I have a Dream!

[Niebiescy]

I know most are boycotting the Euros and won't be in the stadium but I am worried that there will be big problems on the streets in the cities where the games are. I have a friend who is a Legia hooligan who told me they will be out looking for trouble and the other cities (apart from maybe Wroclaw) all have big hooligan followings. I know Lechia aren't the most active group at the moment (in terms of causing problems), but I think Lech and Legia will cause trouble (especially Legia now their ultras are being forced out of the club by the owners) and some of the other Polish groups who travel to the cities where the games are will do too. The stadiums will be full of middle class people from Poland and the other countries based there and will be safe but I think that the streets will be dangerous even for normal fans in some places if the wrong people are out looking. I think fans of countries like Russia, CZ, Croatia and maybe Italy could make some problems with the hooligans because Russia and CZ are rivals countries who Poles don't like too much while the Croats and Italians have hooligans and ultras that the Polish groups will want to meet. I think that not every city will be bad but people from different groups have all said there will be trouble.

[Niebiescy]

The season is over and it basically finished as expected. We retained the cup and finished 5th in the league. I am a little disappointed in a way because the top five clubs we clear of everyone else and were all such strong teams that were far better than everyone else. With our points total of 55 we would usually have finished in a much higher position. For example in 2011/12 we'd have finished 2nd, 2012/13 2nd, 2013/14 1st and 2014/15 3rd. The most important thing was that we finished high enough in the league to receive a reasonable amount of prize money and won the cup so are back in Europe. Here's the final table and my fixtures:

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Right now I am not entirely sure what to do. The club has no future because of the bug that means the stadium costs me more than £200k per more in a league where we have next to no income, but at the same time the aim of this save was to manage my favorite team and at least win a title with them. I also want to have the excitement of playing in Europe again. On the other hand we are going to lose most of our star players again due to interest from other clubs and the debt that we are in. None are worth good amounts of money, but I guess they will still be sold. Our defence was one of the worst in the whole league this season and we don't have money to replace players. Our best young right back is leaving for a Ukrainian second division team while our best centre back will have to leave also because he's getting older and wants too high a wage. As of right now there are no good jobs available so I will have to keep checking the job boards and see what because available. I doubt I'll resign because I'd like to play the Europa League qualifiers so will probably only leave if I'm offered something.

Currently the managers listed as "insecure" or "very insecure" who's jobs I'd like are Metalurg Donetsk, Steau Bucharest and Slavia Prague. Hopefully one of them will get fired soon. Ideally I want the challenge of a small Ukrainian club but if none become available I'd consider other leagues. My priority is to work somewhere that doesn't have a financial crisis as I'm sick of being in debt and unable to improve the teams that I manage. I'll write an update once I have an idea on where I'll be next season.

[Niebiescy]

It didn't take long. I have left Ruch and taken the Steau Bucharest job. I have to admit that this wasn't an ideal situation or result, but I wanted to make a move during the preseason where I'd get the chance to build a team for myself rather than coming in mid season and having to work with someone else's squad. I just didn't see the point in staying at Ruch any long with the financial situation being such a mess and there being no way to sort it out regardless of how many players I sold. I have not taken this job as a long-term project as there isn't anything I can do for a club of this size in the long run. All I can do is win them the title (which is what they should've been doing before I arrived), maybe have a go at Europe for one season and then move on somewhere else where the challenge is a longer one. I have wanted to manage in the Ukraine for a long time, but there just haven't been any jobs coming available the last few months. The best was Metalurg Donetsk, but they were relegated to the second tier and I really couldn't be bothered to play a season down there with them where I'd win every game easily due to their squad being so much better than anyone else at that level. I still have the long-term aim of managing a Ukrainian club (not any of the big four who I consider to be Shakhtar, Dynamo, Metalist and Dnipro) and that is where I really want to go once I'm done with Steau.

I doubt I need to write anything about the history of my new club as they are so well known. Right now the only objective for a club of this size is to win the title. The team isn't in Europe this season due to finishing 4th and failing to win the cup. I have no idea about whether my squad is any good because I haven't played this league for three months. Considering the £3.2m transfer budget I have been entrusted with I have no excuses for not delivering success. Even though I've been given this money I will be a cheapskate like usual and look for bargains rather than aiming to spend big.

[Niebiescy]

Today I am in a good mood

1. Ruch fans will be allowed to attend the final. The ticket package is a wrip off at 130zl but I've already paid for a plane ticket from England to go to the game so am happy to be able to see it instead of having a one day holiday doing nothing with my friends in Piekary, which is the most boring town on earth.

2. Steau are not in debt.

3. Steau have never finished higher than fourth since I begun this save game so I may actually have a challenge this season after-all.

4. Romania actually has good home grown players compared to Poland even though my club's academy really sucks. I always prefer buying local players and am finally able to do it.

5. I am going to the cup final

Update coming later once preseason is finished and I have an idea of where my squad is at. Currently all I know is that I am in desperate need of a right winger and two strikers. Right now my team looks unlikely to concede many, but I don't know where the goals are going to come from. No matter where I look I cannot find a striker who looks like he can score 20 goals in a season. I guess I'm just going to have to look even harder

[Niebiescy]

At the end of the preseason and about to start the first game of the season. My format for this thread was dreadful and hard to read before so I'll use bullet points to make it easier to take in. Here are my thoughts and experiences:

1. Steau had the worst youth team I have every seen in my life. Every player in the team was rated as not good enough apart from two who were rated 1 1/2 stars and decent. I therefore had to fire the whole team and find a whole new group of youths. The result of this is my youth team being full of Germans, Czechs and Poles, but at least they have some future prospects at my club rather than it being completely pointless even having a youth team.

2. I have also upgraded my youth facilities and youth coaching budgets. It's amazing that a club of this size that has produced some good players over the years has minimal youth facilities. I have chosen to upgrade this immediately. I have also upgrade the youth recruitment to fair basic, which is bad, but not as bad as before. The coaching budget allows me to try and improve these Germans I managed to find and hopefully make some money selling them on in the future.

3. I did something really stupid. I didn't bother renewing my player contracts until the last week before the season starts. I have just realised that my two best central midfielders are due to expire next summer and both want extortionate salaries, especially one who is 31 years ago (he wants 4k per week more than I can afford to offer). Because of this I have had to offer both of them to other clubs. The advanced playmaker is easy to replace because I signed one of my old youths from Opava who is now good enough to do a job at this level. I am however without an adequate ball-winning defensive style player now and it is all my fault. I am hoping to sign a 17 year old Spaniard from Auxerre who looks like a really special players. Only issue is that he will cost me my entire transfer budget. He would however give me a massive long term profit.

4. My squad isn't actually too bad. Eight of my starting eleven were at the club before I came along. Although I have signed quite a few players most are for the future rather than as impact players from day one. The three starters I picked up this preseason are:

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And finally the young lad I signed as a child for Opava. Always nice to have one player follow you around a little

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[Niebiescy]

The striker looks like the star from the three. I'm not sure how long he'll stick around in Romania for. The other two are both very young and have lots of potential so are more long-term players at this level rather than the types you imagine to move on to Spain, England, Germany, Italy or Russia.

On top of these I just wanted to post a few of my favorite prospects also:

I'm particularly happy with the first one as he's actually Romanian.

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The second is also from Romania. My only concern is his lack of speed, although he should be incredibly solid when I eventually lose my starter to a big, foreign club.

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I also signed a few of foreigners that I particularly like. Both are currently at my feeder clubs. They are not on youth team contracts obviously. The wages I can offer to them is the difference between being here and at Ruch.

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This lad is obviously African but was signed from another Romanian club and always speaks the language fluently, which is a massive bonus:

[Niebiescy]

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I changed my preseason expectation from challenging for the title to winning it because I am very confident in that. The main reason for this is that I am not playing in Europe this season and therefore have a massive advantage over my rivals in terms of the number of games I expect to play. I imagine at least one qualifies for the group stages of the Europa League. Maybe more than one will.

I am setting my goals for the season as:

- Win the title

- Win the domestic cup

- Find more youngsters who have re-sale potential

- Sign more Romanians if possible

I will report back with an update at working towards these results during the winter break

[Niebiescy]

I doubt you've ever heard of any of my players, but I will post my team and tactic so you can see how we're playing because it's slightly different to my previous teams. I have decided to go with one upfront with a man sitting behind him in "the hole" between midfield and attack. Playing against a much higher level of forward than I did in Poland I have had to play with two deep midfielders one tasked with defending and winning the ball back and one sitting and starting moves. I can't afford to be as gung-ho as I was in the past. Once again I am using wingers as they are my two best players. I will probably change things slightly to focus passing down both wings soon providing their form continues. I think this area is much stronger than the centre where I will be losing my two stars soon. I will probably have to tweak things soon as I don't know my players very well. I'll update if I do.

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[Niebiescy]

My spending has now ended with a young African LB I agreed to sign ages ago and the young Spaniard. My only concern is whether he's ready from day one as a 17 year old. My LB is my best player so the African is here to learn from him and play occasionally until the star leaves for abroad eventually.

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Now let the games begin!

[Niebiescy]

It's been a weird season. I've finished the first half of the season and am well clear of the chasing pack and am also in the cup semi finals, but in a strange way it's also been kind of a struggle. We started the season struggling to score goals and even towards the end of the first half where we have been such improved have still had problems finishing teams off and breaking them down. I tried multiple tactics and formations at the start of the season and eventually settled on playing a 4-5-1 where we play on the counter even against weaker teams. The reason for this is that we don't really have any consistent and productive forwards or attacking midfielders but we do have great defenders and are able to name two back fours that would be great at this level. I also signed quality defensive/ball-winning midfield types who can protect the defence. We use mediocre wingers and rotate the strikers based on form.

Here's the main formation/tactic I've been using:

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Because we play not to lose or make mistakes we have been extremely solid. Almost the opposite of my Ruch and Opava teams. In the league we have only conceded goals in seven out of the eighteen games we have played. On the other hand we have only scored thrity goals in these games, which is pretty bad.

As of right now our targets are the same. Win the league and cup double. I'd expect that to not be too much to ask.

I am looking ahead to next season right now. I don't want to leave Steau after only one season as that would be completely pointless. I am trying to think of some good goals to work towards. I have already built a legacy in terms of youth players. On top of this I want to do something in Europe. I want to either qualify for the Champions League group stages and finished at worst third in my group or otherwise get through the group stages of the Europa League. That should be a good challenge seeing as not a single Romanian team qualified for either tournament this season. As of right now the other thing that could stop me from taking my team into Europe with that goal was be the right Ukrainian job becoming available. After thinking about it I've narrowed down the choice of clubs I'd consider to challenge the top four with. Right now I'm thinking of Vorskla, Tavria, Karpaty and Arsenal.

I will keep you updated with things and post some more info when the season is finished.

[endtime]

Good luck with Steaua! Win the title and it might just go hand in the hand with a title for Ruch in real life!

[Niebiescy]

Good luck with Steaua! Win the title and it might just go hand in the hand with a title for Ruch in real life!

I hope you are right. Last night was an amazing result and then Legia were unlucky to have to face Lech without Bakero and now playing to their potential although these things do even themselves out of the course of a season. To be honest I am just happy that Ruch will play in Europe next season and can hopefully have an amazing adventure somewhere and maybe beat a big club. If we win the cup or league it will be a massive bonus. Hopefully now Ruch will be better on FM2013

Btw yesterday I was stupid and forgot to post the table

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It's a bit easy because the AI has destroyed the big clubs with bad managers

[Niebiescy]

I finished the season before going away to Poland but didn't get around to posting anything due to being too busy. I won the title easily but lost the cup final on penalties. Was happy to win the league so easily but was a little annoying not to win the cup. Having said that it isn't a big deal as my team have proved to be way better than anyone else domestically. My game has been ruined by the bug where you add and remove leagues and the DB becomes too big and slow. Because of this my plan is to suffer my way through until I am knocked out of Europe and then I will start a new career as a small Ukrainian club as I had planned to move to one on this game. It will almost be like a continuation of this game apart from having to start with the original DB rather than with all the re-gens that I now have. And of course I will sadly lose my manager reputation and history. The reason for carrying on with this game now is all about seeing how far this team that I have built can go. I wouldn't have bothered finishing the season even if not for Europe. None of the other clubs I managed on this save had the potential to do anything at this level, but I believe this Steau team can cause some upsets with the right draw. Here's the final table from last season:

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My fixture lists illustrates how easy it is to win domestically with such a strong club:

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[Niebiescy]

I know I wrote earlier that I wanted to quit the game due to the slow speed because of the add/remove league bug. I think I am actually going to suffer through this and try to continue with this save. This season has been far tougher than last and has made the game very exciting. I qualified for the Champions League group stage and received the £6.5m payout, which has put my club in a great position and have drawn Arsenal, Lyon and Rangers. I genuinely think we have a shot at finishing above Rangers and qualifying for the Europa League knockout stages, which is currently my goal. The good thing about playing in a crap league is that you have an easy draw vs another small nation's champion rather than having to face the lower qualifiers from elite leagues like you have to in the Europa League qualifiers. I was unseeded in both rounds but didn't have too many problems getting past Zeljeznicar and Zurich both of whom I outplayed in both legs. I have actually had a load of injuries though and am doing terribly in the league due to having to rest players for Europe and having no depth for health reasons. I am really excited to see what happens from here. Here's my fixtures and my awful current league position (the reason it's been great is because the league is so much tougher when you're playing two games per week while all of your rivals are playing one):

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I'll post an update at Christmas. Hopefully the slow speed doesn't ruin the game too much further!

[Niebiescy]

Seeing as I'm going to continue this save I'd might as well introduce you all to my team. Sadly not many of them are Romanian. The natives just aren't good enough to improve my team so I've had to buy Africans and South Americans because they are cheap and have big potential and re-sale value.

I'll start with my 'keepers

Here's my starter. Just picked him up for £975k. I doubt he stays with me because he's too good for this level. His wages are ridiculously high, but that is fine providing we qualify for Europe again next season. Can't comment too much on his performances as he hasn't yet played many games:

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Here's my best young RB. My starter is a little bit better and also Romanian, but this lad is very much the future of my team/club:

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I'm going to post both of my left backs because one is one of my star players and the other is a youngster with huge potential. The starter is getting older and will be sold next summer I imagine. He's worth too much money not to sell considering I have a ready-made replacement and his value will decrease if I keep him into his thirties. The kid is going to be insanely good, but probably will want to leave the club in the not too distant future due to being so good. Think I can make a big profit on him though. Hopefully my African scout can find more like him.

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[Niebiescy]

My starting centre backs are the two who were at the club originally when I took the job. Both are Romanian, which is positive also. My youngsters are foreign. The Vietnamese lad was picked up on a free transfer and Castano was signed for £1.8m but was worth it. He's been used more as a ball winning midfielder or anchor man due to being strong at CB and needing midfield depth due to injuries. I love his versatility.

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As well as these lads I have quite a few others out on loan at other clubs who I picked up on free transfers. I won't post their profiles yet as they are miles away from first team football.

[Niebiescy]

My midfield was one DM/Anchor man position. The lads I use for these roles are Castano (posted above) and those I'll post here. They also can all play in the centre as a ball winning midfielder. I use one role as D and one as S depending on which players I use.

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[Niebiescy]

Alongside my A/DM and BWM I used an AP. I sometimes use a DLP and AP in the CM positions against weaker opponents. These are the players I use in these roles:

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This lad is one of my favorites. I found him when I was managing Opava and picked him up again for Steau. Have pretty much developed him myself throughout his career apart from the two seasons I spent with Ruch. He's been awesome but is wanted by richer foreign clubs so could leave soon.

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Apart from the two talented youngsters I have also used Lukic there depending on the situation within the game and the opposition.

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[Niebiescy]

On the right wing my star player is Knezevic who I signed for Ruch. He's become one of my key players here. Sadly foreign clubs are interested in him so he could be off soon.

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His backup is experienced Romanian Deac, but he's been somewhat of a bust since I picked him up on a free after being released by Schalke. I prefer to use left sided players or strikers playing as an IF here instead.

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The the left my starter has changed since the start of the season. Olarra has come in and made the position his own. He only played due to injuries/fatigue but seems very ready to be a key player for me now.

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His backup is probably more talented but has been less productive so far. It's fine though because he's been a very solid performer and has been used in the centre of midfield as an AP/A due to injuries. He'll be a good long term investment.

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[Niebiescy]

Ignore/Delete post please

[Niebiescy]

His my star striker. He's been awesome in Europe and awful domestically. He's probably off soon because he's too good for Romania. Scored 17 in 28 games last season after a slow start. Plays as a lone striker in the role of AF.

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Here's the heir apparent who I use as a P

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This lad hasn't performed well so far but is very young and I'm sure he'll be a bargain at just £240k

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[Niebiescy]

I am continuing with my conservative tactic, which has been great in Europe so far. I sometimes use 4-2-4 domestically in games we should win although the tactic posted in my main one.

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[Niebiescy]

To summarise.....

I have MAJOR problems with the lack of Romanian players coming through. I currently have ZERO home grown players that I can register for Europe, but that won't be a problem in 2 years time because I have signed tons of good quality kids. I think my big problem will be in a few years time where I won't have eight Romanians to register for the Champions League if I stay with Steau. The youth academy is dreadful and to fix it will take more than a year before it is even average. It will then take years to start producing youngsters who are even adequate let alone good enough for my team. I can't buy from the top Romanian clubs because they are all listed as rivals. I am not sure how I will be able to name a squad for Europe. Right now my squad is four short because I have zero players who have come through the academy. The reason for this is that every player who is picked up is listed as not good enough. If I can't register enough Romanians on top of the lack of academy players there will be real problems. I will keep you updated on this situation but as of right now it is a major long-term problem with no easy solution.

[endtime]

you can holiday past the registration date if you are short on HG players.

[Niebiescy]

Thanks for following the thread endtime. Sadly I had to quit because the game became too slow and was driving me insane. I've started a new career just today and have a thread for it. I'm really angry at losing this one as it's the most fun I've had on FM and my Steau team was top of the CL group after 3 games even though we'd played 2 away from home. Really think I had an awesome team there. Problem was the add/remove leagues bug where you end up with too many players and the game takes forever. Won't be making the same mistake in my new game. Just hope I can get into it like I have here.