And now for something completely different - toiling in Eastern Europe and Beyond

[withnail316]

Great move to Mexico.

Good luck, brilliant to see you at Monterrey.

Cheers lads, this is going to be fun...

[AcidBurn]

It will be Mexico is a great place to manage.

[withnail316]

Right then, time to crack on. Here's what I had at the club when I arrived...

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I'm quite pleased with what we have, especially as the transfer window is closed and I'll have to work with what we have. Sadly there doesn't appear to be much in the U20s, so we'll see where we go.

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The club's expectations are very low upon my arrival, they'll be happy to stay in the top flight. Considering we're 6th in the pro-medio relegation system (points are averaged over a number of years, rather than the side who finishes bottom going down) there's no danger of that. My intention is to have a look around and see what kind of players I can find for next year, and then hope we can squeeze into that top 8 for the play offs.

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It would appear that this lad is the best player at the club at the moment. Certainly looks very solid.

[cerud]

Nice young player. Well rounded.

[withnail316]

February

Liga MX Clasura: Monterrey 0-0 Queretaro

Not the greatest opening game, but we did at least dominate and never looked like conceding.

Liga MX Clasura: Monterrey 2-0 Chivas

A first win in my second match, and a great win at that. Top scorer Davila grabbed the first and Pucheta nodded home the second.

Liga MX Clasura: Tijuana 2-5 Monterrey

A belter of a win away at Xolos, and again Davila was on target. He grabbed two of the five, with Pucheta also nodding home. The other two came from Lozano and Blanco.

Liga MX Clasura: Monterrey 3-1 Jaguares

Another game, another win. Davila, Blanco and Lozano with the goals.

Liga MX Clasura: Monterrey 0-0 Cruz Azul

A frustrating draw, although not just because we should have won by three or four. My squad is wafer-thin, yet we lost two players through injury (one of them was top-scorer and only decent striker Ulises Davila) and another to a red card.

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[withnail316]

March

Liga MX Clasura: Monterrey 2-0 Toluca

A second half double from Lozano ensured three more points.

Liga MX Clasura: Santos Laguna 1-2 Monterrey

The victories keep coming as we beat one of our biggest rivals. A fluke from left back Darvin Chavez and a penalty from Carlos Alberto Lozano secured the points.

Liga MX Clasura: Pumas UNAM 2-1 Monterrey

This was always going to be a tough game against the league leaders, but two first half red cards made things impossible for us. Pineda got our goal, but I was lucky to only lose by 1.

Liga MX Clasura: Monterrey 1-1 Puebla

This was annoying, an utterly dominant display yet a ropey penalty late on denies us the points. To be fair, we were woeful in front of goal, and so I can't complain too much. Blanco with our goal.

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[withnail316]

April

Liga MX Clasura: Monterrey 3-4 Atlas

AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!! This was an awful defeat, partly because things are so tight in the race for the Liguilla, but mostly because the ME was the worst I've ever seen it. All four goals I conceded were utterly ridiculous, especially the fourth in stoppage time where my left back simply ran the ball into his own net. Davilla (2) and Alan Patrick with our goals.

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Not sure what to make of that.... "well done in the league! You're not doing well enough in the league...."

Liga MX Clasura: Tigres 0-0 Monterrey

My first Clásico Regiomontano (a game on my real-life bucket list, btw) but it wasn't a classic. Tigres were in great form going in to this though, so I'll happily take a point.

Liga MX Clasura: Monterrey 6-2 Atlante

Just what we needed after a bit of a slump. Davila grabbed four in this game to take his tally to 23 for the season, while Blanco and Lozano got the other two.

Liga MX Clasura: Pachuca 1-1 Monterrey

A really hard-earned point away at Pachuca. Again we had Davila to thank, and with a game to go we're just about in the top 8.

Liga MX Clasura: Leon 1-2 Monterrey

A final game of the season, and a late goal from Hobbit Bermudez lifts us from 8th into 3rd. Blanco grabbed the other.

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[withnail316]

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Liguilla Quarter Final 1st leg: Atlas 0-0 Monterrey

The complete opposite of our first meeting, this was a really dull game. All to be decided in the second leg then...

Liguilla Quarter Final 2nd leg: Monterrey 1-1 Atlas

We didn't really perform here, but a Lozano goal 7 minutes from time ensured we progressed thanks to our league position.

[withnail316]

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Liguilla Semi Final 1st leg: Toluca 1-0 Monterrey

A really poor first leg, and Toluca should be out of sight after missing two penalties. We have a chance, but a slim one.

Liguilla Semi Final 2nd Leg: Monterrey 2-0 Toluca

A very different second leg, and we were in control from the moment Davila put us in front after 5 minutes. We got a very generous looking penalty after 20 minutes and Lozano blasted home his 10th of the season, and that was that.

[withnail316]

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Liguilla Final 1st leg: Chivas 4-2 Monterrey

A really tough first leg, not helped by an early red card for star defender Pucheta and two penalties conceded. We have hope thanks to Perez and Guajardo, but it'll take a much better performance.

Liguilla Final 2nd leg: Monterrey 0-2 Chivas

Despite our utter domination, Chivas hit us with two sucker-punches and that was the tie over. Devastating.

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[withnail316]

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Interesting. It would appear I'm under pressure to keep my job (despite making the final) for something that happened before I arrived! Thanks FM!

[Dexter_Morgan]

Unlucky on losing the final. Did you lose a lot of players to internationals during the playoff period? I remember that happened to me quite a lot at Chivas and it wound me up no end to see my best players go at the most important stage of the season each year.

[deltablue]

Tough defeat

[JackJCFC]

Done well in Mexico, big shame about losing that final though.

[cerud]

Wow, you have the most bipolar Board I've ever seen!

[withnail316]

Unlucky on losing the final. Did you lose a lot of players to internationals during the playoff period? I remember that happened to me quite a lot at Chivas and it wound me up no end to see my best players go at the most important stage of the season each year.

It was a painful one to lose, but no, I didn't have that problem. Good job really as I only had 20 players to choose from!

Tough defeat

Yeah, I was pretty gutted. I generally have a poor record in play off finals though so I wasn't too shocked!

Done well in Mexico, big shame about losing that final though.

Cheers, man. Can't complain too much though as I would have been happy with just making the Liguilla.

Wow, you have the most bipolar Board I've ever seen!

I'll be honest, it feels like a bug to me as I can't see how I'd be under pressure for my record on the pitch. Still, not to worry, it keeps things interesting!

[withnail316]

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Club de Fútbol Monterrey: Season Summary 2020/21

League

Media prediction: 2nd (of 18)

Finished: 3rd (Beaten in end of season Liguilla final)

Cups

CONCACAF Champions League: Knocked out at group stage (before I arrived)

Copa MX: Not involved.

Top scorers

Ulises Davila: 39 appearances (29 starts) 25 goals (22 in the league)

Carlos Alberto Lozano: 41 appearances (40 starts) 10 goals (9 in the league)

Positives

More than happy with our third place finish, although we had a bit of a sticky spell and could have dropped out of the Liguilla up to our penultimate game. I didn't have massive expectations for the Liguilla itself, so to make the final was magnificent. Of course, the form of Davila was key and he finished the season with the golden boot. Have to be pleased in the end.

Concerns

A few actually, and not just for my job. Financially we're in a bit of a mess, and despite the board offering me a very favourable budget which I'm yet to touch we've haemorrhaged more than £4m in three months and are well and truly in the red. This is worrying as we have 5 players out of contract, and in my opinion we need 6 or 7 players in to give us the right blend to challenge for honours next year. Sadly we've next to nothing in the youth academy, so it's a bit of a quandary for me.

Ambitions

If I can keep my job I'd of course like to challenge for the title next year, and if I can finish the regular season closer to the top 2 I'd be delighted.

Surprise of the season

Getting all the way to the Liguilla final.

Player of the season

Ulises Davila

Average attendance

43,543 (5 sell-outs of 52,000)

Former club watch

Lechia TBC, Chornomorets finished in 3rd place, Inter sacked my replacement in February, but did finish in 3rd and made the Europa League Final.

[withnail316]

Interesting. On the same day as a very poor end of season report from my board (including a rejection of my request for more time) this came in:

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The very next day, I received this:

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I hadn't applied for either of them, but considering how unappreciated I'm feeling in Monterrey, they're both incredible offers.....

[withnail316]

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Looks like I'm heading back to the east then.....

[withnail316]

I'll post my normal introduction to a new job at some point tomorrow, but I'm determined to have a proper run at Spartak. After short spells at Inter and Monterrey I need a little stability, and Russia should be good for that.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Good luck at Spartak, it's one job i'm keeping an eye on in my save at the minute.

[B.W.G]

Best of luck at Spartak Moscow

[Rikulec]

And back to the East! Good luck.

[AcidBurn]

Good luck at Spartak Moscow, that's a very nice transfer budget.

[deltablue]

Good to see you back in your usual turf.

[EvilDave]

Finally back to some proper football, none of this Latin American nonsense Best of luck at Spartak, that's a massive budget and a massive club.

[withnail316]

Good luck at Spartak, it's one job i'm keeping an eye on in my save at the minute.

It's one of the jobs I'd been following for a little while, but I hadn't noticed it come up this time. Really chuffed they approached me.

Best of luck at Spartak Moscow

Cheers BWG.

And back to the East! Good luck.

It's where I've felt most at home so far, so I'm looking forward to going back.

Good luck at Spartak Moscow, that's a very nice transfer budget.

It's not bad at all, is it? I'm going to try and bring in a few young Russians though rather than going mad with a £38m player like at Inter.

Good to see you back in your usual turf.

Cheers, man.

Finally back to some proper football, none of this Latin American nonsense Best of luck at Spartak, that's a massive budget and a massive club.

Heh, yeah the Latin American experiment hasn't taken long to come to an end. Hoping I can stick around in Russia, and with a budget like that I've got to be thinking about the CL in the near future.

[JackJCFC]

Good luck in Russia!

[elbilly]

Just read all of this. Pretty fine work so far. Should be interesting in Russia, very budget to work with. Good luck!

[iHeadHunta x]

Good luck in Moscow mate!

[noikeee]

Last time I was here you were about to play the CL final with Inter. Congrats on that titles don't get bigger than the CL. Afterwards nice little run with Monterrey, I liked the move to Mexico it's different, unfortunately that board was a little crap I can see why you'd get fed up with that. Good luck now back in Eastern Europe.

[withnail316]

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Футбольный клуб Спартак Москва

(Football Club Spartak-Moscow)

(With thanks to Wikipedia)

FC Spartak Moscow is a Russian football club from Moscow. Having won 12 Soviet championships (second only to Dynamo Kyiv) and 9 of 19 Russian championships they are one of the country's most successful clubs. They have also won the Soviet Cup 10 times and the Russian Cup 3 times. Spartak have also reached the semi-finals of all three European club competitions.

Historically the club was a part of the Spartak sports society. Other teams in the society include ice hockey club HC Spartak Moscow. Currently, the club is not connected with Spartak sports society and is an independent privately owned organisation. They are nicknamed "Meat" A new page in the club’s history began when the USSR collapsed and its championship ceased to exist. In the newly created Russian league, Spartak, led by coach and president Oleg Romantsev dominated and won all but one title between 1992 and 2001. Year after year the team also represented Russia in the Champions League.

(From FM)

Since my career began, the club has won three Russian Cups and the league title in 2020. The club also finished as runners up in the 2016 Europa League.

The club has also left the archaic Luzhniki Stadium and moved into the brand new Spartak Stadium.

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[withnail316]

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On first look I'm quite pleased with what's already at the club, but of course there are areas I can strengthen. I think I'll be relying on this fella for the majority of our goals though:

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He bagged 18 goals last year, and has scored 36 league goals in his 2 and a half years at the club. Not quite Marshall quality, but very, very handy.

[EvilDave]

Good to see this one going again, will be interesting to see how you get on at Spartak. Savostin looks like he'll net you plenty with that pace, I'm be tempted to get a new contract on him now before he gets too big for his boots! Bizarre to see the club haven't signed any full backs and have relied on Parshivlyuk and Makeev for all these years - a youthful injection must be sorely needed there by now!

[withnail316]

Good to see this one going again, will be interesting to see how you get on at Spartak. Savostin looks like he'll net you plenty with that pace, I'm be tempted to get a new contract on him now before he gets too big for his boots! Bizarre to see the club haven't signed any full backs and have relied on Parshivlyuk and Makeev for all these years - a youthful injection must be sorely needed there by now!

Cheers Dave. I've had very little time the last couple of weeks to get on FM, but hopefully I can change that the next few days.

[Rikulec]

Nice to see you back, good luck in Moscow.

[withnail316]

Gah. Haven't been able to solve a crash dump issue so I'm still no further along. Infuriating.

[noikeee]

Shame to hear about crash dumps, I've had careers ruined by them before - even my current one was plighted by them for a while, thankfully they disappeared somehow - and know they are hugely frustrating, hope you can fix them.

[withnail316]

Shame to hear about crash dumps, I've had careers ruined by them before - even my current one was plighted by them for a while, thankfully they disappeared somehow - and know they are hugely frustrating, hope you can fix them.

I had to move my FM files from my C drive to my D drive, which caused the initial problem. I don't have any other careers I can try to see if it's a game issue or a save issue, so I'm going to start a second career and see what happens. Only option I think.

[withnail316]

Typical. I'd FINALLY got into another career (my thread at Sumy is gathering pace) and I've now been able rescue this one.

It's like waiting for a bus....

[withnail316]

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Somewhat predictably, my first job will be to bring in a few more Russian players. We have no fewer than eight foreigners in the squad as I arrive, and considering I can't have more than 7 on the field, that's a problem. At the moment, of those 8 players there are 7 who would probably go straight into my first 11, while one of them is more of a future star. I think the immediate plan will be to try and loan out young defender Diego Arenoso, who doesn't quite appear ready for the first team just yet.

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My next plan will be to try and get the youth facilities upgraded as we don't quite seem to be producing the kind of talent we should be. Indeed, there's not a single player in my U19s who has more than 2.5 stars, which is no use to me long term. It's a good job there's plenty of money available!