"You're not gonna believe this. He killed 16 Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator"

[deltablue]

Really been tearing the big boys apart!

[Dexter_Morgan]

I'm glad the CL campaign has been kind to us because with injuries and our defending due to them the big boys would be tearing us apart at the minute

[cerud]

There's no team capable of stopping you!

[Jason the Yank]

The draws for the other Serbian clubs aren't the worst in the world, there's a clear favourite in each group but 2nd is there for anyone in both. In fact the Serbian clubs have it tougher in the Europa with teams like Liverpool and Barca in their groups

Thought you said they had it tougher in the Europa? :confused:

[withnail316]

Absolutely flying...

[Dexter_Morgan]

Red Star Belgrade 2024/25 Mid Season Review

Miscellaneous

[url="Show more"]Glavina[/url] - Tatic

Pretty happy with the way it's gone so far. The defending has been a bit poor at times but i've been playing kids in the full back roles and we've had injuries for the first half of the season which has hopefully calmed down now just in time for the business end of the season.

I've not added any signings as i've decided to step down at the end of the year and with £60M in the bank as it stands and a good selection of youngsters signed already i'm confident that the club can stay at a good level even if a few players do move on.

Our CL Knockout games sees up against AC Milan (again). Novi Sad made it out of their group also and will play Roma but Partizan finished 3rd. A lot of big nations had clubs not make it through, only Real from Spain, Germany and Italy are the only nations with more than 2 clubs from their nation qualify for the latter rounds which could mean a big shake up in the rankings.

[B.W.G]

Going brilliantly so far,undefeated in the league and Club World Cup champions,well done

[Dexter_Morgan]

Pretty safe passage in the Champions League semi final where we will play Man City. The defending from both sides in the second leg of the Palermo game was a joke but hopefully we've got that out of our system for the rest of the season now

Two decent players from the youth intake. Not in areas that were particularly needed at this moment but once the fire sale inevitably starts on my departure then they will come in handy.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Red Star Belgrade 2024/25 Review

Miscellaneous

Finances - Squad Overview - Glavina - Letocha - Vucetic

Not quite the flowing football of last season (and certainly not the defending) but we did enough to clean up for the second year in a row and on the whole nobody really threatened us. The club has come a long way in my 5 seasons, we've gone from being sat in 10th position in the 2nd division when I took charge to 4 times league and cup winners, 3 times champions league winners, 2 times world champions and 2 times super cup winners plus of course the second division title which is probably my best trophy haul ever in such a short time.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Surprisingly no rise in the rankings, but Serbia is now the second best nation behind the iron curtain. Can't really work out the lack of big changes considering the season the big clubs had.

Big boost in the clubs reputation however as we moved up to continental which is well overdue. Hopefully that will encourage players to stay as there's not many better clubs they can go to now.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Tycoon Watch

FC Minsk - Usual top position followed by failure in Europe. Spent £9.75M last year recouping £7M.

RNK Split - Improvement again finishing 3rd, still a long way behind Dinamo and Hajduk but it seems their spree of £6M on a couple of players has helped stop the rot they were in danger of getting in.

Crikvenica - One extreme to another with this club, you may remember they were close to promotion last season. Well this year they were close to relegation

FK Trinek - Seems that they aren't getting the signings to get beyond mid table, they spent enough mind, almost £7M on players. Shocking management by the AI really.

Spartak Nalchik - Sold for £10M to a local businessman during the season, strangely enough though it was their best season since returning to the top flight as they finished in 8th. I won't be reporting on them any more now the tycoon has gone.

Anji Makhachkala - I thought i'd add this as it's a big one to have changes. A director paid £140M to take over the club, i'm assuming this is the end of their big spending.

Former Club Watch

FC Sevastopol - A single point off promotion.

Videoton - Champions by a point

Dinamo Bucharest - Finished 5th, quite a drop after being champions again the season before.

Hajduk Split - 2nd again.

[AcidBurn]

Another brilliant season, any plans to move on?

[deltablue]

Again, excellent.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Cheers AcidBurn. I've just retired as I finished the write up. Was hoping to leave them with improved youth recruitment and a commercial feeder club to give a bit of a boost but both failed

I'm not sure where i'll go next but a mid table/underachieving club is my target if i'm honest, I don't want to be out of work too long but after the Hajduk fiasco I won't make the mistake of taking a club just for the sake of it again.

I've added China, Australia, S. Korea and Indonesia now, it's more for players but it's also an option if nothing suitable turns up in the Iron Curtain.

[AcidBurn]

You had great success at Red Star, good luck where ever you end up next.

[B.W.G]

Another excellent season,will be interesting where you end up next.

[Dexter_Morgan]

I'm Not Spartacus..... I'm Sparta Prague

I didn't really want a top of division club but i'd got to June without a suitable club (I had my eye on a few that kept getting to precarious status and they suddenly hit form) so didn't want to waste another couple of months after a year out. Sparta had lost their manager Fotis Manitis to Deportivo La Coruna with a game to go and it was too good a job to turn down.

You may remember in my last season at Belgrade they got out of the same Champions League group as me, well they did it again last season and made the quarter finals so this side doesn't seem a million miles off winning it which as it's a big club will be my aim rather than a title dash and run because they won it easily last year, my first game in charge was against the 2nd placed club in the division and this was the result

Which indicates winning a title alone at this club isn't really an achievement, so i'll have a 3 year stint at trying to win the CL, as soon as it's won or 3 years are up i'll be off, no super cups or WCC's for the time being just league titles and CL's where possible before moving on.

I've inherited what looks like some decent talent already signed by the previous manager (Malek and Horava are my signings though)

I'm working on a few others that i'll post later. I intend to make use of talent already at the club (there's a good looking winger just about to return from a loan at Partizan Belgrade) and sign a fair few under 20's and make use of a playable B team.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Coefficients

So Serbia is now the strongest country behind the iron curtain, a few other nations are getting close to breaking the top 10 hopefully by the end of the decade 4 countries in that top 10 can be achieved.

Tycoon Watch

RNK Split - I may have spoke too soon about their change in fortune, they sold more than they spent (£12M out, £5M in) and finished 8th, 6 points off relegation.

FC Minsk - A big shock in Belarus as they finished 2nd and not to one of the bigger clubs either, Dnepr Mogilev romped it by 11 points.

Crikvenica - Relegated. Even if they earn promotion it's pointless talking about them anymore as this tycoon is obviously bobbins

Former Club Watch

FC Sevastopol - Nowhere near a promotion push this time and finished 8th

Videoton - Disappointing 6th

Dinamo Bucharest - Champions again.

Hadjuk Split - Miles off the pace in 3rd

Red Star Belgrade - Lost a few players as expected for a total of £70M but spent £50M themselves and won the league, European Super cup, WCC Cup and the Serbian Cup, knocked out of the CL in the quarter finals by eventual winners Roma.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I won't be around too long to get the benefits of it and it certainly wasn't something I asked for but if I can keep the club successful then that new stadium is just the kind of thing that would help the club grow even more.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Pretty happy with all the signings (by me and the previous manager) Would have liked a keeper but there's still time to find one. They've been split between the first and B team so they get games, as I said this is a 3 year plan so as long as we compete for the league anything else is a bonus but in 2 seasons time i'm hoping along with any other signings that may happen along the way that these kids are pretty much ready to play against the big boys. This current XI isn't too far away but there is weaknesses and some aren't going to get much better so using the B team and sticking more or less with the original squad this year is a great option that you don't often get on FM.

First trophy of the season goes to us.

Big changes to the DB too, in comes Greece, Turkey, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico, and Denmark, i'm hoping these additions adds new realistic talent to poach along with last years additions, got 19 scouts covering pretty much every playable region now so hopefully 6 months down the line there'll be some more players to add.

[elbilly]

Wow, awesome career so far especially breaking the stranglehold of the big nations in the ECL:applause:

Looks like you've signed some quality youngsters for SP too. Hiemer looks a beast

[Dexter_Morgan]

Not done a mid season report because I was in a stop about United last night But currently coming up to April and going well, we've got through to the CL quarters (draw due in a few days in game), top of the league and are in the cup semi final. I've changed my mind about staying on at Sparta though and will leave at the end of the season.

I've added more leagues, all divisions except England, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Belgium and France where it's just the top so I may go further afield for a year or 2 and experience a league i've never been in before. The rest of Asia will be loaded by the end of the year too.

[B.W.G]

Best of luck in the Czech Republic,will be interesting to see where you will go to with those leagues loaded!

[Dexter_Morgan]

Obviously this is going away a bit from my original plan but i've felt a bit restricted since I left Red Star and i'm not really enjoying Sparta Prague as much as I usually do when I have a save with them, I think becoming too familiar with the players in Europe probably plays a part in it as i've got loads of players on a shortlist that would come with no problem, so going to another continent for a while will seem like starting all over again and when I do head back to Europe I won't be as familiar and it should be like a fresh challenge

[Dexter_Morgan]

I didn't really expect to get through that tie so it was a good little bonus, we have Spurs in the semi final next in what is a busy few weeks (title hunt and domestic cup semis to play). I expect Spurs to beat us but the signs are we will give them a game as long as we can keep players fit.

Does anyone know how to get the match info at the end of the game to look like it did on my previous posts? God knows why it's changed but i'm assuming as I only put the new patch on today that it has something to do with that :confused:

[iHeadHunta x]

Good win against the Geordies!

[Dexter_Morgan]

Cheers, had to keep B.W.G happy didn't I? Unfortunately we couldn't do it again against Spurs but we gave it a go and should have won the home leg really.

We did manage to win the cup though

Just a matter of finishing the league off now, it's been really close this season.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Sparta Prague 2026/27 Review

Miscellaneous

Trophies -Finances - Cerny - Goroso - Stehlik

I'm happy with how the season went, it was quite a tough one though as we were pushed to the last few games. In Europe we probably went a round further than expected but it was a good campaign again and it seems this team isn't a million miles away from winning it, the signings I made will hopefully stay and let the club achieve that. I did have the intention of getting a CL with Sparta but with them being dominant already and having 2 good CL campaigns in recent seasons it just didn't feel like it was my work so I didn't enjoy it as much as I usually do when I have a save with them.

As soon as the last game was played Iresigned. I have no idea where i'll end up bar it being outside of Europe, but the club will have to have a half decent youth setup at least wherever I go, bar that I just want to get straight in to the next role.

[Dexter_Morgan]

I'll do the write up for coefficients ect later or tomorrow. One thing that has happened is a new tycoon club, it's the first one for a few years.

[cerud]

Pretty simple Champions League qualification Congrats on the league.

[B.W.G]

Was a very good season with Sparta Prague

[Dexter_Morgan]

Even though I have moved away from Eastern Europe i'll still be reporting on the progress of the Iron Curtain because that was the initial aim in the thread and one i'll be going back to at some stage, it's just that at this moment in time I felt the game was going a bit stale due to the amount of good regens around in Europe and with my rep and the type of job I kept seeming to take on it was pretty easy to attract players. A step away from the area for a while will help make it more challenging again when I do return. Another thing is I think it'll be interesting to see how Romania and Serbia in particular fare left to their own devices for a while without having me build another divisions rep at another club.

Coefficients

Whilst the divisions themselves are only seeming to make slow progress there has been a steady increase of clubs from the iron curtain not only making it in to the top 100 but gradually moving in to the top 50-60 mark, the top 20 seems hard to break in to but the signs are promising.

Tycoon Watch

RNK Split - They seem to have one bad season followed by a good one, this year it was time for a good one finishing 3rd, Dinamo have only failed to win the title in 2017 and 2019 so far, if RNK were to ever compete properly for the title I get the feeling that it would have happened within the first 3 years as the spending has been well below their average in the first few years. A human manager would have been able to nail that division with the resources they had to begin with.

FC Minsk - Finished a surprising 4th, they spent £12M on players only recouping £5M so that season was a shock as they've more or less nailed every season where they've spent quite a bit. They are challenging this season though after splashing another £11M on players.

FK Trinec - As you can tell last season was their best so far under the tycoon finishing 4th, they spent £6.75M on players and it looks like they mean business this year as they lead the table by 9 points at time of writing.

Former Club Watch

FC Sevastopol - Finished a disappointing 11th.

Videoton - 6th this time around, but it was a pretty close league with only 12 points separating the top 8.

Dinamo Bucharest - Champions again and had their first decent Champions League campaign for a while reaching the quarter finals.

Hadjuk Split - 2nd again

Red Star Belgrade - Champions and cup winners, only make the first knockout of the CL where United knocked them out.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Bags Packed, Destination - South Korea

I was offered bigger jobs more or less from the day I left Sparta Prague but bar Sevastopol I haven't really had an average club. Granted each team i've taken on has needed work doing to them but they've been one of the big clubs so I decided before I even left Sparta that as long as there is either decent youth coaching or recruitment then the next club would be one with a bit less history so I can make my own mark on the club. With only the 2013 Korean League Cup to their name and sitting in 13th position Gyeongnam FC was just the sort of challenge I wanted.

There was no danger of us being relegated luckily as the squad is down to the bare bones, hugely unbalanced and in all honesty not very good

This season has just been about getting through it, sorting my staff out which i've just about managed now bar sacking my ass man in the close season and getting new faces in for next year which i've already started on. League rules means only 4 foreigners are allowed, luckily there wasn't any in the squad so i've used that room to bring 4 frees in for next season and i've signed 3 transfer listed domestic players for a total of £35k. The aim for next year is just to make the top half of the league split as there are more powerful teams than us even in this bottom half, so a title push is very unlikely for a while. I'll do a report of transfers and how we finished once the season is over and any more signings are brought in (there's a few domestic players contracts running out but I can't approach them until the 1st of Jan)

[B.W.G]

Best of luck in South Korea,looks like you've already noticed the problem with teams outside the big teams

[Dexter_Morgan]

Cheers. I've hired a director of football to help me a bit which I don't like doing To be fair he found me a cracking south African forward (for this level) on a free, I have 3 weeks to find a midfielder now after 2 of them went off for national service

[deltablue]

Interesting to see if you can bring your magic touch to Korea.

[B.W.G]

That's the down side to South Korea,I'm guessing they probably had your midfielders join Sangju for their two years service.Looking forward to see how you do though see as you've had so much success in Eastern Europe!

[Dexter_Morgan]

Gyeongnam FC 2027 Review

Not the best start in the world but as I posted above the squad was paper thin so I couldn't really do much and players were often out of position so we just plodded along really and with the players being used to a 3 at the back formation as well it was a big change in tactics for them too.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Interesting to see if you can bring your magic touch to Korea.

I'm hoping so, got all of Asia playable now so I may do a bit of hopping about to help with FMCU trophy count until I feel ready to go back to Europe. Wouldn't mind going to a club in Chongqing and have a few years there to see how big I could make a club. With 28M people in the Municipality it could be an interesting experiment (though i'm tempted to think about doing a separate save for something like that)

That's the down side to South Korea,I'm guessing they probably had your midfielders join Sangju for their two years service.Looking forward to see how you do though see as you've had so much success in Eastern Europe!

Yes they went to Sangju, it's a pain because it was in the position we are least stocked on but everyone has to deal with it at some point so I can't moan too much.

These are the best of my 10 signings, the non Koreans were signed by my DOF.

I'm quite surprised at just how many Europeans have been offered to me actually, it seems like an agent is bothering me every day, something which I never really had while in Europe.

My search for a new ass man was probably the easiest ever, a promotion from within for a player who has been with the club for almost 17 years and looking at his stats already it was an easy choice to make.

[elbilly]

Nice, and unexpected move to Asia. Should be interesting to see if you can make them a force both in the region and compete at the CWC. Good luck.

[noikeee]

I skimmed over this thread one of these days but forgot to post, absolutely extraordinary job with Red Star, took them to European glory in no time and then 3 consecutive Champions Leagues. Ridiculous.

Pretty nice year with Sparta Prague as well, semi-final with them would've been a great achievement at any other point but not next to your Red Star and Dinamo Bucharest glory!

In South Korea I am a bit shocked the first year was average after all that success in Eastern Europe, but am sure you'll be quick to dominate Asia.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Nice, and unexpected move to Asia. Should be interesting to see if you can make them a force both in the region and compete at the CWC. Good luck.

Thanks, as Europe was getting a bit stale I fancied a move away for a bit and thought trying a few in Asia for a while would be a nice break as i've only ever had a few years in China on the last FM so i'll probably explore a few leagues and find a club to go for the CWC with just before I plan a move back to Europe.

I skimmed over this thread one of these days but forgot to post, absolutely extraordinary job with Red Star, took them to European glory in no time and then 3 consecutive Champions Leagues. Ridiculous.

Pretty nice year with Sparta Prague as well, semi-final with them would've been a great achievement at any other point but not next to your Red Star and Dinamo Bucharest glory!

In South Korea I am a bit shocked the first year was average after all that success in Eastern Europe, but am sure you'll be quick to dominate Asia.

Thanks noikeee, those first few months here we tough due to the lack of numbers in the squad, thankfully with the additions this year has been a big improvement. My aim in Asia is to take poor sides on as i've had instant success everywhere i've been and it's got a bit boring for me so I imagine people reading would like to see a bit of a struggle themselves for a change

[Dexter_Morgan]

Gyeongnam FC 2028 Mid Season Review

Ouattara - Yoon - Seong

Happy with the way things have gone so far, I didn't expect to be be this high up at the start of the season and considering how Chunnam Dragons have been blitzing most teams we've done well to get anywhere near them even though they have a game in hand (as I typed this we're on level points now and are level on goals scored and conceded) let alone hammer them the way we did.

I think we can give the title a push this season now because it seems like a lot of squads are short on players, i've often seen benches with only 1 or 2 on them in the opposition screen before kick off (even Chunnam Dragons only had 4 in our game against them) and we seem to play a lot better in periods where there is at least 2 games a week which is probably because i've been managing the squad so there's no fatigue.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Coefficients

No major changes to last year really, I get the feeling that a lot of the nations will more or less stand still without a human manager to boost them.

Tycoon Watch

RNK Split - 3rd for the second season in a row after not really spending much £2.5M

FC Minsk - 2nd, lost the title to Gomel by 3 points. What is really surprising in that division is the way BATE are declining. Initially they invested heavily in the stadium to increase revenue and then moved in to the 34k Pintus stadium in 2020, but this year they are in danger of going down, i'm wondering if their investments in facilities rather than players has backfired.

FK Trinec - After years of under achieving they seem to have got their act together, it seems like investing in the facilities 1st and playing a long term game is starting to pay off as they improved on last seasons 4th place to finish 2nd behind Sparta Prague by 2 points.

Former Club Watch

FC Sevastopol - More mid table obscurity for them finishing in 6th. For the first time i'm regretting not staying there a bit longer now and fighting it out with the board, I think i'd have been able to make them at least a solid Premier Division club if i'd have stuck it out for 2 years. Maybe i'll go back one day and put it right.

Videoton - 2nd, only 3 points from winning the title that has eluded them for a while now.

Dinamo Bucharest - Nicked the title by a single point.

Hadjuk Split - Their usual 2nd place.

Red Star Belgrade - The usual championship title for the club along with a cup win. They had a bit better season in Europe this year beating Chelsea, Leverkusen and Shaktar in the group stage then United in the 1st knockout round so it is a bit of a shock that Porto in the quarter final eliminated them.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Gyeongnam FC 2028 Review

Abramczik - Yoon-Seong

We held our nerve to complete a double, for a while we started to fade away a little instead of what I thought would be a romp towards the title. We got there though and the club has 2 trophies to it's name after winning nothing in the previous 22 years of it's history, so i'm glad to have finally managed to achieve something for a club that wished for silverware rather than the rest of my career where it was more or less expected.

With the title in the bag I resigned from the post. I've hinted at wanting to win as many new trophies in Asia as I can and I think it's how I want to carry on. The ACL isn't that important to me at the minute, I do want to win it before I leave the shores but new leagues is my goal for now.

[B.W.G]

Congrats on winning the double

[Dexter_Morgan]

Not For All The Tea In China?

*played one fixture before that screenshot

I'm looking forward to this challenge, After 6 months with no decent offers I was getting ready to scrap Asia and head back to Europe so this opportunity turned up at just the right time.

With only one title to their name (2026) it is still a relatively small club in terms of success but there is a lot of potential here, a 51,000 capacity stadium is obviously a good amount and a decent size area to attract people is always a big plus. The squad is very thin (16 players) and the budget is tight so the main thing i'll be working on is getting a few in as cheap as possible to add to the numbers.

[AK22]

You had a brilliant spell with Red Star. I especially enjoyed the 6-5 win over Palermo in your final season there It's also great to see them established as one of the best teams in Europe

I've had quite a lot to catch up on too, but it seems you've had decent success in the Czech Republic and South Korea, and now look in a good position to replicate this in China too. Good luck!

[AcidBurn]

Should be an interesting move, 51,000 capacity stadium not bad at all!

[Dexter_Morgan]

You had a brilliant spell with Red Star. I especially enjoyed the 6-5 win over Palermo in your final season there It's also great to see them established as one of the best teams in Europe

I've had quite a lot to catch up on too, but it seems you've had decent success in the Czech Republic and South Korea, and now look in a good position to replicate this in China too. Good luck!

Cheers mate.

I didn't enjoy that game against Palermo at all Battered them in the first leg and the defence tried their best to throw it away

Should be an interesting move, 51,000 capacity stadium not bad at all!

We've had a surprisingly good start, the problem is the squad is thin. I've added one or 2 who'll join in the transfer window and hopefully find a few more. I've improved the youth coaching and got a decentish HOYD in so i'm hoping we'll produce something there. At the moment the plan is to stay here for a years and head on back to back to Europe but if something in Africa or Austraila turns up then i'd be very tempted to have a shot at those as i've never managed in either, the other countries in Asia aren't really appealing to me for this save, I see them more of somewhere to start at from day 1 in the Rancer challenge or something.

[B.W.G]

Best of luck in China,will you be going for a Asian Champions League win?