Troy Damage Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Aldojags - Thanks mate, yeah he got his cap the season before I signed him, not sure what the Poland manager was smoking on that one, didn't imagine I would be able to attract international quality in my first season (and by all accounts I can't). But nevertheless he continues to do a fine job for me, perhaps he is eyeing that second cap Rlipscombe - Cheers marty78 - Thanks, think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head there, apart from Bilinski no one broke the illustrious three goal barrier for us, if we can get a couple more players on double figures we could have a chance, as long as Bilinski maintains his record as well of course Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Clyde Mid-season report Transfers I forgot to mention previously that we'd revoked to go Semi-pro. I believe this has allowed me to trim the wage bill considerably. Originally i wasn't going to expand on this squad for a year or so. I rush signed a midfielder and other than that i was happy with my strenth in depth at the start of the season. However what i soon realised was how much we depended on Alan Martin and Matthew Paterson. Paterson's goal ratio couldn't last forever and Jordan White isn't turning out to be as good as i expected him to. While speaking to my scout about a new striker he recommend a number of people to me. I told him to go and get fresh reports on them all. And he delivered. With the pay reductions, squad depth improvement was possible. Ewan Saunders has offered a great backup in defence. Hasn't had a massive amount of game time and with the arrival of former Celtic and Hull defender Patrick McNally i think hes going to drop further down the pecking order. Hes got buckets of ability though and i'd like to see him work hard in training to force me to pick him. McNally a recent arrivial had a brief spell at Cowdenbeath of late, but he was happy to drop the division after being released. He looks like a good player but suspension has prevented me from seeing him in match action so far. The first game in the new year will see him play of the Bully Wee. Onto former Chelsea duo Samuel Watson and Robbie Lagoudakis. Watson actually managed on game in the English premiership before being released, that game was last season. Hes had some game-time and looked very good for us. Defientley one to keep an eye on once match fit. Robbie on the other hand is an Autrallian Under 21's international striker. He is extremely creative and will proved Paterson with plenty of opportunities. Not only that but hes also capable of scoring himself. Although hasn't done that yet for us, but hes not even had 1 full game yet. Both these lads look like marvellous signings for us. Ross Dickman, well he was a rush signing after captain Steven Campbell took a serious injury that will keep him out till March(roughly) he was highly recommended and in the two games i've had him for Campbell will have to work hard to get his place back. Dean Fitzlegrad came to me on the same report card that had Dickman. I wasn't really looking for another central mid, but when the report says "will accept £25-£35 a week, would be a good first division player and has the potential to be a leading SPL midfielder" I'd quite simply be an idiot not to look into that further. In the end we agreed on £50 a week as he wouldn't go lower, so slightly mis-informed but i've had him for one game, and he looked very pleasing in that match. Dean's arrival seen me release Crawford the rush signng earlier in the season. Johnathan done a good job when asked to but i feel it would be wrong of him to remain as a 5th or 6th choice midfielder. He had 6 months to go on his contract and myself and Clyde wish him the best for the future. The League Well if I'm honest i was looking to win the league and i felt we had the squad to do it. I kept the board expectations low however incase i was wrong. However with Paterson's goals, and the midfield adding to that since he's dried up, we've put ourselves firmly in the driving seat. It would be nice to see Matthew take down the top scorer as he deserves it but the rest of the leagues top strikers are now catching him. Robbie will also add some goals, and the improvements made over December means i'm very confident of taking the club up into the SFL2. Results We this has been a phenominal season so far. Just wish i could figure out how to beat Dumbarton. Bogey team it would seem. However that aside its been a fantastic first half. Making the final of the challenge cup was unexpected. Expessially given the draw i had in every round. The final seemed the easiest game. Although unfortunetly Paterson got booked in the Scottish cup game previous to this as a result missed it on suspension. Losing 3-2 against a team higher than us in the divisions i'd normally accept and say well done lads good effort, however on this instance i was gutted. I feel we played well throughout the competition, without our main front man, and our second front man at the time just returning from injury it was always going to be hard. But to be 2-2 on 91 minutes and losing by one of the softest goals we could have conceded is just heart-breaking. However i feel this proves how much the side has improved. The League cup was a good effort. 2-1 v an SPL side was a good effort and once again showing we can compete with bigger sides. The Scottish cup. Well the big clubs in Scotland used to say, can we be in Europe past Christmas, this was my target for the Scottish cup. The board said round 3, but i felt round 4 was achievable given a good draw and we managed that. St. Johnstone are next and their an SFL1 side. History shows we can compete v these SFL1 sides, so heres hoping. Finances Last season i admit i made mistakes in this department. This season i've worked on correcting them. The cup runs have helped, the budgets have been reduced, even with the new players. Crowd sizes have increase by about 10% although thats still less than 10% of the capacity we can handle. All of this together means its on the up. I don't think i can trim another £55k off in the next part of the season, infact ill probably lose £20k but even if i reduce the dept by 10% this year with the promotion boost, i think we shall survive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marty78 Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Wardog- Looks like it is yours to lose at the minute. Hope you can keep it going and win the league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 good first half of season wardog looking like a title could be on the way Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Wow, sooo much action since I last caught up in here, I am going to have to read the last 2 1/2 pages and catch up. Welcome aboard to all the new comers and Congrats to Minisav on a completion, I believe we have now passed FM11 in terms of completions, the thread is also the most popular it has been since FM09. Now as we hit the middle of August I know people start planning towards the start of FM13, so before everyone gets on that bandwagon I think we should look back at the season that has gone, so as we have quite a large thread again this year I think we should do another awards ceremony.So if everyone is onboard, the first step is to build a series of awards, I will link to the FM09 Awards so you can get some ideas, if you have anymore or think some should be removed, just pop them into the thread andwe will decide on a list of awards to use. After that will be a nomination phase, and then there will be a team I ask to assist me with Shortlisting, I am looking at you Rlips, PRDH, and possibly others. FM09 Thread's Awards List Definitely in for helping out with anything you need, LLR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Right, I've made a decision, I'm going to skip the update from my most recent season, as I've lost all motivation to write it, and crack on with the next one in the hope of trying to get through at least Cardoso's career before we get FM13. Bare bones of the season, I won the Portuguese league, went out of the Champion's League at the first knockout stage. Cardoso scored 25 goals to take him up to 313 in the league and at 31 has yet to show any deterioration. There'll be a better update at the end of next season, I promise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 wardog - good to see things going much better this season. good luck in the run in! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Thanks all for lots of support. My first ever challenge thread attempt and to be honest early stages i felt like i just couldn't hack it. Glad it stuck at it as i have to admit this is probably my favourite save game ever for the first two seasons. Everytime a major players gets injured or suspended i start making a mess in my pants only for the replacement to show me hes just about good enough. This is the reason i love this game, but with the inability to just see a problem and spend my way out of it, this is a first. Anyways down to business. Wardog - Clyde - 2nd season completion update The League Well what can i say, the lads where wonderful. A number of games we should have won, including all our losing games. Leaking late goals cost us aswell. After securing our play-off spots the lads seemed to bottle it a little too. I'll address that in the results section however. However we eventually managed to get the job done at home with 3 games to go. I'm sure the lads will be looking forward to next season just as much as I am. Results Honestly I'm still reeling that challenge cup final. I was winable. However on this part I shall mostly address the league results. The stand out bad result is the 4-0 defeat to Peterhead. What i will say is that flatters Peterhead. Our Aussie forward got sent off after 10 minutes, our only player to be sent off this season, and he managed 2 straight reds twice. This left us with 10 men and Paterson was injured. So now missing our 2 best stikers against one of the top 4 teams in the league wasn't ideal. What made it even harder was i made a treble sub to freshen up the midfield around 65 mins. On 72 mins Brian McQueen got strechered off. At this point we where 1-0 down. The resulting meant playing a midfielder in defence and well Peterhead had it easy. Disappointed in the result, but under the circumstances i feel we coped well. The rest of the results where standard for us all season. However one thing of note, last game of the season i finally beat Dumbarton. This was infront of by far the largest home crowd under my management with over 2000 people watching us lift our trophy. Hopefully these people turn out next season. I also gave a number of our Youth side a go in this game aswell. These lads came in and played fantastic. The lads i played hadn't had a first team match and with nothing to play for really i felt this was a good chance to give them a game infront of home fans. I think seeing some local lads also boosted the crowd. Youth Candidates I was disappointed with this batch to be brutally honest. I didn't sign to many of them but i did sign Seeley, Munro, Lennox and the 2 Leitch's. I don't believe the Leitch's are related just incase anyone asks. I dropped Hill and Maxwell of last years batch back to the youth side. However Thomson is extremely versattile and as a result has remained with the first team squad. First Team Squad This is showing a couple of our new signings for next season, i'll address that in the transfers section of my pre-season review later on. We also lost a couple of this seasons back up players. I shall assess that in the transfers section on this update. One thing i will state is I'm please to announce keeping a hold of our major players. People are swarming around Alan Martin who I really hope to keep ahold of. However with the strike force we have, as long as Robbie can keep his discipline i feel we can go along way with that. On top of that the midfield is very good. Key Players Matthew Paterson I have no clue where to start with Matthew. Morton had him on trial last season before i got him, and simply I'm delighted they didn't realise how good he was. His goals this season have been a major factor in our progress. Hes had a major injury this season, combined with him missing the challenge cup final due to 2 yellow cards in cups rule probably ruined the season for him. However hes way to good for division 3, so much so his development haulted in training. I hope this resumes back to normal in the second division as i dread to think how good he can be. Alan Martin Alan has been great in goal. Although the defence really does help him out Alan is usually very reliable when called upon. We had a few bad games and its effected how many he conceded. Ross County have been talking about him since September and I really hope we can keep ahold of him. Hes a massive asset to us. Dale O'Hara I'm a little surprised to be including Dale here to be honest. I looked at replacing him in December but couldn't agree terms with a lad. Even Robert Thomson's impact substitute performances nearly knocked him out. However Dale has scored some very important goals for us this year, on top of that he's got more assists than any other player in the Third division. I imagine he might lose his place next season but if he performs anywhere near close to this level he's going to have any potential threats struggling to beat him into the first team. Transfers Not much activity since my mid-season review. Ill update on players. Euan Saunderson is now transfer listed by request. I'm disappointed with that but he was 4th choice and he wanted games. I felt accepting was best for Squad Harmony. Patrick McNally has came in and been fantastic. In the central role hes been brilliant, and he's even cropped up with some goals from set pieces. Robbie Lagoudakis and Samuel Watson have both came into the first team. Watson has scored twice, both from the spot, but hes much more defensive minded and was actually the main reason i bought him, other than his phenomenal ability. Robbie has added lots to our attack, however will have to work on his discipline. I will not tolerate him missing 6 games due to suspension again. Ross Dickman for being a rush signing has been instrumental to our success. He fitted right in and the team just feels stronger with him in it. Dean Fitzgerald, I'm not even sure how we've got a player of this quality. Hes literally too good for us. I think the only reason he wasn't down as a key player was because he only got 6 months to prove himself where as the other lads had the full season. Really hoping i can keep ahold of him. Finances We've made improvements in this department this year. I think having the league bonus' on high was probably a mistake given the situation but maybe that got us promoted so probably balances. We've just signed a new shirt sponsor which is worth double our previous one. We also only have 18 months left on our loan which on a couple of months has been the differance between a small loss and a small profit. Ticket sales increased steadily last season as well so hopefully that continues. The Club Other than going to semi-pro this season i don't think there's too much to comment on here. I've noticed both me and Matthew Paterson have been added to favoured personnel. The Manager Profile Other than signing a new long term contract i don't see much to comment on here. History Still not spent a transfer fee which i'm very proud of. Probably releasing a few to many players though. I've also managed my first promotion (state the obvious wardog lol) and even more important in my eyes got my goal difference into positive. The future is looking brighter and brighter by the day. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Pre-season review and expectations for the new season Slightly delayed was trying to get all the transfers going on in at the moment, think i've missed out on two but the leagues first game literally about to start Results Well overall it was a good pre-season. I picked the first 2 games to generate some much needed income, and also invited Cambuslang Rangers for a game too. The Royal Albert away game was just a random team. Aberdeen i had to accept due to my parent club agreement, wish they'd give me some loans already though. Airdrie offered me a game and i accepted. All of these went pretty much as i expected, although the draws against the English sides is pleasing. The cup draws where actually better than last season. Annan just been relegated to Division 3 so i had the divisional advantage. Being honest I'm amazed at this just being 3-0 they barley showed up. Arbroath in the other game, they actually just pipped me to a signing, because well I was tight and didn't want to increase the wage budget massively. However again a good win. Same division this time so was going to be a good feeler for the new season. The first half was poor, their keeper was equal to everything. However in the second half we where unstoppable. Transfers I'm going to start with the outs here I was meant to do this last post and forgot. Firstly the free releases, these lads contracts ran out and I refused to renew. They weren't close to the first team and I had better options for cheaper wages. Made the derisions easy for me. Everyone else was sold on a deal of 20% of next sale and a friendly. All 3 where because I had better coming in, on lower contracts. More will be doing the same. Marcus McMillan will also be leaving I think but no one as yet has offered cash, and I want cash for him. On the incoming side of things, I signed two players on pre-contracts. Rory Ferris took lots of negotiations, but the Northern Irish striker isn't far off the standard of my main strikers and has lots of potential. Will be very solid back up, and in honesty this is the first time I've felt I have a 3rd choice striker who I am confident in. Liam Amos was a back up keeper, nothing more. Strangely into July I started to look for new players. I took a fake holiday (didn't holiday just attended all Scotland games at the world cup) and making that realistic, I wouldn't be in Scotland to talk to targets. When I eventually looked it was somehow on goalkeepers still. Callum Antel was the first one on the list sorted by scout recommend. I decided to re-scout him and the Wales Under-21s keeper showed up positive. I offered a deal that suited the club and he snapped my hand of quicker than a shark into a pack of sardines. Its the first time I've had 3 keepers, but with the interest in Alan Martin that may change. Robbie Crawford I tried to sign last season and failed on quadruple the wages I got him for this season. Hes only going to be third choice midfielder but allowed me to sell the higher paid lads, and I'm currently working on that. Mark Lamont was one of the lads on the trial day, strangely he fitted the bill of playing positions I needed, was interested and good enough, and on very small wages. This was a very quick deal from planning to actually happening and I'm delighted with it. Cammy Barr was similar to Mark, although he's well down the pecking order for strikers but allowed me to sell Jordan White. His sale on value also looks good. Matthew Clarke was signed as a cheap back up player. He's very versatile and on cheap wages made him an ideal approach. Callum Gallagher is under similar circumstances as Cammy Barr. Craig Hill however was signed so that I can sell Brian McQueen, hes supposedly better but i didn't start searching for this till I seen the wages some of my central defence was on. In the process of looking for one more so I can sell Declan Gallagher. The First Team I think I addressed most changes in the transfer section. However i didn't address others. The main being last years 7th place finishers in the SPL - Dunfermline approached me regarding Robbie Lagoudakis they wanted to know how much I wanted. I replied stating i wanted £180k (his release fee) he came back with £150K, after several negotiations and me trying to get £180k for max return Dunfermline eventually withdrew. I know I probably should have accepted when they offered £165k but I thought if they'll pay that they'll probably pay the extra £15k. The other one is also transfer related. This time for Matthew Paterson. It ended at just an enquiry this time, but that was two SPL offers for both my strikers. Neither of them have complained at not getting the big move. Although if I got asking price for both, we'd be out of dept. Although replacing them would be tough. That and with the new addition of the new arrivals, and hopefully some more to come, the wage bill is reducing, and the club is moving in the right direction. Staff I was planning on keeping my staff together, unfortunetly they had other ideas. They all wanted wages higher than I was willing to pay. I put Urquhart on a contract with us last year, he'd previously been on a month to month, but considering some of the players he's got us, if we lose him I want compensation so that was the logic behind that. I managed after about 5 months of trying to keep our goalkeeping coach Ally Maxwell but the rest left. However with the promotion I was now allowed a fitness coach, 3 coaches, 0 gk coaches though, so since I had one I have to give one of the coaches up I believe, 1 youth coach and 1 First team coach. Andy McKeown was first to come in, I didn't want us lagging behind on the fitness side of things. I quickly got former players Stephen Glass and David King to come in and do attack and defensive drills too. Much needed. That allowed me to higher my youth and first team coaches. Richie Hart was signed for his tactical awareness and being a former player again I felt would benefit the first team. Bremmer came recommended by my Assistant in a staff meeting. Its his first role in football, but again a good tactical coach so covers what Richie does in training with the first team, just with the youth lads. I've also gave Martin full control of the youth team so I'm hoping he brings out the best in the young lads at the club. Glad this actually happened as now I have more and better staff than before, and for less than what I was paying out. The final addition was Joe Nesbitt, i brought him in to help with the scouting duties. I am considering bringing in a contracted physio, but he would have to be the right one. Finances More improvement here and with the reduction in wages and increase in income I think the club can push towards clearing this soon. Not going to set a time scale but even one big sale would almost put us in the black. Going for financial friendlies this year also helped. If we can maybe get a couple of cup runs too, that would be handy. Club Info Little disappointed with season ticket sales, we predicted 600, and that's not happened. Hopefully we can still manage that. Predicted to Finnish 10th despite 4th favourites to win the league with the bookies. Hmm who to believe. The League Welcome to the worlds more early alphabetical league. I believe Queen of the South and Brechin are the two big sides here. My only expectations are to avoid relegation, which I think is achievable with our players and staff. I'm hoping to sneak into the play-off if I'm honest. 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marty78 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 2019/2020 SEASON UPDATE LIGA BBVA Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 I was aiming for fourth this year for Champions League qualification and went one better by claiming third meaning we avoid a qualifier this year. Real Madrid could only manage a fifth place finish despite scoring 109 league goals as Barcelona, who managed 108 themselves, wrapped up the title closely followed by Valencia on the same points but a poorer goal difference. Delighted with the season but am just aiming for fourth again as Real will no doubt drop less points. CHAMPIONS LEAGUE After breezing past Juventus in the qualifier I was rewarded with a group consisting of Bayern Munich, Lyon and Panathinaikos. We really struggled to get going with two draws and two defeats in the opening four games before finally winning our final two games including a final day 6-2 against Bayern Munich. It was not enough so we finished third in the group and qualified for the Euro Cup. EURO CUP After getting knocked out of the Champions League we found ourselves in the Euro Cup and wins against Dynamo Kyiv, Fiorentina, Betis and Celtic we face Leverkusen in the Euro Cup final. Another open game saw both sides waste a number of chances before an extra time winner for Leverkusen saw them run out 2-1 winners. SPANISH CUP After winning it last year I knew we had it in us and wins against Barcelona and Valencia, among others, set up a final with Espanyol. It was a tremendous end to end final with both teams getting among the goals and it was pretty open when they received a red card when we led 4-2. We were coming under increasing pressure until then but afterwards we wrapped it up with two more goals to win 6-2 and defend out trophy. TRANSFERS Lasse Aune Mahlum - Had a £1.5m buyout clause which I happily met in January to bolster thee midfield. A bargain buy for sure. Cesar - Is naturally a striker but plays wide right for me most of the time. A decent return in his first season but for £7m I expected nothing less. Frans Koeman - Young striker cost just £1.5m and, like Stam before him, has proved value for money at that price. Seems to save his better performances for cup matches. Manfred Holsing - Young winger is just back up but has a lot of potential according to the staff. A free transfer so should at least make a profit should I move him on with Barcelona showing interest. Massimo Sinani - Another free youngster for back up but looks alright and has played his part in a good season. Maxim Francois - Signed in the summer but has missed much of the season with a broken leg and has lost some ability as a result. Roel Screuder - Payed £3m for this guy as he could play both full back positions. Has been a bit disappointing in truth. SQUAD Berry Stam - The number one striker at such a young age, eventually will need more competition if we are to win the league but other areas of the squad are more important to strengthen for next year. Silvio Musetti - Club captain who continues to lead by example. The best servant to the club I have had in this save. Antonio Oliviera - A good season has had Valencia enquiring about him but he is not for sale. Mao - Solid enough CB has dips in performance occasionally but still first choice. Ramiro Cantoni - A solid experienced defensive midfielder who has seen his place come under threat since January. Mauricio Moriera - One of two CM who have suffered bad injuries this season. Stavros Arkoudas - Youngster is back up for a number of positions but not really ever going to be first choice. Worth his place in the squad though and is reliable when called upon on. Karim El Ouahidi - Performs well when needed but have since allowed him to leave to bring in a replacement. Was perhaps a bit harsh as his performances were very good but I can do better, I hope. UNDER 19'S This years youth intake was again poor and perhaps this is worst I have ever done in terms of youth prospects in any save. That being said, with the money from Europe, I have finally started to improve facilities so hoping to see marked improvement in future years. FINANCES Our European adventure has pumped funds into the club meaning further upgrades to facilities, including another stadium expansion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Beat Atletico Madrid over two legs, into the quarters of the Champions League for the first time in a few seasons and the draw was kind, giving us Marseille and not Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man Utd or AC Milan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marty78 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Wardog - Congratulations on you league win and promotion. If you hang to the two lads you had enquiries about you might find that, once they have played in the higher league for a while, you may get an even better fee. I never worry about selling players though, especially at lower levels, as better replacements can usually be found for cheaper anyway. Good luck in Division 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 ty Marty. Honestly I don't want to spend a transfer fee on a player at the moment, even if the board would let me. Want to be comfortably out of dept before I worry about that, I do have 5 good quality strikers now, but i wanted to meet the min release fee for the Austrailian lad, was only another £15k on top of what they offered, i know money is tight in the SPL but didn't think it was that tight. Unlucky in your Europa League final, and best for luck next season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marty78 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Lasse Aune Mahlum has had his £10.25m minimum release clause hit by Hercules. I tried to offer him a new £32k a week contract but he chose to move and after checking his new wage Hercules are Paying £80k a week basic with considerable bonus'. Have got a week to find a replacement and only £4m to do so as they paid in instalments. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Well i wasn't going to even do an early season update, but 2 thinks made me decide otherwise. Firstly a new announcement in the form of a feeder club. I felt this was something we had to look at in order to develop our younger lads. With the first team now being much stronger a local partnership was critical in my opinion. Would have preferred an active division side but giving that i'm a "lower" SFL2 side i guess that would be asking too much. Results A great start to the season for us. The loss to Berwick seems the only black mark. Even the draw to East Fife I felt was justified. The Berwick game we where still building and preparing, as a result I'm not going to complain. This has left us in great shape in The League. The stand out match has to be the one against Celtic before the game there was alot of media hype. In honesty as a real life Rangers fan it was satisfying, but in my football manager head I was probably in the boardroom drinking champagne with the chairman waiting for the ticket sales to come through. When the match came we had to rest a couple of lads. Some for fitness reasons others because I wanted them for the Challenge cup semi and they where one yellow away from being suspended. When the game came around, Celtic where 6th in the SPL with 2 games in hand over everyone though. I told the lads just to enjoy it, and when Paterson scored early I jumped out of my seat. Robbie added a deserved second just before half time. I felt honestly we where the best time in the 1st half. During the second half though they destroyed us. After an hour i decided to go to my 4-5-1 back up formation in the hope that we could protect it, just before this happened we countered and Robbie scored with his final touch. I was now very sure we could hold on, although when they eventually did score I was dreading it. We also had the 2-0 victory over another SPL side in Dunfermline before that tie, although that result was far less impressive. Transfers, Club and finances I'll start with finances here. With the cup run and the big ticket booster of the Celtic game we've seen a decent profit so far this season, long may that continue. The reduction of wages is also helping. Transfers and the squad. I think i've done well in this department, i know its a risk selling players for nothing with sell on fees, but with money in these divisions is the cheapest way to get rid of high earners, and i have a chance of maybe even making money rather than paying the release fees. Matt Neil on the incomming has been pleasing. The rest offer cheap back up. Edit: League pic is now sorted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Wardog - congrats on the title and promotion. Sure it came as a relief to make it through to the end. Sounds like you have a decent squad there. Keeping your two strikers should hopefully help too. Good luck this season. If past experiences are anything to go by there isn’t much of a step up in quality so hopefully you do well. Marty78 - well done on improving to 3rd. unlucky with the Europa League final defeat but well done on winning the Copa del Rey again. Tough losing Mahlum – hope you can find a replacement DodgeeD - congrats on making the quarter finals – Marseille is a good draw too. Hopefully you can get to the semis and then who knows! As for me and Mannheim, the season is over. I am working on the review and I hope to get it finalised over the weekend. Could we make it 5 consecutive Bundesliga titles? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ri916 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I thought I would let everyone in here know that the CSE awards are back after a two year break! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Académico de Viseu F.C. - 2012/13 Ac. Viseu: Overview - Information - Squad João Lima: Profile I was lucky with the league reset as this is my family's hometown club, so it has a special meaning to me. The club looks in good condition, we have a €40k balance and the wage budget is under 80% of its limit, so I may get two or three good players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 best of luck kingjericho Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Damage Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Overall League Table Past Positions For the most part it was an exciting and enjoyable season in which we played pretty well, however we endured a hugely disappointing last couple of months. As you can see Dresden ran away with it somewhat, they were too good for this level, a class apart all season, which left a bunch of teams scrapping for only one promotion spot and one playoff spot. I should say that there seems to be a considerable gulf in quality and financing between the third and second division, for instance the prize money for third in our league is around 500k whereas for third in the league above it is over 5m, and even bottom gets 3.5m (more money than we could dream of). Therefore since the playoff is against third bottom in the league above promotion that way is a tough ask, but more on that in a moment. The season was so exciting due to the fact that we were always there or thereabouts as far as second place was concerned yet we never pulled away much, so every single game came with pressure and tension. It looked as if we may have pulled away in March we certainly began to cement second place, we held a five point lead with 8 to play, but then up stepped the hugely disappointing last couple of months. We won one of our last eight, and in the end we were lucky to finish third and find ourselves in the playoffs. We crumbled, not much else to say, we started giving away sloppy goals and stoped offering much going forward, we weren't paticularly unlucky in many of the games truth be told, the main problem was we didn't really look like scoring, we managed three 0-0s in the final four games against relatively poor teams when a win in two of those games would have seen us second. Our star striker Bilinksi stopped scoring and generally if he doesn't score then neither do we. We played Inglostadt over two legs for a place in the second division as our reward for squeezing into third, thanks to our excellent goal difference. I was pessimistic going into the tie; we were in dreadful form, adn up against what was on paper a much stronger side. I got all the more pessimistic when I found out that five of our stronger players were set to miss the away first leg due to being on u21 international duty, all the more so when discovering that Inglostadt had no such problems, we were forced to play the game with only one CB available as one was injured and two away on international duty (In hindsight these games were freindlies and I was a fool not to withdraw them from their squads, I didn't realise I guess becuase I've never really had this issue before, not a mistake I will make again): Playoff - Leg 1 We got battered and came away very pleased with the result, paticularly with the away goal, I felt we had a (slim) chance going into the second leg: Playoff - Leg 2 The scoreline doesn't refelct how the game went, we were excellent, got better the longer the game went on, after we went 2-1 up in the 54th minute it was one way traffic, I was thinking ahead to second division football next season. An 83rd minute howler from our new and young goalkeeper ended those thoughts however, and proved a paticular gamble I made in January a mistake (more on this shortly), they scored a third as we threw men forward needing two goals to win. A great season in terms of enjoyment and performance turned very frustating by a poor finish, all in all we had a much better squad than last season but managed to collect only five more points, we should have done better, we should have finished second and been promoted, but we only have ourselves to blame. Transfers Ins and Outs We did manage to keep the squad more settled as I hoped, but still not that settled. I wasn't intending on doing much business in the summer but my damned scouts turned up too many players I couldn't resist and we ended up bringing in 12 new players, a number of them released from top Portugese clubs as my trusty Portugese scout Bruno Meireles proved his worth for a third window running. This meant a number had to leave, 8 to be precise, happily we managed to raise about 400k. Clearly Triestina reckon we have some sort of informal feeder club arrangement with them, they payed top dollar for two young Italians we had picked up on frees six moths earlier, and got the talented Romanian Dumitru realtively cheap as he was the best of those I let go, I only let him go due to his high wages demands. We also were active in January, bringing in a host of low wage Czechs, and mean low wage, we are talking solid and promising youngsters on less than £200 a week, I couldn't resist, meaning a number of players had to go, we raised another 175k. Now on to that gamble that backfired, after much deliberation I decided to sell our goalkeeper, the Croat Antolovic for 100k to Wolfsburg. Now for my money he was the best goalkeeper in the division, but he was also our highest paid player by a mile after signing a new contract in the summer earning 3k a week, almost three times that of our second highest player and in total over a seventh of the entire wage budget. My scouts found a good, but not great young Czech goalie, by the name of Jaros, who had the potential to be better than Antolovic, willing to sign for us for £130 a week. I figured Jaros would be sufficient, could be great given time, and GK isn't a sensible position to have your highest payed player anyway. Suffice to say I was a lttle regretful when Jaros spilled an easy catch into his own net inside the last ten minutes of our season. Finances Balance Our finances look a lot more healthy. Player sales of near 600k and a number of high profile friendlies kept us ticking over, but in a normal month we would still comfertably lose over 100k, despite continuing to have the lowest wage bill in the league. What was very helpful was that our success in the league last season allowed us to play in the DFB Pokal this season, in reaching the second round we accrued nearly 300k just in prize money Squad Players - We now have not only a strong Portugese contingent, thanks to Meireles, but also plenty of Czechs and Danes, if there is one thing I need to do in the summer its bring in some Germans as we risk falling foul of the rule that you need 4 in your match squad, as we only have four altogther, but its like playing in England in this repect as all the domestic players I can find tend to be average and demand high wages relative to foreign players. We now have a talented squad for this level so I anticipate our trend towards less activity in each window to continue, but you never know what my pesky scouts might tempt me into I suppose. We are however still too over reliant on Bilinski for goals, this became painfully clear in Febuary when he spent a few weeks on the sidelines, his deputy the young Portugese striker Maciel scored an impressive 0 from 17 appearences, everyone at the club inisits to me he is a talented boy however so unless we can coax a decent fee out of someone for him he may well stay in the hope he displays some talent in his second year at the club. Key Players Kamil Bilinski - Managed one less than last season netting 25, and was only second in the golden boot competition rather than first, still our key man though, essentially because he is the only man in the team who seems to have any notion of how to finish. Was made club captain in January after Antolovic was sold, and is the only squad member, or indeed person, on the clubs favoured personel list Rui Cardoso - The best of the Portugese posse at the club, was our third top goalscorer with 8 goals, a talented attacking midfielder with plenty of potential to improve into Vaclav Dvorak - Still convinced he is a real star in the making, had a much improved season this year, he was only slowed down by injury else he may have been even more important than Bilinski, his absence in the last six weeks of the season with a knee injury was damaging to us. Second top goalscorer with 11 goals from the wing, also achieved the highest average rating in the squad. Gokay Ferhatoglu - The Turkish anchor man looks to me like he could become a top player, signed on a free from Brondby in the summer he had a very solid first season at the age of 18 A Note on Next Season - Raring to go after promotion disapointment, as far as my aims go its depends on the quality of the relegated sides because if another side like Dresden comes into the division the title my be put out of reach, but our young squad is of high quality and ever improving. Consquently I would be unhappy with anything but winning promotion, my aim is certainly to do so emphatically and take the title, one thing is for sure; 4 years in this division would be too many PS apologies for making it so long, just didnt seem to stop writing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Clyde - Mid season report New logo to make life better, smaller. The league Table Well a phenomenal first half, I felt my team was strong and I've not brought many in, but its really showing. Got asked to change my season expectations but Winning the league got me 2.7k p/w and avoid relegation got me 2.7k p/w. Erm yeah I think I'll stick where i am Mr Chairman. Results On the whole I'm delighted. The quarters of the league cup was never on the cards and the semi's even looked possible at one stage. However I made a massive derision before the game. A large number of players where one yellow away from missing the next cup game. The next cup game was the challenge cup final, as a result I played almost a second string team against SPL Hibs. I felt that we had a better chance of winning the challenge cup than winning the league cup so took the desision. Even then we held out v him for 93 minutes, only for a Scottish version of Fergie-Time to come and haunt me. No complaints, two massive home cups ties for us. Really benefited the club. The route to the challenge cup semi's where much more straight forward this year, only Ross County where in a higher division till Partick. It felt a little like De-ja-vu, beat Partick in the semi's get a team wearing blue and playing in the 2nd division in the final. However this time we had Matthew Paterson and boy did he make up for last year. My first trophy and I'm delighted with it. The Scottish cup was disappointing but Berwick away is never an easy game. 1-0 defeat seemed right on the day, and good luck to them in the next round. Squad The squad is now too much of strength in depth. I shall be looking to loan out or sell some lads during January. I also have 5 or 6 players in the under 19s. We're well under the wage budget but still would be nice to save on another couple of hundred a week. Overall the squad strength delights me. Transfers Not much to update on here. Robbie McIntyre was just too good to turn down coming in for free, and i felt Declan was starting to struggle at left back. He's had a couple of games but rotating at the moment building up match fitness. As stated before I'm not looking to buy during January but should be a few sales. Finances Profit margins this year are through the roof, trying to get enough to turn pro again as alot of the lads need full time training and I can't offer full time contracts to anyone. I know this will be an expense but heavily required. The cup runs clearly helped. Attendances have doubled since my first season, and the big cup games seen that quadruple. If we can win the league and break even for the rest of the season we might be out of dept in-time for the first division. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 DodgeeD - congrats on making the quarter finals – Marseille is a good draw too. Hopefully you can get to the semis and then who knows! Cheers We did indeed make the most of our draw by knocking Marseille out. Porto next in the semis. If we get past them, Real Madrid or Man U await in the final! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Cheers We did indeed make the most of our draw by knocking Marseille out. Porto next in the semis. If we get past them, Real Madrid or Man U await in the final! Looks like you got the easier semi there. Best of luck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 good luck Dodgeed! Got my latest youth intake, not too bad, best I've had in about 8 years! Not amazing, but few players with definite potential. Too bad most of them are RB's! Screve Ndongala is a potential 3 star DM, who looks good for a 15 yr old, hoping he'll be around the first team next few years, could play for France one day, although given how woeful France are in my game and some of the players who get capped, that's not saying much! Rui is a French/Portugese potential 3 star RB, lightning fast and again, definite potential. Nicolas Vincent is a 3 star potential CB, the potential is there, he could be a first teamer one day. Although 5'10 is quite short for a centre half. Kerim Can is a French/Turkish (I've had like 10 players last few years with this combo, is it a common occurence for any other french playing challengers?) potential 3 star striker/amrl, looks more likely he'll be a winger when he develops, dribbling/crossing already not bad. Cyrille Gilbert is a 2.5 star potential RB, looks ok, but he's one of 3 RB's I've signed from this years intake! Cedric Perrin is a 3 star potential RB (yes, another one!), who my coaches rate as "one of the most gifted players of his generation" - I don't see it myself, but we'll see how it goes! So that's all the players I've signed, pleased with that intake, been a real lack of talent last few years, but there's a few guys there I think will play first team football for me one day. Need to maybe retrain one or 2 of the RB's! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Aldojags if any of those right backs can play left footed a left back retrain should be simple enough. And if any of them are more attacking a MR role possible. Pretty annoying to wait 8 years for a decent crop then get 3 in the same position. Best of luck mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 yeah cheers mate - all 3 of them have some sort of competency at left back (although all 3 of them have weak left foot), 2 of them can play RM and one of them can play AMR. So I could maybe develop them that way. I know it's frustrating! I've had a few decent players through, 1 superstar in Roger, a couple of good squad players, but they are all mid 20s now, had nothing of note for years, so I'm pleased to get a few 3 star players, they could turn out a decent standard of player. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 yeah cheers mate - all 3 of them have some sort of competency at left back (although all 3 of them have weak left foot), 2 of them can play RM and one of them can play AMR. So I could maybe develop them that way. I know it's frustrating! I've had a few decent players through, 1 superstar in Roger, a couple of good squad players, but they are all mid 20s now, had nothing of note for years, so I'm pleased to get a few 3 star players, they could turn out a decent standard of player. As i've just joined this and being honest I am not the best of readers so reading 48 pages just isn't suitable, how good are your youth and training facilities and coaches. Also that incomparasson to your first team as a 2.5 star player might actually be good enough as i know its compared with your current crop. Probably a basic question but just curious. I had a 4 star defender last season potential, with improvements in my first team hes now only 2 star potential. Your re-training suggestions sound good aswell, the left back option probably still there if your willing to train them with PPM of cut inside and avoid using weaker foot. Small suggestions, i've no idea if that will work as I've not tested it. Always been a buying manager rather than bringing youth few, one of the things this challenge has taught me to appreciate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Just a quick update, during January I've extended my lead at the top, lost my back up keeper to an SPL side but got paid a small fee, was happy to accept cash for my back up keeper. However the worst i can finish now is 7th. 11 more points will see me guaranteed my personal target of the play-offs and 19 points will guarantee me the league. On another note, Matthew Paterson is just 2 goals away from equalling the club all time scoring record. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldojags Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Knocked out Champ League in quarters to Man City, really frustrating tie! 1st leg, away from home, drawing 1-1, when I get 2 players sent off just after HT. I pluckily hold on with 9 men to only a 2-1 defeat. So now to the return leg. I get a penalty after 3 minutes, and this time they get a man sent off. So I'm a goal up and a man up with 87 mins to go, and still manage to lose the game 3-2. So frustrating! This could be the nail in the coffin for my save, really struggling to drum up enthusiasm to play this anymore, disappointment every year! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRDH Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Bad luck aldo, you really deserve that completion, I'm not sure what to suggest except ploughing on if you've got the motivation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 I haven't done any updates for ages. I was kind of doing the challenge (for the second time but with the same career) with Ejea in Spain, after completing with East Stirlingshire. The thing is I never intended to do the whole challenge with them. I just wanted to get them to the top division. After a mediocre first season, I then finished top of my division 2B league 2 seasons in a row. The trouble is, there's playoffs and I went out both times. The next season though we finished top again (narrowly) and managed to gain promotion through the playoffs. Our first season in the Adalante, we nearly got promoted straight away. A win in the final game of the season would have seen us to second and glory. However that final league game was away to Celta (who were currently in that second place slot) and we lost 2-0. We still had the playoffs, and won the home leg 3-2 against Albacete, but were then beaten 4-1 away. Next season we finished second. It was looking reasonably comfortable at one point. I think we were 7 points clear with 6 games to go. 2 points from our next 5 games made it considerably less comfortable though. We won our last game, other results went our way, and we were in the top division. The one thing that my career had lacked was a relegation dogfight, and I figured I might get my chance with Ejea's first season with the big boys. We were still a semi-professional club. 2 seasons in a row the board said we'd pro up at the start of the next season , but twice it simply never happened. Barcelona's wage bill was 20 times ours, our capacity was about 7,000. It was a tough ask. We got off to a good start, but headed down the table, falling into the relegation zone with about three games to go. Final game of the season we needed to win and for Real Sociedad to draw or win. This seemed unlikely to happen because Sociedad were in very good form and had an easy game. However, we won quite easily, and Real Sociedad got absolutely spanked, which thankfully took the tension out of the situation. At that point I took a job with Rangers, chiefly to try to develop some players for the Scottish national team I have been managing since achieving the challenge. However, I may now start the challenge a third time; this time in Turkey, because it's never been done. I was tempted to do this after completing with East Stirlingshire, but didn't because I wanted to continue my save. Even though continuing was allowed, it did give me a big advantage in the challenge I think. I had a good reputation, not only because of my East Stirlingshire career, but from having managed Mexico and Scotland. Also I knew that other posters, chiefly DodgeeD, were doing Turkey, and I thought they would achieve before I did. Hopefully, DodgeeD, you will do exactly that; hopefully in the next few days. However, just in case you don't, I'm going to start a fresh virgin 2012/13 Turkey save, and try to achieve the challenge before the new game comes out in presumably November. I probably won't be able to, because it will take too long, and perhaps there's something especially tricky about Turkey. (I'm certainly not looking forward to another D2B type finish top and then trip up in the playoffs league). Still, it may be interesting. I shortlisted 2 teams with quite big ground capacities. (If I'm going to do this in 2 months, I have to make it as easy as possible for myself). I was tempted by Afyonkarahisarspor, but I don't have time to keep typing their name in every update, so instead I'll be taking over Hacettepe. I do plan to do updates this time (at least for as long as I'm doing the challenge, which as pointed out may be only a couple of days until DodgeeD completes, which i will be delighted to have happen, honest). Honestly I wore out my creativity for funny posts last year on the Dafuge's Challenge with Hednesford. Screw it, I'll just recycle them and sustitute Hacettepe's name. Personal page 1 Personal Page 2 Club Overview Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 wardog - good luck for the rest of the season. Hope your form stays good for a crack at the play-offs at least. aldojags - Man City were also my bogey team in Europe for a few seasons, although that was in the Europa League. Hopefully, you'll get the chance to beat them in the future. vikeologist - I'd better get my end of season report up soon then so you know if you've got a chance of catching me or not Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 DodgeeD Oo, you tease! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Quick and small update, we continued our form through February dropping just 2 points in 2015 and conceding just one goal. Matthew Paterson still hasn't broke the club league goals record one short as goalscoring recently has mainly been from the midfield. However thanks to this form and Iron wall defence, we wrapped up the title by 28th of February. On the same day Dundee (SFL1 6th pos) sacked their manager i was the front runner for the job, I declared i wasn't interested but come the 5th of March they offered me again. I rejected quickly. Its a surprise to be automatically promoted especially in some destructive fashion, however I did feel my side was strong, and the title win of last season has meant we didn't bottle it. I'll deal with everything at the end of the season in an end of season report properly, but we can already look to first division football, and for the rest of the season I'm going to let some fringe and youth lads get some games. Edit: might aswell add youth intakes here A disappointing batch this year, only one worthy of getting signed and even then isn't as good as some of the lads I've got in recent years. Paul Miller Hes literally the only players with higher than a 1/2 star potential in the intakes this year. As he's a left back I decided to allow a 1 1/2 star player to come through. I think this years batch is disappointing simply because of our youth facilities are terrible. However i want to turn pro before i even consider asking the board to work on this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Kingjericho - welcome and good luck in Portugal. Troy Damage - unlucky mate but 3rd is still a good result. Good luck next season. Aldojags - seriously unlucky mate. Surely that CL win will come soon Wardog - going well mate. Keep it up Vikeologist - good luck in Turkey. Certainly seems to have been the toughest league this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Clyde - End of season 2014/15 Report Decided to do this slightly early this year so that summer transfers can be dealt with in my pre-season review. The League A fantastic season for us. I wanted the play-offs but to wrap the league up as early was just fantastic. I feel a little sorry for East Fife as in my opinion they where the hardest side the in the league to beat didn't deserve to lose in the play-offs, however my record v Queen of the South is good so I'm not going to complain. Results The results where very impressive. Our defensive record speaks for itself, and thats made even more impressive considering i played all 3 goalkeepers throughout the season. Callum Antel was of coarse lost to Killie but i can accept that, Amos got a few games after the league was all wrapped up. Alan Martin once again was impressive and the defence was just first class. The defeat to Brechin at the end of the season was slightly disappointing but I made lots of changes for that game. Other than that, our results speak for themselves. Unless we lose players during the summer I don't think I'll be spending too much. Transfers I'll start with the outs. 3 youth lads on loan to Bridge of Don Thistle was a good desision I got no match reports as their not in an active league which probably makes that a mistake but I'm happy with that desision, will probably try to get 4 loanee's out to them next season. Callum Antel showed some great promise when drafted in twice early in the season due to Alan Martin taking bad injuries. He did even play in most of out Challenge cup games including the final. However I made a 2k profit on a 2nd choice player in just 6 months, something that I'm happy to accept. The free lads to Cove Rangers where just to get them off the wage budget. Marcus McMillan i didn't really want to let go as he had good potential unfortunetly he wasn't going to get alot of game time so seemed worthless having him in my team, I have sell on clauses for all 3 lads. Lennox was released after the end of the season after failing to impress in training. Incoming players, well i wasn't planning on brining any in, but scouts highly recommended these lads, I actually missed out on my top target to SFL3 Stenhousemuir, but i can live with that. Other than Graeme Fergusson all have had game time and look good enough. Dougie Imrie was the gamble signing but i wanted to add an experianced player into my ranks. And he cartainly offers that, hes also first team material and can play a variety of positions. Clyde Squad The squad will have alot of out-goings in the summer, we will have an extremely low wage bill for the first division anyways we where 7th for the 2nd division, but I'm looking to turn professional asap, and as a result want to lower that further so i can put lads onto full time contracts. Each player done fantastic this season and they deserve to be promoted. Key players I wanted just put 3 up but i had about 9 players who all deserved a mention here. I trimmed that down to just 5. So here we are. Matthew Paterson One again Matthew has to be on this list. He popped up with 27 league goals, 7 more than 2nd place, 11 assists, and many more in the cups. He's even had a record breaking season. Firstly he is now Clyde's all time goalscorer he then broke even more Records by beating his own most goals in a season record and his own man of the match records. He also smashed the Division 2 goals record but i don't have a screenshot of that. Robbie Lagoudakis The Aussie held his discipline this season, and popped up with 10 goals and 11 assists. Him being on the park alone I feel allows Paterson more space, as defenders don't know who to mark. Both him and Matthew will need to keep these perfomances up as we have a number of strikers ready to come in over any poor performances. Samuel Watson Samuel was brought in to be a defensive minded midfielder, and he's done exactly that. However as our Penalty, corner and free-kick taker he's cropped up with some important goals, and you guessed it, 11 assists. Patrick McNally McNally has been outstanding at the back. More than that, he's found himself on the end of many of Watson's free-kicks and corners to grab some goals too. If he maintains these kind of performances its only a matter of time before a big team comes sniffing around. His one blackmark all season was scoring at one end, then scoring in the other end 5 minutes later in a game other than that he's been awesome for us. Ross Dickman Ross unlike his previous Key men hasn't popped many goals in, and he didn't make 11 assists, however he was a major performer all season for us, grinding out some great performances, getting forward and creating action when he could, and never making mistakes at the back. for a Rush signing last season it looks as though Ross is a big part of the future of Clyde. I feel sorry for a couple of lads who really deserved to be here this season but couldn't because of these performances. Finances Well this definitely looks much better than this time last year. The worrying thing is in the two previous months we made £20k losses each month. Without that the dept would almost be cleared. Again I had the squad bonus too high for winning the league and its cost us most of our winning the league bonus. However once again I'm happy with that decision as we won the league. If we can get 2 or 3 big teams to come to us in pre-season we could still be in the black for next season. The Manager Profile As we look at how Campbell has managed Clyde we can see he's very consistent in playing a 4-4-2 with and attacking mentality. He has no fear of losing games and this seems to show on his players. Loyalty to players seems to be getting worse with lots of new players coming in and loads being sold this season. Weather that remains a trend or not time will tell. He's still pretty media shy, but this season proved he's happy to talk to them on the occasions he feels nessesary. The Clyde dept has been reduced massively this season, and the board has given Don alot of credit of this. His success rate with his only club now exceeds alot of expectations and all of these developments I imagine will shape his future with either a new club or with his current one should he wish to stay with the Bully Wee. History Campbell has now been loyal to Clyde for over 1000 days and 100 games now. The Bully Wee have been transformed by the manager, and it shows on his history. 2 pomotions, 2 league wins and even a challenge cup victory in the 3 years he's been with the club. A far cry from the bottom of Scottish League football that the club was in when he took over. Edit: Pic for squad now working. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 well done on the double promotion mate. good luck next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Congrats on the promotion wardog. Just one step away from the big time now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Keçiorengücü 2028/29 Season Review Quick Overview Premier Division: 1st Championship Group: Winners!! (qualified for next season’s Champions League Group Stage) Turkish Cup: 4th Round Super Cup: Winners!! Champions League: Finalists Premier Division Just the one defeat this seasona s we topped the league with ease. Final Table Championship Group The Championship play-offs are a bit pointless now as it’s usually a matter of if we secure the title with 2 games to go or 3 (it was 2 this time) but there were some cracking matches this time as we came from three down to beat Galatasaray 5-3 in the first game and then came back from two down to beat Beşiktaş 4-2 a few days later! Final standings Super Cup A 1-0 win over Göztepe for our 7th consecutive Super Cup. Turkish Cup The one blot on the domestic front as we were on the wrong end of a shock, crashing out to 1st Divison Bözüyükspor 1-0 in the 4th Round. Champions League Oooh! So close to completing the challenge. We played so well in Europe this season, topping our group ahead of Arsenal, beating Atletico Madrid and Marseille home and away to reach the semis, going 2-0 up then 4-2 down before coming back for an epic 4-4 draw with Porto and then seeing them off 1-0 at home to reach the final for the first time! After such a swashbuckling run, the final was a bşt of a let down as we couldn’t get into the game at all. I’m not sure if we were off form or just contained by a very strong Real Madrid side (this win is their third Champions League in a row) but we hardly mustered a shot and were beaten by a soft goal as a shot rebound off the post, hit the keeper and then went in…. 1-0 was the final score – we’ll be back for more next year! The Squad: Transfers Not much action in the transfer market this season as I cleared out some some squad players and brought a few young prospects in. The Squad: Key Players Fırat Pak (DR)* – only 19 but brilliant already and a real testament to the quality of our youth system. Kadir Alagöz (DC)* – Another fine season, good enough to be named in the World Team of the Year for the second time. Kaan Uygun (AMRL/ST) – goals, assists, versatility. What more could you ask for?. Erman Ergin (ST)* – another solid season from Ergin, especially in the league. Emrah Özkan (ST)* - in and out of the side with injury but was a key player when fit.. Alexandre Tavares (ST) – Simply brilliant, especially in Europe. He qualifies for Turkish citizenship next season too making him even more valuable to us. *denotes player from the club’s youth system The Season Ahead… There will be a few changes next season as I need to thin out the squad. We’ve got too many players sitting in the reserves and a couple of first teamers (namely defender Domini and midfielder Dragut) moaning about wanting better contracts despite being amongst the top earners in the league. Even with Champions League revenue, we can’t sustain this level of spending on wages for too long. No worries as I have plenty of youngsters waiting in the wings. On the pitch, we’ll be aiming high in Europe again. That’s all I want! The Story So Far… [b][u]Season[/u][/b][b] | [u]Division[/u] | [u]Position[/u] | [u]Play-Offs[/u] | [u]Turkish Cup[/u] | [u]Europe[/u] | [u]Achievements[/u][/b] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012-13 | 2nd (Grp B) | 5th | QF | 1st Round | N/A | N/A 2013-14 | 2nd (Grp B) | 1st | N/A | 3rd Round | N/A | Promoted! 2014-15 | First | 1st | N/A | 3rd Round | N/A | Promoted! 2015-16 | Premier | 10th | N/A | 4th Round | N/A | Stayed up 2016-17 | Premier | 6th | Won in R3 | 4th Round | N/A | Qualified for Europa League 2017-18 | Premier | 2nd | 3rd | 4th Round | EL 4th QR | Qualified for Europa League 2018-19 | Premier | 2nd | 2nd | Semi-final | EL Group | Qualified for Champions League 2019-20 | Premier | 3rd | 2nd | 5th Round | EL 1st KO | Qualified for Champions League 2020-21 | Premier | 3rd | 2nd | 5th Round | EL 2nd KO | Qualified for Champions League 2021-22 | Premier | 2nd | Winners | 4th Round | CL Quarters | League Champions! 2022-23 | Premier | 2nd | Winners | Winners | EL Finalists | Domestic Double; Super Cup Winners 2023-24 | Premier | 1st | Winners | 5th Round | CL Semis | League Champions; Super Cup Winners 2024-25 | Premier | 1st | Winners | Finalists | CL Quarters | League Champions; Super Cup Winners 2025-26 | Premier | 1st | Winners | Quarters | EL Quarters | League Champions; Super Cup Winners 2026-27 | Premier | 1st | Winners | Winners | CL 1st KO | Domestic Double; Super Cup Winners 2027-28 | Premier | 1st | Winners | Winners | CL 1st KO | Domestic Double; Super Cup Winners 2028-29 | Premier | 1st | Winners | 4th Round | CL Finalists | Super Cup Winners Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 thanks Rlipscombe & DodgeeD Looks like your getting closer and closer DodgeeD Its comming mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Clyde Pre-season report Strangely for this pre-season I'm going to start with transfers. I shall start with the outgoings aswell. I let Liam Amos and Jack Steele's contracts expire. Liam got some games at the end of the season and didn't look to bad but I had already decided to allow him to leave and bring in a younger player for back-up keeper. Jack in honesty he was very versatile which almost made me re-sign him but he struggled in the second division and with the promotion I felt it was best just to let him go. McAvoy, Cook, O'Hara and Clarke where all sold on same deals as last season with percentages of next sales. Robbie Crawford was falling down the pecking order and with Tom Hickman in 3rd place midfielder spot I felt taking £1k for him and replacing him with a younger lad would be the best option. He also had just a year of his contract left. However after that happened SPL Dunfermline came in for Hickman they offered 16k spead over 24 months which i negotiated to £40k over 12 months. I only signed Hickman a few months ago and he didn't really break into the first team so £40k profit I'm delighted with, although I think it will be hard to get a better third choice midfielder. During that period I got an agent offer for Andras Varga. I couldn't scout him and brought him in on trial. He impressed on his trail and I've decided to make the deal permanent, the fact he was the Hungarian Under 21's captain had no baring on my desison. Robert Muir was my ideal replacement for Liam Amos. He made his debut in the League cup first round against Peterhead and played well. However hes still young and will need lots of work before he's close to a clean challenge for Alan Martin. Tom Skogsrud played well against us last season playing for Brechin and after a scout report recommending him as a free agent I decided to sign him. He will be very good competition for Robbie McIntyre in the left back role. Markus Sasse was a german free agent who was highly recommended by one of my scouts. I re-scouted him and with high potential rating I decided to bring him in as my 4th choice midfielder. Adam Hunter was brought in because he can play right back and right mid, positions I felt needed cover. He also made his debut against Peterhead and looked very good, making some deadly crosses. I've also made an approch for one other lad after an Agent offer who again is currently on trial but he's not accepted yet. I will likely bring in one or two more players in the next week or two but overall I'm getting satisfied with the squad. Looks like i'll have alot of selection headaches this season. I have also survived a number of bids for McNally after Dunfermline refused to go above £90k with my min valuation being £130k. I have changed some things in the backroom staff once again. I decided to let Ally Maxwell leave to reduce his crazy wage, however I'm already regretting that after struggling to find a decent replacement. The good news is I had my coaching allowance increased. So instead of adding 2 normal coaches I have decided to bring in an extra fitness coach and goalkeeping coach. 2 areas where I feel having multiple coaches to be a good thing. So far we added Scott Donald to help out Andy McKeown. I am also in talks with Annan's goalkeeping coach and if that goes through my share of the Hickman transfer will go to Annan. Although I'm happy to do that for a good coach. I did try and get unemployed Neil Alexander but his wage demands where treble what I or the club would be willing to pay. John Kerr approached the club after we put a notice up in the job center and his C.V was better than all other applicants. We have also brought in 2 new scouts, who will assist with bringing in new talent. I think I slightly over did Pre-season and we picked up alot of injuries, and alot of players where unfit for the Berwick game, although that allowed the fringe players a chance to show what they could do. Pre-season results where very positive and both cup games also shows promise. Both cup games seen a less than full strength side although we where against lower league opposition despite playing both last season. Berwick gave us a scare leading 1-0 at half time, but the lads played fantastic in the second half. Peterhead game seen Elliot make a huge claim for first team football with a wonderful hat-trick. Most of pre-season this year wasn't about getting results or fitness levels, but I decided to go for some big money earners, and clear the dept. It has worked and our finances now show in the black. Not only did big games like, Blackburn, Everton and Leeds help, but increase in season ticket sales also helped. We still have the £40k per month coming in until July next year aswell which I believe works out at around £3333 per month should help us stay in profit most months. I also expect some bigger crowds this season. We haven't had too much of a rise in wages although there is a rise so profit on a monthly basis should be more possible. Considering we also have a new small general sponsor just signed and the loan will be paid of at the end of this year. I'm feeling slightly confident going into this season, although I've set my targets at Avoid Relegation. I feel we have a strong squad, but I reduced the bonus level this year, I hope that doesn't effect the players too much. The League looks pretty strong. We have a derby this season v Partik who I'm sure will want revenge for cup games in previous seasons. Queens will want to push on after beating Falkirk to be here, and both us and them have had some similar targets, I've won the last 2 with one more in discussions with both clubs. Killie will want to bounce straight back to the SPL and we might be playing against former back-up keeper Callum Antel with them. Other than that I'm just hoping that not too many changes will help the club. We also do have a few more players we want to offload before the end of the window and maybe get some out on loan. I attempted to get a league based feeder club but the board let me pick and they couldn't agree terms with 3rd division Elgin. Theres also a few lads we hope to bring in and the scouts are keeping me informed on a regular basis. No expectations for this season, but we shall be attempting to push on as fast as we can. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenzar Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 Just a quick update; I'm doing well in the SPL, currently 3rd, but I feel a long way behind the Old Firm (I got whupped by Celtic once already). Won both group games against Sturm Graz in the Europa, but I feel the losses to the other teams, Villareal and Lille, possibly cost me several league points. Will need to consolidate in the top half of the SPL for a year or two before I can have the money to pay Old Firm class players. Also, losing a lot of money because I only have 1,200 seats, easily the lowest in the SPL by a long way! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 Just a quick update; I'm doing well in the SPL, currently 3rd, but I feel a long way behind the Old Firm (I got whupped by Celtic once already). Won both group games against Sturm Graz in the Europa, but I feel the losses to the other teams, Villareal and Lille, possibly cost me several league points.Will need to consolidate in the top half of the SPL for a year or two before I can have the money to pay Old Firm class players. Also, losing a lot of money because I only have 1,200 seats, easily the lowest in the SPL by a long way! Wow sounds like you need a stadium upgrade and fast, does 1,200 even meet SPL regulations, i always thought it was 6000. Good luck with the chase of the old firm. In my FM experience they tend to fall away after about 2015/16-17 area and because of the managers they get stubborn and won't sack. Though group aswell in the Europa league by the sounds of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 unlucky DodgeeD - so close. sure you'll get that CL title soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 Clyde Mid-season report 2015/16 This season has started out tough for Clyde, although the League table would tell you different. We where extremely slow starters, although I will take the blame for that by putting lots of pressure on the club using a heavy pre-season schedule. Paterson took a major injury during that time as did a couple of others and as a result August was basically a "normal" pre-season for us. I am proud of the lads as they have turned results around. We have one of the best defences in the league and our record in that department shows. The injury to Paterson hindered us and he took till late October just to score. Not only that but Lagoudakis has also been under-performing, so much so he got dropped in November for Christie Elliot. We are Looking good to avoid relegation as I rekon 40 points would be enough to be safe from the drop going by previous seasons. Goals are starting to come, unfortunately I feel we are still dependant on the midfield for that. One thing that I've never managed through before is a club takeover, despite it dragging on and on, I feel we are coping with that well. The only interest so far appears to be from a fans trust and the have since made a bid for the club. However this has dragged on and before January the board demanded a solution, although being honest I would like to see the club owned by fans. We haven't been too busy in the transfer side of things. 2 New players. Jan Matejka was brought in after an agent offer and the Czech Under-21's keeper has really gave me a headache in the goalkeeping department, he's the first keeper we've had that will really push Alan Martin for a first team slot, and in honesty I'm not sure who is better. Romanov was also through his agent and has done well since his arrival. He's played for the under-19s aswell as I wanted to get him match fit, but recently he's broke into the first team over Samuel Watson and Markus Sasse and doesn't look like he's going to give that up. We have also had our first international call-ups which meant we went a cup game without our central back pairing. Gabor went on to get 2 caps in these fixtures, although I'm pleased for him, that was a nightmare for the club. I didn't notice his wage would quadruple after 1 international appearance and just to add salt to the financial increase, Matthew Paterson had a highest earner clause, meaning his wage doubled aswell. Blasted agents. This has removed the Scottish feel around the first team however most of the imported lads I've signed had dual nationality of a British nation or are extremely young with a good sale on value or possibly a good potential for the future. In some cases all of the above. The club is getting into a stronger and stronger financial position. On the opening day of the transfer window I got asked to assess my season plans, I stayed with the same plans as I always do, but I have been given a transfer budget for the first time. Just £32k but that shows the progress we're making as a club. During the rest of the season I once again shall attempt to get rid of the deadwood, and loan out some of our younger lads. A few of them are in dire need of First Team Football. Its strange that we still have that loan dept, if you look at the payoff date and then the actual game date. :S. That maybe due to the current board takeover. The future is looking good still, if we can add goals in the rest of this season, we might even challenge for promotion, although strangely I'd like one more season in SFL1 to get our finances fully sorted out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ri916 Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/313129-The-5th-(and-6th!)-Annual-CSE-awards-Nominations Please get nominating lads! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 Ac. Viseu - season 2012/13 Transfers - Squad - League Table This season sure was a rollercoaster. The team was very inconsistent throughout the entire season, and we struggled to win away matches, including losing a 0-3 lead in less than 30 minutes... The squad is huge (there are ten more players in the reserves) but we had a comfortable wage budget so I was able to bring in younger, better players. This was also necessary because the majority of the players are above 35 and I needed to bring youth in order to capitalize on our development this season onto the next. The finances held secure. At this level the income during the season is almost none so be a mere €50k in the red pleases me, as I can cover this with summer friendlies. I didn't expect to reach the promotion playoff but when he took the lead after 29 matches I was hoping we could win the very last match. Unfortunately we didn't, so there's a bit of disapointment right now. On the bright side, I don't think we would make it in the playoffs so I'm hoping next season we'll be a much more solid team. Goals for next season: promotion. Secondary goals: keep the finances stable; look for quality youngsters on free transfers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 ouch unluck kingjericho, best of luck in the play-offs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 My Clyde side has finally been taken over. The fans trust finally stumped up the cash requested. The new chairman Adam O'Hara spoke with me quickly after that and has informed me that there areno plans for investment. I'm not to worried about that and I have kept my job status. The club can now push on forward, and look into the future and almost taste SPL football. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marty78 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Kingjericho - Good luck in Portugal. EDIT- Unlucky mate and better luck next season. Troy Damage - Unlucky in the playoff 2nd leg mate, I am sure you will go up next year. Aldojags- Hard luck mate. Losing against ten men is always frustrating, especially so having led. Vikeologist- Good luck with Hacettepe. Turkey should be a very tough challenge to win the CL. Wardog- Congratulations on another promotion. If you have funds for a few more signings you might find you are challenging for promotion again next year. EDIT- I actually wrote the first part before seeing your mid-season update and it seems I was right you could challenge again. The only league I can remember going the whole season unbeaten is the Scottish First Division as I could sign Premier standard players. I think you will be a Premier side soon. DodgeeD- Great season mate and well done on a Champions League final despite losing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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