about real life rivalry.

Also, anything you can tell me about Mumbai FC would be interesting as I am managing them. I know that they are a brand new club launched only last year. Do you know how popular football is in Mumbai?

Sorry to overload you with questions!

C.

[milanfan_apoorv]

Crouch,

I can help FM_India out, I'm Indian too
East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are massive rivals in Calcutta. EB used to be better but Bagan have been smacking them recently.

Apart from that all the Goan clubs (Dempo, Vasco, Salgaocar, SC Goa, Churchill Bros etc.) hate each other. Nothing else really.

Mumbai FC has been the first fully professional club in India (dunno what that means though) and signed Abhishek Yadav as their star in the beginning. Their kit is yellow and they are not getting promoted next year, I think (A little help FM_I)

Started the challenge with Vasco, fantastic results will tell more later.

[FM_India]

Yes, it seems strange to me that there is a kind of ambivalence about football in India (from what I have read). On the one hand, you have very passionate fans of both Indian football and European football too. However, on the other hand, it seems that certain areas of India just haven't got the football bug yet.

One thing that I found interesting about the articles on Indianfootball.com was that they highlighted the technical abilities of the Indian players and suggested that it was the physical side of the game in which Indian footballers are weaker than other nations.

I haven't exactly found this reflected in FM. I wondered what you thought about this?

The other thing I noticed in the articles, is that the I-League, naturally, compares itself to other Asian leagues. In particularly, the J-league is mentioned a great deal as the footballing example that India must follow. So my question is, how far behind the J-league do you think Indian football is? Can you see it realistically improving to that kind of level?

Hey,

Well yes it is kind of strange in a way. I think the main fact is that football is massive amongst almost all the Indians-particularly the yongsters. However, most of them follow the Premiership, and know very little about Indian football. For e.g. the average urban school/college guy here will know who's leading in the Premiership, but will not be able to name even the Indian first 11 !! Sad, but true.

Indian football's popularity, like I mentioned earlier is restricted to Goa, Calcutta, North East, and Kerala.

Yes it's true that Indian players lose out physically as we are traditionally not as strong and tall as our European counterparts. (except north India where football is not as popular) Which is why Houghton has declared his first aim is to look for bigger guys. Of course most of the guys here have better technical abilities - but please remember, this still falls way short of European standards, which is probably why you feel it is not reflected in FM.

Well the Indian league is some way off the J-League to be honest. Talent is there- what we need is better infrastructure. However despite all the shortcomings, we don't fall too short of the smaller West Asian nations, who are probably among the strongest sides in Asia after the usual suspects (China,Japan,South Korea, Iran,Saudi Arabia, Iraq)

Please refer to ,

http://www.the-afc.com/eng/competiti...-2008-489.html

the UEFA Cup of Asia. If you look at the current season, East Bengal and Dempo are not doing too badly against strong opposition . This considering that East Bengal got hammered in the league.

Cheers

[FM_India]

FM India - one more thing, what can you tell us about football rivalries in India? In other words, what teams really hate each other? Who really hates who?

Obviously this is reflected in FM but it is always nice to hear about real life rivalry.

Also, anything you can tell me about Mumbai FC would be interesting as I am managing them. I know that they are a brand new club launched only last year. Do you know how popular football is in Mumbai?

Sorry to overload you with questions!

C.

No issue mate I love answering these questions

As Apoorv points out, the biggest rivalry in India is East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. In fact this derby is among the fiercest in the world. Please refer http://www.indianfootball.com/team/headtohead.html
and
http://www.ultrabrown.com/posts/the-kolkata-derby

Also Mohammedan Sporting hates both these two!

Otherwise, JCT and Punjab Police have a healty rivalry in the North. Air India and Mahindra Utd are fierce rivals. In Goa, Dempo and Churchill always have good contests. Down south, Viva Kerala and SBT would be the local derby.

Mumbai FC has just been formed by the Essel Group, one of the largest media houses here. Sadly football is not as popular in Mumbai as it should be. Probably because it still does not boast of a good stadium. Shocking actually.
But Mumbai FC have of course just been promoted, and will prove to be a real challenge for the other sides.

Cheers

P.S - Apoorv where are you based ?

[crouchaldinho]

Hey, thanks FM India and Milanfan_apoorv !

It was really interesting reading about the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan derby. It sounds very passionate. With such a huge stadium as well, I bet that it is an amazing atmosphere!

I think I will have to have a spell in charge of one of the big Calcutta sides at some point in my Football Manager career. First of all I have to try and win something with Mumbai FC!

As a student of history, it was very interesting to me to read about the contribution of Mohun Bagan in Indian nationalism and independence. I didn't know anything about this.

The biggest event in the club calendar is the Mohun Bagan Day. This is held on July 29, which is the day the football team lifted the IFA Shield for the first time in 1911 defeating the British. "Mohun Bagan is not a football team. It is an oppressed country, rolling in the dust, which has just started to rise its head" - said Achintya Kumar Sengupta in "Kallol Jug" magazine after the historic victory of 1911 IFA Shield.

I always find it interesting how football can become representative of so much more than just football.

Thank you both for taking the time to reply to my questions.

C.

[Nightowl]

A very busy week for me, with little time to play (or follow this thread). I will try to get an update up this weekend. Just a few comments until then.

Like I said, starting with a 500 reputation team is really tough - I don't know how Nightowl pulled it off, he must be a tactical genius!

Thanks, but I doubt I could be considered a tactical genius. I've just learned to accept the limitations of my players and abandoned any thoughts of playing attractive football, instead going quick, direct, counter-attacking play. If I can ever find a big target man, however, I think he could dominate the poor defenders in this league.

I agree, the naming is extremely repetitive. I have so many players called Singh in my team! I think the lack of variety is a reflection of FM and certainly not of real life.

As far as I know, the Singh last name has some religious significance, and is actually extremely common (if anyone knows better, please feel free to correct this). I seem to remember this causing immigration issues for people attempting to come to Canada. I agree about the lack of variety, though.

Congratulations to taifun for his continuing adventures, and welcome to all the new users who have signed up.

[crouchaldinho]

Get ready for the world's biggest update. This is HUGE! (my apologies, but once I get typing there is no stopping me!)

MUMBAI FC 2009/2010

Pre-season:

Last season had been a dramatic and historical one for a club that was only established in 2007 playing in the Indian National Football League for the first time. Mumbai FC had managed to stay up on the last day of last season thanks to an emphatic and unexpected 4-2 win over Salgaocar. Over the course of last season, Mumbai FC had deserved to stay up but had lost vital points in games when a win was both expected and a must. It was clear to me that over the summer there was serious work to be done. I would need to bring in new players, adding quality to the side, as well as allowing some of the players who were not good enough to play at this level to move on.

Felix Aboagye, last season’s top scorer with 10 goals, would see out his contract at the club after I was unable to find a buyer for him. At the age of 33, he had began to decline as a player and the physical side of his game was now a real problem. This season he would only play a bit part.

The spine of a new team would need to be build around two of our quality players, that is Rocus Lamare (23 year old Indian centre-back) and David Bikim (27 year old Cameroonian midfielder). There would be huge changes to the rest of the side in order to build for the future.

All in all, I wielded my axe in the most ruthless way, free transferring and selling 18 squad players, including both of last season’s full-backs and one of the starting XI centre-backs. This was mainly to free up the wage bill for some major signings. I made very little cash from these sales; only around £3k was recouped in total.

Despite incredible debts, my board rewarded me for my control of wages and allocated me a stonking £100k transfer kitty. I resolved to spend all of this in order to improve the football club and give the fans a side to be proud of.

It was a very busy summer of business for Mumbai FC as I bought in a total of 15 players for £92k in total. Considering the club’s debts, this was a huge gamble, but I felt that with the money spent wisely, Mumbai FC might be able to establish itself in the top half of the table.

For me, the two headline transfers of the summer for Mumbai FC were the signings of two Indian internationals from East Bengal.
Firstly, I blew £45k of the transfer funds on Gouramangi Singh, a 24 year old Indian defensive midfielder. With excellent mental and physical attributes, along with decent technical abilities, Singh looked every part the holding midfielder I wanted to build the midfield around. He would join the more attack-minded and technically gifted David Bikim in the middle of the park in what I imagined would be a superb and competitive midfield.
Secondly, Mumbai FC welcomed another technically gifted attacking midfielder to add to this duo in the form of Climax Lawrence. Climax has potentially the best name I have ever heard in the whole of football. He is also another solid midfielder, with abilities from set-pieces and excellent technical skills for this level. He had around 12 caps for India before signing and his experience was something I was hoping would really help the side. The only downside to Lawrence was his alleged dislike of the big matches, which I would have to keep an eye on.
With a midfield trio established, I then began to look to secure the defence. I was really excited with a new youth prospect called Agnelo Costa, 16 years of age, who plays at left-back. He was rushed into the first team before he could play a game for the U18s. I have high hopes for this youngster as he looks like a very good fullback already. With Lamare already established as our key centre-back, I added 29 year old Indian Mahesh Gawli to the defence for £12k from Dempo SC. Lamare has the height and with Gawli providing pace, I thought we had a pretty formidable defensive partnership.

Up front, I bought in Sushil Kumar Singh, a 25-year-old target man who is good in the air, on a free transfer. In addition to him, I signed another free transfer, Ashim Biswas an Indian 26-year-old pacey striker. With the young Nigerian, 19-year-old Ogundare, having matured since last season, we had an exciting attacking line full of talent.

Would these players be able to gel and play well together in the league? That was the question. My other problem was in choosing what system to play this side in. The three men in central midfield seemed obvious. The flat back four more obvious still. Having three quality strikers seemed to suggest that I should attempt a 4-3-3 formation. Target man, Sushil Kumar Singh, would drop deep and be supported by two pacey strikers in Biswas and Ogundare.

The starting XI would look like this:

GK Bhattacharya
DR Nayan
DL Costa
DC Lamare
DC Gawli
MCd Gouramangi Singh
MC Bikim
MCa Lawrence
FS Biswas
TM Kumar Singh
FS Ogundare

As a result of my experimentation, pre-season was a disaster. 6 games, 0 wins, 3 draws, 3 loses, all against mediocre competition.

We better do a lot better than this in the league!


Overall feeling about the season to come:

Despite a crap pre-season, I think we’ve got a side that can compete now. I see us easily staying up this season and I hope we can finish in a comfortable position well away from the drop.

Media prediction: 9th place
Chairman and fans: Fans and board want me to avoid relegation
Manager: For me, I think 7th or 6th place should be achievable this season


[B[ SEASON REVIEW [/B]

First up, the Indian Federation Cup, and this time around I had all of my pre-season signings in place before the October transfer window. In the preliminary round, we made hard work of beating United Sports Club 3-2, with a brace from Ogundare. Still, we were through to the quarters and that was very exciting! There we met with Mohammedan and goals from Climax Lawrence (I still can’t get over that name!) and Biswas gave us a fantastic victory.

All of this gave me a huge lift and I really went into the semi-final tie, in which we would meet East Bengal, feeling excited and optimistic. I need not have bothered getting excited as they wiped the floor with my new team. We lost 4-0. How embarrassing.

Despite this, the third place-playoff was won on penalties against JCT, giving us our very first placed finished in a competition. This was progress and I was very satisfied with early indications that the side could do well in the league this season.

Regrettably, we started the season off away to East Bengal. How depressing. So far, in my early managerial career in India, East Bengal have beaten my sides comprehensively 5-0, 4-0 and 2-0. The lads went out and tried their best, yet we lost yet again. This time it was a much more respectable 1-0 but it didn’t feel any better as they dominated. Not the best start of the season.

Things were about to get better though. Much better. Much much much better! How about a six game unbeaten run? First there was a nerve-wracking 1-0 win away to JCT. Then another nerve-wracking 2-1 win at home to Mahindra United with goals from Climax Lawrence and Sushil Kumar Singh. Then, yet another NERVE-WRACKING win 3 goals to 2 against Salgaocar at home. Anyone notice a pattern yet?

This team are giving me a serious heart problem. Every game, they take it right to the wire, nearly conceding in the last minute. I’m not sure how much more I can take of those last 5 minutes of a game in which your side is defending for their lives to hold onto the beautiful THREE points that you so desperately want to keep hold of. I had said so many prayers during those last few minutes hoping that the lads would deliver and wouldn’t concede a goal in the dying seconds.

The side must have heard my prayers because they turned out excellent and comprehensive victories over United Sports Club and New Delhi Heroes, winning 2-0 and 3-1 respectively. That was more like it. What an incredible start to the season!

We went into a game away at Dempo sitting proudly in 1st place. I could never have imagined being in this position at the start of the season. Yet, to be honest, the fixtures had fallen in our favour, with mostly home games against lower half of the table sides. The second half of the season would be much tougher. Getting anything against Dempo, who were looking like the strongest team in the division at this point, would be absolutely amazing. Regrettably, Climax Lawrence, our best player would be missing through injury.

Mumbai FC dominated the game against Dempo, taking control of the midfield, creating plenty of chances and could have won the tie. However, three things stood in the way of victory: 1) The outstanding Dempo striker Chidi Edeh. 2) A tactical mistake by me. 3) Many, many awful misses by a strike force incapable of hitting the target.
In short, I began the game with too high a defensive line in trying to combat the height of one of the Dempo strikers. Chidi Edeh used his pace to make my defenders look like statues and then we were 1-0 down. To be honest, we never quite got the hang of dealing with the pace and height combination of Dempo’s attack. Furthermore, Mr Biswas, our young Indian forward, despite his extraordinary pace, has the lowest finishing of any striker ever. He is a great penalty taker though and also our top goalscorer somehow! Strange but true. Against Dempo, he couldn’t score a goal if we had played for 180 minutes.
The devastating thing about this game was that we went 2-0 down, then fought back to 2-2 in the second half and looked in total control. Then, on 85 minutes Dempo went all out attack to get the result and I went to counter that by closing the game defensively. Yet, Dempo still breached our defence and won the game 3-2. Do I sound bitter? Well, I am. Yes, I’m very bitter about that result. Our first loss in six games. We went down to 3rd place, which I should really be pleased with all things considered.

After the awful, morale destroying result against Dempo, the lads managed to scrape a win at home to Air India 1-0. This was much needed. We were back and headed in the right direction. Yet, disaster was just around the corner.

Mohun Bagan are good. They are very good. I could talk to you about their classy striker Sunil Chetri, who scored a hattrick against us. I could tell you all about the various tactical mistakes I made in this game. But I won’t. The score was 4-2 to Mohun Bagan. They were better than us. That is all I need to say. This was another horrible home defeat.

Despite the two losses, we went into the Durand Cup, which would be followed by a winter break, with an excellent record in the league. 9 games played, 6 games won, 3 lost, with 16 goals for and 12 against. That record more or less ensured safety with only half of the games gone. There was much to be celebrated.

However, I didn’t feel much like celebrating in the Durand Cup, as we lost two in a row to send us crashing out of the tournament. In particular a 3-0 cup loss to East Bengal added to my depression. In total, that made it 4 defeats in 5 games for Mumbai FC in league and cup, which is not the sort of form that gets a manager excited. After such a promising start, we were starting to fade away.

Sure, injuries were playing a part. Climax Lawrence had been in and out of the team. We had injuries in defence, without decent backups to bring in. The worst injury was to our midfield engine Gouramangi Singh, who was out for a couple of months with a broken arm. Despite all of this, the main thing that was playing on my mind was that we really weren’t good enough to challenge the top sides on a regular basis. Sure, we could get the odd result with a bit of luck against the likes of Dempo, Salgaocar and Mahindra United, but we wouldn’t be able to beat them on a regular basis. Moreover, we were light years away from East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. Against the latter two clubs, our record was played 8, lost 8, conceded 24! With this in mind, I started to plan for next year by transfer listing a few fringe players and some of the signings who weren’t good enough.

In January it was back to the league and the second half of the season was going to be very tough with some really difficult away games to play. We started very positively with a home win against JCT, with Biswas and Kumar Singh grabbing the all important goals in a 2-1 win.
Our close rivals Mahindra United, who play at the same stadium as us, were not doing too well this season. We had beaten them with a rather fortuitous 2-1 win earlier in the season. Next up was the ‘away’ game and I was very pleased to go in at half-time at 1-1. Now, I must have got the half-time team talk completely wrong because in the second half we were a different team and shipped three silly goals. A 4-1 defeat had me raging in the dressing room after the game.

After this we played East Bengal at home, followed by Salgaocar away. I tried every tactical trick I could muster against East Bengal – playing with a target man to take advantage of their poor defence, putting five men in midfield, trying to keep possession. We played much better than usual and had a fair share in the game. A draw would have been a fair result but instead we went down 1-0 and never looked like coming back. Another defeat. The most disappointing thing about this game was the attendance. I didn’t expect us to beat East Bengal or even get a draw but I did hope to draw a crowd against the bigger teams. We got around 650 people, which admittedly is twice our normal gate but it isn’t much is it? We are running at a loss at the moment. Every month the board get more and more impatient. Luckily they also chip in with the occasional £100k to help with running costs. I think administration is just around the corner though. We’re in big trouble and low attendances are the core of the issue.

Next up in the league were Salgaocar, who we had beaten earlier in the season. The league was starting to take shape with us sitting around mid-table and Salgaocar below us in 6th. I badly wanted to keep hold of 5th place and possibly push Dempo who were sitting in 4th. A win here was a must if my aspirations were to be achieved. So, cue a typical Mumbai FC performance this season – a nail-biting, anxious affair that we are never truly in control of. Salgaocar go 1-0 up, we equalise before halftime to make it 1-1. Then we go out, create plenty but wind up conceding in the last 10 minutes to be beaten 2-1. Just where is the justice? We have more of the ball, create about the same and look the better side. A draw would have been a fair result. Talking of draws, I don’t know what is going on because we haven’t had a single one all season so far. It’s either win or lose with Mumbai FC. It’s ecstasy or despair every week and I am having trouble coping with it! Anyway, despite this result we are still in 5th, 1 point away from Salgoacar.

Around this time, New Delhi Heroes, the bottom side in the league, get their first point of the season against the second bottom side United Sports Club. It seemed likely prior to this that New Delhi heroes would go the whole season without registering a single point. This solitary point would be their only consolation in a miserable season. (I have a feeling that this will make Taifun feel better about his failure to keep them up. It certainly made me feel better about my miserable save game with New Delhi Heroes). New Delhi Heroes finished the season with just the 1 point and 44 goals conceded. Cannon fodder really.

Anyway, back to the situation at Mumbai FC. The fans were calling for my head. Can you believe that? A team that are only predicted to finish in 9th place, who were currently sitting in 5th? Then again, our form had been really poor recently – with 1 win and 4 losses in 5 games. The fans were deeply upset with a number of players in the side and they were upset by recent results. At about this time, the Mohun Bagan job became available. Seduced by their superiority, I applied for the job. I knew that I had very little chance of getting it, due to my lack of experience and low reputation. However, I figured it was worth a go. It was a big mistake. The media were on to me immediately. I made a further mistake at an interview with the press, in which I, stupidly, said that the fans at Mumbai FC should have more patience in the team. The fans hated me even more now but the key thing was that the board hated me even more. Our strained relationship, due to my lack of control of the finances and my application for another job, which had been leaked to the press, had them asking me to resign with my dignity intact. As stubborn as Steve McClaren, I ignored their request and planned to see how long I could manage to stay at the helm with the board and fans protesting against me. The Mohun Bagan job came and went. I didn’t get it.

Lucky for me, a win was around the corner to put the fans back in a good mood and had the board thinking that I wasn’t such a bad manager after all. Indeed, a 4-0 thrashing of United Sports Club, followed by a 3-0 rout of New Delhi Heroes improved the mood no end and the fans seemed to return to their happy state, with the board ‘satisfied’ with me. I didn't hear anymore about the board wanting to sack me, phew!

We approached the end of the season with a 1-0 loss to Mohun Bagan away and a 2-1 loss to Dempo at home. The former seemed quite significant to me. Mohun Bagan still finished 2nd in the league but they look to be on the wane. When we played them, it was really touch and go and we could have got a win on another day. We played better and made more chances. I feel Mohun Bagan will need to strengthen in the summer to retain their status as one of the biggest clubs in India. Their fierce rivals, East Bengal, tied up the league with a game to go. Incidentally, the game against Dempo gave us a chance to challenge for 4th spot. Once again, we dominated play and made chance after chance, only to concede a dramatic goal in the last minute of the match. Poor concentration could be to blame, but perhaps I should have closed the game and been happy with the draw, rather than seeking the 3 points late on. It was a gamble that didn’t pay off.

As we went into our last game against Air India, we had secured 5th place and had nothing to play for. A 2-1 win was still a satisfying way to end the season. Personally, I was pleased with the finish but concerned by our lack of ability to challenge the top sides.

On our day, I felt that we could reach a similar level to the top sides. Frequently this season, we had outplayed them or made more chances and still lost. The key was up front and in defence. Our strikers were not clinical enough.

Biswas has the pace but his penalty taking aside, he has no ability in front of goal. Kumar Singh is the target man of my dreams, but lacks composure and an ability to take his chance. Ogundare is probably the most natural finisher we have got and yet his season had been disappointing.

At the back, we just couldn’t defend against a potent combination of height and pace, which is what the top clubs seem to have.

They say the league doesn’t lie and this one clearly doesn’t. Against the top four, we managed a combined total of 3 points all season (coming in a lucky win against Mahindra United). In contrast, we won all of our games against the bottom four. Salgaocar, who finished below us in 6th, seem to be at about our standard. This is reflected in one win and one loss against them this season.

Where do I go from here? Well, it’s going to be a difficult summer in which I am going to have to try and recruit some more talent. Regrettably, I am finding keeping players difficult, with some of them whose contracts are up already having been snapped up by higher reputation sides. It’s very difficult indeed and I do not predict any improvement for next season to be honest. Without funding, I don’t think we will be able to bring in any significant talent to challenge the top sides. Seeing as we have lost a few players, it looks as though we might even be in a worse position next season.

The JCT manager appears to be on the brink of being sacked and I am contemplating jumping ship. I have honoured the original contract with Mumbai FC, having been at the club for two years. I do, however, have one year remaining on my current contract, as I signed a new one at the end of last season. The compensation may well put JCT off and my reputation may not be significant enough to attract them anyway but I will certainly be thinking about switching clubs. JCT finished 8th but this position does not reflect some of the quality in their squad. They have two excellent forwards, for instance. The main thing that attracts me to JCT is their attendances and finances, which are much superior to the resources at my disposal at Mumbai FC. Indeed, the chronic debts and disappointing attendances are getting me down at the moment. Without money, I feel that we will not be able to challenge the big four teams (East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mahindra United and Dempo). Perhaps I am getting a bit carried away. I should certainly be very pleased with a vastly improved campaign this season.

The league and cups had been a clean sweep by the big four. United SC and New Delhi Heroes had been relegated, the latter only claiming a solitary point in a humiliating season.
I am proud of my achievements this season but concerned by the constant defeats against these top four sides. It was going to be a long summer of deliberation.



Final league pos: 5th P18 W10 D0 L8 F30 A24 GD6 Pts30
(East Bengal retain their title. The top four is in the exact same order as last season: 1st East Bengal, 2nd Mohun Bagan, 3rd Mahindra United, 4th Dempo)

Durand Cup: Out in the group stages
(Durand Cup won by Mohun Bagan)

Federation Cup: 3rd place
(Fed Cup retained by East Bengal)

Average Attendance: 554 (1 more person than last season!)

Player of the season: Sushil Kumar Singh, my 26 year old target man, with 8 goals in all competitions.

Signing of the season: Sushil Kumar Singh on a free transfer. I always said that if I got a target man in the team that he would win us games.

Best Indian player: Sushil Kumar Singh, 26-year-old Indian target man. Presently uncapped and looks like he will stay that way.

Most exciting Indian prospect: Agnelo Costa, born in Mumbai, a 16-year-old left-back product of a youth system. He only played a handful of games as I sought to protect him and give him a taste of first-team football this season. He got his first U21 cap and the future looks very exciting for him. To me, he looks like a quality fullback already at this level. He already looks excellent at tackling and has a good sense of positioning, with good overall mental attributes another bonus. The physical side of his game is poor but that is to be expected from a part-time youth player and a 16-year-old. I predict big things for him in the future. I hope so anyway!

Top goalscorer: Ashim Biswas, 25-year-old fast striker, with 12 goals in all competitions. He scored 11 in the league. This is despite having the worst finishing and composure record that I have ever seen for a striker. His penalty taking cannot be faulted though and he scored all 5 penalties in the league for us this season.

Most Assists: 31-year-old Indian international Climax Lawrence. He had a bit of an injury prone first season at the club but still managed 4 goals as well.

Most MoM awards: Ashim Biswas with 4 MoM awards – all of that penalty taking helped!

Other players worth mentioning:
Gouramangi Singh (25 yo Indian), the defensive midfield and record most expensive Mumbai FC signing, played really well but had an injury ravaged season and didn’t play in about half of the games. I think this might have been a key factor in our poor form against the top sides as we missed him when playing in those huge games.
Legendary David Bikim, the Cameroonian 27-year-old midfielder had another fine season in the middle of the park with an average rating of 7.08 and the highest pass completion rate in the squad wit 87% of passes completed. He quietly and effectively went about his business and is the unsung hero of Mumbai FC.

[goldenduty]

Crouch may i join this challenge. Looks good fun and is one of the better thought out challenges. Another reason that i want to join is that i am a teacher and my assistant is Indian. I know he supports East Bengal but that is it. He once was a teacher but was caught playing fm when he should have been teaching. I quite like doing challenges as well and judging by the posts this is a fun one.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by goldenduty:
Crouch may i join this challenge. Looks good fun and is one of the better thought out challenges. Another reason that i want to join is that i am a teacher and my assistant is Indian. I know he supports East Bengal but that is it. He once was a teacher but was caught playing fm when he should have been teaching. I quite like doing challenges as well and judging by the posts this is a fun one.

Nice one!
Welcome to the challenge. I hope you enjoy it!
Let us know which team you end up with.

I'm struggling over the summer with Mumbai FC at the moment. No transfer funds, a reduced wage bill and a chairman who has sold three players over my head. Plus, nobody worthwhile signing on a free. I think this is the hardest challenge I have had in the FM series. Still enjoying it a lot!

C.

[phnompenhandy]

Originally posted by Nightowl:

As far as I know, the Singh last name has some religious significance, and is actually extremely common (if anyone knows better, please feel free to correct this). I seem to remember this causing immigration issues for people attempting to come to Canada. I agree about the lack of variety, though.

'Singh' is the surname taken by all Sikh men. It is also common among non-Sikhs however (it means 'lion'). As you might know, devout Sikh men must wear a turban at all times (and shouldn't shave their beards) - in footballing terms they tie their hair in a top-knot. I'd be curious to know how this affects their ability to head the ball accurately.

[cletus]

Season 1 (2008/2009) with Mohammedan:

Overview
Overall it went well. Finished 6th in the league with 23 points. Only 3 of these points was achieved away, so I have to work with the away-tactic.

Tremendous finances due to the great attendance. At the matches against East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, the stadium was crowded with around 65000.

During pre-season for season 2, I managed to steel one GK-coach from Mahindra and sign a new ass. man from Merthyr Tidfyl.

NFL winner: East Bengal
Durand Cup: Salgoacar
Fed. Cup: Mohun Bagan
EPL winner: Arsenal

[goldenduty]

I started with indian bank and have a squad of 12 players. Is this cricket or football? anyway 5 of them are am and 3 are st.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by cletus:
Season 1 (2008/2009) with Mohammedan:

Overview
Overall it went well. Finished 6th in the league with 23 points. Only 3 of these points was achieved away, so I have to work with the away-tactic.

Tremendous finances due to the great attendance. At the matches against East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, the stadium was crowded with around 65000.

During pre-season for season 2, I managed to steel one GK-coach from Mahindra and sign a new ass. man from Merthyr Tidfyl.

NFL winner: East Bengal
Durand Cup: Salgoacar
Fed. Cup: Mohun Bagan
EPL winner: Arsenal

Great first season Cletus ! Congratulations on your achievement.

Those finances will keep you ticking along nicely. I suspect you'll be challenging the bigger teams in the division next season. Being able to compete with them is a huge bonus.

Where I am at the moment, Mumbai FC, I can't compete financially and that makes it a real challenge.

Remember to try and upgrade your youth facilities. I've had one or two decent players come through in mine. The trouble is that I can't upgrade due to lack of funds. I still seem to get the occasional decent player come through though.

Keep up the good work.

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by goldenduty:
I started with indian bank and have a squad of 12 players. Is this cricket or football? anyway 5 of them are am and 3 are st.

Maybe you should play a very attacking 2-5-3?

Get working in that transfer market. Plenty of scouts looking at India and scouting the U18s is the best move.

I don't know what Indian Bank are like to start with. Reputation wise, they are one of the mid-range (1000) teams, so it should be a good challenge. I think they have potential to attract a decent attendance so that will be a bonus. Let us know what you think.

Good luck in your first season.

C.

[goldenduty]

Thanks it is so annoying that the transfer market opens after the season starts.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by goldenduty:
Thanks it is so annoying that the transfer market opens after the season starts.

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I like to have my team settled before the start of the season and don't like to bring anyone else in. Yet I always end up bringing in new players and having to make a tactical change. It's very disruptive.

It's even worse when you are just starting out, especially if you have a squad with no talent to begin with!

C.

[goldenduty]

Played six won 1 drawn 1 and lost 4. Bottom of the league but 2 points clear of safety. Come on indian Bank!

[Nightowl]

Congratulations crouchaldinho on the season. Another massive update, although it seems like you could have managed another season in the time it took to write that update.

You're lucky to have received any transfer funds at all with such poor finances, I could never get any from ONGC (and was receiving 0% of sales for a long time). Hope the signings work out, as I'm worried you may not see any more for a while.

Also, it seems that you wrote that your board was injecting extra funds in the team. Were you hugely in debt at the time? I've often wished that my board would step in for once and inject some funds, as opposed to just selling my players. I'm almost at the point of hoping that an Abramovich type decides to step in and by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (think of the profits with so many people in India!), and with it my club!

Singh' is the surname taken by all Sikh men. It is also common among non-Sikhs however (it means 'lion'). As you might know, devout Sikh men must wear a turban at all times (and shouldn't shave their beards) - in footballing terms they tie their hair in a top-knot. I'd be curious to know how this affects their ability to head the ball accurately. Smile

I'm glad I remembered something right. And it does present an interesting image.

[Nightowl]

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation 2011/12 Season Report

The season didn't start well, with a 2-0 road loss to Air India. Then, for game 2, 7 of my 21 man first team were away on international duty, with another 2 injured. This is the first time I've had players away like this during a game. Managed a 0-0 tie at home, but lost David Bikim for 2-3 weeks. The remainder of the first portion of the season went okay, and I entered the Durand Cup period with a 4-1-3 record.

During the October transfer period, Surkumar Singh, my starting right back, was sold off to Dempo for 150k. I seem to have a revolving door policy in the defense, but it doesn't seem to hurt much as I am always one of the top defensive teams in the league. The main event, however, was my chairman accepting a bid for Satyajit Singh, my starting striker for the last few years. Now, I may have complained about a lack of goals, but he was still a solid player, and it wasn't entirely his fault. I noticed that several other clubs were also interested, including major clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, so it was time to offer him out for even more. This paid off, as East Bengal came in with a 300k bid (where do they get all this money?), with an additional 500k after an international appearance, plus 10% sell-on and a friendly. As he was a budding international, I prayed he would accept their contract offer over the chairman accepted bid, and luckily (or obviously, considering their greatness), he did! Once he played another international (he played his first during negotiations) later in the month, my balance ballooned to around 1.1M. Sadly, even with some transfer funds and wage space, I could not attract any decent players, all being either uninterested or demanding higher wages than I could offer. Still, at least I don't have to worry about finances for a while.

Back to the season, we advanced to the semi final of the Durand Cup, only to lose 2-0 to Mohun Bagan. East Bengal, of course, won the competition. The second portion of the season did not go particularly well, with a 4-3-3 record. In the end, I finished the season with a 8-4-6 record, 24 for and 19 against. This was only good enough for 6th place, a step back for the team. Again I had the second best defense (East Bengal conceded 9), but had the fourth worst offense, which sadly is actually an improvement. East Bengal won the league yet again, with a 16-2-0 record, 46 for and 9 against. They did not lose a game in any Indian competition for the third straight year, having gone undefeated in all 26 games (and winning both cups again).

On the awards front, 33 year old defender and captain Suley Musah (he of the 1 pace and acceleration) was named to the Asian All Star XI, and keeper Shaymal Ignatius was second in Indian Goalkeeper of the Year, after finishing third the two previous seasons. Right winger Arata Izumi led the league in assists with 9, and was the fans player of the year (as he has been every season since I've been in charge). Fullback Harvinder Thapa, a free signing from National Club, was the signing of the season. Even more amusingly, the two players I sold in October (mentioned above) were the two worst signings of the season!

In other off season news, David Bikim has become an Indian citizen, freeing up a foreigner slot. Of course, he's the only foreigner I've ever had, so this may not mean much. Maybe he'll get a call to the Indian national squad, they could do a lot worse than this solid player. Also, my original 12.5k p/a sponsorship deal expired, and was replaced by a 31.25k sponsorship until 2016. I was hoping for more, but every little bit helps.

Finances remain a sore point. My average attendance was 884, better than last season, but still not reaching the 950 I averaged in 2009/10. Even with a smaller squad, and a wage bill of only half my budget, my team still loses over 20k a month. I have built a cushion with my sales, but how long will it last, especially if I manage to sign the high wage earners I worry I'll need to take the next step. Currently, my highest earner is Arata Izumi, at only 19500 p/a, and only 6 players make 10k p/a or more; looking at other big clubs, these numbers are laughable. Near the end of the season, I did manage to convince the board to use some of its new-found wealth to improve the training and youth facilities, so at least I'm gaining something from all these sales.

As a bonus for those interested in the fate of Indian football as a whole, Hardip Singh completed his first season with RC Lens playing 33 games, scoring 16 goals, with an average rating of 7.24. Looks like he could be the leader of the national side for a long time to come.

Next season looks like it might be tough, unless my young players continue to get even better. I have essentially run out of players to sell to raise funds (unless I lose what few core players I have remaining), and unless I can attract some more established players, I will have to continue to plug holes with young players who may not be ready. It has gotten me this far, but I worry about the teams ability to take the next step without some major signings.

Oh well, I have no plans on abandoning my team yet (although if East Bengal comes calling...), I'm hoping I can still take them to the top. I've got some more time now, so hopefully the next update should come soon.

[davidmcain]

Mohammeddan Season Review 2014-2015


Transfers

A few new faces signed up this year, 10 in fact, most notoriously 2 Sri Lankans, Striker Perara, and Goalkeeper Fernando. Finally it seems we are able to scout outside our borders. I discovered these two by chance though, just checking what was on my player search list, and then seeing I was able to trial them. Both look OK, they were bought more for novelty value though.


Federation Cup

We won the Fed Cup yet again, though not as easily as before. Two 2-0 wins and then 2-1 wins in the Semi and the Final over HASC and JCT respectively. Young striker Mohammed Hasan grabbed three goals, raising hope we may have a homegrown goalscorer on our hands.


Durand Cup

We finally captured our first Durand Cup, beating arch enemies East Bengal in the final 1-0, with our fourth choice striker doing the honours, mind you, he’s probably the fourth best Striker in India so that helps. The highlight was perhaps a miscued clearing punt from Anthony Kumar in goal which beat everyone. It proved to be crucial as we won that match, the semifinal, 2-1, over Mahindra United.


Indian League

Delighted to make it a three-peat, this year was closer than last, winning by two points. The turning point was on Matchday 13, when we defeated East Bengal by 4-0 away. Junior Obagbemiro got 15 goals and was named player of the year. I always expected to win this, and perhaps, the only disappointment was a narrow loss to Vasco, a result which cost us an undefeated season. Oh well, there’s always next year.
1st place : 13-4-1-(+38) 43 points


Asian Champions League

We again drew a tough group, and again finished third. Twice we turned wins into draws in the last minutes, through own goals, and we looked the equal of any other team in the group. A bit more composure and we would have gone through. Our group featured Seungnam of Korea, Beijing of China, and KTB of Thailand. On a plus side, we scored a brilliant 14 goals.



Indian Super Cup

Mohammedan 18 East Bengal. Oh, that’s just the shots per team. The goals? Mohammedan 0 East Bengal 1. As you can understand I was a little disappointed to ruin a season where I won everything else domestically. I guess, this gives me a goal for next year though.


National Team

When I took over midway through the Asian Nations Cup qualification campaign, we had 4 points from 4 games. We ended up with 7 from 8, so you could say we went downhill? Wee we got third in the group which was sound, and only ever lost by a goal. We did beat Singapore though. We went down to Tajikistan, China, and Jordan. We also lost a friendly to 38th ranked Kuwait by 2-1, thanks to a last minute penalty. There was the wee issue of nepotism though, apparently the country were disgusted to see the team made up by about 80% Mohammedan players, they were the best though. Rankings-wise we still hover around the 100 mark, reaching a high of 96. This will be a long, hard journey…..


Star Players

These guys form the backbone of the Black Panthers, and hopefully will do so for sometime yet….

Star Defender Milton Das http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm308/davidmcain_pho...014-15/MiltonDas.jpg

Defensive Midfielder Vijay Fernandes
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm308/davidmcain_pho...5/VijayFernandes.jpg

Playmaker John Ali
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm308/davidmcain_pho...%2014-15/JohnAli.jpg

Star Striker Junior Obagbemiro
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm308/davidmcain_pho...JuniorObagbemiro.jpg

[crouchaldinho]

Originally po
sted by Nightowl:
Congratulations crouchaldinho on the season. Another massive update, although it seems like you could have managed another season in the time it took to write that update.

Yes, you are absolutely right.
Perhaps it is time to write smaller updates and play more FM! This sounds like a good plan...

You're lucky to have received any transfer funds at all with such poor finances, I could never get any from ONGC (and was receiving 0% of sales for a long time). Hope the signings work out, as I'm worried you may not see any more for a while.

Well, I'm into my third pre-season now and I have zero transfer funds, am receiving 0% of sales and have had my chairman sell about 3 or 4 key players over my head. The money coming in has just got swallowed up by the debts. Things are not going too well, to say the least.

Also, it seems that you wrote that your board was injecting extra funds in the team. Were you hugely in debt at the time?

I've been around -£300m in debt and fluctuating around there for what seems like forever.
I'm managing the wage budget really well but that makes no difference at all. Balancing the books is an impossibility.

I've often wished that my board would step in for once and inject some funds, as opposed to just selling my players. I'm almost at the point of hoping that an Abramovich type decides to step in

I long for the day that an Abramovich type comes to Mumbai FC!

The trouble is that I think you need money to challenge in this division. You have to buy players from the top clubs to stand any chance of winning something. The other route is, of course, building a side with youth. This takes a great deal of time and the worry is that my chairman will sell all of the promising players before they have had the chance to mature!

As you might know, devout Sikh men must wear a turban at all times (and shouldn't shave their beards) - in footballing terms they tie their hair in a top-knot. I'd be curious to know how this affects their ability to head the ball accurately. Smile

I'm not sure it would have much of an effect on heading the ball, would it? I think they are generally tightly wound so I don't believe it would cause a problem in terms of coming loose. You head the ball with your forehead and a turban would not get in the way of that.

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by Nightowl:
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation 2011/12 Season Report

Good update Nightowl ! Looks like you are doing a good job with your resources.

I feel for you regarding your lack of finances and attendance problems. We are in the same boat on that front.

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by davidmcain:
Mohammeddan Season Review 2014-2015

Nice update davidmcain !
You are doing really well.

Few questions for you:
- What is your reputation now?
- What countries are you now able to scout?

I'm really interested in the players you have posted screenshots of. They look WAY better than anything I've seen in my game so far. I'm only two years in though.

It is their technical skills that impress me because the top Indian players average around 10 - 12 points on technical skills at the very best, whereas your players are peaking nearer 14 points. Technically they look a lot better than the best in my game and mentally they look very balanced too. This might be a result of your training plan though? Or maybe the facilities? When did these players start coming through?

I'm also curious about the Indian national team. When did they suddenly start going up the rankings? My Indian national side haven't done anything worth mentioning yet.

C.

[milanfan_apoorv]

I've got a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig hint for ya'll:
BUY SOUTH AMERICANS!!


They are mucho better than anything you will see in India. as you will realise once I give you my season update.


(sorry fr the delay but schoolwork has bogged me down, I HATE 10th grade!! )

[coldkohmew]

try free transfers from the asian countries.

[davidmcain]

Crouchaldinho,

My reputation is now continental, club reputation is currently National, and has been for some time. I am able to scout this region, South Asia, though i'm hoping this will increase.

As for the better players, Ali, Fernandes, and Das all come along at the start of the game (2nd year, free agents). Obagbemiro already existed. I have a higher quality of regen coming through now, as the training facilities are maxed out, youth facilities are excellant, and still improving. This makes a big difference as I found my players wouldn't improve at all at first. Look for regen coaches as well, they are much better than the real ones. Coachwise I look for an Assistant who is good at Technical and Tactics, coach who is good Attack/Defense, and a FItness and a GK Coach. You should be allowed one but this will mean you can have three. Currently I have 4 stars in all training areas. The regens have gradually improved over time in the game and the national team is now ranked 86th, a rank which has slowed climbed over the years.

[davidmcain]

Mohammedan 2015-2016

Domestic

Finally we won everything. Im not going to report much here as we are firmly esatblished at the top and the goal now is Asian Domination. It was the first year we took everything out though, including the elusive super cup, which was a final obstacle we fell at last year.

Continental

We went 1-4-1 this year, not bad but not great. Its a shame though, as this is what I played all year for, and while the revenue is nice, success woulb be nicer. Too many late goals, again was the theme, we just lack the bottle in the last 10 minutes for some reason. We played with Urawa Reds., Melbourne Victory, and Persipura.

National Team

We rose to 86th in the world, a new high, and getting near that elusive top 75 ranking. We easily beat Syria and Macau to make the first group stage of World Cup Qualifying, and have drawn with UAE 2-2 and lost to Kuwait 2-1. Saudi Arabia is the other team in the group, and the top two go through to the final qualifying phase.

[StOnEhEaD]

Yeah so i gonna try this challenge..

Just from the start i think i have made a screw up, because i took my own nationality which are danish.. well hope thats alright, i am also gonna be part Indian

But beside this i hope i am gonna get a succesful FM 2008 game at last, havent tried that yet.. :S

But here is my Profile

Dont really know much about SBT..
cant remember if anyone else is playing with them?..

But the media prediction is 10th, so it can kinda only go up from here

But here i come

[taifun]

Hi all.

Congratulations with your progress. My time is severly limited and there's no room for any playing until the end om the month. Finished my next season in a record fifth place and am really looking forward to carrying on with Indian Bank.

[crouchaldinho]

Cheers for answering my questions davidmcain - and unlucky on your mission to dominated in the Asian Cup.

Welcome to the challenge Stonehead - check Wikipedia and Google for information about SBT, there is plenty of info on the other Indian sides, so I think there will be for them too.

SBT look like a decent side to start with actually. Just about the mid-range reputation of second division sides but still a fair way off the bigger teams. They also look like they have a decent stadium but you'll have to let us know if you can fill it up every week! It seems only the teams in Goa and Calcutta can get decent attendances straight away.

OK Taifun - well done on another decent finish. I hope whatever is keeping you busy doesn't keep you away for too long!

C.

C.

[crouchaldinho]

By the way, I'm totally p****d off at Mumbai FC now. The chairman has sold about 3 or 4 of my players and has just accepted a huge offer for my absolute best player. I could forgive him selling the other 3 or 4 but this lad was the player who I was building my team around.

The only good news is that the money from the transfer has put us in the black for the first time since I started at Mumbai FC. The bloody chairman has given me barely anything to spend though and so I don't know how on earth he expects me to replace the players he has sold over my head.

It is frustrating because last season we made huge progress but failed miserably against the top four teams. This season we've lost some of our most talented players and not replaced them with quality, so I fear we will take a step backwards.

I am contemplating giving him an ultimatum to improve the youth facilities with the money. I'm quickly losing my motivation to continue with Mumbai FC and if the money from the transfer doesn't go into improving the club in some way, then I'm packing my bags.

C.

[cletus]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by milanfan_apoorv:
I've got a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig hint for ya'll:
BUY SOUTH AMERICANS!!

QUOTE]

Are your scouts allowed to go to South America? I'm thinking about the rule that to sign a player you must scout them first.

Anyway, here's a little update on my career in Mohammedan. Things are looking very good this season(2nd). With half the season gone we're at the top of the table with 20 points - 2 ahead of East Bengal. 6W, 2D, 1L and +11 in GD.

Two of my new signings, Darren Caldeira (from Mumbai FC) and Ashim Biswas (from East Bengal)has been very impressing.

Strangely enough, the average attendance has dropped dramatically. Last season it was 43347 and now, halfway, it's only 22733?

The board has agreed to improve the training facilities which was indeed necessary.

About to enter the Durand Cup for the first time. Has been drawn in the toughest group with teams from NFL. Other groups has non-league-clubs. Anybody know how the participating teams are selected?

davidmcain: Nice to see your progress with "my team". Hope I can match your results in the future (or do better)....

[cletus]

The Durand Cup was unfortunately no succes.
Results

Had I not lost the first match by 2 goals, but only by 1 goal, I would have qualified for the semi's. The 3-1 goal was scored in the 89th minute. Bad luck. (Got a red card in the match aginst Salgaocar in the 44th minute, holding a 1-0 lead. Bad 2nd half)

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by cletus:
About to enter the Durand Cup for the first time. Has been drawn in the toughest group with teams from NFL. Other groups has non-league-clubs. Anybody know how the participating teams are selected?

No idea, perhaps FMIndia will fill us in when he next reads this thread. He is our resident Indian football expert!

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Dilemma for Crouchaldinho!

OK, my financial problems due to low attendances at Mumbai FC have been much documented on this thread. I have been in extraordinary debt from day one and my chairman has been selling my best players left, right and centre. I've been feeling a lack of motivation at Mumbai FC due to my lack of ability to 'build' and feel like I'm taking the squad forward.

Finally another job has come up in the Indian league which I have successfully applied for. I have seen through my original contract at Mumbai FC and therefore would not be in breach of the rules of the challenge if I left. The job I have been offered is with SC Goa.

SC Goa are around the same reputation as us, I would say. They have a stadium twice the size of ours, far mroe financial resources and much better attendances. The playing staff are crap though.

So, do I quit Mumbai FC for a new project at SC Goa?

The pros are as follows:
Mumbai FC - I have a squad capable of mid-table at the very least. I still have some good young players at the club. We could play some good football and are firmly established as a Indian Football League side now. No relegation worries.

SC Goa - The club have really good finances and I could definitely build up youth facilities and sign up a number of quality players for next season.

And the cons:
Mumbai FC - No attendances. No money. No youth or training facilities. Board are a pain in the a**e. Some of my best players have been sold on by the chairman without my consent, including my key/star player who I was building the team around. Complete lack of ability to challenge the top 4 clubs in India, which seems unlikely to change in the near future. My contact runs out in the summer. To take Mumbai FC forward, increase the reputation of the club and increase the attendances, I need to win a trophy but I can't realistically do that without money.

SC Goa - are in a dire state and will take a great deal of luck and hard work to keep them up. Indeed, by jumping ship I could easily end up relegated and unemployed very quickly.

It's a hard decision to make. Any opinions from you guys?

C.

[coldkohmew]

Go and scout yourself?

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by coldkohmew:
Go and scout yourself?

That sounds like a euphemism!

To take your question seriously for a minute, the transfer window is closed for the rest of the season so I would have to try and stay up with SC Goa's current squad. That would be tough but not impossible.

Now you go scout yourself too!

C.

[Nightowl]

Tough choice, crouchaldinho. Believe me, I know where you're coming from with the whole finances issue (as you have read). While it can be an interesting challenge, if I was in your position I would take a serious looks at the SC Goa squad. If I thought I could keep it up, I would probably take the job. If you manage it, you can then probably raid your former team for their players in the off season, as in my experience the lower reputation teams value their players very low. You could probably bring in the core of your old team and have the best of both worlds next season.

And now for my next update:

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation 2012/13 Season Report

In pre season news, season tickets went up to 123 from 118. The media is predicting a 6th place finish, with 33-1 title odds. Looks like my team still gets little respect. Is a 3-2 friendly victory over East Bengal a good omen?

The Federation Cup followed a familiar path, with us being embarrassed in the semi final by East Bengal 4-0. Things did change for the better after that, as we beat non-NFL team Viva Kerala in the third place game 4-3. Not the best performance, but this was the teams best finish in the competition with me as manager.

The Durand Cup also brought success, including a 6-0 group stage victory over Mahindra Utd, and the team's first ever appearance in the final, a 2-0 loss to East Bengal. We're getting closer...

Our season was up and down, not starting well but finishing strongly. I'd include more details, but I'm writing this away from the game, having forgot to write down anything specific about the season to go along with everything else...

The new year brought some more awards surprises, as striker Saiful Islam Rahman came second in Asian Young Player of the Year voting, and central defender Shafiqul Hossain and right winger Arata Izumi were selected to the Asian All-Star XI. Also around this time, some European clubs began sniffing around my former (currently East Bengal's - thanks chairman) star left back Avinash Coutinho. On January 31, he was sold to Paris Saint-Germain for 170k (!), which is 80k less than East Bengal paid me for him! I hope there are clauses involved (although none were mentioned). This kid has some of the best mental stats of any 20 year old regen I've seen (not just in this game), and his other stats are solid for someone still so young. I would have held out for a lot more...

All in all, it was a good season. Finished the league in second place (three way tie, won on goal difference), a record high finish for the club, with a 9-4-5 record, 32 for (7th) and 17 against (2nd). Still well behind East Bengal though. More importantly, the team seems to be gelling, and the offense is coming around. My new starting striker, after a year as the backup, stepped up in a big way to make me forget about the player sold. A change of tactics also seems to be working, as my new 4-4-1-1 sees me dominating possession most games. If I can find another solid finisher, I can see big things ahead.

East Bengal is still dominant, having gone undefeated in Indian competitions yet again. I can see some signs of weakening, though. While they won both cups, they tied 5 league games this season, much more than in previous years. Two of those were 1-1 results against my team. Their experience shows through in cup competitions (defeating me 4-0 and 2-0 this season), but I seem to be closing the gap in the league. Also, they've lost another strong player to Europe.

In end of season awards news, striker Saiful Islam Rahman finished third in attacker of the year and second in top goalscorer (16). He was also the fans player of the year, the first time since I've been in charge that Arata Izumi didn't win. Keeper Shaymal Ignatius was second in goalkeeper of the year, and Shafiqul Hossain won defender of the year, with teammate Harvinder Thapa finishing second.

Finally, the European adventures of star Indian Hardip Singh continue. His current team, RC Lens, accepted several large offers for him, and in the end he chose Bordeaux. So off he goes, earning RC Lens 12.5M (yes, million) + clauses! If I can get over to England soon, I just may have to buy him to build my future Champions League winner around.

I'm actually beginning to feel quite optimistic about the coming seasons. Now that my players are no longer teenagers, they may be ready to move to even greater things.

[sarge]

I said i do not get that much playing time, but thought i would give some screenshots of my 1st season.

As you can see from the table, going quite well.

Also from my squad pictures, have managed to buy a few quality players (got given no transfer money but a massive 7K a week wage budget, after budget adjustment, got over 200K transfer budget).

Table

Squad

[crouchaldinho]

Good update Nightowl !

Hardip Singh sounds amazing. I'm shocked at his value! I've found nobody in my game who could even compare to that.

After a long deliberation, I've decided to stick out another season at Mumbai FC. I'll just have to see how it goes and take it a game at a time.

I think the SC Goa move was going to be tough plus I really want to see how far I can take Mumbai FC. My second contract runs out in the summer, so I will have to see where we are at then. Perhaps a summer move will be on the cards.

C.

[Nightowl]

Prepare yourselves, this is a long one...

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation 2013/14 Season Report

The usual opening info, the media predicting a 4th place finish, with 7-4 title odds. Not bad. Season tickets went up to 142 from 123, a pretty significant increase when dealing with such small numbers..

The Federation Cup started the season off on a high note. A 1-0 semi final victory against East Bengal had us in our first ever final, which we proceeded to win 2-0 against JCT. Our first silverware!

In another first for the team, the Churchill board chose the first game of the season against us to be a fan day. Maybe my team should try one of these to get some fans in.

The first half of the season went well, with wins against the five weaker teams (and only 1 goal total conceded), and draws against quality sides East Bengal (home), and Salgaocar, Mohun Bagan, and Mahindra Utd (all away). This caused me to spend most of my time at or near the top of the league.

In a surprising development, East Bengal's 3-2 home loss to Mohun Bagan in their seventh game of the season was their first league defeat in 86 (!) games. This meant that even if they won their game at hand, they would still be a point behind me after 8 games. Even more strangely, they then proceeded to lose their 9th game 3-2 away to SC Goa, only Goa's second win of the season. The stars seem to be aligning...

So, at the halfway point of the season, we lead the league with a 5-4-0 record, +12 with 19 points, followed by Mahindra Utd (18), Salgaocar (17), Mohun Bagan (15), and East Bengal (15).

The Durand Cup did not go well. In my opening group match, I lost 1-0 at home to East Bengal. They then proceeded to beat Mohammedan, leaving my second game meaningless. This is the first time in a while that I didn't get out of the group stage in this competition.

In my usual mid season awards news, striker Saiful Islam Rahman finsihed third in Asian Young Player of the Year, and was joined by central defenders Shafiqul Islam Islam and Shafiqul Hossain in the Asian All-Star XI.

Since this season is going so well, I'll be doing a more in depth report of the second half as I play. So here goes:

Our first game was away to East Bengal. Defender Hossain put us ahead with his first goal of the season in the 30th, only for East Bengal to tie it in the 36th. The rest of the game was uneventful, although they deserved a winner more than us. The result dropped us into second, one point behind Mahindra Utd.

Currently tied with me for second, Salgaocar at home was next. From the beginning, my team didn't look up for this game, and Salgaocar took the lead in the 21st. An disappointed team talk also didn't seem to help, so in the 74th minute I changed up the tactics and brought on a couple subs. Finally something went well, as sub left winger Shafiqul Islam Rahman set up sub central midfielder David Bikim for a goal in the 81st. The draw left me three points out of first.

Next up, 8th place Chruchill Bros at home, should be easy. Well, it wasn't, with David Bikim scoring an own goal in the 10th, and after a tying goal by striker Rahman, another goal for Churchill in the 37th. Another disappointed team talk, and a tactical change yielded a penalty on the 59th to tie. Then, in the 90th with me already lamenting the dropped points, Philip Singh sent a superb pass through to Rahman, who in alone scored again! 3-2 victory for ONGC, and back within 1 point of first.

Sixth place JCT away followed, nothing much to say, a 2-0 victory in a game I expected to win. The result moved us back into first, two points ahead, as Mahindra Utd lost 3-1 to SC Goa at home. East Bengal is back in the chase, dominating HASC 5-1 away to move into a tie for second (leading on goal difference) with Mahindra Utd.

Last place HASC, 4-1 home victory, nothing much to see here, although attacking midfielder Mamun managed a goal and three assists before I took mercy on them and took him off.

Ninth place Mohammedan, away, 3-0 lead after a goal in the 63rd. A 64th minute goal makes it 3-1, but we get it back in the 71st. A 4-1 lead, things are looking comfortable, so in the 74th I bring on a couple lesser lights to get some game action. Not my best decision, as Mohammedan scores in the 86th and 90th. Extra time is nail biting, but we hold on to win 4-3. It shouldn't have been this difficult, and I let my team know it.

Quick standings update, through 15 games we lead with 33 points, followed by East Bengal (31), Mohun Bagan (27), Salgaocar, and Mahindra Utd (both 26). Looks like everyone but East Bengal has dropped off the pace. I control my own fate, with home games against fading Mohun Bagan and Mahindra Utd, followed by the finale away to 7th place SC Goa. Things are looking promising, just hope my young team doesn't crack under the pressure. It was at this time that the media story arrived about central defender Shafiqul Hossain rallying the troops to beat Mahindra Utd to maintain our advantage. That's what I want to see from my players. The little "Determined to help his team win the title" PRs that popped up on some players after this pleased me even more.

So home to Mahindra Utd, needing a win to stay ahead of East Bengal, who I'm assuming will not lose again this season. Star striker Rahman starts off superbly, scoring in the 3rd and 5th minutes, both set up by Mamun. A goal for Mahindra Utd in the 16th, and they start getting back into the game. Mamun picks up a knock, and not wanting to risk losing him for the last few games, he is subbed at the half. The second half does not go well, with Mahindra controlling the possession, finally scoring in the 57th minute. The linesman comes to my team's rescue however, calling the goal offside. My team still can't get into the game, but I have the players I want in this situation on the pitch, and am reluctant to change. The last ten minutes were heart stopping, as keeper Ignatius made several saves, and Mahindra Utd missed the net with several other chances. Four minutes of injury time passed, and I could finally breathe again. A 2-1 victory, and ONGC remains in first place with two game to go. Two points up, and East Bengal's 4-0 home victory over SC Goa brings their goal difference level with mine.

Bad news hits after the match, as playmaker Mamun is ruled out for a month with the twisted ankle he suffered in the previous game. His season is over, hopefully mine doesn't go down with it. This time it was my other central defender, Shafiqul Islam Islam, stepping forward to rally the troops, reminding them that if we win the final two games, we are guaranteed the title. With guys like these at the heart of my defense, you can see why we don't concede many. And them firing up a striker who I rely on so heavily before each game is just as important.

Home to Mohun Bagan, a team I have historically struggled against. I considered getting all the experience I could into the starting eleven, but most of my few experienced players have struggled this season. I decided to continue with youth, although I did re-insert former perennial fans player of the year Arata Izumi into the lineup. He has struggled with injury this season, but I hoped he could turn things around, and add at least a little experience to the squad. I set out my squad to attack, hoping to take the game to Mohun Bagan early. I was rewarded with a goal in the 17th minute by striker Rahman. Things were looking promising. Then, the magic began. Three goals in quick succession, in the 32nd (defender Islam, who had rallied the troops before the game, scoring his second of the year), 37th (Izumi rewarding my faith with his first of the season), and 40th (Rahman again) minutes! I killed the game off after this, and Mohun Bagan rarely threatened in the second half. With one game to go and a two point and +1 goal difference lead over East Bengal, I knew a draw wouldn't be enough, as it would likely hand East Bengal the title on goal difference if they could beat Mohun Bagan away.

So on to my final game away to 9th place SC Goa, the league title and an undefeated (currently 11-6-0) league record on the line. It was assistant captain David Bikim's turn to rally the troops, he may be struggling this season but he is still trying to rally the team to a title. Everything seems to be falling into place, right?

Wrong. The pre match screens come up, and I click through to submit my team, only to find that 9 players who started the last game, plus another 4 who didn't, are away on international duty! This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen, I hope this is only a quirk in the game and would never happen in real life. Only six first team players are available, one of them still carrying an orange injury and at 62% condition, another the young third string goalie who is seeing out his contract with the club before I cut him loose, and another who is the worst player in the squad (only kept around for emergencies - I guess this qualifies). Worse, my under 18s played earlier (I wish I paid more attention to their schedule, I could have called some players up before they played, so this is partially my fault), so none of them were eligible. So I set out my team, my usual starting goalie, a very poor extra defender, Arata Izumi at right mid, David Bikim and the injured Nitin Rizwam (a young player who rarely plays) at centre mid, the third string goalie at attacking mid (I wanted all of my actual non-gray players to start), and K.V. Vipin at striker. None of the players (other than the keeper) had been a very important part of the squad all year. The rest of the team was filled out with gray players. You can guess the result.

The team was set out to defend and counter, as I felt this was my only hope. Good news arrived in the 10th minute, as Mohun Bagan took the lead at home vs. East Bengal. If they could hold on and win, I would still take the title regardless of this result. In the 43rd minute, SC Goa scored, pretty much making me give up on having any chance of winning this game. My eyes became fixed on the latest scores screen. The 78th minute was an interesting one, as Goa scored again, killing off my hopes of a draw. More importantly, news came in that East Bengal had missed a penalty at the same time! Maybe the fates were with my little team. I at this moment promised that my cash strapped team would send free cake (all we can afford) to the Mohun Bagan players if they could hold on and win. They responded, scoring on the 82nd and 84th minutes to cement a 3-0 victory. Sounds like there's some sweet tooths in their squad! East Bengal's loss meant a first Indian league title for ONGC, even if this last game cost me my undefeated season. Celebrations began.

We finished 11-6-1, with 37 for and 15 against, two points ahead of East Bengal. We had the best defense in the league, and tied with East Bengal for the best offense. A Federation Cup win and a league title is a great return for this squad. The 60k prize will help the finances, although 35k of that was lost to the squad bonus. The confederation cup draw placed us in a division with Finance & Revenue (Myanmar), Persipura (Indonesia), and Pyongyang City (North Korea). I'm cautiously optimistic, as none of these teams come from particularly strong leagues.

To finish off, end of season awards news. Striker Saiful Islam Rahman was Indian player of the year, as well as top goalscorer. Oddly, he wasn't in the top three for attacker of the year, although looking closely, it seems that the top three in player of the year are ineligible (?) to win these other awards, as neither of the other to was on the list at his position either. Attacking midfielder Mamun was midfielder of the year, Shaymul Ignatius was second in goalkeeper of the year, and Shafiqul Hossain was second in defender of the year.

I think I've rambled on long enough, hopefully this has been an fun read. Be back with an update on my cup performance.

Finally, thanks to crouchaldinho for inventing this challenge. Its the most fun FM experience I've had in quite a while.

[crouchaldinho]

Great read Nightowl - what a rollercoaster season! I really thought you weren't going to make it. I was expecting a tale of heartbreak at the last minute!

Well done on your first pieces of silverware!

You have motivated me to continue with Mumbai FC, even though I am struggling.

Plus,I am really pleased you are enjoying the challenge.

C.

[Nightowl]

As promised, a quick update on my Confederation Cup run.

Game 1, Persipura, who scored four quick goals and held on to win 4-2 in a game we dominated. Their finishing was clinical, as they only managed 5 shots on target all game. I hate it when this happens!

Pyongyang City was up next, another dominant game on my part. This time, the score matched the play, and we won 3-1. Feeling pretty confident, having dominated both games so far, with the final team appearing to be the weakest of the bunch. More importantly, I looked at the the attendance: 3506! That's huge for a team that averaged 842 last season. This competition should hopefully make us some money. The 5k for winning the game was nice too.

Finance & Revenue were weak as expected, resulting in a dominant 4-2 win. I am a bit concerned that their only two shots on target went in, I'm starting to worry about my goalie, we're leaking too many goals on few shots.

A 3-0 home win against Persipura followed, with an even better attendance of 4267; a 1-1 draw with Pyongyang City followed. A 4-0 victory (2144 attendance) over Finance secured first place in the group.

At this point, it was time for the Indian Super Cup Final, against old nemesis East Bengal. We were clearly the better team in this one, but the game remained scoreless until the 84th, when my former striker Satyajit Singh scored. Time to send everyone forward, and we were rewarded with a 90th minute goal. Later in injury time, the referee awarded us a penalty shot! Problem was, the goalie stopped it and the rebound was missed. On to the shootout, which after 8 shooters each we finally won 5-4. Another piece of silverware for the collection, the only Indian award we still need is the Durand Cup.

In other news, the end of June brings another move for Indian star Hardip Singh, this time to the Premier League and Blackburn for 13.25M + clauses. Maybe if I can finish off here in India soon, they'll hire me and I'll already have my Indian player to build around.

Back again with next season's update, including the conclusion of my Confederation Cup run.

[coldkohmew]

Try to win the Confederation Cup like a breeze.

[Nightowl]

Try to win the Confederation Cup like a breeze.

Have to agree with this, the Confederation Cup isn't tough if you're already on top of a playable league, and better than a big team like East Bengal. More details below.

Oil & Natural Gas Company 2014/15 Season Report

This years title odds were 5-4, with the media predicting a 2nd place finish. Season ticket sales skyrocketed from 142 to 252. Maybe people are finally starting to take notice.

Another third place finish in the Federation Cup, losing to East Bengal in the semis. Disappointing, but we're aiming for bigger things this season.

The Confederation Cup went brilliantly. Two leg wins over Kedah of Malaysia, and April 25 (me losing the second leg due to a team completely absent to internationals, glad for the 3-1 lead from the first leg) of North Korea got us into the final vs. Nawbahor of Uzbekistan, who eliminated East Bengal in the other semi. Another 3-1 road victory had me feeling confident going into the second leg, which we managed to dominate but still lose 1-0. No matter, a 3-2 aggregate was enough for ONGC to win the Confederation Cup! Only the Durand Cup, and another first place finish, remain, and my confidence is high with the form my team has been showing so far.

The Indian season started extremely well, with seven consecutive wins. Then came a match against SC Goa, in which most of my players were away on international duty (just like last season - I'm starting to think Goa has a deal with the national team schedulers). A hard fought tie with fringe first teamers and U18s was a decent result. A 1-1 home draw against Mahindra Utd, a game in which we took 33 shots, rounded out the first half and left us in first with a 3 point lead over East Bengal.

Next, the Durand Cup, a competition I have yet to manage to win. Close victories over Mohammedan (2-1) and Dempo (1-0) left me feeling less confident, but allowed us to advance from the group stage and a meeting with non-NFL Churchill Bros. Some of my confidence was restored with a dominant 3-0 victory, and it was time to wait for my opponent. East Bengal faced Mohun Bagan in the second semi, and I was expecting another meeting with Bengal in the final, and a chance to finally beat my long time rivals in this competition. To my surprise, Mohun Bagan won 2-1 in extra time, leaving me without my dream final. Still, my team delivered a solid performance in the final, winning 1-0 and allowing us to raise the Durand Cup for the first time.

Some interesting awards news, as my team swept the Asian Young Player of the Year voting. Strike Saiful Islam Rahman was first, winger Zico Fernandes was second, and attacking midfielder Mamun was third. I guess it helps when your whole team is young a performing well in their league. All three also made the Asian All-Star XI, along with central defender Shafiqul Hossain and midfield Vijay Raj.

My former star defender Avinash Coutinho, who you may have remembered was playing for PSG, was sold to Benfica for 9.75M. It looks like there are at least two decent Indian players in the world.

The second half of the season was admittedly somewhat anti-climatic, as my team won 8 of 9, with the only blemish a tie against second place East Bengal. Although they kept pace throughout the second half of the season, they could never overcome my three point lead, and even a worryingly close final game ended up being meaningless when East Bengal tied on the final day.

So there it is, a second consecutive league title, complete with a "Youngsters do ONGC proud" media comment, commenting on my winning squads average age of 22. As well, we won the Durand Cup and Asian Confederation Cup, completing Level 1 of the challenge. Or is the Asian Champions League involved as well, it isn't mentioned in the original topic? As the India job is still Roy Houghton's, its time to focus on my European adventure. I'm right in thinking I can now move on to England, correct? No mention was made about completing Level 2 first before doing it, leading me to believe I can move on to the English leagues and wait for the Indian national job.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, if not, when I return to the game I'll begin applying to English jobs. Feel a little bad about abandoning ONGC, but hopefully I've laid a good foundation for the future.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by Nightowl:
So there it is, a second consecutive league title, complete with a "Youngsters do ONGC proud" media comment, commenting on my winning squads average age of 22. As well, we won the Durand Cup and Asian Confederation Cup, completing Level 1 of the challenge.

Wow, you've done it! Congratulations on completing level 1 of the challenge!
I've got to confess that I didn't expect you to win the Asian Confederation Cup on your first attempt! I think you are downplaying your achievement. Very well done!

Any chance you can post your complete progress so far, i.e what you did in what season in table form? It would be a good summary.

Or is the Asian Champions League involved as well, it isn't mentioned in the original topic?

No, the Asian Champions League is another thing altogether. It doesn't link with the Asian Confederations Cup like the UEFA Cup does with the Champions League in Europe. Indian teams can only participate in the ACC, and not the Asian Champions League. It is something to do with their ranking as a footballing country and the structure of Asian football. Check Wikipedia.

As the India job is still Roy Houghton's, its time to focus on my European adventure. I'm right in thinking I can now move on to England, correct?

Yes, you are now on to the RETURNING HOME level. See below...

LEVEL 3 - RETURNING HOME

[I] Here you have the opportunity to return home in a blaze of glory after having success in Asia. You will now manage in your chosen home nation, which could be the English Premiership, Scottish Premiership, Welsh or Northern Irish football leagues.
Your arrival in Britain might be rather like that of Arsene Wenger's arrival at Arsenal - you will be an obscure manager who has had success in Asia and wishes to bring his knowledge to the British game.

Both the EPL and SPL are awash with foreign superstars these days but you are not going to involve yourself in that. You are returning to Britain to get rid of Johnny Foreigner and win with British players.
However, do not forget that you also return as an ambassador for Indian football. You must also promote Indian players and bring through the first successful Indian player in your chosen home country.

You may take over at any club you like. A bigger club may give you more funds to bring in the British and Indian talent you require, however the pressure for success may make it impossible for you to embark upon a transitional period. A smaller Premiership side may give you greater opportunity to build up a British and Indian side but it may take much longer. The choice is yours.

The goal is to win the Premiership and the Champions League with ONLY British players (i.e. English, Scottish, Welsh, N. Irish) and as many Indian players in the squad as possible – however, you MUST have at least ONE regular Indian starter.
[I]

Good luck with finding a job in England.

I wonder what your reputation is like now? Hopefully you should be able to get a job. Otherwise, you will need to keep building your reputation in India - getting the national job would certainly help. Alternatively, you can go to a lower division English club and work your way up the table.

I'm ever so curious about this stage of the challenge as I am hoping the transition will be smooth. I figure your reputation should be pretty decent by now though!

No mention was made about completing Level 2 first before doing it, leading me to believe I can move on to the English leagues and wait for the Indian national job.

That's right. It's level 1 before level 3, and level 2 before level 4.
You have to wait for Mr Houghton to vacate his position. Meanwhile, you can get on with the next level and build your British team while being an ambassador for Indian football. I sense that Hardip Singh will be winging his way to your new club pretty quickly!

[/quote]
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, if not, when I return to the game I'll begin applying to English jobs. Feel a little bad about abandoning ONGC, but hopefully I've laid a good foundation for the future.[/QUOTE]

If I were you, I would let my contract run down with ONGC first and keep a rolling 1-year contract going while attempting to get a job in England. This way if your reputation isn't high enough yet, you should be able to keep building it up by winning the Asian Confed Cup again, for instance. Domination of the Asian Confed Cup should really knock your reputation up.

Let us know how you get on applying to clubs. Fingers crossed.

You are making me feel bad at my awful progress so far (only two seasons played!) I have had a pretty busy time of late though due to studying commitments. I feel a big session coming on tonight though!

Well done Nightowl and make sure you keep us up to date on your transition!

C.

[davidmcain]

Confederatons Cup and Champions League are linked. If an Indian Club has success in the Confederations, then they are then eligable for Champions League. If you stick around, you should find the competition a bit hotter, playing Chinese, Australian, Korean, and Japanese teams, among others.

[jess boi]

alright lads, decided to look upon some challenges and came upo this thread, looks great tbh! so i simply holiday for a year and take over a promoted team?
Also, are the general quality of players equal to blue square premier would you say?
cheerz

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by davidmcain:
Confederatons Cup and Champions League are linked. If an Indian Club has success in the Confederations, then they are then eligable for Champions League. If you stick around, you should find the competition a bit hotter, playing Chinese, Australian, Korean, and Japanese teams, among others.

I don't think that is right. Take a look at this from Wikipedia:

The AFC Cup is an annual international association football competition between domestic clubs sides run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Qualification to the competition is to clubs from AFC-affiliated countries which fall into the AFC's 'developing nations' category as laid out in their 'Vision Asia' document [1]. Countries which are 'mature' nations are entered into the AFC Champions League, and countries which are 'emerging' nations are entered into the AFC President's Cup. The 'developing nations' are the fourteen 'next-best' countries which lie outside the top-14 countries in the AFC region which send their club sides to the more prestigious AFC Champions League. Thus the two competitions are not interlinked as the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup in Europe, and Champions League losers do not compete in the Cup.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by jess boi:
alright lads, decided to look upon some challenges and came upo this thread, looks great tbh! so i simply holiday for a year and take over a promoted team?
Also, are the general quality of players equal to blue square premier would you say?
cheerz

I'd say the players range from blue square premier standard up to league one in some rare cases. Perhaps even championship for the very top few players but I haven't seen many in my game.

Nightowl has a regen and a half in his game and davidmcain has posted a few decent screenshots of prospects.

I've got no talent in my save game so far though. Even if I did have any, my chairman would probably sell them behind my back! (still struggling with Mumbai FC).

C.

[crouchaldinho]

P.S. welcome to the challenge jess boi . Yes, just holiday and take over a newly promoted club. Fulll instructions in the opening post on the first page. Good luck!

[jess boi]

thanks mate should be good! are there any restrictios on work permits in the indian league? dont suppose many brazilians would be interested

[Nightowl]

are there any restrictios on work permits in the indian league? dont suppose many brazilians would be interested

Welcome to the challenge, jess boi.

No work permits, but you can only have 3 foreigners in the match squad. You also have to register your players before they can play, but this isn't an issue unless you have more than 99. Registration is in June (off season) and October (just after the season begins).

As for the Brazilians, and anyone else, its very hard to attract foreigners unless you're one of the larger reputation clubs. The challenge also asks that you only sign players you can scout, so by the rules you may not be able to sign anyone from outside India or the area anyway.

Any chance you can post your complete progress so far, i.e what you did in what season in table form? It would be a good summary.

Sure, anything specific you're looking for? I'll post my league record and position, and cup performance for each season. Anything else you'd like to see?

Indian teams can only participate in the ACC, and not the Asian Champions League.

Actually, as davidmcain mentioned, success in one allows you to enter the other. I've played on into the off season and have found myself entered in the Asian Champions league.

I wonder what your reputation is like now? Hopefully you should be able to get a job. Otherwise, you will need to keep building your reputation in India - getting the national job would certainly help. Alternatively, you can go to a lower division English club and work your way up the table.

My reputation is currently National, so I doubt I'll be getting any dream jobs. I'll be aiming to build up through the league, hopefully with a team with some financial power. I notice the Tottenham (Championship) manager is insecure, maybe I can take his job...

If I were you, I would let my contract run down with ONGC first and keep a rolling 1-year contract going while attempting to get a job in England.

That's basically the plan. The board offered me a new two year contract, but I negotiated it down to one, and I don't plan on anything longer from this point forward.

Ill be back with a progress table, and maybe some news about my job search. We'll see.

[Terror]

So I was reading this thread and i got extremely interested in this challenge - I'm not sure why but I am. So I accept your challenge C! (This is my first time both doing a challenge and managing a small club.)

So i went 1 year into the future, and the two clubs that came out were Vasco and HASC (? not sure). Anyway, i just went with the one with the bigger stadium (Vasco), i was kinda ****ed i didn't get the clubs with 120k but whatever.

At first, they gave me a budget of 0 with 5 players in the senior squad. I was screwed. Immediately, I promoted all the 15 year olds. I started off the season pretty much losing all my friendlies 4 or 5-0. :-\

The federation cup came around, and that too i lost in the preliminary round. I knew i had to do something. So I went into my board room and tried to adjust my wage budget, and to my surprise, I could easily squeeze 250k out of the board. I was delighted. I had already signed a whole bunch of free players, but i was desperately in need of a good striker. After browsing around, the best player i found was Badmus Baba Thunde. And man, what a buy! I'm not sure if it was the tactics i was using (I played a 4-3-3, attacking at around 60%, no creative freedom, defensive line around 20%) but this guy had an average of 7.88. Took around two games to settle in, but then he went on to score 16 in 18 with 11 assists. The 3 strikers overwhelmed most teams defense. Needless to say, I won the league, beating East Bengal by a point.

I need to boost my defense for next season. I will also probably stay around until they have a state-of-the-art youth academy, or an incredible youngun until i move to the UK.

Pardon the poor sentence structure and spelling errors, its rather late over here in the US. I may put up some screenies later.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by Nightowl:
Any chance you can post your complete progress so far, i.e what you did in what season in table form? It would be a good summary.

Oh, I just meant a rough table so that people can easily see your progress... so what you did each season, where you finished in the league, what you did in the cups etc.
Don't worry about it too much!

Actually, as davidmcain mentioned, success in one allows you to enter the other. I've played on into the off season and have found myself entered in the Asian Champions league.

I stand corrected. I didn't realise this was the case. Another long search around Wikipedia gave me this:

2009 and beyond
The champions league will be expanded to 32 clubs and will be limited to the top ten Asian league only. Each country will receive up to 4 slots depending on the strength of their league, league structure (professionalism), marketability, financial status and other criteria set out by the AFC Pro-League committee. Several Japanese reports have suggested that in the eastern region, Japan and Korea will each receive four teams, China will receive three, and Australia will receive two. The western region includes Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, and will most likely receive 12-16 slots in total. One spot will be reserved for the defending champions. New development has suggested that the 2008 AFC Cup winner and runners-up are also to play in the qualifying rounds to determine which teams will participate in the group stage[1]. The group round will be conducted in the same manner as the 2002/03-2008 edition; however, the only difference is that eight group winner and eight runners-up will qualify to the round of 16.

That's basically the plan. The board offered me a new two year contract, but I negotiated it down to one, and I don't plan on anything longer from this point forward.

Yes, if you are playing in the Asian Champions League now as winners of the AFC Cup, then you should easily see your reputation rise enough for a good move to England. You'll be playing against some higher reputation sides, so a decent run in ACL should push your rep up.
I've checked on the FM2008 database and the Asian Champions League has about the same reputation as winning the Coca-cola Championship in England (which normally gives you a huge reputation boost). So you will be laughing if you can actually build a side to win it!

Incidentally, the Asian Cup has the same reputation as League Two, while the Indian Football League has the same reputation as winning the Blue Square Premier league.
The Fed Cup and Durand Cup are comparable, reputation wise, to the Blue Square South.

Just to make it clear that you don't have to win the Asian Champions League to complete level 1 of the challenge though. The requirement was only for you to win the Asian Cup (along with two consecuative League titles and the Durand cup).

Ill be back with a progress table, and maybe some news about my job search. We'll see.

Yes, good luck with your job search. I hope it goes well.

Like I said before, you might need to build your reputation up a bit more before moving, perhaps by a good run in the Champions League or by taking over as India national boss. You'll have to keep applying for jobs and see.

Keep up the good work!

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Another thing Nightowl - it suddenly occurred to me that you are playing with Oil and Natural Gas Cooperation, ONGC. They are semi-professional on my game. Were they semi-pro when you took over?

ONGC also play at the Cooperage - the same stadium as Mumbai FC. I know you mentioned attendance worries but did you not have the same issues as me?

My life at Mumbai FC is becoming more and more difficult. Attendances are a pile of poo and my chairman has sold YET ANOTHER of my best players behind my back. I think that's SIX key first team players that he has sold over the summer. My replacements have all been youth players as I haven't been given much in the way of funds to spend. We are, at least, solvent now, but I fear that the club will struggle to match last year's achievement of a 5th place finish.

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by Terror:
So I was reading this thread and i got extremely interested in this challenge - I'm not sure why but I am. So I accept your challenge C! (This is my first time both doing a challenge and managing a small club.)

Welcome to the challenge Terror ! I wish you the best of luck.

Anyway, i just went with the one with the bigger stadium (Vasco), i was kinda ****ed i didn't get the clubs with 120k but whatever.

Vasco are quite a big club - the two big footballing centres are Calcutta and Goa.
In fact, you will be better off with Vasco than by getting a Calcutta team, as they are the highest reputation team that will come up from the second tier of Indian football. They are comparable to a mid-table team like Salgaocar so you should be able to attract decent quality players etc. You should make plenty of cash at Vasco and you should be able to keep hold of your players and build a really good side eventually.

It's even more of a challenge to try it with one of the smaller clubs - just ask me, Nightowl or Taifun !

The way I see it, there are three levels of difficulty with which to begin the challenge:
Super hard - Amity Utd, Oil India, ONGC, New Delhi Heroes
Hard - HASC, Indian Bank, Mumbai FC, United SC
Difficult - SBT, Pune FC
Regular - Mohammedan, Vasco

Don't get me wrong though - it is tough and a good challenge no matter what team you start with.

The 3 strikers overwhelmed most teams defense. Needless to say, I won the league, beating East Bengal by a point.

Wow, I didn't expect you to say that!
Blimey, immediate success, we don't allow that in this challenge.
I'd love to know how you managed it. Must be some amazing tactics!

I need to boost my defense for next season. I will also probably stay around until they have a state-of-the-art youth academy, or an incredible youngun until i move to the UK.

Don't forget, you need consecuative titles. You also need to win the second oldest football tournament in the world, the Durand Cup. Plus, you need success in the Asian Cup. Then you'll need to build up your managerial reputation before your move to Britain. So, in a sense, the challenge is just beginning. You've had a quite unbelievable start - the challenge will be to keep it up.

C.

[Nightowl]

ONGC Summary 2008-2015 (hopefully this formats well)

Tables for each season, pretty self explanatory, Fed is Federation Cup, Dur is Durand Cup, and ACC is Asian Confederation Cup (these are highest level achieved: Pre - Preliminary round, Grp - Group stage, No- not entered, rest should be obvious). I added average attendance just for interest.

Season....Pos...W...D...L...For..Ag...GD...Pts...F ed...Dur...ACC...AvAtt
2008/09...8th...4...5...9...19...34...-15..17....Pre...No....No....753
2009/10...5th...6...7...5...27...25...+2...25....4th... Grp...No....950
2010/11...3rd...9...4...5...29...20...+9...31....4th... Grp...No....813
2011/12...6th...8...4...6...24...19...+5...28....4th... Semi..No....884
2012/13...2nd...9...4...5...32...17...+15..31....3rd... Final.No....848
2013/14...1st...11..6...1...37...15...+22..39....WIN... Grp...No....1458
2014/15...1st...15..3...0...35...7...+28...48....3rd... WIN...WIN...3463

Note attendance figures for the last two years are boosted hugely by Asian Confederation Cup and Champions League games. League attendance was somewhat higher than previous years, but nothing like these numbers.

They are semi-professional on my game. Were they semi-pro when you took over?

We are currently professional, and I'm pretty sure they were when I took over. Maybe promotion into the NFL brought about the change in status.

I know you mentioned attendance worries but did you not have the same issues as me?

Not sure what you mean by this, yes we play at the same stadium, and you can see my attendance figures above. If there's more to this, feel free to ask.

After looking at the competition reputation numbers posted, it looks like I still have a long road ahead. My new goal is to do well in the Champions League, which will hopefully lead to the kind of reputation I need to move. Currently, it looks like I'm a foreign Conference level manager, and that's not going to get me hired!

[crouchaldinho]

Cheers for posting that Nightowl - interesting to see your overall progress.

Your attendances aren't quite as poo as mine are. I get an average gate of 550 at the moment.

Your reputation should be better than you think. The equivalent of your trophies won in India would be the following titles in English terms: 2 x Blue Square South or North, 2 x Blue Square Premier League and 1 x League Two! So I would imagine that you could attract Championship teams. I am not 100% sure about how manager reputation work however. There is some ambiguity, because your reputation label (e.g. national) has no bearing to what your label would be in England apparently. Some guy on GQ has written an interesting thread about it.

Purely for the purposes of interest, perhaps you could utilise FMM to check your reputation in terms of numbers. Normally I would frown upon the use of FMM but in this case suing it to check your numbers might be beneficial, especially seeing as you are the first person to complete the first level of the challenge. It would give us an idea of how easy the transition to Britain is going to be for the rest of us. It's up to you but I for one would be interested to hear the number and you could try comparing it to another Premiership manager to see how far away you are. Like I said before, the guy on GQ has been investigating manager reputation and he has found that it grows when you beat superior reputation teams, so a good run in the Asian Champs League might well set you on your way. I think you will already be close though.

I'd just like to make it clear that I frown upon any use of third party editing or scouting software in this challenge and I feel strongly that FM is most satisfying when played in its natural form.

C.

[Nightowl]

Your attendances aren't quite as poo as mine are. I get an average gate of 550 at the moment.

I found that my attendance was usually in the 500s, but a couple teams brought in much bigger crowds, skewing the average. Maybe you haven't played them yet?

I am not 100% sure about how manager reputation work however.

Neither am I, I've always tended to stay with one team when playing, so it was essentially meaningless except for information purposes.

Purely for the purposes of interest, perhaps you could utilise FMM to check your reputation in terms of numbers.

Haven't used any utilities like this in years, as like you I personally find the game more enjoyable without. But as the information could be interesting to several people here, I downloaded and had a look. I don't use autosaves, but I do tend to alternate between two files roughly every year, so here's my manager's info for both saves:

Home Rep.....Current Rep...World Rep
June 14th, 2014: 3025..........1965..........1361
July 25th, 2015: 4381..........3314..........2487

Note, the 2014 save was in mid summer, so the group stage of the Confederation Cup is complete but I had yet to win the competition. The 2015 save also includes games from the group stage of the Champions League, which I (somewhat miraculously) managed to advance from with 5 wins and a draw, so it may be boosted by these victories. Makes me wish I had a save before any Champions League games had been played, so we could see how much of the jump was from the Confederation Cup, and how much from beating the better teams in the Champions League.

As an aside, the Champions League is MUCH more difficult than the Confederation Cup, and I feel lucky to have won many of these games. In my 2-1 road win over Antlers (Japan), I was out shot 21-8 and in no way deserved the victory. I imagine it is games like this that have the AI managers going on virtual boards and complaining that the game cheats in favour of the human player in some way, allowing them to win when dominated.

Finally, I just noticed again that my manager nationality is Canadian/Indian. I had meant to change the Canadian to English as per the challenge, but forgot when setting up the game. This may have an negative effect on my ability to land a job in England, we'll see. Hope this doesn't bother anyone.

Back later with next season's update, include a screenshot of a new Indian regen from my youth system that may make some people here drool (and may be a sign that there is some kind of divine force backing me in this challenge).

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by Nightowl:
I found that my attendance was usually in the 500s, but a couple teams brought in much bigger crowds, skewing the average. Maybe you haven't played them yet?

No, I wish that was the case! I actually average around 300ish fans for most games. Games against the bigger sides take me up to around 550! That's been the case for the last two seasons and will probably stay the same way.

Home Rep.....Current Rep...World Rep
June 14th, 2014: 3025..........1965..........1361
July 25th, 2015: 4381..........3314..........2487

Interesting!

You know I was talking about a guy who was studying manager reputation in a previous post? Well, here is his thread: Post about manager reputation

That might make for some interesting reading.

It's all far too technical for me. However, it looks as though are probably about halfway between Regional and National level at present, therefore jobs at the lower end of the Championship should be within reach. Prior to the Asian Champions League, it looks as though you were at the lowest level of Regional.

This makes two things clear to me. If I do this challenge for FM09 then the English or Scottish leagues should include al professional leagues by default. I imagine this wouldn't be such a problem in Wales or Norn Iron.
I also think that I might make winning the Asian Champions League, after qualifying through the Asian Cup, part of the challenge.

This is not to say that I think the current setup is flawed. It is certainly possible to make the transition to a Premiership club. I think if you had the Indian national job then that would make things easier.

Not too worry - I think you aren't far away from having a good enough reputation. A couople of good runs in the ACL may well push your rep up! Plus, that Indian national job would certainly help! Does Mr Houghton show any signs of abdicating?

As an aside, the Champions League is MUCH more difficult than the Confederation Cup, and I feel lucky to have won many of these games. In my 2-1 road win over Antlers (Japan), I was out shot 21-8 and in no way deserved the victory.

I look forward to hearing about your adventures in the ACL!

Finally, I just noticed again that my manager nationality is Canadian/Indian. I had meant to change the Canadian to English as per the challenge, but forgot when setting up the game.

I am afraid I don't know anything about this. You could try reading through the discussion in that manager reputation thread. Personally, I thought nationality only had an effect on the types of national jobs you could get.

Back later with next season's update, include a screenshot of a new Indian regen from my youth system that may make some people here drool (and may be a sign that there is some kind of divine force backing me in this challenge).

Looking forward to it! With talk of that regen, you are making me very jealous!

C.

[Terror]

Quick question before i do an update; I was searching the thread and i couldn't find and couldn't find an answer. Are we supposed to win the asian champions league as well?

[flea_market]

hi, im new over here. id love to take part in this challenge, but the thing is that i have FM2007, is that an issue?
if not then ill start up just as soon as i get the latest update for the game!

[cletus]

Had to show you this:

After sending an enquiry to Dempo about Jeevan Kumar (GK), valued 100K Rs.

This is what they want: Made me laugh

(I'm in the 4th season with Mohammedan - update will follow ASAP)

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by Terror:
Quick question before i do an update; I was searching the thread and i couldn't find and couldn't find an answer. Are we supposed to win the asian champions league as well?

You just need to win the Asian Cup (or the Asian Confederations Cup) - I can't remember exactly what it is called.

The Asian Champions League is not a requirement.

Part of the challenge is to build up enough of a manager reputation to move to England though, so any decent performance in the ACL won't do you any harm.

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by flea_market:
hi, im new over here. id love to take part in this challenge, but the thing is that i have FM2007, is that an issue?
if not then ill start up just as soon as i get the latest update for the game!

I don't know what the differences are between the data for the FM07 and FM08 game.

Why don't you buy FM08 anyway? It's really good!

On a serious note, I personally don't mind if you want to play FM07 and post your results here.

Good luck if you decide to take up the challenge!

C.

[crouchaldinho]

Originally posted by cletus:
Had to show you this:

After sending an enquiry to Dempo about Jeevan Kumar (GK), valued 100K Rs.

This is what they want: Made me laugh

(I'm in the 4th season with Mohammedan - update will follow ASAP)

Nice!

Look forward to your update.

C.

[thezogsageordie]

Meet the new manager of State Bank of Travancore (AKA SBT)

Profile

[Robot (SMFC)]

I'm going to jump into this challenge if you don't mind.

I am the new manager of HASC!

My profile.

I might get through only slowly, but I don't think that will be a problem. I was doing Gundo's challenge too, but I'll pull out in favour of this one I think, as I haven't finished my first season of that one yet and can always go back to it.

India awaits!

[cletus]

Mohammedan update from Cletus Spuckler:

Season 2009/2010
My last update was written when my team was in mid-season 2009/2010.
Were at the top of the table at Christmas, but the last 9 games was not as succesfull. Finished 4th, 9 point behind East Bengal, but at least an improvement from last years 6th-place.

Federation Cup: Lost in prelim. round
Durand Cup: Group stage
NFL: 4th - 10W, 3D, 5L +10 GD

Good signings: Micky Fernandes from JCT 300K Rs
Ashim Biswas on free from East Bengal


Season 2010/2011
Again the East Bengals were classes above the rest. We were 22 point behind at the end of the season. A season where East Bengal cruised through with 16 wins and 2 draws and +41 in GD!

Federation Cup: Won 3rd place playoff
Durand Cup: Lost the final to East Bengal
NFL: 4th - 7W, 7D, 4L +12 GD

Good signings: Odafe Onyeka Okolie from Churchill, 10M Rs!
Surkumar Singh from Mahindra Utd, 1M Rs
Ogba Kalu Nnanna from Churchill, 400K Rs

Season 2011/2012
After a slow start and a mediocre 6th-place after 6 games, I had to change tactics. Tried with a more attacking mentality and that helped. Immediate succes in the Durand Cup. Both group matches was won 3-0 over Viva Kerala and Vasco. In the semi, Mahindra utd. was beaten 3-1 and we were in our second Durand Cup-final against East Bengal. Maybe not fair when you look at the stats, but we had the luck and victory was ours Proof
The rest of the season went well and we finished 2nd, only 12 points behind East Bengal. I hope that this is a sign that next season can be the one. Training facilities have been improved 2 times and a third one is scheduled. I sence that this helps attracting the good players.
East Bengal also won the ACC (Asian Confederations Cup) in 2011 and are now participating in the ACL. From 7.9.2010 - 6.4.2011 they didn't loose any games (29).

Okolie won Player of the Year and Top Goalscorer after 17 goals and 9 asssist in 18 games (7.83 average rating)

Federation Cup: Lost 3rd place playoff
Durand Cup: WINNERS
NFL: 2nd - 11W, 3D, 4L +18 GD

Good signings: Boniface Ngairah Ambani from Salgaocar, 1,6M Rs

[crouchaldinho]

Welcome to thezogsageordie and Robot (SMFC) !
Nice to see you have both picked teams that nobody else has tried it with yet. Good luck to both of you and I wish you every success!

Excellent update Cletus - nice to see you closing the gap at the top!

I'm afraid my Mumbai FC game is held up at the moment. I have extraordinary study commitments plus much more on my plate so I don't think I will get the chance to play for a few weeks. Hopefully I will pick it up again soon. I will still be dropping in and out of this thread to see how you are all progressing. Best of luck!

C.