migwar Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 croatia sounds interesting. is anyone doing that already? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaberdeenn Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Croatia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
freek_teek Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I can strongly recomend the football wasteland that is Sweden. Low standards, so it should be rather easy to progress through the leagues (although I'm doing my best to disprove that), a short season (20-30 games per season), some talented youngsters (who don't want to play for you), finances are a real challenge and, I can't remember a Swedish team in the group stages of the Champions League, so you can write history if you actually pull off the challenge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Well despite freek_teek's impassioned plea for Sweden, I'd gone out and left the Croatian Holiday Man doing his thing for me. Then coupled with migwr and aaberdeenn's backing, it has to be Croatia. Profile update to come shortly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supermas2 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Rakow in the Polish Second Division - End of season update 2009 Firstly, I would like to say, I found my experience one of my most challenging and exciting on Football Manager to date - although not my most successful... I started the season with a team predicted to finish 17th(of 18) - a team of greys and youth. I made signings, most of who were not very good, the problem being I could not attract 2nd division players to my team, and had to rely on players from non-league Polish sides. Most noticeably of all, I struggled to find a striker who could finish and had pace - something so vital in these sorts of leagues. I started the season fairly strongly, being midtable for the first 10 or so rounds. By the middle of the season I was in 13th place - with 15th-18th being the relegation places. I bumped up to 12th, and went on the long winter break. After winter, we carried on where we left off for a while, before hitting a bad run of form. You probably dont understand this fully. I mean a BAD run of form. We lost, we lost and we lost - even to midtable teams at home. We dropped into the relegation places, before a couple of games against the teams around us dragged us out. We then slid back in and after 31 games, we lay in 16th. We looked dead and buried. A 0-0 draw away to relegation rivals Warta Poznan was enough to push us up to 15th with 2 games remaining, 1 point adrift of safety. Our penultimate game of the season was vital. At home. We needed a victory. The problem? We were playing the newly-crowned League champions! But something happened - this did! Unbelievable. We flew up to 13th place. We went into the final game of the season knowing we needed a win to guarentee our survival, a draw if some results went our way, and we COULD survive on a defeat, provided TKP Torun and Warta Poznan both lost at home. My captain rallied the troops! I could tell you now that we amazingly snatched a last minute win away to 4th in the table Arka. But this isnt Football Manager: Fantasy Edition. We lost. We lost 4-1. But TKP Torun drew 0-0 at home. And at half time, I checked and Poznan were losing 2-0. But to my horror: disaster for me. There were no fairly tales. No great escapes now. We lost, they won, we went down. The Final Table Positions Graph My question now is. Do I do Poland again? Do I start somewhere new? And advice appreciated Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Great update Supermas2 Unlucky to go down though Don't you feel you have unfinished business in Poland?? I'd stick around and get back into it. Good Luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaberdeenn Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Croatia. \o/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 \o/ indeed. Just reloading until a team with a kit to my liking turns up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Well it's underway - Mr Kewan takes over NK Slavonija For those that like some background info this may intrigue you...Slavonija hail from the Pozega area of Eastern Croatia. The specific area is called the Pozega Basin, or as the Romans knew it - the Golden Valley - for its fertile land. Pozega was the home of a vast 11th century fortress until recent years. The city went through a period of decline in the 14th and 15th centuries due to a series of Ottoman raids - Pozega was seized by the Turks in 1537. It remained under Turkish rule for over 150 years and became a base from which the Ottoman Empire launched into Europe. Pozega was liberated in 1745 and came under the rule of the Austrian House of Habsburg. The county and city were eventually returned to Croatian rule. 1699 - Grammar school opened (only the 5th in Croatia) 1727 - Jesuits built a theatre 1740 - built the city's first pharmacy 1760 - the Academia Posegana opened, placing Pozega along with Zagreb among the first Croatian centres of highest education In 1847 Pozega was one of the first cities in Croatia to introduce the Croatian language to official use and earned the nickname "Slavonian Athens" Pozega county was abolished in 1923 but restored upon Croatia's independence in 1993. Pozega became a diocesan in 1997 and a graduate degree college opened in 1998. The city has an 800-year-old cultural and historical heritage. Its carefully cherished traditions underlie the tourist development of Požega. The central town square with a number of nice buildings (the church of the Holy Spirit, the Franciscan monastery, the Town House, etc.) and a plague column is one of the most beautiful squares in Croatia Well there we have it - the only guide to Pozega you will ever need! It seems the city has always been at the forefront of Croatian progress and will be something for me to think about as I attempt to produce their first great football side! Anyway here's the massive squad I have been blessed with! And the Information screen Notice the planned expansion - always a good thing! Sign of an ambitious chairman I hope! No history to speak of - the only thing they've ever one is the Croatian Third Division in 2003. Let the good times roll.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gundo Posted November 26, 2007 Author Share Posted November 26, 2007 Supermas2 Excellent report. As I was reading through it I thought it was building up to a last day of the season great escape, so I was quite surprised upon you relegation. At least you went down fighting. As to what next? Maybe if an eligible team gets promoted then you could try that? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 One more thing - I have no staff, two senior players, a 60k debt already because of the expansion and no parent club. Ouch Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gundo Posted November 26, 2007 Author Share Posted November 26, 2007 iacovone Great preview. Best of Luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supermas2 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Thanks Gundo and iacovone for your kind words. Gundo: I tried to make it seem like it was building that way (call me bitter ), it was the way I was building it in my head into the last game, but alas it wasn't to be. I think i will start a fresh version, I considered a newly eligble team, but i think i would like to do the challenge with a one club career. iacovone, I do think there is unifinshed business in Poland! New team and manager posting to come soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
migwar Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 iacovone glad to see you took our advice, and a great preview. good luck populating the team. one thing, i cant get the info screencap to work. how big's the stadium and the expansion? supermas2 that was a great review. shame there was no 'rocky' style come back, but i agree with the others. you should try it in poland again. maybe try another team... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
migwar Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 migwar's big Sovakian Adventure FC Puchov - 2nd Division - 2008/09 Lots to update, but we'll start with the season round up. At the mid-season break we'd just reached the top spot and it was all in our hands. Did we have the bottle? Could we hold our nerve? 18 game unbeaten run clear winners and heading up league top scorer It wasn't as straightforward as it looks. We actually lost 3 members of the first 11 in the mid-season friendlies, and had 3-4 players out at any one time. At one point I had to bring a 16 yr old up from my U19's to help out for a few weeks, and he held his own. I think a huge thanks should really go to the goalkeeper I bought at the start of the season. He really made the difference. Unfortunately, his screencap failed to save correctly, so instead I give you: Jozef Jelsic - Fans Player of the Year Jan Chovanec - Captain Fantastic These two really stood head and shoulders over the rest. Reliable and hard working. And both are gonna be major players in avoiding relegation. The only real downside of promotion was felt in the club's wallet. We'd been losing about £20-30k per month with our average attendance hitting about 750. Even with an injection from the chairman of £180k at Christmas, we still finished over £100k in the red. No prize money didn't help... Even worse was the performance bonus. That was another £250k and the chairman was livid. i decided to just ignore him and hope the first division would bring a huge cash boost. This helped... WOW! i never expected that. I've now played the first month of the next season. I signed up one of the loanees I had last season permanently and I've renewed the loan on the other. I've also taken on a new loanee at right back, and signed a couple of young strikers. So far, so good. I'm certainly holding my own with the big boys, and the first home game brought an attendance of about 3500. We actually made a small profit in the first month... It could all be ok, in the long run. Be back with a mid-season update when I get there. If you got this afr, well done, and thanks for reading Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gundo Posted November 26, 2007 Author Share Posted November 26, 2007 Congrats on promotion migwar, hopefully your money troubles will pick up some more now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supermas2 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 migwar congratulations I have decieded to have another crack at Poland, this time with TKP Torun (again cause they had almost all grey players) Manager Profile Team Info The alert amongst you may realise I did take over here before, but never got going - lets hope I last longer this time! Hopefully the lessons I learnt from the relegation with Rakow will put me in good stead for the season. The battle awaits! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
migwar Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Supermas2 Good luck dude. Love the colours, very Sweden-esque Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emgergo Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Probably we managed to blow all our chances away with a home loss and a draw against relegation battlers. ****. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 migwar - well done on a great season. the expansion is 1000 seats to add to the 3500 stadium we have at the moment. Not too shabby... Which is more than I can say for the shocking performances of Slavonija! Not good so far, really struggled to bring anyone of quality in, other than on loan. First game of the season we only had 11 members of the squad not on a youth contract. Definitely not ideal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
migwar Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 sounds like you guys are taking a much tougher route than me. it was definitely a benefit to have a half decent squad at the start... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaberdeenn Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I think I'm finally ready to get my game started. I just need to decide on a country then I'm set to go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
migwar Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 argh ok, i'm getting really sick of this. I stated earlier that the club was finally making a small profit. I lied. Well, I was mistaken... So this is the status, money wise... Its early September, and we've already got higher gate reciepts than all of last season. Season ticket sales totalled 5 times as much cash. We're making TV revenue and We've already doubled last seasons merchandising total. Sponsorship is the same[crap] and we've already reached as much matchday income as we did in the whole of last season. Sounds good? No, and here's why... wages - from £30-40k per month to £60k tax - from around £1k per month to £6k match day expenses - from £2-4k per month to £14k!! the bottom line is were losing money slower, but were still losing money. I dont want this to end just because this club has a cash flow issue.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emgergo Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 We'll never get out of the shitty Slovenian 2nd division. 3 games to go, Nafta in front in 2nd place with 2 points (Triglav already promoted). Home match, team plays shockingly, 0-4 loss I can't do anything to stop the foremer first league teams. Triglav are running amok all season, Nafta had a spring where they conceded only one goal in something like 12 games. ****in' unbeatable, they are. Bitter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
freek_teek Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 supermas. Sounds a lot like my first season, I had the final luck that was needed in the end, you didn't. Sometimes good managers go down, bad stay up, it's the beauty of the game. For 90 minutes it's 11 against 11, and it doesn't matter if it's FC never-heard-of-it against FC Ronaldinho, it's who make one goal more than the other that wins. Nice to see you take another shot. Now, go out there and give Torun a place in history. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annihilator666 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Originally posted by aaberdeenn:I think I'm finally ready to get my game started. I just need to decide on a country then I'm set to go. Northern Ireland is the place to be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaberdeenn Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Originally posted by Annihilator666:<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by aaberdeenn: I think I'm finally ready to get my game started. I just need to decide on a country then I'm set to go. Northern Ireland is the place to be. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> That was one of my ideas but I've never managed in mainland Europe so I'd like to give that a try. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaberdeenn Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I've joined iacovone and plumped for Croatia. Not just because their national team beat England , but because I quite like their manager Slaven Bilic. He reminds me of a certain Mr. Mourinho... My chosen team is NK Novalja. (I don't know why my reputation is national, I chose automatic as my starting reputation as that was the lowest and 'sunday league footballer' wasn't there; the next highest was semi-professional which was too high so I hope it's all ok.) The squad which I inherited looks ok, I'm not really sure what's good and what's not at this level so the first season will be interesting. I'm sure we can rely on our two parent clubs of the first division to help out, and on top of that we have a feeder in place too so things look bright. However, the finances are in quite a bad state so we'll see how things go on this front. As well as all that: Manager Overview. & Club Information. Nothing much else except for good luck to all taking part and roll on the season... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 aaberdeenn best of luck conquering the Croatian league. Lets do it side by side! By pure coincidence as I read your post, I happened to be playing Novalja away! Its a sign I'm finding it incredibly tough so far, I have one centre back who has now given away 3 pens (out of 7) in 12 games. Starting with a proper squad definitely seems the option to me, I've only just signed enough 'adequate' players to fill a match day squad! Anyway good luck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quacky Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Good luck down in Croatia, I never like managing that type of country since they're not in EU. I've managed in Slovenia before and Hungary now so at least I can buy in players for other eastern European EU nations without counting as foreign. I'm also haemorrhaging money and down to that kind of negative with Békéscsaba aaberdeenn its a little annoying. I don't know where I will get the money from unless some big club throws a few million at me for a player, I guess it could happen.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gundo Posted November 27, 2007 Author Share Posted November 27, 2007 aaberdeenn Welcome back and Good Luck. It's fine that you chose 'automatic' as your reputation, it seems some countries don't have sunday football leagues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Jesus. Finally ended a 9 game run without a win! Its going to be a struggle come the end of the season, with 3 teams going down, I fully expect it to go down to the wire. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Correction: We have conceded 6 pens in 12 games. 4 have been saved though Still, not happy with this! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaberdeenn Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Yes, I guess we shall conquer Croatia together. Quacky. What do you mean by that? I've got 2 Brazilians who are classed as foreign, but I've a got a couple of Bosnians who aren't so I'm not sure what you mean by that. According to the league rules; you're allowed a maximum of 4 foreign players in your starting 11 and that's all there is to it. Thanks for the clarification Gundo. How are you doing in your first season?, you almost finished it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quacky Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 In Hungary I can take 5 non-eu in match squad rather than 5 non-Hungarian. I'm guessing the Bosnians you have have dual nationality, its quite common. I can draw talent from Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and probably some others I've forgotten without it counting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaberdeenn Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Ah right, I see. I'll have a look at the situation to see how it is. Could prove to be a problem, have you noticed it iacovone?, and how is it if that's the case? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gundo Posted November 27, 2007 Author Share Posted November 27, 2007 Originally posted by aaberdeenn:Thanks for the clarification Gundo. How are you doing in your first season?, you almost finished it? Yes not too bad almost finished my first season, I 'll be posting my report this evening hopefully. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Not noticed it yet aaberdeenn, to be fair I'm happy if I can convince a Croatian to come here at the moment, let alone a foreigner. Having said that I do have two Bosnians but they have Croatian nationality too. Just conceded my 7th pen. 4 game unbeaten run could be coming to an end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supermas2 Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Originally posted by freek_teek:supermas. Sounds a lot like my first season, I had the final luck that was needed in the end, you didn't. Sometimes good managers go down, bad stay up, it's the beauty of the game. For 90 minutes it's 11 against 11, and it doesn't matter if it's FC never-heard-of-it against FC Ronaldinho, it's who make one goal more than the other that wins. Nice to see you take another shot. Now, go out there and give Torun a place in history. Thanks mate I am sure if I had quit and reloaded and did it again, I could have got myself to say up, but that would take the whole enjoyment from the game, as like you say, the beauty of it is that unpredictability. I'm definitely hoping I can do a better job at Torun, I will post a midseason update when I get there, hopefully either tonight or tomorrow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
migwar Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 migwar's Big Slovakian Adventure FC Púchov - 1st Division - 2009/10 Mid Season Update Not much to say really. It gone much better than I expected. the guys are really holding their own against the big boys in the league, and kicking ass when we hit a weaker team. We've been beaten 3-0 at worst and won 4-0 at best so far, and the table looks like this: Mid-Season Table Mid-Season Graph So I'm pretty happy so far. If we can stay mid-table for the entire season I'll be delighted. This is my main concern... Club Finances And with no fixtures for 2 months I expect to lose at least another £100k over the winter... I think my days are numbered... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supermas2 Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Originally posted by migwar:I think my days are numbered... If they are happy with football matters, they will still probably keep you on, despite the financial problems And if you get to Euro competition, they will inmprove dramatically Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
migwar Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 i just played a friendly against my U19's and 10 people showed up to watch.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Originally posted by migwar:i just played a friendly against my U19's and 10 people showed up to watch.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fire Bracelet Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Wow I was worried when i was 100k in the hole with my N. Ireland team, I'm feeling better now thanks Migwar. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 iacovone's Two Thirds of the Season Update (just to be different) Or...because I forgot to do a mid season one. Well so far its all been just enough to satisfy me. As you can see by thisLeague Table we are sitting just above the relegation zone with 10 games to go. I feel as if we will survive and finish somewhere around this position. The trouble with my season thus far was actually piecing together a squad. Come the first game of the season we had just a 16 man squad. The league allowed 18! I could have signed some free transfers but I didn't want to bring in useless players that I wouldn't need after 3 games. So I patiently waited, took a few batterings but then steadily found a tactic and a decent first 11 to keep us above the trap door. With 10 to go, if we could start a nice run its not unthinkable to move up towards 6th - as it is very tight outside the top 5. Main man at the moment is Mr Spicic. On loan from Zagreb (my parent club, and no, not Dinamo Zagreb). Incidently Zagreb are struggling and could go down, which would be an absolute disaster for me considering half my time are loanees from them! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emgergo Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Originally posted by migwar:i just played a friendly against my U19's and 10 people showed up to watch.... ...who turned out to be the reserves Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Argh!!! We've just conceded our 11th penalty of the season!! 2 in the game I'm currently playing. Keeper saved the 2nd but the taker scored the rebound... Anyone got any ideas how on earth I stop these cretins tripping everyone that wanders into our penalty box?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emgergo Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 NK Slovan, 2011-12 Slovenian 2nd division In: 5 players for 4K, 4 on loan Out: 15 for 1K, including U19 dead wood Media: 3rd (spot on, boys) Board&fans: Top half finish --- We'll never get out of here. Summer transfer period was OK, finally some reinforcements have arrived, especially the attacking department looked much healthier. As told earlier, started the league fine, spent the winter in 2nd place, which meant promotion playoff. Unfortunately we struggled in two home games (only 1 point), and when Triglav beat us at home, I knew it was not gonna be our season. Kept ourselves in the race until 3 games to go, then collapsed against promotion rivals Nafta in a shameful 0-4. Gutted, especially because we were only 2 points behind then League Table My best striker finished 2nd in the top goalscorer list with 22. He's scored 47 times in 71 appearances for the club, but Primorje activated his non-promotion release clause, so he moves on this summer. Cup was OK, we were out in the 3rd round against our parent team, Domzale. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iacovone Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Good luck for the next season emgergo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
freek_teek Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 By popular demand, Patrick Burda Not really living up to the hype, tough... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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