[FM12] One more time - moonwalking my way through 'mo clubs

[noikeee]

[video=youtube_share;FGBhQbmPwH8]

Right, now that I've successfully managed to give you a seizure, here's what this is: my return to FM12, starting a journeyman from the bottom of the footballing ladder as per usual.

Previous episodes:

[FM11] Barcelona’ing the way through the lower leagues – is it even possible?

[FM12] The complete world encyclopedia of insults shouted at virtual football players

[FM13] The Third Journey, by noikeee

[noikeee]

Database: medium + all international players from all continents + all continental rep players

Leagues:

* Argentina - Primera, Nacional B

* Australia - A-League

* Austria - Bundesliga

* Belgium - Pro League

* Brazil - Brasileirão, Série B, Série C

* Chile - Primera, Primera B

* Costa Rica - Liga Tica, Liga de Ascenso

* Croatia - 1.HNL

* Czech Rep - Gambrinus Liga, 2.Liga

* Egypt - Premier, 2nd division

* England - Premier, Championship, League 1, League 2

* France - Ligue 1, Ligue 2, National

* Germany - Bundesliga, 2.Bundesliga, 3.Liga

* Ghana - Premier

* Greece - Superleague, Football League

* Hungary - OTP Bank Liga, NBII

* Italy - Serie A, Serie B, 1ª Divisione, 2ª Divisione

* Japan - J1, J2

* Mexico - Primera, Liga de Ascenso

* Netherlands - Eredivisie, Jupiler League

* New Zealand - NZFC

* Poland - Ekstraklasa

* Portugal - ZON Sagres, Orangina, 2ª Divisão

* Russia - Prem'er, Pervyj Division

* Saudi Arabia - Professional League

* Scotland - SPL, 1st division, 2nd division, 3rd division

* South Korea - K-League

* Spain - La Liga, Adelante, Segunda B

* Sweden - Allsvenskan, Superetan, Division 1, Division 2

* Tunisia - CLP-1

* Turkey - Süper Lig

* Ukraine - Premyer-Liha

* Uruguay - Primera, Segunda

Some are editor leagues. Yeah I know I went way over the top and I'm gonna moan it's slow but then again no way it can be slower than my FM13 setup.

Start date: February 2012. That's a dead give away of where I'm starting. Guesses are welcome.

Progress table:

(to be filled in the future, perhaps)

Achievements:

(likewise)

[noikeee]

Balls. The opening post freezes the .gifs in my Google Chrome. I suppose I'll amend that to "unsuccessfully given you a seizure" then.

[AcidBurn]

Good luck wherever you end up.

[iHeadHunta x]

Good luck mate!

[noikeee]

Stångby, 23rd of February of 2012

I’ve moonwalked all the way up to Sweden to manage 4th tier (Div 2 Södra Götaland) side Torns IF. This is a bit too pretty and bright to be Sweden but apparently Google Images search tells me it’s there:

Maybe this is more like it then:

Onto the stadium. This is a pic of an actual real life Torns IF match, in which they lost 5-0 at home, which I’m sure will give me good luck. Torns in orange of course:

Great facilities eh?

History-wise the wiki page about Torns seems to indicate they’ve climbed a whole 5 levels since 2002 which is absolutely fantastic! Unfortunately it also means they have no history at all and are probably already punching above their weight greatly.

The team

I’ve learnt not to take many conclusions from the stars at this level which mean nothing at all, I really have no idea how crap we are. The good news is we have A LOT of wage budget unused (using 1K€/month of a 9K€/month budget) and even 6K€ for transfer budget. 63K€ of bank balance is alright too. I’m guessing I’ll be very active in the transfer market but as for now the best players I have are:

Jens Jönsson (DR) – Useless at attacking, but very quick and very handy at this level for a defensive fullback.

Alexander Forsberg (AMC) – Has flair, pace and off the ball.

Jörgen Rendin (DM) – 12 for tackling, not bad for a 18 year old teenager.

Goals for this season

The board wants us to stay clear of relegation. Given the freedom I have in the transfer market in terms of wage budget, hence the ability to build a new squad really, I’m slightly more ambitious, but let’s take this slowly as I’ve never played in the Nordic part of Europe neither at this low a level in FM12. My usual wannabe-clever tactics featuring the seeking of possession, inverted wingers, fluid movement etc etc might not be the best fit and I may need some time to adapt.

[iHeadHunta x]

Good luck in Sweden, Forsberg could be key to success this year!

[noikeee]

Good luck wherever you end up.

Thanks.

Good luck mate!

Good luck in Sweden, Forsberg could be key to success this year!

Thanks but no way he's gonna be key, there's loads of free transfers around who are much much better than my players, there's some fierce competition for some of them, but I'm confident I'll sign at least a handful.

[Nobby_McDonald]

How come you've gone back to FM12?

[noikeee]

How come you've gone back to FM12?

I didn't like FM13's match engine, it felt clumsy, players were dumb and the difference of higher ability players to lesser ones was too little felt, I could never figure it out, and couldn't stand the yo-yoing of behaviour in-between patches neither. Also, the game was slow as hell. I just wasn't having fun.

I've already gone back to FM12 a while ago, I went back to my previous career and tried to continue it, I did 1 more season with Porto there. But then the game started to crash regularly and I had to start from scratch again.

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2012

Transfers

The transfer budget remained unused thank you, as I signed a whole new team anyway. I did spend quite some cash but on contract terminations! Getting rid of rubbish people is costly. I’m gonna do this slightly different to usual when I write loads about every single player and just pick the 5 best signings (arguably):

Luan Rizani (DC) – A star, has LOADS of attributes in-between 10 and 13 which is fantastic for this level and he’s only 20 too.

Fisnik Shala (ST) – Another very complete player but on the other end of the pitch, I expect very big things of this man.

Sebastian Frick (GK) – Quality 21yo keeper.

André Möllestam (DC / DRL) – Another impressive youngster (20 yo), can play as CB or defensive fullback, and is either footed.

Niklas Andersén (DL) – Yet another kid, merely 19yo, very promising attacking fullback who was playing for IFK Göteborg last season.

I do like taking screenies of every signing though, just for future memory, so here’s the rest:

Daniel Jovanovic (ST / AML)

Tobias Christensson (DM / MC)

Tom Nymark (AML / ST)

Mauricio Lopez (AMR / MRL, AML)

Viktor Holmberg (MC / D/WB/ML)

Robin Alnäs (MC)

Besfort Krasniqi (MC)

Jesper Olsson (MC / MR, AMRC)

Matti Kilpelä (DC)

Philip Lundin (ST)

Jörgen Nilsson (DR)

Mirza Kuko (GK)

Carl Klinton (DC)

Finances

I am now paying a lot to my players compared to the opposition, but still only using 5.2K€/month of my 9.4K€/month wage budget. The bank balance is now down to 42.3K€ due to all contract termination fees.

The full squad for the 2012 season

It’s looking good, at least much much better than it was before the new wave of signings. I expect to only play the original players very rarely.

Fixtures

I only controlled the first match vs the reserves, the rest is the assman’s work so you can safely ignore this.

Competitions

Div 2 Södra Götaland: Starts mid-April. That’s the only competition we’re in, since we’re so far down the ladder we don’t even enter the cup.

Summary

I signed loads of better guys than the guys I had, but am yet to play a competitive match or even actually bother to control a friendly to see how we’re doing.

[deltablue]

The OP was uncalled for Anyway enjoy Sweden.

[noikeee]

April-May 2012

Transfers

I wasn’t aware I could keep on hiring free players throughout the season, but apparently that’s the case so I hired another 2 that came to my attention:

Christoffer Svensson (AMR / AML) – Looked a great winger in theory but I’ve been a little underwhelmed so far.

Erik Larsson (DM / MC, ST) – Defensive midfielder slash striker isn’t a combo you hear of often, but I was lacking quality on the DM department and he seems a little better.

These hirings led me to sack, fire, release on a free winger Robin Sjögren and forward Daniel Hammar, both of which were utter rubbish players from the original team. In other news, I also fired all of my staff and hired a whole new crew of 1 assman 1 coach 1 physio and 2 scouts.

Finances

Bloody hell! I’m down to 16.7K€. That’s almost 40K less than at the start of the season. Where the hell did all the money go? I suppose having the highest wage average of the league explains that, as do all the contract terminations, but I’m still using only about half of the wage budget.

Fixtures

I finally took control of the side for the final friendly over lower league Primavera, and comfortably won with my new 442 tactic looking alright. It didn’t look alright however when we conceded 2 within 6 minutes of my league debut, followed by a dismal exhibition, so I ditched the tactic and went 41221, and promptly smashed Högaborgs 5-2 with it.

However the supposed defensive solidity of this shape is yet to be shown as we’d concede goals in every league match, even if we were hard done by a 1-1 scoreline vs GIF Nike, a 2-2 at Sölvesborgs’ was actually quite positive, and a 3-2 defeat at home to Rosengard is explainable by the opposition’s sheer ability as they’re leading the title race as clear favourites, and we were down to 10 men from early on too.

Past that we had 2 easier games, and whilst the goals came late vs Tvaakers it was still an emphatic 4-1 win, and it got even better as I switched back to an attacking 442 to shred the totally rubbish footballing XI of Eskilsmine 6-1.

Player on focus

Fisnik Shala (ST) – Scintillating start of the season from the young forward with a hand in all 5 goals vs Högaborgs, then creating 2 more goals out of nothing against Nike and Sölvesborgs (long shot and a lob over the keeper). Got injured since but other forwards have stepped up for his place nicely too, making my choices harder!

Competitions

Div 2 Södra Götaland:

Summary

Cautiously positive start of the year, we’ve been a little inconsistent but pretty good for a team expected by the bookies to lose almost every match. 2 massive wins put us in great mood for the coming matches but we're aware they were against crap opposition.

The attack is looking great, now if I only could sort out the defence…

[noikeee]

The OP was uncalled for Anyway enjoy Sweden.

Not a fan of Daft Punk? Or seizures?

[B.W.G]

Best of luck in Sweden

[noikeee]

Best of luck in Sweden

Thanks and I have had quite some luck with recent results... /spoiler

[AK22]

Bit of a mixed bag so far, but still plenty of goals

Good luck for the season! Will this save you go 'Around The World'?

[noikeee]

Bit of a mixed bag so far, but still plenty of goals

Good luck for the season! Will this save you go 'Around The World'?

I hadn't thought of that pun... well done. Yeah that's kinda the intention otherwise I wouldn't have loaded so many African and American leagues! I've been wanting to manage in Latin America for a while now but never got the chance.

[noikeee]

June-July 2012

Transfers

I brought in yet another 2 guys on frees:

Kristian Ek (DC/ DM) – There was no way I’d let this signing pass, he’s one of the best players in my whole team now, even some Allsvenskan teams were interested…

Anton Norberg (AM) – I’m not using AMs in my tactic now but this kid looks promising, am retraining him to MC now.

Fixtures

On the back of those two big wins on May, I had two tougher fixtures away to BK Olympic and Ramlösa Sodra next, to my surprise we won both and deservedly so. The good form continued at home with an easy 2-0 over Kvarnby, a slightly dodgier but still good 1-0 over Klagshann, and then an overblown scoreline of 3-0 over Halmia in a match we were very unconvincing and shouldn’t even have won nevermind by 3 goals. Nevertheless that was already a great sequence of 7 wins on a row and we had just reached the top of the table.

Next up was a trip to Högaborgs and it looked like the run had ended when we were 2-0 down after 13 minutes, but remarkably we turned it around within still the 1st half, and the goals kept flying in for a final super result of 2-7. Luck again was on our side when in a tight match at GIF Nike we won 1-0 with a long shot, but the run ended at 9 wins because luck finally deserted us at home to Sölvesborgs, as we failed to get a goal despite dominating all match.

Player on focus

Tom Nymark (AML, ST) – I had completely overlooked him until I gave him his first start vs Eskilsminne IF in May, he made his mark immediately getting an hat-trick as a striker. I moved him to AML the next match and he never left the team since, as he keeps on scoring loads even in that position. 8 goals, 6 assists, 5 man of the match awards in 9 matches – just fabulous form.

Competitions

Div 2 Södra Götaland:

Summary

A fantastic upturn of form saw us win all but one match in these 2 months, and we’ve climbed up the league to the top then a massive 7 points lead. With only 7 matches remaining – the season in Sweden is rather short – it’s hardly inconceivable we could win the league hence get promoted. Can we hold on?

[iHeadHunta x]

Fantastic couple of months.

[deltablue]

Great season so far!

[noikeee]

Fantastic couple of months.

Great season so far!

Thanks! It's been a lot due to our supposed status as underdogs, finally now teams are starting to wizen up to see us as a threat. I could just sit deep and hit them on the counter and there'd be loads of space.

[noikeee]

Torns IF - Youth intake 2012

Best player

Robin Gunnarsson (DC)

Truly awful.

[noikeee]

Last day of the season. We had messed up losing a few matches we shouldn't, hence allowing FC Rosengard back into contention despite an earlier massive lead of 7 points - now down to a mere 2. In fact we would've clinched the title in the previous match if only not for a 89th minute equalizer... As it is, however, we went to Klagshamn's still needing a result. Provided Rosengard would win their match, we'd need a draw unless Rosengard won by 5 goals or more.

Rosengard scored super early in their match putting the pressure on us, but soon we did too, Shala's throughball finding Svensson for the 1st goal. The match then took a turn for the worse when Shala got injured and Klagshamn drew level - but so did Rosengard's opponents.

There would be no more goals in our fixture, but despite us being generally the better side, the fear was always there of a conceded goal that could ruin anything because Kvarnby-Rosengard was proving to be a crazy match. Within 15 minutes Kvarnby scored another 2 making it 3-1, then so did Rosengard, 3-3. At the end Kvarnby gave us a little help winning it 4-3 with a late goal, but it didn't matter as we held on to our draw anyway. Champions and promoted, after being tipped in the pre-season to go down!

[deltablue]

Good thing your current team are strong given the lack of youth.

[noikeee]

August-September 2012

Fixtures

The trip to Malmö to visit Rosengard in early August was a huge match, as the home side were our biggest opponents in the title/promotion race. We held a 7 points lead over them but could let them back into contention if they won, and to my worry they scored early. However we quickly equalized and scored another 2 in the second half, winning the match and practically sealing promotion. We followed that with another win at home vs the less competitive side of Tvaakers, but it was uncharacteristically difficult with only a 87th minute winner.

Then, to my complete surprise, we completely dropped the ball. First was an away draw to Eskilsminne (a team we had hammered 6-1 earlier at home) as we failed to score despite dominating, then home defeat to BK Olympic, and another defeat at Kvarnby’s. Albeit those were two even games and could’ve easily swung our way too, we had lost a ton of points and allowed Rosengard back into contention – we still had the advantage on our side, a win in any of the next 2 matches would be enough but that’s only because Rosengard had drew 0-0 at Eskilsminne’s too.

At home to Ramlösa Södra seemed a perfect match to end the bad run and clinch the title, and although we conceded the first goal, we turned it around still within the first half and looked set to do it… only to concede an 89th minute equalizer taking the title race to the final fixture. There we’d face Klagshamm who were not poor opposition, and I felt uneasy about this, but after a goal each way in the first half, we held on to that and knew with this result Rosengard needed to win by 5 goals in their own difficult match vs Kvarnby. They eventually lost, and so despite our final run of 5 games without winning, we had limped to the finish line. TORNS IF WINS THE DIVISION 2 SÖDRA GÖTALAND AND IS PROMOTED!!

Player on focus

Christoffer Svensson (AMR, AML) – The performance of everyone dipped in this poor end of the season, but winger Chris proved important on return from injury as he scored ultimately decisive goals vs Ramlösa Sodra and Klagshamm in the final 2 matches.

Competitions

Div 2 Södra Götaland:

Summary

This proved to be a lot harder in the end, I suspect it’s due to the opposition finally realizing how much of a threat we were and leaving us less space for us to attack on the counter, but despite this final awful run, we are champions and going up. Ultimately it was the other run of 9 wins from May to July that did it earlier for us.

I’m not sure how much of an achievement this is – we were expected by the media to end rock bottom so going by that it looks great. However with the guys I signed we also have the highest average wages of the division too, and team comparison screens lead me to think we now have one of the best squads in the league. Nevertheless it’s back-to-back promotions for Torns – they were in the unplayable Div 3 last year –, and it was my signings that did it for them. How high can this club go?

[noikeee]

Good thing your current team are strong given the lack of youth.

Even if they were any good, I don't intend to stay here long enough to see them become established players...

[noikeee]

Season review 2012

Tactics and usual starting eleven

The tactical quirks of Sweden played perfectly into my hands once I ended up with this system. We had awful odds for every match and almost every team played 4-4-2 against us, so I could just sit back and hit them on the counter with this tactic, plus shouts of Exploit The Middle, Drop Deeper, Pass Into Space and Stay On Feet. It worked great for a long time, until teams started to get tighter against us at the end of the season.

Alternatively for easier matches I had an attacking flat 4-4-2 with ML pushed up to AML (to accommodate our left wingers who weren’t capable of playing as ML).

Squad

Top 5 key players of the season

5. Luan Rizani (DC) – Shame he ended the season on pretty bad form because he looked great up until then, scored 4 goals too.

4. André Möllestam (DC) – Cracking season from young André who made the centre-back pairing with Luan, until his knee went bust later in the year – it’s probably not a coincidence our performance dipped from that point onwards. A little while ago I even had transfer offers from Allsvenskan sides for him...

3. Fisnik Shala (ST) – He had an absolutely glorious start of the season dominating most matches for us, but then that completely disappeared for the rest of the year despite always playing as lone striker. Still ends with 8 goals and 7 assists but I expected so much more.

2. Christoffer Svensson (AMR, AML) – At the beginning he didn’t convince me, he was inconsistent, he picked up a ridiculous red card that made him suspended for a few matches, and had a few injuries. However he also seemed to get better and better and with 8 goals scored he ended up being one of the most decisive players of the year.

1. Tom Nymark (AML, ST) – I had completely overlooked him at the start, but when I brought him in for the first time as a striker one day Shala was injured, he scored an hat-trick. I pushed him to the left-wing as Shala returned yet he never stopped scoring, ending the season with 10 goals, 9 assists, 6 MOM awards and a 7.68 rating, after a particularly glorious middle part of the season.

Career overview

[b]Season   League                      Cups                       International         Notes[/b]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Torns IF (Sweden)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012     Div.2 Södra Götaland - 1st  n/a                                              Champions, promoted 

[B.W.G]

Congrats on winning the title

[iHeadHunta x]

Congratulations on title victory.

[JackJCFC]

Good luck with this, looks like you've had a great start, congrats!

[AK22]

Promotion in your first season. Can't ask for more than that!

[noikeee]

Congrats on winning the title

Congratulations on title victory.

Good luck with this, looks like you've had a great start, congrats!

Promotion in your first season. Can't ask for more than that!

Thanks everyone, I'm quite happy with this first season, wasn't quite expecting this already.

[noikeee]

Great news even if it's something gradual over the season, because we've been gradually slipping in the books and now had a worrying 12.5K€ negative bank balance.

[noikeee]

Now this is something I asked the board for, the transfer market seems a bit rubbish this season compared to last year so I'm exploring an alternative way of getting players, hopefully Hacken will have a couple decent youngsters they could send our way, they were the only Allsvenskan side my board could seal a deal with.

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2013

Transfers

I didn’t manage to get anyone on loan from new parent club BK Häcken, however my board is strangely wise and has let me scout a few select distant nations including... Brazil. And once I sent one of my 2 scouts there he picked up loads of great talents so I just had to pick a few up on frees.

Key signings:

Jurandir da Silva (AMC / ST) – Looks set to be the new big star of my side, he is better as AMC theoretically but I’m intending to use him as my complete forward.

Thiaguinho (DR / WBR) – Very nice attacking fullback but I had found a lad who was even better, however rejected the contract at the very last minute…

Tadeu Terra (AMR / AMC) – Quite the creative technical wizard and his first match promised a lot making a magnificent debut in the cup.

Marquinhos (AMC / MC) – Good central playmaker.

Jairo (DM / MC) – Very good at destroying in the middle of the park.

Also signed:

Mauro Saez Jarpa (DL) – doesn’t show up on the screenie because he arrived in October.

Robert Wennberg (DR)

Jean Silva (AMR)

Sebastian Holmén (DC)

Aday Sleyman (GK)

I didn’t let go anyone important bar maybe Jörgen Nilsson who was my regular right-back, but my new options are much better now.

Finances

The TV money has balanced the balance greatly already, we’re back to the black albeit only a positive bank balance of 2.7K€. Wage budget is 14.2K€/month but I’m using only 10.3K€ of that, and the transfer budget of 6.3K will remain unused.

The full squad for the 2013 season

This is looking bloody great. It’s a bit weird to see the team split between the Swedes and the Brazilians, but it’s a massive step up in class from last year thanks to the new lot from down there in South America.

Fixtures

As always disregard the friendlies, I let the assman take care of that.

In the cup, which we didn’t play last year but this time did qualify for, our first opponents were, thanks to the luck of draw, last season’s Div 2 title rivals FC Rosengard. It was an awful pre-season encounter with a scrappy goal each then penalties, when everyone scored bar the last Rosengard guy.

Next up were Kristianstads from our division, at home. I had no idea what to expect and was shocked to see us hammer them 4-0, our attack working magnificently with all the new Brazilians looking sharp. We did have good finishing on our side but did deserve this.

Competitions

Division 1 Södra: starts mid-April.

Svenska Cupen: through to the 2nd round after beating Kristianstads 4-0 at home.

Summary

We did find great players in the transfer market, and the team looked very bright on our first few outings in the cup. An optimistic mood reigns around Torns IF – even if the media prediction is a dead last 14th and our promotion odds are 100 to 1. I think the bookies are smoking dodgy stuff, I want and expect to be well clear of the drop zone.

[noikeee]

April-June 2013

Fixtures

We won the last 3 friendlies but I didn’t control the team in any so it meant little. Next up was a very difficult cup tie away to Brommapojkarna, from 1 division above us. We conceded an early goal but remarkably evened out the game in the 2nd half and equalized through a Svensson long shot, taking it to extra time. We were 6 minutes from penalties when eventually conceded the winner – a 2-1 defeat ended our cup run but was a very creditable result.

In the league, however, we got a very rude awakening with a massive 4-1 home defeat to Varbergs, conceding the final 3 goals in the last 15 minutes, and that was followed by another heavy defeat, 3-1 at Norrby. Then out of the blue we absolutely battered Karlstad 4-0 and all seemed right again, even more so when we repeated the result winning 4-0 at Ljungskile.. but then my computer freezed and I had to replay the match – 1-0 loss and Svensson who had scored a Messi-esque supergoal in my first try instead picked up a 3 month injury. Ouch.

I just couldn’t imagine what would come next – a long streak of games where everything would go wrong. Vs Örgryte at home we equalized only to concede again and lose, at Utsiktens we conceded vs 10 men, vs Oddevold we were outplayed at home and lost 3-1, at Motala better chances meant nothing as we lost 1-0 anyway, at Kristianstads we had the lead and dropped it. 6 consecutive defeats. A 7th looked likely when we were both 1 goal down and 1 man down vs Skövde but remarkably we turned it around with a 90th minute Jean Silva winner. Miraculous, and hosting dead last Trollhättan the next match could propel us to another win and maybe some sort of recovery – if only Fisnik Shala wouldn’t miss 3 sitters for us. 0-0, the perfect example of how luck just isn’t on our side.

Player on focus

Jairo (DM) – Has looked the least poor of my players, the tough Brazilian DM has come out of this shambles with some credit still. Chris Svensson looked on brilliant shape on the wings but injury has cut his beginning of the season short.

Competitions

Division 1 Södra:

Svenska Cupen: beaten 1-2 after extra time by Superttan side Brommapojkarna in the 2nd round.

Summary

Last update I wrote “I expect to be well clear of the drop zone”. So you can imagine I am shocked! It’s a total disaster as we sit 6 points away from safety - I am very worried.

[noikeee]

July-August 2013

Transfers

Jéferson (GK) – I suspected my goalie Sebastian Frick was the reason of why I was conceding so many goals, so I hired a Brazilian to replace him. Tried him once and he conceded 4 – don’t think I’ll try him again so soon.

To accommodate this new signing, 3rd choice keeper Mirza Kuko was let go for free to IFK Hässleholm.

Fixtures

It was back to normal business away to Limhann Bunkeflo – tight game, could go either way, goes against us of course. However, we bounced back nicely from that with a 2-1 win at the home of troubled Assyriska, Jean Silva again with an injury time winner. We just can’t get into any sort of rhythm though and had to face the table leaders away next, so an expected 3-1 loss ensued.

Next were 3 key matches that could decide a lot as we faced a couple of teams directly above us. The first, we nearly beat Norrby but conceded a 82nd minute equalizer. The second, against a more competitive Ljungskile side, we scored first again but let them turn around, 2-1 defeat. And the third, at Karlstad, heavy 4-1 loss, awful performance. That’s it, we’re relegated, surely?

Not so fast, because somehow we went to Örgryte’s, 2nd in the table, and turned the game around in our favour to claim a massive 2-1 win, Jurandir with a brace. Then to my shock we blasted Utsikens 4-0 at home with the usually misfiring Shala nabbing an hat-trick. And this should’ve been a trio of wins as we were much better than Oddevold next, but typically their finishing was too good – or our defending/goalkeeping lets in too many goals from too few chances – and we lost 3-2.

Player on focus

Fisnik Shala (ST) – Chance wasted after chance wasted had been the story of Fisnik’s season so far, but suddenly he burst into life with 5 goals in the last 4 matches. Bit too late buddy.

Young left-back Niklas Andersén has been doing fine too, he scored his first 2 career goals in July and has been collecting a few MOM awards.

Competitions

Division 1 Södra:

Svenska Cupen: beaten 1-2 after extra time by Superttan side Brommapojkarna in the 2nd round.

Summary

We’re still 5 points down and time is running out, this is getting desperate. However, our run-in is actually pretty encouraging, as we meet Kristianstads, Trollhättan and Assyriska as 3 of the 6 remaining matches. And we’ve been playing a little better recently. Can we still pull a miracle and avoid the drop?

[noikeee]

Torns IF - Youth intake 2013

Best player

Linus Papavramidis (MC / MR, AMRC)

This lot has a great future, at the local supermarket or the nearest construction site. Footballers they certainly aren't.

[noikeee]

I think I lost my golden chance to avoid relegation in this match. We had done great to pick up 2 wins and 1 draw leading into this, however teams ahead of us were not losing many points, this particular opposition IF Limhann Bunkeflo were still 4 points ahead of us so if we beat them that'd be down to just 1.

I probably made a tactical mistake to stick to the tactics I've used the last few matches - very tight and on the counter. Limhann were happy to sit back too so it ended a very dull stalemate. I was afraid to turn it into more expansive instructions though as most times I've done that I've paid with conceded goals.

As it stands we're 3 points behind Kristianstads:

Our remaining 2 matches are against both relegated sides, Assyriska and Trollhättan. Goal difference is the decider and on our side so all we need is 3 more points from these matches than Kristianstads get - unfortunately they also have 2 easy matches, both at home to Assyriska and Norrby. Fingers crossed.

[noikeee]

Rejected. Whatever happens, even if we somehow still manage to stay up, I want to move, even if the alternatives at this stage of my career aren't looking great. I've already done my part by not jumping ship midway through the season, it's my responsibility if we go down.

[noikeee]

This was really tougher than it should've been, given the standard of opposition (last placed), the fact we played against 10 men most of the 2nd half after their injuries, and the sheer amount of chances we had - 6-0 in CCCs!!! I did decide this time to switch to more expansive tactics once we were a goal down and it paid off.

Kristianstads beat Assyriska to my dismay, but others dropped points and strangely it's all quite open for the last match. This is how it stands:

And the final fixtures:

All we need is to beat Assyriska. Provided we do that, whichever result happens on Kristianstads-Norrby will relegate either one of those teams.

I certainly didn't expect to still arrive at the final fixture and only depend on our own result! But we still need to win: it's win or go down.

[noikeee]

YESS!!!!!!! Torns stay up!!! I'm delighted, this was one of the most tense and most rewarding season finales I've ever had on FM. Okay this last match doesn't look anything special as we were up from the 9th minute and dominated, but I still had a massive scare midway through the 2nd half when a cross bounced off one of my defenders into goal, keeper saved it on the line but then dropped it and it nearly went in again! Ultimately Jurandir won it for us, scored the opener in a freekick then assisted both Shala goals after Shala came in from the bench.

We needed a whole 14 points from the last 6 matches to stay up on goal difference but we did it!! Norrby drew at Kristianstads and went down in our place.

I have rejected a new contract but... there's not a lot of options for me - lower league Scotland or Portugal maybe? I may change my mind and ask for a renewal - I certainly enjoyed saving Torns from relegation. Will sleep on it.

[DazRTaylor]

Congratulations on survival!

[AK22]

It seems like it was a lot tougher in the higher division than expected, but you did well to hold your nerve and avoid relegation on the final day. As you said in my thread, it was an extremely tense ending!

Might be worth one more season then?

[noikeee]

Congratulations on survival!

Thanks, like I said it was one of the most rewarding seasons I've had in FM.

It seems like it was a lot tougher in the higher division than expected, but you did well to hold your nerve and avoid relegation on the final day. As you said in my thread, it was an extremely tense ending!

Might be worth one more season then?

I actually wasn't referring to this but to one occasion in my FM11 career playing as Roma when I won the title because Napoli lost points to some random smaller team in the final day... then the exact same happened in FM12 as Real Madrid, Barça lost points in the final day and handed me the title. Your Celtic chokers were just a more extreme example of that.

As for the next season - yes!

The fact the season had an happy ending certainly helped, but the main reason for renewal was that I just didn't have many options with the leagues I've loaded. I don't feel I've earned moving to a 2nd tier anywhere unless it was a really small nation (ex. something like Malta) but I don't have any of those loaded. Nations with 3 and 4 levels are: Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden. Most of those nations even on the 3rd and 4th tiers the clubs are much bigger than the Swedish. Even Scotland I went to check and the smallest club on the 3rd division has a bigger reputation than Torns!

So all my options were: moving to another Swedish club, or going back home to Portugal. Think I'll rather stay here and build Torns a bit then - though it's looking very difficult.

[noikeee]

September-October 2013

Transfers

Christoffer Mbamba (MR / AMR, ST) – This pacey kid was available on a free and proved to be an inspired late signing. I played him as striker and he scored 3 in the 5 matches he played in.

Fixtures

Desperate to still somehow salvage survival, we had to win a lot to do so. So it was very disheartening to concede a 90th minute penalty equalizer at home to Motala – it felt like the seal in our relegation. However, we then went to win 3-2 at Skövde and then beat relegation rivals Kristianstads 3-1 at home. Now, could we… certainly not?

We had a golden chance to sink Limhann Bunkeflo into the scrap but we drew 0-0 instead and again, it felt like game over – we needed to win the remainder 2 matches and other teams would have to slip now. We were going to face 2 already relegated sides though, and so it happened. 3-2 at Trollhättan and suddenly mathematical quirks meant all we needed was a home win to Assyriska. We beat them 3-0 and somehow pulled off the miracle.

Player on focus

Jurandir da Silva (AMC) – This moody b*stard had been a failure earlier on as a striker, but on my new 4-2-3-1, as a Trequartista, he decided to start showing his mad skillZ. 1 goal + 2 assists vs Kristianstads, then another 1 goal + 2 assists in the decider vs Assyriska.

Competitions

Division 1 Södra:

Svenska Cupen: beaten 1-2 after extra time by Superttan side Brommapojkarna in the 2nd round.

Summary

We had to get 14 points in the final 6 matches and still only just did it on goal difference. That should tell you how close and miraculous this was. I had completely lost my faith at several different points... then there’d be the tiniest bit of hope. But it has happened, it’s real: Torns stay in the Division 1 for another year.

[noikeee]

Season review 2013

Tactics and usual starting eleven

I insisted in last season’s 4-3-3 earlier but it wasn’t working, so eventually I switched to a 4-2-3-1, and this is the version that I used at the end of the season. Shouts would be Pass Into Space + Get Ball Forward + Play Narrower + Work Ball Into Box. The idea is sit back and hit them quickly with pace with the 4 advanced players.

Alternatively when needing a goal I’d switch strategy to Control and move pressing to “More Often”.

Squad

Top 5 key players of the season

5. Fisnik Shala (ST) – Top scorer with 10 goals, when he only played about half the minutes of the season, is pretty impressive. However almost all of them came at the very end when we were playing well, because before his performance was absolutely shocking, missing easy goal after easy goal.

4. Christoffer Svensson (AMR, AML) – I really wish he wasn’t so bloody injury prone, but I’ve found him to be a bit moody too. Can dominate a game sometimes but those days are rare. 7 assists though.

3. Niklas Andersén (DL, DR) – I knew this kid was great from day 1, he was one of the first I tried to sign the moment I arrived at Torns, but it took a while to extract his full potential. He simply had a brilliant season with 5 MOM awards, despite all other defenders around him looking like clowns on meth.

2. Jurandir da Silva (AMC, ST) – This season’s big failure as a forward… until I switched to the 4-2-3-1 and made him the AMC Trequartista. Then boom, he delivered. Still very inconsistent but was the driving force of our miraculous comeback and ends with 8 goals, 9 assists.

1. Jairo (DM) – 0 goals, just 1 assist. Playing as DM of all positions. That somehow despite that, he still ends up with the highest average rating of the entire team, speaks volumes of how good he was – what a great midfield destroyer. I always felt a lot more uncomfortable heading into a game when he was suspended or injured!

Career overview

[b]Season   League                      Cups                       International         Notes[/b]
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Torns IF (Sweden)
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2012     Div.2 Södra Götaland - 1st  n/a                        n/a                   Champions, promoted
2013     Div.1 Södra - 11th          Svenska Cupen 2nd rnd      n/a                   Avoided relegation

[deltablue]

That was a close thing!

[B.W.G]

Far too close for my liking but you live to fight another day