Gundo's FM08 Small club from a small nation European adventure challenge

[johnnyquest409]

I don't think my challenge with Amur is going to last very long. No-one wants to join us at all, and there are five relegation places in the First Division.

We've just received the pre-season odds for the league... we're 2000-1 to win it. Any takers?

[aaberdeenn]

Originally posted by johnnyquest409:
I don't think my challenge with Amur is going to last very long. No-one wants to join us at all, and there are five relegation places in the First Division.

We've just received the pre-season odds for the league... we're 2000-1 to win it. Any takers?

£1 on me...

[freek_teek]

Krokom - Division 1 Södra

After my little midseason+1 report, things started to fall apart. We we're a lot lass convincing than we were in the first half of the season. Our unbeaten run ended with a loss against leaders Frej. We lost a few points against midtable opposition, and Limhamn caught up with us. Frej were stronger than us and were out of reach, but we fought a close battle with Limhamn. Last game was away to Limhamn, we were 1 point ahead, the prize was a place in the promotion play-off. It was a nerve-wrecking game, wich eventually ended 5-5. We were in the play-off !!


Our opponents were Enkopping SK. The first game, at home went a lot better than expected, with us dominating the entire game and winning 3-O. The return leg was a formality, 3-3, we were through 6-3 on aggregate. In the other game Karlsund trashed VMA IK 8-2, so I didn't really fancy our chances in the final...

Only there was no final, wich was a nice suprise. Apparently their are two places up for grabs. Now I'm just happy we didn't draw Karlsund.


I have no idea what to expect from next season. I think it's going to be hard, but then again, I tought this year was going to be hard to. We have a decent young squad, so they should be able to improve. We didn't have loans this season, and no outgoing transfers so at least we won't be losing quality. I just hope I can make a decent signing or two, our midfield could use some improving. AT least roadrunner is going to stay another year. Without him we wouldn't be where we are now. He made the most goals in the league, had the most assists and on top of that he had the best average rating. Without doubt the best player in the league. I hope he can cut it in the Superetten.



Finances are looking better. We made a profit of about 100k this year, we're still 200k in the red, but we're slowly climbing our way back up. (just signed a new sponsorship deal, double the value of our last one.)

Fans love me, players love me and my reputation climbed to national. Apparently the board were disapointed with our 'relegation', but they still offered me a new 2 year contract. I'm just curious how hard they are going to like me when we come crashing back down again.

final standings

[aaberdeenn]

NK Novalja, Croatian Second Division, Season 2010/11, End of Season Report.

End of Season Table.

Gutted.

So we spend a fourth year in this Second Division. This season we really did deserve it but the rules system (which goes by results between the teams) cost me; and we weren't helped by some late goals by Cibalia.

The games in question:

Cibalia 1-0 Novalja. They score in the 95th minute despite there supposed to have been only 4 added minutes.
Cibalia 1-1 Inter (Z). They score in the 94th minute despite there supposed to have been 3 added minutes.

Although they got a taste of their own medicine in the playoffs. They score in the 91st minute in the second leg to go up 3-2 on aggregate before Karmen Ingrad score in the 93rd minute to take it to ET where there go onto win 5-4 AET. \o/

My U19's followed their two previous 2nd placed finishes by winning the U19's league at the 3rd attempt. They were unable to retain the cup though.

Squad. Despite the loss of Semialjac we were excellent. We were really helped by an on loan Dinamo keeper and an on loan Dinamo striker by the name of Ivan Grubesic.

Finances are good.

Manager Overview. & current profile.

We really have to get promotion next season as it's getting quite frustrating getting so close to only be disapointed.

Please get promoted next season...

[iacovone]

aaberdeenn not sure if you noticed, but you've pretty much emulated my 3rd season perfectly. The top 3 in that season for me were on 69 points too .

Sadly by the rules I came third too. At least this means you'll storm the league in season 4!

[aaberdeenn]

At least this means you'll storm the league in season 4!

Let's hope so...

[aaberdeenn]

I've just lost a second player because of my chairman accepting the offer.

Along with star striker Semialjac who I lost a year ago for 500k, I've now lost star centre half and captain Ivica Novosel for 420k.

Good money though.

I need to get promoted asap to stop this happening.

[Jimbokav1971]

Iceland. Magni. First Division. Jul 2009.

Well after the little tinkerings with the Lower League Cup, (I really love that name), the league campaign came as a bit of a short sharp shock.

A narrow 2-1 loss away to the other team i could have chosen to manage was followed by another away defeat by the same team and indeed the same score-line as we were sent crashing out of the Icelandic Cup at the first hurdle. I had rested players for the Cup game becase lets admit it, it's completely irrelevant. All that matters in this first season is avoiding the drop.

So although we had started with a loss in the league and a loss in the cup, we were playing ok so I was hopeful at least. My hope steadily dwindled away as we lost 3 of our next 4 games and only drew the other one. We were rock bottom of the table and it just wasn't working for us. We were being torn apart at the back and the morale of the players was suffering and it was causing us to not take our chances at the other end. I wanted to play a sweeper as I had a specialist in on loan in the squad, but I didn't have the bodies so instead opted for a 4141 formation. I didn't know whether to go for a big guy or a little guy up front, (I like big fat strikers), but the withdrawn striker tactic that I saw in this thread over the last couple of days pushed me towards a little quick guy and the idea behind the 4141 arc formation was born.

After 6 games without a win, we bounced back in style as we smashed 5 goals away at one of our relegation rivals. We even missed a penalty! I was sure it would be a flash in the pan and we would be brought down to Earth with a shuddering bang as our next game was against the table toppers. Surprisingly we not only beat them, we not only kept a clean sheet, but we also went 1 better than the 5 goals scored last week as we scored 6 without reply, (our GK making no mistake from the spot this time). We lost away to end our astounding about turn in fortunes, but then returned to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 home win against another of our relegation rivals, before closing out a boring 0-0 away to one of the dominant teams in the league.

The result sees us out of the relegation zone, (at least for a while). My aim is to not finish bottom. Even 11th will give us a chance at the playoffs and a possible route to safety.

Current league table nearing the half-way stage.

Súpér Jón O has been the star of the show, scoring 10 goals from 10 starts. That is impressive in any team, but in a team as poor as ours it is miraculous.

Ã� ð þ ö æ Æ Ó À ß ð á é Ã* ó ú ý

[Jimbokav1971]

Súpér Jón O got injured almost immediately .

I should know better by now .

[emgergo]

I have no idea what to expect from next season. I think it's going to be hard, but then again, I tought this year was going to be hard to.

According to my experience, this will be one big step up, and it's probably going to be very tough, too. There's quite a huge ap in quality between Superettan and 1st Div N/S teams.

Very nice job, KUTGW!

[emgergo]

I sold my AM LC for 775K+40%

No more financial probems \o/

[emgergo]

My non-league feeder team managed to knock out promotion rivals Mura from the cup

Well done, boys

[emgergo]

7 games gone, we're 5-0-2, 21-7, and I know we won't have chances this year. Gorica are 7-0-0 (yet to concede a goal), heavily strenghtened Mura are 6-1-0.

[iacovone]

emgergo you can do it!

jimbo - decent start, looks like you have a chance. what a great formation too - I've never considered not actually playing a striker.

[iacovone]

aaberdeenn unlucky with your chairman. Once again it's sounding very similar to mine...Semialjac got sold followed by my captain and best defender Varhas. Luckily promotion saved me. As it will save you

On a side note, I have Semialjac jetting back to Slavonija for 100k.

[iacovone]

We are not finishing well. 9 games without a win now...

Hopefully our early season form will keep us up but this is really dire.

[iacovone]

iacovone's End of Season Update, Slavonija, Croatian First Division (5th Season)

Well, ambition achieved. We stayed up. Narrowly!. The graph shows we pretty much hung around the bottom end all season.

It was a very tough season, one that actually started reasonably well. Despite us unable to win our first 2 home games, we went on a 4 game unbeaten run which began to give me some hope. Ante Popovic scored a goal every 2 games - very good considering we struggled. However whilst on his holidays this summer has decided he needs a move to a bigger club.

Having thought I'd tied up a deal for former hotshot Zdravko Semialjac to return to Slavonija, I realised that in fact I hadn't!

So we're currently looking at either bringing him in for a lot of money, or finding someone else.

In other news, finances are looking great and subsequently...hurrah!!. Progress is being made.

Also Ivica Stipisic picked up the Croatian Young Player of the Year award.

So a few things to be hopeful of. Once again staying up is the target next season. Hopefully with our bank balance like that we will be given a nice pot of cash to improve the squad. I can dream...

C'mon the Slavs and bring on next season!

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - First Division - 2009/10 End of Season Update

After a magnificent first season, I expected us to drop back down into the second division this year. However the team continued to perform above expectations and just missed out on a playoff spot this season.

The cups were a mixed bag with the best being a semi final appearance in the Intermediate Cup.

The board are very distraught with my finance handling, and havent decided if they will offer me a new contract, as a result my only aim for the new season is get a contract!

Table
Transfers

[yababo]

Having been sacked from Spa in Belljam I have decided to try Greece. And I am the new Manager of Messiniakos. Messiniakos has no pedigree in the greek league apart from being relegated from the Second division once before.

Manager Profile

Up the Messiniakos

[CoachFlu]

I was in the mood for a more 'in character' report for a change. Hope you don't mind.


MELDERT IN GOALKEEPER CRISIS

Four matches into the 2016/17 season and tension in the Verbroedering Meldert dressing room is high. The team conceded thirteen goals so far, by far the worst defense in the First Division during this early stage of the season. They scored nine, so the strikers are able to keep their chin up, but every player who performs a defensive duty in the squad – and especially the goalkeepers – have plenty to reflect on before the next match.

Goalkeepers, plural, because manager Ulf Chaoc has tried out three different lads between the stakes so far. Steven Guéguin, last season’s first choice, was not one of them.

“Steven’s a decent goalie,� Chaoc explains, “but not all that great. His contract was up, and his wage demands were not in accordance with his quality, so we let him go. We had a replacement lined up anyway.�

That replacement was Calum Morgan, first choice Belgian U21 goalkeeper, who was released by Standard. But Meldert supporters wonder whether Chaoc has made an error in judgment.

“My scouts rated him at the same level as Guéguin, but with room for improvement,� Chaoc defends his case. “And his wage demand was only a third of what Guéguin wanted. That played a big part in the decision.�

Some of the hard core supporters who regularly hang out at the Meldert training grounds, however, are not surprised that Morgan was willing to sign for such a low wage.

“He’d have signed anything as long as it included health insurance,� one of them says. “The kid’s damn near epileptic. No sense of balance at all. A bit of wind – just a minor breeze will do – and he falls over.�

“Yes, that was a minor oversight,� Chaoc admits. “But we’re working hard to improve that. It’ll just take some time.�

Morgan’s debut performance in the opening match of the season, against defending champions Antwerp, made it clear that the U21 goalie is indeed not quite ready for first team football. Meldert saw themselves 6-2 down at half time, and they only managed to hang on to that score because Antwerp took their foot off the gas.

So Morgan was sent to the reserves, and in came 18-year old Patrick Jansen. The Dutch youngster is widely considered the team’s leading star for the future. He already got a good taste of first team football last season and showed promise, but he was unable to cope with the pressure and was sent back to the youth team. So has anything changed since six months ago?

His performances so far don’t seem to indicate so. While Meldert won their second match of the season, at home against Lokeren, with a convincing 4-1 score, Lokeren’s goal was a direct result of a schoolboy error by Jansen, when he was caught holding on to the ball too long outside his area.

Despite that, Chaoc gave the kid another chance, but the heavy loss at Standard – who scored 4 goals out of 5 shots on target – left the manager with renewed frustration.

So Medert’s fourth match of the season saw them try out goalkeeper number three: 20-year old Josh Davis, on a season long loan from Chelsea “to provide squad depth.� But Davis soon showed that he suffers from the same problem as his two predecessors: a lack of maturity and experience.

Meldert battled to a deserved 2-0 lead at home against Charleroi, but they gave away two easy goals in the last 15 minutes, costing them two valuable points. While Chaoc claims that he doesn’t blame the youngster, it is rumoured that he may put yet another goalkeeper between the stakes for the upcoming match against Virton.

That would mean Eric Malfleury, occasional French U21 goalkeeper, now in his third season at Meldert, may get his Belgian debut. According to reports, Malfleury didn’t feature in the manager’s plans and was widely expected to leave the club this summer, but his low contract demands kept him at the club anyway. The young Frenchman has put in a few good performances for Meldert’s U21 squad, and now may get a chance to prove his worth after all.

Supporters are not getting their hopes up though. What Meldert needs, they feel, is a goalkeeper with experience and authority, someone who can come up big in the important moments. Someone who’s pushing thirty.

And Ulf Chaoc agrees, as he recently announced that a new – experienced – goalkeeper will be signed in the near future. 30-year old Finland international Anders Överström has just signed a deal to join Meldert at the end of the Finnish season. Överström has been with Finnish mid-table team IFK Mariehamn for his entire 15 year career – the past 8 seasons as a first choice – and is welcoming the new challenge.

Until his arrival in December, however, Meldert will have to make do with what they have available. It’s unclear for now which of the youngsters will be first choice.

“It’s up for grabs,� Chaoc says. “They’ll be on a rotation. If whoever’s in goal plays well, he’ll start the next match. If he doesn’t, we’ll move to the next one on the list.�

Goalkeeper rotations do not have a history of being a recipe for success, so it remains to be seen how that will work out. Supporters are hoping the current situation won’t jeopardize the club’s season.

Verbroedering Meldert was last season’s surprise package, finishing in a fine 6th place, just outside the places for Europe, and they also reached the semi finals of the Belgian Cup. The Meldert board expect a repeat of that success, on both counts.

“Easy for them to say, from up there in the box seats,� Chaoc smirks. “We got lucky last season, both in the league as in the Cup. We’re in debt, we’ve got peanuts for a wage budget; how they expect me to pull that off, I don’t know. But we’ll sure as hell try.�

[emgergo]

Originally posted by iacovone:
emgergo you can do it!

Well, if not, we can still claim that we are the best semi-pro team in Slovenia

[aaberdeenn]

aaberdeenn unlucky with your chairman

I'm not too bothered to be honest but time will tell how it affects things. I managed to get a better striker in on loan however it's not been the case about my centre half position.

I did manage to get a right back I've been trailing for 2 years in for 100k over 24 months.

Verhas

He's stepped in for now but I need someone better. Novosel was really something special.

Semialjac

His new team just got relegated so I'll be facing him this season. I'd love to get promoted and for his team not to so that I can have a chance of bringing him back to Stasko.



Anyways; well done of staying up. I'm just about to start the new season after getting through pre-season last night.

[emgergo]

Not much chance this year, but at least a pressure-free spring.

We are 5 points behind Mura, and probably about a hundred points behind Gorica, who are 16-1-0

I can only hope that Mura screws up the spring like last year.

[Gilbster]

Any ideas how to boost finances of a club? None of my players are worth more than 1 or 2 thousand, and I am 250k in debt.

Still in the Northern Irish First Division, and doubt that Premier Division money will be that good or helpful, even if I can get promotion.

[johnnyquest409]

Originally posted by Gilbster:
Any ideas how to boost finances of a club? None of my players are worth more than 1 or 2 thousand, and I am 250k in debt.

Still in the Northern Irish First Division, and doubt that Premier Division money will be that good or helpful, even if I can get promotion.

On FM07 playing in N.Ireland, I pretty much completely ignored my finances for the first few seasons, there was just nothing I could do about it. I only starting making money once we qualified for the Setanta Cup and Europe.
The board never complained about it, despite being in the red for a good 3 or 4 seasons.

[yababo]

Unlike in my Spa game I have just got a parent club and it is Panathinaikos.

[freek_teek]

I don't think there is much you can do about finances. Just focus on the football-side of things, just keep climbing towards the top, eventualy you'll start making monney.

And for what it's worth, while finances destroy your boards confidence in you, I don't think they'll fire you as long as you keep meeting their expectations on the pitch.

[endtime]

I started plugging away at the Magni game again... I'm actually enjoying it Too bad the board decided to build a new stadium despite us not really needing it, which means I'm again a few million pounds away from turning full-time.

[emgergo]

NK Slovan, winter update, 2014/15

1. Gorica 14-1-0, 42-5, 43 pts
2. NK Mura 11-2-2 31-11, 35 pts
3. Slovan 9-2-4 37-16 29 pts

Not much chance for playoff if Mura doesn't start stumbling.

We lost twice to Gorica (0-3, 0-1), and unfortunately to Mura too, in a thrilling match (1-2, both sides had 19 shots, 10 on target). Our fourth defeat was at Bonifika, where the ref awarded a penalty in the 88th minute. I mouthed off, and had a touchline ban.

My ass.man got the team firing (we were 4-0 up in 60 minutes), then it ended 4-3. He was disappointed with the team, which ****ed off the players

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by freek_teek:
I don't think there is much you can do about finances. Just focus on the football-side of things, just keep climbing towards the top, eventualy you'll start making monney.

And for what it's worth, while finances destroy your boards confidence in you, I don't think they'll fire you as long as you keep meeting their expectations on the pitch.

Thanks for the advice. It looks like try and get promoted and try and qualify for some better competitions.

[johnnyquest409]

Originally posted by Gilbster:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by freek_teek:
I don't think there is much you can do about finances. Just focus on the football-side of things, just keep climbing towards the top, eventualy you'll start making monney.

And for what it's worth, while finances destroy your boards confidence in you, I don't think they'll fire you as long as you keep meeting their expectations on the pitch.

Thanks for the advice. It looks like try and get promoted and try and qualify for some better competitions. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's pretty much it. It makes me wonder how AI teams can possibly survive playing for years in the lower leagues in N.Ireland, when they must be losing money every year.

[endtime]

2021 League table. Shame about that one game. Got kicked out of Europe in the first round by Modrica Maxima (2:3, 0:2), I'm beginning to think I'll never make it

[Gundo]

Originally posted by endtime:
2021 League table. Shame about that one game. Got kicked out of Europe in the first round by Modrica Maxima (2:3, 0:2), I'm beginning to think I'll never make it

Just one game! Have you gone a full season unbeaten in the league yet?

[Gundo]

Well you did warn me cookie...

Our current stadium holds 3,225 then our board announce a stadium expansion of 3,000 seats. Cost of which is £4,600,765! So now I'm in abit of debt myself.

[endtime]

Yeah, went 19-3-0 back in 2019. It's just so frustrating that I dominate domestically, but can't buy a win in Europe. Plus I've played more or less the same first eleven for the past four years; every season feels exactly the same.

[emgergo]

Lost to Mura in the first game of the spring, so I can devote time to team-building

My striker missed a one-on-one and two rebounds in 20 seconds when the match was still 0-0

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - October 2nd 2016

Quarter-season table

Just a quickie update, eight matches in. Not bad so far, considering we had a bit of a goalie problem in the first four matches.

After the Belgian kid, the Dutch kid and the English kid, it was the French kid in the fifth match of the season who finally performed decently in goal.

He didn't start too well, and the first shot on target against him was a goal, but he made some key saves later in the match and we turned it around. He has yet to get a clean sheet, but only conceded 5 in the 4 matches he played, and we didn't lose with him in goal yet. Two months to go until the Finnish international goalie arrives, but I wouldn't mind if the 21 year old French kid makes it hard for me to put him on the bench.

As I hinted in my previous post, the board's expectations are a bit higher than I had hoped for.
A top half finish in the league isn't an entirely impossible goal (though our current third place is a bit flattering). They also expect a semi-final place in the Cup though, which I feel is a bit ambitious.

Our wage budget barely went up compared to last season (2k or so), but they did give me a small transfer budget, which I immediately converted into an extra 4k wage budget.
By turning over every penny twenty times (and releasing almost the entire U19 squad with their 275/week wages, for instance), I think I managed to maintain the team's overall strength compared to last season. Only just, though.

The media predict us to finish 4th, which I really don't understand. We're really not that good. But heck, I hope their estimate is accurate; maybe the other teams are even carper.
Ah well, we shall see.

[endtime]

Might as well do a proper update...

Magni, Icelandic Premier Division, year 2021

With four league titles, two domestic cups, three supercups and two friendly league cups, Magni are now undoubtedly the best club in Iceland. Sadly, for all our domestic domination, we were unable to make even the slightest mark in Europe and currently languish in 512th place in UEFA rankings. The 2021 season was no different to previous years, as we finished 16 points clear of runners-up Valur in the league, but lost twice to Bosnian champions Modrica Maxima in the 1st round of Champions' League qualifications. Oh well, perhaps next year.

Some of the current players are:

Halldór Pétursson - became first choice after the then-first goalkeeper had a terrible game against Modrica, will probably stay in goal for the foreseeable future
Hjörtur GÃ*slason - has performed well, and his mental stats are excellent, however his poor pace and acceleration mean I'll be looking for a replacement
Guðni Ã�sgrÃ*msson - decent left-back, albeit poor technically
SÃ*mon Grétarsson - probably the best Icelandic centre-back at the moment
Anton Sveinsson - a decent defender, but will be one of the first to go if a good replacement becomes available
Þórarinn Valdimarsson - age has caught up him, despite an excellent domestic season will no longer be first choice next year
Mortan Thomsen - the Faroese left winger is one of the best players at the club, although his advancing years might necessitate finding a replacement soon
GÃ*sli Hinriksson - technically and mentally gifted, but lacks in physique; time is on his side, though
Atli Sigurjónsson - performs well enough as a holding midfielder, but advancing years and relatively poor stats make finding a new player for this position a priority
Jóhannes Þrastarson - 234 goals in 249 games for Magni say it all. Our youth product and club legend.
Jón Þór Einarsson - another Magni youth product and part of our fearsome attacking trio, has scored 112 goals in 114 games for us.
Njáll Kristjánsson - yet another prolific striker on our books
Aron Smárason - the versatile winger is a very promising player and will replace Valdimarsson in the starting lineup next season
Pétur Sigurðsson - a decent back-up defender, who can also fill in at right back.

Next year we're moving into a brand new stadium with a capacity of almost 6000; not really sure why the board decided to spend my hard-earned cash, as we were averaging only around 1900 this season and will probably never fill the new stadium anyway.

[johnnyquest409]

endtime, are you able to scout the whole of Europe yet? And if so, are there any players from abroad wanting to come to Iceland?

[Jimbokav1971]

Harry has persuaded me to start another "hot-seat" game with him and enter this challenge.

He wanted to manage somewhere that we had never managed before so we have gone for........

Belarus.

Harry has taken over a team with a ridiculously long and unpronouncable name. Kommunalnik Zhlobin.

I have taken over the bottom ranked team, (who only have youth players). FC Orsha.

[johnnyquest409]

Kommunalnik Zhlobin were one of my feeder clubs in my Novi Sad save last year

Good luck to both fo you.

[endtime]

Originally posted by johnnyquest409:
endtime, are you able to scout the whole of Europe yet? And if so, are there any players from abroad wanting to come to Iceland?

I'm still semi-pro and can only scout in Iceland

[aaberdeenn]

Kommunalnik Zhlobin are one of my feeder clubs.

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - First Division - 2010/11 End of Season Update

Wow Irish seasons dont seem to take that long to complete. Sure I only posted an update this morning.

I have no idea what to say about my season, so have the key screen shots.

Table - Never had 0 losses before in a league.
Transfers - The mass of October transfers were Bermudans showing up on my player search screen, that were interested in signing, were trialled first and were much better than any of the players I had already. (Even my assman liked them)

Irish Cup Final - in the run to this final I beat 2 premier Division teams, so was only partially hopeful of the third scalp. Portadown are this years Premier Division Champions. All I will say is Yessssssss!

Looks like if I have understood things properly that Downpatrick will be attempting the EURO cup in the new season.

Aims for new season
Dont get embarassed too badly in Europe
Survive in the Premier Division
See how many cups I get to experience in one season
Enjoy myself further
Presume my home leg in Europe will be a sellout 905 crowd!

[johnnyquest409]

Fantastic season there Gilbster
By the way though, your Table screenshot isn't working and your Transfers screenshot shows your cup final...

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by johnnyquest409:
Fantastic season there Gilbster
By the way though, your Table screenshot isn't working and your Transfers screenshot shows your cup final...

Table - I hope
Transfer - I think

Been drawn against Litex (Bulgaria) in the first qualifying round of the UEFA cup. I doubt I have any chance, but should be good experience.

Minimum expectation for this season from my board is mid table, so I just hope I can meet it.

[aaberdeenn]

I'm getting really frustrated with Croatia, I feel as if I'm getting ready to give somewhere else a bash.

[Gilbster]

UEFA Cup 1st Qualifying Round Leg 1

Well I was fairly impressed with the fact that it wasnt a complete anhilation, and yet my match confidence is a completely grey bar, and the fans are very disappointed.

What do they expect? Northern Irish clubs arent exactly a world footballing power, how can they be disappointed with a 1-3 loss?

[Konquest]

Ok... I really think it's time to do an update, as I've played 2 seasons, plenty of things have been going on in my game and, let's face it, I haven't made an update already...

NK Karlovac - Croatian Second Division - 2008-2009 Report
At the begninning of the season, Karlovac unveiled their new manager. He was heard to say: "After playing at Metalac, I wanted to take on a club that was located in a nice city. So I came to Karlovac because of the beer".

After drinking a few, the new manager took a look at his club and said:"I need to get some new guys in here, as we'll never make it". In fact, he was agreeing with the media predicting a rock bottom finish for Karlovac.

So I want on the free transfer market and spotted a couple of gems (which I see here a couple of times in other games...). From that list, you can spot Zdravko Smialjac, Ivica Novosel, Zeljko Brkic and Dragan Sladakovic. From those guys, I already knew Novosel and brkic from my Metalac game in FM07, but the others were recommander to me by my scouts. While they were all free transfers, I had to splash some future fees to get hold of them. Not that I regret it whatsoever...

The season was quite satisfying, despite a hard beginning. While we were last after 5 games, we managed to turn it around and finally finished 7th, a real respectable mid-table finish. You can view our progression in the graph.

The Croatian Cup went as expected: drew a non-league side in the preliminary round that I was able to beat and then got beaten by someone better than us in our own division. Did ok there.

While our bank balance is in the red, I'm not overly concerned about it. I sold my starting right back at the end of the season for £40K to ease the pain and keep the board happy, but that's pretty much it. I'm not selling any of my youngsters unless my chairman decides to do this over my head. I'm sure that once they mature, we'll have a pretty good team which will be able to get us promoted (and even survive in the first division).

Some random screenshots from that season:
Final standings
League progression
Our magnificent team
Transfer History
Zdravko Semialjac
Ivica Novosel
Zeljko Brkic
Dragan Sladakovic

Other update coming up soon. Taking screenshots and writing the whole thing and I'm done. And it's been an exciting season for Karlovac...!

[Konquest]

NK Karlovac - Croatian Second Division - 2009-2010 Report
After an encouraging end of season, our guys were ready to rock this year. Confidence was high in the dressing room. Youngsters gained one more year, meaning they were getting faster, better and were eager to continue their development.

And it showed. We started the season like lions, winning our first 8 league games. We were standing proud at the top of the rankings, and morale was high. The guys were playing superbly, making every game like the best game of the year before. If you look at the graph, you see that we somehow fell a couple times in second place, but we were never far from the top, reclaiming the promotion spot usually after one game. And it would be like that until the end of the season. Against all odds, we managed to win the league...! 3 points in front of Belisce and 6 points in front of Solin. Youngsters made me really proud. And it's about time too, as all of my starting 11 has little "Wnt" icons next to their name. That reputation boost will help me keep them in my team.

The Croatian Cup was a mixed blessing. We lost in the preliminary round, 0-1 against Vrbovec, but that allowed us to concentrate on the league and clinch the promotion. There's always next year for the Cup...

(Note: That contrasts a lot with my Metalac game from last year, in which I had won the Croatian Cup while still being in the second division... and it took us 4 years to get promoted. I rather like my situation right now than my Metalac situation after 2 years...)

Individually, you can pretty much guessed what happened. Semialjac was great in front, Novosel was towering in the defense and our talented wingers got plenty of assists. That was also complemented by Kruno Djerdj, my star signing from that season.

Now, with the screenshots...

League Table
Graph
Player stats
Transfers - A relatively quiet season, as I was confident in our team.
Our magnificent team
Zdravko Semialjac - 21 goals, 7 assists in 30 games is great from the youngster
Drazen Jurcic - My support striker. 13 goals and 5 assists in 24 games. Injured 2 times in the season...
Kruno Djerdj - Wow! 15 goals, 10 assists in his first season. Promised to great things.
Zejlko Brkic - 4 goals and 12 assists. Can I ask for anything more?
Dragan Sladakovic - 2 goals and 11 assists. Always a danger when he picks up the ball
Zvonko Bilic - Signed the youngster without much planned for him, but he stepped up really well.
Ivica Novosel - A rock in the defense, as usual.
Team records - Note the 8-0 trashing of Hr. Dragovoljac in our first season...!

Onwards and upwards!

I just hope to survive in the first division next season. And I promise that I will update more often...

[Gilbster]

Leg 2 UEFA Cup Qualifier

8-4 loss on aggregate doesnt sound too bad. Can't believe I have just been handed £50k for playing in the cup. No wonder you need to be in Europe to get any money in this game.

[aaberdeenn]

Well done Konquest.

I've had Semialjac, Djerdj, Brkic and Novosel all at some point in my game. Shame that none of them are still at the club.

[emgergo]

NK Slovan, 2014/15, Slovenian 2nd Division

Fans, board: top half
Me: top half
Media: Top half (3rd)
Odds: 2:1
---
Players in: 11 for 12K, incl. 5 on loan
Out: 15 for 750K
---

We started the season with convincing wins, then lost to Gorica and Mura, and that was it. Gorica only had two draws all season, Mura followed them from a distance, and we were watching Mura's back all year. Don't let the final 4 point margin fool you: it was usually 6-8 pts.

We were 0-0-3 against Gorica, 1-0-2 against Mura

We slaughtered the rest of the league though.

This is our 4th bronze medal from the last 6 years.

I start to feel like the only chance to cope with Mura+whoever is relegated from Div 1 is turning pro.

Or get another parent club, like Mura, who were full of Bulgarians on loan from Loko Sofia.

The year was quite dull because about 8 rounds into the season I realised that it's gonna be another 3rd place

Look mummy, another 3rd place!

Cup was alright, reached the 3rd round before bowing down to Triglav, beating fierce rivals Svoboda on the way.

I hope two decent teams (Olimpija, Rudar, whatever) will be promoted from the Third Division, because this year's newcomers were terrible. Kovinar and Miren got a combined 17 points and a 27-177 GD

League caste system looks like this

Big boys: relegated team + Mura
Almost big boys: us
Eternal mid-table mediocrity: Bela Krajina, Aluminij, Bonifika, Zavrc

The rest is cannon fodder usually.

---

I signed a 2-year contract, with increased salary

Livar are the relegated team, and Mura screwed up in the playoffs.

First division was won by Interblock, whom we faced last year in the promotion playoff

Oh well, there is always a next year.

[emgergo]

On the positive side: three players from my youth setup are showing signs of being useful, something I'm not used to.

The GK has a 8.00 rating on his 3 senior matches, the DC is inconstistent but will improve, and the ST is the surprise of the season: he had 7G + 4A and 7.36 avg. in only 11 games (5 as a sub, only 6 as a starter!)

[Benjaminoo]

Gonna load the game up now, and try and play it until the Hatton fight is on - unless I fall asleep

[aaberdeenn]

I've decided that I've had enough frustration from my time in Croatia and therefore have decided to start afresh in a new country with a new club.

This time I've gone to Serbia and I'm now the new manager of newly promoted FK Sloga Leskovac.

No staff at the club although we have a full playing squad. Predicted to finish 18th out of 18. Valued at 150k. Have a stadium with a 2,500 capacity.

Wish me luck.

[aaberdeenn]

Originally posted by aaberdeenn:
I've decided that I've had enough frustration from my time in Croatia and therefore have decided to start afresh in a new country with a new club.

This time I've gone to Serbia and I'm now the new manager of newly promoted FK Sloga Leskovac.

No staff at the club although we have a full playing squad. Predicted to finish 18th out of 18. Valued at 150k. Have a stadium with a 2,500 capacity.

Wish me luck.

Actually, forget that, I've decided to take a break from FM for a while.

I'll be back in the new year at some point with a new team.

For the table; I have no game currently running.

Cheers.

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - December 18th 2016

Mid-season table

Fifth place so far. I'd have signed for that at the start of the season. Nicely near the front of the pack.
That's pretty much what it is though, a tight pack. Only ten points the difference between 3rd and 16th place. A poor stretch could still see us finish near the bottom of the season.

With everybody taking points from everybody, this seems like the kind of season where pushing into a place that would qualify us for Europe would be a bit easier than normal. I don't think we'll be able to do that though.

So far we have the best attack in the league, but also the worst defense. We're playing very well up front, but are vulnerable at the back. That's fine as long as we keep scoring goals, but in those inevitable matches where the ball just refuses to go in, it costs us points.
So I'll be happy if we can continue to win one match in two. That should give us a position anywhere in the top half of the table. A ticket for Europe would be a great bonus, but I'm not holding my breath.

European football would come in handy just about now though, at least from a financial point of view.
Finances.

Our average attendance is up a little, but not enough to break even. End of season prize money will help a bit again, but we won't be in the black any time soon. Eleven and a half seasons to go until our loan payments are done with. Yikes.

[iacovone]

Originally posted by aaberdeenn:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by aaberdeenn:
I've decided that I've had enough frustration from my time in Croatia and therefore have decided to start afresh in a new country with a new club.

This time I've gone to Serbia and I'm now the new manager of newly promoted FK Sloga Leskovac.

No staff at the club although we have a full playing squad. Predicted to finish 18th out of 18. Valued at 150k. Have a stadium with a 2,500 capacity.

Wish me luck.

Actually, forget that, I've decided to take a break from FM for a while.

I'll be back in the new year at some point with a new team.

For the table; I have no game currently running.

Cheers. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry to hear that aaberdeenn, hope you come round to your senses and pick up where you left off in Croatia.

[Gundo]

Konquest Two great reports their, and congrats on promotion aswell.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by Gundo:
Well you did warn me cookie...

Our current stadium holds 3,225 then our board announce a stadium expansion of 3,000 seats. Cost of which is £4,600,765! So now I'm in abit of debt myself.

Well 1 Month later our board did inject £623,025 to help with 'the clubs running cost', a few more injections wouldn't go amiss.

Meanwhile we are ground sharing with our feeder club for 10 months while the work is carried out, the club I managed in this challenge last year, Stavanger IF.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by Gundo:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gundo:
Well you did warn me cookie...

Our current stadium holds 3,225 then our board announce a stadium expansion of 3,000 seats. Cost of which is £4,600,765! So now I'm in abit of debt myself.

Well 1 Month later our board did inject £623,025 to help with 'the clubs running cost', a few more injections wouldn't go amiss.

Meanwhile we are ground sharing with our feeder club for 10 months while the work is carried out, the club I managed in this challenge last year, Stavanger IF. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

And the Board inject another 625k a Month after that.

[Jimbokav1971]

Magni. Iceland. First Division. End of season 2 2008/09 update.

It started pretty poorly and although we did ok, we failed to progress in the Lower League Cup against amateur opposition.

It was a sign of things to come as we took only 1 point from a possible 15 from our opening 5 league games, and were sent crashing out of the Icelandic Cup at the first hurdle.

Things improved pretty quickly after that though, (as I brought in new players and signed existing players onto full-time contracts). We kept 8 clean sheets in 12 games from game 5 to game 17 and we seemed to stabalise first at the back and then up front as we scored 5 and 6 goals in league games 6 & 7 respectively.

League Table.

League Graph.

Information.

Finances.

Squad stats.

GK stats. (3 goals and an assist for GK Orri).

I suppose the star of the show was Súpér Jón O who top scored with 13 goals in all competitions. He struggled with the physical demands of so many games in such a short a space of time and I am already convinced that the key to early domination in leagues such as Iceland is simply a bigger squad, allowing you to rotate players and keep them in peak condition. I will be attempting to increase the depth of the squad with this in mind for the start of next season.

[endtime]

Good luck with Magni Jimbo, hope you can do better than me with them


And while on the subject of Magni: Season 2022 saw us hammer MTK 7:1 in Budapest in the first round of CL qualifications. In the second round we very narrowly went out against Maccabi Haifa (0:1, 0:1) after the refs awarded them a dubious penalty in each match Progress at last!

[iacovone]

Guys I'm going to do an 'aaberdeenn' and give myself a break from FM for a couple of weeks. Got too much work on at the moment. Look forward to catching up with you all soon. KUTGW

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2011/12 End of Season Update

For a first season in the top division, it started really badly with a few losses. However I hit a nice run of form in the middle of the season and ended up finishing 5h.

1st Qualifying round of the EURO Cup was marginally better than expected only a 8-4 loss on Aggregate to a Bulgarian side.

All Ireland cup was nice for the money but I couldnt win a single group game, but there are always other seasons.

Also reached Semi Finals of the Irish Cup and League cup, and lost to an all grey side in the Final of the Antrim Cup.

All in all not a bad season for my first attempt in the top flight, and it looks like Portadown's domination will need to be broken down eventually.

Table
Transfers
Info Screen - nice young squad
Competition Confidence Screen - Has anyone seen the comment for the All Ireland Cup before?
Goalkeeper Stats - 5 goals, 2 assists, free kick rating of 14, and hes only 20 years old

[butts]

Gonna give this another go this year as i did really well with Ballymacash Rangers in Northern Ireland on FM07. On holiday now and was just wondering what date i need to reurn?

[Gilbster]

Premier Division young player of the year award - Nice to see a Downpatrick whitewash there. Should be encouraging for future years.

[aaberdeenn]

There's a table on page 11 with all the re-set dates.

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick announce a new link - I didnt ask for this, however I wont say no to West Ham possibly sending me players.

[endtime]

Well, we did it this time. I guess now our aim will be to score 100 goals or concede none

[Gundo]

Originally posted by endtime:
Well, we did it this time. I guess now our aim will be to score 100 goals or concede none

Superb achievement endtime.

Do you reckon it's even possible to go a whole league campaign without conceding a goal?

[Gundo]

iacovone Sorry to hear that, I know it won't be too long before you're back.


butts
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> League re-set dates

Austria - 23rd June.
Belarus - 10th February.
Belgium - 29th June.
Bulgaria - 29th June.
Croatia - 18th June.
Czech Republic - 28th June.
Denmark - 5th July.
Finland - 7th January.
Greece - 19th June.
Hungary - 19th June.
Iceland - 20th January.
Ireland - 5th January.
Israel -
N.Ireland - 19th June.
Norway - 18th January.
Poland - 28th June.
Serbia - 9th July.
Slovakia - 28th June.
Slovenia - 28th June.
Sweden - 25th December.
Switzerland -
Turkey -
Ukraine -
Wales - 18th June. </pre>

[endtime]

Originally posted by Gundo:

Do you reckon it's even possible to go a whole league campaign without conceding a goal?

Doubt it, there will always be some dumb defender who gives away a penalty or tries to dribble past the opposition attacker. Anyway, I already feel bad enough about dominating to such a degree - being a llama I'm not used to success - and would like to lose or at least draw every once in a while

[CoachFlu]

Sigh. Another annoyance popped up in my game.

Board takeover.

I didn't get the sack, it's not that. But it caused a few more twists in the plot.

Firstly, the new chairman decides to cancel our link with Feyenoord because he "wants a change in strategy at the club." Fine, whatever, but couldn't you just wait a few months? It's mid March, we're in an unexpected title race, and he cancels the link, thereby sending two loan signings on their way. Both strikers, neither a key part of my team, thank god, though one was my regular bench sitter who usually came in for the last 10-20 minutes, and the first one to step in in case of injury. Knock on wood that my two starters stay on their feet for two more months.

Then he restructures our loan payments. With which sentiment I can agree, it's just that the result is rather annoying.
He decided to loan a few mil extra, just to get us out of the red temporarily, and bundled the loans together into a new 25 year loan.

So now, instead of paying 300k/month for the next 11 years, we'll be paying 275k/month for the next 25 years.
Oh yeah, that's MUCH better. 11 years is a long time, but at least the light at the end of the tunnel was starting to become visible. But 2042... that's an eternity away.
(I also think the numbers don't add up, so I posted it in the bugs forum.)

Ah well. At least it's going decent enough on the pitch, for now. But I'll save that for a later update.

[emgergo]

Mini update:

Slovan's 6th season in the abyss of the Slovenian Div. 2, and maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We are 6-0-0 in the league, have beaten both promotion rivals, and won three hard away games.

Cup was funny, we ran into two fierce rivals. Of course the second team (consisting of greys) knocked me out

[emgergo]

Just hammered Mura 7-2 (!!!) away

Deus vult!

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by emgergo:
Just hammered Mura 7-2 (!!!) away

Deus vult!

Well done, glad to see you have finally beaten them

[Gilbster]

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2012/13 End of Season Update

Wow what an amazing season. Lets raise a glass to many more like this.

Table - Am I allowed to be slightly annoyed with the 3 draws?
Transfers - Some more trialled islanders this year
Signing of the Season - and what a signing he was
Antrim Cup Final
Irish Cup Final
GK Stats - another 4 goals and 4 assists - up to a career 9 goals and 7 assists in total so far
Hall of Fame Induction - I have never had that before

Well as you can see that was a triple sucess, and just a shame I lost in the semi of the league cup.

There was a run of 16 straight leagues from October to January, and a run of games without losing from October to currently which stands at 35 games. (I know there is a curse on these threads, but if my first competitive game is a qualifier, then the streak will be dead anyway!)

In the pre-season a link with West Ham was announced, but I havent had any players from them yet, but so long as they pay each year I'm not bothered.

Next season we get to attempt the All Ireland Cup again, hope we get at least 1 win in it this time.

Also next time we get to attempt the qualifiers for the Champions League. Hopefully it wont be too embarassing.

Lets hope for another sucessful season next year.

[CoachFlu]

Meldert, Belgium - May 13th 2017

Mid-season table
End of season

Well, that was... easier than I expected.
Before the start of the season, I was slightly worried that we wouldn't be able to achieve the board's top-half expectation. Halfway into the season we were 5th, and I was quite pleased. A top half finish looked probable, and if I could get a ticket for Europe, that would be a nice bonus. Not once did I consider we'd be challenging for the title.

But then we came out of the winter break with a 6 match win streak, and into the lead we went. Still I expected a drop in form, but it never came. Somehow we just kept earning points - often narrowly, but they counted just the same. We never gave away the lead, and even ran away in the last three matches.

It's a bit odd, I don't feel as if we have a championship quality team. I guess we were just a little bit more consistent than the other teams.
That's confirmed by the observation that we never had a clear challenger for our top spot. Charleroi, who were in the lead at the winter break, ended up finishing 7th. Oostende, who finished 2nd, were still in 7th place on match day 31, and only had a final surge when we already clinched the title. Same thing for Standard. Cercle Brugge and Club Brugge were the teams closest to me with 3 matches to go, but they ended up finishing 4th and 5th.
In short: it's not that we were so good, it's just that everyone else pretty much sucked.

Still, a title is a title, and we'll take it. Quite pleased with my players though. I feel I got the absolute most out of the team this season.

The team.

Still no big stars in the team, but just a balanced group of players of a decent-to-good quality, who click together reasonably well.

Signing the Finnish goalie in December played a key part in our success. He quickly became a fan favorite, and rightly so. His attributes aren't as impressive as those of some of my young goalies, but he played like a star.

Obviously I'm quite pleased with my striker pair as well - 24 goals each, can't ask for more than that (especially considering that my coaches only rate them as "decent").

Lukaku , like Lambrechts, is an ex-Anderlecht youngster. Had him on loan 5 years ago, and he scored himself into the club record books back then. When Anderlecht released him two summers ago, I picked him up.

Another ex-loan kid who signed a permanent deal several years later is Bram De Taeye. My highest valued player, and crucial at the back. Almost international, but not quite (got called up twice but never made the squad). Played for me already on loan in 2010/11, and picked him up on a Bosman last summer.

I like it when talented youngsters on loan return to their clubs with 'Meldert' in their favoured clubs list - makes it easier to sign them later, when they grow up.

Anyway... part one of the challenge came a bit sooner than I expected. I'll still need plenty of time to get anywhere in Europe, though.

No expectations about Europe yet for next season, though it would be quite welcome, financially, if we could get to the group stage. We'll need a bit of luck in the draw for that though.

Not sure where I'll enter the competition, but I suppose it's either the Second or Third Qualifying Round. Since we're the only Belgian team in the CL next season, I'm hoping it's the Third round.

Belgian teams have been performing quite poorly in Europe so far. In the last 9 seasons, only Club Brugge managed to reach the CL group stage twice, and both times got only 1 point.

I suspect that a lack of consistency in the league is hurting the teams' performances in Europe. New teams qualify for Europe almost every season, and then usually crash out early. If there were a few strong teams who end near the top of the league each season, it would be a bit easier for them to advance on a continental level.

Club Brugge has been by far the most consistent team in the Belgian First Division, but even they don't qualify for Europe each year. Other teams seem to do well one year, then fail miserably the next.

Last season's champions Antwerp, for instance, only finished 14th this year. The champions before that, KVSK Lommel, did even worse, finishing rock bottom and relegating the next year.
I guess that sets me a clear challenge for next season, to avoid following that trend.


History:

2008/09: Third Division A - 6th
2009/10: Third Division A - 2nd (P)
2010/11: Second Division - 6th
2011/12: Second Division - 1st (P)
2012/13: First Division - 17th (R)
2013/14: Second Division - 3rd
2014/15: Second Division - 1st (P)
2015/16: First Division - 6th
2016/17: First Division - 1st (Champions!)

[butts]

Thanks Gundo and aaberdeen.

Got clough rangers who only have one player and he is shocking, said i would go for a top half finish though.

Profile

[iacovone]

Originally posted by Gundo:
iacovone Sorry to hear that, I know it won't be too long before you're back.

I'll be back, don't you worry

Final week of uni term, then I'll get straight back in!

[johnnyquest409]

Originally posted by Gilbster:
Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2012/13 End of Season Update

Wow what an amazing season. Lets raise a glass to many more like this.

Table - Am I allowed to be slightly annoyed with the 3 draws?
Transfers - Some more trialled islanders this year
Signing of the Season - and what a signing he was
Antrim Cup Final
Irish Cup Final
GK Stats - another 4 goals and 4 assists - up to a career 9 goals and 7 assists in total so far
Hall of Fame Induction - I have never had that before

Well as you can see that was a triple sucess, and just a shame I lost in the semi of the league cup.

There was a run of 16 straight leagues from October to January, and a run of games without losing from October to currently which stands at 35 games. (I know there is a curse on these threads, but if my first competitive game is a qualifier, then the streak will be dead anyway!)

In the pre-season a link with West Ham was announced, but I havent had any players from them yet, but so long as they pay each year I'm not bothered.

Next season we get to attempt the All Ireland Cup again, hope we get at least 1 win in it this time.

Also next time we get to attempt the qualifiers for the Champions League. Hopefully it wont be too embarassing.

Lets hope for another sucessful season next year.

Wow! Very impressive stuff! Now comes the hard part!

[Gilbster]

Originally posted by johnnyquest409:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gilbster:
Downpatrick, Northern Ireland - Premier Division - 2012/13 End of Season Update

Wow what an amazing season. Lets raise a glass to many more like this.

Table - Am I allowed to be slightly annoyed with the 3 draws?
Transfers - Some more trialled islanders this year
Signing of the Season - and what a signing he was
Antrim Cup Final
Irish Cup Final
GK Stats - another 4 goals and 4 assists - up to a career 9 goals and 7 assists in total so far
Hall of Fame Induction - I have never had that before

Well as you can see that was a triple sucess, and just a shame I lost in the semi of the league cup.

There was a run of 16 straight leagues from October to January, and a run of games without losing from October to currently which stands at 35 games. (I know there is a curse on these threads, but if my first competitive game is a qualifier, then the streak will be dead anyway!)

In the pre-season a link with West Ham was announced, but I havent had any players from them yet, but so long as they pay each year I'm not bothered.

Next season we get to attempt the All Ireland Cup again, hope we get at least 1 win in it this time.

Also next time we get to attempt the qualifiers for the Champions League. Hopefully it wont be too embarassing.

Lets hope for another sucessful season next year.

Wow! Very impressive stuff! Now comes the hard part! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah trying to figure out how to beat any non Northern Irish side :P

Was drawn against Shelbourne (Rep of Ireland) in the Champions League 1st Qualifying round, and lost 6-0 on aggregate. The away leg was only a 2-0 loss, so I did have some hope.

It does mean I'm praying I dont have Shelbourne in my All Ireland Cup group this season, and just hope I can get some points in the group when its drawn.

[johnnyquest409]

Congratulations CoachFlu, excellent season there and a quality update
Best of luck with the European Challenge now!

[cookie15]

Congratulations Coachflu, great update to boot!

[Gilbster]

Congratulations CoachFlu and good luck in Europe.

Possible Bug? - take a look at my confidence for the Champions Cup, which I lost in the first qualifying round? Is it worth reporting this somewhere?

[rlipscombe]

congrats from me too coachFlu!! let's hope you can bring european glory to your team now. what are you like money-wise?? have you decent transfer funds? what sort of quality can you attract to the club now?

Gundo: any chance you ould do an up-to-date list of who's playing what etc? if i start a new game i want to have a new team, and maybe new league, so would help me!! don't worry if can't do at the moment though.....

[johnnyquest409]

Originally posted by Gilbster:
Congratulations CoachFlu and good luck in Europe.

Possible Bug? - take a look at my confidence for the Champions Cup, which I lost in the first qualifying round? Is it worth reporting this somewhere?

According to that, you've completed the challenge
Haha, it probably is worth reporting, hopefully the board won't actually be annoyed with you though.

[johnnyquest409]

rlipscombe, as far as I'm aware, nobody is currently playing in Austria, Romania or Czech Republic...

[CoachFlu]

Originally posted by rlipscombe:
congrats from me too coachFlu!! let's hope you can bring european glory to your team now. what are you like money-wise?? have you decent transfer funds? what sort of quality can you attract to the club now?

Our finances are very tricky, and will require careful management. We've been losing money for as long as I can remember now.

We have to make 275k/month in loan payments for the next 25 years. I don't think we'll be breaking even on a month-to-month basis any time soon.

On the bright side, the new chairman loaned a bit extra a few months ago to get us out of the red, and with the end-of-season prize money added to that, we actually ended the season in the black. That means I could request a much needed training facility upgrade (it was fairly basic). The youth facilities will have to wait yet again (they're basic).
It also gave us a much needed rise in wage and transfer budget.

This past season, our wage budget was (adjusted to) 39k euro. Without knowing the actual numbers of the other teams, I'm quite sure that that was among the lowest in the First Division.
Our new budget will be 61k, with a 1.7mil transfer budget. 61k is still lower than the First Division average (and we're expected to challenge for the title), but at least the transfer budget gives me room for adjusting the wage budget.
(At a guess from looking at the squad screens, I'd say 75-90k is about average for a mid-table team, with Club Brugge having clearly the highest wage budget, probably around 300k.)

I'm not decided yet on the financial strategy though. With the heavy loan payments, it's gonna be tough to break even.
So I could try to keep the wages as low as possible, while still trying to meet the board's expectations. Or I could stretch the wage budget as far as possible, and aim to break even by going as far as possible in Europe.
It's probably gonna be something in the middle.

I'm in the scouting-for-reinforcements stage now (early July), and it looks like the quality of the players willing to sign for me has gone up since last year (which is no surprise). The max cap on my wages is limiting me a lot though (lots of "doesn't think Meldert can meet his demands" comments). So I'm not gonna be signing world class players just yet.

Consistently qualifying for Europe is probably gonna be the only way I can start breaking even. Not just qualifying, even - reaching the group stage of either the CL or UEFA Cup will be needed.

That's not gonna be easy this season. We'll be starting in the Second Qualifying Round of the Champions League, and we're drawn against Dinamo Kiev. That's not a top team, but probably one of the tougher teams who we could've drawn.
So it could be over quite fast. I'm hoping we can get past them though, then we'll have at least two more home matches (one more CL Qual round, and then probably a UEFA Cup round.) That could be enough to give us some financial breathing room for this season.

[Gundo]

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Gundo's FM08 Small club from a small nation European adventure challenge Table .30/11

(Nat) League Year Club Username Club & Nation Coeff. Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Bel) Second 2008/09 Lyra TSV Kingrooney - - -
(Bel) Second 2009/10 Patro Eisden DS - - -
(Bel) First 2008/09 Molodechno spider90 - - -
(Bel) Third 2008/09 Meldert Storzy - - -
(Bel) Premier 2017/18 Meldert CoachFlu - - Domestic Title
(Blr) First 2011 Molodechno Reverand&Makers - - -
(Bul) West B 2008/09 Pirin LongView3 - - -
(Cro) First 2013/14 NK Slavonija iacovone - - -
(Cro) Second 2011/12 NK Novalja aaberdeenn - - -
(Cro) First 2009/10 NK Karlovac Konquest - - -
(Den) Premier 2010 Helsingør Alurny - - -
(Fin) Second 2008 KajHa RockLobster - - -
(Gre) Second 2009/10 Panaitolikis Benjaminoo - - -
(Gre) Second 2008/09 Messiniakos yababo - - -
(Hün) Premier 2014/15 Békéscsaba Elöre Quacky 296th 6.960 24th 10.833 Domestic Title x2
(Ice) First 2008 KS/Leiftur argyle4ever - - -
(Ice) Premier 2023 Magni endtime - - Domestic Title x5
(Ice) First 2008 Reynir Ste93 - - -
(Ice) First 2008 KF Fjarðabyggð westhamrob - - -
(Ice) First 2009 Hamar Bluenose_92 - - -
(Ice) First 2009 Reynir lucky326 - - -
(Ice) Premier 2012 Kari Jazza - - -
(Ice) First 2008 Grotta cr4z3d - - -
(Ice) First 2009 Magni Jimbokav1971 - - -
(N.I) Second 2008/09 Newbuildings XaW - - -
(N.I) Second 2008/09 Clough Rangers mikedavd - - -
(N.I) Premier 2012/13 Nortel Annihilator666 450th 0.605 46th 1.999 -
(N.I) Premier 2011/12 Sirocco Works Fire Bracelet - - -
(N.I) Premier 2013/14 Downpatrick Gilbster - - -
(N.I) Second 2008/09 Clough Rangers butts - - -
(Nor) First 2010 Randaberg IL Gundo - - -
(Nor) First 2010 Skjetten cookie15 - - -
(Nor) Second 2008 Nest-Sotra IL Spurs1979 - - -
(Rus) First 2007/08 Amur johnnyquest409 - - -
(Ser) First 2009/10 FK Zeleznicar Clarence Seedorf - - -
(Slo) Second 2015/16 NK Slovan emgergo - - -
(Slk) First 2011/12 Puchov migwar - - Domestic Title
(Swe) First 2010 Kalmar AIK FK briott - - -
(Swe) Second 2008 Eslöv MrDiCanio - - -
(Swe) Second 2008 Kaapo iseemonsters - - -
(Swe) Premier 2014 Krokom freek_teek - - -
(Swe) Second 2008 Angby IF 3Sixty - - -
(Swi) First 2008/09 Martigny Sports konquest - - -
(Pol) Second 2008/09 Stal Rzeszow NeoAC - - -
(Pol) Second 2009/10 TKP Torun Supermas2 - - -
(Tur) Second 2008/09 Keciörengücü Sazchu - - -
(Ukr) First 2008/09 Arsenal Billa MoongooseMcQueen - - -
(Wal) Premier 2008/09 Taffs Well 3Sixty - - -
(Wal) Premier 2008/09 Pontypridd Spagbol - - -

Jimbo v Jimbo jnr
(Blr) First 2008 FC Orsha Jimbo - - -
(Blr) First 2008 Kommunalnik Zhlobin Jimbo Jnr - - -
</pre>

[rlipscombe]

cheers Gundo!!

sorry to be a pain....

[Gundo]

Congrats to CoachFlu & Gilbster on your domestic titles.

[Gilbster]

Thanks Gundo.

My coefficients are currently

Club - 0.439, 474th
Nation - 1.333 44th

[Gundo]

Noted Gilbster.


On the Randaberg stadium front, our board has plowed an incredible amount of cash into the club, is this normal?

Anyone who's had a new stadium constructed, did you get plenty of money back from the board or is it just that mine have a bottomless pit of money?

[endtime]

Can't remember how much my stadium cost, but the board took something like 2m from our bank account and never paid it back.

[CoachFlu]

Originally posted by Gundo:
On the Randaberg stadium front, our board has plowed an incredible amount of cash into the club, is this normal?

Anyone who's had a new stadium constructed, did you get plenty of money back from the board or is it just that mine have a bottomless pit of money?

If you mean cash injections, yeah, I've had several of those along the way. They never fill the hole all the way though, just add a little now and then to avoid dropping too far below zero. Feels like an artificial mechanism to avoid user-controlled teams from having their finances spiral completely out of control.

I've noticed that they only do a cash injection if the cash balance bar in the confidence screen is completely empty. Once that starts filling up a little bit again, you're back on your own.

That corresponds to a different amount depending on your league.
Back in the 2nd Div, when they put us a few mil in the red by expanding the stadium, they filled it up with cash injections gradually (each time a bit less), until we were at -300k or so. Then they left the rest up to me.
In the First Div. now, they only do a cash injection when I go below -3mil. (which rarely happens lately, I'm always in the red, just not far enough to get cash injections.)

A new development on the cash front came last season, when we had a board takeover, and the new chairman immediately loaned a few mil extra just to clear our running debts. Hopefully he doesn't make a habit of that, I prefer the normal cash injections.


Our coefficients, by the way:
Nation: 24th -- 14.925 (1-2-1)
Club: 340th -- 4.921

Looks like I'll also have the task to bring Belgium's coefficient back up a bit. It's been dropping the last few seasons.
Two years ago we had 2-2-1 spots (CL-UEFA-EV). Last year they dropped to 18th, for 1-3-1 spots. Now they dropped even further, and we lost a UEFA Cup spot.

[Gundo]

Cheers chaps.

The expansion of 3,000 seats cost 4.5 million. So from being quite stable before, it just went t**s up, thank goodness for cash injections. They already put 2.5 ish million back, via 'cash injections'.

The board confidence thingy went abit crazy, by that I mean they were 'distraught' and 'devastated' with state of the finances after the expansion announcement, well they should of thought about that before shouldn't they!

[Gilbster]

Could someone explain to me how the teams are picked for the All Ireland Cup?

According to what I saw on Wikipedia, its top 2 league sides, plus winners of the League and "FA" cups from both Northern and Republic of Ireland.

However I played Shelbourne (Rep) in the Champion's League Qualifying 1st round this season, and they dont appear to be in the All Ireland cup.

Is that possible or am I going to attempt to explain this in the bugs forum?