A Global Odyssey

A Global Odyssey

Firstly let me introduce myself. I was on these forums an age ago but don’t seem to be able to remember my details from that time. I think in fairness there was some sort of crash here so numerous people had to reset.

I have literally just re-joined as I know have some time to be able to bore you with my failures of no doubt what will be a record setting poor career.

My user name comes from when I studied European History it was a name that was banded around Spain in the medieval times, throughout my studies I kind of adopted it as a nickname due to it being a loose translation of my own name. As you can imagine it takes a certain type of person to study European History and the best way to describe such a person would be ‘geek or nerd’ or some sort of hybrid of both. Anyhow I digress, I amazingly have a wife a kids and now they have gotten a little older (the kids that is not the wife) I feel that I can dedicate some time to a new save and one that I could share with all you good people.

My save basically revolves around the underdog, I will be looking throughout this save to manage as many underdogs as possible. That may not mean in their particular league but the nation as a whole may well be an under dog. For instance South China in Hong Kong or TNS in Wales.

Again this is not strictly the only thing I will be doing as there are loads of other clubs that I would love to manage. When I get a club I will often look into the background of the club and the town or city that they are based in. Again this may or may not be of interest but is my boring historical aspect coming through. (If you do get bored at any stage, just imagine how my wife feels with the History channel on permanently. No matter how much I try she really does not care about the why the Plague did not spread to the Americas nor does she care for the fate of indigenous people of Western Samoa.)

Another aspect of the save will be to visit some of the places that I have read about whilst on these forums for example, Deltablue in Milan or SRL in Hungary and Dafuge in Wales

I also enjoyed older threads like Dodgee in Turkey and Mexico and Raware in Hong Kong

I will be looking to carry this through until FM15 comes or until my wife decides that she has had enough of me speaking to here about the exploits of my latest team on FM.

Anyway I hope you all enjoy this as much as I am sure I will enjoy updating it.

Career So Far

Citizen 2013 - 2014

CA Torque 2015-2016

Junior 2018

Career So Far

1x Hong Kong League - Citizen

1x FA Cup - Citizen

October - 2013 - Hong Kong - Citizen

My first offer was from a fairly decent club in Hong Kong, in recent years they have been winners of both the Senior Shield and the FA Cup although at the moment that seems miles off.

The previous manager only got five games this year which for me seems a little harsh but it has given me the opportunity to get my foot in the door at a club. I do think that this club should be doing much better than they are at the moment.

I think initially we will be in with a chance of getting a cup this year as they have a decent team for this league.

Mid Season- 2013/4 - Hong Kong - Citizen

I got into the save last night and got a fair few games played, as such I feel like this is the best time to update the thread with my progress.

Ins and Outs

This seemed like a good place to start with a list of those no longer with us and any new arrivals since my tenure began. I only have been responsible for the two bottom departures with those two leaving on loan on the last day of the deadline, I felt that it would be a risk to get rid of these but it did leave us a little light in the middle of the park. In the end I decided that their development would be better to take place elsewhere.

Jason Zimmerman

The only incoming player was a young goalkeeper who should be good in the next few years, oddly enough he is already my number 1 but I expect him just to get better and better over time.

I did have a few deals set up for some other talented South Americans, but like the idiot I am I forgot to check the league rules and it seems that I am above the quota already. I was gutted about this as the players that were going to come in were far and away better than what I had at the time.

Players Already at the Club

The squad I inherited in all honesty was not great it was top heavy with foreign stars and not great in terms of depth of squad. This is something that will need remedying over the next few months and into the preseason.

Fernando

Marco Krasic

Fernando is a particularly good player, just at home up top or as a link up player he loves to score goals as you can no doubt see from his excellent record thus far. I would look to keep him for a while as someone who can put the ball in the back of the net is of real importance at this level.

Marko Krasic is the undoubted star of my team and certainly one of the better players in Hong Kong, I think he could easily ply his trade in a European league. I am uncertain as to if I should keep him or let him go as I think I could actually get a decent amount of cash for him whilst it would also free up a foreign player slot.

League Games

I began my tenure with a game against Yuen Long, who were one of the poorer teams in the league, they were struggling along with ourselves but it was expected more from them than us. As ever going to a new club and changing players and tactics can sometimes take time to set in, and so it proved here as we failed to get the win and was soundly beaten. Eastern, were up next and I was desperate to get off the mark. We were fantastic the free flowing attacking football I would be implementing really came home to roost here as we took an excellent win.

We would play the fantastically named Happy Valley, in another game which pitted two slightly underachieving sides together, in what was a very close affair we managed to do just enough to secure a very solid win. Tuen Mun, were struggling this year and I don’t think I helped matters at all as we went all guns blazing and simply blew them away, amazing does not quiet do us justice to how good we were in this game.

A double header against two excellent sides was next, Sun Hei were first up. I was not expecting too much as they had looked fairly good in the league thus far and were a solid enough outfit. Once again though my team came out with a bang and took the game to them. We again destroyed an opponent. We then played perennial big boys of Hong Kong, South China as usual they were at the top of the league looking like they could very much be in the mix for the title. That was until we faced the, we made them look less than ordinary in what was the best result of my time here so far. They moaned of injuries and the like which severely hit the squad (echoes of the Lasagne debacle with Tottenham a few years ago) I refused to let that take the gloss of this excellent performance.

We took massive leaps forward as a club over the last few recent weeks with some excellent work, I felt that a lot of this was lost as drew games against two very poor teams in Yokohama and Rangers, and lost to a decent Sun Pegasus team. I was livid over these results as I felt that if we could have continued the run we would have put ourselves right in the mix for success this year. I feel that now we have a little too much to do.

We finished this portion of the year off recovering a little with two very good wins over Yuen Long and Kitchee, which put us slightly back on track but it still felt like an opportunity missed for me.

Hong Kong FA Cup

We only had the one game in this tournament against a fairly decent team in Kitchee I was not expecting too much but we did manage to record a very good win over them to progress into the next round of the cup.

Senior Shield

An interesting little tournament here, again I was not expecting too much as we had been so poor before I arrived and one of my first games was in this funny little tournament. We faced Yokohama another team that were struggling, in all honesty they did not put up too much of a fight and we dispatched them with relative ease. Southern District, would be our opponents in the quarter final, this game was tight and very close from the outset, in the end we had just enough to sneak past them.

In the semi finals we faced Rangers, this was a side that I felt that I could beat on most days and I was not wrong as we thoroughly controlled the game and ran out winners with relative ease. It was then onto the final were we would face early league leaders Kitchee, in the end this proved to be one game to far for us as we succumb to the slightly better team in a close game. We lost the game and our chance for an early cup win.

Story So Far

All in all it has been fantastic. I am a little gutted to not have won the cup and ever so slightly upset with some of the performances in the league games towards the end of the season. I would expect us to carry on the decent run towards the end of the year and then see where that places us. I understand that there is some strange qualification process for the continental competitions just after the league finishes, I think it must be similar to the Welsh one. I would love to win that and to get into continental competition for next year, but I think it may just be a little early for us if I am completely honest.

End Season- 2013/4 - Hong Kong - Citizen

League - 1st

Hong Kong FA Cup - Winners

Senior Shield - Runners Up

Stars of the Season

Tam Lok Hin

Stefan

Tam Lok Hin - fantastic, solid and dependable all season long. I would expect him to continue his great form, I look for him to add to his few caps in the national team.

Stefan - a player on loan last year I have tried to sign him on a permanent deal in the summer but I am unsure as to if he will come or not.

League Games

Southern District were the first team we faced in our push towards the end of the year. It was another game I was hoping of winning to keep up our superb form. We did so with relative ease. We then played Eastern and Sun Hei in two vital games. Again we were much the better side and took early leads in both games to secure a bit of a distance between us and 4th place.

We played Happy Valley and Tun Mun who we easily beat to put us well in with a chance in the final game of securing the title. South China, were a superb team and a win here would have been enough to secure the title. We easily won the game to secure a fantastic title win in my first season here.

Hong Kong FA Cup

We played Southern District in the quarter final who we absolutely destroyed we were much the better side throughout. In the semis we played Yuen Long in the semi final. Again I was hoping to secure another vital win. I was amazed at how easy it came as we totally outplayed them to secure our place in the final of the FA Cup. In the Final we faced Sun Pegasus it was the closest game we had played recently but in the end we had just about enough to secure the double and the clubs second FA Cup.

Next Season

To be honest I am unsure what to do next as I felt this would be slightly more of a challenge. If I do stay it will be fun in continental football and I know I am going to need to bring in a few more players of Hong Kong nationality as we are above the foreigner threshold.

If I do leave it will be off to South America for me to try over there, as I say I am a little disheartened at how easy it was for me.

Pre Season- 2014/15 - Hong Kong - Citizen

It was a tough summer but in the end I decided that I would stay in Hong Kong as I felt that I should really give it more than one season. I was hoping to pick up some decent youngsters in the off season but that did not happen.

Board Expectations

The Board this year have decided that they want me to challenge for the title. I am not to worried about this expectation as I think I can certainly at least match that. I would hope to win the title this year but I should at least challenge. I am little gutted that the board have decided not to back me in this regard as they have reduced the wage and transfer budget going into next year which is not great.

Ins and Outs

It was a busy time for the club as I decided to let a fair few players go due to the wage budget. No of which bothered me to much but it does have a clear effect on my already thin squad. I did get rid of a couple of foreign players in order to help with my quota.

Ins was tough, I did not get in nearly as many as I would like as the lack of talent in Hong Kong is scary. I am unable to find anyone who will improve the squad, or one that will improve the squad in the future. I would hope that once the new regens come into Hong Kong in the next couple of years this will improve. I will also be looking across to China as they must have some players than I can have.

Prince Moukoko

Ha Gee Ming

Prince Moukoko – he joined on a free and looks an excellent prospect. He can really grow into his role here and will get plenty of time. I see him as my replacement for my big Serbian star whose contract is up at the end of the year and does not seem to want to sign another deal for some reason.

Ha Gee Ming – a young player from Hong Kong who has enough talent to be a star in this league. I would expect him to continue to develop with me, he will get some games this year and should get better.

Pre Season

Bit of a mixed bag for us really, as we did not play many games as I was keen to give the squad a rest. I was hoping for more players to come that would need time to gel into the squad. We had a great win over a pretty poor team from Hong Kong before going over to China for a couple of games.

In China we played well enough but did not get the results we quiet wanted. We were decent and the players played well but I would like to see a more creative spark from the team going into the league this year.

Season Ahead

Well it is going to be a big season as all of my current foreign stars are refusing to sign new deals and they have deals at present which expire come the end of the year. My aim is to do all I can to either make them sign or in the alternate to sell them for at least something. I will be constantly looking for new players to add a new dimension and spark to my present squad. I have a one year deal here that expires at the end of this season, in all honesty I will probably see that out and asses the landscape for players in Hong Kong.

November- 2014 - Hong Kong - Citizen

Well that was a turn up for the books, I decided that I was just not having as much fun in Hong Kong as I had done on previous saves.

I was really getting annoyed at the lack of talent out there, those that did want to come were so much poorer than what I have. The players I did have didn't want to sign again for another year, I was set to loose about 60% of my squad at the end of the year.

The league was not going great as we had already lost a few games and teams were already so far ahead of me. I don't intend to resign often in this career but it was becoming a bit of a pain to play the game and it should really not be like that, so I decided to leave.

In hindsight I may have left a little early as I struggled to get a job for a long time, but eventually a new club came up and one that I think I could do some decent work at.

July 2015- 2015/16 - Uruguayan Second Division- CA Torque

I am really excited about this opportunity. Some may see it as a step back for my career, but I think I can do really well here and get them promoted which will do wonders for my reputation. We have a decent young squad and a bit of room within the budgets for new players.

It is great to be in South America with the abundance of talent which is the total opposite of Hong Kong

Pre Season- 2015/16 - Uruguayan Second Division- CA Torque

Board Expectations

The Board want me to challenge for the play off places and considering that all but 4 teams in this league qualify for them I do not think this should be to much trouble for me. I have been given a small transfer budget and I still have plenty of room underneath the wage budget to renew contracts and to add some new faces should I feel like I need to.

Ins and Outs

The club needed a few new faces in and that made it a very busy time for us.

Ins and Outs

There is loads of players around that have enough talent to improve my squad so it was all about trying to find the best players for the cheapest possible wages. I was keen not to bring in too many faces as the squad was already bloated and I felt that getting rid of a few would be more beneficial to us. I did need some quality in some areas which I think addressed pretty well.

Diego Gurri

Emanuel Cello

Sebastian Canobra

Alejandro Suarez

Diego Gurri – look an excellent player I expect him to play an important role for me this year in the hole behind the strikers he looks like he could really develop as well in the future, I am pretty excited by this lad as a prospect.

Emanuel Cello – a player in a position of need. If I am totally honest I would have probably liked someone slightly better but he should certainly have enough about him to do a job for me this year.

Sebastian Canobra – my best player I have signed this year. I was very lucky to get him on a free transfer. He is a player I really think will progress over the season and just get better and better. He will be seeing an awful lot of game time this year, I have high hopes for him.

Alejandro Suarez – fantastic player who came into the squad, again he was in a position of need. He will probably be my first choice this year.

Pre Season

I got plenty of friendlies in this year.

I don't usually spend too much time worrying about the games but my word the game against Argentinian giants was excellent. I was amazed at some of the results I got as the players seemed to gel with my tactics straight away. The new signings really got into the team straight away as well.

As I say I don't usually pay to much attention friendlies but they have been fantastic, its all I can do to not get over excited about this season now.

Season Ahead

Its tough because I have never really played here so I really don't know what to expect here. I thin with all the play off spots open I do think that I should be able to meet the boards expectations. I expect to get a few more players throughout the season as I continue to improve my squad. I am really excited about this team as I think I may be able to get them promoted, if not this year certainly in the next two.

End of Season- 2015/16 - Uruguayan Second Division- CA Torque

Ins and Outs

Wilmer Cifuentus

Wilmer Cifuentus – only the one player come into the squad. He looks like a very good prospect and has played far more games than I thought he would od given his age. Due to the many injuries I had to throw him in and he did very well in all fairness and is a player I think should have a bright future.

League

Things began pretty poorly this year as we were unable to get any wins against the other teams. I honestly thought that we may struggle in this league and that the Pre Season was a bit of a false dawn. We quickly began to turn things round and started to get some good results on the board.

We were still extremely inconsistent throughout the year until the second half of the season really when we seemed to solidify our whole team and we began to become a really tough team to beat and we went on somewhat of a fantastic run to the end of the year and really secured our play off birth. We still looked a bit loose against the top teams in the league but looked like we could get a result against any other team.

We entered the playoffs and beat a side in the quarter finals that previously had offered me a job interview. We were much better than them over the two legs and secured a superb aggregate win over a very good side. In the semi finals we faced another side who had struggled a little bit this year, it was a tough away leg and I was keen to get a result so that we could be set up well over the next leg. It was close but we were on the wrong end of the 2-1 scoreline.

In the second leg we knew that if we won we would have a very good chance to win and go into the final. I was hopeful but we had a huge amount of injures. We won 3-2 but I assumed we were out on away goals, but on no not in Uruguay. We went into extra time and eventually won on penalties to book a place in the final.

In the final we faced another team that perhaps should not have been here. I was hopeful of getting a win here which would be amazing for me and the club. The first leg was high scoring affair in a very good draw. I believe I am now favourites with them coming to our place I think we will have just about enough to secure a win. We did exactly that with a superb victory to secure an ‘unexpected’ promotion.

League

Next Season

I am being talked about as a possible candidate for some of the biggest jobs in the the second divisions throughout South America so I must be doing something right here.

It is simply daft that I got promoted from the position we were at. I think we will need to add a lot of new players to the squad because we are simply not good enough to survive next year without new faces.

I am happy here and I think I can continue to build upon the good work here with a few new players and stay up next year.

December- 2016 - Uruguayan First Division- CA Torque

I honestly thought I may have been given more time in the league to prove my worth after such a superb season last year, but after loosing most of games and only getting 6 points so far I suppose it is warranted.

I honestly am unsure what to do now as I felt like I had something here but I have had the rug pulled out from underneath me. I really want to find a club which will give me time and will allow me to develop my own players. This sacking hurts though big time. I don't think any Football Manager or Championship Manager sacking (trust me there have been many) has left me so deflated.

End of Season- 2018- Colombian First Division- FC Junior

League Season

I was expected to qualify for the Copa Libertadores. No as ever in South America they do not make things easy to understand. The two teams who win each phase qualify along with the highest finisher in the overall table who has not qualified for the Copa Libertadores already (by winning a phase). The cup winners along with the next three highest placed teams in the overall table qualified for the Copa Sudamerica (South American Europa League). Got that so far?

For me to meet my expectations in all reality I would need to win the second phase and when I took the club over that was for from a forgone conclusion. I knew that I needed a fast start and I hoped to get that in my first game against Santa Fe it was a close game and in the end we did not quiet have enough to hold onto victory but it shown me that we have no issues going forward but maybe look a bit suspect at the back.

In my next game I faced quiet possibly one of the biggest team in Colombia Atletico Nacional, I did not expect too much in this game as I thought they were a much better team, I was wrong as we went on to absolutely destroy them. Patriotas Boyanca were next and I knew I needed a win, we were definitely not good enough here and I was fuming with the loss of two vital points. We followed that disappointment with two very good wins over Cucuta and Itagui FC

This point us right into the mix for the finals of the second phase. We got another barnstorming win over one of the big boys Deportivo Cali. We followed that up with two games which we won and wait for it………….. even kept a clean sheet against Barranquilla and Tolima. We ended the regular season off with the best game for the nuetrals I have ever seen against Pasto .

In the finals we recorded two wins over a very poor Hulia. We beat Deportivo Cali once and lost against them the other time. We lost twice against Santa Fe. In the end we did not qualify for the Copa Libertadores we were very close to coming third. That would have given us a spot in the Liber next year but it was not be, the board are not happy.

League

Colombian Cup

I found myself in the Semi Finals of the cup already and felt it could be a really good chance to get an early trophy in cabinet in Colombia.

Santa Fe, were our opponents in the Semi Finals. To be honest they are a good side but I felt that we were much better than them. In two very close legs we just about came out on top in the first before drawing the second. This was enough to send us to the final against Chico FC.

We were favourites for the two legged affair, but once again we did not play that well in the opening leg and succumb to a close loss. In the second leg we faced a bit of an uphill battle but eventually won the game, unfortunately the game went to penalties and we lost to snatch the chance of a trophy away from this year.

Seasons Stars

Carlos Lizarazo - an excellent player for me this year, created goals for fun since I have been here. He is however one of the players that I will be looking to replace as I look to add more youth and little bit more of a solid defence. He may stay for rotational purposes only.

Marcelo Fernandez - quiet frankly his performance since I have been here has been nothing short of plain daft. He has scored for fun, when I first came I had him penned until being replaced in the offseason, I cannot get rid of him now he will be important for me again next year.

John Edward Hernandez - he played very well in his centre midfield role but I feel that he is a little shaky regarding his defensive duties. Will probably be replaced this off season but none the less can be very proud of his effort thus far.

Next Season

Job is very insecure for some reason. I fairly confident of holding onto my role going into next year I just feel that I will need a very strong start.

I am really enjoying my time here in Colombia, and I will be gutted if I cannot stay. I feel here could be a place where I could fulfil one of my longstanding ambitions. I really want a home grown 1000 goal striker, I have never ever come close and its something I really want to do. With the amount of goals around here and with good level of facilities this could be the place. Plus we play a silly amount of games.

I just hope I can now keep my job.

Pre Season- 2019- Colombian First Division- FC Junior

Pre Season

Only a couple of games in the pre season and the results were very good. Especially the win over German giants. We could have done better in the game drew but I was happy enough with the results.

Ins and Outs

Luis Manjarres - a very good centre half who came in for the future. He will get some game time this year and is very much the future of our back line.

Baldomero Garcia - the hottest prospect in Colombia comes into my club, looks like an excellent prospect and someone who can make an impact straight away. He will add a bit more quality in the middle that I was missing last year.

Adrie Yepes - bit of a punt for me, I am unsure how this lad will turn out and he may well be sent on loan for a year to improve elsewhere

Mustapha Aarab - another great centre midfield player, adds a little more defensive quality into the side, will get plenty of game time this year.

Lots of players left as I tried to get my huge wage budget down, a lot off the players were not good enough for the club nor were they good enough to be a supporting act.

Next Season

My job is back to Stable but I need a fast start to make sure the board don't begin to get an itchy trigger finger.

Mumbai FC

General

Facilities

Things did not go to well for me in South America so I have decided to change my save a little bit. I am now off to India in a totally new save. My aim is to take Mumbai FC to the top of Asian Football and eventually to get India to a World Cup.

I will be looking to bringing through my own players, this will basically mean signing no one over the age of 21and preferably using my youth team only.