FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[rlipscombe]

SV Waldhof Mannheim – German Bundesliga – Season 2022/23

Season Preview

So with the Bundesliga title in the bag the summer was all aobut consolidating what we had and looking to strengthen in a couple of areas as well as investing in promising youth prospects.

So without further ado here are the new signings.

Transfers

Full Backs

51. Ronaldo - 18 year old Brazilian RB joins from Santos for £2.2 million. He has 4* potential and could well be a star of the future. Ronaldo will challenge Escobar for the reserve spot behind Toma.

Midfielders

4. Andres Yanez - Andres joins for £5 million and was our biggest summer signing. Brought in to give De Jong competition.

22. Philipp Hamberger - Philipp is a player I have tracked for a while and I snapped him up on a free transfer. Another promising German prospect.

38. Rodolfo Cantoro - Young Argentine youth international signed on a free from Velez Sarsfield. Rodolfo could well be a future star.

41. Nasreddine El Kadiri - Another exciting prospect, this Frenchman is one for the future.

44. Branko Loncar - Branko joins on a free from Dinamo Zagreb and is a player I am excited about. He will probably challenge for a place in the first team squad this coming season.

Ayoub Saidi - Another young Frenchman with plenty of potential.

Strikers

16. Ronan Le Gal - A highly promising French attacker with bags of potential. Will feature in the first-team squad this season.

40. Javier Fahrasmane - Javier is a young Frenchman with potential (heard that before?)

Nikita Mikhailov - Young Russian striker signed from Spartak for £1.7 million. Maybe a little overpriced but good potential nonetheless.

The Upcoming Season

Overall I am happy with the squad I have and I am optimistic we can try and retain our title. In terms of European success I am hoping for progress from the group stage at least and hopefully we can make the quarter finals. I would be happy with that.

[corinthiano]

rlipscombe - I think you are trying to turn Mannheim into the largest French city outside of France

Some great signings though, the future certainly looks bright!

[PRDH]

WARNING: Potentially dull post coming up.

Right, so this isn't something I normally talk about, but my board have just negotiated a new sponsorship deal. Nothing unusual there you might think, and you'd be right, but it's not a renewal, it's a completely new one. Again, not that unusual, but it's also my SIXTH sponsorship deal. Where is there space on the kit for all the logos? I now have the following deals:

- 6 year main kit sponsorship deal at £2.37m per season. Ends 2046

- 6 year additional kit sponsorship deal at £1.17m per season. Ends 2043

- 2 year general sponsorship deal at £184K per season. Ends 2043

- 10 year stadium sponsorship deal at £2.01m per season. Ends 2044

- 2 year additional kit sponsorship deal at £255K per season. Ends 2043

- 3 year general sponsorship deal at £271K per season. Ends 2044

That's a pretty active board. Anyone got more?

</tedious post>

[Tony Hawker]

Decided to give this a go with Camara Lobos in Portugal because it had the lowest reputation of any team to get promoted after 20 reloads of 800.

Manager Profile

Manager Information

Club Profile

Club Information

Squad

There are only 6 real players in the team with the rest being regens so I'll need to bring in a lot of players, along with an Assistant Manager & Scout.

Stadium:

[Manku]

Just won my first silverware, I'll put a report up as soon as I'm done with the season.

PDRH Check out some of the kits for the brazilian teams, they have a lot of sponsors.

Tony Hawker Good luck with Camara de Lobos.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist’s 2032/33 End of Season Ejea Report

Season             League            Pos           Cups                      Europe     Award
East Stirlingshire
2012/13            Sc Div 3          1st           No comment                n/a        Manager of the Year
2013/14            Sc Div 2          1st           Challenge Cup Finalists   n/a        Manager of the Year
2014/15            Sc Div 1          3rd           CC Winners & SC Final     qual       None
2015/16            Sc Div 1          2nd           CC & SC Winners, LC R/U   EC 3Q      Manager of the Year
2016/17            Sc Div 1          1st           Challenge Cup Winners     EC 4Q      Manager of the Year
2017/18            Sc Prem           5th           LC Final                  qual       None
2018/19            Sc Prem           7th           LC Winners                EC R2      Manager of the Year 
2019/20            Sc Prem           1st           SC Winners, LC R/U        n/a        Manager of the Year
2020/21            Sc Prem           1st           SC & LC Winners           EC Winners Manager of the Year
2021/22            Sc Prem           1st           SC Winners                cc Q/F     Manager of the Year
2022/23            Sc Prem           1st           LC R/U                    CC R1      Manager of the Year 
2023/24            Sc Prem           1st           LC R/U, SC Winners        CC R1      Manager of the Year
2024/25            Sc Prem           1st           SC R/U                    CC Q/F     Manager of the Year
2025/26            Sc Prem           1st           SC, LC                    CC Q/F     None
2026/27            Sc Prem           1st           SC, LC                    CC Q/F     Manager of the Year
2027/28            Sc Prem           1st           LC                        CC Q/F     None
2028/29            Sc Prem           1st           LC                        CC Q/F     Manager of the Year
2029/30            Sc Prem           1st           LC, SC                    CC Final   Manager of the Year
2030/31            Sc Prem           1st           LC, SC                    Winners    Manager of the Year
2031/32            Sc Prem           1st           ESC, WCC, LC, sc          Winners    (Unbelievably) Nothing
Ejea
2032/33            Spanish 2B        12th          None                      n/a        None   

Having achieved the challenge in Scotland, I decided to start the challenge anew in Spain, but continuing with the same save.

I chose Ejea, a team that has never appeared in this tier of football before.

Initial Ejea Squad

Ejea's Non-Existant League History

Club Overview (Before I changed their strip to Baby Pink, because too many teams in our league play in blue)

Club Information

End of Season Squad

League Table

Transfers

Obviously a bit of a shock to the system. It took me a while to get used to the fact that, whereas the season before anyone with 3 and a half stars was pretty much world class, now a 5 star scouting report means nothing. I made a few mistakes with signings, although I had to sign somebody as the ones I inherited were absolute rubbish. None of those mistakes were disastrous. They were all 1 year contracts, so the ones I didn’t manage to sell are on their way out now.

We were in the bottom half of the table but very safe from relegation the whole season. It was disappointing not to even get near the playoffs, but we have a solid foundation now. Of course, the main part of the season doesn’t mean all that much as only 4 of the 16 teams in the playoffs get promoted anyway. Barcelona B were in our division and were by far the best team, not only in ours, but all 4 divisions. Luckily they have been promoted, so hopefully we can finish top next season, which would give us a slightly better chance of promotion through the playoffs.

There’s really not much more to say about the league. We weren’t entered for the Spanish Cup. I hope this gets course corrected next season, as we should have been.

I’m also the manager of Scotland, and that is going terribly. Given that the Scottish League is ranked 8th in competitions, with the same reputation as Portugal and Germany, we should have some good players, and hopefully they’re coming through, not least some East Stirlingshire alumni, but at the moment our defence is appalling. I plan to arrange a friendly between Scotland and Ejea sometime, but frankly I’m not sure it will be a foregone conclusion. We lost all 3 Four Association Tournament matches, and it looks unlikely that we’ll qualify for the World Cup. Hopefully I won’t get sacked and in a few years I’ll have a good squad.

[ri916]

Vikeologist- Thats a solid first season mate. Hopefully next year you can get into those playoffs and get promoted.

rlipscombe- Some good signings that will leave you in a good position for the season

Tony Hawker- Good luck with the challenge!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

There’s really not much more to say about the league. We weren’t entered for the Spanish Cup. I hope this gets course corrected next season, as we should have been.

Good solid season, as for this here, the Cup qualification in Spain is weird. It is not automatic, it is supposed to be All of La Liga, then all teams from Adelante (Excluding B Teams), then Top 5 teams from each group of 2nd Division (Then the numbers are made up to 46 from the rest of these divisions, again excluding the Reserve Teams), and finally the 18 winners of the Third Divisions.

(Though taking that into account, you should've won a league to be promoted and hence should've been in??)

[ri916]

The season came down to the last day to decide whether we would be promoted! Our second last match was against 4th placed Epinal, who we were just 1 point ahead of in third (top three are promoted, no playoffs) We completely crumbled to a 5-1 defeat and as we drew our other game with Epinal they had a better head to head record. This meant that they had a 2 point lead in the league on us so in the final game we had to win and they had to lose for us to be promoted. By half time in the match, although we were 3-1 up, Epinal were beating Amiens 1-0 so I just started the second half and minimised to check the forums. When I reopened the game I was greeted with the news that we had won 4-2, so I gave an encouraging team talk and pressed continue, covering the league table with my hand. I then proceeded to the results screen and I was greeted with this! We are going up say we are going up!

Will have the season update up soon. It might be tomorrow as like many of you I'm planning on watching the euro's.

[aldojags]

Congrats ri916 promotion in your first season is a fantastic achievement, took me 3 seasons to get out the National.

[rlipscombe]

Corinthiano - ha ha!! I did sign a few Frenchman there didn’t i!! not a deliberate ploy…

Tony Hawker - welcome to the challenge. Good luck

PRDH - love the dull post!! That is a lot of sponsors…

Vikeologist - solid first season there mate. Solid foundations.

Ri916 - well done on promotion!! Great start…

[aldojags]

PRDH I have 2 kit sponsorships, main which is £2.22 million per year, the 2nd which is £1.72 million a year. So basically your team are walking advertisement boards! Lusitania Acores home kit!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

PRDH - On the Sponsorship front, I believe I had 6 at one point with Parla, I would have to look back through the screenshots on here, but I believe it was: 1 Stadium, 1 Main Kit, 2 Additional Kit & 2 General Sponsorships.

The way I saw it related to the Wellington Phoenix: 1 Stadium = Westpac Stadium, 1 Main Kit = Sony across front, 2 Additional = TAB on Sleeve, Nova Energy on rear, 2 General Sponsorships = Rembrandt (Official Clothing Supplier), The Grand (Official Bar).

In actual case the Nix have another kit sponsor (4 Total), and 6 Total General Sponsors.

I think what I am trying to get across is that in reality teams do have this many sponsors, though not sure in Europe how many of the Sponsors are actually on the kits.

[aldojags]

Got this years youth intake, nothing of note. Got a 3 star attacking midfielder whose attributes aren't that impressive so I won't be holding my breath.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Aldojags - I actually like Pruvot as a Left winger if you play with them? His only real weakness is Strength, and if you are playing him as an attacking winger then speed is more important (Train him with knocks ball past opponents), then individual training on his crossing and he looks pretty good. Acceleration, Balance, Agility, Pace, Dribbling, and Flair are all at good values already. I think you could train him into a pretty good left wing.

[PRDH]

aldo - Yeah, not sure about your midfielder. Doesn't look impressive but three stars should, in theory, mean a decent squad player at least in the future. Will be interesting to see how he progresses.

LLR - Well, in that case my board aren't working hard enough! I'm pretty sure my team in real life (Norwich) only has one sponsor on the shirt, and then the maker's logo.

rlips - Just for you I'll post other bits of pointless trivia more often!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

LLR - Well, in that case my board aren't working hard enough! I'm pretty sure my team in real life (Norwich) only has one sponsor on the shirt, and then the maker's logo.

Correct, in Europe it is a lot more rare to have multiple sponsors logos on the kits. I am not sure if I can think of an English Prem team with more than one Sponsor on their shirt.

[rlipscombe]

Correct, in Europe it is a lot more rare to have multiple sponsors logos on the kits. I am not sure if I can think of an English Prem team with more than one Sponsor on their shirt.

i MAY be wrong but i think there may be some sort of law banning it?? Something tells me can only have a sponsor of a certain size in a certain position...

[aldojags]

Aldojags - I actually like Pruvot as a Left winger if you play with them? His only real weakness is Strength, and if you are playing him as an attacking winger then speed is more important (Train him with knocks ball past opponents), then individual training on his crossing and he looks pretty good. Acceleration, Balance, Agility, Pace, Dribbling, and Flair are all at good values already. I think you could train him into a pretty good left wing.

aldo - Yeah, not sure about your midfielder. Doesn't look impressive but three stars should, in theory, mean a decent squad player at least in the future. Will be interesting to see how he progresses.

Yeah I've signed him up along with the 2.5 players just to see how they go, 3 stars as you say should mean he'll be a very handy player in terms of my squad, so I'll persevere. 14 is still very young I suppose, be 3 years or so until I get a look at what sort of player he can be.

[rlipscombe]

Question for you all... What would you have done in my situation (i have played it out):

January window - Chairman accepts an offer of about £19 million for Ronald de Jong. Currently on £38k p/w which is top wage at club. Would you:

a) Let him leave and take the money

b) offer a new contract to keep him. He wants £60k p/w.

Do you keep him or let him go......??

[aldojags]

Depends on your situation rlipscombe, are you sound financially? How integral is he to you? I would immediately jump to player search and see how much a replacement would cost, I'd be sure I could find a suitable replacement for less than 19m, so I think I'd let him go...

[ri916]

Rlipscombe- I would offer him a new contract because you will make back the money lost in wages by selling him for more than 19 million, as I think you could get more for a player of his quality.

[PRDH]

I think I'd probably have let him go rlips. If he's already your highest earner and you're almost doubling his wage, then it becomes a bit absurd. But then again I'm very prudent with my finances - almost to a fault.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Rlipscombe - Makes sense for the sponsorship on shirts being a rule. As for the player, for me it depends who the offer is from, if it is a foreign club I would probably let him go, a domestic club I would put up a fight. Of course if he is a central part of my team then I would probably fight no matter what, though even at Parla I think everyone was able to be let go...

[ri916]

AS Cannes Season Review 2012/13

National

Media Prediction: 6th

Board Expectations: Top Half Finish

Finished: 3rd

League Table I Graph I Fixtures 1 I Fixtures 2

An Incredible season here at Cannes, but hopefully the first of many! The key to our season was that we didn't have massive slumps. We never set the world a light but we were always picking up points meaning we were usually 3rd or 4th all season. As explained in the post above, the league came down to the final day and before kick-off and even at halftime it looked impossible that we would go up. Somehow Amiens managed to turn their game with Epinal on its head which meant that our 4-2 win over fellow National Newbies Raon-l'etape was enough for promotion! What I didn't mention in the earlier post was that we only went up due to having a better record against Amiens, and I admit I did feel sorry for them after they helped us to get promoted. We also had a worryingly bad disciplinary record topping both the yellow and red card tables. At one point we had 6 players out suspended which is bordering on ridiculous but we managed to get through it so I can't complain to much.As for the cups, I got knocked out of the Coupe de la Ligue at the first hurdle and only got through the 6^th Round of the French cup before going out to National Opposition.

Squad- Surprisingly few 7+ ratings but It just shows that it was a team effort. This also shows that my whole squad is French, I haven't played any non-French players.

Top Scorer: Vincent Le Mat. Scored 14 goals in 26 appearances after being signed for 100k. Came good at the end of the season scoring 7 goals in the last 9 games.

Player of the Season: Michael Nelson. He has been an ever persistent force at the back this season, playing every minute of every game and chipping in with a few goals and assists.

Other Notables

Gaetan Sidney- He has been running rings round full backs on the right wing all season and has made quite a few goals

Mathieu Robail- Another assist machine on the left wing but he is on loan so he wont be with us next year.

Club Info

Finances- Although we are in the Black that's only due to about £5 million investments. This is a real problem and I'm going to have to lower the wage bill and have a much thinner squad if I want to keep us afloat. I will also have to sell some players and cannot afford to buy anyone.

Facilities- No change

Club Info- No change

Transfers- There was a massive overhaul this year and I spent quite a lot of money. There will probably be another overhaul as only a few players are good enough for Ligue 2. I will also be looking for a negative net transfer spend next year to balance the books.

Summary

A very good season and a great start to the challenge. I am enjoying the challenge and I'm still buzzing from the final day of the season.I'm now just going to try and spend a few seasons in Ligue 2 and get some youngsters in on Bosmans (I already have a few lined up) I will let these players develop with the team and take us to Ligue 1. I have got rid of the foriengers, now I've got to get rid of the old players!

  Season       League           Position            Achievements                 Top Goalscorer (Goals)    Player of the Season  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                        
 2012/13       NAT               3rd                Promotion                     Vincent Le Mat (14)        Mickael Nelson 

[ri916]

I've been pasting my updates from word and I've been having problems like not all spaces between words showing. This means I have to go throught he whole post finding the missed spaces. I think it's probably the font I'm using so I wanted to know what font is the default for these forums? Then I will use that for my updates.

[aldojags]

Well done on promotion ri916. I think you'll be surprised at how you adapt to Ligue 2, I was expecting to plummet straight back down, and I came 6th in my 1st season.

[corinthiano]

Hacettepe Spor Kulübü 2018/19 – Spor Toto Süper Lig

Spor Toto Süper Lig

Media Prediction: 16th

Board Expectation: Avoid Relegation

My Target: Mid-Table

League Table: 6th ǁ Position Graph

After a slow start we really started playing some nice attacking football and looked like we belonged near the top of the league all season. The league was really tight until about 6 matches to go when the big teams started winning important matches. We oourselves lost to Gala and Fener in the third and second before last game, which put us on a delicate position in the final game.

Ourselves and Bursaspor were on 58 points in 5th and 6th respectively, whilst Göztepe where on 57 and Kayserispor on 56. In the final round it was Göztepe vs. Bursaspor and Kayserispor vs. Hacettepe, with only one of the teams (5th place) assured European football in the following season. Both games were tense and ugly and were both heading toward goalles draws. A better head to head result against Bursaspor meant we were securing 5th spot, but in the 89th minute Göztepe scored to break Hacettepe’s fans hearts. Luckily for our parent club Gençlerbirligi lost in the cup final to Galatasaray and whilst I thought they would get the EL place due to Gala only being in the EL themselves, I was pleasantly surprised to see that last spot go to us 

Ziraat Türkiye Kupası

Fixtures

I nice easy win against a third tier side was followed by an impressive hammering of Trabzonspor away from home. Eventual winners Galatasaray were much better than us and the 1-0 loss in the quarters could have been worse.

Hacettepe

Transfers ǁ Squad - Defence ǁ Squad - Attack

A lot of movement again this year as I let go the players I didn’t think were cut out for the Süper Lig. For the first time I was allowed to spend a little money, which was nice. I also started investing in youth players, with mixed results so far. On the outgoing front the big story was the sale of Al-Sallal, who’s agent hated me. His deal was going to end at the end of the season so I decided to cut my losses. The fans weren’t too happy, but meh, we survived well enough without him and his winging agent.

First XI

*denotes a Hacettepe youth product

GK: Volkan Babacan – Another solid season by the experienced goalie.

DR: Ferami Kusçu – An OK solution to our RB problem, still not 100% satisfied though.

DC: Murod Holmuhammedov – Was off quite a bit this season with the U-23 Asian games and the Asian Cup, we did miss him in those games.

DC: Nida Güngör – This was a guy I had been tracking for a long time. He never wanted to join on loan so when Fenerbahçe put him in the transfer list for peanuts I jumped at the chance to sign him. Didn’t perform quite as expected but I think he will improve.

DL: Ham Ji-Young – Made the LB spot his own this year. Great season.

DMC: Mirko Maric – Moved back to the anchor man role as planned and did a good job there.

MC: Tomás Farfán – This guy is starting to perform really well. I think he is a bit injury prone, but when he was fit he was amazing. I think I made an error in playing him as MC, for some part of the season, so will look to move him to AMC next season.

MC: Alberto Martínez – Brought in on a free from Olimpia, had a decent season.

AMC: Abdel Aziz Saber – The envisioned replacement for Al-Sallal. Not quite as good but he did well, will swap positions with Farfán next season as his better physical stats suit the Box to Box role better.

ST: John García – A bit irregular this season, although he can win games when he has his day.

ST: Mustafa Semih Kepoglu – A much better season from the young Turkish player, he has a knack for cutting in and hitting awesome shots in the top corner. He will have a lot more competition next year though. He even won the Young Player of the Year award!

Others

Antonio Jozinovic – Continued doing a good job as squad player, as I demand a lot physically from my midefielders.

Azer Abbsasov – Same as above. Also, he decided to play for Azerbaijan and has a handful of caps already.

Kamil Ahmet Çörekçi – Another short term quest for a RB, was OKish.

Shohruh Mirabdullaev – Happy to find another Uzbekistani (who don’t count as foreign) with some potential and a lot cheaper than a Turkish player of this ability would cost. I reckon he could see more games next season.

Other News

Finances – I was a bit wary to spend too much of the € 1.5 M transfer budget I was given seeing as we only made a decent profit for a year and I was right as we made a bit of a loss. Hopefully Europe will balance the books next season.

Awards wise I came second in theManager of the Year award, whilst Hacettepe won the Fair Play Award as well as being the overachievers of the season. Another good piece of news was that the Besiktas board were withdrawing their financial support, which gives us a better chance to compete with them. And finally, my feeder club Gümüshanespor won the third tier with the help of a load of my youngsters!

This Season Targets

1. Mid-Table Safety. Yes and some more, very happy with European Qualification.

2. Better performances against the big teams.. No – Only beat Gala in the league and did a double over Bursaspor who had a pretty bad season.

Next Season Targets

1. Qualify for Europe.

2. Better performances against the big teams.

3. Get past a couple of rounds in the Europa League.

We have a good base now to start being taken seriously in Turkey now. I am hoping against better games against the big boys again as they made some difference last season, could have been much better with good results. I don’t think we will get to the group stages of the Europa League, but it would be nice to at least lose to good opposition.

Career Overview

Season       League          Pos        Türkiye Kupası        Europe           Other Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13      2. Lig          2nd        Second Round          N/A              Lost in Playoff Semi-Finals
2013/14      2. Lig          3rd        First Round           N/A              Lost in Playoff Quarter-Finals
2014/15      2. Lig          2nd        First Round           N/A              Lost in Playoff Semi-Finals
2015/16      2. Lig          1st        Quarter-Final         N/A              Promotion
2016/17      1. Lig          4th        Third Round           N/A              Promotion via Playoffs
2017/18      Süper Lig       11th       Quarter-Final         N/A              None
2018/19      Süper Lig       6th        Quarter-Final         N/A              Qualified for Europa League

[ri916]

Corinthiano- A great season in Turkey for you, european qualification is brilliant!

Aldojags- Didnt you win the National though Aldo? I hope that I can emulate your success in the step up!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Des Tiny's A.S. Viterbo Calcio

Preseason Update

August 22nd 2012

The New Guys

02.07.12 --> Tomislav Grcic (DM) - The first thing for me in lower levels is getting a solid anchorman, and I don't think I was going to find one better than this guy. Very good physically, and also a good tackler and marker, he will support my central defenders very well.

03.07.12 --> Francesco Frijio (AML) - Normally I would be more worried about building a spine early on, but when I was offered this left wing (A very weak position at the club) I couldn't turn him down. For an 18 year old he is pretty good, I am still looking for another left wing.

06.07.12 --> Leonardo Orsi (DC) - Back on track and building my defense saw me sign our second guaranteed starter. Orsi will be the rock of our defence and have a younger player alongside him. Solid right across the duties he will need to cover as my central figure at the back.

07.07.12 --> Domenico Di Fusco (DC) - One of the possible younger options, but within 8 days at the club I have greatly improved the centre of my defence with three very solid signings.

08.07.12 --> Luca Riberto (ST) - The other important feature of my club is a solid advanced forward who can both score and hold up the ball for the others coming through. I managed to find this Italian veteran for my side, and I am very happy with his attributes. Fast, strong, and a bit of flair.

13.07.12 --> Manuel Cervini (MC) - A solid 23 year old with reasonable stats, for the supportive midfield role I need someone who can play support forwards, and backwards, he is that guy.

29.07.12 --> Leonardo Ciocca (GK) - The final piece of a good spine to the club is a solid keeper, now I have been unable to sign any of the better ones because of my wage limits, but this guy is good enough, and he will stop the shots that get through my defence.

02.08.12 --> Ivan Aiardi (GK) - I wanted him as a GK Coach, but he wanted to play, signed on as both will tutor my young keeper.

04.08.12 --> Joseph Pisano (ST) - A young back-up for Riberto, he is reasonable at the job already, but he will get better.

07.08.12 --> Domenico Bombara (DL) - After building the middle of the team the four wide players also need to be upgraded, Bombara is the best left back I could find, he is solid across the board, but nothing stands out.

09.08.12 --> Fabio Di Fausto (DR) - Following on from Bombara, it made sense to fill in the other side of the pitch. Di Fausto is the improvement I needed there, while reasonable attributes are the key here.

10.08.12 --> Federico Casino (MC) - A young back-up for my midfield, solid and needs some mental work, but will improve.

11.08.12 --> Marco Galiano (MC) - Another youngster to provide some midfield cover.

13.08.12 --> Luigi Panarelli (DRC) - I have made a habit of picking up a few youngsters, this guy provides cover at right back, and can come on in the middle if needed as well.

21.08.12 --> Arturo Zuccarelli (DC) - He has been signed as another option at the middle of the back, it now means I have what I see as three good options for my defensive line.

Friendlies

We played 5 easy teams and won 4 of those games, and I had decided to finish it off with a game against Serie B side Bari, and I thought the boys stepped up quite well and we ended up with a 1-0 loss. Really overall I am happy about the results and will see where it goes into the regular season.

My Thoughts

I am happy with the team, I think we have a chance to push forward and I will be playing with the aim of qualifying out of our group in the Serie C Cup. Then comes the league season where my only aim can be to avoid relegation. So without further ado here is my starting XI for the season:

GK: Leonardo Ciocca

DR: Fabio di Fausto

DC: Leonardo Orsi

DC: Arturo Zuccarelli

DL: Domenico Bombara

DM: Tomislav Grcic

MC: Manuel Cervini

MC: David Corsaro

AMR: Emanuele Morini

AML: Francesco Friji

ST: Luca Riberto

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well Riberto showed his skills with a very quick debut goal, 23s into our first game and he scores.

[Andy Sava]

First of all i want to wish good luck to those who started the challenge since my last post.

As for my team, we hae a few more games left and the distance between us and 3rd place is 8 points now. Like last season, we droped points where we should not. During the season i changed from my 4-1-2-1-2 to a more wide approach of 4-5-1. The reason for this change was that with my 4-1-2-1-2 the team didn't create as many goal chances as i wanted, we were managing not to lose games but we were not winning many either.

I guess i'll have to play another season in the third division which will hurt my finances.

End of season report will probably come tonight.

[G-Wiz]

wow, a lot of new faces in the challenge since i last checked in. Good to see so much progress, and so many people still active in here. As for Ac Viseu, i kind of lost interest a little in the last few months, and i havent been able to spend much time on my save due to work commitments, but im back and firing on all cylinders to get through my first season in the top tier of portuguese football. It became apparent pretty quickly that my squad wasnt strong enough to compete as it was, so there are a number of new faces who i will introduce in my end of season review. Coming soon!

[rlipscombe]

Ri916 - congratulations again on promotion. Le Mat looked a great player for that level – think he should be pretty good for Ligue 2. Extra praise for the all-french squad again also.

Corinthiano - well done on the improvement again and also great news about European football! Good luck pushing even further next season.

LLR - lots of new signings there! The Bari score gives optimism that you will do ok this season. Good luck.

G-Wiz - good to have you back mate and good to hear the passion is back. Looking forward to seeing how you got on.

As for me and my de Jong poser, I actually decided to offer him the contract of £59k p/w as a gesture I thought was a tame effort to keep him. However he decided to stay so my best and key player stays, albeit on a larger contract! Although the wage is similar to one I refused to offer Pirulito, de Jong is the heartbeat of my team and a driving force. Oh and the bidder was a foreign team but I can’t remember which as I have finished the season again!!

[aldojags]

corinthiano - well done on Europe, and I really like the look of Farfan.

ri916 - Yeah I won the National in my 3rd season, then came 6th in Ligue 2. But I think from looking at your squad, you'll survive no probs I'm sure of it.

LLR - plenty of transfers there hope you get them gelled quickly and have a good season

rlipscombe - well never a bad thing to keep your star player, good sign that he'd rather stay with you. I'm going to start having to offer money like that to keep my top players, a lot of them expiring next 2 season.

[rlipscombe]

aldojags - i know. normally i am loathe to offer big wages but as our stock rises and we look to win top prizes it has to be done unfortunately. he is definitely the exception to the rule though. most players still on 'modest' wages...

[aldojags]

I've just had to offer £19k per week to Ilan Roger, he's only just turned 18. I initially offerred £5k per week but his agent was having none of it. He's my top scorer this season so far so can't really argue. But my wage bill is climbing all the time. As you say it needs to be done if you want to keep mixing it with the big boys.

[Andy Sava]

Holstein Kiel - 2013/2014

Table | Squad | Transfers | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Manager Profile

Season Overview

League Finish - 9th

Media Prediction - 18th

Fans Player of the year - Sebastian Reinert

It was a good second season even if we didn't get promoted, we are on our way to the Second Division. We just need a little more consistency and we will be fine. The team had the same problem like last season, we dropped points that we should have got easily.

Transfers

I let alot of players go at the beginning of the season so i don't mess up to much with our finances. The only player i would have liked to keep was Fiete Sykora but he was asking to much money so in the end i gave up on him. What i hate about being stuck in the Third Division is that i need to have 4 german players under 23 in the team. One of the reason i like playing in Germany is that it suits my playstyle on the transfer market, and that is to gather the talent from all over the world. But enough on this topic, here are the players i brought during this season:

Ionut Salaman (Position - AM R, Games Played - 18, Goals - 3, Assists - 3, MoM - 1, Average Rating - 6.83) - I can never resist the temptation to bring players from my nation in all the teams i manage in FM. I got Salaman so i can have a decent right winger and he did well during the season. The only bad thing about him is that he is lazy, very lazy. Even with 11 in Work Rate he complained over and over again about his training schedule while people with lower attributes were very happy with it.

Pascal Testroet (Position - Striker, Games Played - 19, Goals - 7, Assists - 1, MoM - 2, Average Rating - 6.95) - Young german striker brought in to replace Sykora. He had some good games and some bad games, overall i was pleased with how he did in his first season here.

Jelle Maes (Position - AM C, Games Played - 20, Goals - 2, Assists - 4, MoM - 1, Average Rating - 6.89) - Promising young dutch attacking midfielder. He played in different positions troughout the season and did well.

Frederic Maciel (Position - Striker, Games Played - 5, Goals - 1, Assists - 4, Average Rating - 6.86) - Brought in to strengthen my attack he only played a few games because of the previously mentioned rule that requires at least 4 under 23 german players in the match squad. He will definitely feature in my plans for the next season.

Jacopo Galimberti (Position - D C, Games Played - 6, Goals - 1, MoM - 1, Average Rating - 7.35) - Got him in the second part of the season and got to play him in a few matches. He did really well and he will be a part of the team in the next season.

As you can see my transfer policy for the time being revolves around geting good free players so i don't mess up my finances. At the end of the season i will let go the players i didn't use in order to help with that.

Also, this season i got Kerim Akyildiz, a nice young player who came trough our youth ranks and who i hope will develop quite nicely in the years to come.

German Third Division

We started this season so well, we got a 3-0 win away at Erfurt and we went on to get a 12 games unbeaten run. After that it started to go downhill, we started to lose games we shouldn't have lost, missing alot of goal opportunities and just being very incosistent during the rest of the season. Maybe i am to blame for changing the tactics but even after the team got used to the new tactic it was the same.

Season Best Eleven

Something wierd with this season's best eleven as the game put Rafael Kazior as my best DM when i didn't even play him in that position and Sofien Chahed who was my best DM didn't even make the substitutes. I fixed this by putting them in their deserved spots.

First Team

GK - Daniel Strahle (Apps - 28, Rating - 6.86)

DR - Daniel Gareis (Apps - 24, Rating - 6.88)

DC - Samir El Moussaoui (Apps - 26, Goals - 7, Rating - 7.21)

DC - Tim Hofmann (Apps - 34, Goals - 5, Rating - 7.18)

DL - Throben Stadler (Apps - 29, Goals - 1, Rating - 7.02)

DMC - Sofien Chahed (Apps - 37, Rating - 6.90)

MC - Simone Pecorini (Apps - 29, Goals - 1, Rating - 6.90)

MC - Jelle Maes (Apps - 25, Goals - 2, Rating - 6.89)

AMR - Ionut Salaman (Apps - 20, Goals - 3, Rating - 6.83)

AML - Sebastian Reinert (Apps - 28, Goals - 9, Rating - 7.18)

SC - Tim Wulff (Apps - 23, Goals - 6, Rating - 7.02)

Substitutes

GK - Korbinian Muller (Apps - 10, Rating - 6.83)

DC - Maikel Verkoelen (Apps - 19, Goals - 2, Rating - 7.09)

DRL - Paul Camps (Apps - 21, Rating - 6.75)

MC - Massimiliano Esposito (Apps - 19, Rating - 6.77)

MC/AMC/ST - Rafael Kazior (Apps - 16, Goals - 2, Rating - 6.91)

AML/ST - Marc Heider (Apps - 17, Goals - 4, Rating - 6.91)

ST - Pascal Testroet (Apps - 20, Goal - 7, Rating - 6.95)

ST - Frederic Maciel (Apps - 7, Goal - 1, Rating - 6.86)

Next season

This season we improved on last season's position and this is exactly what i want to happen next season. We have to be up there in the end, fighting for a promotion spot.

Club History

[b]Season             League                         Position                     Achievements[/b]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/2013          German Third Division          14th                         Avoided Relegation
2013/2014          German Third Division          9th                          N/A

[aldojags]

Good season there Andy Sava a similar improvement next season will see you promoted I'm sure.

Pecorini looks like he's 1 for the future. I'd train him further at CB he looks like thats where he'd be best to me. But got great mental stats for a young player.

[aldojags]

help!! Just noticed a frightening drop in Ilan Rogers determination, I take it this is because I must've tutored him up with a player with low determination?

At one point it was sitting at 18, now it's dropped to 13 Will I need to pair him up with a player with higher determination then?

Is there a difference in the 2 options for tutoring? As in, help him with his game, or mentor him off the pitch. does the off the pitch one mean your looking to improve mental stats?

[Andy Sava]

Here's my new defender

He came with my brand new scout and he came free of charge!

[tjt65]

I have had a browse through most of these posts and i have always tried but given up on this/Gundo/dafuge challenges, but i really want to give it a push this time round before FM 2013 comes out (not much to do over the summer).

I was tempted by Russia as not many have tried it, but i assume due to the rather annoying league rules it would be pretty damn hard.

I have done a long save with Nacional da Maderia in Portugal so not wanting to go there again (plus i couldn't get anywhere near the success of PRDH)

Anyway, you guys have any recommendations? (apart from Portugal+Germany)

Thanks,

tjt.

[Andy Sava]

Is this game for real ? I'm only 4 games into the new season and i already have 4 (FOUR) key players injured. FML

Edit: another injury on one of my key players. **** this...

[PRDH]

tjt - Ha! It all comes with patience! I've had a lot of fun in Italy in the past, it takes a while to crack the league, but once you get there you can build a truly world-class team. France is also fun.

[tjt65]

Thanks PRDH i think i am going to go with France, am i correct in thinking you start in the 'National' league not 'CFA' as you cant select the teams in that league?

[PRDH]

Thanks PRDH i think i am going to go with France, am i correct in thinking you start in the 'National' league not 'CFA' as you cant select the teams in that league?

You are. Good luck!

[rlipscombe]

Andy Sava - well done on an improved season. Ferreira looks a great signing as well there. tough luck on the injuries front. sounds brutal

tjt65 - welcome to the challenge and good luck in France. i hope you find yourself a good club and enjoy the challenge of making them a force in French football.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I actually felt a bit sorry for Sambenedettese in my last game as they finished with this formation, they made 3 subs at halftime and then had injuries to 3 of their players and ended up with only 8 players left on the pitch. We were leading 3:0 before they started losing men, but we did manage to put 3 more past them after that, including Riberto's hattrick to give him 5 goals in his first 3 appearances (His total goals before joining Viterbese was 6 in 118).

[Andy Sava]

Despite the many injuries the season is going really well and we are currently 1st after 11 games. Hopefully we can keep it up.

[siLKEAPE]

Città di Pontedera

January 2019

Champions League: We did not manage to qualify for the next round, but I am satisfied with how we played against champions Lyon.

Serie A: Really satisfied we are still among the top 4. After a dip in form in November the team reacted greatly and beat Juventus, Roma and Udinese in December. What impresses me the most is that we are still unbeaten at home, continuing the great tradition from last season when we did not lose at home all season. In fact, we have not lost at home since 07.05.2017, when Atalanta beat us in what was our first season in Serie A.

At the moment we are experiencing what is probably the worst injury crisis in my time here, but hopefully we won't be dropping too many points in January.