*Official* FMS Challenge #1 2009 (Joint) - The Fallen Giant Challenge (Wegason)

3. The Fallen Giant Challenge - Wegason

Restore a former giant to its former glories. Remember when Forest ruled Europe under Clough, when Leeds United competed in Europe and were a mainstay of the top flight?

There are other former proud clubs with great histories lying in wait to be restored to their former glories.

The challenge is to take over one of these clubs, with a managerial reputation of professional footballer at the highest, and win their nation's top flight title and then crown it with Champions League glory.

The club has to start in a division below the top flight on the version of the game you play the challenge with, the lower down the better.

List of clubs

England

Preston North End

Huddersfield Town

Leeds United

Nottingham Forest

Wolverhampton Wanderers

France

Stade Reims

RC Strasbourg

Germany

Dynamo Dresden

Fortuna Düsseldorf

FC Magdeburg

FC Kaiserslautern

Italy

Parma

Pro Vercelli

Verona

Spain

Real Sociedad

Congratulations to Wegason. Could everyone attempting this challenge please add (FGC) to the end of their title, and could you also post a link to your story in this thread if you haven't been added to the challenge log, which will be kept of those attempting the challenge.

Challenge Log

Started

Deisler26 - The Life of Jaroslaw Lesko

Terk - Rebuilding the Dream

Manxie_Ash - To Elland Back

gavrenwick - We Will Never Be Semi-Pro Vercelli

EvilDave - On the Silk Road, In the Shadow of Elbrus

mark wilson27 - Were Small, furry and we bite.. We are "The Terriers"

Nathan Pike - Putting The Sparkle Back Into Stade de Reims Champagne

Elrithral - Shadow Of The Colossus

patrick - And again we have the world

Faramir - Restore Reims!

sherm - Forest of Adversity

Dalbeider - Can you say that again? Braun-what?

Peacemaker7 - I'm So Hungary I Could Eat a Horse.

haze.13 - My Hat Has Three Corners

Completed

-

Can I possibly use my current story in this? As I'm actually Kaiserslautern anyway?

Damn. I may have to do this. Was toying with the idea of playing Ferencvaros as they've slipped down the Hungarian leagues. Hmmm.

Gratz anyway Wega, should be interesting!

Can I possibly use my current story in this? As I'm actually Kaiserslautern anyway?

Yeah, absolutely. I'll edit your title to signify it and add you to the challenge log.

Sweet, cheers!

Can we use FM08 for these? I only ask as I didn't buy FM09 due to the hatred that I felt for the 3D engine even on the demo? I do have the Chinwag update so it would be set out as 09, just played on 08?

You can use any version of CM or FM which was made by SI. To stick to Weg's rules, the club that you begin with must be lower than the top flight in the version of the game that you use. And I'm assuming, though he doesn't state, that the criteria for being a 'fallen giant' is that they must have won their domestic title at some point in the past. Maybe Weg can clarify for us when he gets here.

Excellent Stuff, now just to see out the last 2 1/2 hours of work, and get home to start this. Hmmm, who to be....

Yep, must have won their nation's league title or won a European trophy and are now in the league lower than the top flight, Ferencvaros count for PM7.

I'll be doing this with Fortuna Dusseldorf, which I am already a season into, but need to write up most of whats happened.

Excellent, in that case I shall carry on my Russian 01/02 save and give that a go, although I'm taking it bit slower at first - final exam on Tuesday!

Cheers for adding the link Terk, completely forgot too

Thanks from me as well, it never even crossed my mind! Interesting to see plenty of different starting points, although I imagine it might take me a long time to reach the CL with my Russians

Same here, Dave haha. I've got 3 divisions to get through first

I'm tempted to call a halt on Ternana and New Everton and take this on... I have strong personal links with both Huddersfield and Preston as places so I might have a pop!

Thanks for the challenge, Wegason.

Here's my attempt with Reims.

Putting The Sparkle Back Into Stade de Reims Champagne (FGC)

Oke, I will have a try at this challenge. The title of the story:

And again we have the world (FGC)

Oops, thanks Terk! I completely forgot to add the link! If I had a brain, I would be dangerous

What happens if it all goes horribly wrong and you get sacked? :o

I think that would be classified under the heading 'Failure'

Nah, I'm guessing that if you can get yourself a job at another 'fallen giant' then you can continue the challenge with them

It's a long time since I played 06, it isn't as good as I remember. Perhaps i'm not as good as I remember.

06 was a version I bypassed. It was a horrible piece of crap.

I think that would be classified under the heading 'Failure'

Nah, I'm guessing that if you can get yourself a job at another 'fallen giant' then you can continue the challenge with them

Correctemondo.

Oh, and I had FM06, I don't think it was that bad to be honest.

06 was a version I bypassed. It was a horrible piece of crap.

FM07 too...

Terk, I think you've missed Faramir's effort at this challenge entitled Restore Reims!

Meh, Faramir doesn't count

My effort starts here. Looking forward to this one

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=129226

It's called 'Forest of Adversity' by the way - Im useless with the links

Meh, I gave up on the Torino save, the sack was the nail in the coffin I've started again on 03/04 with Fiorentina and changed the storyline (if a mod could change the title please). Probably means my attempt at this challenge can't really be taken seriously, but I don't remember 06 being that crap.

FM07 too...

Blasthemy. Hang your head in shame.

Just started with this challenge. Linky. Eintracht Braunschweig (I swear I'm going to keep that name on my clipboard forever) wasn't on the list, but it fits the requirements, so I guess it's ok. It's my first time writing a story here, so, uh, don't eat me plz? :o

Eintracht Braunschweig are former German champions, they count, I forgot about them. I had planned to fill out the challenge summary a bit with more text and details. I'll work on it so Terk can update it.

Blasthemy. Hang your head in shame.

I'm one of those weird people who think each incarnation of FM is better than the last

I'm generally about 12-18 months behind everyone else. I didn't get into 07 until 08 had come out and it's only been in the last few months that I've really got into 08. So I expect that sometime around the turn of the year I might get into 09 The one exception was 06. I hated that version and kept playing 05 right the way through until I finally changed to 07.

It takes me roughly 3 months to get into a new version and I end up playing on with the rpevious version until the final patch comes out.

I think I liked 05 and 06 to a reasonable degree, loved 07, totally and utterly despise 08, and am actually enjoying 09.

In fact I can expand on that. CM2 Spain I totally and utterly adored - still have the disc for that. CM2 UK I liked, CM2 Germany was woeful. They all came on seperate discs in those days. Then I think there was a CM2 96/97 of some sort but I'm not sure. 97/98 totally loved and iirc the next version was CM3 (which would be 98/99 so yeah that sounds right.) CM3 was a pure and utter joke of a game unpatched. Then came 00/01 which remains one of my favourite versions, if only because its the version my HoF story was written on and the one that original UCMS was played on. Loved 01/02 like most people I think, then came the abortion that was CM4. 03/04 was an improvent to a degree and did provide me another great story, thanks to Bobbev's Lisbon Lions challenge.

I've said it before, but its worth saying again. What attracted to me to CM originally was its simplicity. I remember first seeing it at a mates house and thinking, wow what a load of pish, a football game where its all text :s But it soon grew on me Recent versions became overly complicated imo, and the speed of playing slowed down dramatically. However, coupled with my super duper modern PC and whatever else they've done, the game seems to me to run a lot better these days so I'm happy again.

Edit more: And I will do this, because otherwise my other game is going to run away from me.

Edit even more: And here it is, in all its glory. Cant guarantee how long it will last mind you

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?p=3358865#post3358865

Trying to decide if I'm going to do a challenge or not. I'm fully occupied with the two saves I've got going. As for my play, I do tend to play very slowly due to the detail of my writing. As a result I'm never sure if I'm going to get the next version of the game even though I have done so each year since 2005.

I probably have another 150-200 pages of writing to finish Rat Pack ahead of me this summer and about that much for Lions. So a challenge may not be for me -- will simply have to enjoy everyone else's.

Here is my effort for what it's worth. Haven't been around much lately but here I am so anyway...

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=129733

http://www.community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=130237

Fills the challenge criteria, although I'm not sure the author knew that it did.

Sacked after losing a game in the 95th minute. Man, that sucks .

I was thinking... I have a long-term career save around here, and I was thinking about starting this challenge from that point. The year is 2016, IIRC, and for example, Real Sociedad is currently in Segunda B . Maybe I'll holiday it until the end of the current season, and then check what teams fit the criteria at that point in time. Would that be OK by you, Weg?

As far as I'm concerned that's fine.

Okay, holiday done until June 1st 2016. I've been having a look around, and it looks like it's gonna be Preston. Real Sociedad were tempting, but they promoted in the end, so meh. I'm looking for a challenge, and the only candidate that seems worse than when the game started is Preston, since they've been languishing in the League One for a few seasons already, and getting worse by the minute (15th in 2016, eek).

So, unless Wegason objects, and if I get the time, I'll start tomorrow. It should start with a nice summary of what has been going on in the footballing world for the last eight seasons. Should be an interesting scenario for a story.

Eintracht Braunschweig are in the Bundesliga in this save, and barely avoided relegation, by the way .

Terk just became Weg.

And Dalbeider ignored him!

It seems this challenge is mighty popular, I've got some reading ahead of me to stay up to speed with them!

Thats fine with me Dalbeider, I was really disappointed to see a fellow German attempt fail as you seemed to be doing quite well and I was enjoying reading about your progress.

Terk just became Weg.

And Dalbeider ignored him!

Hey, I didn't ignore Terk! ...well, ok, just a little. Wait, who is this Terk fellow exactly?

Nah, in fact I didn't start holidaying until he said Ok. Only that I wanted Weg's approval, too, after all he's this challenge's creator.

And yeah, that sacking was really disappointing. The first season had been almost good enough (curse you Freiburg! ), and the squad looked strong in the second. Too strong, maybe... I think it was a mixture of a bit of overconfidence and a lot of FM's particular way of handling team morale (as in, you lose twice, you won't win two games in a row ever again) that did me in in the end. Tough luck, but that's FM for you, I guess.

Could a mod add mine to the failed list :o

I'm not quitting - my Reims team are top of the French National in November of my first season. I'm not setting a fast pace in terms of telling the story, but things are looking good.

I'm sorry to say I have failed in my challenge to take the not so might Huddersfield Town to the top

Hello, just wanted to say that I will be attempting this challenge with Dumbarton.

Won the first competition in Scotland in 1890/91 and won their second (and last) competition the following year.

They start in the Scottish Third Divsion and haven't been in the top flight since 1985.

Just finished my first season in charge of Pro Vercelli, and narrowly missed out on promotion by losing in the playoff final. With expectations to win the league, I was briefly worried with my job, but after checking the competition confidence and seeing "Delighted with the seasonal performance" I can now rest easy and plan for the next season. Onwards and upwards, as they say.