[FM12] Red, white, and whatever other colour your flag has - A Canadian's Global Travels

[cerud]

Gold standard so far.

Very good so far,hope you can carry on that form.

Thanks, deltablue and BWG.

It's been a great run so far. However, I just got this...

It would seem that my goalkeeper troubles are not over...

[cerud]

2012-2013 Youth Candidate Intake

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

Youth Candidates

Not the greatest intake this year. My assistant manager likes Graham Vrbesic and he might grow into a decent player. We'll see...

Graham Vrbesic - M L - Not really much to look at. Good pace for a winger, but he'll need to improve to have a chance.

Shane Johnson - ST - I like Johnson the best out of the candidates. Decent physical stats for the A-League. As long as he is able to improve, he'll have a shot in a few years.

[cerud]

2012-2013 Season in Review

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

2nd Place - Qualified for Playoffs

Standings | Past Positions | Fixtures - The second half of the season was another good showing; however, we were not able ot win when it was needed in order to take over top spot. Still, 2nd place is the highest finish for Gold Coast in their history. I can't be too mad about that. We also qualified for the Major Final in the playoffs. However, we had been having problems missing Macedo, our foreign Marquee player and our top goalkeepr, Hartman, for the past few months due to injury.

A-League Finals Major Semi Final Leg 1

Gold Coast United FC 0 - 2 Brisbane Roar FC

Our finishing killed us in this match in that we didn't. Only 2 of our 10 shots actually made it to the opposing goalheeper.

A-League Finals Major Semi Final Leg 2

Brisbane Roar FC 2 - 0 Gold Coast United FC

(Brisbane Roar FC wins 4 - 0 on agg)

This was our first match with Macedo back after a 3 month injury. It didn't help; Brisbane outplayed us everywhere.

A-League Final Preliminary Final

Adelaide United FC 4 - 0 Gold Coast United FC

Disappointed. Disgusted. Jaded. Take your pick. We gave up. In fact, we never even showed up for these entire playoffs. Not a goal scored in three matches. I ended up fining my captain over his performance (a rating of 4.4). I'm thoroughly disguised with my squad after this as the playoff should have been winnable. This was also our first mathc with Hartman back after bein gout 5 months. I had hoped him back in the lineup would be a positive change. Nope.

Players of Note...

Ante Rozic - D C - Rozic was our best player once again. He is our defense and offensive force.

Jason Spagnuolo - M L, AM RL - A consistant player in every match.

Marcelo Macedo - AM L, ST - Macedo has a good offensive punch this year. He could have been much more if injury didn't cut him out of the final 3 months of the season. Definitely hurt us in the home stretch.

Finances - Finances took a hit this year as there was no extra investment from the Board. Our small gate doesn't help.

Facilities - No changes to our facilities. Pitch still in perfect condition even though I haven't even replaced it in two years. Must be magical grass.

Awards

• Golden Boot - Ante Rozic - 1st Place, Marcelo Macedo - 3rd Place
  
• Foreign Player of the Year - Marcelo Macedo - 1st Place
  
• A-League All-Star XI - Ante Rozic (D C), J. Brown (M C)
  
• PFA A-League Team of the Year - Ante Rozic (D C), J. Brown (M C), M. Marrone (ALT), Jason Spagnuolo (ALT)
  
• Fans' Player of the Year - Ante Rozic
  

Goals Revisited

• Finish in the top three - Achieved! A 2nd place finish was great for us.
  
• Make the Grand Final of the Playoffs - Failed... Our playoffs was laughable.
  
• Hire new youth coach - Achieved. Simple enough.
  
• Find new Marquee striker for a multi-year deal - Achieved! We still have Macedo for another year.
  
• Strengthen goalkeeping - In all honesty, I have to say Failed... We brought in good goalkeepers, but our early season fiasco and injury to Hartman for 5 months left us hanging in the playoffs.
  

Next Year...

I've signed a one year extension to my contract for $250 000. I want to at least win the league or the playoffs with Gold Coast before I look to move on. However, the quality in Australian players and the fact that I cannot go after other A-League players to sign makes this a difficult task. One more year for sure, then we'll see.

[B.W.G]

Was a good regular season but ashame to see your playoffs end in a disaster like that!

[AK22]

Ouch... and it was all going so well!! Lets see what happen next season, you're not that far off winning something

[cerud]

Was a good regular season but ashame to see your playoffs end in a disaster like that!

Ouch... and it was all going so well!! Lets see what happen next season, you're not that far off winning something

Thanks, BWG and AK22. I'm hoping for a better season this time around. I'm in the middle of the off season and looking at players. It been made difficult by one team offering every Australian player marquee contracts, even when they don't deserve it. Unfortunately, this team aready has a marquee players, so when the offer is accepted, it ends up falling through. This process has repeated for players numerous times, essentially meaning that the entire Australian player pool is being held hsotage and no other team can sign them.....

Needless to say, I've created a bug report on this.

[cerud]

2013-2014 Pre-season

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

Hyundai A-League: Achieve a respectable position in the League

Media Prediction: 2nd of 10

A-League Title Odds: 5-2

Wage Budget: $3 852 326, an increase of $832 (currently spending $2 656 410)

Transfer Budget: $7.01M

Kit Sponsorship: $434 574 (a new, better deal, expires 2018)

General Sponsorship: $48 746 (new deal, expires 2016)

General Sponsorship: $48 746 (new deal, expires 2015)

A-League TV Rights Deal: $1.11M

The salary cap has been raised to $2.78M, so our budget once again covers it well.

Here are the goals for this year.

Goals for the Season

• Finish in the top two in the league.
  
• Make the Grand Finals of the Playoffs.
  
• Find a new Australian marquee player and sign him to a multi-year deal.
  
• Strengthen goalkeeping...again...
  

[CityAndColour]

Your centre-half won the Golden Boot?!

[cerud]

CONCACAF Gold Cup 2013

Group A: Mexico, Canada, Honduras, Aruba

Group B: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Trinidad & Tobago, Nicaragua

Group C: Panama, United States, Jamaica, Barbados

Wow, did Canada get helped out by Trinidad & Tobago beating the United States and Honduras beating Mexico! Still, we'll take it! Hopefully this means the Canadian squad will start building a good talent pool for when I'm finally ready for the job

[SRL88]

Make so much easier for Canada but thats a fantastic tourament win for them.

[deltablue]

Glory days to Canadia!

[rancer890]

Send this save over to Junior Hoilett's agent. 'See if you come, we'll win the Gold Cup!'

[B.W.G]

Any wins a win,well done Canada

[cerud]

Make so much easier for Canada but thats a fantastic tourament win for them.

Glory days to Canadia!

Send this save over to Junior Hoilett's agent. 'See if you come, we'll win the Gold Cup!'

Any wins a win,well done Canada

Thanks, SRL88, deltablue, rancer, and BWG It's always great to see you nation do well, no matter who they play. Winning the Gold Cup is an added bonus. Hopefully it helps bring in new talent for the Canadian youth squads to develop as well.

[cerud]

2013-2014 Off-Season Transfers

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

Transfers - Not as much movement this year. I was able to bring in some good experienced players, and possibly a star player for the future

Players of Note...

Nathan Coe - GK - Coe just became a free agent recently and I grabbed him as fast as I could. He's rated at 4.5 stars for the A-League, so hopefully, my goalkeeper troubles are over! I had recently played the past few years in the Superligean in Denmark, so he's definitely quality.

Borges - GK - Borges is my young signing that I believe will be the future of the club. Already a great ranked goalkeeper for this level, I'm hoping that he can work with Coe and become a franchise player for the club.

Matt McKay - M LC - My new Australian Marquee signing. I was able to poach another club's Australian Marquee centreback at normal wages to replace my old player, which opened me up for improving somewhere else. McKay has spent the last two years in Scotland playing for the Rangers, so I'm hoping his Australian homecoming lives up to the hype.

Francismar - M RL, AM RLC - I had an international spot open, so I decided to look for an all out winger. Francismar was a costly signing ($400 000), but I believe will be worth it.

Promotions...

Daniel Bowles - D C - Bowles is not what I would call A-League calibre, but I need to coverage. Rozic, my star player just broker his foot in a friendly with the Australian senior squad and is out for 5 months. I need a backup to cover a few matches from my other starters.

Previous Promotion Watch...

Jake Barker-Daish - M C - (promoted in 2012) - Barker-Daish has improved greatly over the past year and continues to keep getting better. I'm expecting great things from him.

[cerud]

2013-2014 Pre-season Matches

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

A great pre-season. I had three matches with A-League teams, two good, one lacklustre.

Australia - University of QLD Football Club - won 5-0

Australia - Victorian Training Centre Football - won 5-0

Australia - Newcastle United Jets - won 4-1

Australia - Central Coast Mariners - tied 1-1

Australia - Sydney Olympic FC - won 8-0

Australia - Brisbane Strikers - won 6-0

Australia - Brisbane Roar FC - won 4-2

Australia - Manley United FC - won 3-2

Australia - Beenleigh - won 4-0

Now, this season we win something!

[cerud]

1 December 2013

From the News Ticker...

Hmmm....

[deltablue]

How bad is it?

[B.W.G]

Some good signings there and a very encouraging pre-season although losing your entire transfer budget is a bit worrying!

[cerud]

How bad is it?

Some good signings there and a very encouraging pre-season although losing your entire transfer budget is a bit worrying!

It's...bad. We're bleeding money. It's mainly because we have the worst attendance in the league by a long shot. In my three years so far, my season ticket holder have increased from 1500 to about 1560, even though we're progressively doing better.

We're losing about $400 000 - $500 000 per month. Hopefully, we get a cash injection like my board did in the first year, otherwise there is no way this club will survive unless I play with a squad of 5 players...

[deltablue]

Ouch, thats heavy. No wonder they decided that you couldn't spend any more.

[cerud]

Ouch, thats heavy. No wonder they decided that you couldn't spend any more.

Indeed....

[cerud]

2013-2014 Mid-season Update

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

Standings | Past Positions | Fixtures - All I can say is that I'm extremely proud of my boys this year! And admittedly a little stunned. I had Rozic, my star centre back break his foot in an Australian friendly and I had also lost my Australian Marquee centre back due to a bug with marquee players. I figured that my defence would die. However, new additions and new goalkeepers were brought in and we've turned into a bit of a powerhouse! The only blemish was the loss to Adelaide, but they're having a great season as well. Leading the league by 13 points with 13 matches left to go...I like our odds!

Players of Note...

Borges - GK - Both goalkeepers that I've brought in are doing amazing; however, the younger one, Borges, has been evern better. Three clean sheets in 7 matches and only 5 goals against? Can't argue with that!

Josh Mitchell - D LC - Mitchell was my replacement for the Marquee player I lost. I got lucky to sign him as he was Perth's Marquee player, but I got him for regular wages. A massive threat on the corner and a solid leader on defence.

Matt McKay - M LC - My new Australian Marquee player is the league leader in assists. The guy can move a ball; enough said.

Jhon Pírez - AM L, ST - I brought in Pírez at the beginning of last season as cover for Macedo. He was disappointing last year. However, while he didn't really score, his attributes kept improving. I played him a bit in the beginning of the season to great surprise! Now, with Macedo out with injury for 3 months, Pírez has established himself among the best. Currently leading the league in goals.

[rancer890]

Are they planning to cut your wage budget too? Not too, keep pushing for the regular season best record.

[cerud]

Are they planning to cut your wage budget too? Not too, keep pushing for the regular season best record.

Wow, I hope not.

But there is other news...

26 January 2014

From the News Ticker...

It's not a lot, but every bit helps, I guess.

[deltablue]

Might you be moving on soon given the financial situation?

[cerud]

Might you be moving on soon given the financial situation?

There is a real possibility, deltablue. I'd rather stay for another year as it looks at though we're about to qualify for the AFC Champions Leage next year. Hoping that some prize money in that will help, but it may be too late.

[cerud]

2 March 2014

From the News Ticker...

Got some more from the Board, but not sure how much more they're willing to give.

[cerud]

2013-2014 Youth Candidate Intake

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

Youth Candidates

No one really impresses me all that much. My assistant manager likes Nick Harries and he might grow into a decent player. We'll see...

Nick Harries - ST - Ok physical stats for his age and this level, but he'll need some dramatic improvement to have a shot with my first squad.

[cerud]

2012-2013 Season in Review

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

1st Place - Qualified for Playoffs

Standings | Past Positions | Fixtures - A dream season! Only 1 loss the entire season saw us win the league with matches still to go. At the beginning of the season, I would have thought winning was possible but never like this!

A-League Finals Major Semi Final Leg 1

Adelaide United FC 0 - 3 Gold Coast United FC

A great way to start the playoff with a win away from home. It was tense for most of it though as we didn't score our first goal until the 72nd minute. However, after that, the floodgates opened.

A-League Finals Major Semi Final Leg 2

Gold Coast United FC 2 - 1 Adelaide United FC

(Gold Coast United FC wins 5 - 1 on aggregate

A decent win. More tentative and the sending off of Australian Marquee player McKay meant that he would not play in the Grand Final.

A-League Finals Grand Final

Gold Coast United FC 3 - 1 Brisbane Roar FC

Winners! Triumphant! About time! This match was destined to be. A home match in the Grand Finals against our bitter rivals. We never gave them a chance. However, I had to deal with yet another of my players, Francismar, getting straight red carded. Not too happy about that. Still, we won the league and the playoffs. I can't argued with that!

Players of Note - It's difficult to choose this year as there were so many great contributors. However, these are the standouts.

Nathan Coe - GK - Goalkeeper of the Year. Coe showed why he's the best Australia has to offer with 7 clean sheets in 15 matches. He's also a regualr now on the Australian squad.

Borges - GK - Runner up to Goalkeeper of the Year. I think my goalkeeper troubles are over I played Borges in 15 matches and he matches Coe's 7 clean sheets. He had more goals conceded, but not by much. He is the future for this club and his skills are always improving.

Josh Mitchell - D LC - When Rozic was injured in the first half of the season, Mitchell stepped up. Together, they make up a dominant centre back duo that led us to the fewest goals against in the league. His contributions on the corner are a help as well.

Matt McKay - M LC - Led the league in assists in feeding the ball up as well as on corners. I'm amazing that his skills continue to improve even though he's already 31 years old. He has a good 5 years for sure at this level yet.

Jhon Pírez - AM L, ST - The disappointing signing of last year is now Player of the Year. He broke the team and league records for most goals in a season with 25. Not bad for a 27 game season. He has definitely won top spot up front.

Finances - The final match against Brisbane Roar FC in the Grand Final really helped! Gate receipts were the highest ever by far as we came close to selling out. We still finish in the red, but it's better than what it could have been.

Facilities - Same as ever.

Awards

• Golden Boot - J. Pírez - 1st Place
  
• Foreign Player of the Year - Francismar - 1st Place
  
• Goalkeeper of the Year - N. Coe - 1st Place, Borges - 2nd Place
  
• Manager of the Year - Cerud - 1st Place
  
• A-League All-Star XI - J. Mitchell (D C), M. McKay (M C), J. Pírez (ST)
  
• PFA A-League Team of the Year - J. Mitchell (D C), M. McKay (M C), J. Pírez (ST), M. Marrone (Alt)
  
• Fans' Player of the Year - J. Pírez
  

Goals Revisited

• Finish in the top two - Achieved! Won the league in style.
  
• Compete in the Grand Finals - Achieved! Won the Grand Final over our rivals.
  
• Sign a new Australian Marquee player to a multi-year contract - Achieved! McKay was one of the highlights of many this year.
  
• Strengthen goalkeeping - Achieved! Finally! We have amazing goalkeepers in Coe and Borges.
  

Next Year...

Well, I signed a one year contract extension at $300 000. I figured I had to at least try the AFC Champions League once before I leave

[deltablue]

Great win and financial boost.

[B.W.G]

Congrats on winning the Grand Final

[cerud]

Great win and financial boost.

Thanks, deltablue. The financial benefits will help, but I'm also hoping the AFC Champions League will net some good gate receipts and prize money.

Congrats on winning the Grand Final

Thanks!

[cerud]

4 May 2014

From the News Ticker...

Was not expecting this! We are now over $2.6 million in the black Hopefully this new season and the AFC Champions League will help us grow even more.

[rancer890]

Lucky for you that FM don't let teams actually go bankrupt and fold.

Good work winning the Grand Final too!

[CityAndColour]

I actually love Michael Marrone.

[cerud]

Lucky for you that FM don't let teams actually go bankrupt and fold.

Good work winning the Grand Final too!

Capitalism...with regulations!! Sounds very Canadian

I actually love Michael Marrone.

Yeah, Marrone has been a stalwart player for me. Hasn't missed many games and is a rock at the right back position.

[AK22]

What a great season, and a fantastic record in the league too! Good luck with the ACL next season; it should certainly help improve the financial situation!

[cerud]

What a great season, and a fantastic record in the league too! Good luck with the ACL next season; it should certainly help improve the financial situation!

Cheers, AK22! I'm not sure if I'll be able to top this record; the only way I could is if I go undefeated. But the ACL will be interesting; I'm looking forward to that.

On another note, updates have been further apart than I'd like, but my work has been crazy this year. I just too a look a back and realized that my last actual day off was 13 January 2012. At least I work from home, otherwise, I'd be going crazy about now...

[cerud]

2014-2015 Pre-season

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

Hyundai A-League: Compete alongside the top teams in the League

Media Prediction: 2nd of 10

A-League Title Odds: 7-4

Wage Budget: $3 844 339, a decrease of $7 987 (currently spending $3 068 166)

Transfer Budget: $1.98M

Kit Sponsorship: $434 574 (a new, better deal, expires 2018)

General Sponsorship: $48 746 (new deal, expires 2016)

General Sponsorship: $48 746 (new deal, expires 2015)

A-League TV Rights Deal: $1.57M

The salary cap has been lowered to $2.52M...must be a recession...

Here are the goals for this year.

Goals for the Season

• Win the League.
  
• Make the Grand Finals of the Playoffs.
  
• Make the 2nd Round of the AFC Champions League.
  
• Lose less money...hopefully
  

[Scarman]

Nice season there, pitty you couldn't do what Gold Coast said they were going to do in their first season and go undefeated haha

[cerud]

Nice season there, pitty you couldn't do what Gold Coast said they were going to do in their first season and go undefeated haha

Gold Coast in real life said they were going to go undefeated?? That's just asking for disappointment :confused:

[cerud]

2014 FIFA World Cup

Group A: Brazil, Montenegro, Japan, New Zealand

Group B: Senegal, Paraguay, Czech Republic, Jamaica

Group C: Chile, Nigeria, Ukraine, South Korea

Group D: Germany, Turkey, Colombia, Iran

Group E: Argentina, Netherlands, Cameroon, Norway

Group F: France, Mexico, Wales, Gabon

Group G: Uruguay, Portugal, Italy, Saudi Arabia

Group H: Spain, Slovakia, United States, Tunisia

2nd Round

Paraguay 1 - 4 Brazil

Montenegro 1 - 0 Senegal

Turkey 2 - 1 Chile

Germany 2 - 0 Nigeria

Argentina 3 - 2 Mexico

France 2 - 3e Netherlands

Slovakia 1 - 2 Uruguay

Portugal 0 - 1 Spain

Quarter Finals

Brazil 3 - 1 Germany

Montenegro 2 - 1 Turkey

Argentina 2 - 0 Spain

Netherlands 2 - 0 Uruguay

Semi Finals

Brazil 3 - 1 Netherlands

Montenegro 1 - 4 Argentina

3rd Place Playoff

Montenegro 2 - 3 Netherlands

Final

Brazil 2e - 1 Argentina

Brazil becomes the 7th host nation to win the World Cup. They now hold six World Cups; however, credit must go to Montenegro who surprized many!

[Scarman]

Gold Coast in real life said they were going to go undefeated?? That's just asking for disappointment :confused:

It was said as a joke, but their chairman was a bit more serious when he said they were going to win the league first season. As a Roar fan, I laughed at them before they ultimately finished 3rd and we came in 9th By the way, seeing Matt McKay at Gold Coast is absolutely terrible haha

[cerud]

It was said as a joke, but their chairman was a bit more serious when he said they were going to win the league first season. As a Roar fan, I laughed at them before they ultimately finished 3rd and we came in 9th By the way, seeing Matt McKay at Gold Coast is absolutely terrible haha

Haha! Yeah, McKay joined the Rangers in the Scottish Premier League for a couple seasons and I got him from there when they let him go. He's been with me for one full season so far and a great addition.

However, in other news...

26 July 2014

From the News Ticker...

The Whitecaps are listed as my favourite club so I would definitely go back home to manage them. We'll see...Rennie has done decent with them so far, qualifying for playoffs every year with the club. However,.....I could do better

Ironically, this is also teh first ever job that I've been linked with!

[deltablue]

Monrenegro didn't have a massively tough run though, taking nothing away from them.

[cerud]

Monrenegro didn't have a massively tough run though, taking nothing away from them.

True, but for a small nation, not bad.

[cerud]

2014-2015 Off-Season Transfers

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

Transfers - A very quiet off-season for us. Heading into a new season, I didn't want to dramatically modify what worked so well for us last year. I got rid of players who simply weren't playing and brought in only two new players.

Players of Note...

Jonathan McKain - D RC - I needed a solid defender with the ability to play rightback for cover. McKain spent the last three season for for Adelaide United FC as a 1st team member. Now he's with us.

Jonathan Wilmet - M/AM R, ST - Our new foreign Marquee player. I wasn't actually looking for a new Marquee player; I was just going to go without. However, Wilmet's agent made me aware of hs client. I wanted a new winger and Wilmet fit the bill at a fairly cheap price.

Previous Promotion Watch...

Daniel Bowles - D C - He's only a back up centre back, but I was mildly surprized at the level of his play last year. Was not expecting him to do as well as he did.

Jake Barker-Daish - M C - Barker-Daish is a consistent player. I'm hoping he continues to improve because he could end up being a franchise players for years for Gold Coast.

[cerud]

2014-2015 Pre-season Matches

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

A great pre-season. I had three matches with A-League teams, two good, one lacklustre.

A great pre-season including 4 matches against A-League squads. Now, time to defend our title!

[cerud]

2014-2015 Mid-season Update

Gold Coast United FC - Hyundai A-League

Standings | Past Positions | Fixtures - Given how our last season went, I was expecting to do well. We've lived up to my prediction. Undefeated 14 matches into a 27 game season. Unfortunately, we've been hit by a pretty bad injury, but been able to play through. I'm hoping that it won't affect us, however, once the AFC Champions League starts up later this spring.

Players of Note...

Ante Rozic - D C - Rozic has completely healed from his long term injury of last year and is back up to form. Still a mainstay on the Australian senior team as well. Unfortunately, he's been asking about a new and improved contract even though he still has 2 years left on his current one. I know I'm getting him for dirt cheap...but he was Marquee player wages and I just can't do that. Not sure if I'll be able to keep him

Jonathan Wilmet - M/AM R, ST - Our new foreign Marquee player has fit right in. Leading in assists, he's also chipped in a decent number of goals as well.

Jhon Pírez - AM L, ST - In the first 7 matches the Golden Boot player of last year already had 10 goals...then a torn calf muscle has him out for 5 months. Ouch...

Tahj Minniecon - ST - Minniecon has been with the club since before I even came onto the scene. However, he was always a backup. Wih Pírez out, he's stepped up and become a decent contributor as a striker. 8 goals in 11 matches is very good, more than I was expecting from him.

On another note, I've started to have my name mentioned with a couple of other clubs as a potential manager replacement. All are MLS clubs, notably Vancouver Whitecaps, Toronto FC, and FC Dallas.