Knocking Bayern off their perch

Hi. After my previous Austria Vienna save got corrupted (10 seasons in, 7 league wins, 5 cup wins, a Europa League victory and a champs league semi final appearance), I decided I needed a new challenge on FM 2013. I have decided to try and knock Bayern off their perch with their cross city rivals 1860 who are currently in the 2nd tier of German football.They also groundshare with Bayern and have 10,000 season ticket holders, but their glory days (not that there were many) are long gone. They are the traditional working class club of Munich and are popular in the city, whereas it is seen that Bayern fans come from anywhere other than Munich. Think somewhere along the lines of Man U/Man City before the Sheikh got involved! There seems to be a lot of potential at the club and it will be an interesting challenge trying to guide them to first German and then European glory!

I would do this as a story, but due to my laptop being of pensionable age in technology terms (he's had a tough old life as well bless him), doing screenshots etc confuses the old git, so probably better off doing 2 or 3 updates a season on here!

Would anyone be interested in updates every so often?

Edit: I'm playing this with FM 2013 by the way

Interesting idea. I have always been intrigued by the idea of taking a fallen (relative) giant and bringing them back to the top but always wimped out and chose a top tier team.

Good luck with this.

So, here we go. Took over at the start of the 2012-13 season. About 100k to spend on transfers and a very limited wage budget. The squad looks half decent, with a few potentially good young players (which is good, as the board wnat me to try and put young players into the first team). Very good training and youth facilities, which I nevertheless want to upgrade asap (once I get a few quid in the bank). First thing I did was to cancel the loans of 2 players, whose wages I was playing and to be honest, were only good enough to sit on the bench anyway. This freed up a bit of money, with which I could sign a few coaches.

The board have set a target of 'reasonable league position' and making the 2nd round of the cup. These should both be do-able, especially as I have drawn a non league team in the cup! I have asked the board to look for both a parent and feeder club in order to help me garner some extra income and send my younger players on loan. I settled on Schalke as my parent club (120k a year plus hopefully a good loan or 2) as my parent club and Matrei (from Austria) as my feeder club. Average pre season where, as usual when I play FM (especially in pre season!) I won the games I should have lost and lost the games I should have won. So fingers crossed the bopys are ready for the season ahead. This season I'll be looking for a top 10 finish and a decent cup run in order to get some money in the coffers to really start my promotion push!

As a personal challenge, I want my team to be almost entirely made up of local players, the only exception I will make to this are players that have come through the youth academy. I'm defining local as players who come from Bavaria, the closer to Munich, the better. Hence why I'm keen to sign the best youth coaches available and get my youth academy as good as possible.

MID SEASON UPDATE

So, half way through the season and things are going much better than expected. Quite quiet on the transfer front, with only 1 loan coming in along with a few promising youngsters coming in on free transfers. Currently sitting 3rd in the league at the winter break, with is far better than I could have imagined. The squad seems to have gelled really well, and my on loan striker is banging them min for fun at the moment. Have also been enjoying a good cup run and will face Gladbach in the quarter final after beating Hamburg in the 3rd round. A shock victory mainly thanks to some fantastic backs to the wall defending and the lottery of penalites. Gladbach are also a top tier team, so hopefully my luck lasts a little longer!

no screenshots?

I'll try and get some screenshots, but as my laptop is getting on a bit, screenshots tend to confuse it a bit! I'll see if I can get some as it'll make my posts a lot better!

END OF 1ST SEASON 2012/2103

Well, what a season that was! 2 games to go and I was level on points at the top of the league knowing that if Union Berlin didn't get 6 points from their remaining 2 games/I got at least 1 point, I would be guaranteed promotion either automatic or play off (the top 2 go up automatically replacing the bottom 2 of the top tier, whereas 3rd plays off against 3rd bottom). Low and behold, the boys take their foot off the pedal and I end up losing both games, Union Berlin get full points and I only sneak into the playoffs thanks to a shock Köln defeat! I therefore must playoff against Düsseldorf

Playoff

1st Leg - As Düsseldorf are the 1st Division team, they have the home draw in the first leg. I play well, but unfortunately go 2-0 down. Manage to pull one back in the 92nd minute, which may go on to prove vital! F/T 2-1 defeat

2nd Leg - So, it all comes down to 1 game! Go 2-0 up before half time. At half time, it's still 2-0 and I've got 1 foot in the top tier! A 3rd goal puts my mind at rest and I can start celebrating! Both teams score before the final whistle, but it doesn't matter as against all odds, 1860 Munich have made it to the top tier for the first time since 2003-04! F/T 5-3 on aggregate and a place in the 1.Bundesliga next season!

cup

Facing a tricky tie against Gladbach, the boys play out of their skin to register a 2-1 win away from home, setting up a semi final place against the only other 2nd League team left, Köln.

Semi final - Köln go 1 up early doors, and I fear the worst. I manage to turn it around to go 2-1 up but Köln equalise. We're determined not to make this easy for ourselves as both teams really want a place in the final to face either Bayern or Freiburg. With less than 10 minutes to go, I score and manage to hold on to full time!!!

Bayern beat Freiburg, setting up a mouthwatering Munich derby to be played in front of a packed Olympic stadium in Berlin

Final - I would by lying if I said I was confident coming into this. Very much damage limitation, keep it tight at the back and try and hit them on the break. After 20 minutes, neither team has had a shot, let alone 1 on target. Bayern have over 70% of the possesion but are doing very little with it. Finally, just after the half hour mark, they get the breakthrough through Mario Gomes and I get the sense that the floodgates may be openning. I go in at half time 0-1 down. Early in the 2nd half, Robben falls over in the box (no suprises there!) and I get the sense that my brave resistance may be coming to an end. Fortunately for me, he shanks the resulting penalty wide!! Maybe there's hope after all. Not even 5 minutes later, the boys counter attack and I hit the bar. Could I? Surely not? Unfortunately not as Bayern (the reigning Bundesliga champions) shut up shop and kept me out. F/T 0-1

So, what a season that was! Against all odds, I managed to go up and get to the cup final. And not only that, but thanks to Bayern winning the league, I managed to find myself in the Europa League playoffs! Needless to say, the board and fans are overjoyed with promotion, a cup final appearance and a European place, as well as all the prize money that's gone with it. The coffers got a good boost and I will need to spend a decent chunk of it if I intend to stay in the top tier! I'm very much looking forward to next season, but it's going to be tough!

Congratulations on promotion and a great cup run to the final!

Lets see who you will be bringing in for next season and who gets loaded off

Start of season 2013/14

After last years heroics, it'll be interesting to see if I can continue them this season by staying in the top tier. The board expect me to consolidate (which is in line with what I expect) and have given me 2.5 million to spend. I break the club's transfer record by signing Schippenlock from Hoffenheim for 1.9m (he was on loan last season and his goals played an important part in getting me up) as well as a few free transfers. Having been made 2000-1 to win the league, staying up is all I want to do! Drew Hadjuk Split in Europe. Lost 0-1 away and won 1-0 at home, so being very German about the whole affair, I went through on penalties! Pre season has gone well with a tour of Austria, and with my next few games being important ones (the German Super Cup v Bayern, the cup first round and the Euro Playoff against Lille), the boys need to be ready as i want to hit the ground running and get some good form going as I want to get some points on the board early doors, as it's going to be a long and difficult season...

Mid Season 2013/14

So far, this season has proved to be a struggle, but what else did I expect? Didn't get off to the best start with a 4-0 drubbing against Bayern in the Super Cup and getting knocked out against Lille in the Europa League Playoffs. Made it to the third round of the cup, where I lost away to Wolfsburg. At least all that gives me time to concentrate on the league, which to be honest, I definately need to! Currently sitting 3rd from bottom, with only recently promoted Bochum, and Hannover below me. 2 wins, including 1 against Hannover just before the winter break were very much needed.

Not too many problems scoring at the moment, but shipping a lot of goals so a defender in the January transfer window is definately needed! A 5-0 defeat against Bayern in the league, and 4-1 against both Schalke and Leverkusen, and a 4-4 against Union Berlin shows how much I need to work on my defence! But with 1.5m left to spend, finding a decent centre back at this level may be a struggle.

In terms of transfers, my record signing is playing well and has got 7 goals so far, so no complaints there. Also bought in 2 more attacking players on free transfers who will help bolster my attacking options. Somewhat disappointed with Michael Lumb at left back who I bought in on a free transfer who has played poorly despite some good stats.

Unfortunately have strayed a little from my Bavarian players only rule, but after 2 or 3 seasons, my young Bavarian players will be up to a standard where they can compete for a first team spot. As they are mainly 15/16 at the moment, they're far too young to be thrown in at this level, so maybe 2 more years at youth level, plus a year on loan, then they'll hopefully be ready, as I have about 5 youth players at 4* rating or above. Focus is on staying up in the Bundesliga until then! Have also set up Oviedo as my feeder team, along with Matrei (in Austria), so maybe a year in the Spanish lower leagues will help them out 2 years down the line?

end of season 2013/14

To improve my defence, I changed to a 5-2-1-2 formation and brought in Niko Bungert from Leverkusen for 1.3m and Lumb was relegated to the bench. Didn't seem to have an immediate effect as I conceded 5 in my first 2 games after the winter break, but once the boys got used to the formation, we started picking up points. Some valuable wins against the teams around me saw me leave the bottom 3 for the first time in far too long, and put a bit of a gap between us. Going into the last 5 fames, I was 9 points clear of automatic relegation and 7 points clear of the relegation playoff spot. In my last 6 games, I had the record of 4 wins (including against relegation threatened Hannover), 1 draw and 1 defeat (Leverkusen away) which put me up to 13th place, which I think flattered me slightly, but who's complaining? Especially when it netted me a few extra million in prize money!

A large chunk of the prize money is being spent on upgrading my youth facilities, which along with the training facilities which are also being upgraded, will allow me to invest more in youth. The only downside to my end of season run was that for the next season, the board expects me to finish mid table. Definately doable, but will be a challenge that's for sure. Will need to carry on beating the lower table teams and hopefully pick up a few points against the bigger boys, which, apart from a good win against Leverkusen and a point away to Schalke, were few and far between!

My record signing Schipplock finished as my highest scorer with 16 valuable goals so definately worth the outlay. He'll need to do that again to help me achieve a mid table spot though. My average attendance went up by 5000 to 32,325 for the season, but given that I'm paying 45% of my gate receipts to Bayern, not that much of a benefit. My personal aims for the season are a cup run, mid table finish and blooding the youngsters! I have some very talented youngsters at the club, so fingers crossed in a season or 2, they'll help me challenge for trophies! Quite quiet on the transfer front, apart from a few youth players and Adnan Januzaj on loan from Man U.

Looking forward to the next season already! Come on 1860!

Mid season 2014/2015

After a short pre season with ok results, including a 0-0 draw at home to Arsenal and a win against VFL Leverkusen (2nd team in Leverkusen) I started poorly only winning 2 points out of the first 15 on offer. After my first win against Frankfurt, i lost my next 3 games and started to get a bit nervous. Mid table seemed a long way away and was only not bottom due to Hertha Berlin having an even worse start than me! My form then picked up. Over the next few weeks, I got 3 good results followed by a loss to a top team, 3 good results followed to a loss to a top team etc etc! After a kind draw in the cup, I found myself drawing Hertha in the quarter final which is definitely winnable. Entered into the winter break in 11th and feeling confident of a mid table finishing, and maybe even getting to the cup final and maybe even going 1 step further than the last time...

End of season 2014/15

League

After a promising first half of the season, my form took a turn for the worst in the league. My defence shut up shop, unfortunately my strikers forgot where the net was and after a 1-1 draw and a 0-1 defeat, I played out 3 0-0 draws in a row. Then a 3-4 defeat against Frankfurt was followed by 2 1-0 wins. Then 1 point out of the next 18 saw me plummeting down the league. Fortunately my form picked up slightly and I finished in 14th at the end of the season which was a definate underachievement, but at least I'll still be in the Bundesliga next season.

Cup

An easy draw saw me play Hertha in the quarter final, and a hard fought 1-0 put me into a semi final draw against Werder Bremen, who were also having a poor season. Fortunately many big teams (Bayern, Dortmund, Schalke etc) had been knocked out in the quarters and I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, I could pick up my first trophy. My boys took the game a little too easy and the game was taken to extra time. 2 minutes before penalties, Bierofka scored sending me into the final. Hamburg, from the 2nd tier were my opponents. Although they were a 2nd tier team, they were having a great season and were a big team, so wouldn't be easy at all. Fortunately the boys played out of their skins and I won 2-0 which is my first piece of silverwere as manager of 1860 Munich!!!

In the January transfer window, I brought in Colin Kazim-Richards to give me a bit more fire up front and although he only managed 2 goals in 17 games, I believe that he can come good next season and add something to the team. Adnan Januzaj helped my season no end, although he suffered from poor fitness (mainly through a lack of stamina which has a stat of 8 as he has a natural fitness stat of 17). I am looking forward to next season

Mid season 2015/16

The first half was the season was very up and down, which got off to a fantastic start with a 1-0 win in the Super Cup final against cross city rivals Bayern, which, as you can imagine, pleased the fans no end and provided me with my 2nd trophy. I also had a job off at the end of last season from Schalke which I of course turned down. My league form was pretty good and I entered the winter break in 10th, which is above average for 1860 (especially as the board only want me to avoid relegation). My Europa League form was brilliant, especially as I was handed a tough group with Arsenal, Maritimo and Club Brugge. I qualified in 2nd place with 2 wins (including a great 4-2 win against Arsenal at home), 3 draws and 1 defeat (Arsenal away). The only disappointment was my cup form where I only made the 3rd round where I lost to Nurnburg.

Fingers crossed my form continues.

End of season 2015/16

League

So, what can I say about the league this season? I picked up where I left off with 8 points out of the first 15. This carried on for the next month or so, until my form took a nose dive my record in my last 12 games was W2 D 4 L6, which saw me plummet down the league and finish in 14th position overall. So I achieved the boards aim of staying up, but finished lower than I though I would

Europe

The reason for my drop in league form? I believe it was due to my Europa League run. I drew Sporting Lisbon is the 1st KO round. A 0-0 draw at home left me fearing the worst, but my boys rose to the challenge and we handed out a 3-1 spanking away from home! Olymique Lyonnais lay in wait in the next round, and if they were anything like they were in my last save, it was going to be tough. A 0-0 draw away was promising left me with home advantage in the 2nd leg. I snuck through with a 1-0 win and I was over the moon!! Fenerbache lay in wait. I couldn't go much further could I? It didn't start well when I lost the home leg 1-0. The second leg started promisingly with me hitting the post within the first few minutes. Time passed and no one scored, and with 10 minutes to go I threw men forward in an attempt to salvage the tie, but with 2 minutes to go, Fenerbache hit me on the break and the European dream was over.

So, what to say about about that season? Average in the league, below average in the cup and far above average in the league. If I can transfer my European form into the league, then things look promising for next season. Watch out Bayern, I'm coming for you. Given that they've just won their 4th title in a row, it just may take a while!

Mid season 2016/2017

This one comes so closely to the other, as I realised I had forgotten to update at the end of last season! Well, what can I say? First off, I offloaded Colin Kazim-Richards to Bavarian rivals Augsburg for 725k as he was proving to be a pain in the backside (9 goals in 39 games and 2 red cards). In came Tom Cleverly, Adnan Januzaj and Miroslav Klose on free transfers. The first 2 were too good to miss out on (and still can't believe I got them!) and Klose is to help bring the young talent through. The board expected me to avoid relegation again, but I want to aim higher than that, so we'll see what happens.

Well, I started with a 5-0 win in the Cup against Tese Berlin and 2 draws in the league against Hoffenheim and Koln. Then came 4 wins on the spin, including a 1-0 home win against Dortmund and 1-0 against local rivals Augsburg (Richards was taken off at half time with a rating of 5.7. Still think that was such a bad idea Mr Chairman?). A win and a draw followed and I sat in 2nd. Yes, 2nd!!!!!! I then slipped to my first defeat against, yes you guessed it, against Bayern 0-1. 2 wins, 1 in the league and 1 in the cup, were followed by a home defeat to Schalke. The next 4 games were 3 draws and 1 win, and I slipped to 4th. I beat Hamburg in the league and Wolfsburg in the cup to enter into the winter break.

I am over the moon with the first half of my season and can't quite believe it! The board are ecstatic as well and I can do no wrong! I'm a realist and I know I can't mount a serious title challenge and am aiming for a top 10 finish as I'm sure I'm long overdue a poor run. But a top 6 position is not unrealistic if i keep up my form and therefore European qualification. Let's see what happens...

End of season 2016/2017

Was expected to avoid relegation. Did I achieve that? In short, yes, and then some! Started the 2nd half of the season in 4th position which i was very happy with. Picked up where I left off with a victory against Koln, 2 draws followed, then 3 straight victories and it was clear that my form held over the winter break. 2 defeats followed (1 in the league and 1 in the cup). I thought my good run had come to an end and I'll start tumbling down the league into mid table. 17 points from the next 7 games (including a win against cross city rivals Bayern) proved me wrong and I was right up there holding my own with the big boys! A draw in the next game guaranteed a 3rd place finish and champions league qualification! 1 win and 1 defeat in the last 2 games meant nothing as the youngsters/subs got a run out. Finished level on points with Dortmund, but their very impressive goal difference of +30 (only bettered by the champions, Bayern, who had +46) was almost twice as good as mine and they finished in 2nd.

What an unbelievable season that was. Can't quite believe it myself. Will try and emulate it next season, but with Champions league football to contend with (go in at the playoff stage), I may struggle. Let's see if I can strengthen my squad and add a little depth and who knows what could happen...