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If You Count Your Chickens Before They've Hatched, They Won't Lay An Egg

AK22

By AK22,
in FM Career Updates

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AK22

AK22

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Cheers for the comments :thup:

I've changed formation now, going to a 4-5-1 system, and the results in the subsequent friendlies have improved somewhat, including a 1-0 win over Netherlands. I know it's only a friendly, but fills me with hope that our forthcoming World Cup qualifying campaign should go without a hitch.

We've been drawn with Haiti, El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 3rd Phase Group :cool:

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Estudiantes: A Trophy's A Trophy

Having kept the squad stable over the summer, I felt confident that we could put on another good show this coming season. We may not have the firepower of Boca, or the financial backing of Independiente, but the players know our style well, and should be capable of stringing enough results together to be able to contend for honours. Unfortunately, several of the squad are now getting itchy feet, and starting to consider their future at the club. I've eased their fears for now, but I can't imagine it will be long before the urge to play at a higher level returns, and I may need to cash in my assets.

Argentina Primera División - 2027 Apertura (Opening Stage)

PrimeraDivisindeArgentinaOverview_Stages-1.png

Position Graph | Fixtures | Equipo del año | South American Team of the Year

If I'm being honest, we really should have defended our Apertura trophy; it's unusual for Independiente to drop 15 points, so we really should have taken full advantage. Also, factor in that Boca and Vélez had shockers by their standards, and it's unlikely that we'll get such a great opportunity to add to our league trophies again.

We certainly didn't play our best football at this period, and occasionally, came seriously unstuck against midtable opposition. It was the points dropped against Atlético de Rafaela and Lanús that cost us the most, as if we had scored one more goal in each of those games, we would have earned another four points to put us clear at the top of the table.

Unfortunately, we did suffer an injury crisis too, and at one particular point of the campaign, the key trilogy of Pérez, Suárez and Parra were all side-lined at the same time. By far, these three are our best players, and as good as the back-ups are, they really are not in the same class, meaning we lacked the guile and creativity to pick teams off, and put ourselves in winning positions.

Estudiantes 4-0 Gimnasia - Another fantastic derby win. What made it even sweeter was the fact that Gimnasia's manager got sacked the next day too!!

Atl. Rafael 3-2 Estudiantes - An injury time goal cost us a point here. We played poorly, but still should have had enough to get a result against this midtable side.

Estudiantes 3-2 Huracán - We fluked three points, scoring twice in the last five minutes to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeats!

Estudiantes 2-1 Rosario Central - Winning our final fixture confirmed our second place finish, but alas, was not enough to overtake Independiente, who also won their last Apertura game.

Copa Sudamericana - 2027

CopaBridgestoneSudamericanaOverview_Stages-1.png

Fixtures

It may not be South America's 'premier' competition, as the top sides from Brazil are not entered, but I'm still delighted to be able to add the Copa Sudamericana to our trophy cabinet.

Most of the ties were pretty rudimentary, where we were comfortable victors over the two legs, but it was the semi-final against River Plate that exhibited the most drama. We played poorly in the first leg, and found ourselves with a two goal deficit to overturn on the return leg. Thankfully, the team pulled it out of the bag, putting in their best performance of the season, securing our passage into the final!

Estudiantes 3-0 River - The comeback of comebacks! We needed to win by three clear goals, and that we did. It was never in doubt; River were terrible!

Botafogo 1-3 Estudiantes - The first leg of the final, in Brazil, and we put ourselves in a commanding position by scoring three times in the first half.

Estudiantes 2-1 Botafogo - A draw would have been enough to lift the trophy, but we did it in style, scoring two late second half goals to win the match, and the tie overall.

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abulezz

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Its a competition victory - Sudamericana is still prestigious in its own right!

In the South American Team of the Year, there is this Oscar Donda who seems to be on fire. Can we see a screenshot of his attributes and career stats, if its not too much of a hassle?

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AK22

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Congrats on winning the Copa Sudamericana but unlucky on just missing out on the Apertura.
The sudamericana is a nice consolation prize.

Thanks chaps. It always nice to win a trophy, even though it might not have been the big one that I wanted.

That 1-0 in the Semi Final was definitely an outcast. Look at the 7-6 in the first round :eek: extra time or not.

What can I say? We love our goals in South America :D

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AK22

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Its a competition victory - Sudamericana is still prestigious in its own right!

In the South American Team of the Year, there is this Oscar Donda who seems to be on fire. Can we see a screenshot of his attributes and career stats, if its not too much of a hassle?

Donda is a terrific player, a true goalscorer. I'd love to sign him, but he's far too expensive, and will probably be a one-club only man too.

Here's his profile and career stats :)

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Unfortunately, Everton have just won the League Two title, so will be back in League One next season, playing against the likes of Bath and Barrow!! :D

Wigan have faired slightly better on my save, having stayed in the Premier League until 2021/22, when they were relegated. They're still in the Championship six years on.

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Estudiantes: Fighting On All Fronts

As much as I love Argentine football, I've come to think that I've done as much as I possibly can with this club; we just don't seem to have the financial clout to break into the elite group of South American clubs. Factor in that we actually made a net profit in transfers this season, whilst still dipping into the red, and it's pretty clear that things are not likely to improve overnight without serious investment from the board and/or the stadium being enlarged. This isn't likely to happen anytime soon, so unless I end up cashing in some of my prize assets, I can imagine things becoming somewhat stale reasonably soon.

Finances | Transfer Summary

Argentina Primera División - 2028 Clausura (Closing Stage)

PrimeraDivisindeArgentinaOverview_Stages-2-1.png

Position Graph | Fixtures | Season Summary

Talk about stumbling over the line! After 14 games played, we had a six point advantage over Boca, as well as two games in hand, so should have easily had the Clausura trophy sewn up well before the final league game. But, alas, we tried our hardest to throw it away, winning only one of our final five matches, and had to rely on a scrappy draw against Rosario Central to lift my second Primera División title. I'm delighted that we did it (eventually!), but have some serious concerns about the apparent lack of bottle that the first team has.

Estudiantes 6-0 All Boys - The finest league performance of this campaign, with Pérez bagging four goals

Estudiantes 5-2 River - A typical Argentine league match, plenty of goals.

Vélez 0-1 Estudiantes - A credible victory against tough opposition. We only just nicked it, though.

Estudiantes 0-2 Boca - This game saw the momentum swing towards Boca after we lost this crucial six-pointer. It was a pretty abject performance from us too.

Estudiantes 0-3 Godoy Cruz - Total shambles. We couldn't even beat a mid-table side who were reduced to ten men after two minutes. Their striker had a field-day against my sloppy back four.

Rosario Central 0-0 Estudiantes - We just about clung on to the point needed to lift the trophy in a nail-biting finale. It wasn't a pretty, or particularly eventful match, but we did the job.

Copa Libertadores

Group Stages (A-D) | Group Stages (E-H) | Fixtures

CopaSantanderLibertadoresOverview_Stages-3-1.png

Once again, we came unstuck against the mighty Corinthians, this time in the semi-final. The gulf in class between the best team in Brazil and the rest of South America is pretty alarming, especially considering the battering they handed out to Independiente in the final too! Reaching the semi-final was still more than I expected, but to be fair, we were very rarely tested until we came unstuck against the defending champions in the final four.

Corinthians 2-0 Estudiantes - Their quality was just too much for us, and we were lucky to escape from Brazil with only a two goal deficit.

Estudiantes 1-1 Corinthians - We bossed the second leg with a much more spirited performance. Unfortunately for us, we conceded an early away goal, which effectively killed the tie dead.

Copa Argentina

Fixtures | Overview

How on earth did we end up losing this?! We had a fairly routine path to the final, where only mid-table side, Argentinos, stood between us and another cup victory. The fact that we comfortably lost the final is nothing less than an embarrassment, and is one of the lowest points from my time at the club.

Estudiantes 1-3 Argentinos - Another total shocker. We were odds-on favourites to win the final, but found ourselves 3-0 down at the interval, after an abysmal display. Having used the head-dryer at half-time, we played slightly better in the second half, even though we lost our tempers a bit, and had a player sent off.

Squad Overview

Key Players: Gerardo Pérez (35 goals, 21 assists), Oscar Parra (17 goals, 16 assists), Gerardo Suárez (21 assists), Oscar González (19 goals, 10 assists), Gabriel Pastoriza (11 goals)

Fans Player of the Year: Gerardo Pérez

Team of the Year | Overall Best XI

The first team squad is still as good as it was, but really could do with three or four new faces to add to the depth of it. Getting to the latter stages of all four competitions really put a strain on my 23-man squad, meaning that some players were going into games a bit jaded, and not in optimum condition. Unfortunately, there was very little I could do about this, as we were regularly playing three times a week, so was unable to give the prolonged rest that many of the team needed.

Career Summary

Season     Team              League                     Finish    Cups
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12    Unemployed
2012/13    Kingstonian       Blue Square Bet South      3rd       FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round, FA Trophy 2nd Round
2013/14    Kingstonian       Blue Square Bet Premier    3rd       FA Cup 1st Round, FA Trophy 1st Round
2014/15    Kingstonian       npower League Two          16th      FA Cup 1st Round, Carling Cup 1st Round, JPT 1st Round
2015/16    Kingstonian       npower League Two          17th**    **Resigned 19/12/2015
          Hull City         npower League One          6th       FA Cup 4th Round
2016/17    Hull City         npower League One          1st       FA Cup 1st Round, Carling Cup 1st Round, JPT Winner
2017/18    Hull City         npower Championship        2nd       FA Cup 5th Round, Carling Cup 2nd Round
2018/19    Fulham            Barclays Premier League    5th       FA Cup Semi-Final, Carling Cup Semi-Final
2019/20    Fulham            Barclays Premier League    7th       Europa League 2nd KO Rd, FA Cup 6th Rd, Carling Cup 3rd Rd
2020/21    Fulham            Barclays Premier League    8th**     **Resigned 13/11/2020
          Liverpool         Barclays Premier League    6th       Europa League 1st KO Rd, FA Cup 5th Rd
2021/22    Liverpool         Barclays Premier League    3rd       Europa League Winners, FA Cup 4th Rd, Carling Cup QF
2022/23    Liverpool         Barclays Premier League    1st       Champions League Runner-Up, FA Cup 3rd Rd, Carling Cup QF
2023/24    Liverpool         Barclays Premier League    1st       Champions League SF, FA Cup SF, Carling Cup QF
2024/25    Liverpool         Barclays Premier League    2nd       Champions League Runner-Up, FA Cup SF, Carling Cup Winners
2025/26    Estudiantes       Primera División Apertura  4th       N/A
                            Primera División Clausura  3rd       Copa Argentina QF
2026/27    Estudiantes       Primera División Apertura  1st       Copa Sudamericana SF
                            Primera División Clausura  3rd       Copa Libertadores RU, Copa Argentina 7th Rd
2027/28    Estudiantes       Primera División Apertura  2nd       Copa Sudamericana Winner
                            Primera División Clausura  1st       Copa Libertadores SF, Copa Argentina RU

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AK22

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:cool:It'd never happen :(

Only on FM! Actually, they were in the Championship the season before, but got relegated on the final day of the season. They're still playing at Twerton Park too :D

Congrats on the Copa Sudamericana. Might not be the big trophy but it's still a piece of silverware.Surprised Donda hasn't been snapped up by one of the European giants. He looks a great striker and still quite young. The Everton decline is awful. Hopefully we will be back soon though.

Cheers SBB! I'm surprised about Donda too, but there's plenty of Argentine internationals plying their trade in South American domestic football. He's certainly the highest profile of them though, and is a complete nightmare to play against.

In one of my games Wigan were owned by a tycoon spent over 50 Million and finished with 2 points!

Oh dear :D Sounds a bit like QPR in real life!!

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AK22

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And so, after three seasons in charge, I've decided to let my contract run down with Estudiantes.

AndyKingNews_Inbox-6-1.png

I've had an enormous amount of fun in Argentina, particularly enjoying the attacking end-to-end style of football played, but have come to the decision that the club could never match my own personal ambitions. If we were to become the best club side in South America, we'd need serious investment in the facilities, the stadium and the playing squad; something that would only happen if I sold off a couple of my key players to big European sides. This would certainly demoralise me somewhat, and would leave a very bitter taste in my mouth. At least by jumping ship now, I'll always have fond memories of my time with Los Pincharratas, leaving my successor with some very tough decisions to make about the long term future of the club.

AndyKingHistory_Overview-1.png

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AK22

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Thanks guys, it's been fun in Argentina! :)

The ink's just about dry on the contract with my new club, and all being well, I should get a post up later today about them. To give you a small teaser, they start with 'L'...

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Bayer 04 Leverkusen: They'll Never Say Never Again!

Having been offered the job at one of Germany's top sides, it was always likely that I was going to bite their hand off! I've always enjoyed the German leagues, especially considering the reasonably short domestic season, and the very liberally squad registration regulations.

Leverkusen were formed back in 1904, after an employee wrote a letter seeking their company's support in starting a sports club. Their employers agreed, forming a club for footballers, athletes, gymnasts and the like. By 1907 a separate football department was formed within the club, as there was serious animosity between the gymnasts and other athletes competing under the Tum-und Spielverein Bayer 04 Leverkusen brand name. Eventually the club split completely, and in 1928 a separate football association was formed, with the club making their foray into the fourth and third tiers of German football. They eventually reached the top division for the first time in 1951.

Asides from winning the UEFA cup against Espanyol in 1988, and the DFB-Pokal in 1993, the club have consistently failed to win major silverware, despite coming extremely close on several occasions. Between the years of 1997 and 2002, the club finished second in the Bundesliga on four separate occasions, including two horrific collapses when the title was easily within their grasp. Factor in the 2002 defeats in both the DFB-Pokal and Champions League finals, and it's easy to understand why the club was dubbed 'Neverkusen' by the press.

Bundesliga - Contested between 18 teams, playing each other twice on a round robin format. The team finishing top after all 34 games played is declared champions of Germany. Simples! Having slipped down to 5th in UEFA coefficients, only the top three qualify for the Champions League, where 4th-6th qualify for the Europa League (depending on DFB-Pokal winners).

1BundesligaHistory_PastWinners-1.png

Club Finances | Club Reputations

In the 'FM' world, Leverkusen have actually lifted three recent Bundesliga title, and have failed to finish outside the top three for the past fourteen seasons. The board expect another title challenge this season, which is realistic goal for us. I'd imagine that Dortmund and Bayern will be the major challengers, but it looks as it Schalke, Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen all have the potential to cause us a few problems too.

LeverkusenHistory_Competitions-1.png

DFB-Pokal - A straight-forward knockout cup competition, where you need to win six games to lift the trophy. The board doesn't give a monkey's toss about this, but we'll still give it a go.

UEFA Champions League - You know how this works, right?! Europe's leading competition; the board expects us to reach the 1st Knockout Round.

Leverkusen: The State of Play

Facilities | Finances | Previous Managers

Contract Length: 5 years | Wage: £33.5k per week

Transfer Budget: £7m | Wage Budget: £1.2m (currently spending £1.1m)

Having moved into the state-of-the-art Leverkusen Stadium back in 2021, the club is set up very nicely indeed. Really, there's no reason why we can't go on to big things; I just need to ensure Champions League qualification every season, which will bankroll the playing staff, allowing us to seriously compete for honours. Initially, I'll be looking to establish ourselves at the top of German football, but I can't see any reason why we won't be able to contend for the biggest prize in European football within a couple of seasons.

Squad Overview

Key Players: Chorão, Lamara Mazari, Anis Laabidi, Khaled Ibrahim, Hugo, Tomas Mamurov

Promising Youngsters: Tahsin Demirtas, Salia Nantoumé, Medeni Kaynak

Taking over just three days before the start of the league campaign isn't particularly ideal, but the squad I've inherited is more than capable of putting in an instant title challenge. We've got a strong 'keeper in Mazari, a couple of excellent centre-backs (Laabidi and Ibrahim), as well as a natural goalscorer in Hugo. Also, Chorão is quite possibly the best defensive midfielder I've ever seen in my life!

My only real concern is the lack of quality German nationals currently in the ranks. It appears that homegrown talent has been seriously overlooked recently, with only two German's anywhere near contention for the starting eleven. I've got a few promising youngsters coming through in the under-20s team, but these are unlikely to make the first team squad for a good couple of seasons, so it will be a case of paying a premium price for any national players I can sign in the near future.

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cerud

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Conrats in South America, AK22! Just getting back into FM and you've given me a lot to read! :) Congrats on moving ot Germany and look forward to seeing how you take on Leverkusen.

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AK22

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Ah, they were one of the teams I felt it would be.
Good luck in Germany! Chorão looks excellent.
Good luck with Leverkusen

Cheers! Looking forward to winning some trophies with them (hopefully!!)

Good luck (kinda) with Leverkusen. But you're starting to manage clubs I don't really like. Liverpool and now Leverkusen. :p

Haha, I'm doing well so far then :D Hopefully there won't be too many more teams on your blacklist that I choose to manage!!

Conrats in South America, AK22! Just getting back into FM and you've given me a lot to read! :) Congrats on moving ot Germany and look forward to seeing how you take on Leverkusen.

Thanks cerud, good to see you back on the forums too :)

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AK22

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Bayer Leverkusen starts with a B. You cheated us.
That's what I was thinking.

Picky :D

Of course, you are technically right! Although, I would argue that the club is referred to as Leverkusen in game, and commonly known by this moniker in the footballing world too :p

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To me it's like saying your next club begin with "U" when you're joining Manchester United, because some people refer to them as "United". But then I'm picky about what I call clubs - I'm the type of weirdo who insists on Crvena Zvezda, not "Red Star", for example :p

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AK22

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To me it's like saying your next club begin with "U" when you're joining Manchester United, because some people refer to them as "United". But then I'm picky about what I call clubs - I'm the type of weirdo who insists on Crvena Zvezda, not "Red Star", for example :p

Although I don't fully agree that all that many people refer to Manchester United as just United, I do see where you're coming from. However, there are plenty of clubs that are mainly referred to, and commonly known by their second/third name, for example (Cittá di) Palermo, (VfB) Stuttgart, (Racing Club de) Lens, and (Olympique) Marseille are ones that immediately spring to mind.

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Leverkusen: Off And Running

Having joined the club so close to the opening league fixture, I had very little time to mark my stamp on the team with any forays into the transfer market. In fact, asides from signing a couple of talented youngsters, I decided against making any big name transfers, relying completely on the squad I had inherited from my predecessor. I decided to line up in a 4-4-2 diamond, mirroring the tactics I had used previously in my time at Estudiantes. My initial assessment of the squad suggested it's greatest strength is it's attacking prowess, so I'm hoping that this formation will get the best goal returns from the team.

Bundesliga 2028/29 Winter Break

1BundesligaOverview_Stages-1.png

Fixtures

We've made an impressive start in the league, opening up a seven point cushion at the top of the table at the halfway point. We're also playing great football too, scoring for fun at times in a very competitive league. Obviously, we're currently looking comfortable favourites, but any team down to Schalke in seventh place have the potential to cause us problems in the second half of the season, so we certainly need to watch our backs.

Leverkusen 4-2 FC Bayern - Our first big test came in our second league fixture, and we really stepped up to the plate, securing a great win with two late goals.

Dortmund 1-0 Leverkusen - Another early six-pointer; unfortunately, we lost our cool against the defending champions, ending the match with ten men.

Union Berlin 4-5 Leverkusen - Goals galore. If you included the own goals, Berlin scored six in total!

Leverkusen 4-0 Stuttgart - Marcelo Pérez scored a fantastic hat-trick in a match we dominated.

Leverkusen 3-0 Köln - My first local derby, and we comfortably beat our rivals.

Werder Bremen 1-2 Leverkusen - We took another three points off another title challenger, which really consolidated our position at the top of the table.

UEFA Champions League 2028/29 Group Stages (Group F)

UEFAChampionsLeagueOverview_Stages-1.png

Fixtures

Marseille were always going to be tough opposition, but I was always fairly confident we would qualify from our group with ease. Ideally, we would have topped the standings, which we were very close to doing, but will now have to face one of the group winners in the spring knockout rounds. That side will be Atlético Madrid, and we'll have to put in two very good performances if we're going to make any further progress in this season's competition.

Marseille 4-2 Leverkusen - A tough opening fixture against the top seeds. A better performance here, and we would have won the group.

Leverkusen 7-2 Standard - Hugo had a field day against Standard's meek defence, bagging himself four goals.

Standard 1-3 Leverkusen - Another easy victory against the Belgians.

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