The Mongrels Clan

[scooter28]

Finished 6th in the league table and won YES WON the german cup after beating dortmund 2-1 which helped steves hertha to get a place in the europa league. Strange second half of the season for me i almost blew it big time (i did really) sitting 3rd in the table going into the last game i was on course for the champions league then i played tushants frieburg who thumped me and got the champions league place insted MON THE MAINZ

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart – Koln

CHAMPIONS ONCE AGAIN!. After coming back from my holidays to fine that my ass man had thrown away the league and also lost a champions league place and 20mplus that comes with that I got my head down and worked really hard to make sure everybody knew that I was back. And by winning the league in the manner that I did has sent a message out to the rest of the clan COME AND CATCH US.

Europe

Make the knockout stages of the Europa league and it was a very good test for my young side who played all the games. We went out to Ac milian on away goals , Maybe I would of gone for the Europa abit more than I did but the league was the main aim this season.

Summer Window

Sit back and Relax over the summer for me and the lads, Koln will be doing little to no business at all, Maybe a left back as cover might be needed but other than that we are set ready for the new season.

Season ahead

More of the same is what im looking for and I have one eye on winning the champions league, 2 semi finals with a younger side than today shows me that my side is now ready to crack Europe. The league must be won again and my younger players will be having a crack at the German cup again.

Well that’s you upto date from the home of the champions More next week

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings 2022/23

Bundesliga

2.Bundesliga

[AndyFal36]

Season Summary 2022/23

[djwillster]

Jack - Hannover

Stayed up after beating Will 7-0 on last day of the season, perfect way to end it.

The Hannover project has begun!

wasnt me you beat was my ass man i was offline but congrats on staying up as for 7-0 iv never been beat by a human by that wen im on think im gonna sell that team after that now lol

[Kirderf]

Fred - Mönchengladbach

After a few seasons of mediocrity, Mönchengladbach was blessed by getting me as their manager this season. First thing I did was to have a good long look at the squad and say "hey this won't do", So I sold my main striker for 28.5m£ a dm for 11m£, some others for lesser amounts eventually Valade in January for 30m£.

The following signings were made after that

Holub 14m£ Left back with big future, was decent this last season although he was injured for a bit of it. 7/10

Visnjic 10m£ CB with big future, fought his way into the starting eleven, was surprisingly good 8/10

Sasaki 4m£ another young fullback that can play both as lb and rb and has also big promise for the future. 6/10

Wahlbreq 3.5m£ Signed for the left wing to be a starter and was possibly the best left winger in the league during the season a 10/10 signing considering the price aswell.

Reserve guy for the left wing 1.5-3m£ Can't remember his name as he hasn't made any impact or played much (I often came up with other solutions when Wahlbreq was not playing) 5/10

Beradze (think I signed him for 5m£ but can't remember) was signed to be my playmaker and was a great signing of what I could find that would go to me, 7.5/10

Ihalainen signed during the Jan window for 17.5m£, 6/10 will probably better with a pre season with the team for next season.

+ several loans during the season

So, I took some risks in selling of 3 quality players Striker, Right winger, DM but managed to strengthen the team massively as a whole. Needless to say my success with the transfers was the foundation for my second place finish which I'm very proud of since I took over the team first the 4th of Augusti missing whole July to make signings and being away from the clan for seasons having no clue whatsoever of where to look for signings I managed to make such a fast succesful assesment of what I needed to sign to do well.

We started of the season with a hard hard schedule facing of the majority of the top 10 clubs in our first 10 games and I knew that after having a positive score from those games that we would be a team to count with for the season.

In January I was 3d and me and Davie (second at the time) were up against each other in the quarterfinals of the cup. I told Davie to play his reserves cause otherwise I would make him pay for it (I really wanted to win the cup). But Davie did not head my warning, and when you do not heed my warning bad things happen, very bad things happen.

Now before I tell you what happened, let me tell you a story about a german centre back, he was happy, strotting around with a smug smile outdoing everyone else in the league having the best avg.rating of all players but then....Davie decided to play him against us in the cup and well....following happened

Bell was out for 3months + and Davie fell like a stone in the league more resembling relegation fodder than a team aspiring for the title. I suppose the Mainz team was built around that Bell. So it goes, Studs (1), Aim (2), Bell(3), GG (4)

While Davie was sinking faster than a rock, I was steadily maintaining my great form and finally finished the season on an unbelievably good 2d position finish. Next season will be much harsher on us as we must compete in Europe aswell + the fact that there are 5-6 players that still are on an overall player for player better than us.

So I'll wager we won't even make CL next season. Think we'll finish 5th or 6th.

We'll be looking to improve on our centre back position, get a better alternative to Wahlbreq, get an alternative to Demir (Right wing), possibly sign in a new main keeper

My favorite player of the year: 1th Godoya 2d Wahlbreq 3rd Demir

Best Striker: Jimenez (Jimmy Three Fingers)

Best Centreback: Tah

Best youngsteer: Coskun Demir (or the prodigee child as I call him)

[Jack92P]

wasnt me you beat was my ass man i was offline but congrats on staying up as for 7-0 iv never been beat by a human by that wen im on think im gonna sell that team after that now lol

Haha, cheers mate!

[Dig_Dog]

Steffen Effenshiesse - Hertha Berlin

End of season report

I decided to wait until I was sufficiently through the summer window before doing my end of season post. You know that point in the summer where the disappointment and anger from the previous season gives way to the optimism that all football fans have when they think their side is about to sign a couple of players who will push them on to the next level and their underperformance from the previous year will just fade away.

All I can say about last season was that it was disappointing and yes my side did under perform. You may have noted that Stu winning the league for the 2nd time in 3 years broke the run of 7 different winners in 7 seasons. The team that had preceded him in this run was Tushant's Freiburg.

Why's this significant? Well there's a pattern. Tush won the league, and he dropped the next season, dramatically. He then won the league the season after and then he dropped again, but sadly, this time never to recover. Stu won the league two years ago, and whilst yes his ass man played a significant role, he too dropped and dropped significantly. Now I won the league last season and then dropped away myself. Closer inspection will tell you that 7th might not be the lowly position it seems as I was within 3 points of CL football and just 4 off 3rd. In fact had my team pulled their finger out in the last game and won (we were drawing in the last game when we went all out and got caught on the counter and ended up losing).

So it's not my fault we didn't retain our title. It's preordained in Germany that the champions fall away and someone new comes through. Well maybe. Ok not really. So were did we go wrong?

the Squad

Gk - Torres was injured for a few games, and horn struggled in his place and we did lose two of those 5 or so games.

RB - Bader had an excellent season and had seemed to not be the injury prone crock that made me and others dither over signing him. Seemed I said, because in the end he did succumb to a nasty injury but he'll be back in time for the new season. Perets deputised well. Picard was determined to not be all that and we didn't take up our option to buy.

LB - Perets had an almost excellent season, but was poor in parts and when he was poor we lost and he cost us the game. His Norwegian deputy was abysmal and must improve or he's gone.

CB - Partida was good, but he's usually excellent and so had a bad season by his standards with a few sub par performances were we lost. Brou had a good average rating also but there was too many off games which coincided with defeats. al-haj Ali played just 5 games for me. It's like he plays for his country and I get him for just a few games a season. It's unbelievable. He's not got to grips with my team and cost me a couple of games. Forster, did well but I don't expect much off the youngster.

MC - Born was superb, but he was often fighting in vain in my losing games. Engels continued to improve. He's now undoubted first choice. Potapkin is done and is never going to get back to what he was never mind realise his potential. Maybe the same with Ekstrom.

RW - vozny now looks to have fully recovered but I was surprised to take a good look at him and see he's now 29. He's still an emerging kid in my eyes! Hahn got few opportunities.

LW - Catamara had a poor season and I tired a couple of the forwards in a left inside forward role as an alternative. Wormouth and brioch don't seem to be ready just yet.

CF - Ouatarra had a disappointing season compared to last, despite hitting a lot of goals early on. Nikolic had his worst season for year, struggling to find the net regularly. Wichnairek continues to disappoint but the signs are maybe he's about to start scoring regularly as he had his most prolific season yet. Van dyk mainly appears at RW backing up vozny. Lasogga, the legend bowed out with something of a renaissance when needed. Van der Weg was rubbish and will be sold / released.

Analysis of matches

Just a few points -

We often lost games when little was needed to have changed the outcome - I.e. statistically we were the better team (both more CCCS, more possession, more shots on and off target) often being done by bad play by either giving the ball away or a mistake at the back. Often my fullbacks were at fault.

Champions league football must have been a factor. I had a really hard group and so played my best side in the first 5 group games and then rested the better players when below 95% in league games and then would play players at 90% in CL games. I can't say I put my best team out here, then the weaker team lost there. But the general strain on the side with 8 extra games at crucial times must have been a strain. Vozny in particular needs 7 days rest between games.

Competitions -

League - covered above really

Cup - wasn't bothered about it and my reserves got smashed

Champions league - had a solid group and performed with aplomb beating PSG (best side on game) comfortably in their own backyard. We went out in a nightmare game in Porto when we lost 3-0 and after really going for it in the home leg, we were caught on the counter twice and drew 2-2 (Torres' 5.8 was duly noted).

Transfers -

Some major upheaval at Hertha after last season's if it ain't broke don't fix it attitude.

Out:

Brou - Ali is better long term if Brou is better short term. I can't have both if one goes to the Asian Cup and one the African cup. It cost me. Brou was sold for £25m. Nice pay day in all fairiness.

Ekstrom - I still think with the right nurturing he can return to being one of the best playmakers in the league, however, Engels is now better and can be so much better, therefore, I cashed in to the tune of £10m. Decent money for a crock.

Potapkin - not yet sold but as I write this, Spurs are waiting on a work permit which must be granted and then I can pocket £7.5m for a 27 year old who is more like a 37 year old with little chance of ever being the player he was at 21, nevermind the player he was predicted to be.

In:

Almeida - 19 year old right back to back up Bader and perhaps emerge and replace him (when injured) so I can cash in on bader to the tune of £30m+ which surely the AI will pay for a 19 year old. Anyway, Almeida gives me a wait and see insurance policy for just £1m.

Andy Naisbitt - £11m centre back signed from Middlesbrough. He is similar to Ali, not as good as Brou now, but will be better. Therefore I have 3 similar and young CBs with this lad the oldest at 22 and best at the moment. Perhaps the youngest, Forster, has the best potential.

You will note I will now have a major transfer kitty and one major place to strengthen, there is one major transfer in the offing, but I'm not saying who until it comes through. Edit: It was in fact Yannik ernst, although I did make a few cheeky bids for some outstanding but unpersuadable Barcelona players. The deal could not be completed until Joe was in game.

The other clowns:

Stu - an imperious season and showing himself to be the dominant force belly tipped him to be.

Fred - there's a good side there but you have to take your hat off to Fred and say there's no way they should be second and he's done wonders to get there. My prediction is to fall away next season with CL.

Tush - he's got a mishmash of excellent and mediocre players as his plan to kill off Freiburg stalls. Judging by the window I expect his tendency to self destruct to come back. But hats off, it was tush of old last season.

Davie - an excellent season looked certain, but in the end he came up short and he should be very worried about the way he blew up. These runs tend to carry on into a new season and I think there's a chance he'll be well down next season perhaps in mid table.

Oliver - doing excellently so far and being a shrewd mover in the transfer market I can see him challenging the European places soon. He's just waiting for his club to write themselves financially.

Joe - similar to Oliver. I can't think of a better combination between jimmy and joe. Jimmy assembled a good young side but ran out of ideas. Joe knows how to utilise the older players, that perhaps others would discard, but he does struggle to find the top quality kids. I expect big things from joe in the coming seasons.

Will - bremen's foray to the top of the table seems so long ago now. I can't see any return to form for the Glaswegian nutter. I don't think he'll struggle in terms of relegation but he's just going to be well off the ral pace at the top.

Jack - has landed on his feet at Hannover. He's done ok so far and just needs to quietly get on with things and this time to realise there's no shortcut to the top. I bet if he ever got a top club again, he won't be so eager to look for greener pastures.

Jimmy - back in management but not where he wanted to be. He needs to rediscover his desire otherwise Frankfurt could be in trouble.

Junior - took promotion certainties 1860, against advice, then almost ballsed up promotion, the bottled the real job which was keeping them there. Now at HSV, and likely to be sacked if he isn't instantly making progress on promotion.

Andy - seemed to be just short last season coming close to promotion at the end, but I ain't got a clue about his team to be honest. It's a long time since I played them.

New guys:

Ali - had net problems and will sort them out before returning.

Fabio - has a tough job at 1860, and still trying to find out if he is suited to clan life.

[Dig_Dog]

STOP PRESS - HERTHA SPLASH OUT

RECORD €35 MILLION TRANSFER

FOR YANNIK ERNST

Hertha Berlin have quietly raked in £43m (€50m) in transfer fees whilst spending just £11m (€13m) up to this point. It all became clear after a swift but highly secretive deal was concluded with Yannick Ernst in the Berlin offices to finalise the deal by putting pen to paper on his new £54,000 (€63,000) per week contract. The transfer fee to bring him from Kaiserslautern to Hertha was a reported £30m (€35m). Ernst (pictured signing the deal below with new manager Steffen Effensheisse) will join an already impressive midfield duo of local berlin boys Manuel Born and Daniel Engels, and will give Effenshiesse the depth he needs following the poor season last term. He will plug the gap left by the departing Potapkin and Ekstrom. Another player is also rumoured to be arriving. Effensheisse was ecstatic to unveil his new charge and hinted that he may now consider playing 3 in midfield. "He will certainly give us more options and will definitely add quality to the team". When asked if this meant either Born or Engels dropping to the bench, Effenshiesse responded, "Well all three are first team players and will play the majority of the games when fit, and I certainly can't leave any of them out, but perhaps we may not play all three at the same time, it is a long season with all those games in the Europe". When asked about the identity of the rumoured final arrival, the Hertha boss would only confirm there was one more to come in, for a much smaller fee, but refused to name the player.

Yannik Ernst began his career at Schalke, before being quickly stolen away by Gladbach (then managed by Nick) for £12m (€14m). He spent most of his 2 years there actually on loan at Austrian club, FC Red bull Salzburg. He was then prized away by Kaiserslautern for £14m (€16m) by then manager Jimmy, who threw him straight into a starring role in the first team. He played 80 league games for Kaiser and scored just one goal. He is predominately a defensive midfielder with great technique, vision and passing for one so defensively minded and perhaps he will slot into a more central position for Hertha. Effenshiesse has long been monitoring the young German, but it is only now that he's had the funds to tempt Sepp Konig (Joe) to part with one of his prized assets. At just 20 years of age, Hertha will be optimistic that Ernst can more than repay his transfer fee. He is signed in time to be reigstered for European competition. His transfer fee eclipses that of Martin van Dijk, who cost Hertha £13m (€15m) over 2 years previously. Van Dijk has yet to establish himself in the Hertha first team competing for places in the strongest areas of the side, at right wing (behind club legend and managerial favourite Nazar Voznykevych at right wing and both Filip Nikolich and Artur Wichnairek for a forward role alongside Lamine Ouatarra. However, van dijk is another young player with time on his side, particularly as vozny approaches his 30th birthday this season. with the record transfer burden transferring to Ernst, Van Dijk will be hopeful that a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. Ernst has broad shoulders and should be able to carry the weight of expectation, that he can reinvigorate Hertha and spur them back to reclaiming the Bundesliga title they won the season before last.

[Kirderf]

Fred - Mönchengladbach

Some really bad injuries so far for me ranging up to the worst one on my star cm Godoy (5 months) still in spite of that we've been able to follow the pack in the league and start well in CL. I'm going for CL to collect as much cash as possible for the next season.

Anyways here's the league table.

[Olib1983]

Oliver-Leverkusen

It's been a hard summer for me as having an issue with having the 2nd lowest wage budget in the league means I could not attract players of the right quality to improve my side. However I managed to bring in a few players a new right back two wingers and a few on frees and I feel I have a decent side. We have started ok with playing quite a few of the top sides were hanging in with the pack. I'm hoping we can manage to push in to the top seven before Christmas as we really could do with Europe next season as I now have a few players wanting to move to bigger clubs. All in all a decent start

[djwillster]

will - bremen

losing the ****ing will to live

[Dig_Dog]

will - bremen

losing the ****ing will to live

I'm sure there'd be a queue of volunteers to help follow through with that

[Dig_Dog]

Ok so half way might be 17 games, but this is as close I can get:

[Dig_Dog]

End of week table:

[SeanBhoy88]

Sean - Aachen

Nightmare start but looking forward to working my way out of it somehow very glad i joined this

Its very professionally ran and has some stiff competition with several top managers long may it last .

[Kirderf]

Fred - Mönchengladbach

Look at that table, look at it! Two points behind 1st placed Stu and 1 point behind 2nd placed Steve. We might not have the same high individual ability nor do we have as much depth as those two teams but we are there and we can do it!

Now a little take on how it looks.

Stu:

Got the toughest schedule left of us three + the fact that he's still in CL. I'm pretty sure he'll go for CL aswell so league might hurt from that.

Steve:

Got a schedule that looks pretty much the same as mine however he probably won't throw EL away as I will.

Me: Pretty nice schedule just as Steve but with the exception that I've got 3 "easy on the paper" league games next. If we do as we should in those games we might put some good pressure on the other two managers. + The fact that I'm throwing away EL like no other playing 17 year old keeper and ****, league is what we focus on.

CL

Alright now for some details about the season so far. We'll start with my little CL adventure, which ended in misery and horrible luck. We got a horrible draw and ended up facing PSG, Sporting and Ajax. You might say that the group dosn't look so hard but Sporting(they seem to have become a betterr team than Porto in our game) is a great team in our game and has reached CL final.

We started with a 6-2 thrasing of Ajax where Ihalainen scored 5 goals. We then played a 1-1 draw away to Sporting where we should have won. Then we played two games against PSG where most went against us and we lost 1-5 and 1-3. They got like 4-5 penalties in those two games sigh. Then we faced Ajax again and won comfortably with 3-1 then it was the last game against Sporting, all I needed was a draw. The game starts, we take the lead early by a header from Visjnic, everything looks great but we can't score more in the first half which we completely dominated, the celebrating was already beginning to start however...directly after kickoff in second half my main leftback Holub gets kicked out of the pitch and I have to sub in Sasaki to my big dismay. 1 minute after the sub their winger attacks on Sasaki's wing, he gets ahead of Sasaki without any trouble and whoops they score 1-0. Some more minutes after that and whoops they kick one of my centrebacks out of the pitch and so I have to make another sub. Another 3 minutes and they once again break through Sasaki and score 2-1. Add another couple of minutes and they break through yet again through Sasaki and whoops they have 3-1 which is the score the game ends with. I've never felt so robbed of CL playoffs as this time around.

Cheating portuguese ********.

League

We've a really good run atm in the league with 5 games in a row without a loss and 4 of them have been wins and some of the games have been big games, such as Oli's Leverkusen and Tush's Freiburg. In fact we haven't lost to a human all season and we have won many big games away, against Oli, Tush and Steve.

Human Record

Versus Oli: 3 Wins 1 Draw

Versus Steve: 2 Wins 1 Draw

Versus Stu: 2 Wins 1 Loss

Versus Davie: 2 Wins 1 Loss (and 1 Loss in Cup)

Versus Tush: 1 Win 3 Draws

Versus: Will: 2 Wins 1 Loss

Versus: Jack: 2 Win 1 Draw

Versus Sean: 1 Win

Versus Mike Junior: 1 Wins

Versus Joe: 1 Win

Versus: John: 1 Win

[Kirderf]

Fred - Mönchengladbach

One game session after that post and the game clearly hates me is all I can think after getting ton of corners/penalties scored against me and many of those goals being on overtime sigh.

And Europe well? We beat Arsenal with ressies+younglings somehow but once again got cheated by a team, Atletico Madrid this time to send us out once again from a European competition. FM ain't a fair soul.

League gone horrendous aswell, Stu scores overtime goal against me to nick a win, Frankfurt score goal in overtime to get a draw, who knows what happened against Werder Bremen and Jack got a cheap pen + 2 corner goals against me and against Davie's Dortmund we thorougly played around in his penalty box probably winning around 8-9 headers of corners in good angles where atleast 3-4 of them should be goals but oh no, not a single goal off the corners, and ****ed up individual misstakes at the back and whoops Davie scores, to make insult worse he scores a second one even though we are still playing around in his penalty box, missing the whole goal like some ******* from Mars that have no clue about the sport and thinks you score if you shoot it around the net. Of course Davie scores when we decide to overload and as usual Ihalainen finally decides to score when it dosn't matter anymore, finnish *****.

Easily the most frustrating session in my clan history, because we played well on the pitch in all games except for the one against Jack but still we got robbed in all kinds of ways. Have had a lot of penalties against me as of late and especially corner goals, which is weird cause I haven't conceded much corner goals before this last session. It is as if my team does not care anymore and gi

ives up on defending the corners.

Mark of Shame: The 5 players I dislike the most in my club atm.

Ihalainen: I don't care if he scores ton of goals, most of his goals are in the same games and he scores when we are already down by some goals. Add inconsistent as hell to his ways and a diving idiot to his personal CV and it gets easy to put this guy on the top of the list.

Sasaki: Singlehandedly sent me out of CL with his subbed on performance against Sporting in the last group stage game. + Being generally terrible when I had to play him when my team was in injury heaven. Loaned him out to West Ham in January and his first two performances for them were horrendous aswell, since then he's gotten no games for West Ham....I wonder why.

Barrios: My keeper, really good last season when we finished 2nd. Didn't really like the look of him when I first got the team, he's not my kind of keeper and maybe that's caught up with us this season. Have not had many games where has been excellent, and he's had some games where he just dosn't seem to make an effort on even saving the shots so we don't conceed. + He's tiny and I've seen a lot of corners conceeded as of late. This guy is in other words getting his ass transferlisted and we're gonna get a new keeper.

Rincon/Cassado: Two good players if you look at them statswise, very good in fact, Cassado can't do much attacking though as a fullback unfortunately and Rincon makes tons of individual misstakes as of late, don't know why since he was hell of a good player before this last session, but he just impoded entirely last session. Will have to bench him for the next games to come unfortunately.

Still got a change to reach CL but I just wanna get to transfer window so we can strengthen what we are missing. New goalkeeper is the first agenda, then a really good left wigner hopefully, (wahlbreq haven't been the same player since he got back from a 3 month injury), a top class right back and hopefully a world class striker.

Best 5 players of this season:

Corkun Demir One step better this season and I think it's safe to call him world class now. Shame I don't have more players I can call that. The one to take Steve's Voznyakevich's mantle as the best Right Winger in the league?

Visjnic reliable, can score headers. Still have a long way to go. But it's hard to not like him.

Jimenez reliable striker, not inconsistent like Ihalainen but he's unfortunately not as good as I'd like him to be.

Beradze/Kacan Both are good playmakers for the team, that both do well when they play, both can score goals and make great assists.

Önder/Frankowski The two dms are good dms that perform generally very well and they should be part of our team for some time to come.

[Jack92P]

Jack - Hannover

What a season it was for myself, my media prediction was 14th and my own person target was trying to break the top ten. Not in my wildest dreams did I expect to challenge for the league titles and qualify for the champions league finishing third!

Sorondo my Argentinian striker got joint top goalscorer alongside Fred's Ihalainen, my team is basically a bunch of misfits from other human clubs. Players who were thought not good enough to play at the top level, Gunter Schilling from Levurkusen and Manuel Schrieber from Bayern, not to forget our cult hero winger David Helmlich from Koln. All players deemed not good enough who cam to Hannover an averaged over 7.10 for the season.

We made a real splash in January signing wonderkid 17 year old Kiwa Yenga from Anderlecht. He scored 7 goals in the second half of the season, a pleasing return for someone so young.

Next season it's all about continuing our hard work, my goal is to once again get into europe, for now - Hannover is going on a champions league tour!!

My thoughts on the others

Stu - As good as ever, he has built a trustworthy well engined winning machine at Koln, top manager.

Steve - Got the europa league and a 2nd place finish, needs to give a better challenge next year.

Fred - Another season of champions league ahead for Fred, well done.

Davie - Cheated himself into another job, an absolute disgrace.

Oli - Doing wonderful things on a shoestring budget at Levurkusen, excited to see his young side in europe.

Will - Pathetic season from Will, full of excuses as per usual - not even the downloaded tactics are working anymore.

Joe - Nice season for Joe, quietly got on with his work at Kaiser, keep it up.

Tush - When he plays he is quality, when he doesn't he is awful. Questionable loyalty.

Sean - New kid on the block, fought valiantly with Aachen - has a nice club at Mainz to build.

Junior - When he isn't scheming and being a scumbag in all facets of his life, he is a decent manager. Good promotion.

Andy - GET OFF THE BEER WHEN PLAYING FM. YOU MIGHT WIN A GAME!

Cheers Lads!

[Dig_Dog]

Steffen Effenshiesse - Hertha BSC

END OF SEASON REVIEW

To start with the bottom line we had a good season, fought well on all fronts, but ultimately came up just short. In the league, we were runners up, four points back on stu. In the Europa League, we were beaten by the odd goal against Liverpool, despite being the better side. In the Pokal we defeated Wolfsburg to pick up our only trophy of the season and only my second in my time at at Hertha.

I can't be too downbeat on the season in the league. Germany's a tough league and only maybe twice did we get comprehensively beaten, by that term, I do not mean a thrashing, I mean we were clearly the inferior team. Worryingly, both times was against Fred. In all the other six defeats, Stu, Oli, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg etc there was some mitigating factors, an injury or two, a piece of bad luck, a lucky goal or something that I could clutch to, to say that had it not been for this then we'd have won.

Stu may have now won 3 of the last 4 titles, but you cannot say there is any domination. The league is far too close, season after season for that. Only last year when stu regained his title and the year before when I won it, was the title won by a dominant side with games to spare. My team is definitely far from the finished article and there was major deficiencies that I'm starting to put right.

Before we look over the squad, it's time to assess the cups. The Europa League was a Competition I never really gave any commitment to. However, I did play my first choice side in the qualifying round as to fail to make the group stage would have been disastrous. This game at the expense of 3 points in the league as I rested my entire first xi and a couple of subs to make sure I was ready, and a second string side missing quite a few players and not yet battle hardened was easily beaten by Stuttgart. I then quickly got my side in a rhythm with an xi for the league and another weaker xi for the Europa League. Call me sentimental, but once my second xi had made the final, I felt it only fair that they then have a crack at the final itself. There was a few first teamers who came into the side, but when you see Ernst, Ouatarra, Voznykevych, Engels and Catamara benched, you know it's not my best xi. However, Born, Partida and Nikolic all played, so it wasn't exactly a weak side. The cup final was similar, in that my reserves got me there. However, the final was contested by my best xi, with those tired from the Europa League demoted to the bench / stands. All in all, I think I played about 20 players in the two finals.

The squad:

Torres - the goalie is well into his prime and kept the league's most clean sheets. However, he is prone to the odd bad game that will cost us a win.

Alvarez - the Argentinian right back was bought from Joe for the not unsubstantial fee of £16m. He's taken a while to get going but looks ready for the new season. He's not an injury prone player but he has been knocked a little by injuries recently. He's in his prime any very experienced and should be a key figure next season.

Almeida - the young right back did well when called upon and played extremely well in the Europa League. Injury cost him a place in both cup finals.

Perets - back to his supreme best now. Very much in his prime and very experienced. He is a master of both fullback positions and his versatility is key. However, he is likely to start at left back with his compatriot on the right.

Fjearsen - the young Norwegian is not so young any more and clocked up a few games last season, after establishing himself as a key member of the Europa League side. He will continue to feature at left back even if its Alvarez who is injured as Perets can switch flanks.

Diallo - the young academy player will be given a chance in the CL after a successful season in 2b as one of Andy's few decent players.

Partida - the colossus is at the height of his powers and he has just won the Hertha Player of the Year Award for a record ninth straight season. It's hard to believe he's just 28 as he seems to have been around forever.

Ali - the Qatar international seems to only be selected for the first team these days. When he first arrived he was playing for the u19s, the u20s, the u21s, the u23s and the full side and he was hardly ever here. However, he's available for most of the time now and is far more consistent and should become another Partida.

Naisbit - he was really brought in to replace Brou who missed too many games with the African Cup of Nations. Centre back was one place we had few injuries and so he was mainly limited to Europa League and Cup. A decision will need to be made over his future, as he needs to play more.

Forster - the academy graduate is now 19. He's going to be the lynchpin of my defence until the end of the game, but he just needs to get past those listed above first. His versatility saw him get a few games at left back last season and he played a part in both cup finals.

Zhoung - the giant chinaman has arrived in a bowman from Real Madrid. His career has stalled somewhat since I first got a 5* scout report on him, but I'm prepared to give him a year of cup and CL to see if he can recover his potential.

Ernst - bought for £30m off joe. It's a big fee but he has endless potential and his signing his signalled a change of tactics and gives us more bite in midfield as we've often been bullied out of midfields by weaker sides due to a lack of numbers. He's only 20 but will get better and better and is good enough for the first team already.

Born - the guy is a legend already. The fans and club love him. He's an absolute joy to work with and never moans and just does as he's told. It's hard to think he's only 21. He operates both as a DM and a MC.

O'Brien - the Aussie is a bargain basement signing and has only really played in the Europa League and Cup. We'll give him another couple of years to see if he can ever be more than just a competent backup.

Kahlisch - didn't impress to be frank. Needs improvement soon or he'll be shipped out. His 4* potential is tumbling but he did get games in the Europa League. One academy lad who is going to struggle after making the first team?

Engels - the playmaker really came into his own last season and I probably lost the league in a spell where I lost three games straight. Why did I lose? Well Engels was injured and the ass man had not rotated sufficiently and so I had to change back to my old tactics. Engels is so good, I've had to come up with a load of tactics to accommodate him. Born compliments him superbly, and he has the creativity and passing to feed the strikers.

Spork - no one sees what I see with this lad. But he is a capable deputy for the younger Engels and scores more often. He did very well in the Europa and will remain the deputy for some time until my only potential academy star comes through.

Nazar Voznykevych - the right wing legend is now 30 years old, but is as good as ever. He's led the assist charts in 6 of the last 9 seasons and was second last term. He was back on form last season and I expect one last vintage year from the maestro, before he retreats into a Ryan Giggs bit part type role.

Catamara - an injury interrupted season for the left wing flyer. I didn't stop him popping up with some crucial goals and there's no better sight than him jinking down the left before cutting in on his right and smashing the ball into the top corner of the net from 25 yards.

Van Djik - I know the lads a striker but for me he's so versatile and his speed makes him the natural successor to vozny. He continues to deputise both for Vozny and for Nikolic.

Nikolic - found himself marginalised at times last season and his reduced goal tally was a result of him playing more and more as a left winger in Catamara's position. When we did play 442, he was up top.

Wichnairek - the lad played mostly as a deputy for Ouatarra as the leading forward in the Europa League and Cup side as well as being a frequent sub in the league. Despite limited opportunities he was almost our top scorer and still scored in the top five in the league!

Ouatarra - the big man had another cracking season and was our top scorer once again. The lads now coming into his prime and is capable of carrying the side at times. There is no replacement for a striker like this. He can be everything, the strength, power and arial ability of a top target man, the speed and precision of a poacher, the linkup play of deep lying forward, the running and guile of advanced forward. He's got it all. Simply flawless and irreplaceable.

Molinari - the youngster looks like a mini-Ouatarra but without the pace. He's only 18 but has done well leading the line for the Europa side. He'd have been gutted to have been marginalised and have missed both cup finals, but his time will come.

Tactics:

442, 424, 451, and 4231.

Typical side:

League:

Ouatarra

Catamara Engels Vozny

Ernst Born

Perets Ali Partida Alvarez

Torres

Europa League / Cup:

Wichnairek

Nikolic Spork Van Djik

Kahlisch O'Brien

Fjearesen Forster Naisbit Almedia

Torres

The other clowns:

Stuart - he's going up through the gears now. The likes of Oli and Belly were premature in calling stu champions. However, his side is getting better every season and he will not lose as many next season and will definitely be a favourite.

Jack - a super season for the big mouthed Essex wide boy. He likes to boast and for the first time ever he did better than he predicted, and by some way. He has bought excellently, his tactics are spot on (442 with 2dms), and how he's catapulted Hanover to 3rd I don't know. Superb.

Fredrik - it's astonishing how quickly the mad swede has come back into clan and just clicked straight back into top 4 contention. He's not ready to challenge but he might be the one who crowns the champion by beating the contender. He took 6 points off me which would have given me the title, you see.

Oliver - he's another with an amazing turnaround. He's really got to grips with that club and revived a dying club and given them the strength to comeback. He's bought well and sold well. However, he's rolling the dice again this summer and we'll have to see if it pays off or if he slips back.

David - if anyone else was charging up the table, like Davie did at the end with Dortmund, then I'd be worried at there's a new force in town. But this is Davie. We've seen it before. We all know he's going to struggle big time next season and will be sacked by Christmas. Another club about to be ruined by Davie.

Tushant - the lad has completely lost it now. He's the Arsene Wenger / Arsenal of the clan. Every now and then he stirs, surges up the table and maybe even nabs a CL spot. Then he presses self destruct and falls away again. He needs to move clubs and take on a fresh challenge. The club is now losing patience with its legendary manager and considered booting him at the end of the season.

Joseph - disappointing season for the Irishman. However, it was tempered by the fact he missed sessions. He's signed well, he's crafted a decent side, they play well, but it's just missing something and I think he really should be top 6 now.

William - The lad is on suicide watch on call. He was top 5 with Bremen years ago now. That side has been ripped apart and replaced with rubbish. His tactics are awful, with massive gaps that are a gift for top sides to exploit, and his purchases have been dire.

His time at Bremen is up. He needs to leave for pastures new.

Sean - it's difficult to judge the lad. He had an impossible job, he made a brilliant effort as a man scrapping against relegation inevitability. He turns up to every session, he listens, he watches, he appears to learn, and he's asking for help for the right people. He's now at Mainz as a reward for his effort at Aachen and we'll now see if he really does have potential to be a top manager.

Michael Junior - Ju won the league (2b), but had HSV. It wasn't a canter or a Sunday cruise. He should be disappointed and will definitely go down next season.

Andrew - the misery continues. Looks to finally have given up accepted the clans invitation to take Frankfurt next term. Hopefully we'll see the old Andy.

Steve.

[SeanBhoy88]

End of season review

Sean Black { Aachen }

My story with aachen was short lived i joined in January with high hopes of keeping them up but not being able to bring anyone in even on loan spelled disaster as there was no real depth in the team my first 6 matches were against all of the guys and oh boy was it hard we struggled badly injuries suspensions were rife throughout our struggle and i dont think i have ever witnessed a team i have managed before have such low morale this for me was the ultimate fm challenge a severe patience tester every win felt like i had just won the lottery any point was just as good !! but my fate later was sealed when the AI started to win some games and Aachen were sinking without a trace after tinkering and trying everything my fate was finally sealed i was relegated my new journey is about to begin with mainz and i cant wait i am looking forward to that like you wouldnt believe this network game is excellent and has some stiff competition with the quality of managers aboard

My player of the season at Aachen was : Sobztic or Werner - both of wich played in several different positions for me as i had to rotate alot and they both always performed .

Disaster of the season : without a doubt my GK on no less than 4-5 occasions he just ran out with the ball and walked into the opposition what a fud .

Manager of the year for me : Jack great job getting hannover into second and great form well done mate .

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart – Koln

Champions again and this one is more special than the others. The reason I say that is I am the first to retain the league and did it with the players I had from the season before. This shows the strength of my side and the depth I have at the club. This season I brought a back up left back for 950k and that was it, I sold over 30 million to balance the books as the one season without champions league football cost the club that same amount of money. This season was also the hardest of the lot, With ten members in the league you can find yourself going weeks without playing the AI so you have to be on the metal every week now. This was shown when I missed one session last Wednesday to go see England V Scotland, I left with a nice 3 point lead going into the winter break to come home and see Steve was top of the league by a point, it was a shock to the system but one I thought might happen. With the 5 games played when I was out 3 were against the AI and my team won them easy, the other 2 were against Joe and Jack who thumped me so I got my act togetter and was ready for the 2nd half of the season.

After the longest Jan window in history it was nice to get back to the job in hand, After losing my last 2 games to joe and jack I then went away to Wolfsburg and lost 2-1 this not the start I had in mind so a change was made with my tactic and this was a game changer. If you are to win leagues in any country you have to go on winning runs and boy did we go on a run, the last 11 games we won 10 and drew 1 and with form like that your never going to lose a league . To add a cherry to a already fat cake we went and won the league at wills place, already on suicide watch his 1-0 lead turn into a 2-1 loss and with that the confetti came running down all over the screen, happy days. We finished the season on 75 points 1 less than the season before, but if you take the Fabio shock draw at the start of the season and games I missed to go Watch the England game it could have been even more but to win our 3rd league in 4 years shows that Koln are here to stay.

Europe

We had a harsh time of it in the champions league. It started off very well with a group that was very easy. After coming top in the we went into the knockout rounds, having to wait who we would draw. Sporting away was the answer, not an easy game but a team we should beat over the 2 legs. Away first we set up 4231 like always and proceeded to beat the holy hell out of them, we ended up winning the game 4-2 and with 4 away goals 1 foot was already in the next round. That proved to be the point with a 3-0 win in the 2nd leg with my wonder striker Marti getting all 3. Then our world came crashing down the draw was Made and it was Manchester City and then the semi final draw was made Either Barca or Real. It saw us up against it and to be honest I never thought we stood a chance. We was away to City first game and i was not going to sit back and try to hang on, we went for it from the start and we got an early goal, city came back strong and went in 1-1 at half time. 2nd half city seem to find another gear on us, and went 2-1 up but we kept with and pulled it back to 2-2 with a great goal by ABDO. With only seconds left tho city found a 3rd and won the game 3-2 but with 2 away goals I knew we had a chance. The 2nd leg started off so well for us a early goal by Abdo saw us lead over all, does one dare to dream about an upset, before I could tho city got a goal in the 82nd min. I had to go all out to get a 2nd and was hit with a sucker punch in the 90th and lose the game 2-1. It was hard to take as I know this team is so close to being up there with the best in Europe and I thought this was our season. It left me questioning my team for the first time in years.

FELLOW CLAN MEMBERS

Steve – His neck must be getting sore looking up at me all the time lol. His team is getting better each season and it won’t be long till he stops my run. Was unlucky in the Europa Final but did win the german cup. Very solid season

Jack – What a great season for jack, the mouth of the south Ran riot this season over most of the league. Now comes the hard part in balancing the league with champions league.

Fred – Believe in the swede!!. It’s crazy how fred has turned around Gladbach. Another season in the in a champions league place means more money for better players. Fred will be a danger again next season that’s for sure.

Oli – Outstanding season for oli, After the mess left by Davie it has taken Oli time to get a team togetter. He was unlucky when his game crashed against me, and I am sorry I broke your 18 year olds leg hehe. Still a good very good season tho and now a Europa league next season.

Davie – Where to start. After a shocking season with mainz Davie had the cheek to go for the Dortmund job, and the P*ss was taken then they gave him it. OUTRAGE! Was the cry as members fell over themselves to show there feeling to what Davie has done. Me I found it funny, if you don’t ask you don’t get. He needs to hit the ground running tho or he will be sacked.

Tush - Very good Manager when he turns up.

Will – Shocking season by will he should be pushing on by now and he knows it. Now on suicide watch we worry for the little bobby. http://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you?gclid=CKn3oILKjrkCFXHMtAod0GgAGg Might help will.

Sean – Harsh season for Sean. Did well to hang on in there with a very poor side. The 8-2 loss to me must have been one of many low points to the season. But now he has a club in Mainz where he can build a side, and with fm14 still months away he has the time to do it.

Mike – Back on the big time but need players, he has little money so he has to all to do again. Keeps trying to weel and deal but needs help with loans from other members.

Andy – Having a really bad time of it. I don’t know where he goes from here. Did beat me tho in the cup so there Is life there, but they say the same on mars.

Well thats you upto date from the home of the champions

More soon

[Dig_Dog]

Steffen Effensheisse - Hertha BSC

Transfer window update

Obviously Hertha are in a good state, so there was little work that needed to be done. However, I did have one eye upon the future and how we will transition from the current squad to the next generation, particularly as the likes of Nikolic, and vozny are beginning to age.

I had no real money to spend, as is the norm here, and so I had to raise funds by selling first. If its the likes of Nikolic that I had to replace then its the likes of Nikolic I should sell. Get some money for them whilst they're still worth a quid, was the thinking. Unfortunately, that offer players out at value not asking price bug struck and so we were stuck with bids at value. £15m for Nikolic was not good enough and so they were all rejected and we were unable to bypass he bug and get the £25m minimum we wanted for him. Therefore, I made the tough decision to sell Wichnairek instead. The lad has never quite forced himself into centre stage and ever since a nasty injury he has not recovered the lightning pace he once had, recovering only to the 16 mark and not improving. He's never consistently scored, but did score a bucket load last term. But let's qualify that, most of his goals were in the Europa League were he played as a lone striker against weaker opposition. He then played against weaker opposition in the Bundesliga or in the main goal scorer role when I went two up top as Nikolic was needed wide left. It was therefore inevitable he would score more than 25. Still £40m is a fair price for someone who was not a real star and mainly a sub, back-up, relief or a plan b.

So what did we do with our £40m, I can hear you wondering. Well we went to arsenal where I had been keeping tabs on a 17 year old CB / DM, who goes by the name of Tyler Goodhall. I'm now committed to playing 4231 and variations thereof. Last season I struggled when playing in Europe as I only had O'Brien and Kahlisch as back up to come in, and not only are they weak at CL level, there is also no 5th DM to give cover, so Forster sometimes had to be played in the anchor role. Goodhall is 5* potential and should develop quickly with games. I think that he'd do we'll with O'Brien in the CL and kahlisch can provide the cover. We paid £15m which was a lot but this lad has unlimited potential and should provide a proper challenge to Born and Ernst.

Our second major signing of the season was Pasini a 16 year old AMC that Will's had for a couple of years now. Scouts have consistently rated him as 5*. Despite the fact that he is unavailable until he's 17, which is 12 months away, I thought I'd get him in now and get him retrained. His attributes are decent, but with his pace and crossing, I think I can mould him into a winger. I already have Engels, Spork and Walke to compete for the one AMC / playmaker slot for the next 10 seasons, but I am looking for the ultimate replacement for vozny. £10m secured the kid.

Speaking of a replacement for vozny, I tried to bring in a 17 year old prodigy from Barcelona. We agreed a £17m deal but the player did not want to come and would not discuss terms. This means I will look to secure a loan or buy a stop gap, and reconsider my position in 12 months.

I also signed Zieler, now 35 years old, to be my backup goalkeeper. He is my first real player for 2 seasons, following the departure of Lasogga. Due to the date in game and the quality of my squad, he's also likely to be my last. I think Zieler is still good and maintains the level we had with Timo Horn.

Transfers out saw the departure of Wichnairek and Horn (£1.2m). We also loaned out Hahn, I wish I could reverse that now and use him for back up for Vozny, but I was desperate to get £5m for him and bring in the spanish prodigy. Also gone is some more minor players and a few on loan, but no one of any real significance in the grand scheme of things at Hertha.

Perhaps what will be the most significant change will be the most unnoticed. I have a top young striker called van Djik. Now those of you who read my posts will know he's viewed by me as a RW, and is back up to Vozny. With the departure of Wichnairek I have decided to reprioritise van Djik as a striker. He'll continue to learn the AMR role, but his primary training will be as an advanced forward, therefore, overall ping on some of the wingers skills. So far van Djik has scored in his only game in the Super Cup.

SUPER CUP

The Super Cup was an interesting affair, I had a few away on international duty, a couple injured, and a few more not match fit. For a laugh, I decided to play a 460. The 6 were arranged in pairs, in 3 rows of 2. That's 2 DMs, 2 MCs, and 2 AMCs. This was a one off never to be repeated formation as it felt alien to me to set up without wingers, but without Catamara and Vozny, I had no real choice. I thought it was working quite well, strangling the life out of the game as there'd only been 3 chances, 2 for me as well, by the time Stu scored a total fluke. There'd hardly been any highlights and I wonder what would have happened had that not have happened and I had been able to contest the rest of the game in that formation against a one man attack.

After the goal we brought on Van Djik and played a striker in a kind of penis formation. The penis penetrated stu's rear, and the tie was levelled. Stu was able to grab the winner as the lads tired. But my thoughts were with what might have been. We treated the game like a friendly that it is. It is played well amongst the other friendlies, and we tried a few things out and learnt a few things.

I'll keep you updated on the right wing / striker situation as it develops.

Steve

[mike25]

Well since i joined the clan i have been hannover nearly as much as my assistant 1860 and currently hsv i have got hsv back into the top league but having been given no money and due to work i currently miss 1-2 sessions a week so i don't expect much atall all i can do is hope the work i have done somehow keeps me up. Thanks in advance to all those who prey4mikey may the adventure continue. God bless

[AndyFal36]

Adolf Dassler - On the Dole

Well another sacking at Dusseldorf so the time has come to drop all ties with the 2.Budesliga club. After missing the majority of the week due to personal commitments its now full steam ahead and looking forward getting back into management. Frankfurt are waiting for an answer to become their manager after being heavily linked in the past couple of seasons but due to being a stubborn ****er I have declined to take up their offer before now.

Until next time........

[scooter28]

Woo who i have got my dream job at the mighty dortmund sitting 14/15 at the time with mainz i though right next job that comes up am going for it dortmund opens up and i apply and i get the job for some reason the other lads are not very happy with it for the life of me i dont understand why :lol: .We have huge games right at the start of the season with bayern, hertha (steve), koln (stu), freiburg (tush), stuttgart , and freds gladbach i would say the 6 best teams in the league really looking forward to get this season going on monday night

[AndyFal36]

Adolf Dassler - Eintracht Frankfurt

Tonight starts a new era in the managerial career of Adolf Dassler after giving up on the Dusseldorf dream I've decided to make the 140 mile trip south and take the reins at Franky. The media have a predicted a 15th place finish this season, (are they all on crack have they seen my managerial record) hopefully we can achieve this and stay in the top flight and have a decent run in the cup.

Until Next Time........

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Standings 2023/24

Junior won promotion from 2B with HSV.

[AndyFal36]

Season Summary 2023/204

[Olib1983]

Oli-Leverkusen

It's been a window of hard choices I have sold my two best players my tv to man utd for 15m as they met his fee release and bekic who went to koln in a swap deal. First thing I needed was a replavement for bekic so I paid 21m for a 19 year old from barca I have massive hopes for him. I got the striker I needed from stu who has the potential to be one or the top players in the game. Apart from that it was just adding depth to the squad with being in Europe. Fingers crossed for the season top 6 again and ill be very happy.

[AndyFal36]

Manager Of The Year 2023/24

1st Jack. 2nd Stuart. 3rd Steve.

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart -Koln

Congrats Jack well deserved:applause:

[Dig_Dog]

SEASON 13 UPDATE

The new season has gone off with a bang and as you can see from the table below, none of the old favourites or powerhouses are firing on all cylinders. Instead, it is new guys like Joe and Oli leading the way. However, a quick look at the table shows you just how close it is.

Last season, the superb performances came from Fred (Gladbach in 4th) and Jack (Hannover in 3rd). However, both got off to poor starts and are no longer at their clubs. Fred threw in the towel and said he only wants Dortmund now. Jack was sacked in absentia after a shocking run of results from his ass man.

Fred's loss was the clan's gain, as old stalwart, Jamie rejoined the clan taking over Gladbach as his old profile came out of retirement after 6 seasons (well not proper retirement obviously), and he's straight back on form. Meanwhile, there's also been a vacancy at Bayern and clan members are racing for position for the big job. However, Steve was their first choice and he immediately turned the job down to remain at Hertha. It remains to be seen just who will get the job, but all the big unemployed names are in consideration.

We'll keep you posted.

[djwillster]

will - bremen

put out of the cup in 3rd round 5-1 by 14th in div 2 paderborn not real so pissed off also siting in 14th myself in div 1 but there is a sliver lining for us tho we somehow recruited dortmund manger jurgen klopp and my assistant manager wooooo is it the start of a new begining.

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Koln

The Cracks are showing in my Koln team for the first time in years, Injurys are kicking in and the youth well is empty so its time time to rebuild one last time before fm 14. I have sent my scouts to all parts of the world to find the next generation of Stars. I still have a very good team and when all my players are back and fit again i hope that i can push on and fight it out for the league again.

I am glad this weeks games have finished as i have a chance to have a look at my tactics and see what i can do to stop the silly goals that i have started to let in this season. Also we find ourselfs in the jan window so i will be looking to sign 1 or 2 players.

I will have to find a good balance with my side now, I have to work hard on my under 19's but also not take my eye off my first team. This will be a test for me but im looking forward to it.

[welshguy21]

Jamie - Gladbach

Returned to the clan after work commitments forced me to take a break and got the job at Gladbach replacing Fred and after a great start winning my first 6 games I'm starting to find out the flaws that Fred had also encountered early on in the season and that's the bad habit of leaking goals.

The squad is pretty good but is short of cover in some areas especially upfront and at the back so that's something I need to press on with in the summer as money is tight at the club until I can get some of the unwanted players out of the club.

Aim is to get up to mid table or if I can tighten up defence then we can maybe push for top 6.

[scooter28]

Oi oi oi dortmund on the rise again my aim is top 4 and get into that champions league place league wise am doing fine at the mo but as far as the german cup am out of that lost on pens to stus koln and i didnt even get into the group stage of the europa league lost to some french side but thats in the passed the board are happy with a top 7 finish but as i said top 4 for me.On another note can i just say to the master of disaster the one and only jack aka herman munster that i am very sorry to hear the news about him getting the SACK from hannover after a great 1st season UNLUCKY HERMAN

[AndyFal36]

Halfway Standings 2024/25

[Olib1983]

Oli-Leverkusen

Great season for me finishing 4th finally breaking in to the cl next season and winning the Europa league. Not bad for the third lowest wage budget in the league. If I hadn't missed a session I feel we could have challenged for the title. So what next I really need a top quality keeper but that's hard considering my wage budget I have already sold soumbounu for 20m who will be sadly missed but with the emergence of de Los santos it was required. So if I can managed to bring a keeper and left back in I feel we will be in a great position to retain our position.

[Dig_Dog]

END OF SEASON 13 TABLE

Jack sacked by Hannover and awol with Stuttgart

Andy sacked by Frankfurt and sat out the rest of the season

Sean sacked by Mainz and relegated with Nurnburg

Fred resigned from Gladbach and sat out the rest of the season

Sean is now at Hannover

Andy is now at Mainz

Paul returns to the clan and takes Saarbrucken

Jack and Fred are currently on sabbatical.

[Jack92P]

Jack - Stuttgart (Unemployed)

Taking a break from FM for a season or two.

[Dig_Dog]

Steffen Effensheisse - Hertha BSC

End of season review

I apologise for my lack of a mid season review. Things have been very intense this season in the bundesliga. First of all it was Oli out front. Then came joe. Then joe also fell away and the big 3 human clubs came to the fore. Mainly, myself and Stuart were leading the way. But as you can see above, it was ultimately Tushant's Freiberg who triumphed.

Stu and I had almost identical seasons. We were both just short in the title fight, though stu seems a little more distant after he didn't give it full guns in the last game as he was consigned to 3rd by the time his match had reached 60 mins due to tush playing the AI, and my game going much quicker than his. Also, the chance of both tush and I dropping points to let him steal the title was very much a long shot. The reason stu and I seemed to have identical seasons was, being just short in the title fight, being Cup semi-finalists and being CL quarterfinalists. We both reached the same round of both major competitions, as well as having near identical league points!

My season was derailed on a few occasions, but as stu pointed out, our respective points totals would have won the league outright in most previous seasons. Perhaps that's a sign that the big 3 are slowly moving away from the rest? I doubt Oli or joe see themselves being further away! And Davie probably thinks he can crack top 3 or 4 next season.

One glance at the table will tell you were I was deficient. In defence. As usual on this edition of FM. I lost my starting CB Ali to a cruciate injury after just 2 games. It bloody well happened on international duty as well! He missed every game from the 3rd onwards and is only just back in training as the season ended, but is probably still a few weeks away. The injury has taken a lot out of him, but he's only 21 and still should unlock that massive potential. Oli tells me that the players I gave him in the swap deal to secure him, which included the recently departed £20m soumbounu, have now been sold for over £30m, which with the cash I gave him, puts the transfer at £35m! Ali had better make a full recovery and unlock that potential now!

So with Ali injured and the window shut, I was stuck with Forster and Antonio Jesus being the only options to partner Partida. The latter was just 17 and was very green. Last season, I had signed a centre back for £11m. He never played enough games being 4th choice and with little injuries, so I decided to generously loan him out and to keep Antonio Jesus back to be the second back up and be developed here rather than loan him out and have naisbitt's development stunted and stifled. Jack argues that it was for me to put in the recall from loan clause, but, I make that a condition of all my loans and as a result of him leaving it out, and me forgetting to check, there was no such clause. Jack could not return him if he wanted to. Jack was then sacked, and I was left playing 17 year old Antonio Jesus and also when Forster was injured for a lengthy spell. 17 year old DM Tyler Goodhall also had to be played at CB as well. Goodall is far too small for me to usually consider him at CB, even if he can play there a bit. So that combination of naisbitt's loan and Ali's injury meant I was desperately short at CB all season. Maybe I should have forked out the £6m I needed to secure another CB in January, but at the time, Forster was not yet injured. His injury struck after the January window closed. The other CB I and was Zhong Juyan. The lad was a disaster and I struggled when he had to play.

If there was one moment that decided the title then it's hard to pick it. Tush's lucky draw with me is perhaps one such moment, but that was early into the season, and whilst those 2 extra points I should have got, would have give me the title, I'm sure tush could name another occasion himself. Instead I will say one man, rather than one moment, decided the title. That man was Sean. "Sean who got relegated last season and the season before? The lad who's been sacked twice?", I hear you ask. Yes, my friends. That Sean. How did he decide the title? Well he beat me for one. I was 1-0 up, in control of the possession, but not looking comfortable. I kept saying on chat how dangerous he looked on the break, and so it proved as he nicked one. I then pushed on to get my lead back, and he picked my pocket for all three points. A few games later he did stu 2-0. Tush beat Sean. If Tush had played Sean in that purple renaissance patch where he beat me and stu, as he gave it one last push for safety, then Sean might have beat him. If I'd hung on for a point, I might have won the league. If I'd got all three, the I probably would have. If stu had beat Sean, the he'd probably have hung on to first and the title. Therefore, I think Sean is the guy who decided the title.

In the run up to the quarters of the CL, I was speaking to Stu. I asked him was he naming his best side, and if so, I believed that meant he was prioritising the CL over the league. If he made changes like I did, then it meant he was favouring the league. Stu played his best side, he had a tricky tie and went out. Perhaps a weaker team would have allowed rest for his first team to hang on in the league? Perhaps not, because it didn't work out that way for me. I sent my "CL side" out to face Napoli. The CL side was a different xi, except for, I think, Forster (remember I only had 3 CBs and so could not properly rotate them) and my keeper Torres. Everyone else was changed. We got walloped, properly walloped. 5-1. We even lost a few to injuries, meaning I had lost crucial back up in the title run in. At 3-0 down I had made 3 subs, big players like Vozny, Born and Ouatarra had come on. We pushed for a goal as 3-1 would give us a chance. We got caught on the counter, although we were now hammering Napoli, which is strange as not many sides 4-0 up would be getting hammered in terms of possession and chances. It was all us and we got the goal we deserved 4-1. Not enough I thought. We're all over them. Lets crack it up another notch. I conceded a 5th on the counter. Tie over. Or so I thought. Of course, all the big guns were out for the second leg, which was in Berlin. 2 mins gone and we were 1-0 up. It was 2-0 by the time 10 mins had passed. On 16 mins it was 3-0. Game on. 74 mins plus injury time to find a 4th goal and to go through on away goals. I pushed hard and pummelled Napoli all game long. They couldn't get the ball and when they did they could not get out of their own half. We absolutely destroyed them. But that 3rd goal, the one which gave us hope, was the last. 3-0 it finished. How may times do you get so close to overturning a massive deficit, only to come up just short. Teasing bar stewards. If only I'd held on at 4-1 or accepted 3-0. Or played my bloody first team! Which team were so mighty that I had to rest the first xi, and skip a CL qualifier? Saarbruken. Yes that's right. Saarbruken. Yes I am a fecking idiot.

In the cup, as usual, I couldn't care less. Again my kids played. Again they got to the semis. Again, I refused to bring in the big guns. This time I meant a human and not an AI side who also treat the cup as a waste of energy. And so my kids, or my recently walloped CL side, as you might think of them, were sent out. Joe beat them with ease. Now you could also criticise me here. So far this game I have two trophies. The league, some 3 years previous now, and the cup last season. You might think I should have played my first team, and being 3rd in the league and about 5 points off the pace, and quite clearly out of the running, concentrates on the only trophy I could win. But no. I again put all my eggs in the bundesliga basket and bought my lottery ticket and came second by a point.

All in all, a disappointing season. And a poor performance by the Hertha manager.

[Dig_Dog]

Steffen Effensheisse - Hertha BSC

Review of the Squad ahead of the window:

Keeper

Torres is 28. He's good to the end of game. But I need a backup, although 36 year of Zieler will do for another 12 months.

Fullbacks

Alvarez has been disappointing at right back, and Almeida is a little bit away from displacing him. Perets had a few bad games and whilst being excellent 90% of the time. I am worried about that 10% where he usually costs us a game. At my level, that is the difference between the title and 3rd. fjearsen is also inconsistent. I do no have a target in place and so will keep these full backs and hope for better next season.

Centre Backs

Partida is 29 and a rock and is still good for another 4 seasons. Ali needs to make a full recovery. Naisbitt will be like a new signing! Forster is top class cover. Antonio Jesus will be loaned out with a recall!

Defence Transfer verdict: Expect me to maybe pick up a keeper or a young defender. But expect no major moves for a top class defender.

Central Midfield

I've mainly deployed a 5 man midfield in recent seasons. However, I switched back to my old 424 to wallop Napoli and a few others late in the season in the league. The middle three are usually born, Ernst, and Engels. Goodall is a £15m 17 year old and covers born and Ernst. O'Brien has been decent cover at DM. Kahlisch is not good enough and will be sold or released. I need defensive midfield cover then and my thinking is maybe Zhong Juyan can be rescued as a DM. Not an MCd, but a specialist DM. This would then give me the full compliment of central midfield cover. At the top of the central midfield triangle is Engels. He scored 10 and was excellent at times, mainly playing just behind a lone striker, or sometimes, as a deeper playmaker in a central midfield two. Spork's been his back up. But next season Walke is old enough to play, as is Pasini. Pasini is likely to be shifted to right wing (training was started immediately after I signed him on 1st July last year for £10m from will).

Wingers

Vozny was the leader with 17 assists in the league charts. He had his best ever season in my pinion and was my player of the year. He's losing speed, but sentimental old me will bear with him until he's properly past it. At 16 speed, he's still quick enough, just not as uncatchable as he once was. Pasini will back him up, and van Djik may play there. If vozny drops in the summer, then van Djik is likely to play here. Catamara has competition from Nikolic and a young LW and maybe eterovic.

Midfield Transfer Verdict: A left winger is a possible signing, but only the right player for the right price.

Strikers

Up top we are abundant with talent if we play a lone striker, but lacking if we constantly play two up top. Ouatarra and Molinari are my guys for the lone role. Van Djik offers something different, speed rather than strength, but the former two are hardly just big bruisers. Both are fast, skilful and can play. Nikolic is 29 and mainly plays as a LW, but at the end of the season we switched to 424 to chase results, and you know what, it was vintage Nikolic as he produced the goals. I'd usually go for van Djik, when I switch to this formation mid match, but the Dutchman was injured at the end of the season. Eterovic will provide extra cover once he turns 17 in October.

Attack Transfer Verdict: So up front. If I keep Nikolic, I will look to develop eterovic to replace him. Particularly in his dual left wing / striker role, giving me that versatility midmatch to change things. If I cash in on Nikolic then I'll need a top striker to fill Niko's boots fora few seasons until eterovic is good enough to do so. Volland also played upfront and mostly wide right, but played too few games and is the oldest outfield player and so will be given a free transfer. Mid table or lower league managers should pick him up.

As you can see above, I'm only really short at goalie, maybe at left wing, and then it's all on Nikolic.

[SeanBhoy88]

well well well....

What an absolute disastrous disgraceful season I had I was really looking forward to being mainz i got no money to spend but was more than happy with the team and then boooom!!! missed my first match and dropped points when i got back on i was having matches with stats like 22 shotts for myself and 4 for the opponent and losing it was really horrible stuff also got kicked when leading a couple of times and came back n thto my **** bag assistant having lost me valuable points ! all in all morale became unrepairable and i was inevatbley sacked off i dont blame them either i was doing CRAP ! so my next destination was to nurnberg who IMO are on a par with Aachen wich was mission impossible i thought galantly finally towards the end started picking up points but the AI and will had pulled to far away the team who finished 16th had the highest points tally that position has saw maybe ever ! so as usuall my luck was pish ...i am at hannover and no excuses im here to compete i took over a good team jack had built and im trying to put my own authority on it !! and make it my own im not execting miracles but i am expecting to compete this season !!

My player of the season for me was bernardo at nurnberg this guy was one of the only good players in a poor side and was solid as a rock !!

Managerial reports ..

Steve : Solid as ever great manager with a great team im thinking it might be his time soon !

Stu : This guy knows whats hes doing and has seen it wore the t-shirt in this league he has been and will be at the top for quite some time !

Tushant : Congrats on the league tush did well all season and got your reward mate hopefully we will all see more of you !

Fred & Jack : to quality gaffers who have went missing for this season i hope they join back and compete soon

Ju : Great job getting HSV to 8th really did well if only he would quit furkin moaning for once !

AndyF : didnt have the best year but neither did i **** happens lets hope something happens this year andy boy!

Oli : great job gettin into the CL and has a top team full of promising players the future looks good for OLI

Joe : i really thought kaiser were a mid table team joe suprised me alot and did a great job fell away at the end a little but still top job mate .

Davie : Was always in and around 4-6th pretty solid season for davie the govan growler !

Jamie : not known jamie long but he seems a top lad and a good manager im sure given time at gladbach he will do well

Dj Darth Vadar : what can i say about DJ Darth other than he makes me laugh all night with his comments and delayed reactions to funny His team is riddled with debt and in a rut maybe a move to a new club would be best for him .

Paulo : sound guy just joined and has took on a hard job lets see how it pans out good luck mate .

My hopes for this season is to be in the top half at least i want to really push on and give it a go this year there is plenty of competition and good managers so i cant take anything for granted but this is what im aiming for an i hope i can achieve it !!

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart – Koln

Another season over and one im happy to see the back of. In my last post I said there were cracks in the team and I was right finishing 3rd in the league is something im not used to but I might have to deal will it for a few years as I rebuild my side.

The dream came to a end with 3 games to go. Away to doomed Sean I never saw myself losing. I set up with a 433 V just to sure up the team so not to give him and sniff. But it was my keeper who had other ideas, as I my left back played it back to my keeper he brought it outside the area, he then kicked the ball against Sean’s strikers head and the ball went over my keepers head, Sean’s striker ran onto it and put it into a empty net 1-0. After that I was chasing the game and chance after chance came and went, In the end Sean hit me with a counter attack and made it 2-0 league over. After the game I knew it was time for to start again. I went onto win my next game 7-0 against jack Stuttgart and drew 1-1 with Munich but by then I had given up.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Heart ake in the champions league again we fail to get the job done. A 1-0 loss away to Manchester United saw us in with a real chance in the 2nd leg and after 30 seconds we was 1 up after that we took the game to united chance after chance went by, we hit the pot twice and the bar once. In the end we went out 4-1 on pens. So another season KO in the Q final and another season without getting to the final.

GERMAN CUP

Made the semi final of the cup, with a mix of youth and first team we did ok, but with games coming thick and fast I used all my youth players in the game and lost 1-0. Ohh well lol.

SUMMER WINDOW.

This will be a standout window for me and Koln, by the time July the 1st had come I found myself with 14 new players and only 1 of them was ready for my first team. It was also time to slash the wage bill. Close to 2 Million a month things had to change as the club was not making any money from season tickets or the gate, it was only the champions league money and league price funds that was keeping things ticking so it was time to make some cuts.

My wage bill stood at a massive 1.87m per month after the sale of 9 players and bring in close to 100m in transfer funds my wage bill now stands at 1.2m and the club is making money. With close to 100m to spend I have not been shy with splashing the cash, I have thrown millions towards a better youth team and find myself with 15 new players ages 17 and under with half of them being 4 star players in the future and the others 3.5 stars. I did smashed my transfer record again with the singing of Davies Center half burm for 38millon with 20 million being up front from the start. I still find myself in need of a Left back before the start of the season but I am close to having the team I want for next season.

SEASON AHEAD.

I have to take a step back and look what’s around me this season, there are some very strong sides and some strong teams being built so first thing is to get a top 3 place and go from there. I should challenge again for the league but with so many new signings now at my club it might take sometime for things to click into place.

Champions league will see me take on the best Europe has to offer, again I see myself getting to a Q’final stage and then coming up short again the bigger boys, but who knows.

German cup will be left to my youth. The new players I have got in will get a crack at the first team. For me it’s the best way to bring along my young players.

FELLOW MEMBERS

Tush : Did a full season and won the league. Tush is a fine manager and has built a super side that I think can win it all next season. Well done on the league

Steve : There is little between me and Steve and this season proved that once again, Falling short of the league togetter, Falling at the same stage of the champions league and the German cup shows that.

Oli : Great season for Oli a top 4 finsh and the Europa league in the bag. Oli will be pushing again for 4th place as I till think he a little short of being able to challenge for the league, but he can beat anybody on his day. Great season and has to be Fav for manager of the year.

Joe : what a season for for the Irish lad. Got a flying start to the season and was leading the way up till the final 3rd of the season. Joe has added to his team this summer so he has more numbers to choose from, and should also be pushing hard for a top 4 finish.

Davie: Solid season for Davie, many peoples tip him to be sacked but he has done really well. There has been a major brain fart tho this summer with his transfer business. After spenting 30+ million on a 2 star rated player he then went one better and signed a 12 million under 23 player manager. Should be sacked just for them to major balls up lol.

Jack : Was away most of the week.

Jr: Very good season for Mike with little to work with mike has been weeling and dealing in the free market and has come up with some cracking signing. He will have to do the same thing this summer as there seems to be little to no money again.

Fred/Jamies: After such a good season last time for Fred he had a shocking start to the season and walked way to everybody’s surprise. Enter Jamie, The Welshman got a warm welcome back and got Gladbach going again. He fell away abit at the end but has a full summer to get the players he wants in, There is a good side there already so expect him to be in the mix time the season ends.

Will : almost got sacked as he fell into the drop zone, but he came back with 3 wins to save himself from the sack and the drop. Where will goes from here I have no idea

Sean: shocking season for the lad, was up against it big time but has somehow found himself at hanover where he is on his way to building the team he wants. Time will tell if he’s new signing will help him for the road ahead.

Andy: I bet he can’t wait till fm 14 is out. Sacked again Andy found a job at Mainz, he also has a striker off me who will score goals for fun. Lets hope for better things ahead.

Well thats you upto date on another mad season.

More soon

[AndyFal36]

Adolf Dassler - Mainz 05

That's right right ladies and gentleman the one and only is now the manager of Mainz FC. If i don't stay up this year or if I get sacked that's me done for this year......well until another job comes up at a team that i will ruin. Ferme on loan from Staines's finest Stuart best work wonders for me up front, Rafael in the middle of the park who is on loan from Hertha Berlin also best put a shift in. I've also got German Salas who is now the 1st choice keeper after a deal worth £12M + himself was accepted for my keeper from Leverkusen, a good deal for the club which bought in much needed cash and also saw almost £20K knocked of the wage bill.

Until Next Time......

[AndyFal36]

End Of Season Summary 2024/25

[AndyFal36]

Manager of The Year 2024/25

[JadaX]

Manager: Tushant

Club: SC Freiburg

League: Bundesliga

Season Overview

Turned out to be a pretty decent season overall, won the league overcoming the monsters that are Hertha and Koln. The season was decided on the final day with a game against Hannover. Considering the fact that my team (as well as most others in the Clan) is extremely short on quality compared to the 2 mentioned above, it was a pleasant surprise to beat Steve/Stus to the gong

Achievements

Getting the league title is good and all (especially with a team like Freiburg), but the real achievements for me were the following:

I am currently the only manager in the Clan with the team originally chosen at the beginning! I haven't always had a good season, but have managed to maintain an above expectation standing at the end of each season therefore entering Icon status with the team. I am also the first manager in the Clan to reach World Class reputation!

Expectation

I'm pretty sure the next season will be extremely tough. Hertha/Koln have reinforced their teams further with the endless supplies of cash they have, whilst I have had to sell 3 of my best young prospects (who played 1st team football for me) in order to try and get some players in.

Getting a top half finish will be very good, anything above/better than that will be a surprise.

A Few Words about the Others

Steve/Hertha - Possibly has the best team in the clan. Highest value team (900+mil). Somehow has managed to get the largest stadium, as well as maxing out all his facilities and as result gets 5* regens every year. Did well and expect him to be top 2 next season. Top 2 financial power-wise.

Stu/Koln - Came into an already good team with good regens/facilities. Built on those players and did extremely well the last few seasons. Has the 2nd best team in the Clan in my opinion, and as with Hertha, has the best regens every year. Also the top 2 financial power-wise. Expect him to be top 2 next season.

Oli/Leverkusen - Took over from Davie, and though he will say that the team was terrible I think that's just an attempt to alleviate the pressure on them to do well every season. I agree that their previous manager had pretty much ruined them financially, but their top facilities coupled with already acquired regens meant that it was only a matter of time before he was once again a top team (that they should be). Had a very good season and came in 4th, getting Champions League football finally. I expect a top 5 finish for him next season.

Joe/Kaiserslautern - Took over from Jimmy and has been the best manager this season for me. Yes he had a good team to begin with, but they had been underperforming immensely since the beginning and till about January/February they were top of the league, and that just shows what a difference a good manager makes to a team (no offense Jimmy :o ). I expect top 5 finish for him next season.

Davie/Dortmund - Here's the thing with Davie; He takes over a team, does well with them that season and then gets sacked/quits to take over another team the next, and in the process of doing so pretty much ruins his previous team. He did really well to get Dortmund where they are this season because even though they are strong financially/reputation-wise, their previous managers (ai) have not done well in the transfer market and there are very few good regens in the 1st team. If they don't get second season blues then I expect a top 6 finish for him next season.

Michael/HSV - One of the newest managers in the Clan who has done pretty well with the team he has. HSV used to be amazing a few season ago, but he took over when they were 2nd tier and has done well to take them to 8th. Seems to also be very active when it comes to tinkering with his tactics, and though some of his transfer market dealings are questionable, I expect a comfortable mid-table finish for him next season.

Jamie/Gladbach - Another new addition to the clan who took over a good team. Gladbach hadn't been doing too well before he took over and he has managed to turn that around. At the beginning of the season they were doing really well, getting wins consistently, but then something went wrong and they haven't been able to catch up with what the lost. They have some very good regens, and I expect a mid-table finish for him next season.

Will/Werder Bremen - One of the most consistent managers in the Clan, always manages to get a bottom 4 finish. Contrary to what he will have you believe, he has some very good regens but still doesn't seem to be able to move his team from the 3rd tier up to the 2nd. On a good day he can pull off wins against other human teams, but usually, he will just lose to everyone and complain about it in chat. Keeps things interesting

Sean/Hannover - A recent addition to the Clan who hasn't done too well. He got Nurenburg (relegated) and Mainz (sacked), and now has Hannover. In his defense, Mainz were ruined by their previous manager (Davie), and he was always up against the odds to keep the board happy at that team. Hannover on the other hand are a very good team and I expect him to finish middle-table next season.

Andy/Mainz - Had Frankfurt (relegated) which was always going to be a tough gig to pull off, but now has Mainz to prove he can survive in the top flight. The teams at his disposal haven't been the best so far but he will now atleast have the base through which to push on.

[welshguy21]

Jamie - Gladbach

As expected with such a young defence mid table is where we finished.

With not a lot of cash available to get in the quality I needed I've decided I to go with youth and allow the young players to gain first team experience and get them up to scratch asap.

Season expectations - Mid table or top 6 if I can get some consistency from the back 4.