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FM11 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

Lower Leagues Rule

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toonbalmy87

toonbalmy87

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solid 1st season there mate. like the look of Winde for that level - pace and acceleration are great attributes for lower levels. good luck next season.

hes the guy who is keeping me alive at the moment. i am glad i put his non promotion release clause at 2.5mil :D

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rlipscombe

rlipscombe

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couple of good signings there toonbalmy. hopefully they do well for you.

welcome to the challenge anti spiral. sounds like with your form you'll soon hit Serie A. looking forward to seeing who you pick.

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toonbalmy87

toonbalmy87

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couple of good signings there toonbalmy. hopefully they do well for you.

welcome to the challenge anti spiral. sounds like with your form you'll soon hit Serie A. looking forward to seeing who you pick.

yeah i am walking my league i think iv lost once and won all the other games :D

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Twellman24

Twellman24

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Alright, here I am.

Some people might remember me from last year's Spanish Algeciras run, getting the team into the first division but nothing else--mostly due to poor revenue and a 9,000 stadium that could not be expanded--ever. Even though I stopped posting at around 2030ish, I actually took that save onto the 2040s, trying a bit longer with Algeciras before moving to Villarreal (my hometown) and winning a league and two Champion Leagues.

I knew I wanted to move to a new country, and Portugal was close enough for me. The thing I wanted to make sure to do, is to choose a club with a decent enough stadium that would not get my screwed in 20 years.

Leça got promoted to the Third Division of the country, and as I saw their 18,000 stadium, I took over.

Leça is a team that got promoted and relegated from 1st and 2nd divisions in the 90s, staying in the top league for two whole seasons. Even though they have the infrastructure to do OK, I saw someone else took over this team this year, and finished 14th when the predicions were top 5. So I have to be careful here.

That, added to the fact that the moment I took over, there was a change of ownership in the club, meant I had to spend July and part of August with no signings while the situation developed. I did sign everybody in the last two weeks of the summer window--I hope that doesn't come to bite me in the ass later.

The new owner is Ana Brites. Even though she didn't contribute any actual extra money for transfers, I hope she has what it takes to help me out when I need it.

I think we might have to meet at my house tonight for some goal setting :D

Anyway, here's Mr Louis Sikey!

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rlipscombe

rlipscombe

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Messina - Serie B - Season 2014/15

Season Review

League Finish: 5th Graph

The League

As our league finish shows we made good progress this season and a 5th place finish was way above my expectations. Delighted with how my squad went in their 2nd season of Serie B football.

The Players

Transfers

Here’s a look at some of the key players for me in the current season:

Squad 1 Squad 2

Goalkeepers

13. Raffaele Di Gennaro - Raffaele had a great season and was a major factor in our mean defence and great league finish. Raffaele could have a great future at the club.

30. Gustavo Mendes - Gustavo came in and pushed Raffaele hard for the keepers jersey. We have two highly promising keepers at the club.

Full Backs

15. Alessio Grea - Alessio became 1st choice on arrival at the club and had a good season.

23. Antonio - Failed to match his potential of the previous season and was largely back up for the club.

22. Jaime Serrano - Spanish RB was slightly disappointing and was mainly a back up.

31. Ioan Dumitrascu - Romanian LB who joined in January and did well at LB. good potential.

32. Martin Doblas - Czech youth international was mainly a sub but has a bright future at the club.

Centre Backs

2. Gianluca Freddi - Gianluca joined on a free and provided back up. Unspectacular.

6. Lukas Spendlhofer - Lukas was one of the stars of the season and was rock solid. Also chipped in with a few goals. Highly courted player, I am keen to keep him at the club.

45. Marco Baldan - young Italian CB was mainly a back up due to the form of Spendlhofer and Marino.

16. Antonio Marino - Antonio was a rock in partnership with Spendlhofer.

33. Mariano Stendardo - Another back up. Likely to be sold.

Midfielders

4. Gert Jan Mihci - Gert joined on a season loan from Napoli and performed well in the middle of the park.

7. Robi Merino - Robi had another good season, defying his age and rating. 11 goals a good return for a winger.

8. Valerio Verre - Sulking on the sidelines, Valerio didn’t get much of a look in.

10. David Petrucci - ANOTHER season where I felt slightly let down by Davide. Really should be doing more. Future is in the balance.

12. Xavi Torres - Xavi was a star of the season but is leaving in the summer due to his wage demands. I won’t break my wage budget for him.

17. Jan Pavlik - Czech youth international who was mainly back up but is more for the future.

18. Simone Pasa - Simone struck up a great partnership with Mihci and has more to give.

25. Mirko Barbero - Mirko was mainly back up this season and failed to break past the impressive Torres.

27. Elia Cortesi - Managed quite a few games and did well when given a run as a Left Winger.

46. Lorenzo Insigne - Back at the club after previous loan spells Lorenzo added strength to our midfield options.

88. Tcheco - Brazilian LW signed from Torino and was solid when called upon.

Strikers

9. Gustavo - 25 league goals, and 28 in all competitions, this was the season Gustavo arrived. My player of the season.

19. Giuseppe Santurro - Mainly a back-up, Giuseppe still has great potential and will feature more next season.

39. Kenneth Skogen - Norweigen youth international has bags of potential and is one for the future.

Finances

A small profit was made in the season which is encouraging as we are no longer losing money. Long may this continue.

The Future

Pre-Season Targets

  • Consolidate in the top half of the league

Looking ahead we have a tough job on to replicate our 5th place finish. I don’t feel that we are of that level yet consistently to repeat that. With a few good signings it may be possible however. We shall see.

FORZA PELORITANI!!

Career History

Season   League        Pos.    Serie C Cup  Coppa Italia  Europe   Achievements
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
2011/12  Serie C2C     3rd       xxx          xxx        N/A     Promotion via playoffs
2012/13  Serie C1B     1st       Semis      2nd Qual    N/A     Champions, Serie C1 Super Cup
2013/14  Serie B       15th       N/A        4th Qual    N/A     none
2014/15  Serie B       5th        N/A                    N/A     none

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Lower Leagues Rule

Lower Leagues Rule

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Damn it--the Leça commentary box is completely impossible to read. Now I have to start again just to use the editor to change the f***ng uniform colors? CRAP

If you haven't started already check out Maritimo in the Liga Sagres as well, I believe one of theirs is yellow on white (I hate that one)

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Lower Leagues Rule

Lower Leagues Rule

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Very Nice season the Rlips, hopefully you can continue in that vein towards the top of the league (Don't push too hard, you might get the early promotion I did and it results in a fall), I think your team is starting to look good, has some young stars as well.

I think my own team is more ready this time around, the stars each have another season under their belts, Francesconi is now being pushed for his number 1 striking spot, and the youngsters coming in actually have ample back-up, except at right back where the Hip Injury to Lian has seen young inexperienced Tsekov stepping in (He played U19s all season last year) - So looking for another back-up for this position now, and still not a single starter over 25 and all with 4-5 star potential (4 is leading Adelante for me, 5 is Good BBVA), so that is a promising line-up for the future.

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rlipscombe

rlipscombe

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Very Nice season the Rlips, hopefully you can continue in that vein towards the top of the league (Don't push too hard, you might get the early promotion I did and it results in a fall), I think your team is starting to look good, has some young stars as well.

Cheers mate. not much chance of us going up this season either. have got some good youth now - just need the chairman to stop selling them... :(

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rlipscombe

rlipscombe

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Messina - Serie B - Season 2015/16

Season Preview

So after last seasons finish of 5th my main aim was to try and strengthen in order to maintain this position at the very least. I decided to have a bit of a clear out of some squad players and so out went Gianluca Freddi, Jaime Serrano, Jakub Vojtus amongst others. Vojtus was a slightly tough decision given what he had done in previous seasons but the squad had evolved and improved past his abilities.

However all of my Summer plans were thrown into disarray when the chairman decided to accept a £1.8 million pound offer from the ‘mighty’ Vicenza for star striker Gustavo. My plans for the new season had been based around Gustavo repeating his form from the 2014/15 season and to lose him was a bitter blow. This meant that it was imperative that I found a replacement for Gustavo.

To that end, here’s a look at my new signings:

Transfers

Goalkeepers

13. Marek Luhovy - Marek was signed from Slovan Bratislava for £45k and in my opinion that was a bargain. Marek will be 3rd choice this season but is a definite star of the future.

Full Backs

3. Marco Cairo - Signed on a free transfer from Crotone, I expect Marco to be understudy to Dumitrascu. Good potential obviously given this is pretty much all I sign.

Centre Backs

26. Marti - Young Spaniard signed for Valladolid for £100k. Can play either as a CB or a ST apparently but he’ll be a CB for me. Back up to Spendlhofer and Baldan.

Midfielders

4. Gert Jan Mihci - Possibly my most pleasing signing, the Holland U21 returns to the club permanently after Napoli let him go for £350k. hopefully he can be a star.

8. Filippo Falco - Filippo signed on a free after starring for Benevento in C1. will hopefully challenge for a starting spot.

12. Geza Nemeth - Romanian U21 signed on a free transfer. Will add strength in depth to midfield hopefully.

21. Angel Martin - Spanish right winger signed on a free transfer. Will hopefully have a good season on the right wing.

34. Mikkel Nilsson - Danish youth international who has bags of potential. will probably spend a season or two with the Under 20s.

Nikos Filis - Nikos is a England youth international and I have taken a small gamble on him developing ok. Low risk signing.

Lasse Tobiasen - Danish youth international who has bags of potential. Will challenge at DM.

Strikers

9. David Perez - The man chosen to hopefully replace Gustavo, I have gone for another Spaniard. Signed for £1 million from Deportivo. Fingers crossed it all works out.

20. Arnaud Mattel - French youth striker who has potential. brought in to add competition to our strikeforce.

55. Fernando Castillo - Argentine striker signed on loan from Newells. Fernanndo has BAGS of potential. maybe he can be the answer to my strike conundrum.

Pre-Season Targets

  • Consolidate in the top half of the league

Given the loss of Gustavo I fear for our chances of replicating our 5th place finish. If our defence is as solid as before and someone starts scoring the goals we have a chance.

FORZA PELORITANI!!

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rlipscombe

rlipscombe

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Lets fast-forward a bit and bring Messina pretty much up to date.........

Messina - Serie B - Season 2015/16

End of January Update

Table

So as you can see from the table things aren't exactly going too well after last season as we find ourself in 12th position. Our problem? Goals. we have been hampered badly by the departure of Gustavo and no one has stepped up to the plate as yet. Perez has been the one to try but his goals have been sparse and far apart.

To add to that as you are already aware my chairman has decided to totally screw me up by agreeing to the sales of Lukas Spendlhofer, Ioan Dumitrascu and Gert Jan Mihci. two of my back four and a top CM all sold. cheers for that! :mad:

To that end i had to try and come up with some options to see us through to the end of the season. So obviously i decided to buy two central midfielders and a left winger....

Transfers - they are in there somewhere..... :rolleyes:

4. Andre Zwarthoed - Replacing one Dutchman with another, Andre cost £750,000. Has plenty of potential and good stats where it matters, it remains to be seen how quickly he can settle in. Quickly hopefully.

11. Steve Hughes - Not an Englishman as the name suggests, but a Belgian youth international. AAfter the sale of Spendlhofer i decided to go after Steve as he has great potential and great determination to reach his potential. He cost me £1.4 million though so it's a big gamble but one that should pay off.

33. Federico Valentini - Italian midfielder brought in on loan from Bari to add competition in midfield. has 4* ability so could be the man to replace Mihci in the short term...

I have taken a calculated risk in not signing a new CB or LB. i am placing faith in my young CBs Marti and Gnessoa to be the men to step up and replace Lukas. As for LB i am gambling on Cairo being able to step up with Marino playing cover at LB if necessary. i also have new young CB and LBs lined up for the summer and so didn't want to sign someone unnecessarily for 6 months. lets hope the gamble works...

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Ohanzee

Ohanzee

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Good season rlipscombe. Sad to see your board selling so many though, but I think you got some good signings for the future. Valentini should do really well on loan. Can he play as a striker at all btw? He looks like he could be really good up front or just off the front man with that pace and acceleration. Might be worth trying him there if you need goals even if it's out of position. Good luck in the run in! :thup:

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rlipscombe

rlipscombe

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Good season rlipscombe. Sad to see your board selling so many though, but I think you got some good signings for the future. Valentini should do really well on loan. Can he play as a striker at all btw? He looks like he could be really good up front or just off the front man with that pace and acceleration. Might be worth trying him there if you need goals even if it's out of position. Good luck in the run in! :thup:

cheers. it is frustrating and it's definately hampered this season but hopefully we can get these players bedded in and hope for a push again next season. i will have a look at Valentini as a striker tonight maybe.

Twellman - better look in France. hopefully it goes better this time.

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Lower Leagues Rule

Lower Leagues Rule

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cheers. it is frustrating and it's definately hampered this season but hopefully we can get these players bedded in and hope for a push again next season. i will have a look at Valentini as a striker tonight maybe.

I must say, a board that is not accepting offers is something that is helping me, though the fact that I am willing to part with a star player because of my 18-19 year old back-up being given a shot is always a benefit, and my new striker is on fire (Not Trigo from above), but another one. I will post an update of the season at some point, but he already has 10 goals in the league after 6-7 games. Also a profit of about 10M in the season in BBVA means money is not an issue right now, and only using half my wage budget...

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Twellman24

Twellman24

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So I think part of the reason why I got sacked in Potugal is because I basically remodeled the entire squad. I am talking about 15 people in and 15 out.

This time in France, I'm signing 5-6 people and letting the same amount out. Hopefully the team will gel better and faster.

My last signing of the season is a 19yo African striker. This guy just earned 20 years in my time after the team he rejected to sign with us...

...a certain Real Madrid.

Well, the B team, but still.

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Lower Leagues Rule

Lower Leagues Rule

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Excellent Twellman, and the team should gel better with less signings, though generally in my first season I replace the entire first squad, just a skin of the bottom ride until they gel lol, but just a few improvements should hopefully help you stay in the job through to January and then you can always make a few more changes to make the team better overall.

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Razer82

Razer82

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I was planning on finishing off the South American challenge before I started something new, but I've grown bored of Peru right now so am returning to an old stomping ground from FM10 - Portugal.

With Fafe no longer being available to play it would fall to another lucky side to be under my management. The lucky team this year - Sport Benfica e Castelo Branco.

Manager Profile

Starting Squad

I'll have to admit that the size of the stadium lured me in as I'm thinking that upgrading facilities will be cheaper in the long run rather than building new stadiums. It turns out that we don't own our stadium though.

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minisav

minisav

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Back on this. First time defending the league and my first foray into European football. Signed 2 new goalies so selling the old 2. Signed a new AMC. Hoping to shift more deadwood to make space and funds as I need a DM and 2 new fullbacks.

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Lower Leagues Rule

Lower Leagues Rule

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That's hard luck Twellman, some things to look at in the way it is going...

With your team talks on a loss, where your team was expected to lose you need to be nice, generally use "sympathise" also players with poor/okay morale going into a game need either "Have Faith" or "No Pressure" - I know having to play with the team talks can make it hard, but I have discovered in the last two seasons that it can be the difference between breaking a terrible run and not.

Tactics - I find at the lower levels that you need an attacking tactic, no matter who you are playing against (Admittedly I even do this against Real Madrid/Barca), I think its a case of They will probably score even if I just defend so lets go out and try to beat them anyway. I generally find if my problem is letting in goals then a DM infront of my back four seems to help in shutting up shop. Use touchline shout "Work Ball into Box", this seems to cut down the number of long shots and give better chances to your strikers, I also find that Fullbacks who can cross are useful (In my case I have no wingers). If you go behind then go to an Overload tactic (YOur back 4 if built right can stop more goals), you need to score as a loss hurts, but a draw is worth that one point that could keep you up.

Building my squad - As I said earlier, I generally change the entire squad (Something like 30 signings in season 1), but I start by finding the best keeper who will come to the squad, then next is two top class central defenders, moving up from that is my DM (If I want to use one) and central midfielders. I know it seems like you should get your stars first, but I just find that you can buy any old man as a target man and throw him up front and plant the ball to his head and he will score (Ok not quite, but you get the idea). So build a good defense, if they can't score then you have a better chance.

Managing Morale - Try and keep this at a minimum of Okay, if a player wants to leave generally it is better to let him go, unless he is a very important part of your team, but hey at this level any fee you get for him will help you increase your wage budget. Talk to your players, give nice team talks, and generally you will keep a reasonably happy bunch.

Setting the clubs expectations: Always select the lowest (The extra budgets are not worth the pressure)

Wage Budget - Stay below it at all costs (This means free releasing players, do it), it plays a major part in the confidence and can be the reason you keep your job.

Just a few quick tips, hopefully they can help you out :)

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Twellman24

Twellman24

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LLR,

Your advise is much appreciated. I think it might be a problem with my tactic. I don't think I should tell all my players to pressure, all the time, and at the same time, attack all the time. I think I am going to build a sturdier defense and see the opposition's attack before I build the attacking play. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, here we go again, this tine back in Spain. I'm taking over Reus, from Cartalunya. The idea is to take over Barcelona's spot! (eventually)

Louis

Thanks again, I appreciate your help!

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minisav

minisav

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So, 2 new goalies, a new amc, a dm and an lb all signed for the season. Couldn't get an rb bt here's hoping.

Results so far:

RB Leipzig 2 - 3 Leverkusen - German Super Cup (Community Shield match)

TeBe Berlin (non-leaguers) 1 - 9 RB Leipzig German Cup 1st Round (Neguete got 8!)

RB Leipzig 6 - 1 Koln - Bundesliga

FC Bayern 0 - 2 RB Leipzig - Bundesliga

RB Leipzig 5 - 0 Kaiserslautern - Bundesliga

RB Leipzig 1 - 0 Lyon Champions League Group Match 1. :D :D :D

Great start.

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toonbalmy87

toonbalmy87

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LLR,

Your advise is much appreciated. I think it might be a problem with my tactic. I don't think I should tell all my players to pressure, all the time, and at the same time, attack all the time. I think I am going to build a sturdier defense and see the opposition's attack before I build the attacking play. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, here we go again, this tine back in Spain. I'm taking over Reus, from Cartalunya. The idea is to take over Barcelona's spot! (eventually)

Louis

Thanks again, I appreciate your help!

you need a fast striker and also i dont any tactics apart from in game which is work ball into the box i haven't lost a game at the moment but yeah find someone fast :D

i show you more with my goal statistics when my challenge goes on break aka Transfer Window :D

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minisav

minisav

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In the early days in the lower leagues just play direct football with high tempo. Get as big a squad as you can as it can tire them out but technical players are wasted in those leagues. Find big and fast players and hope for the best.

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toonbalmy87

toonbalmy87

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In the early days in the lower leagues just play direct football with high tempo. Get as big a squad as you can as it can tire them out but technical players are wasted in those leagues. Find big and fast players and hope for the best.

ey my guys are the barca of the lower leagues they pass it into the net but then kapatka gets the ball and shoots from everywhere!!!!

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Anti Spiral

Anti Spiral

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First season is going as badly as I imagined! Brought in as many players in as possible, which is obviously going to take time to get them to gel. But we're just losing close games due to fitness it seems. Sitting one off the bottom with 8 games played, but currently leading 0-2 against the bottom side.

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Razer82

Razer82

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Welcome aboard and good luck Razer.

Cheers buddy, looking forward to getting back into things. Life in South America was getting me down.

That's some solid advice you've given too. Even some stuff in there that's of use to a challenge veteran like me.

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rlipscombe

rlipscombe

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welcome back Razer - it's good to have you back in this challenge. good luck.

good advice LLR - hopefully it helps those of you that are struggling. high tempo direct football works for me. get a solid defence and you are half way there...

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