Kidshiva1984 Posted November 19, 2014 Share Posted November 19, 2014 I thought it was about time I started one of these, as having followed the careers of you all on here for a fair while. I have my own twist on how I do things, and I have done so for the last couple of games. It allows me to keep every game fresh, to travel the world and play in as many leagues as possible, whilst managing what is a slowing laptop! Hope you all enjoy this as much as I do. So, how exactly do I find myself a club My aims for any team, is to give the team 10 years to become the biggest club in the country. It is as simple as that. After 10 years, I retire from the game and start a new game with a new team in a new country. Pretty certain I will be doing this until I have got through all leagues. In FM14, this led me to four 10 year rotations with NK Zagreb (Croatia), Ceske Bundejovice (Czech Republic), Skive IF (Denmark) and Ebsfleet (England). My highlight of any FM game was taking Ceske to champions league glory in the last game of the tens years. When looking for a club to take over, I tend to follow these two rules: 1. The club must currently reside in the lowest playable league. 2. The club has the best training structure to allow the development of players Everything else is open to the gods. In terms of International management, I will also move into international management if and when the situation happens. Depending on when I take over will depend on the cycle, but I will aim to have a maximum of 4 years with an international team, taking in the whole international cycle. In previous saves I have had the opportunity to manage Russia and Romania, but this happened so late into the game that I managed only a two year cycle. I will not enter a cycle of international management unless I can get to the end competition before the 10 years are over. Makes sense? I hope so! So, this has now led me to Finland, as they are the next European nation alphabetically. But before we get there, I have some more things to talk about... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 The House Rules To get to this, I have set myself some rules. I have added and developed these rules with each game. These are rules that I would do my best to stick to if I had the opportunity to manage in real life, and again keeps the game fresh and exciting. These rules are loosely based on two cracking books I have read in the last two years. Why England Lose by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski and The Numbers Game by Chris Anderson. These have also been adapted and used on a FM blog, Put Niels in Goal, and used to good effect with Rangers. 1. Don’t needlessly splash out on new players or sell old ones when you take over a club 2. Sell your players at the right time: when they’re around 30 years old, goalkeepers aside 3. Buy young – no older than 21 years old 4. Centre-forwards cost more than they should 5. Sell any player if a club offers more than they are worth and try to replace them before they are sold 6. Don’t buy players if you don’t need to: develop a youth network and try to develop your own players 7. The best way to improve a team is by identifying and replacing the weakest links, rather than by splashing out on making the best links even better The last two are tactical based: 8. A clean sheet is worth just over two goals scored in terms of points across the course of a season 9. Possession football will not guarantee more wins, but will guarantee less defeats. A lot of these have been put in place for this version – I have always tried to buy young, sell before a player gets old, and I have always had a soft spot for possession football. The rest have been added for this version. As I only play in classic mode (a young family and a full time job dont let me get too involved) I have been able to add development to my players as the new training aspect has been added into FM15 – if anything this has been the best bit. There also has to be restraints when starting this off - some of these depends on what expectations are in front of me, finances etc - I expect to be pushing all this within a two year period. Anyway, enough about this stuff... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 Name: Tampereen Ilves Short Name: FC Ilves Nickname: Ipa Founded: 1931 Ground: Tammela Stadion, Tampere Capacity: 5040 How pretty... Club Information FC Ilves is a Finnish football club, based in Tampere. The first team of the club currently plays in the Ykkönen, the second highest level of football in Finland. Ilves won the Finnish league championship in 1983 and the Finnish Cup in 1979 and 1990. In the late-1990s, they suffered financial trouble and did not have a men's team from 1999 to 2000. They have since recovered and were promoted to Ykkönen for the 2013 season. Training Facilities: Average Youth Facilities: Average Junior Coaching: Average Youth Recruitment: Average As much as average sounds pretty mundane, in Finland this is quite advanced. I am hoping to develop on these facilities during my time at the club, with the aim of bringing through some home grown talent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 In a new twist to my normal games, I have added a new dimension - use a national football hero to try and develop their managerial career - I also hope this may lead to leading the national team of the country I am in, which has not happened, and I usually get laughed at. For Finland, there can be only one... A little bit of background... Jari Litmanen is a former Finnish footballer. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national football team between 1996–2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010. He is widely considered to be Finland's greatest football player of all time. He was chosen as the best Finnish player of the last 50 years by the Football Association of Finland in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. Litmanen also finished 42nd in the 100 Greatest Finns voting in 2004. The Association of Football Statisticians' (The AFS) compendium of 'Greatest Ever Footballers' listed Litmanen as the 53rd best footballer ever. In Finland, he is often called 'Litti' (after Pierre Littbarski), which dates from his early years, and is also known as 'Kuningas' ('The King'). During his club career, he represented Reipas, HJK, MyPa and Lahti in Finland and Ajax, Barcelona, Liverpool, Hansa Rostock and Malmö abroad. Once considered one of the best attacking midfielders in the world, he became the first Finnish footballing superstar while playing for Ajax in the mid-1990s, winning the Champions League in 1995, the peak year of his career. His later career was marred by injuries, and he was unable to repeat the success of his Ajax years either at Barcelona or Liverpool, often finding himself on the bench, despite some impressive performances for the latter. Writing about Litmanen in 2009, Paul Simpson, former FourFourTwo editor, went as far as to assert that "his career has not been worthy of his talent". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 19, 2014 Author Share Posted November 19, 2014 *Saved for career statistics* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 22, 2014 Author Share Posted November 22, 2014 The SquadOverall, my concerns would be that there is not very much behind the first team if any spate of injuries are to occur. If we can keep the first team fit then we have a chance of meeting the targets set. Standout Players Heikki Aho: My captain and automatic first choice. Apart from a lack of pace, he has everything I need in my defensive lynchpin. I will be relying on him to lead the defensive line. Antti Ojanpera: The wing back position is a vital cog in the formation working, and Antti is the best of what I have. His crossing is a little low, but has good physical stats which will mean he is going to get into the right positions to influence games. Tomi Petrescu: A Player I actually knew! I remember a long time ago this player was one of the upcoming talents on the game when coming through the ranks at Leicester City. Judging on his playing history he has ambled through his career, but nonetheless he is on paper a cracking player for this level. Youth Players to Watch Lauri Ala-Myllymaki: With the advanced playmaker position being one of the weaker spots in the squad, It seems like a good idea to go young and try bring a player through. He is the best I have and so will be my main project for the year. Vahid Hambo: An interesting prospect. Came through the youth ranks at Sampdoria, before finding his way back to Finland. His greatest asset is his model professional personality, which shall mean his development will be accelerated. Could well lead the line for a long time to come. Jaakko Rantanen: A little further on in his development at the age of 21, Jaakko is again going to benefit from a poor set of options in the Half back role - will be interesting to see his development at the end of the year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 22, 2014 Author Share Posted November 22, 2014 Season ExpectationsFirst Division: Challenge for the Title Finnish Cup: Be Competitive With the option of challenging for the title, or guaranteeing the title, I felt that it was better to go on the light side, especially when I want to try to stick with the squad I have got. The cup is not an interest of mine as it stands, so I will likely throw in the youngsters. Finances Balance: £27839 Projected Balance: £477000 Wage Spend vs Budget: £459 under budget I am happy with how the finances look - a healthy projected profit with room to move in the budget when contract renewals are considered. Season Aims Keep the squad together: There will be some movement, as I know already looking at the squad that we are squandering money on a number of forwards I know will not be used. I also want to take advantage of any young players that come available. Tactical Development: I have in mind how I want to play, but I will be tweaking as we go along. My aim is twofold; to have more possession than the opposition in every game, and to have the best defensive record in the league. Stick as close to my rules as possible: It would be naive to assume I can stick to them all straight away, but It will be interesting to review at the end of the year how well I have done against these. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlickJ Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Those are 2 very good books and good to see those principles being applied to FM. However, I support HIFK in the Ykkönen (well, Veikkausliiga as of next season) so can only hope you finish second Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 22, 2014 Author Share Posted November 22, 2014 Game One: FC Haka 2-5 Ilves FC Haka are our biggest local rivals, with a much more successful history. These games make or break the relationship with the fans, and so it was disappointing that we lost our first encounter 1-0 on the first game of the season. Since that game, we had only lost one of our next 8 games, with 6 of them victories. It was important to get the fans on my side. We raced into a two goal lead with Inside forwards Jonne Hjelm and Tomi Petrescu joining forces, Hjelm assisting both Petrescu finishes. Haka got themselves back into the game, the first coming from a fluke cross that found the back of the net, the second from a close range finish at the near post. The inside forwards teamed up again to put us 3-2 up, Petrescu finishing his hat trick. Two further goals from right back Hynynen with a penalty, and a long range effort from young left back Henri Malundama made sure of the result. With the fans on my side, I hoped to push on from this and sustain our challenge for promotion. Game Two: JJK 0-5 Ilves We were at the busines end of the season, and after three games without a win, we were looking like dropping out of the race to get promoted. JJK were top of the league and it was vital we kept on their coat tails. What followed was our best performance of the season. The first half showed that we were completely dominant, but we went in only 1-0 up after a header by Heikki Aho from a corner. I hoped that we wouldnt let ourselves down and regret not taking the chances on offer, but the second half proved we could outplay any team on their day. Two goals from Tomi Petrescu and Kastriot Kastrati sealed an emphatic victory. The first of Petrescus goals (second overall) was perhaps the best goal we scored all year. I hoped this would be the boost we needed going into the last five games of the year. Game Three: KTP 4-3 Ilves With victory against FC Jazz following our win against JJK, we went to 2nd placed KTP with our destiny intact. We needed to continue the winning form going. This game ended up, effectively, killing off our season. Sometime the hands of fate tend to go against you. Before the game even began, we lost our captain Aho and left back Ojanpera, which meant we had to put in 19 year old Tatu Mieuttenen into the centre, and recently available left back Olli Vakkala, who had been out for the whole season with injury. This backfired almost immediately as we were 2-0 down within 15 minutes. Both goals showed a weakness on the left side of the defence where both these players were. We pulled a goal back through Hynynen, but finished the half 3-1 down. The second half showed a dramatic improvement in performance, leading to a two goal return and 3-3. KTP took the game to us, and I could feel us dropping deeper to protect the lead. This proved suicidal, as KTP scored the winning goal in the 94th minute. Absolutely gutting to let in the goal after a brave comeback, and we never truely recovered. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 FC Ilves - Season One Review Schedule 1 - 2 - 3 Finnish First Division: 4th Place - Failed to meet objective of challenge for the title With two thirds of the season complete, we sat 1st and in a strong place to win the title. Sadly, the last nine games saw only two victories, and we dropped quickly down the league table to a disappointing 4th position. Finnish Cup - 4th Round - Failed to meet objective of being competitive We managed to play one game in the cup, and lost to a lower league team. This was the first competitive game of the season, and it showed in our performance. A little on the embarrassing side, but as this was not a priority, I can let it go. Finances Balance: £302,384 (-175k on projected balance) Projected EOS Balance: £672,000 Wage Spend vs Budget: £113pw under budget Even though finances are in a healthy position, we managed to fall well below the projected balance for the season. This is due to poor performances in both the league and cup. We dropped 60k in additional revenue by coming 4th compared to the objective of at least top two, whereas a competitive cup run could again have added more to this. It is still a good sign to see a significant season profit, and a further boost to finances expected by the end of the season. All this, however, is irrelevant if I do not get offered a new contract. With my one year deal up for renewal, the decision lay in the hands of the chairman as to whether we can build on this first year... Luckily, the chairman saw something in me to keep me on for a while longer. A two year contract extension is nothing more than a token gesture, as another failure to meet expectations will surely mean the end of this challenge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 Those are 2 very good books and good to see those principles being applied to FM. However, I support HIFK in the Ykkönen (well, Veikkausliiga as of next season) so can only hope you finish second Yeah, I really enjoyed reading them too, and it gave me so many ideas its unreal. I feel it just adds an extra spark to my games, rather than just playing aimlessly. Managed to just about scrape through with a better record against HIFK in the league, with two draws and a win. As you can see, you didn't have the best season, but were a long way from being relegated! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidshiva1984 Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 *As part of each seasons review, I will take the time to talk through incoming and outgoing transfers, future transfers including contract expirations, player development and any staff changes.* Season One Transfer Review In keeping with my in house rules, I wanted to try to keep the nucleus of the squad that I arrived with - I will talk about why this is at a later date. As stated previously, I would take the opportunity to get rid of any dead wood. This would be a player who was too old to develop, or was never going to get to the first team however much development they would get at the club. With incoming transfers, It would be limited to players no older than 21. Incoming Transfers Ville Puustinen - Signed 1st January 2014 - £100 Compensation Fee One of three signings to join the club at the start of the season in the same way, Ville represents the type of player no longer seen in modern football - the defender/striker. Anyone with a little bit of age on them (being polite) will remember players like Chris Sutton, Dion Dublin and Paul Warhurst, who could be seen dropping back into the defence late on in a game, or in Pauls case, thrown forward to make a difference as a target man presence. In the case of Ville, he will never have the skills to be a false nine striker that I need, but has the basics of a solid central defender. Ville went on to start 15 games this season, as the chosen defensive partner of captain Heikko Aho. Kastriot Kastrati - Signed 1st January 2014 - £100 Compensation Fee With Vahid Hambo looking like a sure fire starter in the striker position, it was not on my radar to sign another striker. However, when Kastriot came to my attention, it was impossible not to sign him. After showing some promise in pre season, he was handed a first team slot and never looked back. Finished the season as top scorer with 14 goals in all competitions. One of the first names on the team sheet. Tuuri Nummi - Signed 1st January 2014 - £100 Compensation Fee The last of my permanent signings, Tuuri was brought in as a development player for the inside forward role. Equally adept at playing the false nine role, Tuuri played 10 games during the season, showing enough ability to convince me to not blow the bank on renewing Jonne Hjelms contract. Tuuri will be the first team inside forward next season and will need to take the step up required to replace Hjelms shoes. Aleksi Laiho and Mikko Viitikko - Signed August 2014 - Loan until end of season With the business end of the season coming up, both Aleksi and Mikko came in to add additional depth in the squad. On previous FMs, I find bringing in young quality players on loan can help to coerce a longer stay at the club if they play during a successful period. Both players showed enough potential to be considered again for the future, especially in Alekis case as his contract expires with parent club FC Inter at the end of the season. It shall be one of my transfer priorities to bring him back in permanently. Outgoing transfers Mikko Pessi, Henri Salminen and Roope Kostilainen were all on employed on a non contract basis, and were considered to be no where near the first team. Topias Jarvela was a player I considered keeping, but with the signing of Kastrati, and Hambo in support, I decided not to concentrate on getting any more out of him. He moved to top division Jaro, who then let him go for a free to MYPA later on in the season. Best Eleven - Overall Eleven Player Awards Player of the Year: Tomi Petrescu Lived up to expectations as the best player on paper in the club, Tomi had arguably the best season of his career, contributing 13 goals and 7 assists in 22 games for the club, at an average rating of 7.33. I had to bat off a number of loan approaches during the season from clubs across the world (New York Red Bulls to name but one) but he never complained at any rejected offers and, if anything, improved from it. Still has two years left on his contract, and we will need promotion before we can consider offering a new one. Sportsman of the Year: Kaarlo Rantanen As a kid growing up, I won this award when I played for my village team. This award, in hindsight, is for the player who turns up every week, gives his all, but is not necessarily recognised for his contributions. In this case, Kaarlo definitely meets this criteria. Missed only one game all season, and with an average rating of 7.04, showed a consistency that is perhaps needed in the deep lying playmaker role. His main asset is his passing completion, with 86% of passes completed, a real measure of consistency. Young Player of the Year: Kastriot Kastrati This was a close battle throughout the season between Kastriot and Lauri Ala-Myllymaki, who made 25 appearances in the first team as a 16 year old at an average rating of 7.14. However, it was the goals of Kastriot that won this award. Top goalscorer with 14 goals as a false nine shows his eye for a goal alongside his general team play. Now at the age of 21, Kastriot has pushed himself ahead of Vahid Hambo and is the first team striker to beat. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maw74 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I didn't realise this was an update on FMC mode, I will follow if you are still going to be updating again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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