[FM13]40 Years of Management and I End Up In Bloody Crewe

League Loaded

Brazil - Obviously by the title of the thread this is where I end up. I've never really managed in Brazil for that long before, I had a couple of seasons there on FM12 before jumping to Argentina so thought I would load it and have a good go there.

Mexico - I like Mexico so I loaded it in hopes of one day managing America(MEX).

USA - I've always wanted a good go at the MLS if it works this time round.

Australia - I had a good game with Wellington Phoenix on previous FM's so thought Australia would be a good place to load and manage there at some point in my career.

China - There might be some money in China with clubs offering huge contracts in real life but I doubt you can offer that within FM but it's worth loading anyway.

South Africa - Without the editor it's the only option to have in Africa so I felt it needed to feature in my game.

Germany - I don't think I have ever managed in Germany for more than one or two seasons, I remember having a two season save as Leverkusen on an older FM but that's it.

Portugal - Not managed here before, I've always like Porto in real life so maybe that will be a future destination for me at some point.

Ukraine - I enjoyed managing Shakhtar on FM11 but this time round I'd like to take Dynamo Kiev to glory.

Greece - Another place I've never managed but for some reason have always fancied having a save in.

After holidaying until 27th of September 2012 I got offered a job by Chapecoense in the Brazilian 3rd Division. How could I now accept a job at a club that has the Hulk holding there badge after a quick google image search.

This is the squad that I have inherited lots of loan players whose contracts will expire in a couple of months so it'll be important to try either renew their deals or find some free transfers. At the moment the club has a chance of promotion after the previous manager secured a play-off place but only just after a run of bad results so morale is rock bottom heading into an important two legged match against Icasa.

Well my first couple of games didn't go too well we lost 2-1 in the first leg but secured a 3-2 win in the second leg. However it was not enough and we went out on away goals, the plus point is that from these two games I can see that wing backs are pretty damn good.

Brazilian Third Division

The Brazilian Third Division works differently to most European leagues and probably most leagues in the world. It is split into two groups of 10 we will play each team in our group twice, the top four from each group will progress to an eight team play-off if we win the two legged quarter final we are promoted. So if we'd won my first game in charge it would have meant instant promotion.

Brazilian Santa Catarina State Championships

In Brazil ever side competes in a State Championship before the real season starts, it has good and bad points. The good is it gives a lot of games to prepare for the proper season and experiment with players and tactics. The bad is it adds at least another 18 games to the season meaning by the end of the proper season some players will play 50 plus matches.

This works a bit strangely as well, there are 10 teams and we play each team once with the top four qualifying for a play-off, the play-off is only one leg in the semi's and one leg in the final. After those first games and play-off the league is reset and you do it all over again, then the winners of the first phase play-off and the winners of the second phase play-off play each other in a two legged grand final to crown the winner of the State Championship, get it?

I'll warn you now I have played a few seasons and this will not be a hugely successful story filled with constant winning. I hope you enjoy reading despite how poor some of my results will be!

Reserved for season overviews and trophies.

Hulk Smash Opposition!

Good luck this seems interesting, I've always wanted to manage in Brazil but am always put off by the sheer number of fixtures. I like the leagues you've loaded, nice diversity although am a bit surprised the only big league you picked is Germany! That's going to make career options a little thin by the time you reach the top, no?

Hulk Smash Opposition!

There's a few Hulks in the lower leagues so hopefully they won't smash me.

Good luck this seems interesting, I've always wanted to manage in Brazil but am always put off by the sheer number of fixtures. I like the leagues you've loaded, nice diversity although am a bit surprised the only big league you picked is Germany! That's going to make career options a little thin by the time you reach the top, no?

Cheers, I am hoping that the add/remove leagues feature actually works properly this time round. From what I can see it has been improved. Europe's last on my list of places to go so I'll be in the Americas and Asia for a long time yet unless something decent comes up in Germany that's too tempting to turn down. Another reason is I always seem to manage in England and Spain on other saves so fancied a bit of a change.

First Season Transfers

Tiago Messias

Messias is experienced and probably slightly better than the rest of the CB's currently in the squad, will go straight into the first team.

Celsinho

Former Lokomotiv Moscow and Sporting Lisbon AMC/ST Celsinho signed on a free transfer. I'm pretty sure I remember him being very good on one of the older FM's maybe as long as as FM08 or 09. There are plenty of these ex-wonder kids kicking around at this level. His skill should be a real asset to the team.

Dalmo

I had a bit of success with headed goals so thought a targetman was a must have, he's great in the air and not bad at finishing either.

Douglas Maia

Nothing really stands out about Maia but he is decent enough at everything with an ability to play in several positions which is a huge bonus at this level of football.

Diego Macedo

Poor tackling but very good mentals and reasonably quick he'll go straight into the first team.

Giovanni

On loan from parent club Atletico Mineiro not brilliant but better than what we currently have.

Rodrigo

Very very good for the Brazilian 3rd Division. He'll be the number one choice at CB for his season long loan.

Joao Cleber

Bit of flair and competent in front of goal will be a rotational option depending on how many strikers I decide to play.

Dininho

Another free transfer this CB will probably play a fair few games in a three man defence.

Disappointing start to my career in the State Championships, really struggled for goals big time not finding the net at all in the last three games and if we can't score we can't win. Two losses is not bad but we needed to turn some of the draws into wins. Never really got well beaten apart from against Juventus(SC) but still no excuse for such a poor showing.

In the play-off's Joinville beat Avai 3-1 and Figueirense beat Criciuma on penalties after it finished 0-0. In the Final it was Figueirense who triumphed over Joinville with a slim 1-0 win.

Hopefully we can improve in the next phase of the state championships and finish in the top four.

That's Miss Chapecoense, she serves no purpose to this thread but I felt she deserved a mention. Apparently there is a competition to be crowned Miss Catarina State and she was one of our entrants, I'm sure your lives are richer for knowing this bit of amazing trivia.

A much better second phase for us with only one loss in the last game against Criciuma who splatted us 3-0. All round though I'm pleased with the players we're scoring more not and the wing backs are having a huge impact on every game assists wise and goals wise especially Diego Macedo who has a wicked freekick on him. It was pleasing not to get beat by First Division sides Avai and Joinville. We are however missing a striker that can actually find the back of the net.

We will now face Criciuma in the play-off who beat us 3-0 in the last match so we'll be aiming/hoping for a bit of revenge.

Some great things and one extremely bad thing. First off we took revenge on Criciuma when Celsinho scored a screamer from the edge of the area and Vinicius smashed in a header from a Diego Macedo free kick. That put us in the final against Figueirense Celsinho put us ahead with a well taken finish but they showed their class and equalised. We kept our nerve and they bottled it in the penalty shoot out with them only scoring 2 and us scoring every penalty we took.

Then we went into the final and out classed them at home with a 2-1 win only to be completely destroyed at their place, every shot they had seemed to fly in and not a single one of our players got more than a 6.5 rating. A very pathetic display by our side all round.

Now we move onto the Third Division which is what really matters, we'll be aiming to make an impact despite the board expectations being to enjoy the experience.

A good start, Rodrigo looks to be a very competent central defender at this level, I never had a Brazilian save but will keep this on my radar.

A good start, Rodrigo looks to be a very competent central defender at this level, I never had a Brazilian save but will keep this on my radar.

Cheers, I've never played for that long in Brazil so hopefully I can stay here for a while yet.

Not the greatest start to life in the 3rd Division but not terrible either. Celsinho at the moment is our star player scoring three times in a row it's just a pity no one else could have helped him. We are struggling for goals as you can see but apart from the Metropolitano(SC) game we've been reasonably good at the back. We should have beat Ipatinga as we had a load of chances but we were lucky against Criciuma who seem to be a lot better than us. Hopefully we can progress in the next 5 games and try to get into one of those play-off spots.

I bet you wish you got to work closely with Miss Chapecoense.

I bet you wish you got to work closely with Miss Chapecoense.

Unfortunately she was unwilling to discuss terms.

I am approve.

Looking forward to this AcidBurn, I have always enjoyed South American football and reading this I have finally decided to leave the Uk and Ireland out of my game, to go to Brazil,Chile,South Korea,Germany,Mexico and the Usa.

Will be following.

I am approve.

Thought you would.

Looking forward to this AcidBurn, I have always enjoyed South American football and reading this I have finally decided to leave the Uk and Ireland out of my game, to go to Brazil,Chile,South Korea,Germany,Mexico and the Usa.

Will be following.

Good luck! It's always good to explore new leagues. I always have plenty of 2-3 season saves where I play in England anyway so for a career I'll try to stay away.

What is the format now for Brazilian Third Division? It used to a a bonkers set-up of 64 teams, playing in 4 different stages, absolutely loved it!! Especially with all the different stages & regional competitions, it was possible to have a save based just in brazil and not get bored!

What is the format now for Brazilian Third Division? It used to a a bonkers set-up of 64 teams, playing in 4 different stages, absolutely loved it!! Especially with all the different stages & regional competitions, it was possible to have a save based just in brazil and not get bored!

It's not as big now. There's only two leagues of 10 teams, finish in the top four and you go into a play-off win your first play-off match and you're promoted.

Still struggling to score and when we did we lost 3-2 against Metropolitano(SC). Joao Cleber finally did something scoring three goals in his last two games and Celsinho also kept up his good form. If we were to win our game in hand we will move into the top four and if Madureira lost their game in hand we could go second but Criciuma have really pulled away. Hopefully the goals will start to come easier now and we can work on the defence a bit more. I'm still confident we can get a play-off place especially if Celsinho can get a bit more support in terms of goals.

Not a bad start, still in contention for qualification to the next stage.

Not as many goals as I would have expected from flamboyant Brazilian football- especially if you're a Bragantino fan!

Looks like an interesting place to start. Good luck.

Not a bad start, still in contention for qualification to the next stage.

Not as many goals as I would have expected from flamboyant Brazilian football- especially if you're a Bragantino fan!

I agree it looks a bit strange seeing only Criciuma scoring more than roughly one goal a game, at least it's not just my side struggling to find the net.

Looks like an interesting place to start. Good luck.

Cheers dude.

That state championship was strange with the winners of both phases playing a final, took me a while to figure out how that worked. Well done to reach the final even if a very heavy defeat ruined it - are Figueirense of a higher division in the national leagues?

Doing decently in the Third Division now, if the top 4 qualify for the playoffs which is what I get from that screenie you have a very good chance. What's the media prediction for your club?

Decent start mate, some good leagues loaded there. Always good in Brazil to get a photo of the club shirt draped over some lovely lady.

Game at hand, two points off of second - I think you are doing alright Could always use the missus for some extra motivation!

Doesn't look too bad.

That state championship was strange with the winners of both phases playing a final, took me a while to figure out how that worked. Well done to reach the final even if a very heavy defeat ruined it - are Figueirense of a higher division in the national leagues?

Doing decently in the Third Division now, if the top 4 qualify for the playoffs which is what I get from that screenie you have a very good chance. What's the media prediction for your club?

Figueirense are in the 2nd Division. The media prediction for us is 7th but I think a top/play-off place is a real possibility.

Decent start mate, some good leagues loaded there. Always good in Brazil to get a photo of the club shirt draped over some lovely lady.

Cheers, South American clubs always seem to have some nice look women wearing their shirts on google.

Game at hand, two points off of second - I think you are doing alright Could always use the missus for some extra motivation!

If only I could get Miss Chap to "motivate" the whole team we'd fly through the leagues.

Doesn't look too bad.

Hopefully we can make it.

Followed up the last defeat with another away loss adding the Criciuma loss meant we had lost 3 of the last 4 games. We ended without a loss in our last 5 games and two 1-0 wins in a row over Macae and Bragantino were enough to secure a place in the play-off's where we will face Luverdense who finished top of their group with 11 wins, 4 losses and 3 draws scoring 29 and conceding 17. It will be a tough game but if we win over the two legged match we will secure promotion to the 2nd Division. I just hope one of the strikers can finally click and get us a few goals, I'm finding it really tough to get the attackers scoring at the moment.

Good luck dude..

Good luck dude..

Thanks, I think we'll get spanked.

Well done to reach the playoff but bloody hell that's a low scoring league. It's not just you who need a striker to click.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, or in your case, one-goalscorer team.

Well the striker problems have hit home as we failed to take any of the many chances we created in the first play-off game at home, we even had to rely on an OG for our only goal. Pretty much the same thing happened in the second leg, we failed to take our chances and as a result of that we will be spending another year in the 3rd Division, annoying to know we were only one win away from getting promoted.

As you can see from the best 11 the strikers are a real problem with them both scoring roughly 1 in 5. I'll admit I am having big problems finding an attacker who can score goals and finish the many chances we can create. I've been pleased with the central midfielders and the AMC who all contributed with some assists and general all round decent play. Celsinho was great in quite a few matches but very poor in others, if we are to do better next season he will need some support because scoring 1 in 3 from AMC is reasonable good. The wingbacks were great to watch all season flying up and down putting in some great crosses and attacking brilliantly.

Fans Player Of The Year

Willian - Signed by the previous manager this guy is class scored nearly as many as the idiot strikers and was well deserving of the fans recognition.

The board were very happy with the progress made this season which surprised me a bit. We are well under the wage budget because I can't find anyone willing to join us our only real options are loan deals or ageing free transfers, I can see this being a problem if we were ever promoted to the 2nd Division.

Good season there AcidBurn.

Well, the board thought it was a job well-done, so there you go

Hopefully you can find yourself some incredible newgen - they are plentiful in that part of the world!

Good season there AcidBurn.

Thanks wish I'd got promoted though.

Well, the board thought it was a job well-done, so there you go

Hopefully you can find yourself some incredible newgen - they are plentiful in that part of the world!

I hope I can find one but I somehow doubt it unless we ourselves get one through.

New Signings

Zezinho

If I decide to play winger Zezinho can play on the left but can also more naturally play through the middle. One of many loan signings I will look to make this season.

Ze Soares

On loan from Metalurg D can play on either flank will only play if I decide to use wingers or if one of my strikers get injured.

Wanderson

On loan from our parent club he looks pretty decent for this level and will back up Willian at left wing back but can also fill in on the right if needs be.

Servulo

I need a GK to challenge my main GK as I have no others in the squad at all, so I signed Servulo on loan if he performs well when given the chance he could end up as the number one GK.

Romulo

I had this guy as one of my main players in the MLS on FM12 and he looks just as good now. Capable of playing CB, DMC or CM I think he will be a vital part of the squad.

Rafael Caldeira

Playing three at the back I needed at least one more CB, so I got this lad in on loan he's not the best but will hopefully be decent back up.

Leleu

By no means the best player around but we're paying no wage on him and no fee also has some attributes in the right places so could prove to be decent at CM.

Diompy

A huge transfer fee of £6,000 for this lad, I thought it's worth a risk due to how poor my strikers have been so far.

Not much to say about this, still struggling to get a consistent goal scorer in we were well beaten in most of the matches we played. Cristiano came up from the reserves and scored a few goals but it wasn't enough as you can see over 9 matches we were 8 points away from getting into the play-off's. Although disappointing not to make an impact the Third Division is more important but that's still no excuse. I think there's going to be a lot more struggle to come over the course of this save but I hope that will not put people off reading it.

Unlucky not getting promoted mate. Brazil used to be my favourite destination in the CM01/02. Hopefully you will get your strikers scoring. If only you had 'Hulk' he would fit in

Is it difficult to sign newgens from other Brazilian clubs? Ive never coached there, so I wouldnt know, but in all my saves, like 75% of all great newgens are from there!

Unlucky not getting promoted mate. Brazil used to be my favourite destination in the CM01/02. Hopefully you will get your strikers scoring. If only you had 'Hulk' he would fit in

Thanks, I'm enjoying Brazil despite not doing brilliantly.

Is it difficult to sign newgens from other Brazilian clubs? Ive never coached there, so I wouldnt know, but in all my saves, like 75% of all great newgens are from there!

Very hard my club has a low reputation and most newgens require compensation which we cannot afford to pay.

I've seen two of the best football pictures ever in this thread.

Bit unconvincing this time in the state league, hopefully will turn things around in the 2nd phase. Diompy looks promising, I'd give him a chance since nobody's scoring.

Bit of a tough go in Brazil so far, but you're holding your own. Just some strikers to hit their chances!

I've seen two of the best football pictures ever in this thread.

Glad you liked them!

Bit unconvincing this time in the state league, hopefully will turn things around in the 2nd phase. Diompy looks promising, I'd give him a chance since nobody's scoring.

The 2nd Phase is not going too well either as you will find out soon enough, Diompy has played a few games and like all the strikers I have tried has failed to score.

Bit of a tough go in Brazil so far, but you're holding your own. Just some strikers to hit their chances!

Very tough so far, I'm not too bothered by the State Leagues as long as we can challenge for promotion when the 3rd Division starts I'll be happy.

Not much to say about this, still struggling to get a consistent goal scorer in we were well beaten in most of the matches we played. Cristiano came up from the reserves and scored a few goals but it wasn't enough as you can see over 9 matches we were 8 points away from getting into the play-off's. Although disappointing not to make an impact the Third Division is more important but that's still no excuse. I think there's going to be a lot more struggle to come over the course of this save but I hope that will not put people off reading it.

I like to see other people struggle so I'll keep reading your story, however I have to say your tactical shape doesn't convince me so much.

Out of interest, did you try to move one of your CB's forward? Probably a Dmc could give you more defensive solidity, a five back line seems often to be a waste of men.

Just a thought, of course.

I have messed around with a 4-5-1 but there's no natural wingers available to make it work. Wing backs are so attacking on FM13 they might as well be playing at AMR and AML.

I think I'll be giving the formation a few changes as I progress, just trying to find something that works. I initially started with 2 CB's, a DMC and the wingbacks but it didn't work.

Did well in your first season,hopefully you can go one better this season and win promotion from the third division.

Another poor performance in the State Championships as we failed to qualify again mainly due to a horrendous start. The top four teams teams fully deserved it as they were tight defensively and a lot better than we were. We managed to turn things round a bit towards the end with 4 wins out of 5 but it was all too little too late. Hopefully we can do a lot better next season.

We drew Paysandu in the first round of the Brazilian Cup after a poor performance at home we somehow played them off the pitch at their place and knocked out the 2nd Division side with ease. Then we played Guaratingueta another 2nd Division side after another loss at home we needed another performance like the one away to Paysandu but we couldn't manage it and limped out of the cup. Although all in all not too bad considering the opposition is from the league above.

A Few New Signings For the Third Division

Anderson Uchoa

I signed Anderson Uchoa on loan from Cruzeiro to challenge for a place at DMC.

Marquinhos Gabriel

Signed on loan as a back up/rotational striker an area where my team really suffers but I can't see him getting that many games at all.

Rafael Ledesma

Signed to add some creativity to the side on a free transfer, I think he has decent enough attributes and I hope he can contribute to the side.

We sit in a decent enough position with three games left although that could change if Ceilandia can win their game in hand. I think the results sum up my reign as manager so far, started with three losses in a row then two convincing wins where we played well then onto another defeat two more great wins then three losses. We have three games left now against Parana away, Bragantino at home and finally Caxias away. We need to try and win all three to secure a place in the play-off's and a chance at being promoted.