FM10 Small Club to Big Club Big Euro Nation Challenge

[rlipscombe]

for my assault on Serie B, thanks to the generous TV money, i have £1.2 million to spend, and a £60k p/w wage budget. best spend this wisely. i have promised survival.

[Occam's Razor]

UD Villa de Santa Brígida

Villa de Santa Brigida was the result of a merger between two local clubs, Club Deportivo Santa Brigida, and Sociedad Deportivo Santa Brigida. Located in the rural town of Santa Brigida, on the Canary Islands. their biggest success was 16th place in the Segunda Division B.

Now I am taking them over.

So their biggest success will probably stay as it is for some time.

[rlipscombe]

UD Villa de Santa Brígida

Villa de Santa Brigida was the result of a merger between two local clubs' date=' Club Deportivo Santa Brigida, and Sociedad Deportivo Santa Brigida. Located in the rural town of Santa Brigida, on the Canary Islands. their biggest success was 16th place in the Segunda Division B.

Now I am taking them over.

So their biggest success will probably stay as it is for some time.

welcome and good luck

[yababo]

Guys,

Do any of you have any advice in relation to my problem detailed here:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=180543

[Sazchu]

Stranraer - Season 5 2014/2015 - Scottish Second Division

Competition

Scottish Second Division: 1st

Challenge Cup: 3rd Round (v Hamilton)

League Cup: 2nd Round (v Dundee aet)

Scottish Cup: 5th Round (v Celtic (again))

League

From the first day to the last we managed to hold on to first place in the league and with six games to go we secured a playoff spot, four games later we secured the league to take us up to the First Division.

League Cup

Our first opponent was Queen's Park which saw us take a hard fought win 2-1.

After playing Queen's Park we met Dundee at Dens Park, Dundee had the advantage most of the game but didn't manage to grap a win until Sean Burns scored with two minutes left in Extra Time, 1-2 and out of the League cup.

Challenge Cup

We started the Challenge Cup with a game against the team who kept us from the First Division the season before, Airdrie Utd, this time however, we had a relatively easy time and took them out with two goals to none.

In the next round we met Ayr and dispatched them without much problem, 2-1.

The 3rd round, we met Hamilton and in a game which we heavily dominated the one shot on goal from Hamilton would net them the win, 0-1.

Scottish Cup

In the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup we went through Ayr without any problem and then met Patrick Thistle in the 4th round, a team we had met a few times and had a bad record against, Patrick Thistle was the better team throughout the game but they did not manage to take the victory as we went through to the 5th round with a 2-1 win.

Just like the season before we would meet Scottish Cup holders Celtic in a game we didn't expect anything from and more than anything were just waiting for it to be over so we could get our money which would boost our finances over the million pound mark.

As expected we didn't stand much chance against Celtic but with a 1-1 scoreline in Half-Time some people began to dream, they were shut down as Celtic managed to put 4 goals through in the second half to our one to secure a 2-5 victory, they would be defeated in the Semi-Final against Dundee Utd.

Transfers

Transfers

Few transfers as usual and most of them didn't get to play much as the team was pretty much the same as the season before, Ricardo Goni did however manage to snag away the number 1 Goalkeeper spot.

Player Achievements

Second Division Player of the Year - Roberto Platero

Second Division Team of the Year - James Bloom, José Manuel Rueda, Roberto Platero

Other

Board is gonna upgrade the training facilities \o/

Season			League			Position			Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11		   Third Division		10th				     None
2011/12            Third Division               4th                    Promotion Through Playoffs
2012/13           Second Division               9th                                  None
2013/14           Second Division               2nd                                  None
2014/15           Second Division               1st                                Champions

[AdamFitz]

Congratulations on promotion!

EDIT: You've inspired me to go start in Scotland, enjoyed this last year with FC Eindhoven

EDIT2: I'll go as Elgin because when I simmed Stranraer came bottom.

Profile

[Uffe Johansson]

Casa Pia - 2019/20 Liga Sagres

Table

Well 7th again for the third season in a row. No Europe in sight...

Next season

I would like to strenghten the squad with some quality players. But it is hard to find players better then the ones I have who are willing to join Casa Pia.

Career

Season    Division          Pos    PC          PLC        Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   2:nd Division C   11th   1st Rnd     N/A        NOPE
2011/12   2:nd Division C   5th    1st Rnd     N/A        NOPE
2012/13   2:nd Division C   4th    3rd Rnd     N/A        NOPE
2013/14   2:nd Division C   1st    Qtr final   N/A        Champions, Promotion via playoff.
2014/15   Liga Vitalis      2nd    4th Rnd     3rd Rnd    Promotion
2015/16   Liga Sagres       16th   3rd Rnd     2nd Rnd    Relegation
2016/17   Liga Vitalis      2nd    2nd Rnd     2nd Rnd    Promotion
2017/18   Liga Sagres       7th    Semi final  3rd Rnd    Survived
2018/19   Liga Sagres       7th    5th Rnd     3rd Rnd    Nope
2019/20   Liga Sagres       7th    Qtr final   3rd Rnd    7th again!

[Uffe Johansson]

Sporting - Casa Pia

Table

A promising start. But somewhat disturbing to draw Leiria 1-1 and the play quite well against our local rivals and win 1-0.

[Cadley X]

for those of you managing in Germany, and especially Magdeburg and Carl Zeiss Jena, i thought you might be interested in this article in this month's World Soccer magazine:

Twenty years after the Berlin Wall crumbled and heralded German reunification, most football clubs from the former DDR have the look of flowers in the desert.

Energie Cottbus' play-off defeat by Nurnberg in May removed the last trace of eastern representation in the Bundesliga and all the ex-Oberliga giants – Dynamo Dresden, Carl Zeiss Jena, 1.FC Magdeburg, Lokomotiv Leipzig, et al – now live a hand-to-mouth existence in the third, fourth and fifth tiers of the domestic system.

Certain eastern outfits have done themselves justice in the top flight. Cottbus and their band of cut-price Balkan and Brazilian buys did amazingly well to survive for a half-a-dozen years in the Bundesliga of the new millennium, while Hansa Rostock punched above their weight for a decade, finishing sixth in 1996 and 1998. Nonetheless, swimming against the tide is only possible for so long. Deprived of the financial resources which sides in the west take for granted, the Ossis (East Germans) were always going to struggle.

In the good old/bad old days, the east's footballing finest were bankrolled by branches of the state. Dynamo Berlin – who won 10 straight titles between 1979 and 1988, many by apparently dubious means – were funded by the Stasi, the much-loathed secret police, Dynamo Dresden were also a police team and Lokomotiv Leipzig were backed by the railways. However, once the Wall fell and free-market economics swept in, the safety net was gone and, with the economy in these parts in precarious shape, making ends meet became a daily dilemma.

And it still is. Germany may be back together as an administrative whole but, economically, east and west remain poles apart. Unemployment in the east is close to double that of the west and the gross national product per person in the east is still only 70 per cent of a westerner. Given a choice between investing in the west or the east, the would-be sponsor looks to the former every time.

While the sight of Dynamo Berlin scratching around in the fourth division could be construed as divine retribution, not so the decline of other East German powerhouses; they only provoke pity.

Twenty five years ago, Magdeburg beat Milan in the Final of the 1974 European Cup-winners Cup – the DDR's first and last continental trophy – and local hero Jurgen Sparwasser scored the national team's historic goal in the 1-0 win against West Germany in that year's World Cup finals. In 1981, Carl Zeiss Jena also reached the Cup-winners Cup Final, though they went down 2-1 to Dinamo Tbilisi.

Equally depressing

The story in Leipzig is equally depressing. The city, whose 46,000-capacity Zentralstadion was the only eastern venue used during the 2006 World Cup, is enjoying something of a boom thanks to the arrival of BMW and Porsche factories. But on the football front, the best the Saxon metropolis can do is two sides – Lokomotiv and FC Sachsen – in the fifth division. Sachsen were declared insolvent early last year and were demoted a division, while Lok, runners-up to Ajax in the 1987 European Cup-winners Cup, have twice gone bankrupt (1999 and 2003).

However, an Austrian-based energy-drink company could be the saviour of football in Leipzig. Already the owner of clubs in Austria, USA and Brazil, Red Bull recently bought SSV Markranstadt, a fifth division club in the suburbs of the city, and the rebranded RB Leipzig recruited a clutch of second division players last summer, including the former Germany defender Ingo Herzsch.

They are not to everyone's taste, however. Like Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga, they are regarded as artificially inseminated upstarts and some opposition fans were sufficiently angry to spray their home turf with herbicide and plant a wooden cross as a symbol of the death of the traditional club ideal.

Another ray of hope for the Ossis is Union Berlin. For so long the poor relations of Dynamo, Union won the third division title last season and are now pushing hard for a second consecutive promotion.

It's easy to understand why many Germans see a reunited nation as the footballing equivalent of a derby match that is won 10-0 by the west every season.

Every prospect that has been unearthed in the east – Matthias Sammer, Thomas Doll, Ulf Kirsten, Andreas Thom, Michael Ballack, Bernd Schneider and, more recently, the Bayer Leverkusen pair of keeper Rene Adler and midfielder Toni Kroos – have all headed for the lucrative west at the first opportunity. And the drain of talent does not look likely to end any time soon.

“We simply cannot compete,“ says Magdeburg youth team coach Mirko Eichentopf. ”The big clubs from the west target our best 13- and 14-year-olds, offering cash to their parents, sometimes a job too.

“In this part of Germany, where unemployment is high and there is a lot of poverty. It's hard to resist.”

Meanwhile, after heavily fining Italy striker Luca Toni and Germany full-back Philipp Lahm for breaches of club code, the powers that be at Bayern Munich probably would appreciate some old-style DDR player discipline at the moment.

Furious at being substituted at half-time during the 1-1 home draw with Schalke, Toni immediately stormed out of the stadium, while Lahm found himself in the dog house for a most untypical press tirade – one in which he railed against the club's scatter-gun approach to the transfer market and its lack of long-term planning compared to its Champions League rivals.

Both of which put more pressure on the increasingly-beleaguered coach, Louis Van Gaal, and provide further scope for the FC Hollywood tag line. l

It was a bit naughty that only 2 of the DDR first division teams were allowed into the German top flight after reunification. I know it wasn't practical to expand by more than two teams, but they could have played another season under the old league structure and then paired the best six from the East with fourteen from the West. Although with the loss of state financial backing, the collapse of Eastern teams was probably inevitable. Thanks for the article

[daemonic]

Montevarchi Calcio Aquila - Italian Serie C2/B 2010/11

Transfers

Lots of loans as the players I started with were apalling. A few players may be good enough for Serie C1 but it'll probably be another overhaul.

Italian Serie C2/B

Predicted: 14th | Final Position: Winners | Graph

A win in the first game was followed by 4 draws and a loss before the team seemed to settle and we started to climb the table settling in the playoff places by mid-season.

A blip after the Christmas break saw us drop to 7th but we regained form and set about chasing down Andria Bat who were leading the way. We caught them with 6 games to play as they hit a poor run of form and with a game to spare we were crowned Champions.

Serie C Cup - 2nd Round

The most notable result was the 2-0 win over Crotone who were playing in Serie B last season.

Italian C2 Super Cup - Winners

Other News

Finances - Pretty healthy as we made a small profit most months.

Club Records

Awards

Serie C2/B Top Goalscorer - 1st Federico Cecere

Stars

Most Assists: Valerio Nunziata - 7

Most Goals: Federico Cecere - 19

Most MoM: Federico Cecere - 6

Highest Avg Rating: Andrea Mascioli - 7.27

Fan Player of the Year: Luigi Torre

Best Eleven: Season | Overall

Montevarchi Calcio Aquila Trophy Room

Serie C2/B x 1 - 2010/11

Italian C2 Super Cup x 1 - 2010/11

Career History

Season   League      Pos.  Serie C Cup  Cup     Europe         Achievements
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2010/11  Serie C2/B  1st   2nd Rnd      N/A     N/A            Serie C2/B Champions, C2 Super Cup

Next Season...Survive.

[rlipscombe]

well done daemonic!! fantastic achievement gaining promotion first season. good luck next season. i found C1 to be not too big a step up from the bottom level.....

[daemonic]

Thanks, we're tipped to finish 17th in Serie C1/A but our promotion odds are only 40-1 so if I can finish midtable I'll be happy. Players I can attract are still very poor so need a season or 2 to try build a team that doesn't rely heavily on loans from parent club, Fiorentina.

[Willy Wonka]

Polar, I tried looking for your posts on the StuKis, but couldn't find anything.

Season update in a bit.

[Polar Bear]

Eh, all you really need to know is that we almost got relegated in season one and I was sacked 12 games into season two, with Kickers rooted to the bottom of the table and destined for relegation. So your success made me blush!

Yes, I saw the article. In real life I seriously doubt that so many young Spanish and Italian footballers would be happy to head for Magdeburg, but hey, this is FM

Well done to Sazchu and daemonic, and a happy New Year to all challengers.

[StellaF1]

Hospitalet - Season 3 - Liga Adelante - 2012-13

League ¦ Graph ¦ Squad ¦ Transfers ¦ Finances

Pre-Season

Another busy pre-season saw me releasing a lot of players and bringing in many free transfers. The major departures were the sales by the chairman of my goalkeeper Zakarie Boucher for 850k and one of my main centre backs Andrea Mancuso for 1.2m.

Season

Our Spanish Cup campaign never got started as we were knocked out in the second round by Celta.

In the league we made a terrible start losing our first 3 games which left us bottom of the table. We then started picking up some wins and points to see us move up the table and out of the relegation zone. We then maintained our league position for the rest of the season and ended the season in 15th place.

In general we were very similar to last years performance despite feeling that i had improved the squad. We finished the season 3 places lower than last year scoring 2 less points with the team conceding 5 more goals but scoring 15 more goals.

The Players

Daniel Romero - Young Argentinian Goalkeeper that i brought in once my previous keeper had been sold. Had a good first season and was well worth the 250k i paid for him.

Daniel Opare - Brought in on a free from Real Madrid and he had a good season at right back.

Tomasz Lisowski - Brought in for 20k to fill a week position at left back. Had a decent season but I'm still looking for a better left back.

Ivan Benitez - He regained his first team place after the sale of Andrea Mancuso and was my best centre back this season.

Ariel Garce - My number one centre back from the previous season. He had a good season again but at the age of 33 he is slowing up a bit now.

Niek Jansen - Young center back that i brought in for 70k from AZ and he played on occasions to give him match experience.

Paul Beekmans - Started the season as my main def mid but with the signing of Alvarez he finished the season mainly on the bench. His contract is up now and he will be departing the club.

Juan Carlos Alvarez - Very promising defensive midfielder who ended up playing regular towards the end of the season.

Giacomo Bonaventura - He was my first choice in centre mid but his performances dropped off as he wants to move to a bigger club. He didn't play much towards the end of the season and I'm hoping tomake some money by selling him on.

Francesco Viola - Young player that i brought in on a free who replaced Bonaventura at Centre Mid and who had a better impact with his 6 goals and 3 assists.

Wahan Gevorgyan - Experienced winger who made a valuable contirbution with 7 goals and 5 assists

Gregory Christ - My main left winger who finished the season with the equal highest goal provider with 12 assists.

Zoltan Bagi - Bought for 95k as a right wing prospect and played him regularly and am hopeful he will continue to develop.

Hannes Sigurosson - My second striker who scored 9 goals but i was hoping for a little more.

Ivan Bolado - Brought is on a free and had an excellent season with the equal highest in assists with 12 and was top scorer with 20 goals.

Next season aims

Hopefully i will be able to improve the squad over the summer and i hope to break into the top half of the league.

[DodgeeD]

Sport Benfica e Castelo Branco – 2016/17 Season Review

Liga Sagres – 7th | Final Table

Portuguese Cup – Semi-final | Results

League Cup – 3rd Round | Group Table | Results

A good season in which we established ourselves as a top ten club in Liga Sagres. Even the chairman’s sale of our star player, Italian winger Mareno Todesco, in January didn’t stop us from reaching record heights. We were helped by a 12 game unbeaten run mid-season and, for a time, it looked like we might get into the top 6 and secure a Europa Cup place for next season. However, defeats to Braga and Maritimo towards the end of the season ended those dreams. Still, we have to be happy with progress made. If we can just now turn some of those draws into wins, we’ll do even better next season.

We had a decent run in the League Cup, reaching the 3rd round befıore coming unstuck in a tough group with Braga and Sporting. Luck as on our side in the cup as we didn’t face a top flight side until the quarter finals and even then it was relegation-threatened Belenenses. We were always going to struggle against Benfica in the semis and our elimination there was no surprise.

Best match of the season: Belenenses 1, B.C. Branco 2 – at a time when we were still in danger of slipping into the relegation battle, this performance proved a turning point. An even game seemed to be heading to a goaless conclusion when Belenenses, themselves in the thick of it at the bottom of the table, took the lead with 7 minutes to go. Our heads could have dropped then but we came back in sensational fashion as Ruiz Sanchez fired in a free kick on 87 minutes and winger Carlos Alberto cut inside to score the winner with the last kick of the game. We never looked back after that while our opponents hardly won another game all season.

Key Players:

Carlo Mazzoni (DC) – again, solid at the back and an aerial threat up front. Chpsen as Fans’ Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.

Luca Nuzzolese (DC) – returned to form after an indifferent first season in Liga Sagres.

Guiseppe Ferraro (DR) – another return to form as Ferraro excelled after I switched him from centre-back to right-back

Jorge Ruiz Sanchez (DL) – a loan signing from Barcelona who quickly secured his place in the first XI. I had a ₤500k future fee clause in the deal, which would have been an absolute bargain but alas, he wanted to return to Camp Nou and stake his claim for a first team place there. He’ll probably get it too.

Sergio (MR) – struggled with injuries early in the season but recovered to play an important role in our surge up the table and our cup run.

Pele (MC) – my only Portuguese player (and a current memebr of the international squad too) had a very good debut season at the club.

Alejandro Oviedo (MC) – initially back-up but soon gave Pele some healtht competition for a midfield berth. Scored a hat-trick of free kicks in one game towards the end of the season.

Medeiros (ST) – not exaclty in prolific form but the Brazilian was our topscorer in his debut season. Also named as the signing of the season for Liga Sagres.

Awards:

Fans’ Player of the Year – Carlo Mazzoni

Most Improved Team of the Year 3rd Place – B.C. Branco

The Season Ahead:

The board have agreed to upgrade facilities again with the work set to take 4 months. We also now act as a feeder club to Werder Bremen. However, they don’t have anyone to send us on loan.

The board now expect a mid-table finish at least, which is definitely within our grasp. I have ₤2.5mil to spend in the summer and I’ll be looking to add depth to our attacking and goalkeeping options. Although I couldn’t persuade Jorge Ruiz Sanchez to join us permanently, I’ve already raided his club Barcelona for a couple of freebies:

David Pons (AMC) – I don’t have an attacking midfielder in the squad at present so he will give me a few more tactical opitons.

Ernesto (ST) – not quite good enough for Barcelona but more than good enough for us!

The Story So far:

[font=Courier New]
[b][u]Season[/u]   [u]Division [/u]    [u]Pos.[/u]  [u]Cup[/u]   [u]L.Cup[/u]  [u]Europe[/u]  [u]Other[/u][/b]
2010-11  2nd(Central) 1st   3rdR  N/A    N/A     3rd in promotion play-off
2011-12  2nd(North)   2nd   2ndR  N/A    N/A     -
2012-13  2nd(North)   3rd   3rdR  N/A    N/A     -
2013-14  2nd(North)   1st   1stR  N/A    N/A     Promoted via play-offs
2014-15  Liga Vitalis 2nd   4thR  2ndR   N/A     Promoted
2015-16  Liga Sagres  12th  4thR  3rdR   N/A     Survived
2016-17  Liga Sagres  7th   Semis 3rdR   N/A     -[/font]

[rlipscombe]

good progress Dodgee and Stella.... good luck for the new seasons

iacovone & LLR - any chance we'll be seeing you back in this thread with your games any time soon????? miss you!!

[Gareth Keenan]

A new year brings a new save. I failed in Spain last year so I felt compelled to return.

Velez C.F. is my destination. Manager profile.

[rlipscombe]

A new year brings a new save. I failed in Spain last year so I felt compelled to return.

Velez C.F. is my destination. Manager profile.

welcome Gareth. good to see you in this thread. i enjoyed your progress in Switzerland and i look forward to seeing you bring success to Velez.

[iacovone]

GK has joined! Good luck in Spain, once you get out of the 3rd division its ok but I had real difficulties achieving that! 7 seasons IIRC.

rlips, I'll be back eventually. Really enjoying my career game over in the Careers Forum at the moment though. Shameless plug for it right here.

[Gareth Keenan]

GK has joined! Good luck in Spain, once you get out of the 3rd division its ok but I had real difficulties achieving that! 7 seasons IIRC.

rlips, I'll be back eventually. Really enjoying my career game over in the Careers Forum at the moment though. Shameless plug for it right here.

Thanks.

I've been enjoying following your progress in the Careers Forum. That South African team looks like a lot of fun.

[AdamFitz]

Elgin: Season 2010/11

Media Prediction: 10th

Final Position: 2nd (Promoted via Play-Offs)

Position Graph

And unbelievable season really, thought the best I'd do was mid-table but around the 20 game mark we started racking up wins and found ourselves at top of the table. I thought we were going to get promoted automatically, but on the penultimate weekend, we drew 1-1 with a poor Albion Rovers side, a result that put Forfar top. We had the chance to beat them on the last day and come top, but we only managed a draw. This left us in the play-offs, we beat East Fife 3-2 on aggregate, and did the same to Berwick Rangers in the final, securing our place in the Scottish Second Division, a fantastic achievement.

Cups

Poor all around, went out at the first time of asking in all three, in the 2nd Round to East Stirlingshire in the Scottish Cup, the 1st Round of the League Cup at the hands of Aberdeen and out of the Challenge Cup in the first round to Montrose, so as you can probably imagine we didn't make a lot of money off this.

Finances

Quite bad, but I blame myself for releasing so many players.

Squad and Tactics

Quite thin at the moment (this will be explained with Transfers), but some coming in when the window opens. Tactic was ok, used a 4-1-3-2 before it.

Transfers 1 | 2

Nearly brought in a whole new squad and probably released/sold 2! Very happy with my dealings considering where it got me. There will have to be A LOT of dealing if I want to stay up in Division 2 now!

Key Player Profiles:

Chris Templeman - I was badly in need of a striker with pace and who could score goals, Chris provided this for me. A fantastic player who was my Player of the Season.

Ross Grant - Got him off of my parent club Ross County, he scored 17 goals and formed a delicious partnership with Templeman, helped me a lot along the way to promotion.

Pedram Ardalany - I could never sign him due to work permit problems, so he's been on a lot of trial periods with me (Scottish league allows two trialists to play), was an absolute god in midfield, couldn't have done it without him.

Antoine Sibierski - My scout recommended me him and I thought why not? Pace might not be good but he's got quality stats for this level. A goal every two games, the old man has still got it (well, at this level anyway).

Paul Hay - The definition of solid, both my coach and Assistant Manager wanted me to place him on the Transfer List, but I didn't listen, he had an excellent year.

Dean Richardson - My other full-back, bombed up and down the wings, and stopped a lot of chances for the opposition, really filled a hole in my defence.

[b]Season     Division                 Position     Notes
[/b]2010-11    Scottish 3rd Division    2nd          Promotion via play-offs

[iseemonsters1]

Welcome Gareth - best of luck with Velez!

I'm back from Christmas/New Year travelling and my Racing Club de France team have made it to the Coupe de la Ligue Final for our first chance at serious silverware!

Racing Club de France Levallois 92 vs Olympique Marseille

Coupe de la Ligue Final - Stade de France, 29th March 2014

Team News: Both my first choice full backs from the start of the season are missing - Daniele Spina was sold by my chairman to AS Monaco for £5.5m in January (not a bad price, but it left me lacking in defence for the second half of the season), while Matthias Kottman, my Swiss left back, is out with a sprained ankle. Other than that, the team is close to full strength - with pacy Brazilian winger Marcao as my most serious attacking threat, hopefully providing the amunition for Hungarian forward Mark Csiszar and Spaniard Arnau Cortes up front. Marseille are also more or less at full strength - and are expected to defeat us handily in front of 80,000 fans at the Stade de France.

12 min - RCFL 0 - 1 Marseille - The favourites are already in front - Hatem Ben Arfa set up Florent Sinama-Pongolle who fired in on the half-volley. Not the best start.

16 min - RCFL 1 - 1 Marseille - But Marseille's lead didn't even last 5 minutes, as my ball-winning Norwegian midfielder Bernt Holen slotted a lovely ball through for Arnau Cortes who smashed it past the keeper for the equaliser.

18 min - RCFL 1 - 2 Marseille - Well, it took Marseille even less time to reply to our goal. An elaborate build up involving seven Marseille players eventually saw defender Senah Mango slam a shot into the top corner to put the favourites back in front.

21 min - RCFL 2 - 2 Marseille - Anything they can do, we can do too. If their African defender can put them into the lead (Mango is from Togo), then our African defender can put us back on level terms. Guinean central defender Ousmane Soumah headed home a Marcao corner to make it 2-2. What a game so far for the 80,000 spectators.

41 min - RCFL 2 - 3 Marseille - In bizarre circumstances, Marseille are back in front. Hatem Ben Arfa's corner was headed towards goal by Vincent Sasso, cannoning off our defender on the line, hitting the back of goalkeeper Paulo Pina and trickling into the goal. Not a good way to concede - and not a good time to concede either.

HALF TIME - RCFL 2 - 3 Marseille - We'd actually had the better of the chances in the first half, by and large, but Marseille have quality in all areas of the field - and appear to have luck on their side. We've yet to hold the lead, but I've been proud of the way my team keep doggedly pegging Marseille back.

49 min - RCFL 3 - 3 Marseille - Yet another equaliser from the little team that could. Arnau Cortes gets his second of the game with a solo effort - clean through on goal, he coolly slips it past the keeper to get us back to square one (again).

52 min - RED CARD - Bernt Holen (RCFL) - Disaster! Marseille full back Garry Bocaly is tripped by our holding midfielder, Bernt Holen, who has already been booked - and the referee doesn't hesitate to show him a second yellow and send him off. Marcos Coca will now have to marshall the centre of midfield on his own.

55 min - RCFL 4 - 3 Marseille - The underdogs who didn't know when to give up have done it again - despite being down to 10 men and having to cover the whole of the center of the park on his own, Spanish star Marcos Coca pops up to score an incredible volley from the edge of the area. Finally, we have the lead - can we hold on?

63 min - RCFL 5 - 3 Marseille - Being reduced to 10 men seems to have spurred the rest of the team on to even greater heights - Coca finds Csiszar, Csiszar lays it off to Cortes, who curls the ball into the top corner from 25 yards to complete his hat-trick. Magical.

66 min - RCFL 5 - 4 Marseille - That 2 goal cushion didn't last long. Sinama-Pongolle beats two defenders and the goalkeeper to claim his second goal of the game and put Marseille right back in it.

77 min - RCFL 5 - 5 Marseille - After heavy pressure from Marseille, the inevitable equaliser arrives, courtesy of Hatem Ben Arfa. Pina made a good save from a shot by Gael Kakuta, but Ben Arfa seized on the rebound to fire past the stranded keeper. Is this heading for extra time?

87 min - RCFL 6 - 5 Marseille - No! Mark Csiszar has a shot, Marseille's keeper spills it, Kakuta misses the chance to clear, and my right winger Luis Alfonso Saizar pounces on the ball, slotting it into the net with impressive composure, and giving us the lead with just minutes remaining. The Marseille players surround the referee, claiming offside, but the officials made the right decision and allow the goal to stand.

FULL TIME - RCFL 6 - 5 Marseille - An epic game, and a fitting way to win our first serious piece of silverware. Great entertainment all around, an even contest, and a great result for us and probably for all the neutrals watching as well. Hat-trick hero Arnau Cortes is Man of the Match, and Racing Club de France are the Coupe de la Ligue winners for 2014!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Congrats Monsters, thats a huge result for Rcing Club!

[el sid]

WHAT A GAME

Congrats iseemonsters

[Razer82]

Time to start again in Portugal.

Decided to take control of Fafe this time around.

Manager Profile

Squad

Fingers crossed that this will be better than my first attempt with Branco.

[rlipscombe]

iseemonsters - what a win!! possibly the best game i've ever seen, especially in a final.....

good luck with Fafe Razer

iacovone - look forward to yuor return - might have to read up on your career game...

[yababo]

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u181/Yababo/SamFellowes-1.png

Have had nightmare with crashes and stuff, as such I had to start again.

My team WKE of Holland are actually a football club started by some gypsy's and were previously managed by one time Wolves defender John De Wolf. The W stands for WoonWagen which are mobile homes in Dutch. WKE stands for Woonwagenkamp Emmen. We have an awful stadium which in the long term could prove a barrier to progress as it only holds 2500.

[ghostwriter]

Good luck in Spain, Gareth. Interesting team, one I have never seen before. They did not come up in my save last year.

And congratulations iseemonsters, an incredible match.

I have finally finished my first season in Italy. Will hopefully have a report up later on today.

[rlipscombe]

good luck in Holland yababo - look forward to seeing a game in Holland now promotion/relegation is possible.

[AdamFitz]

I didn't know that, there were A LOT of good teams without a league in FM09, so it'll be interesting indeed.

[yababo]

It is going ok so far. Just don't have much quality. Think we could push for the playoffs though there are 8 playoff spots up for grabs!

[PRDH]

Right. If I beat Roma here I'm definitely through the group stage. If I don't I'm reliant on Partizan holding Bayern to the same result as us. It's tough. To come through this group (Roma, Bayern, Partizan) would be impressive.

I've come back from 1-0 down to equalise at 1-1 in the 30th minute. This could be tricky.

[rlipscombe]

good luck PRDH

[el sid]

Apologies for the delay in this report, got caught up in New Year celebrations and was unable to get the screenshots done.

SC Preußen Münster

Predicted Finish - 1st

Actual Finish - 1st - League Table - Graph

Manager Profile - The Squad

Transfers

First Division:

Well in one word, Easy. Absolutely dominated the league from start to finish with some amazingly consistent performances. And for the first time, Larrea scored more than Maranhao in the league.

Team of the Year

Champions League:

We were drawn with Porto, AZ and Fiorentina, but we were good enough to finish first in the league.

Group Stage

1st Knockout Round - Comprehensively beat Standard 9-1 on aggregate, that must be one of my best ever wins.

Quarterfinal - Drawn against Arsenal and we just about managed to sneak through on away goals.

Semifinal - Lost 1-2 to Marseille in the first leg at home, but the players came up with an inspired performance in France to beat them 2-0 and advance 3-2 on aggregate.

Champions League Final - Met long term rivals Leverkusen in the all German final. Had a player sent off, but Bernardo came up with a captain's performance and we won 2-1, the first European trophy in our history.

Champions League Team of the Year - Lets just say we dominated this

Europa League Final

Season        Division        Position       Achievements

2010-2011    Third Division      1st          Promotion
2011-2012    Second Division     3rd          Promotion via Playoffs
2012-2013    First Division      12th          -
2013-2014    First Division      3rd           -
2014-2015    First Division      3rd           -
2015-2016    First Division      3rd           -
2016-2017    First Division      1st          Champions!
2017-2018    First Division      1st          Champions again!
2018-2019    First Division      1st          Champions in Germany and Europe!

**Challenge Complete**

[Gareth Keenan]

Congrats el sid. Nine seasons, that was quick!

[Occam's Razor]

Having been fired from by last position due to abject poorness, I decided it was time to get right back onto the horse with:

Algeciras C.F

Formed in 1956 as España de Algeciras, the club was born in a merger between two older clubs, Algeciras CF and UD España Tánger.

They have never been prolific trophy winners, their most successful came between 63 and 67 when they spent four seasons in the Segunda División.

Having earned promotion to the Segunda División B Group 4, I have taken them over, to lead them to a period of success slightly lesser than their previous exploits.

[Gareth Keenan]

G. Keenan's Velez C.F.- Spanish Second Division B4- 2010-2011 Season

Season review: After taking over at Velez, I quickly realised that I had inherited a team with only one genuinely good player, Juan Jose Blanco, so I swiftly signed him up to a new five year deal and set about overhauling the rest of my squad. In total I brought in nine new players, all on free transfers. I now felt ready to start the season. We got off to a bright start winning our first two games (both away), which included a 5-0 thrashing of Racing Portuensa. But from there things went downhill, and quickly. We went eight games without a win which left us sitting 18th in the league. From there we did improve and by midseason we managed to reach the dizzy heights of 8th, but our good run of form was short lived, and 28 games into the season we found ourselves precariously close to the relegation places at 16th. Fortunately the team continued it's up and down trend and by the end of the season we sat in a very comfortable 11th place.

League Table

Graph

Squad

Transfers

Finances

Got ourselves a pretty good looking youth prospect also. Victor Herranz, apparently he has the potential to become a good Liga Adelante AMC or ST, and he probably goes straight into my first team.

Managerial History:

Season     League                        League Finish    Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11    Spanish Second Division B4      11th             None

[PRDH]

Well I held on to the 1-1 against Roma and Partizan managed to beat Bayern which means I'm through to the next round of the Champions League.

[ghostwriter]

Renato Curi Angolana - Serie C2/B - 2010/11

We were in a very tight 4th place at Christmas.

There were a few arrivals in January as my European scout earned his money, in came an 18yo Belgian ST and 2 players from Spain (an ST and AMC). This meant I was far over my wage budget so I flogged some underused reserves for a bit of money.

First up was the most difficult match of the season away at Foggia. And we strolled into a 2-0 lead within 11 minutes . That annoyed them so they proceeded to score 5. And then the next team scored 3. We did win the next match but still conceded 2. We were winning matches but our defence was a shambles, no clean sheet until the end of February. By that stage we were still in the playoff hunt; a 6 match unbeaten run conceding only 4 goals certainly helped. However we were also in the playout hunt as well, with 6 games left there were only 8 points between 5th (playoffs) and 15th (playouts).

As mentioned previously Foggia are far too good for this division and they clinched the title in the next round of matches with 5 games to go! Meanwhile we lost. A draw and a win (hat-trick from the January ST) in our next games took us back into the playoff positions in 5th but still with 3 games to go we were still not safe from the playouts which is quite frankly ridiculous.

My main ST evidently did not like being outshone by the new guy so in the next match he got 4 goals(!) as we thrashed the 2nd worst side in the division. So with 2 games left we were finally safe from relegation and needed a maximum of 4 points to confirm our playoff position. Unfortunately we promptly were awful at home against a relegation threatened team. Despite this loss we were still in 5th and the playoffs but only 1 point ahead of 5 (FIVE!) clubs with another 2 having a chance of sneaking in. We were away at one of these 5 teams so we basically needed to win although, if we were very lucky, a draw might be enough. We took the lead but they were far better than us and we ended up getting thrashed so no playoffs for us,..

So, we ended up in 7th place. As can be seen we occupied most of the available positions during the season.

Note the 8 points difference between the playoffs and the playouts. Also note the 25(!) points between 1st and 2nd and the 31(!!) points between 16th and 17th. Not sure I have ever ended an FM season with such a wierd final table.

Although obviously a bit disappointed not to be in the playoffs I can't really be too unhappy with that, 7th is a nice solid start and we scored a lot of goals. Unfortunately we also conceded a fair few as well. We were one of the best away from home and, erm, one of the worst at home. Hmm. We have some good players but there are definitely weaknesses

Squad

Summary

Finances - down, down and down, but thankfully we started of with a respectable amount of money so we are not yet in debt, not too sure how much the Summer will bring, we are over the wage budget so will attempt to cut down on some of the backups

Transfers - ie. my squad, 50% total success, 25% mild success, 25% hardly played

Our better players were:

Best GK - Ricardo Giorgi - the very promising 16yo was going to be first choice until I spotted this guy in mid-August, was very solid and in my eyes seems to be perfectly good enough for this division, saved a few games, made very few errors and is still young, not a position I am actively looking to improve

Best Defender - Axel Vicentini - when I bought him I thought he would be my best defender and so he proved, played very well at DL and chipped in with several assists and goals

Best Midfielder - Fabio Bellotti - much better than I expected, played consistantly well and scored a few as well, however his fitness went considerably down towards the end of the season and he is retiring next Summer so I don't intend on him being a first team regular next season

Best Winger - Salvatore Basile - did not start as first choice but it was not long before he made MR his own, consistant down the wing with several assists and the odd goal here and there, him and Mineo on the other side are good wingers for this division and I certainly won't be looking for replacements

Best Striker - Liborio Bongiovanni - most expensive signing of last Summer but definitely worth it, voted the divisional signing of season and our player of the year, very good player, a lot of goals, a few assists and a good partnership with whomever he played with, more of the same please

Best January Signing - Carlos - came from the Spanish 3rd Division where he has spent more or less his whole career, is even better than Bongiovanni with whom he plays very well, goals all over the place, we might have got into the playoffs if he had been here since the start, only issue is his age, maybe only 1 or 2 more seasons left in him

After a season like that, I can only really hope to actually stay in the playoff positions next season. With some Summer tweaking I hope that it can be possible. We are pretty solid in most areas and very good in others (eg. ST) but MC is definitely one area that needs improving as Bellotti is going downhill quickly whilst I was never too convinced by Iennaco. Given my wage situation I am going to have sell some players as well.

Best 11

10/11 - Serie C2/B - 7th

Team I Would Like To Play Every Week - Viterbese - H2-0 (Serie C Cup), A4-1, H7-1 (Serie C2/B) (2nd last, relegated in playout)

Team I Would Not Like To Play Every Week - Barletta - H2-4, A1-3 (3rd, lost in playoff final), Foggia - H0-1, A1-4 (1st and unbeaten)

[PRDH]

The draw has been made and I'll be facing Atletico Madrid in the next round of the Champions League. I think I've got a chance.

[Flashman\'s School Days]

I have been away from the forums for quite a while now mainly because I haven't been on the game very much due to my Pau FC game, which made me a little dissalusioned with the game. Basically I wasn't enjoying it at all even though I had been going fairly well, and I have decided to go back to the team that I spent almost all of last years game with. Last year I managed a team from Spain called C.F. Portugalete and took them to La Liga, a 10th placed finish was the highest as well as a winning the Spanish Cup and UEFA Cup, the reason I never ventured further in the league was due to not being able to afford the big wages because of not being able to expand to the stadium over 12000, so I am hoping that this year I could make them Spanish champions.

And so the journey begins and I hope this time around I can I have fun on this year's game.

Profile

Squad

As you may see I need to get some players and quickly because the squad is very thin and I only have a few youth players. Wish me luck.

[PRDH]

It's time to bid a fond farewell to Flavio who after wanting to leave for 3 years has finally got his wish. He's probably been the best player we've had so far. He leaves for £28.5M which means a £10M profit on him. Now, time to try to replace him.

[minisav]

Good luck FSD

Shame PRDH. Hope you find a suitable replacement.

Currently getting my squad up to scratch. Need 2 strikers and possibly some full backs. That guy I signed for 50K may end up being a CB as I already have quite a good DM atm.

[Occam's Razor]

Algeciras C.F '10-'11

Segunda División B: 8(58pts)

We started well, and never dropped below 10th place, it looked like our form could take us into the Segunda División proper, but it was not to be, our form dropped off for a six game spell in the late end of the season, in which we could not of bought a win(and if their was a bribe option I would have tried.)

Goals: Carlos Lara(15)

Assists: Chus López(13)

Avg Rating: Carlos Lara(7.32)

Transfers: 1 out, quite a few in.

Star Player:

Carlos Lara: A 17 year old striker signed after impressing in the Spanish Trial day early in the

season, 15 goals, 12 assists and the highest rating, a huge return from the

young striker

[minisav]

Good season there. Ready for a promotion push?

[Occam's Razor]

I hope so, all the players I had on loan last season are now on permanent deals as they each had less than a month left on their contracts at their old clubs, so hopefully this and the new players brought in for competition or a starting place can push us through to the playoffs at least.

My only worry is keeping hold of Carlos Lara, La Liga clubs were interested in signing him at the same time we offered him a contract, and if one of them came calling I doubt I'd be able to turn down the offer.

[minisav]

2 latest signings are pretty big. At 37 the first one is a bit old but I reckon that goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt will do the job. 325K he has set us back but I believe we need a good goalkeeper/defence if we want to stay in this division.

The second cost me 150K. It sees 21 year old Mexican, Jonathan dos Santos join us and he will happily take AMC position. I also have able back up for him in Pinau who was out of contract.

I just need strikers now

[Occam's Razor]

I type it and it happens, Star Player Carlos Lara has left the club after my idiot of a chairman accepted a £275,000 bid from Espanyol for him, I'm not all that happy with him right now.

[minisav]

That's robbery. I only got 400K for Baufeldt but that can't be nice.

Really struggling for good strikers