If this is slavery, give me a life sentence

Good afternoon gents and ladies alike, this shall hopefully be a successful thread for a successful journeyman. I am Cardiomolester, formerly Cardiovascular until Neil Brock decided to amuse himself with my name. I am, of course, not a molester and I'm glad we have got that clear.

Leagues Loaded

So for a successful, continent-hopping career we need a fair few leagues involved. A newish laptop means I can now load more than before and not worry about the speed of the game.

China - First Division and above

U.S.A - MLS only

Belgium - Third Division and above

England - Blue Square Bet N/S and above

France - CFA and above

Germany - Third Division and above

Italy - Serie C2 and above

Holland - Jupiler League and above

Portugal - Second League and above

Scotland - Third Division and above

Spain - Second Division B and above

Switzerland - Challenge League and above

Australia - A-League only

Argentina - Second Division and above

Brazil - Third Division and above

Shall we begin?

Starting off as a Scottish manager with English second nationality and sunday league reputation. As you'd expect, there are alot of jobs around but they are much the same as every other journeyman career started on here, so I may holiday further on and try get a different job to the ones at the start.

But that won't stop me seeing what comes up now!

So, there are my three job offers. I'm actually swinging towards holiday a wee bit further on but what do you guys think?

New England mate, get it over and done with, you did say you want to go there to get your head around it. So I so go for it.

Out of them Rio Branco is the one I would lean towards as MLS is a bit too early and Delemont just never seems interesting enough. Holiday a bit more is a good choice.

New England mate, get it over and done with, you did say you want to go there to get your head around it. So I so go for it.

I do want to go there, but I want to (try ) and learn about the system and how it works. Impossible it may seem but I'd like to try so I think I'm going to pass on New England.

Out of them Rio Branco is the one I would lean towards as MLS is a bit too early and Delemont just never seems interesting enough. Holiday a bit more is a good choice.

Agreed. Delemont seem to appear for everyone. I think I will reject all three and continue holidaying to mix it up abit. Thanks for the input guys!

Well you better let us know your next offers and hurry about it I want to see where you end up!

4 months after turning down those three offers, I was presented with an opportunity I felt I couldn't turn down...

SC Cambuur-Leeuwarden

An easy decision on my part, it's a different job to take compared to the same old starting jobs as well. The club is expected to finish 4th in the Jupiler League, but currently are slumped down in 9th. The squad (1, 2) is being torn apart by injuries at the moment, so I may need a few emergency loans if it's not too late.

Some really good players in the squad, but one position I'm concerned about is the goalkeeper spot and after a meeting with the staff, it's clearly an issue they agree on.

I guess I better start focusing how I get out of this league system as well.

Well then you have a club, good luck!

Good first club and great to see something different. Injuries have really took a hold. Quite a few decent teams and most at similar levels in the Jupiler League. Sort the GK position and get the better players back and should climb up that table.

Good luck with your new team!

Interesting choice of a club When you do decid to go to MLS, there's a few of us around that can help you out and try to get your head around it

Well then you have a club, good luck!

Thanks very much!

Good first club and great to see something different. Injuries have really took a hold. Quite a few decent teams and most at similar levels in the Jupiler League. Sort the GK position and get the better players back and should climb up that table.

Thanks! Should be quite a strong team once the injuries wear off, and once we get a decent goalkeeper in, we should really be up there.

Good luck with your new team!

Thank you!

Interesting choice of a club When you do decid to go to MLS, there's a few of us around that can help you out and try to get your head around it

Thanks very much, looks like I'll need help with the Dutch system first.

Not going badly so far, with a good bit of form you can push up the table a bit and take a playoff spot.

Good luck with this fella. Nice first job as well.

Seems like you can push even further next year, some good results there mate

Good luck with all those playoffs.

Thanks gents, I'll need all the luck I can get. Currently going through some photobucket issues as it seems to be under maintenance. Will wait until after work and see if it gives in.

imgur's great for image hosting. I used to use Photobucket but I switched to Imgur which is better quality.

Another one of those split leagues. Always takes a season to understand how it works

Poor February and March. Hopefully you can turn it around and get back into the Play-Off's.

Remarkably, we're still in with a playoff shout if we can muster up the wins and stop dropping points. I'm not sure how it works though, if all 4 period winners are in the playoffs already, will we go in? Can anyone explain? Thanks.

At the end of each season, the champion of the Eerste Divisie is automatically promoted to the Eredivisie. Eight other clubs enter the Nacompetitie [ˈnaː.kɔm.pə.ˌti.(t)si], a promotion/relegation playoff that includes the 16th- and 17th-place clubs in the Eredivisie. The following teams qualify for the Nacompetitie:

• The club with the best record in the "first period" of the season (after 8 rounds).
  
• The club with the best record in the "second period" of the season (rounds 9–16).
  
• The club with the best record in the "third period" of the season (rounds 17–24).
  
• The club with the best record in the "fourth period" of the season (rounds 25–32).
  
• The four remaining spots are filled at the season's end by the highest-placed clubs that have not already earned automatic promotion or qualified for the Nacompetitie.
  

If the club that wins a period has qualified for the Nacompetitie by winning a previous period, its place is filled by the next-best club in that period that has not already qualified. Usually, the clubs that qualify for the Nacompetitie turn out to be the 2nd- through 9th-placed clubs in the final table. Clubs in the Nacompetitie face each other in a knock-out system with the numbers 16 and 17 of the Eredivisie for two places in next season's Eredivisie.

Says Wiki.

Cheers for the help fellas laptop is currently getting repaired (hopefully not replaced) so this career will be temporarily on hold.

SC Cambuur - Season 2011/12 Review

Bit of a poor season for my debut, and Cambuur in general. Expected to finish 4th in the league, I took over with the team struggling down in 12th. Whilst we did well to begin with, climbing up into the playoffs at one point, it was not to be and we hit a massive rough patch and eventually fell out of the playoffs, although we weren't too far away.

Not alot else to say, the fixtures show how we started up relatively well after I joined and then faded away in a tremendous choking fashion, I can only hope this doesn't become our trademark sign! Knowing my luck, I'll be king of choking now. We only managed to progress one round in the Dutch Cup, knocking out FC Den Bosch before losing out to FC Groningen.

The transfers page shows the activity over the course of the year. No money in, and no money out means the finances should be reasonable enough. Sadly, I went over the wage budget meaning the finances are £145k in the red. Hopefully something I can resolve in the coming season, it should definitely be helped by the £425k for Bob Schepers as he joins FC Utrecht in an transfer already arranged prior to my arrival. A little disappointed to see him go, but in all honesty he didn't impress when he played and the money will do us nicely.

Apologies about the random whiteness! Strong squad, but as ever I feel there are possible improvements. Bob Schepers will most likely need replaced, and Mark de Vries is 37 now and surely set for a retirement home soon enough. So up front is definitely required for improvement, and most likely left wing will also be an area I focus on.

Next Season Targets

• Improve finances
  
• Sign players to improve the squad, including striker and ML
  
• Promotion?
  

Not the best ending to the season, hopefully you'll at least get into the playoffs next season

Me too mark. I reckon it's hopefully a realistic target this season.

Pre-Season - SC Cambuur - 2012/13

Board Expectations

Jupiler League: Playoffs

Dutch Cup: Third Round

I think these are reasonable expectations from the board for this year and with the right signings, playoffs is definitely a target, if not a minimum expectation.

Budgets

Balance: £784,000

Transfer Budget: £156k

Wage Budget: £40.72k

These weren't actually my original budgets, but I asked the board for more wages when I went over and they upped it by quite abit, allowing me to plunge leftover wages into our transfer kitty. Our balance has increased massively, the sale of players has boosted this and we are due over £2m in TV rights apparently over the season. Seems alot for the Jupiler League?

Transfers

Generally, I am delighted with this transfer window. We've picked up some very good, and experienced players which I hope will be key to our promotion push this year. With not a penny spent and £525k coming in, I'd like to think the board are also pretty happy with our dealings. Here's an overview of the lads we've signed:

Arvydas Novikovas - The young Lithuanian left winger comes in from Hearts. He's not the greatest but he's got good potential, and he's good enough to play for us now. Pretty pleased with this signing.

Richard Garcia - Arriving on a free from Hull, he's a good addition to the squad and adds a wealth of experience. He will provide good competition on the fight wing, although he did get himself injured in preseason and will miss the start of the season.

Freddy Mombongo - For a starter, he has an amazing surname. And secondly, he's also a top striker and better than our current crop of shooters. Will probably be one of our main men in a 4-4-2.

Nabil Baha - A really great all round striker, he'll partner Mombongo up front more than likely. For some reason, he seemed to be valued at -£1 in scout reports which allowed me to snap him up for peanuts.

Saulius Mikoliunas - Delighted with this signing, as he brings international experience to the squad and competition with Garcia for the right wing. Probably my coup of the summer, although he pissed the fans off by saying he should be the centre of attention. Good start, son.

Patrick Bantamoi - Needed a keeper on the cheap and found Bantamoi kicking about with a club. He's a reasonable keeper as well, will definitely be used in Grandel is not up to scratch.

Dennis Westh - Young prospect arriving on a free. Westh has a lot of potential and will be a good player in the future, I'm certain.

Hayri Pinarci - I felt the squad needed another midfielder for cover, so searching through scout reports came across this young lad. He's a reasonable player as it as, and will provide good backup.

Matthias Olsen - Another reasonable prospect. Probably won't get much gametime this year though.

Israel Damonte - A very good central midfielder and the final signing of the window. I couldn't turn down the opportunity to sign him when he was offered to me as he is superb and will probably start most matches.

Friendlies

I'd say this pre-season has been a success. I'm very certain that some solid players have been signed and a promotion push is definitely possible. Pre-season showed the strength of our squad as we went unbeaten against a group of good Spanish sides. Onto the new season then, where I hope we transfer our good form!

2 good snippets of news here; first, the board agreed to my requests.

And secondly, we signed one more player, and a rather promising gem too if I do say so myself:

This season is definitely looking up.. I hope.

He's going to be a top player, good signing!

August & September

A reasonable enough start in my opinion. Some disappointing results in there - such as the 4-0 defeat to FC Den Bosch which came out of nowhere - but we followed that up by trouncing MVV 5-0 in the following match. We had a small run of the 3 games where we picked up one point, that was another disappointment during the first coujple of months of the season. Ending on a 3-0 win did manage to make things look positive and cap off an okay start to the season. Nabil Baha has had a fine start to life with Cambuur but Mombongo seems to be struggling to find his feet a little, but I have faith he'll come round.

Successful start in the Dutch Cup as well as we trounced non-league team VVSB 5-0 with debutant Matthias Olsen scoring, Baha grabbing a hattrick and an own goal rounding off a bad day at the office for VVSB.

Doesn't look like we're doing great in 9th, but with it being so tight at the top I think 9th is a good spot to be in just now. A good run could propel us to the top but similarly, a bad run could send us spiralling downwards. But I guess that's the same in any league, so that statement makes very little sense.

Have to agree there mark... not blowing my own trumpet or anything ;-)

October, November & December

Fixtures

We've reached the winter break in the league, something which I quite appreciate as it means we're not playing massive amounts of games through winter like in the Premier League! The players get a well earned rest over the festives. Our fixtures show we have been on fire lately, but of course with a few blips along the way. I'm extremely disappointed that we choked in the Dutch Cup against non-league opposition, but I was the maker of my own downfall there with a weakened team sent out. A brace for Dennis Westh shows his promise though! Everyone has performed exceptionally well when called upon, and Mombongo seems to have come out of his shell which is absolutely vital at this moment.

League Table

Well, I could sit and stare at the league all day. Top by a point, and even now if we hit bad form, we will make the playoffs and this means we've met the board expectations. I'm sure this will please them.

Key Player

Baha has been absolutely sensational throughout the fixtures, I'm yet to see him underperform I think. Both him and Mombongo have been superb so far, and I can only hope it continues into the season.

The Bad News

When life is going great, there's always something round the corner to bring you back down to earth. This problem we're facing is the African Cup of Nations which will claim our top scorer Baha and our in-form keeper Patrick Bantamoi until early February. I would normally rely on Franck Grandel between the sticks, but he's been sidelined by injury at the moment. This means we rely on 20 year old Kevin van der Meulen between the sticks, which doesn't fill me with confidence at the moment.

They say bad things come in threes, don't they?

Board accepted that one over my head. Bye bye Saulius

January, February and March

Fixtures

Well, van der Meulen proved me wrong and made me take a seat. We won all three games he played in, and whilst he didn't keep a clean sheet, he performed well between the sticks. This included an early penalty save in his first match versus FC Dordrecht, which may have helped his confidence soar. We continued well throughout the month with a minor blimp against Fortuna Sittard until the end of March when we seem to have struck some awful form. Is this the beginning of the choking? Only time will tell. Only three games to go though!

League Table

It makes for good reading, doesn't it? Thankfully, whenever we slipped up others around us seemed to slip up. This means from our remaining three games, we only need 4 points to secure the title. It's a target that is achievable. Our remaining games are Sparta (A), RKC (H) and FC Emmen (H). These are all definitely winnable, and the title is ours to lose.

Key Player

Mombongo has been on fire! He's scored in almost every game in this period, proving we don't need to rely on Baha for goals. He's capped off a sensational run of form by gaining his first international cap for DR Congo. Superb stuff from Freddy Mombongo.

Looks like you'll avoid the playoffs.

Hopefully the board wont sell any more of your players. Hate it when the board accept offers without your approval.