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

[Dexter_Morgan]

Co-efficients

That was a pretty bad year for the Iron Curtain really with only the Russian sides and the Croatians doing well. I do wonder what it is going to take for Russia to break in to the top 5 though as French clubs haven't been that great in Europe since the turn of the decade (think there was a Europa win for PSG but that is all I can recall). I'll probably have a look at Russia for my next move if they don't break the top 5 in a few years time.

The decline of the Ukraine is probably the biggest shock of recent years but strangely enough it was about this time on last years thread that it had 5 or 6 bad years before getting back on track after I managed there for a few seasons. I don't really have any plans to go there this year if i'm honest, if I did it would be a side like Metalist or Kaparty.

Tycoon Watch

Bohemians 1905 - Spent £6M and finished 5th

CS U Craiova - Spent £27M and won the league

FK Ibar Rozaje - Spent £775k and finished runners up in both the league and cup

Jihlava - Spent £3.8M to finish 6th, to be fair it was a tight league with 9 points separating the top 6

WIT - Georgia - Finished 4th spending £1.6M, there seems to be some kind of bug with this division where it won't show fixtures other than Europe but I have looked at their history and it seems they made 2 cup finals during the tycoon period losing both.

Lokomotiv 1926 (Plovdiv) - Much improved 3rd for them after spending £3.9M

Former Club Watch

KS Elbasani - 8th in the 2nd tier

FBK Kaunas - Finished 3rd and currently top

Haladas - League and league cup double

Red Star Belgrade - Won the league and cup, lost to eventual winners Dortmund on penalties after recovering from a 4-1 1st leg defeat so it at least looks like gave Dortmund a fight

[Dexter_Morgan]

NK Siroki Brijeg - July - August 2027

Managers Thoughts

Happy with the start so far, thankfully progression to the CL group was straight forward even though once the final knockout draw was made I wasn't optomistic we'd get through that but thankfully we hit them on the break in the first leg and it just about was good enough to see us through.

As you can see Valterio has made a good start for the club, I think for at least the short term he is going to be important for the club because he seems to know where the net is which is maybe the one criticism I could have had about the side last season with us failing to put a lot of chances away.

I was worried about signing Henrique due to his eccentricity in all honesty, I never usually go for a goalkeeper over 13/14 in that area but I kind of felt I had to rake a risk with him as the other keepers in the squad are either not good enough or slowly declining. I am certainly looking for a safer option long term but i've always felt i'll have to build 2 sides here anyway, one to get us going in Europe initially (even if it is just getting to the groups) and then another one for longer term.

I am actually a bit further along than the screenshot and we played PSG first in the CL, we gave them a real game in fairness and lost to an own goal, if we can show that in games against Legia then there is a chance of 3rd.

[Dexter_Morgan]

The Rubin job looks like it may be available soon... that is seriously tempting. Thoughts please?

[Rikulec]

Go for it.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Still waiting but it is top of the list at the moment in insecure terms with Zenit in 2nd. Wasn't my plan to leave but a tycoon club in a nation close to breaking the top 5 is something I have to seriously think about because my aim isn't for a club but a nation and the top 5 needs to broken up as I sense it is close. If that or Zenit come up I think i'll go tbh.

[deltablue]

On that basis maybe that would be a good move.

[Dexter_Morgan]

On that basis maybe that would be a good move.

Saying that the Sparta Prague job has come up and they haven't won the league for 10 seasons. I know I did a year there on the last thread but that was when they dominated, 5 seasons out of the last 10 they haven't even top 3 so this is a different kind of side to that one and the Czech league as you know is slipping and the tycoon sides are getting better domestically now so i've applied and will have a think if offered because it is a a really interesting job.

[Dexter_Morgan]

NK Siroki Brijeg - September - December 2027

Managers Thoughts

We have done excellently in the league so far and look really comfortable in it going in to the winter break which is pleasing considering there were a few new players come in to the side. Europe was far from great but to manage a Europa spot is brilliant for us, it's just a shame that the next round will be as far as we go because Real Madrid are next Saying that though I knew to even get a point in the group would be tough so to get one against Bayern is superb, we also gave PSG a tough game at home.

The 6 only foreigner rule in a match day squad is killing us at the minute, there are a few Bosnian players available but there isn't the funds even with getting in the CL to be able to bring them in at the moment, I am hoping that changes as we do need to get some in for domestic games at least and until I have enough for that then I don't want to be getting players from other nations in at the minute.

I haven't taken the Sparta job, I had their squad scouted and delayed the offer for a week and it seems there isn't much difference between them and us at the minute and though the league rules there would be easier and they have the potential to make money quicker it just seemed like a sidestep move to me as it would mean next season not in the CL more than likely so would be a waste of year. I also don't really want my next move to be out of the top 20 nations unless it is one of the clubs i've mentioned I fancy doing at some point. The Rubin and Zenit jobs are both insecure so would consider them still but for the moment I want to get this club moving forwards, the prize money is better than in Serbia for a start so if I have some good years here then it does have potential to help the others too which is something I have to consider.

Looks like they are going up too so this could be interesting if the manager gets it right in terms of players and they are the richest club in the nation worth £25M.

[deltablue]

Pity you didn't take Sparta. I can understand if it seemed like a sideways move though.

[smp20]

Really good read so far, just caught up on it all. Phenomenal success at Red Star turning them into one of Europe's greats again. If the Rubin job comes up that will be interesting.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Pity you didn't take Sparta. I can understand if it seemed like a sideways move though.

I really wanted it and if it was a few years earlier or later I would have took it but they aren't in any better position than Brijeg are either financially or in terms of playing staff, Sparta were only 7 points off the top when offered the job but when you combine the situations i've mentioned, add the fact that we are well ahead in our league so almost certain CL next year, only about 6/7 places behind the Czech Republic (with a chance to improve on that after our European run) it just felt after sleeping on it a silly move to make, it either needs to be Russia or the top 15/20 (except countries i've been to) if I was to move. I know I won't win the CL or even come close due to restrictions in the league but as long as I am here (no time limit on this club as an exception) i'll try and make it as strong as I can.

Really good read so far, just caught up on it all. Phenomenal success at Red Star turning them into one of Europe's greats again. If the Rubin job comes up that will be interesting.

Thanks I do try and make my threads varied in terms of clubs I go to so I can try and keep it entertaining for the reader, I do have success at a lot of teams but I do also have the odd disaster (see last years version of this and there was also quite a few bad years there ) in some ways the bad times are better for me than the good because it makes me think how to turn things around at the next club, it's easy when you are winning.

The only thing I haven't liked about the career so far is how Elbasani went because that was completely out of my control. For whatever bug/reason there was only a certain amount of non EU players allowed in the top flight and obviously Albania isn't in the EU so when I signed a lot of Albanians after promotion it was pretty much a case of having no choice but to walk. It was just a shame as for a first job the board backed me there and I could have made something out of that club.

As for Red Star, there is something about that club in FM terms where if I touch them it just falls in to place. Everything from top to bottom is great from my experiences with them (I manage them at some point every FM), the regens are great as I can keep hold of them, the board are great and you can attract young players from big countries and develop them too. By far and away my favourite team on FM.

Speaking of Red Star a few years on I will make sure a screenie of a certain Draskic will be posted at the end of the season and let me tell you now at 19 years old he looks immesnse

[smp20]

Yeah, I assume that as it was an edited database for Albania it was a mistake in the database. Certainly recovered and had plenty of success off the back of it. Steaua are my Red Star, always have a small save with them and aim to bring the Champions League back to Romania.

[AK22]

Champions League aside, it's all been pretty easy so far!

[Dexter_Morgan]

Yeah, I assume that as it was an edited database for Albania it was a mistake in the database. Certainly recovered and had plenty of success off the back of it. Steaua are my Red Star, always have a small save with them and aim to bring the Champions League back to Romania.

Yeah, going to be careful if I move to any others though Lithuania seemed ok so might just be a few. Steaua are a club i've never managed, always been Dinamo for me if I manage there, not because of any affiliation though and if Steaua come up it would be a decent change for me to go do that, though UTA Arad appeal to me on this save for some reason (probably as they have had a few regens come through )

Champions League aside, it's all been pretty easy so far!

Not been bad a season at all, even had a striker break the 40 goal mark for the first time in this save. Just done the season (took a while due to real life getting in the way ) so report on it's on way

[Dexter_Morgan]

NK Siroki Brijeg - February - May 2028

Managers Thoughts

Was happy with the way the season went. Europe was better than I expected and it was bad luck luck we got Real Madrid in the Europa but it was a great experience for us and one that moves us quite a way of the division financially now.

What can I say about Valterio? It was a fantastic return for a young striker in a new division and quite rightly he is attracting attention from sides in better nations. If I am to stay (this depends on the summer merry go round) then I hope to keep him as he has been vital.

As I say, there is no club tempting enough at the minute to make me want to leave the club and once budgets come in i'll be trying to sign the best young Bosnians possible for the club to try and keep it ahead of the rest and secure a long term future for the club as the foreigner rule is a bit too much to be juggling like we have this year.

[deltablue]

Valterio's impressive.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Co-efficients

Not great again, Czech Republic went down to 34th just out of view also and we went up one to 35th so it seems the decision not to go to Sparta Prague was a good one for the moment.

Tycoon Watch

Bohemians 1905 - Spent £4.2M and were 5th again

CS U Craiova - Spent £16.2M and won the league on goal difference

FK Ibar Rozaje - Spent £100k and finished runners up in both the league and cup for the 2nd year in a row

Jihlava - Spent £1.6M to finish 7th

WIT - Georgia - Finished 4th spending £800k yet again, won the cup this year though.

Lokomotiv 1926 (Plovdiv) - 2nd after spending £2.5M

Rubin Kazan - 8th after spending £28M (Not all in the tycoon period)

Petrzalka - Made a massive hash of their promotion bid after leading the way before the tycoon. Activity in the transfer market was only 3 freebies.

Former Club Watch

KS Elbasani - Little better finishing 5th in the 2nd tier

FBK Kaunas - 2nd on goal difference, top at the moment

Haladas - Only the league this year

Red Star Belgrade - Won the league and cup again managed the CL semi

Granit - Finished 3rd (1 point separated the top 4)

Valterio's impressive.

Got him to sign a contract extension so even if I leave it looks like it won't be until the winter now as I am midway through August so unless something special turns up I won't be going before the final CL knockout is played

[Rikulec]

How's Draksic doing?

[Dexter_Morgan]

How's Draksic doing?

Forgot about that screenshot

Stats:

All time appearances: 119

All time league appearances: 74

All time goals: 78

League goals: 61

[Dexter_Morgan]

NK Siroki Brijeg - July - August 2028

Managers Thoughts

I know I said I was looking at leaving but not via the sack Those 2 months couldn't have gone any worse for us Some reasons for that are we were unable to improve the squad with any Bosnians, there were a few youths that may end up being half decent but certainly nothing for the present. I couldn't bring any more overseas players in as it is hard enough juggling the ones we have. If that wasn't bad enough the CL draw gave us the biggest opposition possible in the qualifiers and then we get drawn in a Europa group that will probably give us less points than last years CL one I'll try and turn things around (if the board don't sack me first ) but it is unbelievable the amount of things going against us at the moment. Wish I took the Dinamo Zagreb job when offered now

[Dexter_Morgan]

NK Siroki Brijeg - December - September - 2028

Managers Thoughts

Well this is turning out to be a disaster so far this season I kind of feel it is down to me trying to get points out of a Europa group we had little hope of doing so (or at least partly down that) which meant a lot of rotation going on. Also certain players aren't willing to renew their contracts and those players performances seem to have dropped a level. I have tried and tried to get players in to help but it just isn't happening either and instead we have bigger clubs after our players and ones that have plenty of time on their contract have been rejected so far which isn't helping their morale.

I have more or less ran out of ideas how to improve the squad without needing to offer money out that would be damaging without yearly CL group stage football....something as you seen from the Shaktar draw is something that even I can guarantee with this side. It would be easy for me to cut my losses and walk out now, in fact in keeping in terms for my ultimate aim it would be a wise thing to do but as i've seen in the previous 2 seasons here sides seem to fade away after the winter break and with no Europe or cup to worry about I still believe I could win the league with this lot. It would take a miracle but I see it as an incentive for me to carry on until the summer at least (unless of course a good job comes in before then) rather than throw my toys out of the pram because things aren't going my way.

[deltablue]

How's the board confidence?

[Dexter_Morgan]

Secure at the minute, hopefully can get a few wins together after the restart and get a Europa spot at worst.

[Dexter_Morgan]

NK Siroki Brijeg - March - May 2029

Transfers

Managers Thoughts

It turned out the players brought in to replace ones that wouldn't renew their contracts with the club for next season ended up being players for this as we turned our form around in the final half of the season. There was also a change in tactic going back to 2 DM's so this may have worked anyway, personally I would say it was probably a mixture of both factors but even then we were lucky on the final day as Mostar also limped to a draw.

I am far from happy with the season though, that first section was a shambles domestically. I can't fault the European performances too much as we were against quite clearly better sides from the final CL qualifier onwards.

Not bothering with a player of the season as frankly nobody stood out on a consistent basis to me.

My plan for the future is to simply leave now and try and get in a division as high up as possible because Russia just can't make a dent in to France's 5th spot so I need to try and get in amongst that top 10 or so again and try and do something about it. I did like my time here even if the start of the season was frustrating but I need to think about the aim of my save for now

[Dexter_Morgan]

I nearly went back to Haladas but it didn't feel right for some reason so decided against it. Could go for the Spartak Moscow job but I did that on last years thread and they finished as champions so wouldn't be that much different to that so don't fancy that.

An interesting job is CSKA Sofia who haven't been in the top 3 for 15 years, the only problem with this is it seems a sideways step in terms of the divisions level. I have always fancied a crack at these though but never got round to it, I didn't manage to get to Bulgaria last year either which is another thing tempting me. I have applied for job before I saved for the night but would like peoples thoughts if offered it whether I should take it as it would be fun trying to make them big again (and 3 months to bring players in to start that off) or if I should hang on and go for a bigger nation like I originally planned? The Lech job (also not won a title for a few seasons) looks like it will come up

[fuzzrab]

I'd say go for the CSKA job.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Co-efficients

Not great again, a few nations had a little bump though (decided to remove 2nd divisions from the list from this year onwards as 3 were getting in the way and can only fit the top ranked 10/11 divisions tbh)

Tycoon Watch

Bohemians 1905 - Spent £900k and finished 2nd

CS U Craiova - Spent £7.3M and finished 2nd

FK Ibar Rozaje - Spent £223k and won the league

Jihlava - Spent £860k to finish 8th

WIT - Georgia - Finished 4th spending £980k, how many more times will they finish there? Sure this division is bugged

Lokomotiv 1926 (Plovdiv) - 5th after spending £7.5M

Rubin Kazan - £38M spent and finished 4th

Petrzalka - Up this year spending £77k, already spent £250k this summer.

Former Club Watch

KS Elbasani - 10th in the 2nd tier

FBK Kaunas - 3rd, 2nd this year

Haladas - For the first time in years they failed to win the title and finished 4th and lost the league cup final

Red Star Belgrade - Won the league and cup again reached the CL 1st knockout.

Granit - Finished 7th (would have been 4th if not for the league split)

I'd say go for the CSKA job.

It was tempting but I held out for a few more weeks after deciding to decline the offer and to be honest I am glad I did as you will see in my next post.

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Shakhtar Donetsk

Managers Thoughts

I had a feeling something bigger would come along if I turned down the CSKA offer down and how right I was. At another point in the save i'd not have even thought twice about taking them as the appeal of making them a big side again was very attractive but something needs doing at the top end for the next few jobs before I can think about the bottom end, so Russia and Croatia could be the next 2 stops after this.

The initial plan is to get Ukraine on the up again, it has regained it's automatic CL group spot after this year but could do with getting a 3rd spot before I think about leaving as the other teams (including the other big sides) are really struggling financially.

On to the squad itself and it is really imbalanced, there are players who can do a job in certain positions that we are currently lacking in but we seem to to be very heavy on forward players. Obviously in the Ukraine foreign players won't gain nationality so after a scout round it seems I can get Ukrainian forwards round about the same level as our current non Ukrainians which would free up some spots to fill holes we are really in need of filling. In fact I am expecting a busy summer already and a overhaul of this side where not a single foreigner is safe from the chop if it means balancing things out. This isn't normally how I would approach a side that is multiple champions but league restrictions makes it hard for me to think differently in all honesty and it could end end up being an exciting period for the club. A big plus was getting the youth coaching expanded, it was pretty much top level anyway but anything that helps long term needs to be done.

[deltablue]

Welcome to Russia.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Welcome to Russia.

Not quite the nation I wanted but as it was improving again I thought why not have some fun with a big side? And as you'll see in my report (hopefully later today) i've stumbled on a new formation by accident to try and balance the squad out after a below average start and now it looks like there could be plenty of goals going in at either end this year

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Shakhtar Donetsk - July - A little bit of September 2029

A gem promoted from the youth team

Managers Thoughts

As I hoped many changes were made over the summer, though I did miss out on my main target due to the fact I didn't think he was worth £15M let alone £33M but I am happy with the dealings, I managed to do basically an exchange for what I had for younger more potentially better players and not break in to the £22M I was given so I am delighted with that and the fact I did get 2 Ukrainians in to reduce the foreigner numbers a little.

On the pitch it was a slow start, I used my trusted (bar Granit ) 4-2-3-1 to begin with but as I said when I took the job the squad was unbalanced and very heavy on forwards with not much quality further back meaning the tactic wasn't working (the squad was used to 4-2-3-1 though).

I felt I was dealing with those issues in terms of bringing players in but it still wasn't clicking for some reason, the quality out wide was certainly poor to begin with even though looking at the wide players attributes there seemed to be no reason why things weren't working. I had noticed during the league games that teams were mostly playing a flat 4-5-1 (there has been 2 exceptions so far) so I began to wonder how I could make some space to exploit that and came up with this after the 1-1 with Dnipro and immediately scored 7 in the game after and another 3 after that which led me to believe this may actually work for this side.

This is a pretty brave move me even though I do like a 3 at the back system because I haven't managed one to work since FM11 (bar one for Ajax on 12 that didn't work for any other side) , obviously this still may fail but it has at the worst got us in to bit of form now. My thinking behind this system is if most teams are playing a flat 4-5-1 where could I out number them? So an out and out front 3 against 2 CB's seemed a logical thing to start with, that meant either way I would either end up having 4 midfielders and 3 CB's against 1 striker or go with 1 CB with 2 full/wing backs. Seeing as most sides only have 1 forward and i'll be exposed down the wings no matter what I do, I decided to have width come from the full/wing backs meaning I could outnumber sides yet again by playing 4 in the central areas of midfield against their 3, especially going with a diamond in there it means 1 player by law of averages should be free. It is probably a brave move, especially as we have been vulnerable to crosses using this tactic but it has been good getting back to thinking about that part of the game for me again rather than use the same tactic that has mostly won me trophies so far. I am sure there will be tweaks to player roles to get this right and i'll probably have to use 4-2-3-1 against certain teams if we progress in Europe but so far this has been the most exciting tactic of the career and even fringe players are having good games with it.

Enough about tactics Happy with that CL group, was slightly shocked to be seeded 2nd even though we had to qualify to make the group (not a problem next season) so fancy our chances to finish 2nd here and see what happens from there....we did make the semi last season though.

[rodesire]

Wow, what a career turn, and what an attacking tactic. I never had the guts to go so gung-ho but it seems to be doing the job rather well

[Dexter_Morgan]

Thanks As for the tactic I was scared it might fail or would need lots of tweaking but it seems to be working well still. I must admit most of the this career i've made a tactic to simply keep hold of the ball often getting 65%+ possession but 15 years in it has got a little boring doing that and with the average/poor start we made this year I decided if things weren't going to improve then I just as well have some fun on my way to the sack Thankfully this has worked so far and the goals against column isn't as bad as I thought it might have been since I created the tactic (maybe gelling had something to do with it looking like we would concede a lot to begin with).

If it keeps up this way and then works for my next side too then it may be a possibility of me releasing it but as it stands I don't want to release it without testing on at least one other side because quite often you can find a tactic such as this will work for one team and then be rubbish for another.

[deltablue]

Well you've got the quality in that nation so why not unleash it?

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Shakhtar Donetsk - September - December 2029

Managers Thoughts

Delighted with how things went over those few months, the tactic really is starting to pick up now, most of the silly goals have stopped and there is a fair amount going in for us still. The cup defeat looks bad but in reality I played a whole side under 20 years old bar 1 so it shows how much I really cared about it The league situation is a lot better now having clawed back the 6 points from our arch rivals, beating them was the key to that because until then they didn't look like dropping any points at all.

It was a shame we couldn't finish Juve off in the home CL game because from the second we went 2-0 down we battered them, hitting the post a few times and having a penalty saved and also 3 goals chalked off, if we had won that then Legia would have gone through instead which would have been great for the aim of the save but obviously I have to look after number 1 first. Our reward for topping the group is an easy game against Real Madrid ( I say that with no sarcasm at all, honestly )

Well you've got the quality in that nation so why not unleash it?

My thoughts exactly Going to be interesting to see how this goes against Real though because the way we have played using this tactic I can't really see myself wanting to change things.

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Shakhtar Donetsk - February - May 2030

Managers Thoughts

The season went a little better than expected due to our fantastic run in the Champions league where we were unlucky not to have at least taken the game in to extra time, but I can't moan about it too much as we had a little luck in the away game in Madrid in the first knockout and maybe shouldn't have been there in the first place.

With that extended CL run I was a little worried that it would cost us the title but the players were superb, even 3 of the youth team candidates got games with Leonidov impressing with 7 assists and 2 goals in 7 starts and 1 sub appearance.

I don't think there will be much activity coming in this summer unless a CM becomes available because that seems to be our weakest position in terms of quality, in fact I will probably only let one player leave or two at most as I try and fast track a few of the young players in to the first team.

The overall aim for the season is to try and get further in the cup this year, retain the title and reach the CL Quarter finals. We beat the divisions goals for record by 1 last year and that is another aim again which with this tactic I think should be reachable.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Co-efficients

Not great again but the drops haven't been too big bar Serbia dropping out of the top 10.

Tycoon Watch

Bohemians 1905 - Spent £1.1M and finished 3rd

CS U Craiova - I didn't notice this last year but they won the Europa league and did so again this season along with the title and runners up in the cup, they spent £14.5M

FK Ibar Rozaje - Spent £438K and finished 3rd

Jihlava - Spent £590k to finish 8th a much improved 2nd

WIT - Georgia - Finished 4th spending £300k, won the cup too.

Lokomotiv 1926 (Plovdiv) - 4th after spending £3.7M and lost on penalties in the cup final.

Rubin Kazan - £12M spent and won the title

Petrzalka - £870k spent and got to the cup final and finished a decent 6th for their first season in the top flight

The newest tycoon club having spent £240k already this summer

Former Club Watch

KS Elbasani - 6th in the 2nd tier

FBK Kaunas - 2nd, 2nd this year so far

Haladas - Slight improvement finishing 3rd

Red Star Belgrade - Won the league and cup again and as last year reached the CL 1st knockout.

Granit - Finished 3rd

Siroki Brijeg Don't know what happened here but they finished 9th, however they did make the CL group which means they have spent almost £5M this summer so expecting an improvement this year

[deltablue]

Great season

[DavidBeckham]

KUTGW mate fantastic season

[Dexter_Morgan]

Cheers lads Wait until you see the report for the start of this season, goals flying in everywhere so far

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Shakhtar Donetsk - July - August 2030

Managers Thoughts

Bar the 4-5 it has been a fantastic start for us, granted we are letting too many goals in but I have promoted 2 players from the youth sides who have had playing time so that may explain part of that. Going forward though it has been even even better than last season (no alterations to the tactic as yet). I've not had a side score as freely as this for a while I think (FM12).

As suggested in the end of season report there wouldn't be many ins this year, I would still like to improve the central midfield area even now and a full back, possibly goalkeeper too even with his high ratings but I don't want to making rash choices at the minute and the more I go through time at Shaktar the more I think I should do a 5 year stint to get the Ukraine back on track if possible so need to think carefully as most of this XI can compete with anyone.

For a 2nd seed the CL draw has done us no favours at all, I was shocked when that group came up in all honesty because Rad have even been a decent side in Europe going back to my Red Star days. I may have to actually ditch the formation in Europe and go to something more solid because it is a real group of death.

[DodgeeD]

Nice career so far. Best of luck in that Champions League group!

[smp20]

Loving the score lines!

[DavidBeckham]

Scoring goals for fun there Dexter_Morgan

[Dexter_Morgan]

Cheers lads, been a brilliant season far even though we aren't top at the moment. The whole side has goals in it which helps as sometimes the strikers are having stinkers considering the amount of chances they get

[rodesire]

That CL group looks mean! Have any baltic (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) clubs managed to scratch the group stage yet?

[Dexter_Morgan]

That CL group looks mean! Have any baltic (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania) clubs managed to scratch the group stage yet?

It was Rad are good side and in the group nearly every year at worst and have made the knockouts a few times.

I've had a look and no side from there has made it, Skonto were close 2 seasons ago (lost on penalties in the final qualifying round) so went in to the Europa group, other sides that have made the Europa are Ventspils (Latvia) and Zalgiris (Lithuania) have 3 times. I do actually want the Skonto job at some point but as they are winning the league constantly at the moment (though Ventspils have managed a spell of dominance at one point) it will be hard to get that job.

[Dexter_Morgan]

FC Shakhtar Donetsk - September - November 2030

Managers Thoughts

Bar a few silly results things have gone as expected so far. The main disappointment is surprisingly we should have a lot more goals to our name but all in I feel with the game in hand and Metalist to come to us on the restart we should start putting a stamp on the division. I would like to see a few less goals go in against us but in FM terms playing a formation like we do means it is going to happen so as long as we outscore everyone then I see no need to change things as the move to Shaktar was always about having a bit of fun and trying something different to the usual plodding along and keeping things tight to win that has happened elsewhere. Don't get me wrong the previous sides played good football but it was shorter passing and keeping hold of the ball and nicking wins, this side I want to try and hammer everything in sight where I can and i'll probably use it again at my next side before working out how to bring a 2-4-4 formation in.

Back on to the present and for the first time in the save the Iron Curtain clubs outnumber the west in the knockout stage of the CL.

I can't even remember this happening on last years thread so this is big in a way even though I don't expect it make big a difference to the co-efficient as the Europa League hasn't been as kind

[DavidBeckham]

No.....

You eliminated Man United in the Champions League

[Dexter_Morgan]

No.....

You eliminated Man United in the Champions League

Had to be done i'm afraid