Nobby_McDonald Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Now you're reaching the Brian Clough level. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted August 14, 2010 Author Share Posted August 14, 2010 Thanks Nobby. I'll take that as a compliment seeing as Clough was a complete legend. Also, interesting developments after the World Cup as I was offered four different international jobs. Ghana, Portugal, Italy and newly crowned world champions Croatia all offered me the top job. I decided to go for: It was a tough choice with four very attractive jobs on offer, however I liked the look of the players that Italy had available so I opted to take that job. Unsurprisingly, the pressure is on. The Italian FA want qualification for the 2020 European Championships, and they want it delivered in style, demanding strong performances throughout the campaign. I'm not too worried looking at the group, although I won't be taking any team too lightly after my experience with Ukraine. But, it's fair to say, the group could have been a lot more difficult than it is. Here it is: Bulgaria Italy Lithuania Montenegro Northern Ireland My campaign will kick off away to Northern Ireland. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwiftyBlade Posted August 15, 2010 Share Posted August 15, 2010 Ah I get it, whilst England are managed by an Italian, the Italians are going to be managed by an English man. Great Idea! Cracking season with Derby, good luck in the Champo League-o mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted August 15, 2010 Author Share Posted August 15, 2010 It's like me and Fabio are on one of those foreign exchanges they did through school! Although in the game, the current England manager is Tony Mowbray. A few seasons ago, Michael Owen was England manager for about a year. I think he's managing Sunderland at the moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwiftyBlade Posted August 15, 2010 Share Posted August 15, 2010 So a former Newcastle man is managing Sunderland? I like the realizim! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted August 15, 2010 Author Share Posted August 15, 2010 Much was made of Steve Bruce being a lifelong Newcastle fan when he took over at Sunderland, so I don't think it's that strange (although I know he never actually played for Newcastle). Plus, there's been plenty of people who've played or managed two clubs who are big rivals:- Michael Owen played for both Liverpool and Man Utd. Rio Ferdinand played for both Leeds and Man Utd. Or, in terms of my local rivalry, players/managers/coaches who have been involved with both Southampton and Portsmouth are Harry Redknapp, Joe Jordan, Barry Horne, Alan Ball and Nigel Quashie to name just a few. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwiftyBlade Posted August 15, 2010 Share Posted August 15, 2010 Yes I know, I was aiming the 'I like the realizim' at Steve Bruce being a boyhood fan of Newcastle but managing Sunderland. Its slightly similar, a former Newcastle player manages Sunderland... I wasn't being sarcy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted August 15, 2010 Author Share Posted August 15, 2010 Yes I know, I was aiming the 'I like the realizim' at Steve Bruce being a boyhood fan of Newcastle but managing Sunderland. Its slightly similar, a former Newcastle player manages Sunderland... I wasn't being sarcy Fair enough. It's hard to tell on a forum sometimes! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted August 15, 2010 Share Posted August 15, 2010 Thanks Nobby. I'll take that as a compliment seeing as Clough was a complete legend. You're not quite there yet young man. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 2018/19 - DERBY COUNTY - PREMIER LEAGUE Media Prediction - 10th Board Expecation - Respectable league position After the impressive league campaign last season, we weren't expected to repeat what we managed. We weren't expected to struggle either. Also, in our first Champions League campaign, the expectation was to reach the group stages. Thankfully, we only had to fight through one qualifier to reach that stage. Some signings were brought in to bolster the squad. I broke the club's record transfer again with £12.75m paid for American striker Jordan Stahl from Werder Bremen. Also brought in were young striker Christophe Green who had been released by Barcelona. Another Barcelona player was brought in, £1.1m paid for young left-back Jesus. However, I upset one of my best players, Sean McGinty by rejecting an offer for him from Chelsea. He remained upset until I relented in January when Chelsea came in again and bid just short of £10m for him. I replaced him with Scottish defender Simon Wilson, who I bought from Everton for a fee of £9m. The league campaign started well enough. We also succeeded in our aim of reaching the Champions League group stages, beating Marsailles 4-0 on aggregate. The cups remained the bright spot of the season, not only because we did well in them but also because we started struggling in the league. We would get the odd result here and there, but the only runs we managed to put together were winless ones. Ultimately, we were never in any danger of relegation, thanks to the bottom 3 being so poor. But we were quite a way from where we needed to be. We ended up 16th, 9 points clear of the relegation places. Back to the cups. Our champions league adventure ended at the first knockout stage. We won the home leg against Sevilla 1-0. We were within a couple of minutes of progressing, but Sevilla scored a late leveller, before wrapping it up in extra time with a penalty. The League Cup was reasonable. We reached the quarter final, but were dumped out by Tottenham. This match just happened to fall during our worst spell of form. However, the FA Cup was where the real story was. We had a fantastic run, beating Chelsea along the way. We headed to the final, my first cup final in England ever in FM, where we faced Championship side Bristol City, who had had amazing run, beating Man Utd, Liverpool, West Ham and Everton on their way, It was a tight match, but we ultimately came out 1-0 winners thanks to Jesus' first ever goal for Derby. It was a very up and down season, but one with a fantastic end. That said, there were constant complaints from the squad about a lack of harmony towards the end of the season, and with 3 of the key players apparently having lost confidence in me, I decided to call it a day at Derby on a glorious note and hand in my resignation. P:38 W:10 D:11 L:17 F:30 A:46 GD:-16 Pts:41 Final position:16th FA Cup Winners! Final League Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 ROLL OF HONOUR England: Premier League: Chelsea FA Cup: Derby County \o/ League Cup: Liverpool Football League Trophy: Luton Town FA Trophy: Burton Albion Scotland: Premier League: Hearts (finally, a winner that isn't from Glasgow!) Scottish Cup: St Mirren League Cup: St Mirren Challenge Cup: Livingston Europe: Champions League: Real Madrid Europa League: Sporting CP I will write an update on my progress with Italy a bit later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Well done on winning the Cup Kev. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted September 2, 2010 Author Share Posted September 2, 2010 Thanks Nobby. It was a fantastic moment for me. It's the first piece of silverware for me on FM that isn't one of Northern Ireland's 257 cups! Also the new Derby manager, Martin Jol, has been left a club in a fantastic state. A decent playing squad, no debt and over £50m in the bank. Not bad considering the squad was pretty poor and the club was struggling financially and in debt when I took over. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted September 4, 2010 Author Share Posted September 4, 2010 ITALY PROGRESS 15/8/2018 - Friendly Italy 2-0 Slovenia My Italy reign got off to a winning start, but the performance was more akin to an England world cup performance. 8/9/18 - Friendly France 2-0 Italy Another poor performance, and unsurprisingly a loss to strong opposition. I was worrying about the competitive matches now! 12/9/18 - Euro 2020 qualifying Northern Ireland 1-2 Italy We got off to a winning start, but made a real meal of this one. But still a win is a win. 13/10/18 - Euro 2020 qualifying Italy 2-0 Lithuania An improvement in the peformance stakes finally. Lithuania were resolute defensively, but we managed to break them down and record a win. 21/11/18 - Friendly Holland 3-1 Italy Yet again a poor peformance, which was enough to see us lose against an impressive Dutch side. Needless to say, I was starting to wonder whether I'd done the right thing in taking this job! 30/3/19 - Euro 2020 qualifying Bulgaria 2-3 Italy Finally we looked dangerous going forward. Bulgaria also had plenty of purpose about them, but we got all three points thanks to a late winner. A close game, but the best performance I've seen from my Italy side so far. 8/6/19 - Euro 2020 qualifying Italy 3-2 Montenegro The same scoreline as the Bulgaria match, but a different performance entirely. We went 3-0 up and seemed to be cruising. Montenegro weren't giving up though and scored 2 late goals to ensure a nervy finish, but we held on. 12/6/19 - Euro 2020 qualifying Italy 2-0 Northern Ireland We finally look like a good team. The score was only kept down by a superb performance from the Northern Ireland goalkeeper. So, it's been tough going so far, but we've won all of the competitive games so far. The table to date is shown via the link below. Qualifying table to date Also, a point of note. In the most recent FIFA rankings, Italy have moved up to 1st place! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted December 13, 2010 Author Share Posted December 13, 2010 ITALY (CONTINUED) It's been a long time since I've updated. The main reason is that other things have been getting in the way and as a result I've played virtually no FM for 3 months or so. I'm well and truly back in the swing of things though, so I thought I'd start up with an update on my progress with Italy. 14/8/19 – Friendly Ukraine 4-1 Italy My first trip back to Ukraine since leaving the managers job proved to be a very unhappy one, as we were dominated. 11/9/19 – Euro 20 qualifying Italy 2-2 Bulgaria A frustrating result and a match we should have won, both in terms of team stature and performance. Defensive howlers let us down here. 12/10/19 – Euro 20 qualifying Lithuania 0-3 Italy A good win against poor opposition. We should have scored more, but a win is a win and 3-0 is a decent score really. 16/10/19 – Euro 20 qualifying Montenegro 1-3 Italy The final qualifying game saw another convincing win. A good performance against a resiliant Montenegro team. A decent qualifying campaign which saw us win all but one game, to finish top by some distance. The table can be seen by clicking the link below: Final Qualifying table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted December 13, 2010 Author Share Posted December 13, 2010 After leaving Derby, I thought I'd hang back and see what became available. I didn't intend to take the first job which came up. But that is exactly what I did, as the first job to come free was a club which approached me without me actually applying. And it seemed like quite an attractive job..... 2019/20 – WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS – PREMIER LEAGUE Media prediction: 14th Board expectation: Steer clear of relegation And so I was now in charge of Wolves. They had finished 15th last season, so were hardly world beaters. Although the squad was lacking in depth, there were some quality first teamers. There were some worries though. First of all, a number of first teamers are the wrong side of 30. The lack of decent options on the bench was something I was going to need to address. Also, the club has too much debt – the debt is worth more than the actual value of the club by a good £10m or so! Oh well...... I address the issues with the squad by spending a cool £21m on various players, the biggest single outlay being £10m on French striker Franck Ali, who the scouts were falling over themselves to recommend. The season itself was a funny one. We had hot and cold spells (ie we'd either be on fire, or regularly losing). The halfway point of the season had passed before we ended a game with a draw, so it was literally win or lose with no middle ground up until that point. Still, despite my £10m purchase Ali being an expensive flop in his first season (he spent a lot of time on the injured list, and apart from the very occasional moment of sheer brilliance he looked a poor purchase), we finished the season strongly to finish above expectations in 9th. We also reached the 4th round of the league cup and the 6th round of the FA Cup, so a reasonable season in all. The real revelation to me was Haris Vuckic. He was labelled primarily as a midfielder, but could play up front if the need arised. I played him up-front due to injuries to most of my strikers, and was fantastic. He ended up the Premier League's top scorer with 22 league goals (27 in all). I've so far managed to resist approaches from Liverpool and Tottenham (who turned his head initially, but I managed to convince him his future was with Wolves). P:38 W:16 D:6 L:16 F:55 A:60 GD:-5 PTS:54 Final position: 9th Final League Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted December 13, 2010 Author Share Posted December 13, 2010 ROLL OF HONOUR England: Premier League: Manchester United FA Cup: Manchester United (who thrashed Arsenal 5-1 in the final) League Cup: Chelsea Johnstones Paint Trophy: Mansfield Town FA Trophy: Eastbourne Borough Scotland: SPL: Motherwell Scottish Cup: Dundee League Cup: Motherwell Challenge Cup: Livingston Europe: Champions League: Inter Europa League: Atletico Madrid Euro 2020: France Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted December 14, 2010 Author Share Posted December 14, 2010 European Championship 2020 - hosted by England So we were drawn in Group A for the finals, seeded first. Group A as follows: Italy Germany Scotland Slovakia On paper, the only team that should be anything like a match for Italy were Germany, although I was wary of Scotland as they had impressed in qualifying and were looking a decent side. Slovakia were the side I was least concerned with. My Italy team were the bookies favourites to win the entire thing, priced at 2/1. The Italian FA Also expected a good showing, wanting us to reach the final at the least. Anyway, onto the matches! Group A - Game 1 Italy 0-1 Germany Things couldn't have got off to a worse start really. However, the game should have been a draw, as it was a very even game. End-to-end stuff. It just so happened that it was the Germans who were able to put one of their chances away, whilst we were left cursing our luck. I was cursing my luck even further when we were forced to end the game with 10 men. Not because we had a player red carded, but because we suffered an injury to captain Mario Balotelli literally a minute after I'd used my third and final substitute. The only positive I could think of was that this game was first out of the way. Group A - Game 2 Italy 4-0 Slovakia We found our scoring boots for this one. The score was a fair reflection of how we dominated the game. We looked good in attack, and Slovakia never stood a chance. The few attacks they did manage were snuffed out quickly and effectively. This was probably the best performance Italy had managed since I had become manager. Group A - Game 3 Italy 2-1 Scotland Our final game was against the dark horses, Scotland. The Scots had won well against Slovakia and drawn with Germany. This meant, that a win was essential as Germany were only ever going to win against the poor Slovakia side. I was shaking my head when Scotland took the lead shortly before the break, meaning qualification, and therefore my job was on the line. So, a tense (for me) second half ensued. 70 minutes gone we were still behind, so I took off a defender for a striker to give the team extra presence up front. This was rewarded with the equaliser on 76 minutes, when the bodies up front finally broke through the resolute Scottish defence. It appeared to be headed to a draw, and therefore being knocked out, until deep into injury time when we finally hit the winner with a cracking shot from the edge of the box. This, apart from the Scottish kick-off following the goal, was the last kick of the game! Talk about cutting it fine!!! Still, we were through and that was all that mattered. Group A Final Table Quarter-final Italy 3-0 Czech Republic I was expecting a tough game against the Czechs. I needn't have worried, as they were similar to their neighbours Slovakia and we were just too strong for them. A good performance, and into the semi-finals! Semi-final Italy 1-1 Spain (3-1 on penalties) So we faced a semi-final against Spain. It was a close-fought match, with Spain breaking the deadlock on 57 minutes. We equalised approximately 20 minutes later to take the game into extra time. The extra 30 minutes failed to produce a goal so it went to the dreaded penalty shoot-out. We held our nerve, the Spanish didn't. 3-1 the shootout ended in our favour. Into the final! FINAL Italy 0-1 France All I can say is gutted. Much like the opening game against Germany it was end to end. We produced plenty but failed to capatalise on any of it. Either team could have won the game, but France clinched the title in the cruellest of ways - a wickedly deflected free-kick. The deflection was so great, the winner went down as an own-goal. So, at the end of the tournament we were beaten finalists. It was disappointing as we really could have won it had luck been on our side. For all those who think international management is dull, when you have a tournament like this one it really isn't! It just would have been nice to come out of it winners. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 Unlucky Kev. Maybe in four years time... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevhamster Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 World Cup 2022 is the next aim. FM is more sensible than FIFA as it's not hosted by Qatar! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 FM won't have the choice next version! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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