FM11 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[brettney1980]

Brettney's Russian Adventure - Take Two!

FC Chita.

A decent if not spectacular season we hung around the 12th-10th mark alot of the season and it seemed everytime we put a string of results together and hit 10th we then lost a couple and ended up back in 12th/13th, guess that is just our level.

Table - Graph.

Free Transfers was the name of the game again and i still struggled to find good enough CB's, and i even decided to make our Defence weaker in the August transfer window when Slavia Prague came in for Jovan Tanasijevic our Montenegrin International CB/RB taking him on loan for £6k and a future fee of £22k we just need the money really and i felt confident that we could still make a mid table spot without him.

Transfers - Confidence - Finances.

Squad Stats.

Our youth academy isn't producing any youngsters with a potential of more than 1 star so i've brought in my own with the best looking like Vitaly Kuznetsov, Sergey Sipatov (who ended up 2nd top scorer) and Anton Ukolov who just doesn't get beat in the air.

A Typical Chita Lineup this year;

GK, Kotlyarov,

RB, Bitokov,

CB, Starkov,

CB, Tanasijevic,

LB, Kaleshin,

CM, Brusnikin,

CM, Krunic,

CM, Scherbakov, (Fans Player of the Season - 2nd years in a row).

CF, Tikhonov,

CF, Radonjic

CF, Zhdanov.

[Ohanzee]

Albion Rovers 2016/2017

3rd in Clydesdale Bank Premier League (pred: 8th) | Transfers | Finances | Graph

The League

Started horrible with 3 losses, as mentioned before. We then won 3 in a row, but after 12 games we had a rather disappointing 4-1-7 record. We then had a huge change of form in November and went on to win 12 out of the next 15. Towards the end of the season we had another slight dip in form, collecting lots of draws. 7 draws in the last 10 matches in fact. In the end it was enough to finish 3rd once again though, but far far behind the top two this time around.

30 points up to Celtic. Have a quick look at Mr. Danny Welbeck, their star striker. When he can score 53 in 50 you know the league is crap.

The Cups (League Cup | Scottish Cup)

The usual. Enough said.

The European Adventure ...

was short and not very pleasant. You can read about it here.

The Players (Squad Ratings)

Plenty of new signings, but not many of them played a lot, and even fewer had any decent form:

Josh Rowlands (GK) - The new goalie, after losing our Team of the Year one to Sporting CP. Clearly not even remotely close to those standards.

Simon Sinclair (SC) - Thought he looked good, but his goal ratio is balls.

Camilo Armas (AML) - Probably the most decent of the new signings.

Juan Manuel Gonzalez (MC) - He was ok as well. I think he looks like he could do better though.

Player of the Year? Hmm, lets see. Urko San Martin I guess. He's been with us since the 2nd Division and was our best defender in a rather crap defensive season. Denis was our top goalscorer again, although I'm not sure he's going to take us to the next level. The "stars" I depend on like Hansen and Niero, had a very average season.

The Finances

Increasing steadily as my greedy Scottish chairman is sitting on the money. We made £1.5M more in gate receipts this year compared to last, so the new stadium sure is helping. Avg. attendance was up to 5,913 from 1,238 last year. We had a better run in the Cups last year though, which was where most of the gate receipts was made then. Anyways, £3.4M in balance and we can't spend more than £18k a week on wages. *sigh*

- Did ye hear about the Scotsman who married a girl born on February the 29th so he'd only have to buy her a birthday present every four years? -

That's my chairman right there.

The Scottish Teams in Europe

Well that Albion Rovers team didn't do Scotland any favors at least. Rangers, as usual, crashed out in the 1st KO round of the EURO Cup. This time against Italian giants AC Milan. Dundee United did as badly as us, getting hammered by Vitesse in the qualifiers. And Celtic reached the EURO Cup group stages, but were beaten by Valencia and Metalist to finish 3rd in the group only beating Javor of Serbia.

After last season the Clydesdale Bank Premier League went from 31st to 19th in Europe. I'm expecting it to drop a couple of places again now. From the looks of things the decent performance last year means Scotland has 2 Champions Cup qualifiers and 3 EURO Cup qualifiers next season though. And we should be entered into the Q4 round, if I read it right. Hopefully that means we're seeded. Although I'm not sure we have much of a chance either way.

The Future

Just keep going I guess. Atm we look miles away from Celtic and Rangers, but I think they both had a crazy good season as well. To be honest we should not be able to compete with them anyways with our wage budget and reputation. I think I'd be happy to finish anywhere in the top half again next season.

[b][u][color="Blue"]CLUB HISTORY[/color][/u][/b]

[b]SEASON	LEAGUE	POS.	S-CUP		L-CUP		EUROPE		NOTES[/b]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]11/12[/b]	S3D	[url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s1tab.jpg"]1st[/url]	4th Round	2nd Round	-		Promoted
[b]12/13[/b]	S2D	[url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s2tab.jpg"]5th[/url]	3rd Round	3rd Round	-		-
[b]13/14[/b]	S2D	[url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s3tab.jpg"]1st[/url]	5th Round	3rd Round	-		Promoted. Won Challenge Cup.
[b]14/15[/b]	S1D	[url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s4tab.jpg"]1st[/url]	3rd Round	3rd Round	-		Promoted. Won Challenge Cup.
[b]15/16[/b]	SPL	[url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s5tab.jpg"]3rd[/url]	5th Round	Semi Final	-		-
[b]16/17[/b]	SPL	[url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s6tab.jpg"]3rd[/url]	Qtr Final	3rd Round	EURO Cup Qual.	-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S-1/2/3-D - Scottish 1st/2nd/3rd Division | SPL - Scottish Premier League

[b][u][color="Blue"]TROPHY CABINET[/color][/u][/b]

[b]Scottish First Division[/b] - [url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s4tab.jpg"]14/15[/url]
[b]Scottish Second Division[/b] - [url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s3tab.jpg"]13/14[/url]
[b]Scottish Third Division[/b] - [url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s1tab.jpg"]11/12[/url]

[b]Scottish Challenge Cup[/b] - [url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s3ccup.jpg"]13/14[/url], [url="http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv330/TommiHelm/NewAlbion/s4culC.jpg"]14/15[/url]

[Almondo]

Season review 2014/15 - Wuppertaler SV Borussia

League - 6th

The league was a lot better than I could have hoped for. I would have been happy with a 15th place finish but a 6th is so much more.

German Cup - Semi Final Exit

1st round Away @ Unterhaching

2nd Round Home vs Werder Bremen

3rd round Home vs Dortmund

Qtr Final Home vs Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim were the holders

Semi Final Away @ FC Bayern

Bayern proved our undoing in the Semi. I'm quite happy with the cup this year as I only wanted to concentrate on the league.

Transfers

A very good budget of £3.9 milliion helped me get some of the players in but only on 48 month pay deals. Biggest signing is Yakubu who I got on a free.

Finances

Finances are very good with them going up significantly with a 19 mil prize money for finishing 6th.

Key Players

Johnny Leoni. A good keeper is the best start to the team and I have one in Leoni. Although he did lose out on playing time due to injury at the end of the season.

Nemanja Rnic. This experienced right back pushed my Vice Captain out of the side easily and stayed in the side most of the year.

MIchele Rigione. Once again another good season this year.

Ernesto Theiler. A young Argentinian right winger who forced his way into the first team and impressed me so much he stayed there.

Paul Pogba. Pogba was a one time Man Utd prospect who I snapped up forbasically peanuts. He's bossed the midfield most of the season as well.

One's for the future

1 player this year.

Cesar Perna. Brought Perna in as a prospect and put him in as my back up straight away. I really hope he'll step up and do well in the future.

other news

I got offered the Stuttgart job and said NO very firmly. Meanwhile the board have placed a transfer embargo on me due to a take over meaning that the transfer below was done well and early to avoid it being embargoed.

Tottenham striker Jermaine Defoe has agreed to join us next season to bolster the front line. I did this as I was slightly unhappy with the amount of goals scored this season and hopefully he'll help with that even at 32.

Season      Division       position        Acheivements
---------------------------------------------------------
11/12      German 3rd       2nd            Promotion
12/13      German 2nd       5th            None
13/14      German 2nd       1st            Champions
14/15      Bundesliga       6th            Stayed up.

Major Competiton winners

Champions League - Porto

Europa League - A.C. Milan

[ToMexico!!]

Cracking first season in the Bundesliga Almondo. Hopefully Defoe will get the goals you need to go a step further.

I've just finished my first season and my report will be up within half hour or so.

[brettney1980]

In stupid move of the day, after signing alot of young players with potential i moved them all to the reserves to play a preseason friendly so i could see how they would fare against my current first ... And now they are all unhappy about being placed in the reserves. Stupid move ...

[Almondo]

Thanks ToMexico!!. I'm enjoying the football in Germany I just need to figure out how to beat Bayern and Leverkusen regularly now.

[minisav]

Not easy to finish twice in consecutive seasons Ohanzee so well done Good luck with next season.

Good season there too Almondo

As for me, friendlies done and I've made 13 signings so a new look side!

[PRDH]

That's a stunning season in the Bundesliga Almondo! I'm running behind with getting my update up. But I'm writing it now. It's no way near as successful!

[Almondo]

Cheers guys. It was hard at times but it was made even sweeter by a 3-1 win on the final day over FC Bayern

[minisav]

Remember having something similar with Darmstadt last year. So satisfying.

[ToMexico!!]

2015/16 - Hallescher FC - German First Division

Transfers - 10 IN for 4.4m & 25 OUT for 2.6m

Plenty of activity this season as we needed to strengthen yet again for the step up. Defence was our weak point. I broke our transfer record on Thierry Lesueur of Toulouse who joined for 3.5m, rated 4.5 stars by my assman he was a star for the future.

League - 11th

Finishing 11th first season is a great achievement I would have taken 15th no doubt. It was our home form that kept us where we were 9 wins at home compared to just 3 away. We're still a long way from the big boys but a 20 goal a season striker will help massively.

Squad List/Stats

Top Scorer - Marko Obradovic, 12

Most Assists - Emanuel Aguirre, 6

Most MOM - Two Players, 4

Ave Rating - Jonathan Mensah, 7.10

Other Notable Players -

Finances - Big rewards for finishing 11th, with 15m prize money. I had the youth facilities upgraded early in the season but I had a message come up saying that due to technological advances the facilities have been downgraded. So back to square one really, I've asked for the training facilities to upgraded first this time. And the board rejected my request for a new stadium as the one we have now has character, carp answer to be honest.

Also, we were taken over by a local business who purchased the club for 9.75m and strangely his status was looking to leave. We are now in the process of another board takeover with another local business looking to pay 11.75m. So the first buyer was obviously in to make a quick buck.

Season  | League          | Pos  | Cup           | Europe            | Other Achievements
11/12   | 3rd Division    | 2nd  | n/a           | n/a               | Promoted
12/13   | 2nd Division    | 10th | 1st Rnd       | n/a               | Consolidation
13/14   | 2nd Division    | 3rd  | 2nd Rnd       | n/a               | Lost in Play-Off Final
14/15   | 2nd Division    | 2nd  | 2nd Rnd       | n/a               | Promoted 
15/16   | 1st Division    | 11th | 2nd Rnd       | n/a               | Survival

[minisav]

Congrats ToMexico! Survival is always a good thing!

Just started my defence of the Challenge Cup. Beat 3rd Division Elgin 2-0 away. Two old boys getting the goals. Lima and the man-who-they-say-must-be-stopped-but-rarely-is-Bayne!

[Almondo]

Great season there ToMexico!!. The prize money is a huge amount whereever you finish it seems. Hopefully you can push on now.

[ToMexico!!]

Thanks minisav and Almondo. Was just offered the Bayern Munich job, so sad to turn such a club down. Been given 4.4m to spend which doesn't seem alot but should go along way. Board takeover is still in process, hopefully it won't affect my transfer window too much.

[Ohanzee]

Russia looks tough brettney1980, just 2 teams promoted with no playoffs either? Looks like you're on steady ground now though. Upwards!

Almondo that's a great first season at the top! I've seen Pogba play for real. We went to see the United youth team play in the Cup last year when I was over there. They won and Pogba looked very strong in midfield. Sadly the first team lost to Aston Villa the next day.

And good first season ToMexico as well. Have a feeling both of you (in Germany) will qualify for Europe next season.

[minisav]

Didn't get the squad registration bug like you Ohanzee btw. It's either fixed or I got lucky. Wouldn't be a problem as I only have 15 players that need to be registered!

1-1-1 is the record after 3 games. Into the 3rd round of the League Cup again after seeing of SPL side Kilmarnock. Got Rangers again! At home this time so wish me luck when that comes around!

[Ohanzee]

It was fixed in the mini-patch that was released a few days ago.

[Almondo]

Thanks Ohanzee.

Just lost my first choice Keeper for 7-8 weeks due to him being struck painfully by a ball in training. Ah well more playing time for my young keeper Perna

[minisav]

Good timing!

[minisav]

Halfway point and we're overachieving. Won the Challenge Cup again and we're top by 10 points!

Suppose it helps when we've only conceded 5 goals in the league so far

[Ohanzee]

Albion Rovers Pre-season

Our cheap board gave me a transfer budget of £1.1M, but only £28k wage budget this summer. I promptly put all of the transfer money into the wage budget, including money we made from selling Hansen, Pedersen, and Armas. This gave us a new wage budget of £51k and I've almost managed to spend it :

Emmanuel Frimpong (DMC/MC) - Ex-Arsenal and Aberdeen. Was going to be 1st choice, but that was before some of the other signings.

Antonio Del Prete (MC) - Happy to be a hot-prospect, so that's what he'll be for now.

Chris Smith (GK) - My search for a new goalkeeper continues. This guy is at least experienced.

David Sedlacek (MC) - Signed him before his contract ran out, so had to pay a small fee. Looks like he's worth it though.

David Navarro (SC) - Promising striker, ex-Mallorca.

Michael Amadio (SC) - Very promising striker, ex-Cagliari.

Kristofer Hæstad (MC) - Well known Norwegian midfield terrier.

Joseph Akpala (SC) - Probably our best signing. Celtic wanted him as well, but never offered him a contract. He's been around a bit. Charleroi, Club Brugge, Lens, Basel.

Nigel Reo-Coker (MC) - Doubt he needs an introduction.

Badri Akubardiya (DL) - Decent leftback released by Stade Brestois 29.

Oier Izaola (DR) - Promising ex-Barcelona rightback.

Andrea Grasso (GK) - Hopefully a decent goalkeeper.

Romain Cuenot (MR) - Rleased by PSG. Doesn't really fit my new formation, but he's to promising to let slip. Re-training to central midfielder as we speak.

Krisztian Adorjan (AMC/SC) - Released by Liverpool. Looks promising.

Paul Quinn (DRC) - Just cause I couldn't find any other defenders, and felt I needed the backup.

Although we can scout the whole world now, these are all from European clubs. Gonna need some time to gel. But I think we have a much stronger squad, at least in-front of the defensive line. Although the strength pales in comparison to Celtic, who spent £8M on players like Fabinho. Him and Welbeck are gonna tear this league to pieces for them for sure.

The European Adventure ...

is already over again. I was hoping to enter into the 4th qualifying round and be seeded, but no such luck. We drew Olimpik of Bosnia in the 3rd round and after missing 3 sitters in a 1-1 draw at home, we beat them 6-3 in a thrilling away match. Sadly we drew one of the better of the seeded teams in the 4th round, Liverpool. After having a man sent off in the away leg we lost 4-1, and even though we managed an amazing 2-0 win at home it wasn't enough.

Hopefully we can manage another 3rd place in the league.

[ToMexico!!]

Being that pleased with my summer signings I've decided to do a little transfer update. I was given 4.4m to spend but managed to spend over double that to get the players I wanted/needed to improve my squad for the next step. Unfortunately we are now 54k p/w over our wage budget, the board are going to kill me.

Paulo - Signed from Spartak Nalchik for 5m. Hoepfully after settling in he will form a decent partnership with Obradovic.

Marcos Saez - Signed from Las Palmas for 750k to act as cover for DC and MC.

Marc Muniesa - Big signing for free from Man Utd will slot straight into DC.

Everton Jacobs - Jamaican MC signed from Bulgarian side Cherno more for 625k. Rated highly by scouts will be more back up for MC.

Enzo Gayraud - I asked the board to make this transfer as funds were low, they were happy to oblige second time of asking. Signed from Montpellier for 2.7m

Darko Brasanac - Free transfer from Roma, should slot into MC along side Tiote but will be pushed by other MCs.

Aleksander Milanovic - Offered to me by Hannover for 1.3m, maybe a little steep but much needed back-up for DC and LB.

So yeh 10.5m spent on 7 players, I have recouped 3m from a few players sales, just need to sell maybe 1 or 2 players to bring that wage spend down.

[DizzyIzzyB13]

Wee! I sent out a team that was essentially my reserves against Ascoli in the 4th Qualifying round of the Italian Cup 'cause I needed to rest most of my first team... and they spent most of the first half bravely defending an Ascoli team that was dominating, only to finally get an attack in first half injury time tyhat ended with a Salif Dianda run into the box, his being scythed dfown, a red card being shown and use scoring with our first shot of the game from the penalty spot. An own goal the other side of half time and, somehow, we managed to tie up a trip to Juventus in the first round proper with a 2-1 win.

[SnakeXe]

Wow, loads of updates to go through!

Great all round though

[iacovone]

FAILED...

That's a first for iacovone....maybe I spent too long away

Well, I'll treat it as a learning experience and am currently holidaying over in France. rlipscombe I'm following you!

[SnakeXe]

Bad luck I'm sure you'll do better in France!

[rlipscombe]

unlucky iacovone... looking forward to the battles in France mind!! bring it on!!

[PRDH]

Stuttgarter Kickers - End of Season One Update - 2011/12

Transfer Budget: £40

Wage Budget: £45,000

Finances: -£1,968,737

Transfers - 15 IN (£0), 26 OUT (£0)

What looked like a fairly hefty wage budget got used up pretty quickly which is the reason for a number of the departures, the other reason being they didn't look good enough.

I thought I considerably improved the squad. Hopefully if I can do the same again, we can leap on next season.

League - 10th (Graph)

We by know means embarrassed ourselves, but never played well enough to challenge the promotion playoffs. A few better results against the higher reputation teams in the league though, and we may have been up at the business end, or certainly closer.

Squad

Our star player was Morten Skoubo, a former Denmark international, he scored some good goals, reasonably regularly too. If I can keep him happy next season he could be a useful player to push us forward.

Aims For Next Season

1/ Challenge at the top end of the season.

Season		League				Position			Achievements/Wins
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12		Division 3			10th				Avoided Relegation

Past Updates

N/A

[iacovone]

Cheers Snake. We'll call that the bedding in file.

Now for the real business. Please welcome French manager Pintos de la Zasson...new manager of Quimper Cornouaille FC

So Quimper seems quaint. Its the capital of the Finistere department in Brittany in North West France. We are literally on the tip of the North West point of France leading into the Atlantic. We have 3 rivers running through the city, the Steir, the Odet and the Jet.

The 'Cornouaille' name is from Brittany's most traditional region, home of Quimper - La Cornouaille. Apparently it has a very distinct Breton character.

Quimper also go against the grain and unlike most French festivals - they host Les Hivernautes. A Winter Festival! How delightful.

The rest I can make out is that there's a large Roman Catholic cathedral, lots of churches, a Museum of arts and the Statue of Gradlon.

Sounds like a nice place. Now lets hope I can make the football club as famous as the town!

[iacovone]

Should probably mention a couple of things about the club

We have a decent sized stadium - Stade de Penvilliers can hold 10,000 people with roughly 50% seated. It is not in good condition though (poor as described by FM). All facilities are fairly basic.

Our kit is white tops, black shorts and socks with a green away kit. Brest and Lorient are our main rivals.

Amazingly club icon Marc Salaun is still at the club as a playing member at the age of 44!! He's a MC/AMC so it'll be interesting to see what sort of an impact he can have!

[rlipscombe]

PRDH - solid debut season there - plenty to build on for next season.

iacovone - good luck with Quimper. sounds like our two clubs are pretty similar in stature and facilities. we also have a 10k capacity (4400 seated) and the stadium conditions are 'Average'. good luck mate.

[rlipscombe]

Wish you were here.....

Louhans & Cuiseaux

Not to be outdone by iacovone, i thought i'd give a bit of background to Louhans-Cuiseaux.

Louhans

Louhans is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.

Louhans is the capital of Bresse bourguignonne. The main street, dating from the eleventh century, is very typical with arches and stores all along. It is very touristic and quiet and is perfect for green tourism. The population in 2006 was 9,250.

Cuiseaux

Cuiseaux is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France. The population in 2006 was 1,805.

As you can see, we're formed by the merger of clubs from two small towns. the whole population from the two towns fill the ground with only a few people unable to make it in. It seems that should we make it to the top we'll be the French Hoffenheim (only without the money.... )

We have a real small town feel to the club - something which is actually a novel thing for me with my recent history in this challenge....

[LennyBernstein]

2015/16 - Red Star Football Club 93 - Ligue 1, France

Had a busy couple of days at work, so this isn't my sparkiest update, but it's been an incredible season...

Transfers - 8 IN (£525k) & 6 OUT (£6m)

Our Board's last move of the previous season was to spend £8m expanding the stadium. This left us with a hefty £8m overdraft and so I decided to sell a few players to help raise some funds. In all I managed to raise £6m, getting good money for a couple of promising strikers - De Respinis and Lombardi safe in the knowledge that I had kept my two best young striking prospects for the season to come. Brought in a few more promising youngsters although the only signing to really strengthen my first eleven was Edu Bedia, a quality player who has brought a bit of attacking flair to my midfield.

League - 5th (Predicted 20th) | Graph

An astonishing first season in Ligue 1, I can't quite believe it myself. Whilst I knew we had a talented bunch of youngsters and some solid older pros, I truly thought I would struggle this season. But apart from an early wobble, we just seemed to get better and better. Our eventual 5th place probably flatters us - there was only 5 points separating 5th and 11th place, so we were only a whisker away from midtable obscurity. But we're not complaining and it means we get a shot at Europe next season, albeit the Euro Cup. Not much else to add really. I'm speechless...

French Cup - 10th Round

A very disappointing campaign getting knocked out by Ligue 2 Angers in the 10th Round.

Coupe de la Ligue - 4th Round

Again, a short and not very sweet campaign, but frankly, who cares when you finish 5th in the league at your first attempt!

Key Players

Yannick Sagbo. Sagbo was my player of the season for the third time in a row. This was probably his best season yet, scoring an incredible 25 goals from 31 starts, finishing top scorer in the league. Ligue 1 Star of the Season

Iker Vallejo. Last season he was already showing promise. This season, just 19, he is now a first choice central defender. He got the best average in the league (7.57) scoring an impressive 10 goals from set pieces and corners. This man has got a VERY bright future in front of him! Also finished in the Ligue 1 Team of the Season with Sagbo. Worryingly however, he's been pushing for an improved contract, something we just can't afford at the moment, and he's walked out of contract talks (he wanted £28k a week and we're only paying him £4k a week at the moment!) so we may to make a decision about whether to cash in on him over the summer if the Board doesn't significantly improve our wage budget...

Richard Soumah. Another fantastic season for my number one winger, he's been just awesome...

Edu Bedia. A free transfer at the beginning of the season, he's brought in some much needed attacking flair to my midfield, quickly establishing himself as one of the first on the team sheet each week, and providing 11 assists.

Eduardo Aizpura. In the last two updates I highlighted Eduardo as one for the future. Well, this season, just 19, he broke into the first eleven scoring a tidy 13 goals from 25 starts in the league.

Finances

Our financial performance has been every bit as impressive as our performances on the pitch this season. We started with a massive £8m overdraft, but ended with a handsome £7m in the bank. Player sales contributed, but we've also looked after the wages well, helped by our emphasis on youth, and our expanded stadium has meant gate receipts has risen significantly.

Next Season Ambitions

1. Another top five placing

2. Have a good run in Europe

Season	League		Position 	Cup	 	League Cup	Europe 	Other Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12	French National	9th		10th Rnd	n/a		n/a	n/a
2012/13	French National	1st		10th Rnd	n/a		n/a	n/a
2013/14	Ligue 2		11th		9th Rnd		1st Rnd		n/a	n/a
2014/15	Ligue 2		3rd		11th Rnd	3rd Rnd		n/a	Ligue 2 Manager of the Season
2015/16 Ligue 1		5th		10th Rnd	4th Rnd		n/a	Ligue 2 Manager of the Year

[LennyBernstein]

Bon chance rlipscombe and iacovone! Great to have some company in France. I actually went to Quimper on holiday this year. A lovely old market town. I bought some amazing fromage from there!

[rlipscombe]

cheers Lenny. you're the blueprint for how to make it to Ligue 1.... just got to go out and imrove on it now!! great season there by the way.

[iacovone]

Lenny that's great!! Can't believe we have a Quimper tourist amongst us!

rlipscombe - fantastic intro and tiny towns! As you say, big contrast to your last few efforts! I should have mentioned the population of Quimper was seen as a shade over 63,000. Definitely gives us scope for a big future.

Pre season is shaping up nicely. We had a ridiculously old squad, so I've seen a few of them to the exit door. Incoming have been a few youngsters and a couple of sturdy looking players for this level. The potential star is centre back Lionel Locatelli for £16k. That is pretty much all our budget so there's big pressure on him.

[rlipscombe]

you certainly have the advantage of potential fan base then... my pre-season has gone pretty well to. up to my debut league game against Mulhouse. happy with the squad i have developed though i still lack a LB and some quality in CM.......

[minisav]

Not quite sure what's happened but we've dominated the league again and I've won the league with 7 games to go. Only let in 7 goals. Can see that being under 10 by the end of the season. Mental.

[iacovone]

Not quite sure what's happened but we've dominated the league again and I've won the league with 7 games to go. Only let in 7 goals. Can see that being under 10 by the end of the season. Mental.

Wow. Nice one minisav

Look forward to the report

[minisav]

Will probably get it posted tonight Will just go for the same format probably unless you'd like to see anything else?

[iacovone]

So long as I can see the league table I'll be happy

Will give me a good read at work tomorrow!

[minisav]

Haha, nice. Yeah the league table will be there, just for you

[Ohanzee]

Good job staying up PRDH. I take it you wanna finish Germany first then? Or will you jump a bit between?

Sad to see you sacked iacovone, but I have a feeling Quimper Cornouaille will be a great adventure.

rlipscombe that looks like a nice town, and I remember Mulhouse. I finished the challenge with them in FM2009 I think. You shouldn't underestimate them. They were actually founded in Germany I believe.

LennyBernstein that's a great first season at the top. Think you had one to many when you celebrated that 5th place though. Looks like 6th to me. Still brilliant.

Congrats on another promotion minisav!

[PRDH]

Ohanzee - Well I certainly wanted to finish the season. Though I have jumped back to Pajara Playas for a bit. I'm not sure which will take up more of my time. I do like my little Canary Island team, they could get well be the priority.

[brettney1980]

A few good seasons i've looked over there ...

Russia looks tough brettney1980, just 2 teams promoted with no playoffs either? Looks like you're on steady ground now though. Upwards!

Yeah it is theres 3/4 teams that beat us 2/3-0 easily so will take a few seasons before we even make it up i think.

Good season Ohanzee 3rd again is pretty good ... Nice result against Liverpool in the Euro cup shame you couldn't of got a 3rd though.

Good going Almondo, just a place off Europe as well!?

.. And another good season in Germany .. Well done ToMexico.

Good first season PRDH staying up is always a good first task so mid table is pretty impressive.

Nice progress LennyBernstein.

iacovone bad luck with the sacking in Russia.

[minisav]

2012/13 - Scottish 2nd Divisions - Arbroath - Minisav

WINNERS!!

Again! Mental season. Defence just amazing. Scary stuff.

My Profile - Manager of the Year

Competitions:

League - Table - Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2

Scottish Cup - 2nd Round v Motherwell - Fixtures

Scottish League Cup - 3rd Round v Rangers - Fixtures

Scottish Challenge Cup - Final v Queen of the South - Fixtures -------------- WINNERS!!! AGAIN!!!

Team:

Squad - Tactics - Best XI (coming soon) - Transfers - Team of the Year

Once again any screenshots wanted I shall provide

Will put in Best XI when I reach that point of the game. Bed time now

[brettney1980]

Wow, thats an immense season Minisav.. Only 8 goals against!? 27 points clear!?

[minisav]

I don't understand it either. But there is a reason my defence + goalkeeper are the team of the year. All of them are rated as at least a league above the one I'm in so that helps!

But thanks!

[whoneedstherapy]

Hey Guys, Figured i might give this one a bash for something different. I have however ditched scotland for england as i'd like to manage leicester city sometime in the future but to keep things even i won't be signing or scouting any english based players/free agents or staff whilst playing the challenge.

Going the russian league as i previously got Nizhniy Novogorod promoted to the premier league.

The teams that came up on my save were Chernomorets, Nosta, Torpedo Moscow, Metallurg Lipetsk & Metallurg-Kuzbass so i'll be going Torpedo Moscow both for the name and the location (great potential rivalries).

The club is known and the black and whites and plays at the Eduard Streitsov which is a 13,200 all seater stadium in Moscow. The media expect us to finish 15th.

In terms of expectations i've been given the following budget (in AUD) - 70K transfer budget across all expectations - wages range from Avoid relegation at 52K wage to Title winner at 62K - currently spending 19K on wages.

According to the coaching staff we have poor everything basically especially physically, aside from good height. We're also the oldest in the league.

I'm going to go for mid table finish and see how things pan out!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Hey Guys, Figured i might give this one a bash for something different. I have however ditched scotland for england as i'd like to manage leicester city sometime in the future but to keep things even i won't be signing or scouting any english based players/free agents or staff whilst playing the challenge.

I think you mis read the opening post, you can only load the ONE nation that you are competing in, in your case, jsut the Russian Leagues.