Jump to content
Sports Interactive Community

[FM11] If there's a fork in the road...take it...iacovone's "Around The World" Career

iacovone

By iacovone,
in FM Career Updates

Recommended Posts

VonBlade

VonBlade

Posted
Posted
Don't think that's happened tbf. Marcelo looks a nigh-on perfect goalscorer to me.

I'm trying to look at the positives. It takes two to make a strike partnership. Plus the football world is littered with those players who were too good for the league they are in, but not quite good enough for a more physical league, or one in which the other 9 outfield players aren't always dominating the opposition. Ploughing a lone furrow up front might suddenly inflame a lack of temperament that was hidden in the glory days of Kobenhavn.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 782
  • Created
  • Last Reply
iacovone

iacovone

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Should money be an object when you know a player is brilliant?

No it shouldn't and that was my error. Still kicking myself about it tbh. But if a player's agent tells me he wants £74k p/w but then winds up at a club on £120k p/w I'd have needed to see into the future to secure his signature!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Motherlover

Motherlover

Posted
Posted
No it shouldn't and that was my error. Still kicking myself about it tbh. But if a player's agent tells me he wants £74k p/w but then winds up at a club on £120k p/w I'd have needed to see into the future to secure his signature!

Agreed. This is especially the case as agents tend to high-ball, and relative to his reputation and current wage 74K p/w was blatant cheek.

iacovone - My impression is that you didn't negotiate but agreed straight away to the opening terms?

A contemporary comparison could be made to Lukaku, who came from a similarily-sized league. As hyped as he is I can't imagine that he managed to snag a deal of that magnitude, even at Chelsea. Historically-speaking i'd imagine that Marcelo has probably joined a small elite group of players that have been paid that well that young. He's probably up there with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi.

Link to post
Share on other sites
iacovone

iacovone

Posted
  • Author
Posted

FIFA.jpg

FIFA World Cup - Hosts: Portugal | Holders: France

Part 1 - Group Stages

Portugal hosted this summer's World Cup as France travelled with the aim of bringing home a 3rd consecutive trophy! The biggest absentees by continent were: Africa|Ivory Coast (ranked 20th), Asia|UAE (43rd), Europe|Slovakia (22nd), N America|Honduras (63rd), S America|Paraguay (23rd)

Group Stages:

FIFAWorldCupInformation_Stages-13-1.png

The hosts Portugal coasted through their relatively soft group, obtaining maximum points without conceding a goal. Cameroon followed them through ahead of Chile and Slovenia.

There was more success for Africa as Nigeria slipped in behind the Italians to make progress in a group that saw the Aussies hammered. Denmark go home ruing the 2-1 loss to Nigeria.

Group C was much tighter and astonishingly saw a much fancied Dutch side come last! The French took top spot, maintaining this generations place at the pinnacle of international repute. Peru's opening draw with France set the wheels in motion for a superb group stage for the South American minnows. They could afford a final game 4-1 thrashing by the Dutch after their 3-0 win over Iran.

In the final group, Egypt were the next African nation to make it to the 2nd round. Amazingly they maintained a 100% record and did not concede a goal, and perhaps even more impressively - did so with the Germans in their group! World Cup fledglings Bosnia and Canada bow out.

FIFAWorldCupInformation_Stages-14-1.png

Great drama in Group E came down to the final round of games to establish the qualifiers. USA beat South Korea convincingly 4-0 to ensure their path to round 2 but it was the other game that drew the most interest. Russia just required a point to qualify ahead of Brazil but a dramatic last minute goal from Gama ended Russian hopes!

Morocco stormed through much in the same vein as the Egyptians with a 100% record but the big story in Group F was the Spanish failure. A final game loss to Colombia put paid to their World Cup hopes and the South Americans progressed.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey put up little resistance in Group G and so Argentina and Mexico progress, whilst it was a similar situation in Group H where England and Ghana (another African success story) progressed to round 2 with ease.

Link to post
Share on other sites
iacovone

iacovone

Posted
  • Author
Posted

FIFA.jpg

FIFA World Cup - Hosts: Portugal | Holders: France

Part 2 - Knockouts

So with as many African nations left in the World Cup as Europe, the tournament already had a maverick feel to it. Favourites at this stage would have to be France...

Second Round:

FIFAWorldCupInformation_Stages-15-1.png

The biggest surprise in the 2nd round was witnessing the hosts Portugal and holders France get knocked out. Nigeria certainly upset the locals but Germany truly threw the cat among the pigeons and declared it "Open Season" for the trophy.

Egypt should be disappointed to fall at this stage, particularly to Peru and especially as they won all 3 games in their group. Brazil failing on penalties against Morocco will always be a shock, but in truth Brazil haven't been a force at international level for some time now. Ghana provided another enormous shock by sending Argentina home. Italy were the most convincing of the qualifiers to the quarter final.

Quarter Finals:

FIFAWorldCupInformation_Stages-16-1.png

Peru finally fell to an ever-improving Nigerian outfit whilst Ghana were knocked out by their African counterparts Morocco. The game of the round saw Germany soundly beaten by an excellent Italian side 3-1 whilst the most dramatic of ties was between the US and England. Bobby White's goal in the 88th minute for USA not only took the game to extra time but was voted goal of the tournament (see below)! Sadly for White and his buddies, England grew in strength and ground out a 4-2 win.

Semi Finals:

For the neutral, the draw was unkind, Morocco had Nigeria and on the other hand, Italy faced England. It did mean we'd have an African nation in the World Cup Final for the second time following Egypt's showing at World Cup 2022, and that team would be Nigeria who triumphed 1-0. Liverpool striker Emmanuel Olawale scored the only goal.

In the bigger of the two games, England stunned their own fans by actually turning up and performing on the biggest of stages! Keith Gosling and Stuart Morris both scored in the second half to send England to their first World Cup Final since 1966. The nation began to believe...

Results

The 3rd place playoff went as expected - an Italian win - but it would be no compensation following the loss to England.

WORLD CUP FINAL:

Two quick English goals were enough to capture the World Cup for the second time in their history despite a rally from Nigeria. In truth, the Super Eagles suffered through a slow start and were always going to struggle to score twice against a sturdy English defence. A shame for them, but what a run to the final and what a tournament for African football!

Awards

Goal of the Tournament:

<em>[video=youtube;MslPUHhwpZE]

Lev Yashin Award for Best Goalkeeper went to my Dortmund keeper Paolo Fasano

The World Cup Golden Ball went to Stuart Morris of Tottenham who scored 5 and assisted 4 in his 6 games: prolific! Notable mentions for the 2nd and 3rd placed players, Daniele Pezzella and Mark Patel who both had fantastic tournaments.

The Golden Shoe went to Italy's Pezzella for his haul of 8 goals in 7 games.

The Best Young Player award went to American left back Graeme Salas of Salernitana. He looks a talent.

Finally, Team of the Tournament was unsurprisingly dominated by English names, including crucially, the entire defence!

That's your lot!

Link to post
Share on other sites
iacovone

iacovone

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Agreed. This is especially the case as agents tend to high-ball, and relative to his reputation and current wage 74K p/w was blatant cheek.

iacovone - My impression is that you didn't negotiate but agreed straight away to the opening terms?

A contemporary comparison could be made to Lukaku, who came from a similarily-sized league. As hyped as he is I can't imagine that he managed to snag a deal of that magnitude, even at Chelsea. Historically-speaking i'd imagine that Marcelo has probably joined a small elite group of players that have been paid that well that young. He's probably up there with the likes of Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi.

You're probably right ToffeeViola. I'm going to keep a real keen eye on his career because I'm not 100% convinced that he will end up in the same ilk as the greats of the game. That's why I baulked at the idea of offering him anymore than he wanted. The negotiations were simple, I offered what he wanted, minus some add-on's...they countered and put the add-on's back in....I agreed to it and assumed I'd bagged my man. It's a far bigger risk on Fiorentina's position as they're nowhere near a big side in Italy now. They're not even part of a "top 4" in Italy, so maybe this is their big marquee signing to hopefully propel them back into domestic contention. We shall see!

Link to post
Share on other sites
iacovone

iacovone

Posted
  • Author
Posted

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQx_A1Jyh2jOu-cUgARWjnAtDq-OM5zb0JL1w-Seqg_jnIjqcbrX4JpAxZ4

Pre Season Build Up - Borussia Dortmund - Bundesliga - 2030/31

Media Prediction: 3rd

Transfer Budget: £22,315,043 (last year: £N/A)

Wage Budget: £1,289,396 p/w (last year: £N/A p/w)

Current Wage Bill: £1,082,780 p/w

New Men:

Diego Ameli M(RL) - Diego was my only summer signing and was much needed as we had just the one left winger. Ameli cost a fair bit - £17.5m to be precise - but is young and talented and will hopefully be a big part of my project at Dortmund.

That transfer took most of the budget and so I will have to utilise the squad that has been left here. Not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination and I feel 12 months of working with this squad will allow me to form firm opinions of who can stay and who can go. Remember I am targetting the Bundesliga title in my first season - it may be tough though, Hoffenheim won the league by 12 points last year!

Link to post
Share on other sites
VonBlade

VonBlade

Posted
Posted

Not a bad looking player there at all. Fingers crossed his desire to be a bit of a solo player doesn't come back to haunt you, especially with his average finishing. I feel a "look for pass rather than trying to score" PPM in his immediate future :)

Blimey at that World Cup GOT. He leathered that!

Link to post
Share on other sites
iacovone

iacovone

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Champions League group draw has not been kind to us. Marseille, we know from my Kobenhavn days, are strong. Tottenham finished 4th in the Premiership last year and are regular participants in Europe. They also possess World Cup winning full backs and the striker Stuart Morris.

Dinamo will hopefully give us a chance of a couple of wins but they have pedigree too.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Motherlover

Motherlover

Posted
Posted
Marcelo Watch

He's described as a wonderkid now.

He better be when he's earning that kind of pocket money :D

Diego Ameli... he's certainly a very conventional winger. He looks the part, although for that kind of money i'd be hoping he can push on a little more. Nice that he can play on both sides.

I'm very impressed that you've decided to be cautious and respect the squad already at Dortmund by only bringing in one player. Whenever I join a new club I invariably panic. The least amount of players i've ever brought into a new club was 3, and then that was only because it was the off-season ;)

Link to post
Share on other sites
iacovone

iacovone

Posted
  • Author
Posted
He better be when he's earning that kind of pocket money :D

Diego Ameli... he's certainly a very conventional winger. He looks the part, although for that kind of money i'd be hoping he can push on a little more. Nice that he can play on both sides.

I'm very impressed that you've decided to be cautious and respect the squad already at Dortmund by only bringing in one player. Whenever I join a new club I invariably panic. The least amount of players i've ever brought into a new club was 3, and then that was only because it was the off-season ;)

I've realised it's quite rare for me to go and spend frivolously when I join a new club. I'm open to letting the current crop impress me. I think it's only fair to the players, particularly if they've had previous success (Kobenhavn's league title, Dortmund's DFB Pokal)

Link to post
Share on other sites
Macshimmy

Macshimmy

Posted
Posted

Finally, Team of the Tournament was unsurprisingly dominated by English names, including crucially, the entire defence!

Regen name of the tournament is penalty shootout between:

Nigeria's

ThankGod Ayuba

and

Emmanuel Salami

Champions League group draw has not been kind to us.

Whaddya mean no Fiorentina... looks like it might be your destiny to meet them further on... :-)

Link to post
Share on other sites
AK22

AK22

Posted
Posted

Still fancy you to qualify from that Champions League group. Win all your home games, take a point on the road, and that should be enough to see you through. I can't any one team winning any more than three matches, so should be pretty tight.

Link to post
Share on other sites
deltablue

deltablue

Posted
Posted
I like that the football landscape has changed as evidenced by the World Cup here! It really makes the game more interesting.

That's what I personally like about having one or 2 long saves each version and going a long way into them, seeing how things change in the future from the 'same old' of real life. There seems to be more even spread of talent as well, with more good players that you can get outside the big leagues.

Link to post
Share on other sites
iacovone

iacovone

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Definitely one of my favourite career threads on this forum, Iacovone.

You've inspired me to start a similar style of save on FM12. I can only hope that it is half as interesting as your career has been!

Will you be starting out with something new on FM12?

I'm back from a wonderful time in Miami - I'd highly recommend it to anyone!

As for FM12 - it will be a similar career but I doubt I'll get FM12 just yet. Firing up this career now.

There's so many new careers to look at, hope everyone's enjoying the new FM :)!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...