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

[dafuge]

That's quality, looks like you have the perfect combination of winger and striker working down the right hand side. A 26/7 split between the shots of your two strikers is a bit bonkers though.

Do you have screenshots of the two players?

[NepentheZ]

Andrew Smylie
Charles Strain

They do work well together. Last season Strain got 90 assists. This season he's only 4th on the assists leaderboard for Knockbreda.

[dafuge]

Smylie looks quality, he looks far better than any player I ever had in NI.

[NepentheZ]

A product of my youth team, no less. I've had the top training / youth facilities for a number of years now, so it was only a matter of time before I got a legend through. Still, not the best N. Irish player to have played for Knockbreda, it seems....

Stuart Parker - Profile
Stuart Parker - History

His stats are still brilliant for his age, and in his prime I'd argue that he's quite possibly one of the best 5 regens I've ever seen in any of my saves.

[dafuge]

Seeing that makes me wish I'd spent a bit more time on my Sirocco Works game earlier on. I literally ran out of time playing it, but I was getting to the point where my youth players were fetching £2-3m at times and my team was seriously challenging for the Champions League title (2-0 up in the final with 10 minutes to go and I blew it ).

I think for FM09 I'll give it another proper go like I did with FM07.

[roberto922]

I'm gonna see if I can play this a bit more too, the only thing that stopped me when I first joined the forums was that I was pretty crap at the time but I've improved alot since I started Dafuges challenge (I'd only managed Everton in all my other saves.)

[daemonic]

.... I was pretty crap at the time..... (I'd only managed Everton in all my other saves.)

Are the 2 connected???

Just teasing, Everton fans should be pitied not bullied.

Best of luck with the challenge.

[Quackje]

FWIW, I'm a fan of the current shape and form

The only big difference I would possibly like is if it encompassed all leagues except the top European ones and go for Champions league/Equivalent and World Club. It would be a bit easy in Argentina but Brazil would be tough still just to get promoted. The only reason I say this is so there is an active challenge for all the leagues in the game. There have been south american/asian versions of this but they're just not very active.

[rlipscombe]

Me too, although I'm don't want to rule out any new additions or guidelines that would improve on the current format.

that seems an interesting comment Gundo... intriguing!

[cookie15]

Well it's been a while............................................. .......!
My life has been so chaotic over recent months it has sadly meant that my FM08 game time has sadly been significantly curtailed. However, i just wanted to congratulate so many of you for continued endeavours in this challenge.
Some of you may know my afinity to these challenges, particularly Dafuge's and my good Norwegian mate Gundo's. I have to say these things is what gives me the interest and desire to continue to play the game. Saying that, i've bought a new computer which is a mac (please not everybody shout at me) and as a result i have not been able to transfer my save games!

I just want to let you guys know that i will be back with FM09 and Skjetten will rule Europe once more (Gundo will i still be able to manage them?)

Speak to you all soon!

Cookie15

[rlipscombe]

The only big difference I would possibly like is if it encompassed all leagues except the top European ones and go for Champions league/Equivalent and World Club. It would be a bit easy in Argentina but Brazil would be tough still just to get promoted. The only reason I say this is so there is an active challenge for all the leagues in the game. There have been south american/asian versions of this but they're just not very active.

just because they're not overly active doesn't necessarily mean that they should be merged in this challenge though. If they're good enough, they will get the players. i think that it's mainly about timing really and getting the threads going as soon as FM09 comes out. Obviously this and Dafuges will get the most players, but there is no reason why those shouldn't get players too. As a player of the "small club from big euro nation" thread (1 of about 3 at the moment... ) i think that the lack of game players in this challenge is mainly due to the lateness of it being started. people were already into their dafuge or gundo careers, so it was hard to get it established. Hopefully this won't be the case in FM09.

[Razer82]

just because they're not overly active doesn't necessarily mean that they should be merged in this challenge though. If they're good enough, they will get the players. i think that it's mainly about timing really and getting the threads going as soon as FM09 comes out. Obviously this and Dafuges will get the most players, but there is no reason why those shouldn't get players too. As a player of the "small club from big euro nation" thread (1 of about 3 at the moment... ) i think that the lack of game players in this challenge is mainly due to the lateness of it being started. people were already into their dafuge or gundo careers, so it was hard to get it established. Hopefully this won't be the case in FM09.

I think you're right there, the number of players in a challenge is just down to timing - if all of them start early then people are able to chose the one that interests them the most. It's a shame that the others aren't getting as much interest because they're all still really good challenges, if I wasn't so determined to get Clough Rangers a Champions League title I would be playing the small club from a big euro nation challenge too.

I think for 09 I'm going to have to try and have a couple of games on the go at the same time to participate in all the challenges! Especially seeing the Asia challenge just starting and also PH71's International challenge both great ideas.

Anyway, I think that's enough off topic ramblings from me for now.

[daemonic]

Damn, all this talk of FM09...I can feel the clock ticking on getting this challenge completed (for the 2nd time, had to mention that ) before its time to move on.

In save game news, we're now seeded 2nd for the Group Stage draw of the CL as our co-efficient continues to rise. Although this will be the last season of dramatic improvements as we've scored double figure co-efficient scores every year of the last 5 now, so no small scores to be replaced anymore.

[Razer82]

Damn, all this talk of FM09...I can feel the clock ticking on getting this challenge completed (for the 2nd time, had to mention that ) before its time to move on.

In save game news, we're now seeded 2nd for the Group Stage draw of the CL as our co-efficient continues to rise. Although this will be the last season of dramatic improvements as we've scored double figure co-efficient scores every year of the last 5 now, so no small scores to be replaced anymore.

Really subtle daemonic! Nice!

At least you've made it to the end of the challenge, think of us poor souls in Northern Ireland who struggle on.

I keep thinking that I'm finally going to be seeded 3rd in the CL but it's just not happening. Maybe next season when we get a second team in the draw.

[daemonic]

I'm unsure as to whether our climb into Europe's top 32 has bumped up our seeding to 2nd or if Ireland jumping to 12th in the co-efficient, allowing a second team enter the CL at the 2nd Qualifying Round, caused it. Either way it seems like progress....just need to qualify from the group and avoid the big guns to try make the quarters...sounds easy really

Other progress is players have actually signed contract extensions...it's crazy...I have no idea how to negotiate anymore. I'm just so happy they're willing to even discuss a contract that I end up throwing money at them.

[Gundo]

Well it's been a while............................................. .......!
My life has been so chaotic over recent months it has sadly meant that my FM08 game time has sadly been significantly curtailed. However, i just wanted to congratulate so many of you for continued endeavours in this challenge.
Some of you may know my afinity to these challenges, particularly Dafuge's and my good Norwegian mate Gundo's. I have to say these things is what gives me the interest and desire to continue to play the game. Saying that, i've bought a new computer which is a mac (please not everybody shout at me) and as a result i have not been able to transfer my save games!

I just want to let you guys know that i will be back with FM09 and Skjetten will rule Europe once more (Gundo will i still be able to manage them?)

Speak to you all soon!

Cookie15

Welcome back mate. I'm afraid Skjetten fotball wont be eligible to manage in this challenge in FM09. The reason being; they are currently 12 points clear of the drop zone in the 2nd divisjon avd 4 with only 6 games left to play, so it's highly unlikely they'll go down. At least they've survived irl though hey? every cloud...

[Razer82]

I'm unsure as to whether our climb into Europe's top 32 has bumped up our seeding to 2nd or if Ireland jumping to 12th in the co-efficient, allowing a second team enter the CL at the 2nd Qualifying Round, caused it. Either way it seems like progress....just need to qualify from the group and avoid the big guns to try make the quarters...sounds easy really

Other progress is players have actually signed contract extensions...it's crazy...I have no idea how to negotiate anymore. I'm just so happy they're willing to even discuss a contract that I end up throwing money at them.

I'd probably be offering them huge contracts too, anything to get them to stay for another couple of seasons. I'm losing 4 first team players on frees at the end of my current season.

[Fitzaay]

Albert Foundry - Northern Irish Firstd Division - 09/10 (Season 2)

Media Prediction: 9th
My Prediction: 2nd
Final Position: 1st

I was right that we'd jump straight to the Premier Division, it was close but we pipped Limavady for the title. Faired poorly in cups with the exception of a 5th round heartbreaker against Donegal Celtic. Bank Balance is over 100k deficit, hopefully nothing bad happens


Final Table


One to watch: Micheal Watson
He spent 2 months injured but still averages quite well, hoping to see him stay fully fit next season.

[Supermas2]

Well, in my last update for the 2015/16 season, I did say that we could do with a stadium expansion - but the board kept telling me we didnt have the cash, so imagine my surprise when I get a message where the board announce a new stadium!

Exciting times ahead for TKP Torun (even if the stadium will still be the smallest in the league!)

[Gundo]

Well, in my last update for the 2015/16 season, I did say that we could do with a stadium expansion - but the board kept telling me we didnt have the cash, so imagine my surprise when I get a message where the board announce a new stadium!

Exciting times ahead for TKP Torun (even if the stadium will still be the smallest in the league!)

I'm so jealous. I've just had a couple of small expansions onto our exsisting ground, although we've never really had the capital in the bank tbh. It's great getting a new stadium though isn't it, always seemed to give me a real lift and more more enthusiasm to do well at the club.

[Supermas2]

I'm so jealous. I've just had a couple of small expansions onto our exsisting ground, although we've never really had the capital in the bank tbh. It's great getting a new stadium though isn't it, always seemed to give me a real lift and more more enthusiasm to do well at the club.

Getting a new stadium was a lift.

But right now i can barely contain my excitement!

After knocking out Dinamo Minsk and Steuau Bucharest, an incredible 8-4 aggregate win over Rangers, including a 5-4 win at Ibrox, means that little old TKP Torun are into the Champions League Group stage!

Screenshots will be in my end of season report.

Draw to follow...!

[Razer82]

Razer82 – Clough Rangers – 2023 / 2024 – Northern Irish Premier Division

League – 1st – Champions!
Champions League – Finished 3rd in Group D
UEFA Cup – 2nd Knockout Round – Lost 6-3 on agg to Man United
Northern Irish Cup – Winners! Defeated Portadown 10-0
League Cup – Winners! Defeated Wakehurst 3-0
Antrim Cup – Winners! Defeated Linfield 2-0
All Ireland Cup – Winners! Defeated Bohemians 6-2


Manager Profile
Team Stats
Transfers Summary
Top Scorer


We started this season with a nice surprise, the increased co-efficients meant that for the first time ever, we were not in the first qualifying round of the Champions League. We jump straight to the second round where we remained one of the seeded sides. This gave us a tie with Partizani of Albania. A comfortable 4-1 victory in the away leg meant that we were practically in the 3rd qualifying round. Partizani still battled hard in the second leg and we scraped a 4-3 victory to progress 8-4 on agg.

This year also saw us seeded for the 3rd Qualifying round for the first time, this gave us Ukrainian giants Shakhtar, a team that probably should be seeded themselves! They visited our place first and we gave ourselves the best chance of making the group stage by winning 2-0. The return leg was a high scoring affair, eventually ending 4-4 which allowed us to progress 6-4 on agg.

I was hoping that we might have progressed to being 3rd seeds for the group stage, but that was not to be this season. We were handed what I think was our toughest group ever, Bayern, Real Madrid and PSG. I was thinking we’d be lucky to get points this year. To my surprise we began the games with a 2-1 victory over Real at home, we followed this with a cracking 3-3 draw in Paris. Two defeats to Bayern followed and we were then easily beaten by Real in Spain. This left us bottom of the group and needing to beat PSG to make the UEFA Cup. Knowing that we can beat anyone at home gave me hope that we’d be able to make it through – an amazing 5-1 victory secured us 3rd place and a spot in the UEFA Cup.

Our opponents in the UEFA Cup were the team that we’d knocked out of the Champions League earlier in the year, Shakhtar. We began the tie with the tough trip to the Ukraine where we managed to scrape ourselves a 1-1 draw, not the result I was looking for, but glad of the away goal. The return leg was also a tightly contested match that we managed to win 3-2 to go through to the 2nd knockout round.

Our 2nd knockout round opponents were Man United and we would begin the tie with a trip to Old Trafford. In what turned out to be a one sided match, United showed the quality that they had in a convincing 3-0 win. We’d always played well at home, but I was thinking that this might be one margin that we wouldn’t be able to overcome. We played well at home and managed to get a number of goals, but a final score of 3-3 meant that we were out of Europe, falling to 6-3 agg defeat.

As is becoming the norm, we retained all our domestic trophies without too many problems. We became the club that has won the most All Ireland Cups, taking our 5th consecutive title this year with a 6-2 hammering of Bohemians. We also eclipsed last year’s league goals record of 125 by smashing a massive 139 Goals past our opponents.

It was once again the usual suspects when it came to our top performers, Laszlo Tolnai (99 Goals & 37 Assists) was by far the best of the bunch, his goal scoring total a record for both the club and in the league and was also named Europe’s Leading Goalscorer. He was joined up front as various points in the season by Alan Ball (46 Goals & 19 Assists), Ales Svoboda (41 Goals) and Jakub Hlavacek (22 Goals). Top midfield performers were Yaw Tetteh (30 Assists), Vladimir Jirasek (23 Assists), Frantisek Barta (20 Assists) and David Walker (17 Assists).

With Tetteh, Walker, Peter Bako, Hlavacek, Roman Zboncak all leaving on free transfers at the end of the season, next year will require some rebuilding in order to keep our performances up. But I’m pretty sure that our finances can take the hit in transfer fees.

Our first stadium expansion in a number of years was also announced this season taking our capacity to nearly 20k.

Main aim for next season are a bit of progress in Europe, maybe even a 2nd place in a Champions League Group, we’ll have to see what happens.


Gundo – For your table – 13 Domestic Titles
Coefficients
Club – 59.550 – 40th (Up 8 Places)
Country – 24.667 – 13th (Up 5 Places)

[rancer890]

Wow, very good job Razer

What nationalities do you have on your team (just naturally curious)?

[Supermas2]

Getting a new stadium was a lift.

But right now i can barely contain my excitement!

After knocking out Dinamo Minsk and Steuau Bucharest, an incredible 8-4 aggregate win over Rangers, including a 5-4 win at Ibrox, means that little old TKP Torun are into the Champions League Group stage!

Screenshots will be in my end of season report.

Draw to follow...!

UEFA Champions League - Group C
Inter Milan
Olympique Lyonnais
Olympiakos
TKP Torun

Its fantastic to actually be in the competition - my objective is to not lose all 6 games to be honest. The group looks tough, but to be honest they all do.

Another massive bonus is that we have been given £3million for getting to the group stage, which takes our bank balance to around £3.6 million. And finally, as a result of all this money, the board have agreed to upgrade our training and youth facilites!
Hopefully qualifying for the Champions League proper will give us a reputation boost aswell, so we can attract better quality to the club. Will be great to have the likes of Inter Milan and Lyon at Armii Ludowej in its final season, before moving to the new ground aswell!

[Razer82]

Wow, very good job Razer

What nationalities do you have on your team (just naturally curious)?

Thanks matey.

Current First Team Nationalities:-
2 Bulgarians
7 Czechs
5 English
5 Hungarians
1 Irish
1 Lithuanian
3 Polish
1 Romanian
2 Scottish

[Razer82]

Looks like you'll be able to give the old ground a good send off with some Champions League games Supermas2 - Good luck with the group, seems like you might need it.

[daemonic]

Thanks matey.

Current First Team Nationalities:-
2 Bulgarians
7 Czechs
5 English
5 Hungarians
1 Irish
1 Lithuanian
3 Polish
1 Romanian
2 Scottish

Congrats on the great season Razer.

Just looking at the nationalities, do you have problems registering enough HG players or have the foreigners been at the club long enough to qualify?

[Razer82]

Congrats on the great season Razer.

Just looking at the nationalities, do you have problems registering enough HG players or have the foreigners been at the club long enough to qualify?

I don't have any problems, mainly becuase I've had a lot of those players from the age of 17 so they count towards the HG players. I do finally have 1 or 2 Northern Irish players in the reserves that might be ready for some first team football so there could well be another nationality on the list soon.

[daemonic]

Sporting Fingal - Irish Premier Division 2020

Transfers
And so it begins again. DR, Ricardo left for Hannover after just a season at the club for a fee of 2.5m + add-ons. Suprisingly that was it other than the sale of out of favour ST Simicek to Bohs and the signing of a few youngsters.

Come the Summer I allowed a couple of our home grown defenders, Colin Preston & Andy Brown leave as their first team opportunites were becoming less and less.

The Domestic Season
All-Ireland Cup
8 wins, a record 30 goals scored and a 9th All-Ireland Cup.

League
Our 9th League title, but still not the perfect season as again we drew a single game but the goals tally increased to 143 and our GD finished +111. The goal tally included 11 in a new record win against Sligo Rovers.

Irish Senior Challenge Cup
We DIDN'T win it..Cork City beat us in the semi-final. Our first domestic defeat in over 7 seasons.

Europe
Champions League First Knockout Round (2019/20 Season)
Facing current Champions League Champions Chelsea, hopes weren't high. A hard earned draw in the first leg left us needing a miracle in the away leg. It wasn't to be and out we went 3-6 on aggregate.
Sporting Fingal 2-2 Chelsea
Chelsea 4-1 Sporting Fingal

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Champions League Third Qualifying Round (2020/21 Season)
Seeded in the draw we were paired with CFR Cluj of Romania. We came back from a goal down to win 2-1 in Romania and finished the job at home to go through to the group stage 5-1 on aggregate.
CFR Cluj 1-2 Sporting Fingal
Sporting Fingal 3-0 CFR Cluj

Champions League Group Stage
Our improved co-efficient paid dividends as we were seeded 2nd for the Group Stages draw and were matched with Juventus, Rangers and Olympiakos. Up first was Rangers at home and although the 4 goal winning margin suggested a hammering, they had us pinned back and worried for much of the game. Away draws to Juventus and Olympiakos followed before Olympiakos visited Turvey Avenue.
While the Rangers result flattered us, our 6-0 win over the Greeks didn't as we totally dominated them from start to finish. A win in Glasgow and we'd qualified with a game to go with just who would top the group to be decided when we played Juventus and despite the game being very even we stuffed them. Our finishing was lethal at home and topped the group because of it.
In the draw for the 1st Knockout Round we were paired with Atletico Madrid.

Sporting Fingal 6-2 Rangers
Juventus        2-2 Sporting Fingal
Olympiakos      2-2 Sporting Fingal
Sporting Fingal 6-0 Olympiakos
Rangers         1-2 Sporting Fingal
Sporting Fingal 4-1 Juventus

Other News
Although still in the world's top 100 rich clubs, we did drop from 53rd to 72nd.

Liam Taylor was the star of the season. Although I had only planned on giving him a few games to develop, O'Donovan's cruciate injury and a lengthy lay off for Seclean meant Taylor was thrown in at the deep end. He coped so well that he held onto the lone ST position for the full season equalling O'Donovan's Fingal goals in a season record with 67 in 47 games. O'Donovan took 56 games to score his 67 in 2014. Taylor was rewarded with a host of awards and a first cap for Ireland getting a debut goal to celebrate the occasion. Best part is he scores against the big clubs as much as the minows and currently sits atop the Champions League goals table with 15 in 8 games.
In midfield with Madeira gone, Jan Buzek stepped up as the creative force, scoring 24 and creating 23 in 46 games from the MC position. Both have signed new contracts as well but the big clubs are sniffing around despite me slapping 10m price tags on both.

Best Eleven: Season | Overall

European Co-efficients
Fingal - 74.921 (23rd up from 34th)
Ireland - 25.292 (12th up from 16th)

Sporting Fingal Trophy Room
Irish Premier Division x 9 - 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
All-Ireland Cup x 9 - 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Irish Senior Challenge Cup x 9 - 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Irish First Division - 2008

[NepentheZ]

Knockbreda Update - Season 28 (2034/2035)

To begin -

The board have agreed with me that the stadium needs expanding, and have decided to go all out and add an extra 16,000 seats. This will be vital for the future of knockbreda, as the gates are pretty much the sole way of gaining money due to the lack of funds for winning the Domestic trophies.
N.I. Premiership Prediction - 1st
N.I. Premiership Position - 1st
Irish Cup- Winners
League Cup - Winners
Antrim Cup - Winners
All-Ireland Cup - Winners
Champions League - 1st Knockout Round

N.I. Premiership - Graph | Table

N.I Premiership : It genuinely is too easy. At times, I was bored watching the 15th 8-0 win of the season. Smylie no where near as potent as last season, due to 10 weeks on the sideline early on. The regular 1 game draw was still there. I don't know why, but I always, always draw a game.! It was late on in the season, when my players were playing 4 or 5 games every 9 or 10 days, but with the talent at my disposal, thats no excuse.

Irish Cup : The irish cup is what saw me smash Dungannon 18-0 in the 5th round, breaking all sorts of world wide FM08 records. Smylie scored 15 in that game, and we went on strongly from there. Destroying Mosside 14-0 in the 6th round, and Glenavon 8-0 in the Quarter-final, there seemed little anyone could do to stop us getting another Irish Cup. Linfield fought hard, and even had a chance with it being 0-0 at half time, and Knockbreda down to 10 men, I thought I may lose my first domestic game in nearly 15 years. Smylie was on form late on though, hitting a hat-trick, leaving the result as Knockbreda 3-0 Linfield. That left Portadown in the final. Portadown, along with Glentoran and Linfield are the only team that ever cause me problems. This wasn't the case in the final, however, with Knockbreda playing them out of the stadium, destroying them 9-0.

League Cup : So, the league cup. The start of N. Irelands domestic competition, and the beggining of Knockbreda's trophy haul every season. Not usually a team for conceding, Knockbreda went by an old Chinese proverb in the first League Cup game v Limavady. "Those who score, lose, if the others score more". Ok, not quite a Chinese proverb, and not even close to how the game went, but a shock 1-0 lead for Lima woke the Knockers up, who eventually ran out 8-1 winners. They went on from there in a group littered with, well, pathetic excuses for football clubs, which included Lurgan Town and Cliftonville. The results would end up 8-1, 8-0, 7-0, 5-0, 7-0 and 6-1, with Cliftonville being the other lucky team to knock one past me. The quarter-final saw me knock out Linfield in yet another Cup, yet again 3-0. Glentoran were the Semi-Final opponents, but due to Linfield being out, you could pretty much count this as a final. And what a final it would have been, with the Knockers demolishing their "closest rivals" 5-0. Dungannon were brushed aside in the final 4-1.

Antrim Cup : Yet another useless cup that tires my players out. The 1st round saw me draw Linfield, who would go down to me in the 3rd trophy of the season, this time losing only 3-1. That was pretty much the end of the tourny for all the other clubs, as I proceded to demolish team after team, with the results being 8-0, 8-1 (v Glentoran) and then battering Distillery 6-0 in the final. Joyous occasions commenced.

All-Ireland Cup : Aside from the Champions League, this is the only cup that has the chance of eluding me during these exillerating seasons. However, when I batter teams like Drogheda 9-1, it still doesn't pose much threat. a 2-2 draw v Derry City was disheartening, but beating them 3-0 in the Final made up for it. What happened in the Semi-final I hear you say. What, you mean you haven't guessed yet? Thats right, I beat Linfield. 3-0. Again.

Champions League : Okay, so my team is firing on all cylinders. And by that, I mean sticking goals past the one-armed bandits these teams are calling goalkeepers. I say bandits with good reason, becase even though they're on a massive £55 per week, its still day light robery, as they don't deserve a penny of it. I got an easy route to the group stages for a change, Drawing Erkanes and Levski in the two qual. rounds, and managing to knock 13 goals past them in total without reply. That left me with a tough group :

Liverpool
Celtic
CSKA Moscow

It really is battle of the Brits, with 3 British teams competing. Oh, sorry, back to the tough group part. Well, celtic are a useless pile of no hopers, playing 6, losing 6 including a 5-3 battering from the Knockers, and CSKA Moscow were oly allowed to earn points due to the fact Celtic were playing. a 4-1 home win v Moscow saw me through after 5 games, leaving the last game against them pointless, so I sent out my reserves, who were still good enough to only lose 3-2. Liverpool did do me over, though, winning both games by scores I don't wish to put up here.

So, we've qualified. The first time I've ever made it out of the group stage, with exception to sex parties in the heart of Knockbredas night life. The first knockout round saw me draw Sporting Lisbon, a team thats never managed to beat us in the 28 years I've been in charge. Oh, I should add that I've never played them before. The first game, the away leg, was a close battle, but saw us eventually go down like the titanic, 4-2, leaving us much to do at home. And boy did we do it. 4-1 up with 15 minutes to play, (well, 18, but just for interesting reading, we'll stay with 15) - and Sporting all of a sudden decided they do know how to play football, while my boys finished up the biscuits the tea ldy bought them during an injury in the 65th minute. A quick fire hat-trick from Sporting left the tie at 4-4, and 8-6 on agg, sending the knockers home early. Still, progression in this comp is the most important thing, and this was by far the best we've done here.

Best Elevens - Season | Overall

Club Ranking - 47th (No movement)
Rich List - 94th (New entry)

Other Info

Finances
Team Selection
Team Info

Manager Info
Manager Overview
Manager Profile

Player Records
Team Records

Transfers
Affiliated Clubs
Knocbreda Staff


Awards

Champions League, Best Goal - Andrew Smylie
European Goldon Boot Winner - Andrew Smylie
Fans Player of the Year - Andrew Smylie
Manager of the Year - NepentheZ
N. Irish Player of the Year, Winner - Andrew Smylie
N. Irish Player of the Year, Runner-Up - Graham Downey
N. Irish Premier Division Player of the Year, Winner - Andrew Smylie
N. Irish Premier Division Player of the Year, Runner-Up - Martin Crossley
N. Irish Premier Division Top Goal Scorer - Andrew Smylie (85 Goals)
N. Irish Premier Division Young Player of the Year - Alejandro Lopez

New Knockbreda Records

Average Attendance Broken - 28,870
Average Player Rating Broken - Andrew Smylie, 9.15 from 53 apps.

Players of the Season

Andrew Smylie - Well, hes now 21, and very close to 1,000 goals. Nearly 800, to be precise, and another 190 goals this season. He would have smashed his record of 204 had it not been for a 10 week and 3 week inury. A stupidly great player.

Graham Downey - Antoher from my youth team, he's very good. Can play CM or ST, and managed to bag 31 goals in 39 apps.

Charles Strain - if this man doesn't hold the all time Fm08 record for assists, then I'll be amazed. Another 65 this season.

Season Summary
Really easy. Not too much to say, really. I bought a couple players to strenghten the squad so that when we play 10 games in 12 days the team can cope. Aside from that, totally dominant, again.

Manager history

Season 18 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners, All Ireland Cup Winners
Season 19 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners
Season 20 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners
Season 21 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners
Season 22 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners
Season 23 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners
Season 24 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners, All Ireland Cup Winners
Season 25 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners, All Ireland Cup Winners
Season 26 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners, All Ireland Cup Winners
Season 27 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners
Season 28 - N. Ireland Premier Division, 1st Place (Winners) | League Cup Winners, Antrim Cup Winners, Irish Cup Winners, All Ireland Cup Winners

To End....

A big shout out to my reserve and under 18 teams. They are dominant like the first team, and the Reserve team have even won the N. Irish Antrim Trophy (not the Antrim Cup) 11 times in 15 seasons. On top of that, they have won the Reserve leage 20 times in a row, and 23 out of the last 24 seasons. Better yet, they have won the Intermediate Cup 13 times in 20 seasons, including 3 in a row, currently, and had a clean sweep last season, winning the Reserve league, the Antrim Trophy and the Intermdiate Cup.

The U-18s, on the other hand, have won the league 16 times in a row, and 20 times in total, and also have 11 U-18 cup wins, which is an under 18 record.

Both these teams also regularly batter teams 10-0 or better, with the reserves having a 13-0 win v Distillery II last season, and the U-18's a 10-0 win v Distillery.

[Razer82]

daemonic - Another good season there, shame about not being able to get past Chelsea. Good luck against Atletico next season.

Nep - I'm totally jealous of Andrew Smylie - I want a striker like that! My best guy has only managed 99 in a season. In all seriousness though, I can sympthise with getting bored during a domestic season, it seems that it just got too easy too quickly.

[daemonic]

Good to see you got passed the Group Stages Nep...hopefully you can push on from there.

Thanks Razer...I am hopeful we can beat Atletico and make the quarter finals as long as I can hang onto my better players. Taylor seems ok with me responding to all transfer enquiries with an exorbitant price tag of 15m but Buzek is whining about being kept at the club when bids of 450k are made. There is no way I'll let him go for less than 5m plus juicy add-ons.
I would really love an option when a player whines about not being allowed to discuss terms with a club to have some interaction and tell them they can go but only if the asking price is right.

[rlipscombe]

Andrew Smylie is a legend Nep. could he be the first player to score 2000 goals?????????

[Razer82]

I would really love an option when a player whines about not being allowed to discuss terms with a club to have some interaction and tell them they can go but only if the asking price is right.

That would be a really useful option, especially if it shut the player up for a while, I do get a bit annoyed about having to answer all the media questions when players want to leave.

Andrew Smylie is a legend Nep. could he be the first player to score 2000 goals?????????

I think you're right there, he could well be the first to 2000.

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

Only just stumbled across this site.
And then this challenge.
Starting it right now.
Loaded up Swedish leagues.
Gonna be harrd. But i've been praying for a good FM challenge for a while now.

[NepentheZ]

Thanks lads. I'm going to alternate between this and Daf's Challenge. 2 or 3 seasons at a time, (although I'm on Daf's now) - so the updates wont be too regular. Its my mission to get Smylie to 2,000+ goals, and will even not play FM09 to get it done

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

Well this is me.
Manager of Pitea.
Going to be extremely difficult. I have a pretty crap team. Board wants me to win Division this year. Gulp.
Wish me luck

[daemonic]

Thanks lads. I'm going to alternate between this and Daf's Challenge. 2 or 3 seasons at a time, (although I'm on Daf's now) - so the updates wont be too regular. Its my mission to get Smylie to 2,000+ goals, and will even not play FM09 to get it done

Have you received any bids for Smylie? If so what kind of money was on offer?

[NepentheZ]

Have you received any bids for Smylie? If so what kind of money was on offer?

Yea every transfer window clubs bid for him. Fortunately, they're only bidding what he's worth, sometimes a little less. He's only got unhappy once, when I rejected a bid from Bayern Munich, but I've rejected numerous bids from AC Milan, Arsenal, Man U, Barcelona, Intermilan and he's never gotten unhappy. He's signed a new 5 year deal, though, so all is well.

[Quackje]

Spartak Subotica 2017/18

So back to this save I went and with a pretty good team I went right ahead for the worst domestic season in 3 years. Finishing 2nd in the league with Red Star only dropping 13 points all season, my tally of 71 would have won the league any other year. More bad luck was used up in a ridiculous Serbian cup semi-final, I can't believe I lost this. This left a good deal of positive luck lying around for Europe.

Champions League qualifying
3rd Qualifying: Spartak Subotica 3-1 Salzburg agg.

An easy game as expected.

Champions League group B
Spartak Subotica 0-0 Juventus
Racing 1-4 Spartak Subotica
Heerenveen 1-4 Spartak Subotica
Spartak Subotica 5-5 Heerenveen
Juventus 1-1 Spartak Subotica
Spartak Subotica 3-1 Racing

A tight affair that I should have won really and dominant wins against Racing and Heerenveen set me up to go through. Two of my defenders had 4 ratings in a crazy game against Heerenveen but we finished up the group in 1st place and importantly we beat every team over the two legs.

Champions league 1st knockout
Werder Bremen 3-1 Spartak Subotica
Spartak Subotica 6-1 aet. Werder Bremen

I was really annoyed after the first leg in Germany, after taking the league they equalised with a goal I'm sure was offside and two strikes by the same guy from 35 metres out. At home we went up 3-0 and all was well, they equalised but in extra time we were rampant and destroyed the opposition.

Champions league quarter final
Juventus 2-2 Spartak Subotica
Spartak Subotica 1-1 Juventus

Having already drawn twice against them in the group it was not surprising I would have another two draws. We went up 2-0 away and I was very dissapointed to concede late twice and the home leg was a matter of hoping the referee blew for full time but we survived.

Champions league semi final
Spartak Subotica 1-1 Barcelona
Barcelona 2-3 Spartak Subotica

Although this looks like a tough draw it was really never in doubt as I laughed so hard before the first match seeing Barcelona manager Steve McClaren... Anyway it was a tight affair but we played great away as I went hyper attacking just after half time and found myself 2-1 up. As they tried to comeback we hit them on the break again to win 3-2.

Champions league final
Valencia 3-4 Spartak Subotica

We faced the only team to score more goals than us in the group stages and so it was always going to be a goalfest. I thought I was screwed at 2-0 down but we turned up the attacking mentality again and Bogdan Milojevic responded, he is my god. If there was a way to do player interaction -> give £1M bonus I would.

The starting 11

Tactic:Mine

GK: Stevo Kalic
DL: Bassam Meriah
DC: Denis Halilovic
DC: Edin Kulovic
DR: Dejan Sculac
DM: Jean-Louis Touré
CM: Gábor Gyõri
AMC: Luiz Carlos
AML: Martial Yao
AMR: Alejandro Arguedas
ST: Bogdan Milojevic

Other key players

DRC: Gustavo Fajardo
DM: Marko Nikolic
AMC: Branislav Jankovic
ST: Raymond Langseth

Team: Woo

Domestic
2008/09 4th First League
2009/10 6th Super League
2010/11 12th Super League
2011/12 2nd Super League
2012/13 11th Super League
2013/14 3rd Super League
2014/15 3rd Super League + Serbian Cup
2015/16 1st Super League + Serbian Cup
2016/17 1st Super League + Serbian Cup
2017/18 2nd Super League

Europe
2010/11 UEFA Cup 1st round vs Beitar Jerusalem
2012/13 Champions League group stage 3rd - UEFA Cup 1st knockout vs FC Twente
2014/15 Champions League group stage 3rd - UEFA Cup 1st knockout vs Feyenoord
2015/16 UEFA Cup quarter final vs Manchester United
2016/17 Champions League group stage 3rd - UEFA Cup quarter final vs FC Bayern
2017/18 Champions League WINNERS

Spartak Subotica; 19th(+14), 80.688 Serbia; 12th(+2), 29.839

[daemonic]

Looks like your games are all very entertaining, if not good for the blood pressure.

Congrats on completing the challenge Quackje

[Razer82]

Congratulations Quackje, nice to see people completing the challenge.

Is that it for this game now then? Or will you be trying to defend your Champions League crown?

[Quackje]

That's probably it for Serbia, I find it hard to have the motivation to go through the league games again and again you see. To be honest its a bit too easy in Serbia, masses of talented players around. I already have a game in Belarus started and a couple of seasons in so I will carry on with that.

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

Well I have started my first season in charge of Pitea.
Got Swedish champions IFK Goteburg as my parent club and they responded with some very good loan signings.
First game just played.
Two Nil win.

[NepentheZ]

Good stuff LiRiM - Hope you have success buddy.

[rlipscombe]

Congratds Quackje! well done. achieving a champions league win with a club like this is a great achievement, whichever league you play in.

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

Thanks NepentheZ.
Arrrgh. It went tits up.
Starting in Belgium now.
Got a good result in Seraring. Good team with no money but with Standard as Parent team. Could be a very good game.

[Razer82]

Thanks NepentheZ.
Arrrgh. It went tits up.
Starting in Belgium now.
Got a good result in Seraring. Good team with no money but with Standard as Parent team. Could be a very good game.

Good luck in Belgium, just watch out for the rules regarding players in the match day squad. I think you need to have a number of under-21s in it at all times.

[Quackje]

Its 2 under 21 and 5 Belgian trained if I remember correctly. At least it forces you to give your best youngsters a chance but its still a bit annoying sometimes. The other thing is you can offer professional contracts at 16 and so you can actually steal any regen you like as soon as they are created for free. I used to scout every 16 year old as soon as I could and steal the good ones every year, of course thats for when you're in the top league.

[Gundo]

Champions league final
Valencia 3-4 Spartak Subotica

Awesome stuff

[rlipscombe]

good luck in Belgium LiRiM..... Standard should certainly help you.

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

Thanks everyone.
Well its certainly going to be very difficult.
But I think i can get a mid-table spot this year and then storm for promotion next season.
Im going for a steady rise not a meterioc rise so that my team is too rubbish for the division above.
And Standard have sent half there youth team on loan to me, and tbh there far to good for this league.

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

Half way update. Seraing Belgian Third Division B.

http://i38.tinypic.com/22gx6r.jpg[League Table]

Well not much to say. Pretty abject really. The pre-season was so promising., with us brushing a side Champions Dessel in a friendly 4-1. And now we are languishing mid-table. We actually play quite well, except the strikers I loaned in from Standard can't hit a barn door from a meter in front. Looking good for a mid-table finish nonetheless.

On another not. can anyone tell me how to make it so my links to images Look like words not a bunch of letters and numbers.
Cheers

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

Small Update. Seraing. Belgium Thrid Division B.

Starting to play really well now. The football is pleasing to watch and we are playing Newcastle of old style football. Ala You score two we will score three.

But sadly this is happening more often than not as my defence is horrible. Well not the defence. The keeper. He is terrible. Worst keeper I have ever had.

Up to Sixth in the league. Hoping to maintain that and consolidate then get promoted next season after securing some players after raising quite a bit from player sales.

Really enjoying this challenge to be honest

[rlipscombe]

good to hear you're enjoying it - long may it continue!

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

Thanks rlipscombe
EOS update coming soon.
Really motoring through the season.

[Razer82]

Nice to see you're enjoying the game LiRiM-InSaNe.

Looking forward to seeing your report, good luck for the rest of the season.

[Quackje]

When you press the post link button the format works like this [URL="link to image"]text you want displayed[/URL

I stole the last square bracket so it would show the text

[Gundo]

Okay. This is a test. Feel free to delete this post later on.

Test

You can delete it yourself you know, just click the edit button on the post and then delete button

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

End Of Season Report. Seraing. 2008/2009.

Can't do screenies at the moment because I am at my Dads. But heres what went down in Belgium this season.

Well after we were predicted to come Fifteenth by the media I was determined to prove them wrong and achieve a safe mid-table finish and then kick on for promotion next season. Well for a while it didn't look to flash. As we were leaking goals at an almost hemoarghing rate. This was nothing to do with the defence, no. they were magical at the start. It was the keeper. Benoit Daniel Simply the worst goalkepper I have ever had. He was appalling. After a while we flutering in and out of mid-table to relegation zone. I was unhappy and decided to call in Standard, my parent club, for some better players. And they responded with two very good strikers, Edourd Kabamba and Oran Shabani. They fired to me to unprecented heights. And It wasn't long untill another of Standards loanees joinded and made an instant impact, Gael Erand. Provided some vital assists from the midfield as well as scoring the odd goal. We started to really kick on and take the league on. Fluttering in about Sixth with six games to go Both my star strikers, Kabamba and Shabani decided to go and pick up season ending injuries. Disaster. But it may have proved to be a blessing in disguise as I didn't feel as if my team was ready for the step up in class. So with my start strikers injured I had to throw my bench warming striker, Deniz Aktas got a run in the first team. And boy did he Flourish. Scoring Six in Six to fire me to six consecutive wins and in the end he fired me to the title and ultimately promotion. I was bouncing around.

Personal Awards: Manager of The year
Team awards: Three players inducted into "Team of The year"
Player awards: Deniz Aktis won "rookie of the year", Edouard Kabamba won signing of the year. Terrence Genaux won Third division B player of the year.

Top Scorer: Central Defender Terrence Genaux with 16 Goals, who won't be with us next year after completing a 90K deal to first division side KTV Kortijk.
Most Assists: Romauld Averna. 21 assists from the right wing. Attracted attention from Division two hotshots FC Brugge
My player of the year: Deniz Aktis. Really shone and pulled us home in those last six games. My new favourite player.

Media Prediction: Fifteenth
Final Position: First!!!!
Aims for next season: Consolidate in the second division and slowly rise up after a few seasons. Hoping for 8-12th out of 18 next season.

Season Roundup: Well a hugely succesful season for part timers Seraing under manager Liam Hanley. Finishing in First players after a very poor start to the season. What does Season Two hold for Liam Hanley.??

[Razer82]

Great season LiRiM-InSaNe you've done really well to get promoted at the first attempt.

Hopefully you can build on it for your second season.

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

Thats what im hoping for.
Ive got a massive (compared to my peanuts budget of 0 Pounds) 70K to spend on players so looking to bring in some classy players whilst bring in Kabamba and Shabani as well.
Its gonna be tough this season.

[rlipscombe]

congrats LiRiM - good luck next season. consolidation is the best option. sure you'll stay up.

[LiRiM-InSaNe]

cheers rlipscombe.
First game of the season.
Kabamba scores a brace and Seraing win 3-0.
Les Tigres are on the up.!!!

[Quackje]

Vertical Kalincovichi 2010

Its amazing how good some of the free transfers are lying around in Belarus, easily top players in this league availible so I snapped up Alexey Sikora to play in attacking midfield, a near clone of club legend Vyacheslav Leshenok who had another impressive season. Also free was Sergey Nafanov but I had to pay a combined £18K for Vitaliy Korostik and Kirill Tuz. This left me with a much improved side and we challenged well for promotion, although a tight defeat to Baranovichi with 4 games to play destroyed our chances. A win would have left us in 2nd place but in the end we finished up in a good 5th place. Promotion seems a distinct possibility next season.

Domestic
2008 Belarusian first league: 9th - Cup: 1st round
2009 Belarusian first league: 8th - Cup: 2nd round
2010 Belarusian first league: 5th - Cup: 2nd round

[qazaqaz]

Decided to take up this challenge, as managing in Northern Ireland looks so fun!
Ended up with Killyleagh Y.C
Wish me luck, i'll need it!

[Gundo]

Decided to take up this challenge, as managing in Northern Ireland looks so fun!
Ended up with Killyleagh Y.C
Wish me luck, i'll need it!

Best of luck. Another one for Northern Ireland's ever growing popularity

[Fitzaay]

Albert Foundry - Northern Irish Premier Division - 2010/11 (Season 3)

Media Prediction: 13th
My Prediction: 2nd
Final Position: 5th

Northern Irish League Cup Winners

After a rocky start we went on a fabulous run that saw us lift the League Cup for the first time in our history, but we ran out of steam towards the end and fell off the pace, being 4th on the last day with a shout of European Football, we beat bangor 2-0 but finished fifth as Linfield destroyed Carrick. It's all about building for next season now where we'll hopefully consolidate and qualify for Europe.

One to watch: Ross Hayes had a great season, all the big NI clubs are after him now, they can get lost.
Ross Hayes

Final Table

[daemonic]

Sporting Fingal - Irish Premier Division 2021

Transfers
As usual the offers flooded in. On the way out were MC, Hector Herrera for 2.5m after he complained enough to annoy me and AMR, Edilson for 1m plus 100k for every one of his first 30 league games. Edilson was into the final year of his contract and was refusing an extension so it was good business. I also let a few backups go for various small amounts.
As replacements I promoted Martin Zidek from the youths as he's developing nicely since being snapped up as a 14 year old and Edilson's replacement was Vaclav Hlavacek for 150k. Also arriving was Lionel Carrizo who for 10k looks the business and a goal on his debut against Athletico Madrid more than repaid the fee.

In the Summer, despite our European heroics Hinds (AML) and Buzek (MC) decided they wanted to move to 'bigger' clubs so off they went to Aston Villa and Rangers for 1m & 2.5m respectively.
Also leaving for a bigger club was our no. 1 GK, Robinson. In came a few promising youngsters on frees and Alex Nunes who cost us 110k and a new GK, David Dunn who cost 675k.

The Domestic Season
All-Ireland Cup
10 in a row, a record 31 goals and a new record of 17 goals by Taylor in just 6 games as he missed one group game while away scoring for Ireland and missed the final as I saved him for bigger games.

League
Won it at a canter notching up 1 more goal than last season with 144. Still not the perfect season though as we drew 1 game again. Although that game was immediately after the the biggest game in the clubs history and I'm pretty sure most of the team were drunk. The Team of the Year shows our dominance.

Irish Senior Challenge Cup
Won it without any problems.

Europe
Champions League First Knockout Round (2020/21 Season)
So we were off to Madrid to face Athletico in our first competitive match of the season. The first leg went well giving us a 2 goals lead to take home where we saw out the tie with a 4-2 aggregate win despite a late rally from Athletico.
Athletico Madrid 0-2 Sporting Fingal
Sporting Fingal 2-2 Athletico Madrid

Champions League Quarter Final (2020/21 Season)
Liverpool stood between us and the semi's. The press had us written off before Liverpool even arrived at Truvey Avenue for the first leg so our 3-1 win was a surprise to even me. Despite us both getting 9 shots on target they beat us in the second leg to end the tie 5-5 on aggregate sending us through on away goals. Both scored by Taylor bringing his European total to 21, a Champions League record, and the teams total to 36 another Champions League record. We're entertainers if nothing else.
Sporting Fingal 3-1 Liverpool
Liverpool 4-2 Sporting Fingal

Champions League Semi Final (2020/21 Season)
Another English team awaited us in the semi-final as we were paired with Chelsea who'd hammered us last year. My regular tactic seems to be ideal for playing against a basic 4-4-2 and most of the tactics teams play against us but it failed completely in last years games with Chelsea. Even when getting beaten by teams playing 4-4-2 we usually get a lot of possession and chances on goal but a check of our games against Chelsea last season showed this not to be the case. With Chelsea playing a very narrow diamond formation I decided to pack the middle of the pitch as shown on the match formations screen.
The tactical change resulted in a great 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge gave us a chance of progressing and thanks to a Taylor hat-trick in the home leg we went through to our first Champions League Final 4-3 on aggregate.
Chelsea 1-1 Sporting Fingal
Sporting Fingal 3-2 Chelsea

Champions League Final (2020/21 Season)
In the final at the Nou Camp we would face Inter Milan to decide who would be Champions of Europe. With odds of 9-1 against us winning the bookies weren't giving us much hope but Jan Buzek had other ideas and fired us into a 2 goal lead by the 20th minute. Inter pulled 1 back before half time so I warned the team against complacency at half time and they did a great job of seeing out the second half despite Inter having much the better of the possession and chances. Fingal are Champions of Europe.
Liam Taylor won the Champions League Golden Boot with 23 goals in 15 games thrashing the previous record of 14. Unsurprisingly he also picked up the Champions League Best Player with Jan busek in 3rd. We also smashed the goals record scoring 42 goals during our campaign.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

European Super Cup
With 10 players away on International duty including all our GK and star ST Taylor, I was less than hopeful as we fielded a weakened team including a 17yr old U-18 GK. But despite AC having more chances they wasted most of them and we won 3-2.

Champions League Group Stage (2021/22 Season)
Straight into the Group Stages and seeded 1st we faced Lyon, Werder Bremen & Club Brugge. With Lyon and Werder having won the cup in the last 10 years it wasn't an easy group. We opened with a good away draw in Lyon before making hard work of beating Bruge at home. A hammering of Werder Bremen at home and a draw in Germany and we were looking good for qualification. Lyon were the visitors for the next match and outplayed us comprehensively with 12 shots on target to our 4 so how we won 5-3 is beyond me. A thumping of Brugge in the final game ensured we qualified top of the group.

Olympique Lyonnais 2-2 Sporting Fingal
Sporting Fingal    3-2 Club Brugge
Sporting Fingal    5-0 Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen      1-1 Sporting Fingal
Sporting Fingal    5-3 Olympique Lyonnais
Club Brugge        2-5 Sporting Fingal

Next season starts with games against Galtasaray as we look to defend our European crown.

World Club Championship
Our first appearance in this delayed the end of your season a couple of weeks and first up was Kaizer Chiefs in the semi-final. We progressed to the final with ease winning 4-1. In the final we faced Saitama Utd of Japan who had to win 3 games to make their 4th final. Another easy win and we were World Club Champions and the players finally got a well earned holiday.

Other News
In the list of the worlds richest clubs we moved up from 72nd to 43rd, sandwiched between Bayern Municsh and AC Milan. Some of these riches were put toward a 4130 seat increase to Turvey Avenue's capacity.

Star of the season without doubt was Liam Taylor as he hit a stunning 125 goals in 61 appearances winning every award available to him. Its all the sweeter because he's a product of our academy, amazing. Supplying much of the ammunition was Jiri Kovar who created 40 goals in just 36 appearances and Libor Simr who scored 11 and set up 26 in 45 games.

Best Eleven: Season | Overall

European Co-efficients
Fingal - 86.908 (16th up from 23rd)
Ireland - 27.042 (12th)

Sporting Fingal Trophy Room
Champions League x 1 - 2020/21
European Super Cup x 1 - 2021
World Club Championship x 1 - 2021
Irish Premier Division x 10 - 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
All-Ireland Cup x 10 - 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Irish Senior Challenge Cup x 10 - 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021
Irish First Division - 2008

[Razer82]

Congratulations on completing the challenge Daemonic, you've managed to get there quite quickly. Will that be it for this game now, or will you be trying to win another Champions League?

[minisav]

What a great achievement. Well done

[Gundo]

Well done Daemonic.

[daemonic]

Thanks everyone...actually it was almost an anti-climax winning it the first time we made it past the first knockout round as I thought it would be a few more seasons of struggle and I grow bored of games when the struggle is over. I was looking forward to watching Taylor develop but he already has and was the difference this season. So reliable and lashing them in against top opposition as his CL record and international goals show.

As to finishing quickly, Ireland is a lot easier than N.I. as the League rep makes attracting very good players easier. A few of my former Brazilian signings are now full internationals, we have 4 or 5 Czech internationals and 4 Ireland regulars in the squad.
I'd put Ireland on a par with Switzerland, Ukraine, Belarus etc rather than the N.I.'s and Iceland's of the Gundo challenge world.

@Razer...I think I'll keep this game ticking over until FM09, which I pre-ordered this morning. Was holding off as I was planning on completing this challenge before playing it. Taylor is only 21 and the average age of the team is 22 so I think it'll be fun to keep on playing, see how far they can take me now they are happy to sign new contracts.

[rlipscombe]

congrats daemonic. great achievement. look forward to seeing you defend your crown.

[daemonic]

To keep from getting bored I think I'll try getting Taylor to 1000 goals and badger the board into increasing our stadium until it's bigger than Landsdowne to see if Ireland's internationals switch to Turvey Avenue.

[steve.rush]

Can I see a screenie of Liam Taylor's career so far Daemonic?

[daemonic]

Can I see a screenie of Liam Taylor's career so far Daemonic?

In work at the moment so can't get an updated screenshot but its not much of a career to show really. These are the screens from the last 2 seasons: 2020 & 2021

Before that he had a couple of seasons on loan at feeder clubs where he did ok but nothing spectacular, maybe another 15-20 goals to his career total. Without the injuries to O'Donovan & Seclean and Simecek deciding he'd be better off at Bohemians he would never have gotten a chance and would probably be sold by now because other than his pace his stats aren't amazing.

[daemonic]

Meet the new Ireland manager.

[Ridleys]

Didn't think you were allowed to manage countries as well

[daemonic]

Challenge is completed so I'm just playing until FM09 now

[Ridleys]

Oh right fair enough

[DodgeeD]

Chmel Blsany, Czech First Division 2022-23 Season Report

After making the Champions League semis last time out, I had high hopes for this season. Dreams of being able to keep my best players and even bring in higher quality new ones were all shattered pre-season though as my European run of last season only served to increase interest in my players and I could do nothing as 8 first teamers left the club (Zapata and Fuat - two of my top strikers, Blazej and Zbonacak - the midfield pairing for the Czech national team, my first choice goalie, centre back and left back along with an Argentine AMC who was just about ready to take his first team place) and 3 more went into a strop about not being allowed to leave (another defender and two more midfielders). That's an entire team's worth of players! My early optimism therefore soon disappeared as I realised this would be a season of rebuilding and not challenging.

Champions League
Seeded for the 3rd qualyfying round, we were drawn with Dinamo Bucharest. A 2-1 win on the road was followed up with a 2-0 home victory to send us through 4-1 on aggregate. We were seeded second for the draw but that didn't give us an easy group as we ended up with Man Utd and Sporting Lisbon. However, as Dnipro were the toher team, I felt we could progress. The results were as follows:

Chmel Blsany 2  Man Utd      2
Dnipro       2  Chmel Blsany 2
Chmel Blsany 2  Sporting     0
Sporting     0  Chmel Blsany 0
Man Utd      3  Chmel Blsany 0
Chmel Blsany 2  Dnipro       0

All of which meant we finished an agonising 3rd in the group. One draw too many - the away game to Dnipro should have been a victory and ultimately came back to haunt us. There's also the fact that Sporting managed to beat Man Utd at Old trafford in their final match - a loss or draw would have out us through but you have to make your own luck so we were off to the UEFA Cup.

UEFA Cup
We were paired with Blackburn in the first knockout round. A great start at Ewood Park saw us race into an early lead and then hold on in the second half to grab a 3-2 win. We wrapped up the tie with two early goals in the second leg for a 5-2 aggregate win.

Benfica were up next, a side we had a good record in Europe against. All was going well in the home leg until we conceded a last minute goal turning a narrow victory into a 1-1 draw. We were all out of sorts for the away leg and went down 2-0 on the night, 3-1 on aggregate meaning Europe was over for another season.

Domestic Season
With all the summer transfer turmoil and unhappy chappies in the squad, moral was low when the season began and we suffered our worst start to a season since first being promoted all those years ago. We lost 3 of our opening 5 games and faced a struggle to catch the teams at the top. Our form picked up from October onwards and we were soon in the chasing pack. The problem was that Mlada Boleslav were having a great season too and proving difficult to catch. Going into the penultimate match, we were two points behind but given a golden chance as Boleslav lost the early TV game, meaning a win against the bottom side would put us top. It was one of those games where we found ourselves 2 goals down in the first ten minutes. We tried everything to get back into the game but in the end an own goal and a dodgy penalty was the best we could manage and the 2-2 draw meant we were a point behind with one game left.

Midweek we had a chance to damage Boleslav's morale as we went head-to-head in the cup final. We did just that, dishing out a 5-1 beating to claim the FA Cup once more. We could only hope that would give us the momentum going into the last league game.

Alas, our title rivals bounced back from their mauling in the cup to win their last game leaving us 2nd, ruing our poor start to the season and the blown chance a week earlier. The board were not best pleased but the cup win did enough to keep the knives away.

Czech First Division Final Table

Best XI - of the eleven chosen for the first team this year, only two (Jankovic and Takovac) were regulars at the time of the Champions League semi last season...

Still, I have a good bunch of youngsters coming through. One to step up this year was Mario Machado, who won the Czech Best Foreigner and Fans' Player Of The Year awards. He's attracted a lot of interest from teams across Europe but has agreed a new contract.

My best signing this season was Christian Schneider, a German striker who decided Sparta Prague weren't big enough for him. A great debut season; here's hoping there's more to follow.

For Gundo's table:

No. of league titles: 6
Club Coefficient: 84.126 (20th)
Nation Coefficient: 33.725 (11th)

[DodgeeD]

To keep from getting bored I think I'll try getting Taylor to 1000 goals and badger the board into increasing our stadium until it's bigger than Landsdowne to see if Ireland's internationals switch to Turvey Avenue.

Congrats on completing the challenge again daemonic.

I'm not sure that the international venues switch. In my game, the Djokic Arena is now a 52,400 capacity all seater stadium making it twice the size of anything else in the country but he Czech Republic still haven't played there despite the national team's stadium being listed as 'various'

[daemonic]

Thanks DodgeeD, looks like you're getting close too. I had a dramatic team overhaul similar to yours just a couple of seasons ago. It may even have helped the team that won it to gel better.

Shame about the national stadium. Still, now I'm Ireland manager it would be great to manage them at Fingal's home stadium.

[DodgeeD]

Thanks for the encouragement daemonic.

I'm back on track this season and I've made it past the group stage of the champs league. Poor scheduling means I have to face title rivals Sparta Prague and Bayern Munich in the space of 48 hours though!

[dj clark boy]

doing this agian got fed up with the other ones i done so i'm going to give this one another try . Going to try Bulgaria going to stick to this one too.. i'll post my profile and team when my holidaying has finnished just my pc is realy rubbish and slow thats y i got fed up but i've had an upgrade so should be quite fast

[daemonic]

Thanks for the encouragement daemonic.

I'm back on track this season and I've made it past the group stage of the champs league. Poor scheduling means I have to face title rivals Sparta Prague and Bayern Munich in the space of 48 hours though!

Best of luck
That was another bonus of playing Ireland's Summer league. Group matches were in September-December by which time the League was wrapped up and we usually had a full week or 2 off between the final 2 group games as the season was over.
Then in spring the league games just got pushed giving us a busy June/July but no insane scheduling....damn I was lucky to win it

[dj clark boy]

hi i got my game up and going got this team looks quite good Lokomotiv (Stara Zagora) in bulgaria b western here is me and my team playd my first leauge

http://windowsxp-privacy.net/?id=12572356374- me
http://windowsxp-privacy.net/?id=12572356374 my team
http://windowsxp-privacy.net/?id=12572356374 the best fans
http://windowsxp-privacy.net/?id=12572356374 my start of season expectations
iI be posting more when i done my season

[Razer82]

Razer82 – Clough Rangers – 2024 / 2025 – Northern Irish Premier Division

League – 1st – Champions!
Champions League – Finished 3rd in Group F
Northern Irish Cup – Winners! Defeated Linfield 4-1
League Cup – Winners! Defeated Ballymena United 5-0
Antrim Cup – Winners! Defeated Glentoran 4-0
All Ireland Cup – Winners! Defeated Bohemians 3-1


Manager Profile
Team Stats
Transfers Summary
Top Scorer


The increased co-efficients for both Clough Rangers and Northern Ireland meant two things, first we went straight into the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League and for the first time ever, a second team from Northern Ireland were in the draw with Glentoran entering in the 2nd qualifying round.

The improved placing for the draw led me to believe that it would be a lot easier for us to make the group stages again, we were drawn with Zaglebie Lubin of Poland, I was expecting a couple of easy game allowing us secure passage into the group stage. A nervy 1-0 win in the away leg gave us the advantage. Another 1-0 victory at home won us the tie 2-0 on agg and put us into the group stages.

We were drawn into a group with AC Milan, Man United and AZ, the only way that I could see us progressing was with 2 victories over AZ. We started the campaign with a defeat by AC Milan but were able to bounce right back to claim our first victory over AZ, 1-0. Two defeats to Man United and another to AC left us needing a point from the final match to progress into the UEFA cup, we managed to scrape a 3-2 victory to make sure we continued on in Europe for a little longer.

Our first knockout round opponents were Schalke and we had a tough trip to Germany for the first leg. A hard 2-1 defeat meant we had a lot of work to do in the home game, but a simple 1-0 victory would put us through on the away goals rule. A simple 1-0 victory was what we got, but we left it late, the winning goal coming deep into injury time, still we progressed and that was all that mattered.

On paper our second round opponents should have been just as tough for a little team like Clough Rangers, but we took no notice as Partizan were demolished in their own back yard, a final score of 8-2 more or less securing us a place in the quarter finals. We confirmed our place with a simple 2-0 victory in the home leg to go through 10-2 on agg.

The reward for dominating Partizan was a quarterfinal tie with Rangers, a team we’d met a number of times before, but only managed to beat once, would these two matches change that statistic. A tight home match saw us end up all square after a 0-0 draw, not the best of results but it still gave us an opportunity to make it through to the semi finals. The trip to Ibrox was always going to be hard, but we managed a 1-1 draw to progress on the away goals rule for the second time this season.

The team standing between us and a major European final were Juventus, the number one ranked team in Europe and a team that we’d never met before. After a trip to Turin we were 2-1 down following a very tough game, again I was glad on an away goal as this gave us a slight advantage. What would then happen on our return home was nothing short of spectacular, Juventus were picked apart as we romped to a 5-1 victory to secure a place in our first ever European final.

I was grateful for the week long break before the final as it gave all the players a chance to rest meaning that we’d be able to field our strongest side against Sporting, a team that we’d played twice before back in 2021 in the Champions League.

A goalless first half saw Sporting dominate, but unable to make a break through. A 19th minute penalty the closest the came, but our keeper came out on top, managing to make the save. Things picked up in the second half when a questionable offside call led to a disallowed goal for Clough Rangers and a second yellow card for Chris Knowles. This was quickly put behind as when Laszlo Tolnai sliced through the defence to slot home a magnificent goal, this was shortly followed by a second from Ales Svoboda after the Sporting goalie was left stranded on the near post following a perfect cross, 2-0! It looked as though we were cruising to our first European trophy. Sporting managed to pull a goal back from the restart to make it 2-1, but we were able to hold on for the final few minutes and then stoppage time. Meaning…

WE WON THE UEFA CUP!!!!!

Final score 2-1

As is the norm for us, we secure a clean sweep of all the domestic trophies, including our 6th All Ireland Cup. That’s really all there is to say about our domestic season.

Top goal scorer this season was again Laszlo Tolnai (83 Goals), he could well have equalled or beaten last season’s record had I not been required to rest him in order to keep him match fit. This meant that support came in the shape of Ales Svoboda (43 Goals & 24 Assists) and record signing Lasha Khutsishvili (27 Goals & 18 Assists), additional backup from Alan Ball (12 Goals) and Florin Axinia (11 Goals) allowing others to be rested. Chris Knowles (20 Goals & 40 Assists) was the star performer from midfield and he was ably supported by Vladimir Jirasek (30 Assists), Mircea Popan (12 Goals & 17 Assists). The breakout performance though came from young Northern Irish winger Alan Clarke (11 Goals & 11 Assists), a tally which earned him Northern Irish Player of the Year. Top defensive performers were club captain Mark Duncan, Jacob Harwood and Csaba Gaal, who will be leaving us on a free transfer come the end of the season. Everyone was backed up well be new keeper Tomaz Sader who was outstanding in his debut season.

This season also saw me take charge of my 1000th game as Clough Rangers manager.

After such an amazing run in the UEFA Cup, the only thing I can really hope for is to be able to retain the trophy come the end of next season, although replacing it with the Champions League would be even better.


Gundo – For your table – 14 Domestic Titles
Coefficients
Club – 79.609 – 22nd (Up 18 Places)
Country – 25.917 – 13th (No Change)

[daemonic]

Brilliant stuff Razer

Winning the UEFA cup should give your reputation a healthy bump and you can attract better players and hang onto your good ones too.
Best of luck next season.

[rlipscombe]

congrats Razer - great achievement. with a bit of luck it'll help you for next season and push you on to Champions league glory.

[Razer82]

Thanks guys, I'm hoping that the boost in reputation will make things a lot easier for next season in Europe.

[Quackje]

Vertical Kalincovichi 2011

This season was a real disapointment, we had a decent team and only brought in Eugene Deyneko on a free. We had a decent team and I expected top 4 at least. Instead star striker Leshenok was terrible with just 4 goals all season and we finished 7th. This disaster is due to an appalling bit of form having beaten champions, Vedrich Rechitsa 6-3 we gained 1 point from the next 6 games and then lost in the cup to a non-league team before beating Zvezda-BGU 6-1. We were pretty average the rest of the season but that period killed us.

Domestic
2008 Belarusian first league: 9th - Cup: 1st round
2009 Belarusian first league: 8th - Cup: 2nd round
2010 Belarusian first league: 5th - Cup: 2nd round
2011 Belarusian first league: 7th - Cup: 1st round

[sixsecondsleft]

Gundo, I think there should be a warning about doing this challenge in Turkey. There is a bug after the first registration window in which none of your players are registered, making them ineligible to play in the league. I think it only happens in the second division, but that ruins the challenge for Turkey.

This is what happened to me, making my game unplayable at that point. I thought I had made a mistake, but I searched the bug forum, and it was posted about in there. I was looking forward to the Turkish league format... very interesting. Plus, my lowly little team was doing great the 5 games I did get to play! :P

[DodgeeD]

Gundo, I think there should be a warning about doing this challenge in Turkey. There is a bug after the first registration window in which none of your players are registered, making them ineligible to play in the league. I think it only happens in the second division, but that ruins the challenge for Turkey.

This is what happened to me, making my game unplayable at that point. I thought I had made a mistake, but I searched the bug forum, and it was posted about in there. I was looking forward to the Turkish league format... very interesting. Plus, my lowly little team was doing great the 5 games I did get to play! :P

I had the same problem when I first tried to start this challenge (but that was back on page 40-something so it's long since been buried ). I hope it will be sorted for FM 09 as I'd really like to take on the challenge with one of my local Ankara teams.

[sixsecondsleft]

I was excited for my Turkish team. I chose Cizrespor, and they were picked to finish last, were worth 100k, and had a stadium that seated 1000. I won 4 of my 5 first games, had an amazing signing of an 18yr old Brasilian striker off of a trial, and then... my entire team is ineligible to play any games! So frustrating. I loaded my last save to see if I could fix it, but to no avail.

I hope you're right, DodgeeD. It is a shame to put a league in if it is unplayable.

[sixsecondsleft]

If you tick the "Uses Squad Numbers" boxes in the Data Editor for all the Turkish second division comps, it seems to fix the registration problem. I just ran a test through the first registration window, submitting my team's numbers before the deadline on Sept 1, and all of my players were registered. So far, it looks like it fixes the problem.

[Gundo]

I'll edit the opening post with some form of warning.

[sixsecondsleft]

Thanks, Gundo. Ticking the "Uses Squad Numbers" in the Data Editor for those second division groups seems to fix the problem.

[Fitzaay]

Albert Foundry - Northern Irish Premier Division - 11/12 (Season 4)

Media Prediction: 8th
My Prediction: 2nd
Final Position: 2nd

Via beating Linfield on the last day we have qualified for europe for the first time in the club's history.We also announced a 57 seat expansion to Paisley Park and a sponsorship deal worth 30k per year was announced. No trophies this season although we did finish runners-up in the Antrim Trophy, going down 3-2 to Glentoran who also ran away with the league.

I hope that next season I can put an end to their dominance and hopefully raise some income via a UEFA Cup run.


Final Table


One to watch: Micheal Watson
Missed 10 games again through injury but managed to hit 11 league goals in 20. His ratio has always been at least 1 in every 2 games and he is now Albert Foundry captain.

Wish me luck next season Albert Foundry in europe!