Gundo's FM09 European Adventure Challenge™

[Bantamtim]

I have decided to take up this challenge in Wales, with Llangefni Town (picked for the unpronounceable name). The squad looks fairly rubbish at the moment, as do the backroom staff. I do however have a wage budget of £3.8k, which might well allow me to assemble a squad on full time contracts.

Personal Info Screen

Now to get started. Wish me luck.

[Vornik]

GL Bantamtim
Nice Club...

[PRDH]

Game finished holidaying. Choice between Italian-influenced Chiasso, and French-influenced Delemont. I can't decide.

EDIT: Had another go, and am now manager of Kriens. German speaking area, picked because it had a big population so might have a higher likelihood of getting good youngsters. Also the chairman is looking to step aside, so hopefully I'll get some investment. Well I had to come up with some reasons.

New profile picture.

EDIT 2: Nope - I'm afraid I'm not feeling it.

[DodgeeD]

Did I mention in my report that Yasar Dede was the one to watch?

Nice touch from SI here - this was my 4th Super Cup appearance in a row and the previous 3 games were played at various locations around Turkey but this one took place in Azerbijan! In real life the Super Cup final has been held in Germany before so it's conceivable that the Turkish FA could arrange a fixture like that. Wonder if we'll go even further afield in the future

[padmore_001]

Dollingstown - Season 6 - 2014/15

Northern Irish First Division
Media Prediction: 8th
Actual Position: 2nd

Table
Graph
Transfers
Squad
Finances
Season Overview

So after 6 seasons Dollingstown achieved promotion to the First Division. We spent most of the season just outsode the promotion places but with a few games to go we managed to move into second position and hold on for promotion. Key players included Watson, a right winger who's assists proved vital. Also McDowell who's goals proved just as vital.

Obvious aim for next season is survival, however I have already played 10 games and after a good start where we occupied 2nd for a while we have slipped to 8th. Hopefully we can finish somewhere in the top half.

[daemonic]

Full report to come tomorrow but I'm getting a NEW STADIUM

[Funbags]

Thats pretty cheap for a stadium that big what country you in :O

[d-machine]

GS Niki Volou Greek Superleague 2012/13

League | Form

Improving on last seasons position was a major highlight this season. It seems each year i have to use a different tactic. I've gone frm a 4-2-1-2-1 in my first season, to a 4-3-1-2, to a 4-2-3-1, to a 4-4-1-1 this season . Our lowlight of the season was losing 6-1 to League and Cup winners Panathinaikos in my first league game.

Trasnfers

We focused on bringing in European talent this season, seeing that we couldn't afford any major overseas talent

Finances

Our 975k a year sponsorship has gone down to a 650k so our finances are still pretty crap, but our training facilities have been annouced to receive improvement this season

Greek Cup

Not much to say, we got knocked out in 5h round

Euro Cup

Our first european campaign was fun, but short, losing to CSKA Moscow in the 4th Qualifying Round

Star Player
Garcia - I picked up this Argentine last season. He finished the season as top goalscorer, making the Attacking mid spot his own. He now wants to leave in order to further his career.

Next Season
Improve again. Hopefully push for a European place. I wish i could get a tycoon soon, i wont be able to overtake Panathinaikos until i have a fair bit of cash.

Season      League                   	Position       Achievements
___________________________________________________________________
2009/10     National B Division  	12th                  
2010/11	    National B Division		3rd	       Promotion
2011/12	    Greek Superleague		12th	       Qualified for Euro Cup
2012/13     Greek Superleague		9th

[Gundo]

I hate Professional teams!

Story so far this season... One professional team in our division and you guessed it they're running away with the league.

[daemonic]

Thats pretty cheap for a stadium that big what country you in :O

Romania
The money side of things seems very low in Romania. 65k for winning the League, ticket prices of £1 and season tickets for £16.

[d-machine]

Grrrr,,,, Our crappy finances have meant we have had only 30k to spend this season, and our inability to sign players has left me extremely nervous about surviving this season. 5 games in, i'm on 2 points with 2 draws and 3 loses, but in my defence 4 of our games where against teams from the top 6 last season, and our next 2 matches are against the other 2 top 6 teams that we haven't played, Panathinaikos and Olympiakos.

[Vornik]

Caslav Cezch Second Division - End of Season 09
Table|Finances| Tranfsers
So... i finishwd the league in very nice place (6), I hope next year we will do better.
In the cup i got in to the Quatr final, and Brno knocked me out.

Star Player - David Brunclik, hold my right wing, very good player. such clubs like CSKA Sofia put keep eye on him, one of my best players.

Future - Michal Demittrich my young striker, look pretty good, he is my sub ST, but when he plays he do an amazing things!

Season      League                       Position   Cech Cup       Achievements
___________________________________________________________________
       0809        Czech Second Division               6th     Quater Final                         none 

[ToMexico!!]

09/10 - SR Delemont - Swiss Challenge League

Media Prediction: 16th
Finished : 9th - League Table

Transfers | Squad+Stats | Finances

A mixed bag of a season we struggled to start off with, finding it hard to settle into a particular tactic. I soon found a home/away adaptable 442 tactic that we played well with. We then started winning games and climbing to the eventual mid tabled finish. Even though we had an average attendance of over 2300 we fell into the red by 120k, but my 9th placed finished amazingly gave me a windfall of 400k in prize money.

Top Scorer: Fischer, 12
Most Assists: Fischer, 9
Most MOM: Satilmis, 4
Ave Rating: Satilmis, 7.10

Season |League                       |Finished  |Cup          |Achievements
09/10  |Challenge League             |9th       |2nd Round    |-

[DodgeeD]

Full report to come tomorrow but I'm getting a NEW STADIUM

Hey! Your new stadium will hold 4,000 more people than mine and cost 9 million less

What happened to my 40,000 seater Dodgson Stadium?

[Gundo]

I hate Professional teams!

Story so far this season... One professional team in our division and you guessed it they're running away with the league.

The club in question is Fyllingen and I've just checked the rich list for Norwegian clubs and they're the second richest club in Norway!

[daemonic]

Hey! Your new stadium will hold 4,000 more people than mine and cost 9 million less

What happened to my 40,000 seater Dodgson Stadium?

But even if i fill it to capacity, with a ticket price of £1 I'll only make 16k every second week...my wage bill is 35k p/w and I just had to shell out 350k in bonus payments for a league position that only brought in 65k in prize money.
Luckily even a single season in the CL can set you up for a few years in Romania.

EDIT: Just noticed that my CL TV money for the season bought me a stadium and still left 600k in change

[Blanco]

Blanco - GFS Panaitolikos - Greek National B Division - Season 09/10

Signings:

I went mostly for the future - my youth facilities are godawful and my transfer budget was too small to buy any real quality. Ivan Nikolic was the pick of them, the Montenegro U21 international is now worth £120,000. Other higlights were Emil Barat, who Sparta Prague have already offered to buy back for £100,000, which I rejected (just). Net spending was at £62,000. Another one for the future, who hasn't actually played yet due to the EU player regulations in the Greek First Division, is South African MRLC Petrus Mthuembu, who looks quality... WIll post screenies if he starts playing well.

League:

We started off relatively slowly - the squad hadn't yet gelled, and the 4-2-4 formation was a bit unusual to the Greeks. Ageing Petros Zoroudis was one of the shining lights, gaining second place in the top goalscorer award. However, by the last game of the season, we were guaranteed promotion, and had a showdown for second place with Veroia, which we had to win to get second. We took the lead in early in the second half thanks to Pechilvanis' stunner from the edge of the area, after an untterly dull first period, and the game was effectively killed off in the last ten minutes when one of Veroia's Polish contingent was sent off for a professional foul, and the other one received his second yellow card for protesting the red card. (I laughed. A lot!) So, we were promoted in second place, despite being predicted by the media to get relegated in sixteenth! The icing on the cake was receiving the Greek club of the year award (but I have no idea of the criteria)

Cup:

Short and sweet here. Smashed non-league Ag. Dimitrios 4-0 at home, before losing on penalties to SuperLeague team Ergotelis, following a spirited 1-1 draw in front of a record 5002 crowd. It was strange - despite being just promoted, we had the highest average attendance, comfortably bigger than Iraklis, who had been relegated the season before and the only team who I had heard of in our division.

Overall:

A great season, promotion should do wonders for our finances (we have lost £500,000 this season as of 30th May). Should be able to attract a better quality of players, and revamp the squad. I need to bring a couple of strikers in - Zoroudis was the only one who got more than five goals from the forwards, which isn't great. Otherwise, a general upgrade of the team is the aim in whichever areas I can. Aims for next year include survival, survival, and hopefully a half decent cup run.

[Bantamtim]

Wow, that season went remarkably quickly for me. I clearly have nothing better to do.

I basically had to build a side from scratch for the start of the season, which was tricky, though I managed to find some useful players and one or two absolute bargains. The Wales trial day was fantastic in that regard, it got me players who I wouldn't normally have been able to scout due to my scouts not being allowed in England. In terms of the actual season, it went remarkably well. Carmarthen ran away with the league due to signing Lee Hughes on a free from Blackpool (no idea how), but I was involved in the battle for European places right up until the last day. Going into the final fixture, I had to beat TNS and hope that one of Aberystwyth or Bangor slipped up. I won 2-1, Aberystwyth also won but Bangor lost to Rhyl, so third spot and a EURO Cup place was mine.

League Table

Squad Stats

Possibly my best signing was a 16 year old winger who I found on a free. He's already one of the best wingers in the league, and he's going to get so much better - he's likely to be the main creative force in my side for years. He's also managed to get U19 recognition for Wales, and was called into the U21 squad at one point.

Mike Marshall, future Llangefni legend

Europe here I come!

[Ohanzee]

FC Baia Mare 2010/2011

3rd in Romanian First League | Table (graph) | Transfers | Finances

A season beyond all expectations really. Mid season I was sitting in 10th place, and happy to be that high. I wasnt very active in the transfer market in the summer, and instead sent my scouts to all the new loactions that had opened up. So the trasfer window in January I got really busy and brought in 6 new players that my scouts had found. Sadly my chairman decided to sell one of my brightest young attackers, Barbuloviciu. I didnt even get to see the bid before he was gone But looking at my finances I guess he had no choice.

After the mid seasons break we had a scrappy win and a draw before it all just clicked in a 6-0 win at home, and we followed up with 6 straight wins after it. This put us in a position to compete for European competitions. Last round of the season I was 5th and expecting to finish 4th as one of the teams ahead of me had an away game against the 2nd placed Unirea Urziceni. They lost, we crushed the 17th placed team at home, but even better Steaua only managed a draw at home and sent me into 3rd place and Champions Cup qualifiers as Romania have 3 places now!

I should note that I only had 7 away games in the last 16 rounds, so that's probably part of the great form in the end of the season aswell.

In the cup we lost to FC Timisoara in the 7th round (they where 5th in league in the end). They went to the semi finals before crashing out. CFR Cluj and FC Brasov still have to play the final.

Finances
Still crappy, much thanks to the ticket prices. Average attendance have gone up to 7253, but that only made us £113k in gate receipts in a whole season TV revenue and my chairman selling my young star made sure we're no worse off than last year though, in fact we've made £96k profit so far, but I expect it to be as red as the balance by the time we play our next game. Our sponsorship deal ends this season though, so I hope that one goes up a bit.

Star of the season
Noone really stood out. I had 20 different goal scorers and not one of them reaching double figures. The guy my chairman sold probably would have, but oh well. So I pick Iancu Rusu for my season best award. He's the kind of player that just sits in midfield and distributes the ball around. Great passing percentage and deffinatly the hottest prospect in the team. Sadly he's wanted by a load of clubs, though none of them really big. I guess he'll be gone once he's played some european games if not earlier.

Some players
Minev and Papp - The only two signings I made during the summer. Minev covered a position I was crap in the first season and looks a good prospect. Papp I had been chasing for a long time and I decided to use some of the wage budget for transfers just to capture him. Happy I did cause he's looking better all the time.
Barbosa - He doesnt look fantastic, but he assisted 11 goals in the second half of the season and was a major part of the success. Looks to have a bright future.
Hamori - Another midfielder like Rusu, very promising.
Puljic - Can play 3 central positions, but I hope he will be a commanding centreback for me.
Szentlaszoi - He's not a new one, but deserves mention. He came back from injury late in the season and was exceptional in assisting the goals.
Achim - Another one that was at the club from the start. He's a bit like the guy my chairman sold off, but doesnt have the same potential according to my assistant.

Future
It looks bright. We can scout all of Europe and even some of South America, which means lots and lots of young procpects. I probably wouldnt have finished higher than 10th if the scouts hadnt found me all those young talents in the mid season transfer window. Finances should be helped by European competition. Also the Romanian League doesnt seem to have one single team running away each season like the Croatian did (even if Cluj where strong this year). So far it's had 3 different winners in 3 years.

I also seem to finally have found an away tactic that dont let the oposition run over me. I got a 4-1-2 record after changing to it, and I actually felt I could have won those I lost aswell. So it's all looking really bright. I just hope we can keep the momentum and that my chairman dont sell all my rising stars to soon.

[daemonic]

Great season Ohanzee. European footie already

[Ohanzee]

Yea I'm really pleased. Although I'm not sure what to expect, it says I'm gonna be in the "Best placed second qualifying phase". Looking at that stage of last year there's some semi-big names like Sporting, Besiktas and Celtic. But the teams that lost got into Euro cup 4th qualifying leg (last stage before uefa-groups), so it should be fun.

I just got a new sponsorship of £206k (per season) for 2 years. That's almost £140k more than the old one so that'll be useful. Also just noticed that half my team only have 1 year left on their contract. I really need to pay more attention to such things.

Congrats on the new stadium, looks like the club is growing. You think you'll challenge in the later stages of Champions League soon?

[daemonic]

Not sure on the CL. I seem to have hit a plateau in terms of the quality of players I can attract. I'm thinking another good run or 2 in the Europa League may be better for the clubs rep and I might be able to get the players I need then.

[daemonic]

CSM Olimpia Rîmnicu Sãrat - Romanian First League 2014/15

Transfers
With a few big sales I splashed the cash a bit as I looked to upgrade. Noteable signings were -

Manuel Guerrero (GK) - With Sorin Popan attracting big bids I sold him on for 1.5m and added another 500k to this to smash our transfer record with the 2m capture of Guerrero. Excellent season and the team just feels more solid when he plays.
Gheorghe Beta (DC) - One for the future but was dependable whenever called upon.
Ionut Nae (AMC/FC) - With last seasons goal hero Salazar having a nightmare season, when a 2m offer came in I didn't hesitate and snapped up Nae as a replacement with 800k profit for a definite upgrade. Managed a very good 7 goals in 12 games.

Europe
Champions League - Group Stage
Group Stage
Straight into the Group Stage as 3rd seeds we got a horrible draw. To progress we'd have to get out of a group containing Barcelona, Lyon & sc Heerenveen so 3rd and the Europa League was the real aim. As expected Bacelona and Lyon proved way too strong and we only managed a single point in our 4 games with them.
But Heerenveen lost all 4 against them so our win and draw againt the Dutch team meant we finished 3rd and secured European football into the new year.

UEFA Europa League - 1st KO Round
We got a tough draw against Atletico Madrid in the First Knockout Round. A 1-2 loss in the away leg gave us a chance, but despite winning the home leg we went out on away goals as the game ended 3-2.

League - Predicted: 4th | Final Position: WINNERS | Graph | League History
We were pushed hard until well after the Winter break but March and April saw our challengers fall away and we wrapped up the league in game 30 with a 3-0 win over FC Brasov.

Domestic Cups
Romanian Super Cup - Winners
Romanian Cup - 6th Round - International callups meant I had no GK and was barely able to field 11 players.

Other News
Finances continue to improve thanks to CL prize money and TV money. The finances meant the board sanctioned another upgrade of the training facilities ad more importantly the building of a NEW STADUM.

Club Records

Stars
Dorin Onofrei (DRC) - Again he was Mr. Dependable at the back. Rock Solid.
Doru Panit (MC) - Only 18 and already running the midfield. Huge potential.
Denis Bogdan (AMRC) - Another 18 year old who impressed. Broke the club assists record with 15 and managed to score another 5. Won the FPOTY.

Youth Watch
Still no one worth bothering with ...thinking of giving up on this.

Best Eleven: Season | Overall

European Co-efficients
CSM Olimpia Rîmnicu Sãrat - 42.645 (47th up from 57th)
Romania - 41.050 (11th - No Change)

CSM Olimpia Rîmnicu Sãrat Trophy Room
Romanian First League x 2 - 2013/14, 2014/15
Romanian Super Cup - 2014
Romanian Second League Group 1 - 2009/10

Career History

Season    League                   Pos.    Romanian Cup   Europe                              Achievements
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2009/10   Romanian Second League   1st     6th Round      N/A                                 Champions, Promoted
2010/11   Romanian First League    9th     Semi-Final     N/A
2010/11   Romanian First League    2nd     7th Round      N/A
2012/13   Romanian First League    2nd     Semi-Final     CL 3rd Qual. / Euro Lge 2nd KO
2013/14   Romanian First League    1st     Qtr-Final      CL Grp Stage / Euro Lge Qtr-Final   Champions
2014/15   Romanian First League    1st     6th Round      CL Grp Stage / Euro Lge 1st KO      Champions

[Ohanzee]

Yea, I cant attract anything but youngsters, regens, and really old players. I tend to go for regens my scout find that have high determination. They seem to improve faster in training (especially if they have a professional personality aswell). Ofc once they've improved they wanna move on to bigger clubs though, so I guess it'll take time.

I wonder about youth and training facilities. How do you guys go about improving them? Do you bug the board about it as often as possible? And how much money do you need to have? I have sold off a few players left from the first season and actually have some money in the bank now (it's almost to easy selling players in this version of FM in my opinion).

(edit)

Nice season daemonic.

- £19m balance I gotta get into the Champions Cup asap
- I see Unirea Urziceni are strong there aswell. Never heard of them before I played this save.
- Romania is just 11th in Europe there? They started in 9th and are up to 6th now with 45.064 here.

Looks like you got a solid group of players there, hope you can hang onto the best ones.

[daemonic]

I bug the board for the upgrades.

Most of the good players want out already. I'm only getting 6 months out of some of them before the get itchy feet now

Romania started in the top 10 on my save as well but a few poor seasons with clubs going out in the qualifying rounds saw them drop to 16th until we dragged them back up.

[d-machine]

Here's the situation. 17 games in, 13 to go. You currently have only conceded 20 goals this season, and have only given away 8 bookings, 7 yellow and 1 red. This is the record you would expect of a high-mid table side, correct?

Heres the flip side, the team has only scored 11 goals this season and are currently sitting 1 place and 3 points from relegation on 11 points. The team has interchanged 6 strikers throughout the season, and all together they have only scored 5 goals total.

This is my current situation, and i am starting to get really angry. If i get one more 0-0 draw or 0-1 loss with the goal scored in the last minute of play, i'm probably going to do something i will regret, like selling my strikers for next to nothing (it's currently the transfer season). I have already transfer listed 2 of my strikers. This is getting out of hand. I better not get relegated.

Sorry for the long and slightly meaningless post.

EDIT - our next match finished as a 2-3 loss to AEK. It was 2-2 until the 90th minute. At least we scored though. Thinking of making my centre back my striker, he scored his 5th goal of the season in that match.

EDIT2 - Just won my first game in 7 games with a 1-0 win over OFI, hopefully my season will pick up now.

EDIT3 - Sold 2 strikers for 675k, which was more then they where valued.

[d-machine]

Just drew 2-2 with Panathinaikos! Quite a good result considering the team they have. I mean, how are you meant to compete with a team with Ryan Babel, Francesco Merida and Andres D'Allsandro (not sure on spelling for him, hope you know who i mean ).

[daemonic]

Ouch, sounds like they'll be tough to overtake. Glad I play with fake players so I don't know who I'm up against

On the plus side, by the time you can compete with them you'll be already set for a decent go at the CL.

[d-machine]

I guess that's one way to look at it, but i CAN'T overtake them until i start getting some cash, prize money sucks in Greece. I'll need a tycoon, or a good run in Europe. 7 games to go, 1 spot above relegation but on equal points with the team below us. I don't think there's any point going on if i do get relegated. In the National B Division, your only allowed 3 non-EU players (compared to 5 in the Superleague) and only 5 non-greeks in the starting 11 of your team, when it's unlimited in the Superleague, and most of my team is non-greek.

[ToMexico!!]

10/11 - SR Delemont - Swiss Challenge League

Media Prediction: 12th
Finished : 1st - League Table

Transfers | Squad+Stats | Finances

A fantastic season from the start for Delemont. We won 9 from the 10 opening league games building us a nice lead at the top of the table. We continued our form throughout the season despite losing 3 games, disappointingly against relegation candidates Kriens both home and away and the other to mid table Schauffhausen when we had a small injury crisis with strikers. We eventually won the league with 4 games to spare which gave us some breathing space to use a few other players.

We signed some fantastic players from much bigger clubs. Szalai from Castilla and Hasler, who was previously on loan from Basel. Szalai and Fischer developed a brilliant partnership and Hasler came from off the bench to chip in with the goals. Those 3 scoring a combined 49 goals this season.

Top Scorer: Szalai, 19
Most Assists: Hasler, 7
Most MOM: Hasler, 7
Ave Rating: Cvijanovic, 7.24

Season |League                       |Finished  |Cup          |Achievements
09/10  |Challenge League             |9th       |2nd Round    |-
10/11  |Challenge League             |1st       |Qtr Final    |Promotion to Super League

[daemonic]

I guess that's one way to look at it, but i CAN'T overtake them until i start getting some cash, prize money sucks in Greece. I'll need a tycoon, or a good run in Europe. 7 games to go, 1 spot above relegation but on equal points with the team below us. I don't think there's any point going on if i do get relegated. In the National B Division, your only allowed 3 non-EU players (compared to 5 in the Superleague) and only 5 non-greeks in the starting 11 of your team, when it's unlimited in the Superleague, and most of my team is non-greek.

Europe is the promised land for cash in Romania too. 65k for winning the league and I had to pay out 350k in bonuses.

Congrats on the promotion ToMexico!!

[ToMexico!!]

Cheers daemonic

I'm finding it a struggle to recruit new players. Released the deadwood from the previous season but can't find the players good enough to make the step up to the top league. No funds. Wages are exhausted. The players I do find are then snapped up by bigger teams. Could be a long season.

[Blanco]

Sounds like Greece gets tough... Had a dream start to life in the Superliga, taking the lead against Olympiakos in my first game in the top flight. Inevitably, they came back, and three goals in the last quarter of an hour made it 3-1 to them... They spent £16 million in the transfer window - I spent £200,000 . Beat fellow promotees (is this a word?) Atromitos 2-0 away, which was pretty good. Worked out that 5th place is Europe - survival is the goal atm

[Ohanzee]

Quick update. Europe ended way sooner than I wanted. We got drawn against Sporting Club Portugal in the first match. They beat us 3-1 in our own ground, but we deserved better. Away match was even weirder as they totally outplayed us, but we somehow managed to win 1-0. Wasnt enough though and we where out of the Champions Cup. Really annoyed at the home result as Sporting CP got Brøndby (from Denmark) in the next qualifying round, and I feel I could have beat them

So we where on to the qualifier for group stages in UEFA. Hoping for a lucky draw, but no. We got Olympique Lyonnais. To make it even worse 7 of my first team players went on u19 internationals in the first game, and we got trashed 5-2. We followed up by a brilliant home performance beating them 4-2, so once again just 1 goal short But two great home performances and an away win we didnt deserve is something to build on.

In the league we are on a total rampage. Seems the away tactic is really working wonders as we've won 14 of the first 16 league games (including 6 away wins) and are top of the table with only Rapid Buc. following us at the moment. If we can keep it up we should have Champions Cup football next season and mabye even win the league.

[daemonic]

Tough luck in Europe Ohanzee but it sounds like the league is going well.

Not sure if it'll be the same team on your save but I found from my U-19's league scouting that FC Brasov on my save were constantly producing amazing regens. So now I scout their U-19's & first team regularly (no reserves to speak of in Romania) and I've stolen a couple of gems from them.
Well, when I say 'stolen', I mean I paid out a couple of million...but you might get lucky and get a bargain in the U-19's.

[ToMexico!!]

A small turn of fortune and form has seen us jump from 9th to 4th in our first 10 games of the season. Key players coming back from injury and 3 home games on the bounce against the superior opposition have really helped. St Gallen are bottom on 1 point from 10 games and i have them again next. Survival looks very achievable this season.

Edit: We lost to St Gallen gifting them their first win of the season. We were poor, poor in general away from home. I'm currently using a counter attacking 442 formation.

[Ohanzee]

How do you scout a particular teams players? Just mark them all and ask for scout reports? I was thinking of doing that with the under 19 international squads of some of the nations around Romanias level, but I totally forgot about it.

I spent almost half my transfer budget on a brazilian left winger/wingback called Daniel. Otelul brought him from Atletico Mineiro last year, and I snapped him from them for a record fee of £700k. Could be a leading First League left-back they tell me, but I really brought him to play on the left wing.

I managed to give new contracts to all the important players except my goalkeeper, but I already got deal for a dutch regen coming in January that looks decent. I still hope Drobnjak will sign a new deal, but it looks like he'll be going on a free in the summer.

[daemonic]

How do you scout a particular teams players? Just mark them all and ask for scout reports? I was thinking of doing that with the under 19 international squads of some of the nations around Romanias level, but I totally forgot about it.

I spent almost half my transfer budget on a brazilian left winger/wingback called Daniel. Otelul brought him from Atletico Mineiro last year, and I snapped him from them for a record fee of £700k. Could be a leading First League left-back they tell me, but I really brought him to play on the left wing.

I managed to give new contracts to all the important players except my goalkeeper, but I already got deal for a dutch regen coming in January that looks decent. I still hope Drobnjak will sign a new deal, but it looks like he'll be going on a free in the summer.

Normally what I do is check the match report whenever I get one for the U-19's and have the scouts check anyone who got a decent rating if they haven't already compiled one.
I also have my scouts assigned to all the Under-Age tournaments to check for anyone worth signing.

[XaW]

End of Season update - XaW - Bystr -Czech 2. Druhá Liga - 2010/11

League Table | League Graph | Transfers | Squad | Finances | Records

Well, this was a very entertaining season, and a very successfull one I might add. We started quite good, and then it only got better. We had a 19 game streak without loss(all competitions). Just amazing. At the end of the season we had a bit of a slump, and lost some games we should have won, but a league win is a league win.

We also had a great run in the Czech Cup, we went out in the semi-finals against Sparta Prague, who won the double this season. Anyway, very satisfied by the players on the pitch. Off the pitch, now that's another story. Many of the original players from the team has started complaining about lack of games, even though they are crap and are "back-up" or "not needed". This caused the moral of the squad to plummet and the board started complaining. Luckily, most of the contracts end this summer, so we should be rid of them very soon.

Our finances are headed down, down and further down. Since we only got £1k for winning the league, this wasn't quite the money spinning season. Hopefully we get some more money next season, since we're up in the top tier. But at the same time, we need to strengthen the squad to meet the new challenge. This is quite tricky, I'll just hope we manage to stay up.

Awards

This season we got some seasonal awards

Jiri Kabele - Czech second division player of the year, 2nd place
Dusan Manojlovic - Czech second division young player of the year, 2nd place
XaW - Czech second division manager of the year!
Peter Klescik, Jiri Kabele and Jiri Liska - Part of the Czech second division team of the year.

Seasonal Best Eleven | Overall Best Eleven

Career so far

Season    Position   Division          Points    Czech Cup        European Cups   Achievements
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2009/10     6th      2. Druhá Liga      48       2nd Round           N/A            Midtable
20010/11    1st      2. Druhá Liga      67       Semi Final          N/A            Winner, Champions

[Funbags]

XaW can you try posting to direct links cos on the links you do make them massive and it doesnt fit on my browser without having to scroll

[XaW]

That's the only link I get when uploading my images to that page. I had imageshack before, but I think it was damn slow. This site offers upload quick and easy, that's why I use it. But I'll se If I could upload them to imageshack or something....

changed the images to imageshack....hopefully that's better! :-)

[Funbags]

Nah dont bother if it makes you upload to a different site

however i would suggest photobucket for a good one if you were going to change

[ToMexico!!]

11/12 - SR Delemont - Swiss Super League

Media Prediction: 10th
Finished : 7th - League Table

Transfers | Squad+Stats | Finances

We were soon under pressure to win some games but eventually our players clicked into gear and produced a 6 game unbeaten run to push us up to 4th after 10 games. We then proceeded to lose many games and fall down to 8th. We stuttered with form throughout the season and picked up some valuable wins with every 2 or so losses. We ended the season comfortably with a couple of wins to assure super league survival.

The decision to sell RB Lombardo by the chairman gave us some much needed cash but i'm sure i could have got some more. Free transfer Voser has been subject to much transfer speculation over the summer, unless i can get around 500k for him too i won't be selling.

We filled 99% of our 3000 seater stadium and thus the board have decided that a new stadium should be built. The originally named 'Delemont Stadium' will have 4493 seats and will be completed in 2 years and will cost 4.5m.

Top Scorer: Hasler, 15
Most Assists: Ferrara, 9
Most MOM: Hasler, 3
Ave Rating: Ferrara, 6.97

Season |League                       |Finished  |Cup          |Achievements
09/10  |Challenge League             |9th       |2nd Round    |-
10/11  |Challenge League             |1st       |Qtr Final    |Promotion to Super League
11/12  |Super League                 |7th       |3rd Round    |-

[d-machine]

GS Niki Volou - Greek Superleague 2013/14

League | Form

Avoided relegation. Just. Last game of the season we were 1 point from relegation and played Levediakos who where the team below us. A loss would've seen us go to the B division again. We won 3-2. And the Fair Play table helped us for the second time, so we are in europe again!

Transfers | Finances

Star Player
Tando Velaphi - Wonderful season by the Aussie keeper. Need to hold onto him, just reject a 2.6mil bid for him from AEK.

Youth Watch (New section as i finally have a player!)
Angelos Androutsos
Due to international comitments, he has already played in the Euro Cup. Aparently has the potential to be better then Tando Velaphi

Season      League                   	Position       Achievements
___________________________________________________________________
2009/10     National B Division  	12th                  
2010/11	    National B Division		3rd	       Promotion
2011/12	    Greek Superleague		12th	       Qualified for Euro Cup
2012/13     Greek Superleague		9th
2013/14	     Greek Superleague        13th		Qualified for Euro Cup

Next season
Do much better then the last.
Hopefully i'll get to the group stages of the Euro Cup (hopefully)

Europe So Far...
First Qualifying round of the Euro Cup
GS Niki Volou v Prottur (Iceland)
Leg 1 - Won 3-0 at home
Leg 2 - Won 2-0 away from home

Second Qualifying Round of the Euro Cup
GS Niki Volou v AC Oula (Finland)
Leg 1 - Won 4-0 away from home
Leg 2 - Won 4-0 at home

Third Qualifying Round of the Euro Cup
GS Niki Volou v MyPa (Finland)
Leg 1 - Won 2-1 away from home
Leg 2 - Won 3-0 at home

Good thing about this competition is that my team has rediscovered how to score goals.

Our final qualification match will be played against...






Yet again we play a Russian team. Last time it CSKA Moscow, this season we play Zenit St. Petersburg

[d-machine]

Lost 2-3 in Russia! a 1-0 win at home and i go through!

Up 2-0 at half time in the 2nd leg. Tense 2nd half to come...

It's 3-0 now!!!

[d-machine]

Fourth Qualifying Round of the Euro Cup
GS Niki Volou v Zenit St. Petersburg
1st Leg - Lost 2-3 away from home
2nd Leg - Won 3-0 at home!!!

I'm in the group stages of the Euro Cup now! I honestly can not believe it! Knocking out one of the best Russian teams is unbelievable!

[d-machine]

We got a tough group.

Sporting CP
Austria Wien
Feyenoord

Last place for me i reckon. Just want the financial bonuses.

EDIT - lost my first game 2-4 to Sporting CP at home

[Gundo]

Money will always soften the blow. How money will it be?

[d-machine]

You know i didn't check i just assumed it would be good, being a continental comp and all

Anyway i just checked and you get 36k for a win, and 18k for a draw, but nothing for a loss (no surprises there) I guess i might scrape a win against Austria Wien

[DodgeeD]

We got a tough group.

Sporting CP
Austria Wien
Feyenoord

Last place for me i reckon. Just want the financial bonuses.

Austrai Wien should be beatable but 2nd in the group will be tough. Good luck anyway. I never actually made the group stage in the new format UEFA/Europa Cup before Yalovaspor became Champions League regulars. What's the prize money/TV money like?

I've just had the draw for this season's Champions League. We were seeded 3rd for the first time but still ended up with a tough group:
Man Utd
Sevilla
Partizan Belgrade

I'm confident of overcoming Partizan, Man Utd will be tough as ever, so I'll have to hope I can repeat last year's wins over Inter against Sevilla to stand a chance of making the knockout rounds.

[d-machine]

I reckon you should be able to make 2nd place. I think we're getting around 50k TV renvenue a match, so that's alright. Currently have 1.4mil in the bank. but i lose money each month.

[daemonic]

I never actually made the group stage in the new format UEFA/Europa Cup before Yalovaspor became Champions League regulars. What's the prize money/TV money like?

Poor compared to the CL. I think I got 300k TV money for making the Qtr Finals of the Europa League. I got about 3m TV money for my participation in the CL Group Stage the same season so 6 games in each.

[d-machine]

I need to get to the CL.

[daemonic]

The CL has silly money. 3m plus for just taking part in the Group Stage, 500k for a win, 250k for a draw and enormous TV money too.

[d-machine]

The CL has silly money. 3m plus for just taking part in the Group Stage, 500k for a win, 250k for a draw and enormous TV money too.

As i said, I need to get into the CL

[ToMexico!!]

Some good pre season strengthening and i have what i feel is a decent team at last. We won all our pre season games, scoring 19 goals. Banic hitting form with 8 in 4. Most notable signing was Tevfik Kose on a free transfer from Leverkusen, he scored on his debut v Basel.

Still looking to add a player or two with RM needing to strengthened.

[Bantamtim]

I've finished another season at my small-town Welsh club, and it was another successful one. Our European adventure didn't last long, as we were drawn against IFK Gothenburg. We lost the away leg 3-0, but in the home leg we came from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 before conceding a late equaliser, which was an excellent performance. In the league we started well, leading it at the half way stage, but a combination of injuries, a leaky defence and Llanelli's unrelenting form meant that we fell away, eventually finishing 3rd. In the cups it was a different story. TNS knocked us out of the Premier Cup on penalties at the semi final stage, though we would've won on away goals if the rule was actually applied to the competition. However, it wasn't a terrible season as far as penalty shootouts went, as we reached the final of the Welsh Cup, and after a 1-1 draw we won the shootout. Silverware for us, and we also get to enter the UEFA Cup at the 2nd qualifying round stage, which means more prize money and a slightly longer summer break.

I'm aiming to strengthen my squad considerably over the summer, and have got quite a lot of deadwood to clear out. I was able to pick up some more talented 16 year olds on frees, as Wales seems to generate quite a lot of them, and one of them got Wales U21 recognition and has attracted the interest of Swansea. I'm hoping to pick up some more of them, and have got a few decent players on the way in already. Hopefully I can go all the way next season and win the league.

Another good season

How to win a shootout. Are you watching England?

Squad stats

Star of the season for me was Chambers, picked up on a free from Rhyl. Kaid has established himself as my main centre back, and Talbot has shown a lot of promise up front. Unfortunately my brilliant winger from last season, Marshall, picked up two serious injuries this season which has set him back a lot.

Not doing badly financially

I was able to organise several fundraising tournaments over the summer, which put me in a solid financial position. The pitch was a complete mess for the entire season though, which may be a consequence of that. Still going to do it again next season, as I desperately need the cash to not run at a loss.

[Ohanzee]

Sorry about screenshots beeing after league update, I got a bit carried away with my 'continue' pressing last night.

FC Baia Mare 2011/2012

1st in Romanian First League | Table | Transfers | Finances

We ran away with the league, and never looked in danger of losing it after the great run in the first half of the season. We lost 4 more away games in the second half, but we really deserved to get at least a draw in all of them.

We also won the Romanian Cup for the first time. Beating FC Timisoara comfortably 2-0 in the final.

Europe I already posted about, so here's just the results. Chapions Cup | EURO Cup

Finances
Looks ok, made £1.3m profit in the end, mostly thanks to player sales. Prize money was low with £400k, but that should go up this year. Average attendance is up to 8744 but that's still only £327k in gate receipts in a whole season.

Stars
Peter Papp - Has improved tons this year. Played as a striker and scored 21 goals this season. Wants to leave and has just 2 years left on contract.
Iancu Rusu - Also improved a bit, and had his best season so far with 14 goals and 14 assists. He's also my captain. Also wants to leave and has just 2 years left on contract.
Ante Puljic - Has developed more than anyone I think. He's really class, and doesnt want to leave. But he dont wanna sign a new contract either, so I'll probably lose him on free after season.

Future
Romania have fallen from 6th to 16th place in the European coefficients table in the last two seasons. Which means only the winner of the league is gonna get Chapions Cup after this season. Hopefully we can do well enough this year to push them back up to 2 spots at least.

I think I may have to start activly selling players, as there's not one person in my team wanting to sign a new contract at the moment. Right now I stand to lose 3 first teamers after the end of this season on free. What's worse is that 14 players have contracts only to 2014. So I've started to offer the longest possible contract to any new signing I make. Cause there's no way I can compete in Europe if I lose players after 2-3 years all the time. It takes that long to develop them.

I got 5-6 stars in most training categories now, and it really shows on the players development. Hopefully Chapions Cup will give me enough profit this year to upgrade facilities as my board refuse to do anything yet.

This preseason I've tried to get some Romanian talent. I got 6 of them, and 4 of those are 16-17 year olds that dont mind beeing "hot prospects", so finally my u19 can get some quality aswell. I have yet to see even a half decent regen pop up in my own academy.

Even if noone signs new contracts (I offer the best I can even if they dont wanna discuss it), I will not sell at this point unless I get crazy offers. I want this team for my Chapions Cup run and hopefully I get a good draw. Bring on Manchester United and Barcelona!!


d-machine - Nice going on those fair play spots. Hope you can break into the top flight in the league next year.
ToMexico!! - Grats on new stadium. Looks like you got a couple of teams beeing alot better than the rest in that league.
XaW - Grats on promotion!
Bantamtim - Good going. I wanted to start in one of the british leagues but I think it might take ages to become a european force there so I put it on hold. I hope you have the patience to keep it up, I'll be cheering.

Question - What is that "youth watch" a few of you are doing? Is it something you do only for players coming through your own academy?

[ToMexico!!]

Question - What is that "youth watch" a few of you are doing? Is it something you do only for players coming through your own academy?

Yeh. Its looking at the youth coming through the academy. Your assman selects what he thinks is the best player from the new intake. You can either use that player or select your own. Quite interesting to see the player develop.


In my game its hot and cold again i can't find any consistency. The players i've brought in are doing well its the player i already had that are rubbish this season. Another season of consolidation i think.

[Gundo]

The only professional club in the division Fyllingen have scooted clear at the top (no surprises - they had a tycoon take over before the season got underway), Løv-Ham will take second leaving me to fight out third place with Fløy.

[Ohanzee]

Just had the draw for the Chapions Cup group stages. We where seeded 4th and after the top 3 teams had been drawn there was a couple of groups I would rather be in, and I got one of them.

FC Bayern, Dinamo Kiev and CSKA Moscow will be my competition. Should be fun and I feel we can beat at least a couple of them at home on a good day.

Oh and. £4,000,000 just for entering the group stages!!!

[daemonic]

Just had the draw for the Chapions Cup group stages. We where seeded 4th and after the top 3 teams had been drawn there was a couple of groups I would rather be in, and I got one of them.

FC Bayern, Dinamo Kiev and CSKA Moscow will be my competition. Should be fun and I feel we can beat at least a couple of them at home on a good day.

Oh and. £4,000,000 just for entering the group stages!!!

It's nice isn't it

Looks like Romania is suffering the same faith in the co-efficients as happened on my save.

EDIT: Looks like I may have competition in the League. Sportul have been taken over by a tycoon and are buying players for 3m or 4m a pop.

[d-machine]

If anyone's interested, i've finally put up the screenshots for last season.

Also if anyone's interested, 3 games into my Euro group stage, i know i will come last.
Results so far

Lost 2-4 to Sporting CP at home
Lost 1-3 to Austria Wien away from home
Lost 0-4 to Feyenoord away from home

[Gundo]

Vidar FK (Norway) Season 3 Update 2011 - 2.divisjon Avd.3

2.divisjon Avdeling 3 prediction - 8th
2.divisjon Avdeling 3 final position - 3th

NM Cup - 3rd Round

Final League Table

In what I've decided is likely to be my last FM save or at the very least for some considerably time anyway (partly frustrations with FM/SI but mainly my personal life) we are still stuck in the damn second division.

We did manage to improve our position by finishing one place higher than the previous season. However that was slightly disappointing after I'd expected to win the league. The only professional club in the league Fyllingen romped away with the title (I'll be glad to be rid of them!), to give you an idea of the gulf... Before the season started we spent 9k on one player (all our budget), yet they had over a million to splash out! Aslong as we don't get anymore pro teams in the division next season or any tycoon take overs then we'll be ok.

Short updates I know but I'm keen to plod on until we gain promotion, by which point I'll add more detail/screenies to my EOS reports.

League             Season    Finished   Achievements
----------------------------------------------------
2.divisjon Avd.3   2011      3rd        -
2.divisjon Avd.3   2010      4th        -
2.divisjon Avd.3   2009      7th        -

[iacovone]

In what I've decided is likely to be my last FM save or at the very least for some considerably time anyway (partly frustrations with FM/SI but mainly my personal life) we are still stuck in the damn second division.

Say it aint so.....

[mdbussen]

I've started up this challenge, which hopefully I can complete better than the last couple challenges I have tried

I choose to go for Ireland as I have some heritage there - as far as I can tell there were no relegations from the lowest division though..? Can anybody confirm this is the case w/ Ireland or have I done something wrong already?!??



Notice that I just started at Wexford Youths F.C. and I am already "under-fire boss"... looks like I have my work cut out for me!!

[mdbussen]

Alright, slight problem here - I didn't notice that Wexford Youths is an "Amateur" side - I have 0 transfer budget and 0 wage budget Is there a way to become a more professional side or should I just get new team...?

[mdbussen]

Let's try that again - I resigned and am now manager of Sporting Fingal (great name) in the Irish First Division.

[daemonic]

Let's try that again - I resigned and am now manager of Sporting Fingal (great name) in the Irish First Division.

Sporting Fingal are already in the First Division at the start of the challenge so they don't qualify. Shame as I played with them in last years challenge.
Did you holiday for the year?

[ToMexico!!]

I hang my head in shame to say that i've started again. Gone to Sweden this time round and am the new manager of Rynninge IK in the Second Division North Svealand.

1200 capacity stadium with adequate training and youth facilities and a youth academy to go with it. Predicted 8th for the first season from 12 so lets hope i can achieve that and push on from next season.

[Gundo]

Say it aint so.....

It is true.

[Gundo]

I hang my head in shame to say that i've started again. Gone to Sweden this time round and am the new manager of Rynninge IK in the Second Division North Svealand.

1200 capacity stadium with adequate training and youth facilities and a youth academy to go with it. Predicted 8th for the first season from 12 so lets hope i can achieve that and push on from next season.

How many tiers are there in Sweden?

[ToMexico!!]

There are 4 tiers...Premier Div, Elite Div, First Div and Second Div...

Built a nice squad and have Orebro as a parent club, so loaned some players from them. Actually looking forward to this save.

[d-machine]

I hang my head in shame to say that i've started again. Gone to Sweden this time round and am the new manager of Rynninge IK in the Second Division North Svealand.

1200 capacity stadium with adequate training and youth facilities and a youth academy to go with it. Predicted 8th for the first season from 12 so lets hope i can achieve that and push on from next season.

Good luck in Sweden! Probably the only time i'll say this, but in the lower leagues, build a good defence. All the teams have fairly decent (for the league) strikers and mids, but most have crap defence. If your defence is good, you can win games 4-0. If your defence is also crap, expect 4-4 draws I hope you can stick with it longer then i did!

[ToMexico!!]

Good luck in Sweden! Probably the only time i'll say this, but in the lower leagues, build a good defence. All the teams have fairly decent (for the league) strikers and mids, but most have crap defence. If your defence is good, you can win games 4-0. If your defence is also crap, expect 4-4 draws I hope you can stick with it longer then i did!

Cheers for the heads up. Basically brought in 18 players on frees/loan. Over my wage budget but will sacrifice being in the red for stability and success.

[d-machine]

I think i have finally found the teams best tactic. I got inspired after watching a Man Utd watch that i taped from ages back (no particular reason, just wanted to watch some football )

Anyway it's the normal 4-4-2 formation
GK - He's a keeper, what else is he supposed to do?
DR/L - They act as my wingers, max runs with balls/forward runs, and cross from the byline
DC - Stay back always, even at attacking corners
Wingers - Not entirely wingers, Max Forward runs/Runs with the ball, but set to rarely cross/cross from the deep, plus given lots of creative freedom/free roles/playmaker status. The idea here is to get them running into the box more often and making them more of a threat.
MC - One acts as a holding mid, organising everything (min forward runs) and one acts as an attacking mid (max forward runs)
FC - both have min forward runs/max runs with ball/max through balls so they can set up plays and score them. Only my fastest and most creative forwards get played now.
(NOTE - this isn't everything in the tactic, just the important parts,)

So far i've played 2 matches under this tactic (contastly tweaking certain roles) and i've won both, 3-1 and 2-0. If this continues i might actually qualify for europe properly this time However 2 games isn't enough to decide if it's successful or not

[Gundo]

It does sound inspiring d-machine.

What season was it from? Was it when they had that awesome midfield four with Beckham and Giggs on the wings, Keane holding and scoles dashing forward to nick goals.

You could of said abit more about the gk if it was the legend Schmeichel your talking of???

[aussieant32]

well i have been away but im back with Avengard Kursk. I have just started the league and sitting comfortably in 8th after 4 games. Very tough start as my first 4 games (H-A-A-A) are against the media predicted top 4. Very pleased to have pulled 7 points out of 9! Im tipped to be rock bottom but i can smell magic...

[d-machine]

I wasn't exactly describing the Man Utd players, more what i thought of how i could emulate how they played in that match.

They didn't say what season it was, but i think it was in the Nineties (Giggs looked very young) I taped it last year when the TV was showing a "Classic Match"

Anyway what happened was that Giggs was just subbed on to the left wing. Beckham started with it on the Right wing, ran in and played a 1-2 with Scholes before continuing in field to the left wing. He played to the left back (his name escapes me ) who played it back to Scholes. Becks then ran to the Goal box, received the pass from Scholes, passed it first time to an oncoming Ryan Giggs who with his first touch of the game shots and scores.

[Gundo]

Classic United in the nineties that.

[ToMexico!!]

Does anyone know what the prize money is like in Sweden? I'm already 40k in debt not in half way through the season. Sitting 3rd and still unbeaten.

Thought i'd mention that i like the new touches SI have added to the game, Loan reports, Percentage of next sale, Rumour mill etc.

[Ohanzee]

Speaking of Manchester United. We'll be playing them in the Champions Cup First Knockout round. We actually managed second place in our group with just 8 points (even 6 would have been enough). Kinda wish I had gotten 3rd. I fear we'll be humiliated. But the money is gold. (I'll post more about the group stages games in season update, just in January yet)

[mdbussen]

Sporting Fingal are already in the First Division at the start of the challenge so they don't qualify. Shame as I played with them in last years challenge.
Did you holiday for the year?

?? I holidayed for the year but no clubs were promoted - all of the clubs in the First Division were either there last year or were relegated from the Premiership??

[daemonic]

?? I holidayed for the year but no clubs were promoted - all of the clubs in the First Division were either there last year or were relegated from the Premiership??

The team finishing last in the First division will go into a play off with a non-league team with the winner playing in the division the folowing year. In your save it looks like the team in last place won the playoff.
You'll need to holiday again and save just before the playoff (check the previous season fixtures on your current save to get the date) and then reload until a non-playable team wins the playoff.
Basically the team you manage can not have played in any playable division before you take over.

[Gundo]

There are some links to Northern Irish save games available in the opening post of this thread if you interested?

[Ohanzee]

FC Baia Mare 3 - 2 Manchester United

With both our regular centrebacks banned for a match I expected to struggle. At halftime it was still 0-0 though but Man Utd had looked the better side. I told my team there was no pressure on them and after 55' Nani finally opened the scoring with a shot from the corner of the 16 yard box. Straight from the kick off we attacked and the ball ended in midfielder Pablos feet. He smashed it into the far corner from a good 20 yards. Only minutes later a brilliant piece of team-play saw Papp through on goal and he made no mistake. We where up 2-1! But it wasnt to last. Straight from kick off Nani made a solo effort down the left wing and found Rooney with a perfect cross. 2-2 and 4 goals in just 5 minutes. Both teams had decent chances the last 30 minutes with Rooney hitting the post. But almost 4 minutes into injurytime we got a free kick on the edge of the box. Rightback Minev stepped up and hit it right into the far corner. We had beaten Manchester united 3-2 at home!!

Manchester United 4 - 2 FC Baia Mare

Even with both our centrebacks back in action after their one match bans we didnt have much hope of getting anything from Old Trafford. United pressed us back from the start and really kept it up the whole match. After 17 minutes Anderson scored from close range after Ronaldo found him in the box. After 30 minutes we finally managed to get a foot in their half and got a set piece out by the corner flag. Barbosa found Puljic in the box and he powered the header into the net, giving us a shred of hope at halftime. It didnt take United long to make it 2-1 though. Ronaldo again setting up the goal as he found Tevez in the box this time for another close range finish. 15 minutes from fulltime Fletcher jumped on a rebound just outside the box and hammered it behind Timmer for 3-1 and it looked like all hope was lost for us. But 4 minutes from fulltime Daniel won the ball in our half and sent Papp straight through on goal with a long ball. He made no mistake and it looked like we might get extra time. No such luck though, 2 minutes and 40 seconds into overtime Rooney put a perfect cross in and Pandev finsihed an easy chance to make it 4-2. So close But really we didnt deserve anything from this match.


Better luck next year I guess, although I fear I have to sell 10-12 of my players cause they wont sign new contracts, and I really want to get some money from them. I really wish I could keep players like Rusu, Papp and Puljic, but it seems futile. At least the money is amazing. Another £2m for participating in the knock out round. Still got 12 games to go in the league (7 of them away), but I got a 5 point gap down to Steua so it's mine for the taking.

[irishresearcher]

Anyone playing should start in the 2009 season, holiday that season then pick one of the lower league sides coming via the play-off - more variation in the possible clubs although you may get Cobh Ramblers who were relegated after administrative problems.

[ToMexico!!]

2009 - Rynninge IK - Swedish Second Division North Svealand

Media Prediction: 7th
Finished: 2nd - Form

Transfers | Squad | Finances

When i took over Rynninge had 5 players. With no money to spend as normal, i looked towards the free transfer market. I replaced my Assman with new 60 year old veteran and brought in a half decent scout. I sent the scout off around the country whilst my Assman gave me feedback on the players i looked to sign. We managed to bring in 18 players before the friendlies started but that took us over the £2120 weekly wage bill by around £800. A sacrifice that needed to be made for success. Which means the end of season finances are truly shocking. Swings and Roundabouts.

I formed a link with Orebro, my local big team, as we are located on the outskirts of the city. They sent me American attacking midfielder Bedoya and i swooped on two other loanees, Sesay and Frempong. Frempong went on to be a complete success finishing runner up in the scoring charts with 14 goals from 21 games, 2 behind the overall golden slipper winner.

We started well in the league, 9 games unbeaten until our first loss against Brage. We drew far too many games, gifting teams a last 5 minutes equaliser on a couple of occassions. We still managed to finish 2nd which is a very good achievement for a newly promoted club.

Top Scorer: Frempong, 14
Most Assists: 2 Players, 7
Most MOM: Frempong, 5
Ave Rating: Frempong, 7.37

Aims for Next Season

• Promotion push
• Revamp Squad
• Not exceed Wage Bill
• Reduce Debts

Season|League                    |Finished|Cup        |Achievements
2009  |2nd Div North Svealand    |2nd     |N/A        |-

[Ohanzee]

FC Baia Mare 2012/2013

1st in Romanian First League | Table | Transfers | Finances

Not much to say. Won the league with the same points total as last year. 3 different teams behind be compared to last year. Won the cup with a 1-0 win over Unirea Urziceni in the final.

Europe
Chapions Cup Group stage (Table)
FC Bayern (h) 0-2 loss (Felt we deserved better really)
Dinamo Kiev (a) 3-1 win (Guess it all evens out, didnt deserve this)
CSKA Moscow (a) 0-4 loss (Don't wanna talk about it )
CSKA Moscow (h) 2-2 draw (Revenge is sweet, albeit lucky)
FC Bayern (a) 1-1 draw (Shocked! And I think we deserved it)
Dinamo Kiev (h) 1-0 win (Should have won more, but even a draw would have been enough)

Chapions Cup 1st knockout Rnd
Manchester United (h) 3-2 win
Manchester United (a) 2-4 loss

I already posted match reports on the Man Utd games so I will leave it at that. Very happy with our performance.

Finances
Incredible thanks to the Champions Cup. £4m to enter group stages, another £2m to play the knockout round, and £3.8m TV Revenue from it once the final was played. And that's not counting the £550k for a win and £275k for a draw. It's totally crazy, I'm set for years. Average attendance is up to 9750, so still a bit to go on, but getting there. Ticket prices are still puny though, but it seems they where higher in European games at least.

Star
Peter Papp - He's brilliant now, and there is no way I can keep him. He's unhappy and wants to leave and only has one year left on contract. I consider cashing in. Big clubs like FC bayern, Valencia and Sevilla are after him now.

Future
Finances are brilliant, squad harmony is at an all time low. I'm really annoyed that after such a brilliant season I have a hard time finding a player that's happy to stay. Only the newest signings (bar a couple of loyal servants) seem to be happy That's not the only problem though. I got 11 players with contracts running out after next season and 8 of them are players I really really wanna keep. But if they dont sign a new contract before the start of next season I think I will just cash in. Cause to be honest I'm sick of the moaning of some of them, bunch of kids. I think I should try to get a couple of older players in to balance the squad. This season our oldest first team player was 23.

So, I guess I have a busy summer ahead of me. To bad it's so damn short in Romania before the league kicks off again.

[daemonic]

Great season
I keep getting horrible CL draws. Got Valencia & Lyon as the top 2 seeds in my group so I think it's 3rd again this year

[Ohanzee]

Thanks.

I'm not sure I even get to Champions Cup this year. The poor performance by other teams earlier years had us down to 16th and just 1 spot (as I mentioned), and that 1 spot is the type you need play qualification for. I've been drawn against AA Gent so it should be possible. And in next round I will meet a team from a average nation aswell, if I get there.

I think I may have been to pesimistic about the whole having to sell players issue. I already lost my whole left side from last year, but I got £8.75m for the two (LB and AML), so I can afford to pick up regens that are already a bit developed instead of the ones that need a year of training before they are good enough. It also means I can crank up my wage budget to give more salery if I find a real gem. I already bought what I reccon to be the biggest Romanian centreback talent atm and a few more. One italian striker regen I got on free that looks amazing already to.

I feel like a kid in a candystore with a no-limit creditcard I'll post some screenies of the best looking talents tomorrow. Now I need some sleep. zzzZZzzZZZZzzzz

Oh one question before I hit the sack. What's your sponsor deals like now? I just got another kit sponsor and it's worth £620k per season. So now I have 2 kit sponsors giving me around £1m a year together. Also, have you managed to get a commercial link feeder club? My board keeps saying they cant find any.

[daemonic]

Oh one question before I hit the sack. What's your sponsor deals like now? I just got another kit sponsor and it's worth £620k per season. So now I have 2 kit sponsors giving me around £1m a year together. Also, have you managed to get a commercial link feeder club? My board keeps saying they cant find any.

My sponsorship is around the 500k mark, but that was only the second deal for the club as the initial deal ran until 2015

The board still don't give me any choice for feeder clubs. They keep coming back with Albanian & Montenegran sides when I really need a Second League feeder to loan prospects to, to get them first team action. When they finally did get me a Second League club they got promoted a month later and the link was severed.

From other saves, you'll only get a Commercial Link when you're a huge team, probably a regular in the last 4 of the CL considering the size and rep of the Romanian League.

[Ohanzee]

Pre (and start of) season 2013/2014

Stars that left
Petr Sova - My first choice left back last season went to Shaktar for £3.5m
Daniel - The left winger went to Dinamo in Croatia for £5.25m
Iancu Rusu - My captain left to join Catania, who arent even in a European cup competition *sigh* - £6m
Ante Puljic - Joined Almeria for £5m, they also arent in a European cup competition. *double sigh*
Ciprian Cristescu - Attacking midfielder left us for Rosenborg (my real life local club in Norway) for £3.4m.
Peter Papp - The biggest star also got the biggest move. He left for Espanyol in Spain for £7.5m. He's scored 10 goals in his first 4 matches for them!!

We're not getting all of this money though. Some of it go back to the club I bought them from, and alot of it comes as payments over the next months. But it's pushed FC Baia Mare into 70th place on the rich club list, and we have £29m balance now. I can spend £27m on players if I want, but it's still mostly talents that wants to come, so I have nowhere to spend it. Board upgraded our facilities (to average) and I will keep bugging them for more of that.

Future stars
Kyrylo Kovalenko - Great looking goalkeeper. His first touch is decent to which is something most regen goalies dont seem to have.
Niculae Varga - I expect great things of this guy, replacing Puljic in my defense. Sadly he's cuptied for Europe so he'll have a year to develop first.
Sjaak Köttgen - Looks very promising, very few weaknesses. Not sure if I wanna develop him for defense or midfield though.
Ryan Sirieix - Replacing the brazilian left winger Daniel. Looks very promising, and was my biggest buy at £1.7m.
Paolo Amato - Italian striker that looks very promising, came on free. He still havent scored a goal though, but I guess he needs some adapting.
Bogdan Ghitã - Not a new guy, but he'll have to step up now that Rusu left.

I also got some older players that arent regens, a couple of them well known.

Bogdan Stancu - Didnt sign a new contract with Steua so I snapped him up. He'll play right winger and I think I'll retrain him for central attacking midfield aswell. His determination is a bit low, but he's already really good.
John Goossens - Old Ajax youth product. He's unlikely to improve much, but looks amazing already. Bit low on tackling so I will use him in AML and MC positions mostly. Needs retraining for MC.
Gaël Nlundulu - I havent heard of this guy before, but apparently he's a decent talent. Attacking midfielder and striker.

The squad still have a few players that's been here a while. Barbosa signed a new contract and wants to help us achieve great things, together with midfielder Pablo. We also have our old left and right backs Jourdan and Minev, but both of them wants to leave. I just keep them cause they are good and their contracts arent running out. We also have 12 players in the Romanian under 19-23 teams, and some of them will be rotated alot this season to get match experience.

All in all I feel we lost alot of ability this summer, but got alot of potential instead. And most of the potential have long term contracts now.

European Qualification (results)
AA Gent proved to be a easy task in the 2nd qualifying round. We hammered them 3-0 both home and away. In the 3rd round we where drawn against danish side FC Copenhagen who still have norwegian manager Ståle Solbakken. We beat them 1-0 at their ground, convincing match, but they deserved a draw. At home we hammered them 4-1, but it was nervebiting untill 20 minutes was left, as it was 1-1 that long and one goal for them would have sent them through at that point. 3 goals in the last 20 minutes saw us through though and the result was no less than it should be from the chances we created.

In the draw for the group stages of Champions Cup and we where seeded 4th again. Having gotten the easiest group last year I feel we got one of the hardest this year. Manchester United, Juventus and Benfica await. Gonna be tough getting even 3rd place, but we've beaten big teams before at home, so you never know.

[d-machine]

I had a sponsorship deal worth 975k per annum, but when that ran out it was replaced by a 675k per annum deal

Anyway i only picked up a draw in my UEFA Cup group against Austria Wien at home (though i could've drawn with Feyenoord at home). My new tactic seems to be going well, currently 7th in the league halfway through, could have been 4th but lost to Aris and Panathinaikos (Panathinaikos was obvious, but should have beaten Aris). On the plus side i have beaten teams like Olympiakos 3-1

I expect a board takeover soon. My chairmen status is now "Willing to listen to offers for the club". A chance for a tycoon, hopefully. My 2 keepers most likely will be leaving on frees at the end of the season and i need some cash to buy new ones.

[XaW]

End of Season update - XaW - Bystr -Czech 1. Gambrinus Liga - 2011/12

League Table | League Graph | Transfers | Squad | Finances | Records

This is one of the most frustating seasons I've ever experienced in FM. My team played well, actually much better than I had hoped, but the frustating part was my strikers. They couldn't score to save their lives. Take Jiri Kabele as an example, last season he was on fire, but this season he massed a total of 3(!) goals. He also had a massive 26 hrs of football without scoring. The fact that my new DC was my topscorer with a total of 11 goals in all competitions, quite tells the whole tale. Although he was brilliant all through the season and one of the main reasons we ended where we did.

In the Czech cup we went out in the quarter finals against, for the second season in a row, double winners Sparta Prague.

Finacially we are still heading down. We're now £1,1M in red. Hopefully we get a new sponsor this season, which will bring in some more money. My Chairman has also told the press he's looking to sell the club, so if I'm lucky we could get in some more cash from a board takeover.

Awards

This season we got some seasonal awards

Josip Buljevic - Czech young player of the season - 2nd place
Josis Buljevic - Czech team of the season - DC


Seasonal Best Eleven | Overall Best Eleven

Career so far

Season    Position   Division          Points    Czech Cup        European Cups   Achievements
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2009/10     6th      2. Druhá Liga      48       2nd Round           N/A            Midtable
2010/11     1st      2. Druhá Liga      67       Semi Final          N/A            Winner, Champions
2011/12     8th      1. Gambrinus Liga  47       Quarter final       N/A            Midtable

[XaW]

Damn, my board must be filled with idiots! We are over £1M in debt and they decide it's a good idea to invest in undersoil heating for another £1M, and they won't pay anything of it...so now we're £2M i debt. We got a new sponor though, we now get £476k p/a. Not much but better than former deal.

[irishresearcher]

Dunmurry Rec - Season 1 - 2009/10

Table
Graph
Transfers

A mixed bag of a season. Started promisingly but ended up mid-table after looking good for the second promotion spot for a good part of the season. Fell short ultimately in the goals department with not one player registering double figures.

In general I'm happy with the squad, and will look for more stability next season, this season saw 18 players brought in on free transfers and 4 loan deals for premier division reserve players. A goalscoring striker and left wing top my scout's jobs for what I hope will be a better conclusion to next year. All in all though, I was happy with the mid-table finish of 6th. Cup wise it was a none event across the board but I never fielded my strongest side in the cup - something I will look to change next year with a tighter squad planned.

Onwards and upwards!

[Funbags]

Just holidaying now decided to try romania

[d-machine]

GS Niki Volou - Greek Superleague 2014/15

League | Form

Again we strayed in the lower depths of the table, but it could have been s much more. Of the 34 points we got during the season, 23 of them came after only 14 games, and i was pushing for European qualification at the point. We won the Best Club award again, and made the Quarter Finals of the Greek Cup. Panathinaikos again ran away with the league. We got a new sponsorship worth 1.1 mil. Finally, it looks like a consortium will be taking over the club. The transfer embargo is annoying, since my 2 keepers left i now can't replace them. Lukcily i have a good youth keeper [see below]

Transfers | Finances

Star Player
Parlov - The young croatian striker was terrific, finishing my top goalscorer. He will be leaving however, he is now on a month-to-month contract as he won't sign a new one.

Youth Watch
Angelos Androutsos
Initial Profile
Season 1
Was limited to a few cup/european matches this season. Could be my first choice keeper this year if the embargo doesn't get lifted.

Our European Adventure
Qualifying Rounds
Game 1 - Leg 1/Leg 2
Game 2 - Leg 1/Leg 2
Game 3 - Leg 1/Leg 2
Game 4 - Leg 1/Leg 2

Group Phase
Group J Final Standings
Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | Game 6

Season      League                   	Position       Achievements
___________________________________________________________________
2009/10     National B Division  	12th                  
2010/11	    National B Division		3rd	       Promotion
2011/12	    Greek Superleague		12th	       Qualified for Euro Cup
2012/13     Greek Superleague		9th	       
2013/14	    Greek Superleague		13th	       Qualified for Euro Cup
2014/15	    Greek Superleague		12th

Co-Efficents

Season		`Greece/Rank		Niki Volou/Rank
_____________________________________________________________________
2012/13		 45.928/9th		19.748/127th
2013/14		 44.536/10th		18.895/147th
2014/15		 46.286/10th		26.736/103rd

Next Season
Hopefully my team can last the whle season, instead of just one half. My team will need strengthening. With just Greece to focus on, i should be able to put in some better performences for the whle season. I hope the takeover gets resolved soon, i need a starting keeper and fast!

[d-machine]

Alrighty. The consortium took over, they let me keep my job, and they're upgrading both my training and youth facilities All this 7 days before the transfer window closes, and 3 before my first match. I better sign a good keeper in time.