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

[Dexter_Morgan]

Thanks lads.

noikeee you're right it is an average team. There's potential there from previous and my signings but this team is far from ideal. We are seriously weak in midfield and have just about been getting away with it

AK22, if anything i'm happier with the performances in Europe so far than the league. We are in a group with Dortmund, Partizan Belgrade and St. Etienne and topping it so far, if we get out of the group i'll be happy.

Not had time to touch the game all week and bar maybe an hour tonight it's going to be slow going for the future now my cast is off and i'm back at work

[Dexter_Morgan]

Dynamo Kyiv August - December 3033 - 34 Mid Season Review

It's always been my intention to come back to this save at some point but at the time of my last post I felt the move to Asia derailed the thread a little and had lost motivation for it. I picked up the save in mid November last night and really got in to enough to decide that it was the right time to continue.

In all honesty I can't remember much about the start of this season but since I picked up I realised that whilst this is a very young and developing squad we are capable of playing really good football and as you can see by the table this is pretty much a 2 horse race for the title already and with a little extra firepower would probably be walking it by now.

To recap my goals for this save I was inspired by Lower League Rules thread from FM12. My aim is to try and get the countries behind the Iron Curtain to the elite of European football. So far whilst i've had a lot of success include 3 CL wins with Red Star Belgrade I haven't managed to get any nation in to the top 5 yet, hopefully at some point I can break that.

I am not setting myself a goal of winning the CL at every club but I do hope to have managed in every country behind the iron curtain apart from German clubs and Finnish clubs.

Here's my history so far.

*NB - I did not move clubs only to go back as the picture suggests with Split, Red Star and Sparta, it's just the way the history shows up on there for some reason.

My current hall of fame ranking

I know quite a lot of you was interested in seeing how this went so hopefully I can achieve the goal of getting 5 nations in the top 5 before I retire.

[elbilly]

Yay one of my favourite threads returns! Good job so far this season, last season champions have really dropped off. Tight Euro group

[Dexter_Morgan]

Yay one of my favourite threads returns! Good job so far this season, last season champions have really dropped off. Tight Euro group

Cheers I'm far from finished with Santa Cruz yet but withnail316s thread and seeing how far AcidBurn got in his inspired me to come back to this because i've never got as far as this in FM before and it seemed a waste to leave it without getting anywhere near my goal.

That Euro group was pretty tough When I restarted we were actually quite comfortable but when I restarted my first game was the hammering by Dortmund and then we only won 1 of the following 2 in the group. The league ended up nearly as close until we pulled away in the last 4-5 games.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Dynamo Kyiv January - May 2033/34

A strange season in all honesty, I think we were efficient rather than outstanding, the goals for column is certainly a let down but I do have to take in to consideration the state of the squad when I took over and the lack of finances to improve it with so in a lot of ways we did well to get the title which was the clubs first for 25 years There are a number of areas which need improving if the club is ever going to challenge for Europe, some positions will eventually be filled by younger players I have either brought in or has been produced by our academy but the majority are probably a season away still from the first team.

The low points for the season are the cup final where we just didn't show up at all, I was really disappointed by that performance and the 6-0 aggregate loss against Porto, those games wasn't really the score that bothered me (could have been a lot worse in the first leg) but the way we just didn't even seem bothered in the return leg, I don't think at any point did the players give it a go.

Three reasonable talents came through this year.

Groznyi

Karpenko

Putilin

Hopefully they can become good enough to challenge in a few seasons time.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Barely a week had passed since my report when this offer came in.

I took a few minutes to think it over because I felt I was at the start of something with Kyiv even though there was lots of work to be done, so it came down to a few factors.

The first being I have never managed in Russia and I have always known at some point in this save I will be going there.

The second was at this stage of my career there was only really ever going to be 2 Russian clubs I would manage (3 at a push) Spartak were one and Rubin were the other (and possibly Dinamo) and bar having the chance to build in Kyiv it could have been any club in the Ukraine I was at and know if need be there's plenty of other clubs I feel I could go to there.

I feel I left Kyiv in a much healthier position than they were in a year and half ago, I had improved the bank balance from £2M to £20M, gave them their first league title for 25 years, got them to a Champions League quarter final and we were very unlucky to face the team that went on to win the trophy by hammering my new club 5-0 in the final add to that we got to a cup final too. There's 6/7 young players in around the first team squad there already with another 4-5 not too far away and a few other potential talents for a few years time, I had already signed replacements for retirements and those who wouldn't renew their contracts so hopefully that team will continue to grow.

As for my new adventure the club seems in a healthy position

With this years sponsorship money about to come through that will improve by £28-29M in the next few weeks so I should have plenty to spend once i've gone through the squad and potential transfer targets properly.

The squad seems pretty strong for this level but they overachieved by getting to the CL final, we have 2 standout players

then a big batch a slight bit below that standard, we seem a bit over packed in some areas so i'll be using those to sell and reinvest to strengthen where needed.

[B.W.G]

Good to see this back,best of luck with Spartak

[withnail316]

Good luck at Spartak. I'd just taken that job when my first Eastern European thread went south, so I never quite got to take on what looks a great job. Hope to see you pick up a few trophies with them.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Good to see this back,best of luck with Spartak

Cheers mate, hoping that this is a good stepping stone to crack the top 5, Russia is the highest ranked out of the Iron Curtain nations which also appealed as bar Serbia I haven't got any country close to challenging that so far, also it seems like I jumped ship in the Ukraine at the right time as they took another big hit in the rankings and the job was hard enough as it was

Good luck at Spartak. I'd just taken that job when my first Eastern European thread went south, so I never quite got to take on what looks a great job. Hope to see you pick up a few trophies with them.

Cheers, this team managed a CL final last year so it isn't a million miles off competing, I feel it is weakest in cover for the defence and a CM short but I still have time and £45M before the window shuts so hopefully I can sort that out (preferably by spending nowhere near the budget I have )

[Dexter_Morgan]

Coefficients

Tycoon Watch

FC Minsk - Really strange season for them, they spent £20M and ended up 6th in the league and out of the Europa at the group stage.

RNK Split - Finished 2nd again in a season where they spent £2.5M but sold over £18M worth of players, also knocked out of the Europa group stage.

FK Trinec - Spent just under £7M and finished 2nd, didn't even make the Europa group stage.

Former Club Watch

FC Sevastopol - Finished above the relegation zone by a point.

Videoton - 2nd again, nothing of note in Europe.

Dinamo Bucharest - Finished 2nd, it's a shame seeing them nowhere near the trophies anymore after all the hard work and solid base I left the club with.

Hajduk Split - 3rd again and made the first knockout of the Europa

Red Star Belgrade - Second place, cup winners and Champions League semi finalists, worth £355M now the highest of any club I have managed and the strongest of any I have managed, I would seriously consider going to back there one day as I loved my time there and in all honesty should have stayed until we cracked the top 5 because this is now a huge club.

Sparta Prague - Champions. Didn't even get out of their CL group or make a Europa knockout spot.

[elbilly]

Oh nice, I can see why you left, it was a good effort in Europe and I get the feeling that the heavy defeat to FCP made you realise the team was years of building away from succeeding in Europe and were happy to take the league title and head to Moscow. Shame you couldn't get the double with the cup! Good luck in Russia!

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow June - August 2034/35

I'm pretty happy with the first few months so far, as I touched up on earlier this was already a reasonable squad that just needs tweaking in places, though the money was there to spend big the quality of players wasn't bar a few Brazilians I missed out on so I went down the route of bringing in younger players and try to develop them (as you know that's something I would always rather do anyway). On the pitch so far it has been worlds apart from Kyiv, goals are flying in all over the place so far and we have been entertaining to watch, obviously it's a lot easier to play this way with the majority of players being at their peak but it has still been nice to see us play that way.

The CL group is a tough one to call as Porto are the European Champions but they lost 4 key players in the summer for a combined total of £87M and only brought 2 in (though at £39.5M and £17.5M they are very good players) and Monaco are French Champions and have just spent £71M in the summer. Still, I think we have a good chance of getting out of the group and that is the aim.

Oh nice, I can see why you left, it was a good effort in Europe and I get the feeling that the heavy defeat to FCP made you realise the team was years of building away from succeeding in Europe and were happy to take the league title and head to Moscow. Shame you couldn't get the double with the cup! Good luck in Russia!

Cheers mate. You was right about the Porto defeat in one sense, I was pretty distraught at the time just how bad we was compared to them, but when I seen how they destroyed Spartak in the final I kind of accepted it and was looking forward to developing the team and was planning ahead with transfers to improve the side, but then out of the blue this job was offered and as it was always one of my preferred destinations in Russia I just couldn't turn it down as I may not have had another chance at 53 years old in game.

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow September - December 2034/35

What a difference a change of team can bring, we have superb going forward and suspect at the back but by god it's been entertaining so far this season. Goals flying in at both ends, chances and incidents galore this feels like a real season and i'm enjoying every minute of it no matter what the result. I know I need to sort my defence out as we will get punished in an important game eventually though. The problem is finding Russians to fit in as the best are at our rivals and I don't have the spare slots available for any foreigners at the minute.

Arak looked good when I seen him and he actually produces too. Barsukov on the other hand has been a disappointment, if he's not picking up suspensions he's injured, i'm glad I have brought in his long term replacement already or we would have been in trouble covering his absences so far.

Playing a weakened team in the final game against Porto may come back to haunt me unfortunately as we drew Barca in the first knockout round of the CL, luckily they have done nothing of note in Europe since 2022 but they are still a name to fear.

With the bit of a gap we have a good cushion to have a go in Europe though, but with that draw I can't really set a target.

[deltablue]

Hopefully you can challenge in Europe with a strong team like that.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Hopefully you can challenge in Europe with a strong team like that.

I'm going to need a semi final at least to have any hope of keeping Russia in a decent position in the rankings, our clubs have been shocking in Europe this season, god knows what has happened to Anzhi, it's hard to believe a team from a half decent standard like this could go so bad in a year. I'm pretty happy that the club has some quality players, we need to add to it but i'm going to let a few of the poorer non Russians go to try and alter that as the prices are ridiculous for many home grown players, the right back I want is playing in the 2nd divison and his club want £20M for him, I refuse to pay that

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow January - March 2034/35

A very good restart to the season highlighted by 2 fantastic displays against Barca, winter breaks always worry me as usually the momentum goes a little but that seemingly isn't the case so far and hopefully it will continue.

A few signings for the future have been made

These fill up a few positions I feel long term could be improved up on and the reports were very encouraging.

From the youth Intake I have taken 2 players on

I'm not too sure how either will turn out but they are hopefully good enough to fill the quota for homegrown players in Europe.

Juventus are next up in the CL who have just knocked out holders Porto so this is a tricky tie.

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow April - June 2034/35

I seem to have underestimated this side quite a lot, to clean up with not many changes shows there wasn't too much wrong with the team. I still think improvements can be made in all areas of the squad and that is something I will continue to do because whilst I am happy with what happened over the season this isn't my side yet and the aim is to have mostly my own personnel before I move on.

It's taken 23 seasons but I have finally got a team to score over 100 goals, considering that it is only a 30 game season I am really happy with that and though we still concede more goals than I would like we still ended up with the best defence. If I can sort that area out then this team could become a huge force.

This was my 5th champions league win and Russia's first ever which i'm proud about, i'd rather not have played Red Star as I have a lot of affection towards them in this save, but with a semi final spot for them last season and being the winners the year before they are obviously still reasonably strong and there was always a chance we would get them. Another landmark in this save is that it was the first all Iron Curtain final.

I intend to keep going with Spartak for a while longer yet, I am getting to the stage where I need to start getting nations dominating Europe and as I said I don't feel like this is my team yet even though I am enjoying it, so i'll probably stay for 2 more seasons before heading off to a new country.

I also have a new stadium request granted, for some reason though it never came up in my inbox so I don't have many details about it bar the fact it's going to take a year.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Coefficients

Some massive jumps this season, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Slovakia especially. The other Russian clubs terrible performances in Europe probably hindered the nations from rising, hopefully this year will be better.

Tycoon Watch

FC Minsk - Didn't spend as much as the previous season (£7M) but retained the title

RNK Split - Finished 2nd again after spending £11.25M. Knocked out of the Europa league by Lyon in the qualifiers

FK Trinec - Didn't spend anything oddly enough, knocked out of the CL qualifiers and didn't make it out of their Europa group.

Former Club Watch

FC Sevastopol - An improved 11th place finish in the 2nd division, would like to see them improve and go up as they have had a horrible time since I left the club.

Videoton - Finished 3rd in a tight division, only 5 points from winning it last season. Made the cup final but lost straight away in the Europa qualifiers.

Dinamo Bucharest - Won the league for the first time in a while which I am pleased about, made the 2nd knockout round of the Europa.

Hajduk Split - 4th and knocked out in the Europa qualifying stage.

Red Star Belgrade - 2nd in every competition.

Sparta Prague - Champions. Made it to the 1st knockout in the CL.

Slovan Bratislava Disappointing 4th (I forgot to include them in the last update, but they were champions the previous season), knocked out of the CL and then didn't make it out of the Europa group.

Dynamo Kyiv - 2nd to Shaktar, finished 3rd in the CL group and then knocked out of the Europa in the first round.

[withnail316]

Great work, man.

[elbilly]

Awesome season, and goals galore, loving life in Russia just a bit??

[Dexter_Morgan]

Great work, man.

Cheers mate.

Awesome season, and goals galore, loving life in Russia just a bit??

Thanks I've been really surprised with just how much fun it's been so far, not just with my side but i've seen 7-5's, 6-3's and other crazy scores all over the place

[deltablue]

Great stuff all round.

[B.W.G]

Excellent season,good to see you kept your fans entertained as well

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow July - August 2035/36

It seems we've picked up the season where we left off. Plenty goals and chances made yet again and pretty much dominating possession too. The one blip was the Rostov game where we could have equaled any of our higher scores if their keeper wasn't in such superb form. I expected a much tougher game against Gijon but we just blew them away from the off in probably the best performance so far in my time at the club.

The transfers I am very happy with, Kuleshov is more one for the future but he'll be getting games once he gets over his injury. Luiz Paulo on a free was a must have, he came to my attention pretty early last season and as soon as I could approach to sign him I made the move before anyone could, I get a feeling he could be an important player for us. Muralha seems to be the center half we were missing last year, he is still young and obviously settling in to a new country so I expect a few mistakes this year but long term he could prove to be a bargain.

Great stuff all round.

Excellent season,good to see you kept your fans entertained as well

Thanks lads. I expected a good league campaign from us but to clean up how we did in the style we did was a pleasant surprise

EDIT: Apologies for the transfers being on their side, god knows what's happened there

[elbilly]

Paolo on a free!! Excellent bargain! Good start, crazy amount of goals!

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow Septmeber - December 2035/36

The goals aren't quite going in at the rate they previously were but we are still getting a reasonable tally and the results and performances so far this season have been impressive. We haven't lost a competitive game for over a year and are absolutely controlling the league.

There are no plans to buy anybody this window but full backs are an area I need to look at and maybe one more CB for next year as we do have a few aging players in those positions.

Paolo on a free!! Excellent bargain! Good start, crazy amount of goals!

He is still settling in but he is doing reasonably well so far, I am hoping next season is the one where I begin to get the best out of him.

[deltablue]

Vdovenko's amazing.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Vdovenko's amazing.

He certainly is, he links everything up superbly and pops up with the odd goal, i've tied him up for another 4 years which should give me plenty of time to find a long term replacement for him.

[B.W.G]

Excellent start made and congrats on winning the Club World Cup!

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow January - March 2035/36

Great start to the new year with us all but champions with 6 games to go. We had what looked a tough CL knockout round against Gladbach that we came through that with flying colours, Porto are up next in another tough tie.

Yet another striker came up in the youth intake I could have dome with someone from other positions but I do have a few domestic targets in mind for other positions.

Excellent start made and congrats on winning the Club World Cup!

Cheers mate, I was pleased with it. The final was tougher than it should have been but at least we got it.

[Dexter_Morgan]

This could be huge in the step to get the Iron Curtain nations nearer to the top 5, this is the first time the semi finalists have all been made of the nations in the area. Another thing to note is all the semi finalists are clubs i've taken charge of at some point

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow April - June 2035/36

What can I say about that season? Bar the Russian cup it was a very good year, we had a few injury crisis' now and then and we still managed to run away with the league and retain the champions league even though we had tough draws from the knockout round onwards. The only slightly disappointing thing was the lack of goals compared to last season but that could be down to teams improving this year, I certainly didn't see as many of the 7-5's ect; that I had in the previous year so that is most likely the case.

The key 3 were again superb, Vladimir Barsukov even managed to go the whole season with only a red card after seemingly being banned every other week last year

I have made quite a number of transfer dealings so far as I look to improve the squad and reduce the age a little, one transfer was kind of out of my hands really as I just could not refuse the money offered. I'll do my full dealings once I have finished.

[deltablue]

Just noticed your transfer screenshot from a couple of days ago appears to be sideways

[Dexter_Morgan]

Just noticed your transfer screenshot from a couple of days ago appears to be sideways

I know God knows how it happened because it was taken normally, it just went daft when uploaded and I couldn't change it

[Dexter_Morgan]

Coefficients

Another couple of big jumps but I was pretty disappointed Russia didn't move up, Zenit won the Europa league and all in all it was a better effort by the Russian clubs. I am hoping that jump isn't too far off because ideally i'd like to stick to my 5 year rule when taking a top flight club over. We as a club actually have world wide rep and are classed as the 4th biggest in the world, would love to make that the biggest before I go as I haven't had that on this save yet.

A personal achievement is i'm 2nd in the hall of fame now, only 138 points off Fergie, I actually have more trophies than him but with the majority being in lesser nations that has gone against me a little it seems, but hopefully I won't be too far off.

Tycoon Watch

FC Minsk - Double winners. Knocked out of the CL qualifiers and then didn't make it out of the Europa group. Total spent £10M

RNK Split - Champions at last after years of Dinamo dominating the division. They also won the cup. Knocked out in qualifying of the Europa. Spent £8M

FK Trinec - Didn't spend anything again, finished 4th and didn't make it out of their Europa group.

Former Club Watch

FC Sevastopol - Relegated to non playable for the 2nd time

Videoton - Finished 3rd, knocked out of the Europa qualifiers. Beat their own reserve team in the cup final on penalties

Dinamo Bucharest - Finished 2nd, made the CL semi final.

Hajduk Split - 2nd.

Red Star Belgrade - Double winners and CL semi finalists.

Sparta Prague - Double winners and as you know CL finalists.

Slovan Bratislava Double winners.

Dynamo Kyiv - 3rd, lost in the cup final and then knocked out of the Europa in the first round.

[B.W.G]

Congrats on the Champions League win,good to see some of your former teams are very good and giving you a bit of a challenge in the Champions League.

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow July - August 2036/37

It's a bit hard to tell just how good exactly we are at the minute, i've had players on U18 and U21 duty and 5 injuries so I have been making do, the only time we've had anything near our best XI out was against Zenit in the Super cup so all I can say is we've been coping reasonably well.

I made an unusual step of spending big this summer, I felt 2 or 3 players in the squad were at their peak so I wanted to get younger players in who could develop beyond what was already at the club, there was a deal in place to let Borisov go to Dortmund for £25M which would have been a brilliant price but injuries just before it went through meant I had to cancel, hopefully I can get a deal near that in the winter. Three players have also been promoted from the U18 side and i'll try and give them a reasonable amount of game time.

6 of the 7 Russian sides made the groups for their respective competitions, this is very good news in terms of seedings as it was only 4 last year, looking at the groups each is in i'd hope at least 4 could make the later rounds of their tournament, in fact all around the iron curtain teams have done well knocking out teams from countries such as Spain, Italy and Germany. Ideally i'd like this to be my last season in Russia, I have really enjoyed it but success has been relatively easy so far and there's still a few countries I would like to go to and with me coming up to 56 in game there isn't too long left. If Russia gets a 3rd CL spot then I will certainly leave even if the country doesn't break the top 5 as I feel with my signings and improvements at youth level Spartak are in a really healthy position to keep the nation ticking over.

Congrats on the Champions League win,good to see some of your former teams are very good and giving you a bit of a challenge in the Champions League.

Thanks mate. It was good to have that happen at last, obviously that is the aim of the save, even 3 clubs in the semis would have been good. A few more years like that and this challenge could well be done.

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow September - December 2036/37

Slightly strange season so far, at times we've brilliant and others not so much. Injuries and new signings/youth players settling in would have played a part I guess but it could have cost us qualification from what was an odd CL group. There was a lot of attacking in our 6 games and we managed to sneak through. What was really strange in that group was we really struggled against Dortmund yet Budapest went and scored 6 at home to them and 5 away, yet we hammered Budapest in our games against them.

I'm delighted to have finally topped the hall of fame, this is the longest i've ever played a save so it's the first time I have ever topped it, hopefully I can get miles ahead of Fergie before I retire

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow January - March 2036/37

The early new year form may seem a little a little inconsistent but in reality I have been playing virtually a different side each each game to give everyone a chance and reduce the chances of fatigue and injuries as the bigger games start to come up, even then we are still continuing to dominate most games so it is most likely a matter of players needing a bit more experience before they really start to be able to slot straight in to the team without a problem.

The youth intake was hardly the best but the 2 signed have the potential to be leading players so they were signed. Timur Kalinin's star rating is hardly the best but I took in to account that we already have some real talent in his position when I signed him and sure enough he went up to 4 star potential once he had signed. Even if he doesn't end up good enough for the first team I may be able to get a profit out of him so it's hardly a big risk.

Victor was signed towards the end of last season but only joined in January, if I had known my summer signings at full back would have came at the time I may not have signed him but for £40k it's not too much of a risk, especially as you see now he's worth over £500k. Dortmund came back in for Borisov, not quite the £24M agreed last summer but he was surplus to requirements and with me losing about £5M a month after a lot of pay rises were handed out I would have been stupid to turn that kind of money down.

[B.W.G]

Another league title looks like it's on its way to Moscow!

[ashton321]

Great story this pal, greatest manager in the world. Not a bad accolade to have.

[Animosama]

Well done sir

[Dexter_Morgan]

Another league title looks like it's on its way to Moscow!

That was confirmed with 4 games to spare which thankfully has left me with full focus on the CL and the cup for a clean sweep now. I play CSKA in the cup semi and hold a 1-0 lead going to Old Trafford in the CL semi, the prize for the winner? A game against Zenit who beat Real just now in their semi

Great story this pal, greatest manager in the world. Not a bad accolade to have.

Thanks mate, glad you've enjoyed it I feel at times I have made a wrong turn in terms of clubs i've gone to and the odd early departure but on the whole i've enjoyed it When I do leave Spartak I want to go to a struggling (and not so big) side to give the thread a bit of life and myself a challenge.

Well done sir

Thanks

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Spartak Moscow April - June 2036/37

This is probably my most enjoyable season at the club so far for many reasons, obviously a clean sweep plays a big part of that but also the way we did it, the football was just as good as any season even if we didn't score the same amount of goals as that brilliant first season but I found it a big improvement on last year and that was with a much younger team now. From the team I inherited there is only Vladimir Barsukov, Bartosz Arak, Celestine Lawal (who I am hoping to sell), Dmitry Vdovenko and Dusan Goranovic who are regular first team players, the rest have either been brought in by me or come through the ranks so whilst obviously I had to work with what I had and done it well I feel this year is my first big achievement at the club because it is really taking shape as my side now.

As you can see player perfomances were high pretty much amongst all the squad, the usual suspects provided plenty of goals and assists and I am pretty confident any time we put out the first choice front four we will score, in fact as the season has gone on i've become very confident in the second choice front four too and i'm expecting even more from them this season.

With how the season ended and some other factors to do with rankings which i'll talk about in my next post I think I want to stay at the club for another season at least so I can oversee a full transition of this squad. Vladimir Barsukov, Bartosz Arak, Celestine Lawal and Dmitry Vdovenko are all either 30 or not far off it, all have replacements either at the club or about to join, the one problem area is Dmitry Vdovenko at AMC, Ivan Shuvalov has really progressed this year and will be his long term replacement but there is no cover after that and no Russian that could be described as a realistic target bar one lad at Porto who would cost £50M plus which I feel is too much for a 27 year old (he is world class though). If I do leave than it will be for Levski Sofia if the job comes up, they are about to spend a second season in the B group in Bulgaria and with the managers job under review I feel it would be an interesting side to take on as everything else about the club is pretty well set up for life in the top flight and I could build on that. Poland is the other possibility as that is another nation i've not yet been to in this save.

[deltablue]

Good infusion of young blood to build on the excellent side you already have.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Coefficients

The other Russian clubs really let our chances of moving up down with no other side bar our Champions League rivals Zenit even making it out of the group stages of their competitions, last season was a good opportunity for the nation to climb as there had been failures by clubs in all the nations above. I'm proud to have made Spartak the biggest club in the world, this was the first time I have managed it on this save IIRC.

Tycoon Watch

FC Minsk - Champions and also made it to the Europa 1st knockout. Total spent £9.5M. It seems the chairman is about to leave so this could be the end of their success.

RNK Split - Champions again. They also won the cup again. Knocked out in the Europa knockout after finishing 3rd in their CL group. Spent £8.75M. What impresses me most about this takeover is it seems to have been a long term development, the facilities all across the board have been improved up on year by year and it is starting to pay off at all levels now as even the youth intakes have improved significantly.

FK Trinec - Finished 4th and didn't make it to the Europa group stage even. For the 3rd season in a row they haven't spent a penny, very strange set up there now.

Former Club Watch

FC Sevastopol - Didn't come back as playable.

Videoton - Finished 3rd, knocked out of the Europa qualifiers. Won the cup and runners up in the league cup final.

Dinamo Bucharest - Finished 3rd, made the CL 1st knockout stage.

Hajduk Split - Finished 4th, knocked out of the CL qualifiers and then failed to get out of their Europa group.

Red Star Belgrade - Double winners and CL quarter finalists.

Sparta Prague - Double winners again and as you know CL quarter finalists.

Slovan Bratislava Double winners, didn't make it out of their CL group.

Dynamo Kyiv - Convincing champions based around a side I had mostly brought in through investing in youth or brought through the ranks. Made the cup final and 2nd round of the Europa knockout stages.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Good infusion of young blood to build on the excellent side you already have.

Cheers, I do like the fact that i'm gradually blooding in the kids and other younger signings whilst staying at the top. It was very tempting to rip this side apart after the first season but I think I have the balance and way I have approached the transition right. Obviously last season cost a lot of money to do so but with a few aging players that needed replacing anyway and everyone brought in around the equal in terms of ability of those I sold but with room to grow I think when I do leave that this club will stay at the top unlike Red Star who gradually declined. There is no need for big changes this year, two players have come in and three have left with a possibility of one more going so hopefully we start the season a little better than last year due to everyone being settled.

[AK22]

Fabulously dominant with Spartak

Good to see Eastern Europe dominating the Champions League too. Makes a refreshing change from the normal England, Spain, Germany, Italy stranglehold.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Fabulously dominant with Spartak

Good to see Eastern Europe dominating the Champions League too. Makes a refreshing change from the normal England, Spain, Germany, Italy stranglehold.

Cheers I agree it seems to be picking up in the later stages with the Eastern clubs, it's just a shame that it's mostly teams i've managed are the ones doing it in the sense that I would like a few nations on the whole to really kick in and be a force. In my head I kind of want to move on but i've been here with Red Star and they never managed to dominate Europe like they should have (I maintain that was my greatest side as it stands) so I don't want to make the same mistake again. After 5 years I will leave no matter what the rankings but I am going to make sure that this side has the very best players I can get to keep the nation ticking over before I do leave and that this club is in the healthiest position possible to keep ticking over.

[Animosama]

Very easy win and how long do you think until you become best league in Europe.