[FM11] Life, The Universe and Football management??

[Almondo]

Game: FM 11 - Patch 11.3

Database Edits: Several added leagues. Will detail these below.

This is my Journeyman career. It is being played under the rules of Acidburn's Continental Dominance challenge meaning that along the way I have to win all six Champions League tournaments from around the world. Obviously I have had to add leagues via XML files to achieve this.

The leagues loaded are:

Africa

South Africa** - 2nd division and up -

Tunisia* - First Division

Asia

Australia - A League

Qatar* - Q League

Europe

England - League 2 and up

Spain - Second Division B and up

North America

Canada* - PCSL and up

USA - MLS

Oceania

New Zealand* - ASB Premiership

South America

Argentina - Second Division and up

Paraguay* - Second Division and up

* = Edited leagues

** = Leagues below the Premier Soccer League added via xml.

Under the rules of the challenge I have started unemployed and with Automatic reputation.

Let the madness begin.

[Almondo]

Career Overview

C Cerro Cora

Season       League         Achievements
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/258294-Life-The-Universe-and-Football-management?p=6613266&viewfull=1#post6613266"]2010/11[/url]     2nd Division        none
[url="http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/258294-Life-The-Universe-and-Football-management?p=6624262&viewfull=1#post6624262"]2011/12[/url]     2nd Division       Promotion

[Mikal]

Good luck mate, sounds like an interesting challenge!

[Almondo]

So the journey begins in the Paraguayan Division Intermedia or Second Division. At first glance the squad doesn't look too bad but could probably do with some strengthening throughout. One area I do need to recruit though is in the backroom as I have just one Scout, a Physio and an Assistant manager.

The club has some history including winning the top league in Paraguay once in their history in 1993. However they haven't won anything since 1996, hopefully I can change that for the club.

[AcidBurn]

Good luck dude, nice to see another person starting the challenge.

[Almondo]

Pre Season Report

Media Prediction - 12th

Transfer Budget - £262,500

Pre season fixtures

vs Cerro Cora Reserves: won 5-2

@ Martin Ledesma: lost 3-2

@ 1 De Marzo: Drew 0-0

vs 3 De Febrero CE: drew 2-2

@ Silvio Pettirossi: won 3-1

Looking through the squad I realised that I needed some young blood as a fair few of the players already at the club are over 30 with one who is the team Captain being 45. I have made a few inroads into the transfer market which will be updated once the transfer window shuts at the end of August.

On the subject of the pre season results I am actually rather disappointed with the results I have got from the team. However the draw against 3 De Febrero was a really encouraging result due to them being in the Premira Divisio which is the top league in Paraguay. The win to end the pre season games is a great morale boost as well.

On a side note I have noticed that there are a fair few teams in Paraguay whose names are dates.

[Almondo]

So with the transfer window now closed at the beginning of september all the clubs are now on the level playing field of not being able to buy players. My transfers in look like this:

Out of all the players I've brought in the one I'm most excited about is Jorge Escobar. At only 15 years old he has the potential to be a cracking player and is rotating in the right midfield spot with the player who is tutoring him Jose Maria De Filippi who is also one of the new signings.

[Almondo]

Season review 2010/11

[/url]

Final Position - 2nd

The season saw us hold our own near the top for most of the year and going into the last game of the 39 game season we still had the opportunity of gaining promotion if we got the win and General Caballera ZC lost the game. However although we got the win ith a 5-0 drubbing of the 13th placed team they got a point against the 12th placed team meaning they earned promotion to the top tier of Paraguayan football.

I'm not too disappointed in the season however as I really didn't expect to be pushing for promotion. In fact I prepared to scrap against relegation so I'm pleased with how the season went this year and hopefully we can go that one step further next season.

Key Players

Javier Frutos

the transfers have proved to be very good as all of the players I brought in have played first team football all season long.

Aims for next season:

Push for promotion again.

Bring in some younger players especially a left winger as Paredes is 42 years old.

[Almondo]

Pre Season and end of transfer window round up

Media prediction - 5th

Board Expectation - Respectable position

Transfer Budget - £250,000. Taken down to £86,000 to add money to the wage budget.

Pre Season Results

Against |Result |Won/Lost |Home or Away
--------------------------------------------------------
Sol de America | 1-0 | Lost | Home
Boca Unidos | 6-3 | Won | Home
2 de Noviembre | 4-1 | Won | Away
Quilmes | 1-0 | Lost | Home
River Plate (PAR) | 2-1 | Won | Away

The results were generally good especially the 2nd match against Boca Unidos. That result really surprised me as I though we would get absolutly battered by higher league opposition.

Transfers

Lots of transfers out here but most of that is letting deadwood leave the club on free transfers. I managed to get in a younger left winger as well as bringing in some younger strikers as well. Infact I'm really optimistic about my striker options.

[Almondo]

C Cerro Cora Season review 2011/12

[/url]

The league was a runaway success for us this year although there were times I thought we were going to throw it away. We got to the top and managed to stay there and had it in the bag with 3 games to go. One thing I have struggled with this year is the amount of suspensions we've had as the ruling on yellow cards is that 2 yellows equals a 1 match ban and then every subsequent yellow card is another 1 match ban. However we worked through this and took the league win.

Key Players

Javier Frutos. The best of the strikers. Scored some absolute peachy goals

Derlis Esteche. Once again a rock at the back for us.

Juan Ortigoza. The versatile full back had a lot of great games on both sides of defence.

José María De Filippi. Great down the right again,

Pedro Aníbal Sosa. The midfield general.

transfers

Lots of transfers out this year due to letting a lot of players go on free transfers.

One other thing is that I have been offered a job in South Africa after applying for a few jobs throughout the year and as C Cerro Cora were only meant as a stepping stone of a club so I could get some managerial experience under my belt. So I am now the new Manager of

Supersport United FC of the South African Premier League.

[Almondo]

Supersport United F.C

A little history

Supersport United is a South African football club based in Pretoria that currently competes in the Premier Soccer League.

The club was originally known as Pretoria City. City was purchased by M-Net in 1994. M-Net got approval from the National Soccer League and the club was renamed.

United is known as Matsatsantsa a Pitori or the Swanky Boys amongst its supporters. They usually play their home games at Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville and train at the Tshwane University of Technology soccer fields.

The club's Laudium-based youth academy is undoubtedly one of the best in the country. Some of the graduates are players like Daine Klate, Kermit Erasmus and Kamohelo Mokotjo. They currently have a partnership with English club Tottenham Hotspur having previously been linked with Feyenoord.

Club Honours

Premier Soccer League champions (3): 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10

ABSA Cup winners: 2005 - This is now the Nedbank Cup

SAA Supa 8 winners: 2004

Bob Save Super Bowl winners: 1999

Sparletta Cup winners: 1995

Second Division champions: 1995

So a bit of history to be dealing with there. especially with the 3 league wins in a row up to 2010.

[omnivore]

Good luck in South Africa. Seems like they've been successful, so at least there's that. You're well on your way!

[Almondo]

Thanks Omnivore. I enjoy managing down in South Africa as I had really good fun trying the same challenge on FM10 with Platinum Stars of South Africa. I actually managed to win the African Champions League with them as well despite being expected to not get anywhere.

[Almondo]

Pre Season Report 2012/13

Board Expectation - Win the League

Media Prediction - 1st

Transfer Budget - £775,000

Wage Budget - £17,000

The board expectation is easily doable in this league as Supersport Utd are one of the better sides in the league. However there are 4 domestic Cup competitions that we compete in this season. The Charity Cup which is a 4 team 2 day tournament, The Super Eight, The South African FA Cup and the Knockout Cup. These cups could really see our title hopes go up in smoke if the squad isn't up to playing in so many competitionsl. That being said we will aim to win every competition we are entered into.

Pre Season Games

Against | Date | Venue
--------------------------------------------
Brisbane Roar | 11/7/2012 | Home
Black Leopards | 18/7/2012 | Away
Platinum Stars | 22/7/2012 | Away
Tuks | 25/7/2012 | Away
Bay United | 30/7/2012 | Away

The pre season games are easy enough for us to win really with the toughest test most probably being Brisbane Roar. However the 2 games that could trip us up are really the games against Black Leopards and Platinum Stars as they have both just been relegated from the Premier Soccer League.

[Almondo]

End of Pre Season and Transfer Window 2012/13

The transfers are a bit skewed really but most of them are due to contracts ending and the players being let go. However the 3 transfers at the bottom of the list were already sorted before I got to Supersport United.

Pre Season Results

Against | Date | Venue | Result
---------------------------------------------------------
Brisbane Roar | 11/7/2012 | Home | W 5-0
Black Leopards | 18/7/2012 | Away | W 4-2
Platinum Stars | 22/7/2012 | Away | W 1-0
Tuks | 25/7/2012 | Away | W 2-0
Bay United | 30/7/2012 | Away | D 1-1

So a good series of results there avoiding upsets and beating an arguably better side in Brisbane Roar. The only result I'm disappointed about is the 1-1 against Bay United.

Telkom Charity Cup

The Charity Cup saw us drawn against our Bitter rivals Sundowns in the Semi final. This game would be my first competitive game in charge of Supersport United. Going into the game I would have been happy with a 1-0 win over them so to put 2 goals past them one of wich was a great move finished off by Langerman. Getting the 2-1 win over Sundowns and basically endearing myself to the fans saw us face the Orlando Pirates in the Final. The only goal of the game saw right winger Khwela cross for Left Winger Zongo to side foot in giving us the lead. After the break Orlando had a man sent off they seemed to up their game however we managed to keep them out to win the first trophy of the year.

Charity Cup Semi final

Charity Cup Final

[433tom]

Best of luck in south africa. Just a suggestion, but you could make your screenshots a bit bigger. They are very hard to read.

BTW.. Which edited league downloads did you use for Paraguay and SA and how are they working?

[Almondo]

Cheers tom. The screenshots that are Images is down to me using flickr for the first time but I've rectified that now. if it's the direct lnk just click on it when you get to the page where it i.

The leagues were got from http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/f104/nick-triv-tharros-and-stuws-additional-leagues-for-fm11-t49130/page14.html post 400. They seem to be working fine.

[Almondo]

Season Review 2012/13

The league season couldn't have gone any better for us with us only dropping seven points all year. I was surprised at how easily we won the league as I decided when I got there that I was going to change from my usual 4-4-2 formation and go with a 4-5-1/4-3-3 instead. This yielded results for us with the only loss coming against our biggest rival Sundowns. I don't think that the league will be as easy next season as I have more games to play due to continental duties.

Domestic Cups

MTN Super Eight Cup

The Super Eight cup saw us drawn against Bloem Celtic in the Quarter Final. We were lucky really to win this game but a win's a win. We moved onto the semi final which saw us matched up against AmaZulu. The game was another one where we were lucky to get the win with the goal coming from debutant Owusu. Going into the final we were drawn against our fierce rivals Sundowns. We were bossing the game but after they scored the own goal they pegged us back to 2-1. The rest of the game was a nervy affair before Langerman sealed our second trophy of the year with a great goal on the counter attack.

Super 8 Quarter Final

Super 8 Semi Final

Super 8 Final

Telkom Knockout Cup

Fixtures

The KO cup was fairly easy with just the Semi Final causing us problems really when we went to penalties.

Nedbank Cup - South African FA Cup

Fixtures

The FA Cup was won fairly easily with only the 3rd round giving us some trouble

African Confedrations Cup

The season for continental competitions is split in two with the competitions taking place across 2 seasons really. Our progress in the Confederations cup has been fairly easy so far with the 3rd round being in July and having already been drawn.

Fixtures

Five Key Players

Chigozie Agbim - The Keeper was great at the back only conceeding 22 goals all season

Happy Jele - The Centre back was great for us and scored a few goals as well

Mkhanyiseli Siwahla - The right side of my front 3 scored a few goals and set up a lot as well

King Osanga - Rotated in as the left side of my front 3. Also scored and set up goals

Dumisani Ngwenya - The front man of the front 3. His goals were good as was his movement. He paid back the transfer fee I paid for him.

The transfers have only had one addition since I posed them after the Summer window closed with the addition of a Midfielder called Albert Hendricks.

Awards

Siwalha got the Player of the Season Award.

Osanga got the Players Player of the Season.

7 players were picked in the Team of the Season.

Aims for next season.

Win the Confederations Cup

Get to the second half of the Champions League

These are the only aims I have as I have already won every domestic competition available to me.