The Mongrels Clan

[Dig_Dog]

Introducing the newest clan to the Football Manager Online (FMO) scene:

The Mongrels Clan

We might be a new clan but we've got an experienced core of hardened FMOers. Although we're mainly Englishmen, the Clan is playing in Germany and starting with the lower half of the league as devised by the club's starting media predictions. The clubs selected so far are:

Frankfurt - Steve

Hanover - Mike S.

Stuttgart - John

Wolfsburg - Festas

Monchengladbach - Kev

Freiburg - Tush

Augsburg - Taylor

Nurnberg - Giedrius

Hamburg - Mike T.C

Mainz - Matt

Hoeffenheim - Jay

Gladbach - Lance

Furth - Jimmy

Dusseldorf - Dovydas

Viel Gluck!

Update - There is currently no room in the clan.

[Goldy]

Viel Glück! :-) All the best chaps!

[Dig_Dog]

Cheers Goldy.

I can now announce that we have now got a website up and running:

http://themongrelsclan.webs.com/

Please check it out and from there you can apply to join.

[dcu223]

Good luck with the new clan steve,

Belly,

[Dig_Dog]

Cheers Belly,

We're all set to go!

[Dig_Dog]

Eintracht Frankfurt have hired Steffen Farne, a relatively unknown German, though Interpol suspect he may uses the aliases Étienne Fougére, and Stefano Fonzerelli. The newly promoted side are a prudent run club and that is likely to make life difficult for the young German manager, in his first professional appointment. it is rumoured that he has little in the way of a transfer budget and that there is even little room in the wage bill to finance the signings of free transfers. However, Farne has tried to make room by being active in the market, sending back the two loan signings agreed by his predecessor and bringing in just two players so far.

Yassine Salhi arrived from Casablanca on a free transfer as they only had one striker after selling Rob Friend and sending back a loanee who Farne described as being of insufficient quality. In addition they have signed highly rated Ricardo Centurión from Argentinean club Racing, for a fee of €1.1M. It's unlikely that the 17 year old will feature much this season and Farne is said to be looking at securing a loan deal for him to cover at least the first part of the season. Farne is said to be looking for further players, but is still limited by a lack of funds.

Time will tell whether Farne will be able to bring success back to Frankfurt, but his first task will be to secure their first division status and then to establish them in the division as you can see above, that is something they have struggled to do since first being relegated in 1996. You have to go all the way back to 1993 since Eintracht last achieved a top 3 finish in the top division. But hopes, as ever, are high in Frankfurt, and failure will not be tolerated.

Article taken from the Frankfurter Neue Presse.

[Kirderf]

Good luck with the clan Steve, you will be missed.

[Dig_Dog]

Cheers Fred

[djwillster]

good luck boys

[stabwest]

break away clan Steve?

[Dig_Dog]

Yes mate, there was too much experience locked inside the PGC so i thought it only fair to help FMO out by getting another clan going.

If you don't believe that then you're a cynic!

[Dig_Dog]

After a session wrecked by crash dumps for the first couple of hours, we finally got some games away and finished our first week with the table looking like this:

[alvaan]

:O

Even Jimmy is above you Steve!

Oh well, best of luck anyhow

[FFCStu1428]

Jimmy might be above him now. But Jimmy is a bottle job anyway, if the corner cheat no longer works for the lad then he dont win games lol.

[Quads]

dat FORTUNA DUSSELDORF

[JadaX]

Manager: Tushant

Club: SC Freiburg

League: Bundesliga

It's been quite an interesting start to the season -I took over SC Freiburg and find myself in 4th place 1 week into April. There is still some time to go before the season ends, but if my team continues to perform as they have been so far then Champions League football for us a real possibility!

Below is my transfer update for this season:

As you can see, it's nothing spectacular - I either had no money to sign players that I wanted and were willing to join the team, or I didn't have enough funds to afford their wages. I decided to give my Director power over transfers and he brought in 2 players who have so far only played 1 game between them (epic fail!)

It remains to be seen if I can finish top 5 this season, and if I do what kind of backing I receive from my board.

Till next time.

[Dig_Dog]

The table for the end of the week:

Note:

John - Stuttgart - has been sacked and is now unemployed

Mike TC - HSV - has been sacked and is now unemployed

Giedrius - Nurnberg - has been sacked and is now HSV

Davie - has joined the clan is Bayer Leverkusen

[wiganlover11]

hi Taylor here and yer my team Augsberg have had a good season our prediction was 16th where we are now and i hope we can carry on with this images will be upload asap

[Festas]

Manager:Festas

club: VfL Wolfsburg

League: Bundesliga

The city of Wolfsburg was founded in 1938. VfL Wolfsburg is a professional German association football club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. Wolfsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system.

VfL Wolsfburg owners hired a young coach. which could lift the team to Europe.

Team have been many changes. Club left 19 players, one of them Diego (go to Manchester City for 15mln). bought by 12 players for 30 million. most expensive player Lisandro Lopez has cost 6 million.

[phoenix81]

Oh dear Jimmy what clan you going to next?

[Jonny-Dean]

Great to see Jimmy where he belongs.

[Dig_Dog]

Tonight is a session full of promise.

Tushant is running away from the rest of us with only Festas for company. John and Mike TC were both not far behind, but being at massive clubs they have both been fired. Giedrius is "rewarded" for being bottom by seizing control of HSV, as the lowest placed AI club (following mike's sacking). However, either Giedrius is an FM shark or he's going to find it tough at HSV.

Jay and Matt can look forward to a stress free end to the season as they are firmly in mid table. For the rest of us, 4 points separates 12th to 17th and as to who goes down, it's anyone's guess. There's just 7 games left and we should resolve the season tonight.

Myself, Frankfurt, I am looking no further than the next few games. I need to be in 14th or higher in order to avoid an "insecure" status, and with only difficult games left, it is likely I will be dismissed before the season's out. If I can survive to next season then I am optimistic that I can push right up the table to the middle as I have some good young players lined up.

All the best to the lads and I will post the final table soon.

Steve aka Steffen Farne - Einracht Frankfurt

[wiganlover11]

what bout me well me.I find myself in 16th but picking up big points Dortmund next but i have beaten teams like them before its really tense right now!

[Kirderf]

Fred - Nürnberg (F.C Nuremberg)

So now i'm here having joined the Mongrels in my desire to play Bundesliga FMO. I immediately took over relegation facing Nürnberg, the people of Nürnberg were all awe struck as I rode into the city in my white shining armour on my black war stallion. I brought Nürnberg to safety as the shining knight I am, while pushing down Steve's Frankfurt to a fight for survival against Ingolstadt from 2.Bundesliga, which would end in Steve's unpleasant demise.

So whom are my best player? The demon AMC from Japan, Kiyotake. But unfortunately he got injured pre season for 6 months and so we've lost our engine and creative artist on the pitch for the first months of the season. Hopefully we'll be able to fill the gap until his comeback.

[alvaan]

Commence the snarfing!

[Jack92P]

Good luck Fred!

Also, Jimmy Different clan, same results!

[JadaX]

Manager: Tushant

Club: SC Freiburg

League: Bundesliga

The 1st season finally ended and there was exciting news for Freiburg - we're in the Champions League!

We managed to hold off competition from Wolfsburg and Leverkusen to book the final Champions League spot in what is arguably the surprise of the season. Now my biggest task is to remain a top table side, whilst progressing as far as possible in the Champions League with the small squad I have. I have a 2.1mil transfer budget and 20k wage budget - which isn't enough to get any good player.

The only game of note is the German Cup Final against Leverkusen.

In another upset, I pulled off a 2-0 win over Leverkusen to end our season on the perfect note.

The challenge now is to see if I can recruit enough (or any) good players for the upcoming season so that I can continue to perform above expectations.

Till next time.

[Dig_Dog]

END OF SEASON TABLE

[Dig_Dog]

STEVE AKA STEFFEN FARNE - FRANKFURT

Unfortunately the season got worse and worse as my nightmare run-in saw me have to beat Dortmund in the last game to stand a chance of staying up, without the need for a play-out. We went 2-0 but could not hang on and drew 2-2.

We then got trouncedin the awful playout and were relegated. I left a really good side at Frankfurt, with a relatively patient board, and there is nothing I can say about my tenure there other than it was an abject failure and an utter disgrace.

I have now created a new profile:

STEFFEN EFFENSHIESSE - HERTHA BSC

I have sought to reduce the phenomenal wage bill I inherited, a throw back to Hertha's not to distant Champions League campaign. As you would expect having had a massive wage bill, but only 2nd tier football, the finances are an absolute mess. This summer I have mostly released 20 players for free to get rid of wages. Unfortunately some of these players were of good quality, but I had no choice but to cut the wage bill. Having been able to reduce sums from the bill I was able to cobble together a staggering €10m to buy a good young winger, who is not quite ready for the top flight, but at 19, I am prepared to chuck him straight in, in the hope he will swim rather than sink. Meanwhile, I'm looking to boost my now tiny squad with some loan additions.

Hopefully, I will not live up to my new manager name.

Steve

[phoenix81]

Yes mate, there was too much experience locked inside the PGC so i thought it only fair to help FMO out by getting another clan going.

If you don't believe that then you're a cynic!

Nice one steve 1st season and u have passed on a wealth of experience I can see as all but 2 finished above you they must be fast learners

[Dig_Dog]

AND THE NEW SEASON IS UNDER WAY ...

[JadaX]

Manager: Tushant

Club: SC Freiburg

League: Bundesliga

Currently in one of those situations where you wonder WTF the board is doing.

Transfer budget: £2.1mil

Wage budget: £11k

I have been given the above to work with for my 2nd season - needless to say absolutely noone wants to join the team (since my rep is still terrible) and the players who do want to join, I cannot afford because of my finances.

This is the 2nd season running that I won't be able to make any transfers due to a lack of funds, and it's starting to show in the results. I keep trying to persuade the board to make more funds available but even though the club is classified as 'Rich' there is apparently no way the club can give me more money.

So far I've lost 1-3 to Dortmund in the German Super Cup and am down 0-3 in the 1st leg of the Champions League best placed playoff vs Juventus.

Till next time.

[Kirderf]

Fred - Nürnberg

So summer window began, i've been spending a lot of time getting rid of players that does not fit my new 4-1-1-3-1 tactic (which has been working amazingly well so far, to my surprise). So out all wingers go, and I take a look at my reserve team which is overfilled with ****** 2/2'5 star potential youngsteers (I try to get rid of these players to the extent I can the, ones I couldn't get rid of are loaned out to lower league sides).

OH BOY CESNA

BUT, I did find some remarkably good players in the reserves. 3 young players that all should've been part of the squad during last season but was loaned out for some weird ass reason by the former manager Cesna. One of them was a 4'5 star potential winger that I sold for 1m£.

Now comes the funny part. When I took over the squad there was one real leftback, one real right back, one real dm, one real cm, only 3 centre backs, 2 strikers. The only positions where there were real cover at was AMC and AMR/AML. And to make matters worse the current leftback Pinola's contract was running out and he was unwilling to sign a new one which was a big damn shame considering he's really good. Which leads us to the other 2 young players in the reserves, one of them was a leftback (plackenhardt) and another was a dm (zeit), and both were good enough to be part of the squad, and the leftback especially was already a good player and has potential to be one of the best leftbacks in the league. He will become a better player than Pinola eventually which speaks volumes in itself. So why the hell do you loan out two such players when you already have no Cover (arrrgh!). Oh well they are now part of the squad and i'm happy to have them, i'm going with Plackenhardt as a regular leftback ahead of the newly signed 34 year old Filip Daems (dunno why they signed him..).

Fixing Keeper

So, with that we had both fixed atleast one cover for both the leftback and DM position. My attention now went to fixing a keeper, Schäfer is a good enough keeper for Bundesliga, but I felt that with both his age (34) and the fact that he's just really good enough, he's not a great keeper, just good, he won't get better or anything and he didn't show anything really the games I had with him when I saved Nürnberg. So, I decided to bring in a new starting keeper and get rid of Schäfer, I found a Brazilian keeper called Omar on a free, he was about as good Schäfer, but he was only 24 and he still has some room to grow, + he had several points more in handling than Schäfer, and I really want a keeper with more than 12 in handling. So with that keeper position fixed, and I found that we had a quite good young potential keeper in the team aswell so getting rid of Schäfer was a no brainer.

Fixing strikers

Next, I decided to look at strikers, although the AMC position was more alarming, I felt that we needed a truly good striker and while Pekhart is decent I don't see him scoring 15+ goals in a season so I decided to look around for new additions. I finally found a striker in Turkey (Eneramo or smth), but several clubs were going for him, and several of the clubs were bigger than us. With that in mind, and him being what I was looking for I decided to offer him more than he wanted and to my big surprise it worked out and he signed for me. But I wasn't happy yet, I wanted one more striker that could truly bang them in, and with us being able to loan 4 players I started looking around for a good striker to loan and we found that Babacar in Fiorentina were listed for loan offers, so we made a loan offer to bring him in and with only Jimmy's Kaiserslautern as opposition we managed to also bring in him, giving us not only one great striker, but two.

Trying to fix AMC

With that done, I could finallly avert my attention to the AMC position, with only 3 amc's in the squad and getting the amazing Kiyosake injured for 6 months, it all made me deeply concerned. So I went out looking for AMC's, but I couldn't find any to my taste on the free market and the ones I wanted that were at other clubs were way too expensive, so ones again I looked for players on loan, I found a good amc at a Brazilian club and loaned him in, this player though is just good, he's not great. And as I am using 3 amc's I truly need more then 4 as well, but I've truly struggled to find amc's to my liking so at this point we still haven't signed another one and we only have 3 fit ones. I might just bring in some mediocre **** player as cover for free just in case.

Fixing rb

So what did we also need? With only one Right back, we needed more. Thankfully due to my personal knowledge of the Swedish League, I knew instantly whom to go for, Emil Krafth at Helsingborg. Already at the age of 19 he's good enough to play in Bundesliga and none other was going for him, so we managed to bring him in for the sum of 1m£ to my big joy. He's not good enough to challenge Chandler for the starting position, but in 2/3 seasons I can see Chandler struggling to keep his position.

Trying to fix cb

With only 3 cb's we need one more. I found that the average Broodfoot was on a free, gave him a contract offer but instead of going to me and Bundesliga he ****ing went to Brentford of all places. I'm planning to retaliate by fixing a friendly against Brentford and shaming them so much that their whole club implodes. Search goes on....

Fixing CM and DM

While the DM position now had Zeit as cover I still felt that Zeit might not be entirely ready for Bundesliga, so I loaned Enoh from Ajax and I also found a really great DM in the Paraguyan league with an outgoing contract, so the Paraguayan DM will be joining at January at which point I will most likely send Enoh back to Ajax. The CM position, where i'm going with a box to box player i've found that it's really hard to find a good alround midfielder to add to the spot, I did find an ok player Duncan at Inter, he's a big big potential but he's nowhere close right now, I loaned him but hopefully we'll not have to use him too much as I'm afraid he won't cope, but still cover is cover. My search still goes on for a good BoxToBox

So, still some issues with depth, mostly with the AMC, and the cb can become a big issue aswell with some bad luck but except for that we're pretty much ready to go. We've gotten into the season now and played two games and our start to the season have been better than I could ever imagined, with a 6-0 thrashing of a lower league side in the first round of the cup (it really could have been 10 goals), and with a massive 2-1 away to Stuttgart in the first league game.

We have a scary ass schedule ahead of us in the next 3 games with the overperforming Tushant side Freiburg, Dortmund and Wolfsburg(or was it Werder?). My hope is that we can get points against both Tushant and Wolfsburg/Werder Bremen, any points against Dortmund would be a massive upset (especially since it is an away game).

So whom of my players do I expect the most of?

Kiyotake

: This guy borders on world class tbh, my best player by miles. Can only play as playmaker really but he's one hell of a playmaker. Shame we got unlucky with his 6month injury.

Timm Klose

: My best centre back, has been nothing short of outstanding and is a top top Bundesliga player. Been spectacular in the two games we've played so far (with an amazing top corner shot that resulted in 2-0 for us against Stuttgart)

Eneramo

: 5 goals in the first two games, says it all. Want a minimum of 15 goals from him and I will be very pleased if he gets above 20 goals in the season, and with this start to the season I don't see any reason for him not to.

Babacar

To have the U20 WC golden boot player in my squad is a great honor. He missed the first two games due to U20 WC but he is back for the game against Tushant, will have to be on the bench though due to Eneramo's games.

Other good, but not top class players that deserves a mention is the AMC Gebhart, the cb Per Nilsson, the cb Antonio, Overperforming BoxToBox Feulner and rb Chandler.

Media Prediction: 16th

Content with: 13th

happy - really happy: Top 11

I would say we are one of the Dark Horses in the league, it's hard to predict where we will be, depth issue and having Kiyotake missing a fair amount of games will probably cost us a fight for european places though. But who knows Freiburg managed to get 4th (!!!) last season. And if you look at the top 10 (except for Freiburg) sides there are not many players from my team that would be able to take a starting position, I only see Kiyotake and Klose being able to compete.

Praying for luck with injuries.

I will upload some screenshots for the next post.

[Dig_Dog]

STEFFEN EFFENSHEISSE - HERTHA BSC

With just days before the transfer window slams shut (TM - sky sports), it's as good a time as any to evaluate my new side. Whilst Hertha had just been promoted back to the BundesLiga, and had spent the last few seasons yo-yoing between the two top divisions, it was only 3 years sinc eHertha had been 4th in the BundesLiga had just missed out on Champions League Football. So as you would expect, there was something of a hangover from those days, both in terms of quality and also in terms of wages. At Frankfurt we had spent £150k less per week than Hertha did when I first took over. So a major evaluation of my squad was needed.

First of all I had a good look at everyone and selected a first xi and a few subs based on those I thought capable of challenging for European Football, yes I did say European Football. I was left with about 6 players and I expanded the side on with the next best players in terms of stop gaps who could help flesh out the squad. I was still at just 14 players. Hertha had a large squad so I put the rest of the players up for sale. Unfortunately, no proper bids came in for 90% of them and so I was forced to let them go on free transfers just to get rid of the wages.After getting rid of more than 30 players in the summer I was able to halve the wage bill but still retain the core of a decent side. After choosing my best XI I was aware of a gaping hole when applying my preferred formation. Right Wing. I quickly identified my number one target but after chasing him all summer and to see his price go through the roof, I finally turned away from re-signing Anatoliy Zagovalko of Eintracht Frankfurt, as he was not worth the €14m they wanted. My third choice finally became available after I had a €10m bid accepted and Nazar Voznyakevych (Vozny) joined on a 5 year deal for a relatively modest wage for the clubs record signing.

I also fleshed out the squad by signing the former Hearts no.1, Marian Kello on a free transfer. I then stole Javier Pinola from Nuermburg after Freddie admitted defeat in his attempts to sign him to a new deal and gave me the green light to make an approach. I got him for a €30k per week which is not bad considering his quality. Simao arrived on a free, but unfortunately he took some time in arriving thanks to the slow boat from China (he signed from Shandong, China, slow boat, get it? Oh never mind!). Simao will provide some resilience to the midfield as a Dm or a MC tackler. Hans Galladé looks a good long term prospect but Zurich wanted too much money, so we have secured him on loan for the season to have a closer look at him. At 19 years old he really needs to show himself this season or it might be the sign that his potential will go to waste.

Panagiotis Vlachodimos was a loan signing on ice for a long time as we looked to secure a transfer in at right wing, eventually landing Vozny we were able to confirm his signing from Olmypiakos, which will be as back up as we look to ease the youngster in gently and look to the greek for greater experience when needed. Alessio Romagnoli became my first (and so far only) player to arrive who I had had last season, but he only played one game due to his age. This time he is 18 years of age and should play far more than one game. I think Roma have another Italian legend in the making at centre half, and I will help his career along, and hope I can convince them to sell. For now he is 3rd or 4th choice.

Victor Abdul comes in to add to the competitiion at AMC and will be trained to be able to slot in as a DLP in a MC position in a 451 if necessary. He is also young at just 19, and tiny at 5'3", but has a few qualities and plenty of room to grow to make me optimistic for the future. Adan Balbin arrives to eb the 4th choice CB but with his experience, he might leave Romagnoli further from a starting berth than i originally planned. Carlos Villanueva has been brought in to provide competition at AMC particularly if Abdul takes time in stepping up to the level needed. Eric Bekoe arrives as CF, also on a free, to provide a pacy alternative in attack.

Having reevaluated my side I am happy we have enough quality to stay up, but the board want a mid-table position which means being at least 14th in the table. I am confident that we can achieve that this season. I have a much better side this season than I did last with frankfurt, and as a result of slashing my wage bill in half, I have been able to bring in some quality.

In goal we have a solid keeper in Kello, but in Kraft we have a young keeper, good enough for now and capable of being good enough should we scale the heights to challenge for Europe. At centre back we had real problems with just two players capable of playing there, but I'm retraining a big tall DM and have brought in a top class kid and a good freebie. We are now very strong in this position. At right back we only have one player at our disposal and so are training a left back to cover. At left back we have two top class players, particularly after the capture of Pinola.

The signing of Simao at DM has allowed me options at DM, including dropping my previously best DM back to Cb to ease concerns at that position. Excluding Simao and the convertee I have two others who play here and are of sufficient quality. MC is not great. We have one decent player, Simao will be able to play there soon, and another as back up. Abdul will be able to be a MC DLP before long. On the wings we are weakest. Ramos is a striker converted to AML IF. Beichler is my starting AMC but can be moved here if needs be, the greek can do a job here and Gallade is a long way shy of the quality needed, but 19 needs to show something fast, hence his loan status and not actually a permanent position. On the right Beichler (AMC) is my best, but Vozny is ready stats wise and at 19 age wise. Hopefully he will improve with playing time. The greek will back him up. At AMC Beichler is good, but not great, Villanueva should be as capable if needed and Abdul shows promise.

In attack I am lucky to find Lasogga who is the type of big TM I love. Ramos can moved from AML to play off the big man and this is actually where he plays best. Allagui sits on the bench looking to also offer that option, whilst Bekoe is a 3rd option with pace. Should Lasogga go down injured than Ramos is his best replacement.

So now you're familiar with my squad let's take a look around and make some predictions:

Tush - brought Champions League football to Freiberg, against all expectations, and is without doubt a class manager, but i'll stick my neck on the line and say: his squad will be stretched too thin on two fronts this season, even if he ends up in the Euopa, and so he will fail to replicate last season's form. Still should be a solid 6th to 8th.

Festas - has a great side at Wolfsburg and took a while to get going, I think he'll again be 4th to 6th this season.

Davie - surprised me last season by taking over a stalling Leverkusen side and pushing them back into the European places. Whenever Davie does well, he usually falls badly the next season so I'll go for sacked this season, but I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

Giedrius - was shown up badly last season after being sacked whilst bottom and adrift with Nuremberg, only for Fred to lead them to safety. HSV will not accept failure and so Giedrius likely to be sacked again.

Jay - did ok last season after being sacked by hoffenheim and has landed on his feet with Gladbach. I expect him to keep his job and secure another finish between 10th and 14th.

Matt - a solid first season with Mainz. I expect more of the season, solid but not spectacular progress as a result of tight purse strings. 8th to 10th.

Mike - was mostly missing last season but has made a few smart movs in the transfer market. He should do well providing he has the time to commit. If so 8th to 10th, if not sacked.

Nam - the vietnamese is a dark horse with his inside knowledge of germany and did very well in the short time he had last season. Perhaps more of the same and 10th to 14th.

Freddie - the guy is an absolute marvel on so many levels. He's lit up the clan since joining and got me sacked and relegated, but since it was Fred, I can't hold it against him. He knows the BundesLiga inside out and is in his element here. I expect great things - 6th to 8th.

Taylor - has things to do meaning he usually misses the end of sessions and his form is affected as a result. Now has the worst team in the division and you can't see past anything other than bottom and adrift by some way. good Luck T.

Jim - was bottom last term but did have a tough job, but nethertheless this is Jimmy we're talking about and he's better than that. With Kaiserlautern he has a chance to prove that - 14th to 16th.

Myself - I will predict 13th for myself.

[scooter28]

Woo who took over leverkusen half way through season 1 sitting in 10th managed to get them up to 6th place and into the final of the polka which i beat dortmund and bayern on route but i lost to tushants freiburgh in the final played 5 games in season 2 and am sitting 5th won my 1st europa group stage game against zaragoza from spain after going behind 2-0 but managed to get a 3-2 win so all is good there.Stick my neck out here and say a champions league place for me so top 4 board will be happy with a top 6 finish mind you

[Kirderf]

Fred - Nürnberg

5 games into the League and i'm shocked.

Stuttgart, Mönchengladbach, Freiburg, Dortmund and Kaiserslautern. I expected 5-7 points out of these games, instead I have collected 13 points and won against Stuttgart, Freiburg Kaiserslautern and Dortmund (!!!!) and the draw against Mönchengladbach should've been won after Babacar and Jefferson Filho missing good chances but I can't complain.

None of the above teams are below 11 after the first 5 games and Stuttgart (won 4), Freiburg (won 4) and Dortmund (won 3) have only had one loss out of those 5 games so far.

2-1 against Stuttgart, 1-0 against Freiburg (Tushant), 0-0 against Gladbach, 3-2 against Dortmund and 1-0 against Kaiserslautern (Jimmy)

Goalscorers so far are in the league

Jefferson Filho: 2 (scored an absolutely brilliant goal against Jimmy when my offensive players pressured Jimmy's defender to give away the ball just outside the box, one pass to Filho and he decided to take the shot, a curved shot right up in the left corner of the goal)

Enermo: 1

Gebhart: 1

Chandler : 1

Feulner: 1

Klose: 1

My tactic is a smash hit, we might not score an awful amount of goals, although I think more will be scored when Kiyosake is back but we don't concede either. Klose has already picked up man of the match 3 times and he's the player with the second highest average of all players in the league. Plattenhardt has been awesome, Feulner my BoxToBox dosn't look so good when you look at his stats, but boy oh boy does he play great. Filho is a good player but I didn't expect him to be the best performing AMC so far, outshining an okay Cidinho and rollercoaster Gebhart, new signing Quinterros still need time and Carvalho still haven't gotten his chance to play.

Contracts

We noticed that high performing Klose had a contract that was running out next summer, so I literally threw myself at signing a new contract with him, and we are happy to announce that he has signed a 5 year old contract with a 25m£ clause. Also we extended Per Nilsson's (Klose partner in crime) with a year as I see him playing well for another season.

Schedule

So after the initial nightmare schedule. We now got far easier teams waiting us on the schedule, next game is against the abysmal Ingolstadt side, their main keeper holds Regionalliga level. So we'll let Carvalho get his first game, letting Cidinho rest and we'll also let fullback reserves Daems and Krafth start. After that we got sides like Mainz, Hoffenheim, Hamburg and so on. If we continue like we've started we should beat most of the next 6 opponents as they are weaker sides than the first 5.

And to think that everything's gone so well without my best player...How will it go when he comes back?

[wiganlover11]

well the above comment hurts me as the manager of Ingolstadt it has been a difficult campaign and a win here will lift our morale and hopefully helpthe team we definatly are favoured to be relegated and i obviously hope not i have young lads such as petrucci from man utd who i picked up for 1 mil and some other young gems that can help the side out.But we just need a bit of good form to get us started! SO LETS GET BEHIND INGOLDSTADT!!!!!

[Dig_Dog]

END OF SESSION TABLE:

UNEMPLOYED: DOVYDAS

[matt m]

Matthew Morrison - Mainz

Started off with Mainz as it seemed they were the best option that were left available to me and to be fair they have not been a bad little side up to now my biggest problem up to now is finding decent players and getting them to choose me over the other better human teams. First season started off ok for the first 7 or 8 games I managed to only lose once I think in this period mainly playing against other human players but best win in this period was against Leverkusen at home winning 4-0 (davie was not in charge at this time) after that things seem to got the way I thought it would be very inconsistent mainly down to me not being able to complete sessions due to work commintments so ass man left in charge from time to time at the midway mark I was seen as a team without anything to play for was not really in a relegation battle or was I near the euro places with my extremely poor showing in the cup we did not really have anything to play for and this continued as we came 11th 2 places above media prediction off 13th and I saw this as a very good first season.

Key signings

Robert Aquafransca 6.5mil

Jefferson Montero 1.3mil

Honsy 550k

Romario 1.1mil

Sneak Preview

Second season not going to well at the moment more to some at end off season

[Dig_Dog]

Steffen Effenshiesse - Hertha BSC

Half term report

I am a little bit late with this report, as we are now 6 games into the second half of the season. I'm really enjoying the set up in Germany. We have one less cup competition than in England (league cup) and two less league games due to having two less teams in the league. All cup games are played midweek (I am unsure if this is just due to option of "Saturday and Wednesdays only" box being ticked on the online game options or if this is actually the practice in Germany) and this has the effect that we can zip through the season quite quickly. However, with increasing activity in European football the season's speed is starting to slow. The speed at which you can get through the season means that we can stop for a midwinter break. I believe that this also works well and speeds up play. It offers the opportunity to have some rest bite for your players, in order to recover from injury or just to shake off some fatigue. On an aside from FMO, I am a convert to the German system and having previously been against the idea of a winter break I am firmly of the opinion that we should also have one, and to accommodate this, the Premier League clubs not in Europe should not participate in the League Cup.

Hertha Berlin

Last time I told you about the side. to be honest, I was still a bit upset over my sacking by Frankfurt and it took me a while to get into my new role. As I detailed in my last post, I had an astronomical wage budget and a large squad with a real lack of quality. I vastly reduced my playing squad and put all my saved wages into a transfer fund to land a Right Winger I needed to fit my 4231 formation. I was initially pessimistic about my chances as I thought it would take a while to bed the side in and then get going. However, as in reality i had not really changed the starting XI to greatly I was able to get off to a good start and find myself at the top end of the table.

Monday of this week saw a session from Hell as I lost 6 of my 7 league games and dropped like a stone. At the end of play, I had fallen to 16th and satin the relegation mire with a side bereft of confidence, tactics that were not working and everything seemed to have come apart at the seems. Tuesday's session saw me return to basics. A flat 442 from days of old, adapted to be a simple base, with flexibility in games to make adaptations as games progressed. I only went for a 442 when injuries hit and I was left with just 2 MCs to choose and no real option but to play 2 up top and so drop my wingers back in line to try to shore up my midfield and as a result, my leaky defence. Since then, I have lost one game, 1-0 away to Hannover (with mitigating circumstances over injuries and exhaustion from a penalty shootout win midweek in the cup). My side have climbed the table and are now challenging for the top 6. As my fixture list took me to a run of difficult games, I relished the opportunity to test my side to see how far we had now come. The answer was a 1-1 draw with Bayern, in Munich, as we fought back with a late equaliser. We held our own and now look like a genuine top half side.

Key Players

Simao - DM / MC - a great signing for free and how many others in clan are now kicking themselves at having passed on him before I secured the signing?

Adrián Ramos - LW / ST - initially played left wing, before being shifted up top where he is now delivering goals.

Carlos Villanueva - AMC - initially my main man, but has become increasingly marginalised under the success of the 442. He now is a super sub who comes on as the team tries to see out games in a 4411.

Roman Hubnik - CB - superb season for the big centre back who's weighed in with some crucial goals.

Javier Pinola - LB - not as good as I expected from the €40k per week man (my highest paid player) but has improved dramatically since we shifted to 442.

Fanol Peredaj - DM / MC - initially played as the anchor in a 4231. Had an absence for injury as we shifted to 442 and has recently reestablished himself as an MC and is excelling.

Adán Balbin - CB - was brought in as cover, but has now established himself as first choice and has been my most consistent player.

Nazar Voznyakevych - RW - my €10m man, who has all the right stats, but a low current ability rating, and whilst he will undoubtedly be a good player in years to come, it was a gamble over whther or not he was good enough for now. He has played magnificently at times, and is really progressing as the season goes on, as teams cannot contain him due to his speed.

Finances

I had done the right things from a financial point of view on taking over Hertha. However, as the season neared, I doubted the readiness of my side and added a few more players to my previously small squad which meant the wage budget had started to swell once more. Nethertheless, I had reduced the €430,000 per week wage bill to around €300,000 per week. after this figure rose back to around €350,000 per week, I saw the club's balance sheet start to go more and more red, and eventually the club baulked and took out a loan to clear it's debts. In the mean time, they asked me to drop the Wage Bill to just €260,000 per week, this happening between windows, whilst the season was ongoing! Some drastic measures had to be taken and so two players were loaned out, my loan greek winger was returned home, and I sold my most promising young centre back (5* potential ability) to Fred for €1.2m. At 15 years of age, I was worried that with the spiraling financial issues, I would not be here to see him come good, so why not cash in on him now and keep some of my stars to maintain the progress I was finally starting to make. Furthermore, I exploited a flaw on game (I know, I know, but come on, the board cut my wage bill by €80,000 per week, mid season, for their own bad calculations as I had operated within the parameters that they had set me) to release my club captain, Maik Franz, who had been relegated to the bench by the excellent Balbin, but yet claimed €38,000 per week. The board allowed me to upset him, then release him, and paid off his €1m contract, and suddenly I was over budget by a much more acceptable €30,000 per week.

Things are not great as the club continues to lose around €800,000 per month and I need to make a concerted push for Europe in the hope of earning a few quid the following season.

Contracts, Bosmans and Next Season

It's that time of year where you evaluate your squad and make sure that no one who you want for next season is running down their contract. Usually I operate 18 months into the future and would be looking for whether I need to tie someone down to a deal for beyond the end of the following season. However, due to the newness of my tenure, and the financial strife meaning I had no funds for contract extensions, it was not until the close of play on Wednesdays session that I was able to offer new contracts to some of my better players whose contract were due to end in just a few months time. I had 3 main concerns, Lustenberger, Pekarik, and Bastians. The former have yet to sign new deals, but should do so once the game advances, as I have agreed new terms with them. Pekarik has been largely disappointing, but is my only left back. Lustenberger was my main creative midfielder, but Villaneuva now takes this mantle, although operating further up the pitch, and Lustenberger has had a season decimated by injury after injury (I'm unsure whether it's 3 or 4 lengthy injuries this season alone) and his stats have taken a hit as a result. I'm now keeping him on the bench whereby he comes on for Peredaj should we need to chase a game, with Simao moving to the defensive role. I do think Lustenberger is worth a new contract, particularly as he has signed on modest wages. Bastians was the starting left back here last season, but has found himself marginalised after Pinola's arrival. I would have still retained him for next season, as he was quickly learning to play right back, and is a much younger man than 31 year old Pinola. Unfortunately, my old club frankfurt have agreed a contract with him for next season.

As for players in, with me being over budget I am having to look for young players who would be happy to earn minimal wages. In particular I have lined up moves for a few full backs who I hope can provide cover.

The future

As I have just touched on, I need new fullbacks. I would also require a centre back or two. However, I have an 18 year old out on loan who can step up to be 4th choice next season. Niemeyer, meanwhile, continues his retraining to become a centre-half, as he increasingly finds it difficult to get games in central midfield. Left wing is a problem area as my priority is to find the €2.5m needed to make Hans Gallade's loan move permanent. Biechler is now finding himself moved to the wings as he is unable to play as back-up AMC. Hany Muktar will be reassed closer to the start of next season as he continues to improve out on loan and he can play MC/AMC/DM. Upfront, I have enough strikers and have decided that AMC Victor Abdul will be sent to finishing school in order to challenge for a position up top. This means that I will concentrate on bringing in the LW and a RB, and possibly a LB. If i have any money I will look for a RW. Beyond the next few seasons, I have some excellent 15/16 year olds and it seems Hertha have something of a production line of talent in place. I have dwelt on this and concluded that as the only real club in the east of Germany, I have something of a monopoly on the talent here, and so I am looking to divert any additional funding into the already excellent facilities.

The other clown's

Tushant - the pessimist has finally delivered on his promise to lose most games and finds himself in a downward spiral. It was inevitable he would hit a tough patch as he has one of the smallest clubs in the top flight and plays in front of small crowds. He's stretched too thin. Like his squad, the pressure has got to Tush, and he's looking a tired and beaten man.

Fred - as disappointing as he was in PGC this year, is as brilliant as he has been in Mongrels this year. I know that he got two or three promotions over there, but he also found himself relegated twice. Fred is back to his brilliant best, and how brilliant he was in going from bottom and dead and buried to survival in just a few games, and without a transfer window, has only been topped by his explosion up the table this season, again done on a meagre budget and after losing a few supposedly key players. How on earth s this squad so close to the top 2?

Doug Wuff's Dad - Davie has been a revelation so far. He's probably only done as expected of a half decent manager, having the best of the human controlled sides, but finances are grim, and he's sensibly sold and kept up the quality in the first team. Whilst others have been sacked, Davie has suprised everyone and kept his job.

Festas - the top Lithuanian has bought well and is slowly dragging that Wolfsburg team up the table. Whilst the likes of Fred and Tushant are noticably out performing him, Festas is quietly progressing up the league and is looking good for a long term challenge on the top 2.

Jay - struggled last season, but some good signings as well as the excellent form of his excellent keeper have kept Jay in the hunt for Europe.

Mike - we only see him when it's window! My word has Mike returned to form with some of his finds. He looks to have the best prospects in the league in his squad, if only he was on more often then we would see him return to form this FM.

Nam - has more ups and downs than [insert someone's wife's name here and add an undergarment]. He's pulled off some big wins only to mess it all up with some silly defeats. If Nam can get some form going then he'd be in the running for Europe.

Jimmy - as with me, all Jimmy is really interested in is keeping his job this season, and making sure he has the groundwork to build on for next season. To that end he is doing well on both counts and has a slight buffer on the drop zone.

Matt - was dead and buried a few games ago, but then rolled the dice admirably by selling his world class centre back and bringing in a few new players to improve the squad as a whole. now he's got breathing room and form to boot.

Giedrius - has struggled so far on clan and is deep in trouble with Dusseldorf. I fear he's going down as he cannot seem to string any results together, however, he does have a decent squad there and if he can win two on the spin then he could get to safety and pull away from the drop.

Taylor - it was always going to be hard but Taylor is struggling to come to terms with getting turned over week in week out. He still has not signed a keeper and is relying on a 3rd tier level player between the posts. It's no wonder he's well adrift and all but doomed.

Dovy - the controversial Lithuanian was bizarrely sacked when in midtable, but well above his media predicted place. I can only guess he told the board wild promises to secure more funding and when he struggled in 14th, the gave him the boot after only 11 games. He's now sitting out this season and waiting to have first pick of the newly promoted sides from the BundesLiga2

[JadaX]

Manager: Tushant

Club: SC Freiburg

League: Bundesliga

Season

My season so far has been...terribad. No other word can describe the epic levels of bs I have to go through with my board. I've asked them for money 9x now (since I started counting) and haven't got a cent from them. The start to the season wasn't bad consider I couldn't buy any players, but once European games kicked in my team got wrecked. I tried to reduce training intensity to offset the additional games I had to play per week, but ultimately it didn't matter.

As you can see, **** really hit the ceiling and currently I'm just trying to get draw so that I can try and finish in a respectable position.

Transfers

2nd season in a row where I have no money to buy anyone, and what little money I do have my Director goes and buys random bs I will never used.

I brought in Sulejmani, Colak and Depay - the rest were my Director's buys. Rep-wise I can buy some very good players, but the lack of funds means I am never able to finish the deal. You would think that after giving this team Champions League football the board would back me in the market.

Future

Currently I can care less for how the season ends, if I end top 10 I will be very pleased. As for youth/players - I have no money so pointless talking about it.

Till next time

[Kirderf]

Fred - Nürnberg

Our great start to the season and our great play wasn't just a lucky string of results, that stands clear now after having played 23 games and having won the majority of them.

Last Session

In the last session we were 2 points behind Davie's Leverkusen after having faced Bayern (3-4 lost after coming back from 3-1 down but lost out as we decided to go for it in the end of the game which backfired (they had a red card) won against us) and Davie's Leverkusen (won against us aswell with 4-3 after me taking the lead against him 3 times...damn Kiessling).

BUT despite those magnificent displays that still gave us 0 points, we took on the session with a determination and mindset that we would take that 3d place back from Davie's grasp. And boy oh boy we did, winning against Stuttgart, Freiburg (Tush), Mönchengladbach(Jay) and Kaiserslautern(Jimmy). We played two other games aswell against Dortmund (1-1 draw) and finishing the session with a very disappointing 0-0 draw against Ingolstadt (their defense and keeper had the best day of the season).

Outstanding players of Nürnberg this season

Timm Klose: Have continued with great performances and been our best player so far this season

Hiroshi Kiyosake: It's a mystery how we could do so well without him, but it's quite clear that we're a much more dangerous side offensively with him in the team, if it weren't for the long injury time he probably would have challenged Klose for player of the season.

Michael Eneramo: Our main striker, struggled a couple of games in the first half of the season but have always played well and he started scoring a lot in the end and he's now up to 13 goals, only behind Kiessling and Gomez in the goalscorers table.

Plattenhardt: A very allround leftback, he can attack, he can defend. He's not a top notch player at it but he's still good/great at it. + He is still a young player, so there is room for more improvement. In spite of all that, I really didn't think he would perform so well for me.

Quinteros: A colombian AMC I signed for the massive amount of 2.3m£ (well it's a massive amount for me anyhow). Has been a big part of our offense this season with several goals and assists.

Feulner: My main boxTobox have been surprisingly good this season, his physicals are bit low for my liking and due to his age they are detoriating fastly. I was worried about this position, but thanks to this guy I haven't had to worry and it will be interesting when I get a player that is actually good statswise for the position.

Albaraggin: It's a shame that the peruan DM first came in January just after our games against Davie and Bayern. He has taken the starting spot immediately outperforming the decent former regular Cohen. Was man of the match in my 1-1 draw against Dortmund and has the record of 4 wins and 2 draws in our team so far let that continue.

Chandler: The american fullback is at times instrumentual in our wins with his offensive capabilities, he almost made sure we turned around the game against Bayern pretty much on his own. Have several goals and assists to his name this season.

Honorary mentions: Per Nilsson, Antonio, Cohen, Gebhart, Duncan, Filho, Zeit, Krafth

Non Honorary mention: Cidinho

MARK OF SHAME

Mr Khouma Babacar Or As I call him Mr Disastercar

What is there to tell about Babacar? I expected much of him and got nothing, absolutely nothing. He has scored 1 goal despite me giving him numerous chances at the first half of the season, even benching Eneramo at times. But no, no no no no. The guy is an absolute idiot on the field. He literally plays as if he had 1 determination and 1 decisions. When he gets a good chance to score in the box, he's all "OH, let's wait a second with shooting so the chance of me scoring gets higher", No! You idiot, you won't score more easily if you let the defender get the time to block or stop your shot every single time, you annoying, ******** dimwit!

Oh and also my strikers are supposed to contribute by helping the amc's or pressuring the defenders but Oh no Mr Babacar have no idea what that means, being more in the way of his fellow players and standing absolutely still when the opposing defenders have the ball. In fact I doubt Babacar would even react if I walked forward to him and yelled

ÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ

The coming summer

We are pretty much guaranteed playing in Europe next season, although the question is if it will be CL or EL. But we got 9 points down to Festas on 5th position and it will take a massive form of him to reach me and Davie in the last 11 games. But considering that we still haven't had any real dip of form during the season and that we still play as well as ever I don't really see us losing out on CL.

We've signed two players on contracts that will arrive in the summer, Armas centerback from Kuban in Russia (a good player that will take the spot besides Klose and is an immediate replacement for the aging Nilsson (we are keeping Nilsson though), the other one is our new boxToBox player Aron Gunnarson from Cardiff. We will be seeing several players leave in the summer, such as Antonio, Daems, lot of ressies, Schäfer and so on.

There are also a number of players I want to leave in the summer but that still has years on the contract including, Mintal, Pekhart, Feulner, Carvalho. I might cash in on Nilsson if there are good enough bids and I will definitely sell Cidinho if there is a good enough bid.

Neither Gunnarson nor Armas are top notch players but they should still be improvements, we'll see what money we will be able to move around with in the summer to see if we can bring in a player that actually is world class.

Next session

Our first game will be against the very side that is hunting us for CL Festas Wolfsburg. He's got the home ground, he's got the pressure, even if he wins he is still 6 points behind us, if he dosn't win it is probably over, if I win, it's definitely over. So all pressure is at Festas. After that we got Davie in the cup, a nightmare draw made even worse by the fact that whoever wins will have to face Bayern (cause I don't see Bayern losing out to Heidenheim in the cup although Steve did). How the Wolfsburg game goes will probably be a big factor on how much emphasis I put on the Cup. Next up after that is Schalke, they might be underperforming but they've still got one hell of a side. And after that I have no idea what games await us but it's probably Hoffenheim, Mainz, Werder Bremen, Hertha Berlin, Düsseldorf. The season ends with two extremely tough games against Bayern and Leverkusen, so hopefully i've already made sure that we are playing next year in CL by then.

Unfortunately in my draw against Ingolstadt they injured two of my main AMC's, Quinteros and Gebhart who will both miss out on the next 2-3 games, so if people are gonna beat me it's probably now.

So 9 points 11 games, will the miracle happen?

The other managers

Davie - Leverkusen

Is doing well and will reach CL I bet, should really with the squad he has though.

Festas

Is doing well and will reach EL I bet, should really with the squad he has though. Feels like he is a tad better than last season though, and Wolfsburg got resources....

Steve

Was very up and down during the first 1/3 of the season but after that he has flied up the table and now looks a serious contender for a spot in Europa League. This season will probably in fact be the first season he is content on FM13.

Jay

Been midtable pretty much all season, has had a slight improvement in his results as of late and is not too far of the race for EL.

Tushant

He was right behind me after 1/4 of the season but since then his club has imploded, and it feels like he can't cope with the nature of European football and league and cup at the same time. His attitude at the moment is almost as bad as Grant's of PGC and i'm pretty sure that if he was a little bit more Cheerio things would be a bit better looking, and he is still in both the cup and Europa league so he really shouldn't be all that gloomy.

Mike

Shows up for windows not much more. Has probably played as many games as you could count on one hand himself. The ass man ain't doing that well for him this time around. This Hannover side is good enough to fight for EL, and it's a better team than mine, in fact I really, really want some of his players. Mike has a talent for finding really good players and noone can take that away from him.

Nam

The most inconsistent side of the league, can beat anyone and can be beaten by anyone.

Jimmy

Looks like Jimmy will survive this time around, but it's still close down there and he still needs another bunch of points to make sure he stays another season.

Matt

It's really been an off season for Matt, he has several players that would walk into my side. In January it all looked over, he was one game from the sack, he was in relegation. He sold Jan Kirchoff the amazing CB for over 15m and got several players in for that money, some of those players I questioned myself, all except for one...the AMC, and it seems like it's the AMC himself that has heightened the quality of Mainz offensive play.

Giedrius

Not going well this time either, need to get going soon or I fear that Bremen will overtake him.

Taylor

Dead and Buried.

Dovydas

Waiting for his fellow Lithuanian Giedrius to be sacked so he can take over his beloved Düsseldorf again.

[Dig_Dog]

[djwillster]

heeerrrrrreeeesssssss willster thats right im back for everyone that knows me thinks it will be an interesting time ahead as im in charge of one on the teams i hate being a dortmund fan that team is frankfurt lol lets see who can get in and use my usual wacky tactics and buys woooo fun days

i see that things are good so now you all have a nutter joining thats scottish should be lively lol

[Dig_Dog]

Hertha Berlin - Steffen Effenshiesse

The Season

Following on from my last post, the team limped home in the end, as the wheels had come off at times, but we won just enough games to get 9th. I could mitigate and say that this was due to injuries and a tough run of fixtures, but I am more inclined to say that it showed that we are some way off challenging for a top 4 spot.

The cup was a mild distraction and we never really gave it proper consideration. Still we have no excuses for losing to a Bundesliga 2 side.

Finances

It's been grim looking at this as Hertha manager. We were constantly bleeding money, and it's obvious that we have too many outgoings for our turnover. Therefore, we need to tackle the two main sources of expenditure. The wage bill and ground rent. The wage bill is now under control and if anything needs increasing to get a better squad in. The ground rent was tackled but backfired as we bought the Olympic Stadium but then had to take a massive €310m loan to pay for it. I have calculated that we now have to pay €18m in loan repayments each season for the next two years then, after we have repaid the short term loan taken out last season, we should see the loan repayments reduce to about €11m per year.

Squad

Keepers - we are competent here but I would strengthen if I had the spare wages to bring in a quality Bosman.

Right back - I thought we have a very good right back, but he did struggle last season. I have now brought in a back up, but he's unlikely to be a world beater.

Left back - unfortunately I lost my decent back up on a Bosman. I have 2 good prospects in reserve and I am also bringing in another for free. Between them we should have a challenger for the back up spot, but the starting spot is secure with Pinola, my highest paid player.

Centre Back - Balbin surprised me this season by claiming a starting jersey. This meant that I had to release the former skipper due to him earning €38k a week. Balbin is not exceptional, but Hubnik is. Niemeyer provides competition as a CB now rather than a DM or MC. There's a couple of kids to contest for 4th choice. Ideally I will look to bring in a loan, but I'm struggling to find the funds.

Central Midfield - Simao is my best defensive midfielder (both as MCd or DM) but often plays as a strightforward MC due to his decent technical stats. Peredaj continues to press for a starting bay, and is usually the one forcing Simao to play in the more attacking role along side him. If we are going to try to attack a side or move the ball about, then Lustenberger will play (as an MCa or MCs). Lustenberger has struggled to regain his stats following a succession of injuries. Neimeyer is 4th choice MC, but I might promote a kid here due to Neimeyer's CB commitments.

Left Wing - we currently have none on our books and this is our main area of concern. At present only Biechler can even do a job here, and I'm looking at shipping him out. We are currently trying to find the funds to being Galade back permanently, but this looks doomed. The young south african is being trained to be his cover.

Right Wing - Vozynachev has this spot nailed, though he is still not quite starting class for the bundesliga, but with his undoubted potential, he will continue to play so he can develop. We will bring in a loan player to back him up.

Strikers - We sold Ramos for €5m to ease financial concerns and to bring in cash. Lasogga will operate as the main striker with either Villanueva playing off him as AMC or Allagui along side him upfront. Bekoe is leaving. The south african will provide cover and hopefully I can pull off a decent loan for further options.

Assessment - things look worse this coming season, but hopefully I can work some magic in the market and be more optimistic come the start of the season.

Review of the others

Davie - excellent season for him, but it's time to stop judging him as if he's the special needs kid and to judge him as a competent manager of the best human controlled club. Thus I give him 8/10 and sadly he was my fourth choice for manager of the year.

Fred - 4th with Nuremburg is the performance of the season for me even if Davie did pip him in the end. I worry about him with CL to play for next season though and see him doing a "tush". 10/10

Festas - finished strong and should be looking for a real top 4 push next season. I expect him to capatilise on Fred's lack of squad depth. 7/10

Tush - good season for him, didn't hit the heights of last season, but to secure European football for Freiberg two years in a row and to almost win the europa league is a great season. 8/10

Matt - I bet he gets overlooked for manager of the year, but I'm casting a vote his way. To be dead and buried like he was and to then roll the dice by selling his best player and bringing in 4 others was a masterstroke. He really proved himself in my book. If he carries on the way he finished then he will be top 6. 9/10

Jimmy - stuttered to a midtable finish, but Jim's aim was just to stay up and he did so with ease. With 2 good sides coming up, his media prediction is now 17th, I expect him to find it tougher next season as well. 7/10

Dovydas - sacked early on and sat out for the rest of the season. Unfair sacking but brought on by his outrageous promises. 4/10.

Nam - aother who was up and down in the thick of the tight bunch in the middle. A solid season for him, but he has funds unlike most of us. 6/10

Giedrius - another poor season for him with a sacking and then getting embroiled in a relegation fight with Dusseldorf. Got it tougher next season and will be favourite to be relegated. 2/10

Jay - underperformed with a good Gladbach side but did make the cup final to redeem himself somewhat, but the board thought not and sacked him. 5/10

Mike - was not on enough to warrant comment.

Taylor - had a tough job and then went missing when the going got tough. 2/10

Managerial Changes:

Dovy returns as Koln

Jay is sacked by Gladbach and takes over Frankfurt

Will returns as Gladbach

[djwillster]

im back but with gladbach

[wiganlover11]

im goin 2 be returning with a Good team!!! hahahha i hope we can get at least a top 10 finish and build a decent team and get some great resaults i have 1 player definatly in mind about buying!!!! BTW I CANT POST PICS AS FOR SOME REASON IT SAYS I AM NOT ALLOWED TO?

[wiganlover11]

That team is..... STUTTGART!!!!

[wiganlover11]

Is our kits For the Season!

[Kirderf]

Fred - Nürnberg

Champions League, lalalallala, Champions League lalalalala. Well playoffs anyhow, i'm praying before the 3 headed chimera that we won't get too face as bad opposition as poor Tush did last season in the playoffs.

Player of the Year: Timm Klose

My Player of the Year: Timm Klose

I wouldn't be surprised if any of the big teams in Europe will go in with the amount needed 25m£ if he makes another season like this one. And to be frank, we NEED him to do another season like this one to be up there fighting for Europe.

Getting Champions League is so massive for us, from saving the team from relegation at the end of the season and CL the season after. This is the best position Nürnberg has gotten since the season 67/68 and they won that season! Nürnberg has been the team most relegated/promoted from/to Bundesliga during Bundesliga's history. So yeah this is pretty damn big.

We've been overperforming pretty much all season getting results that we really shouldn't be getting. Which is a rather big concern for this season, since I just don't have depth in my squad and now we're gotta play europe? And we're gonna be in an european group stage no matter what. My team just can't fight at 3 fronts so I've decided to not give a single turd about the German Cup which is a bit uncharateristic for a German Team, instead we will give young potentials like Rajkovic and so on the chance game after game in the cup(for as long as they can keep us in the cup, which I wager won't be too long).

We've signed Igor Armas, Aron Gunnarsson and Rowe (from Peterborough). They are good players that add some quality to my team as they are all better than the players that have been playing at the positions before, Armas is the new regular cb alongside Klose and Gunnarsson is taking the starting MC position, Rowe is second choice for the MC position and can also play as a lb adding vital depth to the team in case of injuries. None of the 3 are top Bundesliga players though.

We bought the stadium, but at the same time the club took a 96m loan to make it happen. We got a weak budget, so i'm looking for freebies or cheap transferlisted players.

Feels a bit like a joke finishing 4th and watching promoted teams like Koln throw around the millions, not to talk about Jimmy spending mililions upon millions again.

I don't see us managing a top 4 position next season, europa will cost us strength and the squad ain't strong, we need to sign a lot more to make me feel that we've got a chance of reaching 4th again. So my goal for this season will be to fight for europa and manage to get that last Europa league spot. Predict myself to finishing between 6-8th.

Media prediction: 8th

My hope/goal: 6th

Super happy: another 4th place

Goal Europe CL: Get into the group stage so we get the real money

Goal Europe EL (if we go out of CL and are in EL instead) : Getting through the groupstage