Pierogi and promotion pushes: An American goes to Eastern Europe for some reason

[Ruh Roh]

Database: Large, players from top clubs from all continents

Leagues loaded: Way too many, think "all the land Austria-Hungary ever owned and then Russia and then Germany and some other bits too." If it's too annoying to play with I'll probably trim it down.

Starting date: February 2013

Initial reputation: Semi-pro footballer

Starting off in Belarus gives me a February 2013 start date, which allows me to pick a team up mid-late season without waiting two hours for Slovakian amateur matches to finish processing. Bumping up my reputation a wee bit makes it possible that a team will come in for me that isn't in some kind of dumpster league.

February 27th, 2013: Kirklarelispor of Kirklareli, Turkey make themselves the first to be known to my dodgy agent. They hope that the team and I can "learn from the experience of participating in the Turkish Second Division." That sounds awful. Rejected.

March 1st, 2013: This time it's Krymteplytsia Molodizhne of Ukraine. Their stadium looks nice and modern, and their name makes Kirklarelispor look like, well, just Kirk. They're in a decent league position, but I can't do it. Just can't pronounce that name.

After an offer from a nailed on Slovenian second division relegation candidate, a few doomed phone calls to teams like Panathinaikos and Dinamo Bucharest, along with the discovery of the "higher reputation teams only" setting, I think I've finally met my match.

[abulezz]

Pray do tell - who are you managing!

[Ruh Roh]

Famous for, I believe, never having money ever, FC Lugano are currently fifth in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of football in Switzerland. They have been both relegated for not having money and bankrupted for not having money, but to this day the club fights bravely on against the forces of "fiscal responsibility." They'll probably form it another time if they have to - Lugano has been officially founded in 1908, 2004, and 2008.

Lugano's recent historical record is interesting for a few reasons. Number one, bankruptcies. Number two, the Swiss Challenge League is a nightmarish crucible where you don't even get promoted if you finish second two years in a row. No, to get out of this deathtrap of a league, you must go up as champions. One promotion spot, one relegation spot, deal with it. We are not getting out this year. Not enough games. Next year, who knows.

Hindering my efforts slightly are a chairman who wants me to slash the £36k wage budget by £8k and, somehow, sign "high profile players" at the same time.

Why are our wages as high as they are? If the answer you came up with is "traditional Lugano financial ineptitude, maybe an old one-legged Brazilian or two on £5k in there," I'd give you credit for deductive reasoning, but that's actually not the answer. I don't know if it's a thing with adding players to playable teams, or a late starting date, or both, but Lugano and I'd imagine all the other Swiss teams are weighted down with useless youth players on £500 a week and long contracts. If it was just this guy it wouldn't be so bad - although it would cost £110k to fire him - but there are like ten of him. Oh boy. Definitely a bug. I'm actually going to start up a new game with Lugano tomorrow, because their history's really fun, I've never played in Switzerland, and I'd imagine it would be easy to make the useless youth players not show up.

No obvious star men at Lugano, but players like Sadiku and Paulo are definitely capable of putting in good performances at this level. The youth facilities are very poor - for all I know the club pawned them off in the middle of last decade - so I'll have to resort to the tried and true FM strategy of child theft.

[deltablue]

Ah, tough place to start.

[B.W.G]

Best of luck in Switzerland

[Ruh Roh]

WE ARE GOING UP YEAH WE ARE GOING UP

Incredible. For probably the first time in the history of my playing Football Manager games, my appointment as manager of Lugano was some kind of magical talisman that immediately lifted the performances of almost all the players. From the moment I took the position, everything started to fall our way; our positive form was matched by disappointing performances from title contenders Vaduz, Chiasso and Winterthur. The tactical approach throughout was very route one and utilitarian: we had good players in defense, a good target man and not a whole lot else, so we set out to play simple results-oriented football every match. "Superb flowing move by Lugano!" was not a line I saw very often, if ever, but we were able to frustrate teams to death and convert our chances.

Cool head in midfield and club captain Silvan Aegerter was vital to our success, singlehandedly transforming a poor midfield unit into a strong one. I don't think he had a bad game. The man up front of whom so much was expected, Armando Sadiku, failed to find his form under the previous manager and in the first handful of games under my administration, but as the old saying goes, "cometh the hour, cometh the man." The minute our promotion push moved from "fanciful" to "serious," the goals started pinging in off of the big man's boots and head and our star player was able to carry us across the finish line with some vital goals. We're in a bit of a dilemma now, as bigger clubs than us are demonstrating their interest in Armando. It's FC Groningen, not Manchester United, but our financial situation is still not a good one and if the price is right, he's up for sale. There is a wealth of talent available in the free transfer market which I'm looking forward to plugging into a few of our trouble spots, as while this is a good Challenge League side its anti-football won't pull up trees in the Super League. Ex-Dortmund man Owomoyela plays in a position of strength for us, but he's willing to come here on reasonable wages and he is a first class player.

I had a brief and torrid love affair with Matt the Cowardly Canadian Giant, who looks extremely promising despite his obvious weakness of not having a heart. The Whitecaps striker was made available to me in the search screen due to my American nationality, but as of now his sale price looks too high.

The promotion drama wasn't settled until the final day of the season, when we best midtable Wohlen 1-0. Turns out we needed that result, as a draw would have sent Winterthur up on goal difference. The one goal is a treat. It is perhaps the most Lugano goal of the season. It is Armando Sadiku

.

[Ruh Roh]

Nico Marazzi has to be someone's favorite player or something. Set adrift on the wing his whole career, with absolutely mindblowing striker stats like those...

I will be the one to unlock his true potential. The real Marazzi has scored 23 goals in 353 professional matches.

[SRL88]

Based off that picture I hope you dont get blown up.

[deltablue]

Good promotion season.

[RenG]

Great achievement for your first season, congratulations.

About Marazzi, there's no other explanation than what you said. He's far from those attributes IRL.

Good luck for your first season in the SuperLeague.