Gundo's FM08 Small club from a small nation European adventure challenge

[Bluejacket]

I made my first player purchase.

Last season I had Edvard Hegyesi on loan, and he did well. I needed another forward so I bought him for 2000 € + 20% of next transfer fee.

On his first game he scores a goal, gets rating of 8, gets chosen as man of match and gets injured for 2 months. That's football.

Here's his profile

[jameslowe]

PROMOTION! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

4v1 Against Lyn on last game of the season!!!!

Love it! Going to get thrashed next year though.

[Jazza]

FC Baulmes - Swiss Challenge League

Table

Promoted for a second time. After last seasons relegation the board offered me a new contract and wanted me to finish at least in mid-table but the long term expectations were to establish the team in the top division, so when I signed the long term expectations confidence dropped because we weren't in the top division anymore, weird. So I figured I had to get promoted before the contract ran out or I probably wouldn't get offered a new one. At least we turned pro so I could sign enough quality to push for promotion straight away.

We stayed between 1st and 4th for most of the season before grabbing a play off spot near the end. The team we faced were better quality wise but they had poor morale from being stuck in the relegation zone all season whilst we had good morale and so we drew the first leg away 0-0 and then hammered them at home 4-1.

Tried to get the stadium expanded but the council blocked it. We've also been losing money since turning pro, about 1m in a season, hopefully tv money next season should rectify that.

Transfers

Finances

Club Info

[catesy2021]

Wow, well done on the promotions everyone.

KUTGW!!!

[jameslowe]

Have turned professional now and can sign some decent players although there are not many about. Won my first game of the season 1v0 YAY!

[jameslowe]

Half Season Report 22nd July 2012

Currently 8th in the league but only 2 points off the drop zone. Am in 1/4 final of the Norwegian Cup as well. Finances are up to £280k and look to continue to climb as long as no more ground improvements.

[jameslowe]

Wahoo. Survived in the Norwegian Premier by 3 points. I came 9th in the league and got to the Final of the Norwegian Cup again. But for the 2nd time in 3 years I finished Runners Up.

Drew 4v4 and lost 4v3 on Penalties. Gutted.

Happy to still be in the top flight though. Time to consolidate in the league next year.

[catesy2021]

Great work mate. Your smashing through the seasons, where do you find the time?

[pjtopor]

UEFA Cup Winners!!!!!

Unbelievable. A gritty, composed performance from the lads. Chailis made a fantastic run in the 15' and slid the ball ahead to Tadic who made no mistake from inside the box. They pulled back a bit after that till Terry Dixon smashed home for Spurs from a goalmouth scramble in the 39'. The first half ended with Spurs in the ascendancy.

The second half was a nervy affair, with us trying to play keep-ball and Tottenham dangerous whenever they got their hands on it. Our second choice keeper, the Ghanaian Musah made several key saves. On 73' they replaced Jose Baxter with Mark Smith, and then on 75' a crunching tackle from Helge Nilsen, a Norwegian drafted in during the window when we had to sell our Romanian second choice centre-half, sent their second striker and goal scorer Dixon off for Adam Smith. With both strikers off, Tottenham looked less dangerous.

Then in the 80th, after some good possession, Gabor Dobos found Madariaga on the left wing. Our star Spaniard kept wide, then put in a low cross to Tadic, who was moving towards the near post, and he was tripped by Luizao. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, and I swallowed my heart. Chailis stepped up confidently, and after some furious Tottenham dissent which resulted in a booking, the Cypriot coolly slotted home. 2-1 to Hetman!

The last 10 minutes went by in a flash, I went hardcore time-wasting, and I still had all 3 subs, which I had been saving for ET/Penalties, so other than one chance in the 90' which Musah saved well, we killed off the match brilliantly, bringing the UEFA Cup home to Zamosc.

Unreal.

[Gundo]

Well done with your respective promotions jameslowe & Jazza. KUTGW.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by pjtopor:

UEFA Cup Winners!!!!!

Unbelievable. A gritty, composed performance from the lads. Chailis made a fantastic run in the 15' and slid the ball ahead to Tadic who made no mistake from inside the box. They pulled back a bit after that till Terry Dixon smashed home for Spurs from a goalmouth scramble in the 39'. The first half ended with Spurs in the ascendancy.

The second half was a nervy affair, with us trying to play keep-ball and Tottenham dangerous whenever they got their hands on it. Our second choice keeper, the Ghanaian Musah made several key saves. On 73' they replaced Jose Baxter with Mark Smith, and then on 75' a crunching tackle from Helge Nilsen, a Norwegian drafted in during the window when we had to sell our Romanian second choice centre-half, sent their second striker and goal scorer Dixon off for Adam Smith. With both strikers off, Tottenham looked less dangerous.

Then in the 80th, after some good possession, Gabor Dobos found Madariaga on the left wing. Our star Spaniard kept wide, then put in a low cross to Tadic, who was moving towards the near post, and he was tripped by Luizao. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, and I swallowed my heart. Chailis stepped up confidently, and after some furious Tottenham dissent which resulted in a booking, the Cypriot coolly slotted home. 2-1 to Hetman!

The last 10 minutes went by in a flash, I went hardcore time-wasting, and I still had all 3 subs, which I had been saving for ET/Penalties, so other than one chance in the 90' which Musah saved well, we killed off the match brilliantly, bringing the UEFA Cup home to Zamosc.

Unreal.

Superb achievement, I'll add that to the table.

Have you had any players who have kept loyal to the club yet? I'm talking 5+ seasons and show no signs of leaving and who still play consistently well for the club, you usually get one or two?

[jameslowe]

Originally posted by catesy2021:

Great work mate. Your smashing through the seasons, where do you find the time?

I am unemployed and a i do a lot of in game holidaying.

[iacovone]

Konquest good to see you back in Croatia. Slavonija missed your prescence. And also well done on promotion, an outrageously good achievement. Took me a good 4 seasons to get promoted.

Sorry for the prolonged abscence guys...been v busy with work lately. Good to see the thread going just as strong and good luck to all the new starters from about page 48 onwards

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by pjtopor:

UEFA Cup Winners!!!!!

Unbelievable. A gritty, composed performance from the lads. Chailis made a fantastic run in the 15' and slid the ball ahead to Tadic who made no mistake from inside the box. They pulled back a bit after that till Terry Dixon smashed home for Spurs from a goalmouth scramble in the 39'. The first half ended with Spurs in the ascendancy.

The second half was a nervy affair, with us trying to play keep-ball and Tottenham dangerous whenever they got their hands on it. Our second choice keeper, the Ghanaian Musah made several key saves. On 73' they replaced Jose Baxter with Mark Smith, and then on 75' a crunching tackle from Helge Nilsen, a Norwegian drafted in during the window when we had to sell our Romanian second choice centre-half, sent their second striker and goal scorer Dixon off for Adam Smith. With both strikers off, Tottenham looked less dangerous.

Then in the 80th, after some good possession, Gabor Dobos found Madariaga on the left wing. Our star Spaniard kept wide, then put in a low cross to Tadic, who was moving towards the near post, and he was tripped by Luizao. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, and I swallowed my heart. Chailis stepped up confidently, and after some furious Tottenham dissent which resulted in a booking, the Cypriot coolly slotted home. 2-1 to Hetman!

The last 10 minutes went by in a flash, I went hardcore time-wasting, and I still had all 3 subs, which I had been saving for ET/Penalties, so other than one chance in the 90' which Musah saved well, we killed off the match brilliantly, bringing the UEFA Cup home to Zamosc.

Unreal.

congrats!! the champions league to come next season...

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by jameslowe:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by catesy2021:

Great work mate. Your smashing through the seasons, where do you find the time?

I am unemployed and a i do a lot of in game holidaying. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

doing the in-game holidaying, do you not feel like you miss out on signing players?

[catesy2021]

Originally posted by jameslowe:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by catesy2021:

Great work mate. Your smashing through the seasons, where do you find the time?

I am unemployed and a i do a lot of in game holidaying. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I see.

I’m losing my job at the end of he month as im yet to have anything else sorted out i may get some more game time. I guess you also have the shorter season and long seasn break.

Well-done pjtopor. Being UEFA cup champions has got to increase your side reputation surely?

Interesting to see Terry Dixon score against you. In real life he dislocated his knee keeping him out for months. On his return he dislocated it again. He has just been released which is a shame because he was a great talent.

[pjtopor]

Interestingly enough, Hetman's reputation is still national, though my best judge of reputation, realistic signings has seen a moderate bump. I think it will take success in the big cup to see any bump - I can assure that winning the league does nothing for it anymore.

As far as loyal to the club - Mulaudzi my South African striker has been with us for 5 seasons and never once made a peep about leaving. Bozo Tadic has been with us for 4 seasons and is thrilled to be here. Other than that - every single player who's any good whines at some point. I've been able to keep them together pretty well - I sell one or two every season, sometimes more, but I find if you can ride out the transfer window somehow - usually you can get them to sign a new deal sometime in between the windows, and that new deal will usually keep them semi-quiet for the next window. Eventually they get to be worth more than you can pay them (though my wage bill is pretty forgiving, on account of I spend very little on transfers) and then they move on.

Hetman actually has a bit of a golden generation right now - even with losing Ahmet and Postolache in January - Konate, Jevtic, Chailis, Dobos, Madariaga - these are players who can play in the very best leagues in Europe. I'm sure I'll lose them all before long. Just have to keep buying youngsters to replenish.

Thanks for the kind words, by the by. I'll have a full season report soon, but you already know the most interesting part.

[Konquest]

Originally posted by iacovone:

Konquest good to see you back in Croatia. Slavonija missed your prescence. And also well done on promotion, an outrageously good achievement. Took me a good 4 seasons to get promoted.

Sorry for the prolonged abscence guys...been v busy with work lately. Good to see the thread going just as strong and good luck to all the new starters from about page 48 onwards

Thanks!

I should be able to get the report for the first 2 seasons in tonight. Quite busy with work also...

[Gundo]

Well Myhre doesn't seem to be half the player he was last time round. Good news though I do have 2 or 3 other very good prospects for the future.

The debt we where in from the ground expansion has been whittled down significantly by constant Board cash injections.

[DodgeeD]

Originally posted by DodgeeD:

Chmel Blasny - Czech Republic

I have finally entered the challenge and I opted for (a hopefully bug-free) Czech Republic.

After reloading a couple of times to avoid 'B' teams getting promoted, I took the chance to take the helm at Chmel Blasny.

My profile

There were a few players in the squad to start with but no staff, goalies of left-sided players. I've got some headhunting to do! Managed to get Sparta Prague as a parent team and I have half of their B team on loan already

The board want a top half finish and 'to be a major player in the second division' in two years. Hopefully, we'll be in the top flight by then.

Apparently, they have had a go at this challenge in real life before having reached 6th in the 1st division a few years back despite being a village team. They have since dropped down the divisions but I aim to take them back to and beyond former glories

Thought I'd better include that again as it's taking me so long to get through my first season (work, family commitments, the usual) that this has slipped back 5 pages!

Chmel Blsany, Czech Second Division 2008-9

Expectations were quite high - top half finish. As usual, no staff and no transfer budget but there were a few decent players already at the club and a generous wage budget so I was hopeful of a good season

I strengthened the squad with a few free signings from Eastern Europe and, bizarrely, ew Caledonia, whose regens showed up on my radar available for trial 2 in particular were very good and, after impressive trials, got permanent deals. I was offered several good loanees too.

My final posiiton in the league was 6th. Happy enough with that but it was a little disappointing as we were 3rd, 1 point off 2nd going into the winter break. In the second half of the season, Kladno and Slovacko started to run away with it and below them it was tight - at one point we jumped from 9th to 3rd with one win! All in all, a decent platform to build on for next year (although the board just informed me they expect promotion next season )

Final League Table

The star of the team was a new signing, Maksims Denisevics (a 21 year old Latvian striker) though I can't take all the credit as his transfer was arranged before I took over.

Onto next season: promotion is demanded and the board are giving me absolutely zilch to spend in order to achieve it

Club Coefficient: -

Nation Coefficient: 23.250 (18th)

Domestic Titles: 0

[saab693]

saab693 - NK Verzej - Slovenian Second Division - 2015

Hello again from your favourite Slovenian First Division dodger! Season 7 was another good year within the Second Division but god forbid we should get promoted!

League Table

Positions

Actually managed one point less than the year before which is nice progress! We played some really nice stuff at times but silly results here and there stopped us finishing 2nd and going up against the First Division team in the dreaded relegation playoff.

That honour went to Rudar...

6-0 you say? Seems fair, you've toiled all season, the least you deserve is a morale shattering hammering from one of the division above's very worst teams! Saying that 6-0 is better than the 9-1 we managed the year before so maybe we're making progress as a division? I definitely feel the Second Division is in it together now and I was willing Rudar on to cause an upset and get promoted! God help the little fools if they had, it would have been the punishing of a lifetime in the division above! I thought you'd be interested to know that the same three teams are cyclically relegated from the First Division then go up again the following season. Not once has the Second Division team won the playoff. Now, I may be naive, but is the standard of the Slovenian First Division really so good that a team from the league below can't get promoted? I sincerely hope I can prove myself wrong in the years to come. No longer is this challenge about winning the Champions League for me, I just want to taste top flight Eastern European football!!

[mocko666]

FK Puchov 08-09

Returning to my game in Slovakia (youll find my profile on like page 20) i found myself fighting off mid-table obscurity and slipping into relegation.

Heres where we ended up finishing when i took some real time to assess everything including the weather and having proper tactics home and away.

League Table

What was quite suprising is the goal difference we levelled the best but yet we were mid-table all season.

My star players were

Josef Jelsic top scorer with 18 i think

My Captain

Held the team together end of.

and a few others who i cant be bothered mentioning in this update.

Just a short update as i cant remember what happened before i stopped playing this game.

Onto 09-10 and hopefully onto the Slovak 1st Division

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by Gundo:

Well Myhre doesn't seem to be half the player he was last time round. Good news though I do have 2 or 3 other very good prospects for the future.

The debt we where in from the ground expansion has been whittled down significantly by constant Board cash injections.

good news on the cash front...

as for Myhre, he's doing ok for me so far. averaging about 7.30 for me so far, and scored a couple. he's competing with another for his position. playing him LM, with farrow to LF. maybe his stats are a little more random??

as for 'legend' Ringstad, he's got 6 goals in 9 games so far... shame i can't find 2 goalscorers again this season...

[Gundo]

Originally posted by rlipscombe:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gundo:

Well Myhre doesn't seem to be half the player he was last time round. Good news though I do have 2 or 3 other very good prospects for the future.

The debt we where in from the ground expansion has been whittled down significantly by constant Board cash injections.

good news on the cash front...

as for Myhre, he's doing ok for me so far. averaging about 7.30 for me so far, and scored a couple. he's competing with another for his position. playing him LM, with farrow to LF. maybe his stats are a little more random??

as for 'legend' Ringstad, he's got 6 goals in 9 games so far... shame i can't find 2 goalscorers again this season... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Unless he's had his potential altered with the last patch (8.02, which I very much doubt) then I doubt anything is different with him other than the main thing; that he simply hasn't been able to reach his potential with us this time, for what ever reason? Having said that he's still youngish at 19, so theres still time but my scouts and coaches simply aren't raving about him now (they think he'll become a good 1.divisjon player in the future.

Last time I had him he was nether top notch, but his very high Technique meant he'd was doing what ever decent abilities he did have very well. I guess that's the joy of FM I suppose the certain unpredictability.

[CoachFlu]

Originally posted by pjtopor:

Interestingly enough, Hetman's reputation is still national, though my best judge of reputation, realistic signings has seen a moderate bump. I think it will take success in the big cup to see any bump - I can assure that winning the league does nothing for it anymore.

As far as loyal to the club - Mulaudzi my South African striker has been with us for 5 seasons and never once made a peep about leaving. Bozo Tadic has been with us for 4 seasons and is thrilled to be here. Other than that - every single player who's any good whines at some point. I've been able to keep them together pretty well - I sell one or two every season, sometimes more, but I find if you can ride out the transfer window somehow - usually you can get them to sign a new deal sometime in between the windows, and that new deal will usually keep them semi-quiet for the next window. Eventually they get to be worth more than you can pay them (though my wage bill is pretty forgiving, on account of I spend very little on transfers) and then they move on.

Congrats in winning the UEFA Cup!

Regarding club reputation: don't hold your breath. After two consecutive Champions League Final appearances, Meldert's rep is still National. (though I still need to pass the rollover date to the next season, maybe it'll change then, but I already expected it after the first Final.)

That is balanced by the manager reputation though. Last I checked I was the only "World Class" manager in the game, and players who sign for the club almost always mention how much they look forward to working with me.

Keeping the good players at the club is indeed quite the task. Keeping them happy hardly seems possible. Even with our recent relative success in Europe, rejecting an offer from any club playing in England, Italy, Spain, France or Germany generally makes the player unhappy. And even without rejecting offers, they do just fine in developing a sense of wanting to move to a bigger club.

So I always keep the half-decent players on long contracts. At least 3 years, and renew every year, until they don't want to renew it anymore.

When they make a press statement about wanting a bigger club, the "want the club to progress to match his ambition" reply sometimes works to make them happy for a few weeks again. Offering a new contract during that time occasionally works.

Keeping unhappy players at the club isn't always a good idea - depends a bit on the player - but if they're quality enough, the positives tend to outweigh the negatives.

[pjtopor]

16/17 - Hetman Zamosc - Polish First Division

League Position - Champions

TABLE

Polish FA Cup - Winners (v.Legia 3-0)

Polish League Cup - Winners (v. Zaglebie Lubin 3-2)

Polish Super Cup - Winners (v. Lech 3-2 aet)

Champions League - 3rd in Group E

UEFA Cup - Winners! (v. Tottenham 2-1)

Treble message

Fans Player of the Season - Michailis Chailis

My Player of the Season - Michalis Chailis

Definitely on a bit of any every other season bit here - happy in seasons ending in odd years, less so in the evens. But we won the UEFA Cup, who can complain? Our domestic form was solid as well, despite the inevitable fixture pile-up, we were never threatened in the league, and the domestic cups were navigated with the usual ease. In Europe, well we were amazing. Even in the CL, that 3rd could have been better. We had a chance in both legs against eventual champions Arsenal, and we had a chance in both legs against holders Roma. We comfortably handled German side Nurnberg as well. In the UEFA Cup, we absolutely throttled Olympiakos and Real Sociedad, and the performance against Anderlecht was impressive as well. Only the Tottenham win was any bit a smash and grab, and even then, we did a nice job of keep-ball.

The squad was changed quite a bit this season. we sold a cool 15M worth of players, including our midfield lynchpin, Yesil Ahmet to Aston Villa for 10M. We also lost longtime centerback Daniel Postolache to Blackburn for 1.5M. This coming season sees more of the same, both captain and vice-captain on the way out, and I suspect another club veteran, Bogdan Iliuta has reached the end of his line. We saw some real development from the clubs stars - though I think they've reached that stage where they won't get much better without moving to a higher rep club. The club plays a 4-4-2 pretty much all the time now, after many years of a 4-2-3-1, its just so much easier to find quality strikers than attacking mids.

Hetman's Domestic Awards Haul:

Manager of the Season

Team of the Season

Player of the Season

Young Player of the Season

More money, more problems for Hetman. We've moved to 46th on the rich list, and we made another tidy profit while topping out our training and youth facilities and adding an academy. Sadly the local council blocked expansion of the stadium, hopefully this will be a precursor to a new stadium build - under-soil heating would be nice, as I like to get the ball down and play it. Or even, making the stadium an all-seater. Another 4.5M paid out in dividends, I guess I should really be spending that transfer kitty. Here's the finance screen:

FINANCES

And the info screen:

INFO

Table Info:

UEFA Cup x1

Domestic Title x7

Club coefficient 76.266, 22nd, up 32

Nation coefficient 23.617, 16th, up 2

Hetman Zamosc

2008/2009 - Polish Second Division - 10th, FA Cup - 1st round

2009/2010 - Polish Second Division - 1st, FA Cup - 3rd round

2010/2011 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - 2nd round, League Cup - Quarterfinals

2011/2012 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Quarterfinal, League Cup - Semi Final, Champs League - 3rd Qualifying Round, UEFA Cup - 1st Round

2012/2013 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Final, League Cup - Winners, Champions League - Group Stage

2013/2014 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Quarterfinals, League Cup - Winners, Champions League - 3rd Qual. Rnd., UEFA Cup - 1st Round.

2014/2015 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Winners, League Cup - Winners, Champions League - Group Stage, UEFA Cup - Final

2015/2016 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Winners, League Cup - Winners, Champions League - Group Stage

2016/2017 - Polish First Division - 1st, FA Cup - Winners, League Cup - Winners, Champions League - Group Stage, UEFA Cup - Winners

[pjtopor]

After navigating the third qualifying round 7-4 on agg over Sparta Prague, Hetman are 2nd seeds for the first time in the group stage draw, surely this would give the Polish team their best chance yet to qualify for the knockout rounds? Well...

Group A

Chelsea

Hetman

Ajax

Girondins Bordeaux

Ugh. While Chelsea are probably the weakest first seed we've drawn in a group stage, even at their old state, their talent is still a force to be reckoned with. Then Ajax, who beat us twice two years ago, and Bordeaux, who've adapted better than most, and have a strong squad full of regens. I actually think this might be the strongest group top to bottom we've come up against, there isn't an obvious win in it. Clearly, we'll need strong home form to have any chance. We'll need at least 6 points at OSiR to have any hope of UEFA Cup football, and hope that one of the other 3 squads turns out to prop up the group.

On the plus side, we can still milk 2 more seasons out of both UEFA Cup runs into a high seed, so maybe next year we'll get a kinder draw.

[dafuge]

The European Adventure - The Story so far...

CL qualifying round 1 leg 1

CL qualifying round 1 leg 2

A fantastic away win in the first leg meant I could take it easy in the home leg and sail through with ease.

CL qualifying round 2 leg 1

CL qualifying round 2 leg 2

An unlucky loss in the first leg was followed by an historic European night in Belfast, possibly my greatest ever result at Sirocco Works.

CL qualifying round 3 leg 1

CL qualifying round 3 leg 2

A courageous fightback in the second leg, but we just couldn't recover from that poor first leg home defeat. This means I've failed to make the CL group stages for the second year running.

UEFA Cup round 1 leg 1

UEFA Cup round 1 leg 2

Unlucky to lose in the first leg, we squeezed through with a nervy win in the second leg.

UEFA Cup Group D

I quite like the look of this draw, getting Arsenal away might just give me a chance of getting through to the next round. At the very least I expect to beat last season's record of losing all four games.

[pjtopor]

Four games through Group A and the table looks like this:

Group A

We've been marvelous so far, really. Gutted out a 1-1 at home vs Chelsea, only a brilliant Sahar strike kept us from winning. Then a dominant performance against France gave us a vital away win over Bordeaux, 1-2. Matchday 3 was a disappointment, 2 superb fightbacks from 2 goals down before Daniel Hiddink won it for Ajax, 5-4. Matchday 4 we were out for revenge and managed to pull off the upset at home v Ajax 2-1, on two Chailis penalties.

Our next match is Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. I'll be looking to keep it close so it doesn't damage our goal differential too much. An Ajax/Bordeaux draw would mean I would qualify with a win at OSiR against the French side. Its all a lot of this result here stuff, but I think we have a real good chance of making the knockout rounds for the first time in our history, and only total catastrophe would see us fail to qualify for the UEFA Cup.

[gers51]

End of Season update 08/09 - Coleraine Crusaders - Northern Irish Second Division

With the club predicted to come bottom and only having players under 17 it was going to be a long season. With 23 players being brought in we started to look like a club that had an outside chance of promtion, with some players that my assistant thinks would be decent signings for premier league sides. A very inconsistent season was matched by the other teams in the league which left the table looking like this going into the final day of the season. With us playing bottom club Brantwood, needing only a draw I had high hopes that we could guarantee promotion. Thanks to a great first half we managed a thumping 6-1 win which sealed our promotion as champions!

Table

Transfers

Squad

Finances

With money seeping away throughout the season, the club was in debt by the end of the season with the board distraught over the state of the club's finances, meaning it is highly unlikely that I will be given any money to spend to strengthen the squad for the first division. Although hopefully we can still manage to stay up.

Club Coefficient: n/a

Nation Coefficient: 2.165 (45th)

Domestic Titles: 0

[mocko666]

Picked out of a hat and chose to start in Swistzerland

Profile

Wish me more luck than ive had in my previous two games

[Alurny]

Hello everyone!

Time to start afresh! I have over 20 pages to catch up on Anyone won the CL yet? Hope you are all having fun in your respective games.

I decided to head back to where it all began, Austria! Sadly no sign of Seekirchen () so I chose Wacker!

Info

Profile

Squad (+additions)

Let the fun begin!

[aaberdeenn]

cookie's won the champions league once, iacovone has lost one final and coachflu has lost in 2 successive finals.

[birdy123]

This is my next challenge after I take Montrose as far as I can

[Gundo]

Nice to see more people starting this.

Welcome back Alurny.

[Boycey1987]

Hey Everyone, I've decided to give this challenge a whirl...

i am loading up the Welsh league as i speak, and know it is going to be a massive challenge. Was just wondering if anybody is managing a Welsh club atm, have been looking thro the threads and can't see anything...

Also, any helpful tips anyone!? i think im gonna need them!

[Gundo]

Originally posted by Boycey1987:

Hey Everyone, I've decided to give this challenge a whirl...

i am loading up the Welsh league as i speak, and know it is going to be a massive challenge. Was just wondering if anybody is managing a Welsh club atm, have been looking thro the threads and can't see anything...

Also, any helpful tips anyone!? i think im gonna need them!

Welcome Boycey. There aren't that many playing in Wales atm. I think Mike_Cardinal started a game their not so long ago, not sure how far he got?

As for tips. Take your time it won't happen overnight. I think the thing you have on your side is that your already in the Welsh top flight so that's one less obstacle. Once you get to grips with domestic titles, then comes the hard part - to win a European trophy.

Not sure I qualify to give advice here as I've never completed this challenge...

[rlipscombe]

Originally posted by Gundo:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Boycey1987:

Hey Everyone, I've decided to give this challenge a whirl...

i am loading up the Welsh league as i speak, and know it is going to be a massive challenge. Was just wondering if anybody is managing a Welsh club atm, have been looking thro the threads and can't see anything...

Also, any helpful tips anyone!? i think im gonna need them!

Welcome Boycey. There aren't that many playing in Wales atm. I think Mike_Cardinal started a game their not so long ago, not sure how far he got?

As for tips. Take your time it won't happen overnight. I think the thing you have on your side is that your already in the Welsh top flight so that's one less obstacle. Once you get to grips with domestic titles, then comes the hard part - to win a European trophy.

Not sure I qualify to give advice here as I've never completed this challenge... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

i had three seasonin wales... it's quite tough to break the Llanelli/TNS stranglehold, but certainly can be done. the quality of the league isn't too great below them so you should do alright.

if i recommend one player, it'd be Hristo Panayotov. he's great in CM.

good luck

[Boycey1987]

Thanks for the advice, i'll give it a few days and i'll stick up a post on here, let you all kno how i get on!

And i'll check out that player!

Wales here I come baby!

[pjtopor]

Well then...

Group A

I can't describe how chuffed I am. A priceless point at Stamford Bridge in my 500th game in charge followed by a severe thrashing of Girondins Bordeaux at OSiR means not only do we qualify for the knockout stages for the first time, we topped the group on goal difference. Amazing stuff from the lads, really.

[Gundo]

Originally posted by Gundo:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by rlipscombe:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gundo:

Well Myhre doesn't seem to be half the player he was last time round. Good news though I do have 2 or 3 other very good prospects for the future.

The debt we where in from the ground expansion has been whittled down significantly by constant Board cash injections.

good news on the cash front...

as for Myhre, he's doing ok for me so far. averaging about 7.30 for me so far, and scored a couple. he's competing with another for his position. playing him LM, with farrow to LF. maybe his stats are a little more random??

as for 'legend' Ringstad, he's got 6 goals in 9 games so far... shame i can't find 2 goalscorers again this season... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Unless he's had his potential altered with the last patch (8.02, which I very much doubt) then I doubt anything is different with him other than the main thing; that he simply hasn't been able to reach his potential with us this time, for what ever reason? Having said that he's still youngish at 19, so theres still time but my scouts and coaches simply aren't raving about him now (they think he'll become a good 1.divisjon player in the future.

Last time I had him he was nether top notch, but his very high Technique meant he'd was doing what ever decent abilities he did have very well. I guess that's the joy of FM I suppose the certain unpredictability. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Did I judge or make an unfair early assumption of Myhre's potential ability??? It now seems my scouts and ass. man think he's a quality player and his potential star rating has gone up aswel! I'm on his favorite personal list now to boot. He's bagged 6 assists so far this season (10 games in). What can I say my boy is back!

[rlipscombe]

The Ringstad show... LEGEND!!

[Gundo]

Originally posted by rlipscombe:

The Ringstad show... LEGEND!!

The Boy Wonder is indeed unreal.

[cr4z3d]

Originally posted by dafuge:

The European Adventure - The Story so far...

CL qualifying round 1 leg 1

CL qualifying round 1 leg 2

A fantastic away win in the first leg meant I could take it easy in the home leg and sail through with ease.

CL qualifying round 2 leg 1

CL qualifying round 2 leg 2

An unlucky loss in the first leg was followed by an historic European night in Belfast, possibly my greatest ever result at Sirocco Works.

CL qualifying round 3 leg 1

CL qualifying round 3 leg 2

A courageous fightback in the second leg, but we just couldn't recover from that poor first leg home defeat. This means I've failed to make the CL group stages for the second year running.

UEFA Cup round 1 leg 1

UEFA Cup round 1 leg 2

Unlucky to lose in the first leg, we squeezed through with a nervy win in the second leg.

UEFA Cup Group D

I quite like the look of this draw, getting Arsenal away might just give me a chance of getting through to the next round. At the very least I expect to beat last season's record of losing all four games.

Congrats on getting into the Euro Cup group stages. I see you beat Rapid to get there, the same team that beat me in the 3rd QR.

[ghostwriter]

UGS - Challenge League - 15/16 - Winter Break

So, after the disaster that was last season, time for changes...And many changes were made.

Out went 20 players at the end of their contract (admittedly around half were rubbish youth products or players who never played any more). First thru the door came a great MC and an even greater striker, both 19 and both really very good. I did not think I needed another DL but another 19yo from Yverdon looked good so he arrived. Which was convenient as straight after I managed to sell both my first choice ones from last season, for a total of over £400k . Yes, 2 of last seasons defenders went for that much, no idea how as neither are that special. My first ever big money sales. Also sold another defender for £200k+ later on, crazy days.

I finally obtained a GK who looked quite good while hoards more MCs came in. From a blank void at the beginning of the summer I ended up with 6 good players for the position. An ex-SL striker strolled in, ex-Delemont as well where I remember him scoring loads against us along with a DC and a great looking AML.

On the loanee front Pottier came back for season no.4. I did not see any need for Guichard's 5th season here so did nothing but he signed a new contract and was still being offered for loan so why not? It costs nothing, so in he came. Also as all the sales caused a shortage of DLs a DLC came in from Sion, he had played here 4 years ago on loan.

In total 15 players have come in.

By the first game of the season only 3 players (Sutter although this was before the arrival of the other ST, Pottier and an AMR I picked up last Jan) from last season were in the team. (Cortesi has hardly played at all...)

That first match ended in 0-1 defeat, as did the second one, and the fourth was lost as well. Hmmm, similar ideas to last season crossed my mind. But, we then won at La Chaux-de-Fonds (their only home defeat so far) and drew with Schaffhausen, and then won 6 in a row. We were suddenly very good. We did lose to Young Boys but it was v close. We then had a 9 day period where we played 4 of the top 6 (and we were 7th at the time). 3 wins and an unfortunate defeat later and we were in the top 5. And 2 of those wins were absolute thrashings of Aarau and Delemont, both very good teams.

We managed to get to 3rd at one stage. Then came the last 2 games, a turgid draw at home to Martigny and a mysteriously dire 3-5 defeat to Lausanne.

Hence we are again in 6th at the Winter Break.

But as you can see it is a very good 6th, only 5 points behind 2nd, if we had won those last 2 we would be 2nd ourselves. Young Boys are a bit better than the rest but the next 6 (inc. us) as all more or less even; all beating each other with the occasional embarrassment elsewhere. Starting to regret those early season defeats while the squad was settling :/.

Have to say that we are pretty good. We went back to a simply 4-4-2 attacking and it seems to work well. The 19yo ST has 14 in 16 (is injured at moment) and the 2 wingers are simply magnificent, 17 assists between them. The MCs are gelling and when they don't I have loads of back up. The GK is a huge improvement as is the whole of the defence. For the first 20 games we never lost by more than 1 goal nor conceded more than 2, then came Lausanne who went 3 up in 15 minutes!

I even won 2 Manager of the Month Awards.

Provided we don't fall to pieces are the break like we usually do, who knows? First 2 games are La Chaux-de-Fonds and Schaffhausen so that should tell me something. If it all goes wrong there then keeping in the top 7 will do, if they go well, then I won't be able not to continue checking that gap to 2nd....

[gers51]

End of season Update 09/10 - Coleraine Crusaders - Northern Irish First Division

This isn't the full update that will be coming shortly but this is up to the last day of the season.

We were suprisingly tipped to avoid relegation in 10th position at the start of the season, so I told the board I could acheive a mid-table finish to get more money for wages.

A brilliant start to the season saw us unbeaten and top after 6 games, but incosistency and a poor mid-season slump with 3 defeats in a row, left us looking like this going into the last day of the season, knowing we needed to better Ballyclare's result on the last day to reach the playoff. The last day's fixtures saw all of the top four playing each other with us hosting Ballinamallard and Limavady at home to Ballyclare.

Things went bad for us early on when we went one behind after just 7 minutes, and it stayed that way until half-time and in the other game it was 1-1. A goal form left-back Chris Wilkinson on 49 minutes pulled us level and better news was to come with Limavady scoring on 52, 60. Also on 60 minutes Ballinamallard were reduced to ten men and Limavady went further ahead with a goal on 68 minutes. Meaning if things stayed the same we would go second. We went 2-1 up with a goal on 82 minutes but by this time Ballyclare were back to 4-3. Limavady scored on 86 minutes to seal our passage to the playoff, although an 88th minute penalty for Ballinamallard that was scored made us sweat but we held on for second place.

We will now play Newry in the playoff, will finish that soon and have a full update.

[Alurny]

Originally posted by Alurny:

Hello everyone!

Time to start afresh! I have over 20 pages to catch up on Anyone won the CL yet? Hope you are all having fun in your respective games.

I decided to head back to where it all began, Austria! Sadly no sign of Seekirchen () so I chose Wacker!

Info

Profile

Squad (+additions)

Let the fun begin!

I messed up

I forgot to look at the league rules, signed a team full of fgn, and well you can guess what happens next.

[aaberdeenn]

[gers51]

End of season Update 09/10 - Coleraine Crusaders - Northern Irish First Division

1st leg Play off

We were unlucky to lose due to a freak own goal from just inside the half-way line, a passback to the keeper went straight into the net.

2nd leg Play off

What an end to the 2nd leg with them having a penalty to seal it with 5 minutes to go it was blazed over the bar and almost straight away we went up the other and end and scored the winner giving us promotion!!!

Final Table

Antrim Trophy - 2nd round

Intermediate League Cup - Qtr Final

Intermediate Cup - 2nd round

Irish Cup - 6th round

A sensational season saw us gain back to back promotions to the premier league and it will be a tall order to survive.

Transfers

Squad

Finances

More money was lost this season so there will be none to spend next season but hopefully added revenue will rectify that.

Club Coefficient: n/a

Nation Coefficient: 1.665 (47th)

Domestic Titles: 0

[pjtopor]

So then, that top seed left us a fairly favorable matchup against Celtic in the first knockout round. Not much to say, here are the pictures:

Leg 1

Leg 2

Tadic was absolutely on first through the two legged tie. In the draw for the next round, we got a team that we drew twice previously... Chelsea.

I was pleased with the draw, except that Chelsea had strengthened in the winter, and signed a Ukranian GK I had my eyes before he became a star. They also had finally blooded in the Bulgarian striker they signed in the summer, who was a previous European Golden Boot winner with Bayern. Anyway, onto the tie:

Leg 1

Leg 2

Absolutely outstanding results, and probably the best team I've beaten in my 10 years at Hetman.

The hat was unkind for the Semi-Final, as we get Roma, who've beaten us the last 3 times we've met. If we can nick an away goal or two at Olimpico though, we can beat anyone at OSiR.