Delta's Eurovision: Painting the Continent Blue

Welcome, welcome and thrice welcome!

I don’t think I need much introduction (especially not this year) but for newer FMCUers, here are my major past projects…

Deltablue Rising: From Blyth to Barcelona

Deltablue Rising II: Delta's Darlings (which is probably my personal favourite)

Thunderbird Delta: International Footballing Rescue

Forever Blue: The Final Journey (Except obviously it wasn't)

Got 99 Problems But Norwich Aint One

This year I’m returning to something more traditional, the Europe-based Journeyman career (though I’m also adding Mexico, because of course I would) but I’m doing it a little differently this time. I’m going to cut out the ‘Big 7’ nations, namely England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, and Portugal, which will make things a lot more interesting for a lot of different reasons.

1) It means spending a lot more time in smaller and middling nations that I’ve loaded for years but hardly ever been to. Norway is the main exception with Sweden, Ukraine and Greece being the only others I’ve been multiple times. Denmark, Poland and Croatia are examples of nations I’ve never haven’t properly managed in but want to experience and it would be nice to return to the likes of Austria and Czech Rep as well.

2) The pressure will be off. In the past I’ve often been impatient to work my way up to the big leagues and especially get to/remain at clubs with a good chance of European success but without such big ambitions I can relax and enjoy smaller leagues (and a wider range of clubs) than I’d otherwise be willing to go beyond the early years.

3) Not having the major nations fully loaded provides the possibility of a more competitive European scene, though that would take a long time if ever and I’m not sure if there’s that much difference when the unplayable nations are still ‘view only’. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out.

4) Aside from one or two big teams in various nations, most leagues will be a lot more open and competitive than in the major nations where you’ve not just got dominant teams, but maybe a few ‘best of the rest’ teams, solid mid-table teams and smaller teams who do well to survive and consolidate, with limited ‘footballing social mobility’, and even when one or two major sides (Sparta Prague, Olympiakos, I’m looking in your general direction) do claim the vast majority of titles there’s still plenty of movement going on year on year (and the opportunity for other teams to challenge on occasion and win the cups).

5) Going back to Europe, while it might be a long-term frustration having a bit of a glass-ceiling after a while (especially if I’m easily dominating a particular nation) the low expectations do mean that there’s plenty of potential for over-achieving and having memorable runs or legendary results against bigger teams.

There is an additional challenge in that FM13 is the last version I’m familiar with (having played only a little FM14 and not got FM15 at all) so I’ve got a lot to get used to, including some of the things that made me go back to older versions in the first place so this could be quite complicated for a while.

Oh and I decided to start in the ‘future’ and did quite a bit of holidaying while my previous career was still ongoing, and I’m starting in June 2028.

I was on the lookout for a good starting club, one I might be able to do a lot with. It would be in a bottom division (and probably not in the biggest loaded nations), preferably in good financial shape and potential with a decent-sized stadium. I did quite a bit of searching but one club stood out early on…

Chapter 1: Hungary like the Wolf (Vasas)

Vasas were once a strong team in Hungary, with 6 league titles to their name (including 5 in 9 years from 1957 to 1966), and handful of cup wins, the most recent in 1986. They have however spent just 2 seasons in Division I since 2012 and are about to start their 10th consecutive season in Division II. Somehow a club like that deserves better.

They certainly have a lot of potential. They have a 18,000 capacity stadium, around 2M in the bank and my budget for this coming season is over 1.3M, while we have 8.5kpw spare in a wage budget of almost 27.3kpw, which is a massive amount to work with at this level. The board expectation is ‘Around Top of League’, which is an expectation I’ve never seen before but is one below ‘Promotion’ so presumably at least being close to the top 2 will be alright. It is a little more pressure than I’d hoped but I think it was worth going for anyway.

Oh and this is how Ipswich are doing...

Another time I might have been tempted to step in and rescue them at some point (and indeed my FM11 Ipswich team was build from League 1) but I don't think I'll be thinking too much about it this time. Still it could be worse given Leeds are dropping down to League 2.

I'm going to do things a little differently this time. Writing out the last career was a pain because the game processed really quickly which didn't give the the time to write that I'm used to without the game standing idle. It's also a heck of a lot of text to write and for other people to read so since I now post results screenshots anyway, I'll just do that, tables and do the summary thing I normally do anyway. Hopefully that'll make things simpler for people to engage with and comment on.

Interesting game plan. In the (distant) past I used to do something similar by holidaying far into the future before starting. Feels like a completely blank slate only with newgens to pick and very few if none real life players, it's your own special gameworld. I've never tried not loading up any of the big leagues though. Let's see how much of an effect it makes, if it helps the other leagues at all.

Vasas is also a very interesting club to start with, I've always wanted to play in Hungary too but it never came up. Good luck!

Interesting game plan. In the (distant) past I used to do something similar by holidaying far into the future before starting. Feels like a completely blank slate only with newgens to pick and very few if none real life players, it's your own special gameworld. I've never tried not loading up any of the big leagues though. Let's see how much of an effect it makes, if it helps the other leagues at all.

Vasas is also a very interesting club to start with, I've always wanted to play in Hungary too but it never came up. Good luck!

Well I've been there once before with MTK Budapest in my first FMCU career, which went well despite the League cup (which no longer exists) being a pain. Certainly that region has quite a few leagues and clubs who have a fine history and tradition but have long been left behind by Western Europe, and Vasas are a minor part of that tradition, making them a good starting club.

It's certainly been an interesting experience so far, both in terms of getting used to a much more advanced version of FM and being at a far lower level than I've been for a while and adjusting my standards accordingly. It's gone reasonably well so far though.

Summer 2028

The squad I inherited looked reasonably good and it would be difficult to identify players that would be a clear improvement but there were still clear weak spots even with my lack of knowledge of the standard and I soon managed to find plenty of players to fill the gaps. A couple of pre-arranged transfers came in first, with a goalkeeper being especially useful. I then managed to lure a defender from the 'released' list who was otherwise not that keen to come without needing to give him the earth. The DoF proved to be useful as well since we had a link to Jablonec and managed to bring in a couple of really good loanees, with more available who could prove useful in the future, but who weren't a priority now with loads of signings being made as it was.

With a large budget, I was free to do what I liked which was just as well as more things looked like they needed being done as I went along, but there was still some sort of a strategy with players being signed to fill specific positions, especially in defence where quite a few players wanted to leave and having sold one, I couldn't afford to let any more go and that proved to be the main priority even when the season started, though a midfielder also cropped up late on to take the number of signings up to 11. It will take a while to get the squad sorted out with the signings and some other potential regulars in my mind but that still leaves a bunch I've yet to make a decision on and probably won't have a clear plan for the squad until the end of the season.

I was a little worried about how we'd do with the expectations being pretty high and no real idea as to how we stood compared to the rest of the league. The board want to get at least close to promotion (so we can't afford to be that far off at any point) but aside from all the players being signed, I did wonder if we were good enough to actually do it if things went our way. I have played a few games which have been pretty promising and we're one of a few teams joint top with 7 points after 3 games. We're not that much stronger than a lot of clubs it seems and there are a couple better so it won't be easy to make the top 2 but we're proving ourselves at least capable if we can be consistent. Our new young attacking line up is already working well with one forward (who only turned 16 just before the start of the season) getting 4 goals in as many games.

Signings

Mohawks are all the fashion hair craze in Summer 2028.

Leeds going down to League Two.

Leeds going down to League Two.

Leeds going down to League Two.

If you get a chance, go and manage in Belgium. Competitive league with a mental league system.

Mohawks are all the fashion hair craze in Summer 2028.

Some of the eyes look a bit funny as well I think.

Leeds going down to League Two.

Good to see there's someone doing worse than us

If you get a chance, go and manage in Belgium. Competitive league with a mental league system.

I'm not a fan of complex league systems like that but Belgium are one of the stronger nations loaded to I just might at some point.

Torok looks like hes gonna bag a lot of goals.

Torok looks like hes gonna bag a lot of goals.

Well he started slowly but he's firing now.

Nov 2028

I was a little worried early in the season because of the high expectations. There is also the fact that I expected us to be clearly stronger than a lot of other teams in the league but there really isn't that much of a gap, and that's partly born out by the fact that we're been 'edging' a lot of games, though that doesn't mean we haven't genuinely looked good at times. It's still very tight at the top but we only need to be there or thereabouts and we go into the winter break with a 3 point gap over 3rd (with only the top 2 going up) and a bigger margin over the rest that should help keep us there or thereabouts enough for the board. Interestingly enough I've already got the 'shrewd spender' achievement (something I didn't get at all in FM13, at least not that Steam registered given I'm often in offline mode) which is admittedly where a lot of my board confidence comes from right now, especially after an early cup exit (with fellow Division II side Siofok being a relative short straw at that stage).

We have a young attacking quartet of Provaznik in midfield, Dobos on the wing, and Torok and Vereb up front, all working very well (indeed I'm managed to turn the Czech's loan into a permanant deal, though his compatriot Zeman sadly wasn't interested), as indeed have most of the numerous signings who have featured regularly. I've mainly stuck with the same line-up so far and even though there are others I'm bound to need over the course of the season, that still gives me a decent picture of who I want to let go.

Vereb in particular deserves mention because he only turned 16 just before the start of the season and he started very brightly, though he's not that consistent. He may turn out to be a bit of a club legend if we can improve quick enough to be able to keep him when his own stock rises considerably. He's already been capped at U21 level and could be one of the best players in the country before too long. If he and Torok can hit form at the same time we should be a lot more comfortable.

Good luck with the promotion push

Good luck with the promotion push

Thanks. Finally been ploughing on through the second-half of the season and it's proving to be very hectic and tight indeed right now.

March 2029

The trouble with a 20-team league including a long Christmas break is that the matches need to be squeezed in at this point and it's certainly been hectic so far this year with midweek games almost every week but after the next match we'll mostly be done with those. It's not been easy coping with it but we've hardly been alone. The other front runners going into the break stuttered as well and we were somehow able to keep place with the excellent back to back wins over Puskas Akademia (which was a comeback having gone 2-0 down early on) and Videoton were actually enough to briefly give us a 4-point lead at the top, though it obviously didn't last as our form dipped badly. It didn't help that Provaznik was out injured for 4 weeks after his role in the former win which amounts to a lot of missed games at this point in the season. He's almost ready to come back, and that along with the schedule easing up gives us hope of getting back on form, and given other teams have started to fire again we really need to. If we can it could make for a very exciting race inceed.

It's interesting how close the margins are this season, then again they always were this season. We conceded a last gasp equalizer in the first match back, had an equalizer (admittedly rightly) disallowed in the 6-pointer at Paks, and as you can see 4 of our last 5 matches have been 1-0 defeats, not to mention the times we've wasted goalmouth scrambles and the like. Indeed only 4 of our wins have been by more than a single goal, which makes it very tense but also unpredictable, and as long as we're in a close race at the end (whether we succeed or not) it should make for an interesting first season.

Wow, now that's how to go up!

I was very worried at the last update because our form had dropped off badly while our rivals were starting to go very strongly but we responded precisely the way we needed to. For a while it was still merely enough to keep pace with the top 2 (and a single draw allowed leaders Haladas to extend their gap over us to 6 points) but then Vacs really fell away and we looked to be sailing to promotion, and Haladas were reeled in as well. The Kosarmisleny defeat opened it up again, followed by the epic Balmajuzvaros game which made sure we sealed promotion and remained in front ahead of the last-day title decider at Haladas, and when Zeman gave us the lead I knew we had done it. It was a season of thirds really. The first was solid and consistent but unspectacular as we kept getting the results. After the winter break we all faltered before kicking on late on and we lasted the pace over our rivals.

I was worried going into the career about how things would go as I was jumping a few versions but having learned quite a few things during my last career, my newer approach seems to be working fine here as well. It's always great getting off to a successful start and an early promotion broadens my options already, along with the potential being here to push on quite a bit with Vasas beyond merely staying in Division I. The fact that we finished top as well (something I wasn't really considering until near the end) means that this is the 7th consecutive promotion where I've won the league as well (going back to the middle of 'Thunderbird Delta') after Mattersburg, Hoffenheim (though I'll have to double check that), Chornomorets, Slavia Prague, Verona and Ipswich. I wonder if anyone remembers my last non-champion promotion? Anyway hopefully it will be the first of at least a few.

Star Player

The DoF struck early gold with 2 Czech loanees who proved to be our top performers, and it didn't take long before I decided to try and get them on a permanent deal. Zeman wasn't having any of it but getting Provaznik was still a good boost and if he can perform again next season we should be fine.

Squad Stats

Oh and this happened in England...

They had been 4th the previous two seasons but that was the best they had done up to this point so it's definitely a bit of a surprise, and part of the reason for holidaying some seasons first speed up the process to getting to these different results.. Norwich getting relegated is a bit of a bonus as well.

Oh dear, not a good time to hit a bad form patch. I think you're a little lucky that after all those defeats it's still completely open (but maybe that's your reward for the fine form earlier), and it now looks like you're set for an exciting battle for promotion.

edit: ha, a minute too late! Excellent turnaround, congratulations on promotion and the title!

I'm wondering what people think of the new update style compared to my traditional one. I decided to drop all the main text part because the fixtures screenshot provides the main information anyway and it would be a lot easier for people to follow and engage with, and certainly it helps not having to multi-task and have a potentially large word document open at the same time but on the other hand I do miss getting into the details and the unfolding narrative that I love about playing FM careers (which is why I did it the old way in the first place), especially later in the season though I will probably close races differently and in more detail regardless, and it doesn't seem to be generating the extra interest (at least in terms of comments) that I hoped it would so far, so I don't have a strong view either way at this point.

Oh dear, not a good time to hit a bad form patch. I think you're a little lucky that after all those defeats it's still completely open (but maybe that's your reward for the fine form earlier), and it now looks like you're set for an exciting battle for promotion.

edit: ha, a minute too late! Excellent turnaround, congratulations on promotion and the title!

Well it wasn't so much a reward for fine form as it was that everyone seemed to be struggling with such a congested fixture list at that stage of the season, at least until the end of that update where we were in real danger of being left behind. It still took a while to get back into 2nd so topping the table really wasn't in my thoughts until late on. I really didn't expect it at all!

Honestly I usually never read all of that, it feels a bit much to read a paragraph on every match, so I usually just skipped past most of the text, read about a key match or two, and focused on the results. But I understand why you did it, I did at some point in my past careers too, it's kind of fun to document absolutely everything and make it a big story.

I personally feel writing a thread is more for ourselves than for the people reading, although it's always nice to get comments. If what you enjoy is writing on every match, then by all means write! But I don't think that's what generates more or less interest. The only thing I've noticed that seems to generate more interest in some threads is when people post many updates often. And perhaps people are just more into playing their own games at the moment than reading about others. It kinda comes and goes.

Great title win!!

Honestly I usually never read all of that, it feels a bit much to read a paragraph on every match, so I usually just skipped past most of the text, read about a key match or two, and focused on the results. But I understand why you did it, I did at some point in my past careers too, it's kind of fun to document absolutely everything and make it a big story.

I personally feel writing a thread is more for ourselves than for the people reading, although it's always nice to get comments. If what you enjoy is writing on every match, then by all means write! But I don't think that's what generates more or less interest. The only thing I've noticed that seems to generate more interest in some threads is when people post many updates often. And perhaps people are just more into playing their own games at the moment than reading about others. It kinda comes and goes.

But as noikeee says, it is more about what you want as thread author. I do go back and read some of my old threads from time-to-time, which usually results in me buying the latest version of the game.

And regular updates seem to be what attract comments. I have had a few extended periods of silence in my current thread and seem to have few commenters as a result.

Congrats on promotion and the title btw

Honestly I usually never read all of that, it feels a bit much to read a paragraph on every match, so I usually just skipped past most of the text, read about a key match or two, and focused on the results. But I understand why you did it, I did at some point in my past careers too, it's kind of fun to document absolutely everything and make it a big story.

I personally feel writing a thread is more for ourselves than for the people reading, although it's always nice to get comments. If what you enjoy is writing on every match, then by all means write! But I don't think that's what generates more or less interest. The only thing I've noticed that seems to generate more interest in some threads is when people post many updates often. And perhaps people are just more into playing their own games at the moment than reading about others. It kinda comes and goes.

Same here - once upon a time I did the match-by-match monthly updates, but now I prefer a season preview and review with key moments updated inbetween.

But as noikeee says, it is more about what you want as thread author. I do go back and read some of my old threads from time-to-time, which usually results in me buying the latest version of the game.

And regular updates seem to be what attract comments. I have had a few extended periods of silence in my current thread and seem to have few commenters as a result.

Congrats on promotion and the title btw

I didn't imagine people paid too much attention to the main text part, heck I generally don't on other threads when I've got a bunch to get through myself (especially given how long image-heavy threads take to load with my slow connection). I made the change genuinely because it would be easier to handle (the much quicker processing speed in the last career made it especially frustrating to handle the writing) but I had also noticed that I often only have one regular commenter at a time (regardless of posting frequency) and I was hoping to do better in that area, even if it wasn't something that bothered me that much before. It would be nice to find a good balance between the two and maybe if I can get up a strong run of regular updates it'll help a little.

Great title win!!

Thanks, and I think we could really push on. We managed it despite a lot of signings who pretty much made up a completely new first XI, a lot of them being young (one of my main forwards only turned 16 at the start of the season) which will be more gelled, I already sorted out a few strong 'bosman' reinforcments alongside a new defender signed in the Spring (who will be featured among this year's signings) to potentially make us even stronger so we'd look much better next season even if we didn't go up. One of the reasons why I chose Vasas was the stadium capacity of 20,000, of which we only used 15% on average so there's plenty of potential to earn a lot more money if we progress. I hope this is just the beginning of my success with the club.

Good to see another thread, DB. Interesting idea you've got here (and much more up my street than an English thread)

Congrats on the promotion

Good to see another thread, DB. Interesting idea you've got here (and much more up my street than an English thread)

Congrats on the promotion

After spending so much time in the Premier League, I really needed a change of FM scenery for a while

Well done on going up as champions.

Well done on going up as champions.

Thanks, good to be taking Vasas back to where they arguably belong.

Summer 2029

I say the same things after every promotion, about how the first priority is trying to survive, how we need to pile on the good signings to maximise our chances and and it's going to be great and daunting facing a lot of far more recognizable names (especially as there are only 12 teams in the league), indeed we kick off the season at home to Ferencvaros. So with that out of the way...

I entered the summer feeling more optimistic than normal. I had a few 'bosmans' coming in already including a young Macedonian keeper already good enough to be clear first choice so we were in a stronger position even before starting the main spell of summer transfer activity. I didn't have long since the season would start earlier this year and I was waiting until the end of contract movements on July 1st (just over 3 weeks from the start of the season) to be able to take stock and pin-point particular signings in a way I didn't last season, including the main priority which was a right-back to replace the departed Zeman (a key player last season, though it remains to be seen how close we can get to the Czech's contribution). The board expanded the scouting range from Eastern Europe to Worldwide after promotion (a massive leap I wasn't expecting). Generally the signing pool remains based in Eastern Europe but aside from the African free agents, it's interesting that the exceptions so far have both been players the DoF has brought in from Mexico of all places. Maybe it's something to do with my second nationality?

That didn't stop us making about as many signings as last season (meaning there are very few inherited players left already) but aside from the greater quality (and experience), a lot of this year's signings suit their positions then their counterparts last season, while spending a lot less than last summer. Again we'll probably have to rely on a quick gelling process but again we've taken a massive leap forward and maybe we can go slower from this point on. If we can stay comfortably clear of the bottom 2 then we could well be capable of a strong mid-table finish, and we can look forward from there.

Signings

(Actually signed in the Spring and was a regular in the promotion run-in)

Your incoming transfers look like a mini-United Nations!

Well done on promotion Delta.

Stoke relegated.

Some excellent signings there

I wonder what surprised Dercio Simão when his photo was taken!

I wonder what surprised Dercio Simão when his photo was taken!

I wonder if his high jumping reach skills are taking into account his massive vertical hair.

Your incoming transfers look like a mini-United Nations!

Well they are quite a diverse bunch... The Romanians, the Mexicans, the Mozambique and Sierra Leone defenders, and rather worryingly we now have a Slovene, a Croat, a Serb and a Macedonian all together (and there was a Bosnian I briefly considered signing for what I think would have been the full set). Good thing racial tensions aren't a part of player personalities or we'd be at risk of a mini Balkan war!

Well done on promotion Delta.

Stoke relegated.

Well they'd only just come back up from a previous relegation but that one was their first. On a more positive note, they've reached a few cup finals.

Some excellent signings there

Thanks, but we need them to gel if we're going to be fine this season.

I wonder what surprised Dercio Simão when his photo was taken!

I wonder if his high jumping reach skills are taking into account his massive vertical hair.

I thought it was an out of control attempt to look like Mr T

Anyway, there were a couple more signings in the summer so I'll update tomorrow to show them as well as how we've been doing so far.

Additional signings

I wasn't intending to make more signings, even if they looked good. I felt we had got in more than enough players and improved enough for now and wanted to leave any more for the next step. However there were a coulple I didn't resist. The first was a Romanian winger (our 3rd from that noble country) who looked too good to miss, while the other was a loanee from parent club Jablonec, following in the footsteps of Zeman and Provaznik last season.

Sept 2029

Fortunes have been mixed. We started off with just 2 points from our first 4 games (both away as it happens) and it looked like we'd have a much tougher task than I imagined we would. Then a win over a non-league team (with an absurdly long full name) in the cup helped us kick into something resembling life and we soon built up a comfortably lead. However after somehow taking the lead at Ujpest things went downhill and we've found ourselves up against it against them, Debrecen and at fellow promoted side Haladas who have been going really well so far, and that's put us back in trouble a lot sooner than I thought we would be after the back-to-back wins. I did wonder if we could be comfortably clear in mid-table this season but unless things improve considerably, we look like being in a proper relegation scrap for a while, eventful for you dear readers to follow but incredlbly tense for me. At the moment we're still hanging on in there and I'd be happy enough if we can stay there.

Should be a scrap, but looks like the bottom half of the league is pretty tight. Could get a couple others sucked into the battle alongside you. Ferencvaros a little further up but look like they either win or lose, no in between.

Should be a scrap, but looks like the bottom half of the league is pretty tight. Could get a couple others sucked into the battle alongside you. Ferencvaros a little further up but look like they either win or lose, no in between.

It is very much a scrap, especally to avoid the last relegation spot.

Dec 2029

The league results still don't make great reading. It was frustrating against MTK when we lost to a stoppage time penalty (you can imagine how furious I was at that) and while we got a vital win against Honved, we then had 2 home games in a row against the teams who were firmly rooted in the relegation zone and only got a single point from that. Nyiregyhaza was especially disappointing as we looked good after taking the lead. A draw would still have suited us but then Alanis (isn't it ironic?) got sent off conceding a penalty which they converted and suddenly the situation looked a lot worse. The Bekescaba draw would have been alright if it wasn't for the fact that we then dropped into the bottom 2. It didn't look great early on at REAC either as we wasted some good early chances then went behind but I was delighted to they the vital win, especially as we didn't expect much agains Ujpest in the final game before the break, though we perhaps might have gotten a draw if Kostl (who is a bit of a liablity having been responsible for that MTK penalty) got sent off early on. Much like in the last update we're just about doing enough to keep our heads above water but the bottom teams have managed to pick up a win or 2 recently so I still think we need to improve to survive.

The news is rather more positive in the cup. I don't often focus on them much unless I feel 'time to try and challenge for a major trophy' or in this case, if we're doing well. Given our league form I'm delighted that we're a least getting a few more wins from elsewhere and it helps keep morale up as well. We haven't actually faced a top division team yet (though there are only 12 of us and half are already knocked out so the odds of that aren't that bad) but I'm still happy to avenge our early exit against Siofok from last season. We've got one foot in the Semi-finals already and while we'd have to actually win the thing to qualify for Europe (not that it's really on my mind otherwise obviously given the attention given to the relegation fight in the league) but a final would still be fantastic, and even if we don't quite make it I'll still be happy with our run.

Difficult first season in the top tier so far, but you're still in a position that gives you every chance to survive. The cup run looks much much better, but if I were you I'd still give priority to the league, you need every point you can get. Good luck for the rest of the season.

OTOH, the fans would always celebrate a cup win.

Basically you're in the same position Wigan were in a couple years ago.

And where's Wigan now?

Difficult first season in the top tier so far, but you're still in a position that gives you every chance to survive. The cup run looks much much better, but if I were you I'd still give priority to the league, you need every point you can get. Good luck for the rest of the season.

I'm not someone who really likes to focus on one competition at the expense of the others though as I don't believe it's a simple as sacrificing one game of competition and gaining an clear extra boost in another. In fact I remember you giving me similar advice way back in the 'Delta's Darlings career' with Milan and without even changing the team that much (which I would do in such a situation now, and we've got the depth for it) we came very close in the league and won both the Italian Cup and the CL. Anyway this season isn't nearly so bad as we've 'only' got 14 league games left and up to 4 cup games in a single competition if we make the final so it's nowhere near on the same level.

OTOH, the fans would always celebrate a cup win.

Basically you're in the same position Wigan were in a couple years ago.

And where's Wigan now?

Funnily enough I did think of them while playing earlier. I obviously hope to survive though

Incidentally I've only just opened my Christmas present from my grandfather, and it's a Norwich shirt! He's sort of a Norwich fan in his later life (after we went to an Ipswich game together I might add) so he knew full well what he was doing!

I'm not someone who really likes to focus on one competition at the expense of the others though as I don't believe it's a simple as sacrificing one game of competition and gaining an clear extra boost in another. In fact I remember you giving me similar advice way back in the 'Delta's Darlings career' with Milan and without even changing the team that much (which I would do in such a situation now, and we've got the depth for it) we came very close in the league and won both the Italian Cup and the CL. Anyway this season isn't nearly so bad as we've 'only' got 14 league games left and up to 4 cup games in a single competition if we make the final so it's nowhere near on the same level.

I remember that! I told you to rotate your Milan team, and I also had my Roma team where I rotated every single player depending on the competition and you told me it was a bad idea. We both disregarded each others advice and won everything anyway.

The win at Honved was precisely what we needed, even if it has been the only once since Christmas. A load of draws in other matches have proven enough to lift ourselves a little higher, with 2 more points and one more team between us and the bottom 2 since the winter break. It helps that Honved and Nyiregyhaza have dropped form a bit. There is a definite pattern emerging in that we keep going behind and getting equalizers, even after I changed things around a bit which meant that we were no longer waiting until going behind to really chase games, but at least that hasn't hurt us. There are 7 games left, and the next few look rather more managable than the final ones so we might need to keep things as they are at the very least in the next few weeks to avoid being in deep trouble. We also have the cup semi-finals against Ferencvaros with the away leg coming right up.