vikeologist Posted September 24, 2016 Author Share Posted September 24, 2016 (edited) @numero uno gunner Don't want to worry you, but are you going to have a problem with the scheduling for the 2 tournaments and have to use your B team for the Gold Cup? Anyway, well done on your latest baubles and good luck for the summer. What does your short list for South African clubs comprise of? Big 2, big 4 (whoever they would be), big howevermany? Incidentally, if anybody can explain to me how to insert tables into post 2 for the Hall of Fame, please do so. Edited September 24, 2016 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
numero uno gunner Posted September 24, 2016 Share Posted September 24, 2016 @vikeologist - Literally just realised that. Thankfully, it was before submitting my Confederations Cup squad. So, My fringe squad is going to the Confederations Cup, and my normal squad are all in the B team and heading to the Gold Cup. Priorities and all that! My short list for South Africa is anyone who I can realistically take to win the title, so probably any of the top 6 (6th placed Wits were only 9 points behind winners Orlando Pirates last season). Ultimately, I shall see what comes up and decide then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
numero uno gunner Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Well, that was ridiculous. This game is utterly, utterly ridiculous. I've been sacked as Mexico manager halfway through the Gold Cup. Because of the two competitions, which bloody overlap, I picked my strongest squad for the Gold Cup. Needless to say, my reserve squad weren't good enough in the Confederations Cup, and despite beating South Korea 2-1, we ended up going home at the group stage after narrow defeats to Ivory Coast and Holland. As it happens, South Korea ended up finishing runners up to an Argentina side who only managed to edge out Holland in the semis on penalties. So, despite back to back wins in the group stage of the Gold Cup, Mexico have sacked me because of poor performance in the Confederations Cup. We were top of the World Cup Qualifying group, so it really is a ridiculous decision. To say I'm furious would be an understatement. Jobs have just come up at Costa Rica and USA, so I'm applying for both. I want revenge in two years time now. Oh, and the real kicker? Mexico won the tournament. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLapira Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 Jesus that is so cruel @numero uno gunner, hopefully you can get one of the 2 jobs you mentioned. Were you overseeing all the matches in both tournaments or were you just focused on the Gold Cup? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
numero uno gunner Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 I was overseeing both. I knew we didn't stand a chance in the Confederations Cup, and was content with getting a win in the group. I genuinely couldn't believe it when they sacked me. The only silver lining is that its a bi-annual competition rather than one every four years, so I don't have too long to wait to get revenge if I can land one of those two jobs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLapira Posted September 25, 2016 Share Posted September 25, 2016 With the reputation you'll have built up at this stage in your career I'm sure both Countries will offer you the position. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted September 27, 2016 Author Share Posted September 27, 2016 @numero uno gunnerInternational management is certainly a bit of a tightrope, but this was particularly harsh. Hope you can get a job with one of those teams. I'm continuing with my Ultimate save while waiting for the new version, and my Nigeria side stand a good chance in the ACON, but first I have to get through the CHAN and World Cup without getting sacked. The CHAN is particularly risky because I have no good domestic based players, and I was expected to get to the semi. I reached the quarter-finals and luckily that was enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLapira Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 2025/26 Season Review This was my first full season with Roma and after winning the Italian Cup the year before, I didn't really have any aims for this season, apart from finishing in the top 3 to secure Champions League Football. But seeing as Juventus won the 2024/25 league by 13 points, overall I was hoping to build a side which challenge the mighty Juve. I settled on a 4-4-2 tactic to make the most of my strength out wide and up front. League: The league started off well, we won 5 and drew 5 of our first 10 games, so things would appear to being okay. But I wasn't particularly happy with how my tactic was playing out, it was very inconsistent and I felt it wasn't making the most of my front 2. Thankfully Juventus were having a horrible start, and after 13 games they sacked their manager. The next 3 games defined my season, a 1-0 loss to Inter, a 2-1 win over Juventus and a shocking 3-1 defeat to a poor Palermo side. Yes the win over Juventus was great but they were going through a terrible time it was the 2 defeats that really exposed the flaws in my tactic. I had a quick read around the Tactics Forum on this site and came across a thread based on Sacchi's AC Milan. Taking inspiration from the thread I adapted my tactics and the results were instant, we went the next 20 games unbeaten, winning 17 and drawing 3. So after 33 games we were sitting top of the table, knowing a draw against Bologna would secure us the title. We started the game well, going 2-0 up in the first half but Bologna cam out of the blocks like a shot in the second half, scoring 3 in 15 minutes. It was looking like we would have to wait another game to secure the title until Jacopo Paganotto scored in the dying minutes to secure us the Serie A title with 4 games to go. The Italian Cup wasn't a priority but it was good to win it again, securing a domestic double. The Champions League went better than expected as we reached the Semi Final but we met a very strong Man City side and were eliminated 3-0 over the 2 legs. This was an unexpected but amazing season, helping me secure my 10th trophy towards the challenge. But the World Cup was still to come. World Cup 2026 Review We were one of the tournament favourites and having won the previous 2 World Cups there was a lot of pressure on me, particularly as the Italian FA expected a third World Cup in a row. I decided to use the Sacchi inspired tactics that led my Roma team to league glory in the hope i could meet the FA's expectations. Our group consisted of Iran, France and Uraguay. We opened up with a 2-0 over Iran, followed by a 3-0 over France meaning we qualified for the next round. In the final game against Uruguay I made 11 changes and we lost 2-1 but I wasnt too concerned. We got Turkey in the next round but breezed past them 4-1. It was Spain next in the Quarter final but we dominated Guardiola's side and knocked them out with a 2-0 win. Surprise package Greece were up next in the Semis and much like their famous Euro 04 it was built on a impenetrable defence. We struggled to break them down and it went to extra time. Greece had 2 men sent off in the 5 minute of ET but their defence still remained tough but thankfully we scored that all important goal and we were on our way to the final. The final pitched us a strong England side but were able to score an early goal to settle the nerves. We then scored early in the second half to take a 2-0 lead come the 50th minute. The English pulled one back but were able to hold our lead, and even scored in the 91st minute to make it 3-1. Out of nowhere England scored again in the 93 minute but it was too little to late and we were World Cup Champions! Real Madrid sacked their manager after a disappointing season, finishing 5th and missing out on Champions League football. I decided to apply for the Job as I felt I could have a better chance of winning the CL with Real than I would with Roma, although I would have to wait a season but that would give me time to build a team capable of winning it. I got the job and €250 million for transfers, surely I can develop a Champions League winning team with that kind of money. I decided to stay on as Italy manager and see if I could also secure the Euros with them. CLUB CAREER Season Club Pos DC1 DC2 Cont Notes & Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015/16 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 1st R.4 R.1 n/a Champions and promoted to League 1. 2016/17 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 2nd R.4 R.2 n/a Promoted to Championship via playoffs. 2017/18 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 3rd R.5 R.3 n/a Reached playoffs but lost out on chance to go the Premiership. Challenge Cup WINNERS!! Resigned from Berwick. 2018 Suwon FC(KOR) 3rd n/a n/a n/a Took over with 12 league games remaining. Promoted to K-League Classic via Playoffs. 2019 Suwon FC(KOR) 9th R.5 n/a n/a Favourites for relegation but survived. 2020 Suwon FC(KOR) 11th R.5 n/a n/a Left Suwon for Swallows(RSA) with 9 games to go. 2020/21 Swallows(RSA) 7th R.2 WIN n/a Took over with one game played. KO Cup WINNERS!! 2021/22 Swallows(RSA) 6th n/a R.2 n/a Left after 10 games to join Vancouver Whitecaps. 2022 Vancouver(USA) 1st n/a n/a Q.F MLS CHAMPIONS!!! Won Canadian Championship. 22/23 NACL still ongoing. 2023 Vancouver(USA) 3rd n/a n/a WIN NACL CHAMPIONS!!! Left for Busan. 2023 Busan(KOR) 1st n/a n/a n/a Took over with 22 Games gone in 5th. League Champions!!! 2024 Busan(KOR) 7th WIN n/a WIN Very poor league performance. Korean Cup Champions!!! ACL Champions!!! Resigned from Busan. 2024/25 Roma(ITA) 3rd WIN n/a R.1 Took over with Roma in 4th position, 22 games gone. Italian Cup Champions!! 2025/26 Roma(ITA) 1st WIN n/a S.F League and Cup Double!!! Knocked of Champions League in the Semi Final. 2026/27 Real Madrid(ESP) INTERNATIONAL CAREER Year Nation WC Cont. Conf. Notes & Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 2016 Scotland u19 n/a n/a n/a Qualified for European U19 Championship 2017 Scotland u19 Resigned as Scotland u19 Manager 2018 2019 China u23 n/a n/a n/a Resigned as China u23 Manager without playing a match to take over Tunisia 2019 Tunisia n/a n/a n/a Qualified for 2020 CHAN. 2020 Tunisia n/a n/a n/a CHAN WINNERS!! Qualified for 2021 ACON. 2021 Tunisia n/a WON n/a ACON WINNERS!! Secured 2022 World Cup Qualification. 2022 Tunisia 3rd n/a n/a CHAN WINNERS!! Finsihed 3rd in World Cup. Left Tunisia for Costa Rica after World Cup. 2022 Costa Rica n/a n/a n/a CAM WINNERS!! 2023 Costa Rica n/a WON n/a GOLD CUP WINNERS!!! Left Costa Rica. 2024 Brazil u23 n/a n/a n/a Olympics WINNERS!!! Resigned from Brazil u23s. 2025 Italy n/a n/a n/a Qualified for World Cup. 2026 Italy WON n/a n/a WORLD CUP WINNERS!!! Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (USA,KOR,ITA) 3/10 domestic cups (RSA, KOR, ITA) 2/5 club continental championships (N.America, Asia) 0/1 club world championship International 2/5 continental tournaments (Africa, N.America) 1/2 world tournaments (World Cup) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted September 29, 2016 Author Share Posted September 29, 2016 @JoeLapiraCongratulations on making it to the leader board. Hopefully you can make quick progress to the hall now. Your reputation should have shot up. Hopefully you can win both the Euro Championship and Confed Cup with Italy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLapira Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 Cheers @vikeologist, that's the plan anyway, I have a very strong Italian squad with most of them still in their Mid-20's so hopefully we can secure the Euros and the Confed over the next couple of years. My reputation is up to 85%, so I should have no problem securing any jobs I need in the future. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
threelions1goal Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 (edited) Jeonbuk - End of Season 2041 Just a quick update as to where I am. After returning to Jeonbuk, it was the Asian Champions League I was after as I'd already won the League and Cup in Korea. So, I put all my eggs into one basket and it almost cost me my job halfway through the season when I lost 4 matches in a row and the board weren't happy. They called a meeting, I admitted I'd made a couple of mistakes, they appreciated my honesty and luckily I kept my job. The group stage was a doddle, as we beat Newcastle Jets twice, Okayama twice & Shanggang twice, which saw us finish top Second Round we beat Perth Glory away 4-1, and with a rotated squad managed a 0-0 draw at home. Quarter Final, another Australian side in Sydney FC, saw us win away 2-0 and draw 11 at home. Semi Final, my old club Seoul who were having a great season domestically, but we hammered them at home 4-1 and had a 0-0 draw at their place The final, we were pitted against Al Hilal who are a really strong team. We lost the first leg 1-0 away, and the second leg was 0-0 at half time, but a couple of tweaks at half time and we got the two goals we needed to secure the trophy We'd won the Asian Chumps League!! So another trophy ticked off the challenge, although I think I'll struggle to complete it by the time FM17 is purchased (probably around Christmas time) as I've not taken the international side of things as seriously as I should have done. On FM17 I think I'll take a different route - not sure what yet. After winning the Asian Champions League, my work in Asia is done and as my contract finished at the end of the season, I ran it down and resigned. I'm now back in Europe, in Germany with Hamburg - who have just been relegated, but are in the Eupopa League (I know it doesn't count for the challenge) I realised in this save I've never actually achieved promotion as I've always been in the top flight of each country, so hopefully I can win promotion with Hamburg. Season Team Country Pos Notes 15/16 Linfield N. Ireland 6th Took over in December, sacked before the end of the season 16/17 Cliftonville N. Ireland 3rd Took over in January, Euro Qualification 17/18 Cliftonville N. Ireland 4th League Cup Winners 18/19 Cliftonville N. Ireland 1st Champions, Manager Of The Year 19/20 Shanggang China 1st Champions, Cup Winners, Manager Of The Year 20/21 Shanggang China N/A Resigned after being knocked out of Champs League 20/21 Jeonbuk S. Korea 4th Cup Winners, Knocked Out 2nd Round Champs League 21/22 Jeonbuk S. Korea N/A SACKED 4th in league, QF of Champs League, SF of FA Cup 22/23 Pohang S. Korea 6th Cup Winners, knocked out in SF of Asian Champs League 23/24 Pohang S. Korea N/A SACKED after first match of the new season!! 24/25 Seoul S. Korea 3rd Took over with 14 games played, qualified for Champs League 25/26 Seoul S. Korea N/A SACKED - Team finished 2nd & won FA Cup 26/27 Kaizer Chiefs S. Africa 1st Champions 27/28 Kaizer Chiefs S. Africa 1st Champions, KO Cup Winner, S/F Champs League - Resigned 28/29 Houston USA 2nd 1st in West Conference, Lost in MLS Shield Final, SF of NACL 29/30 Tigres Mexico 4th Closing Stage, SF of Champions League 30/31 Tigres Mexico 3rd Opening Stage - Lost in Final to Pumas - reached SF of Cup 30/31 Tigres Mexico 1st Closing Stage - Won in Final - Champions!! 2nd Rnd Copa Libertadores 31/32 Tigres Mexico 1st Opening Stage - Lost in Final to Pumas, Qualified for KO stage of NACL 31/32 Tigres Mexico 7th Closing Stage - Lost in SF of Play Offs, Lost in SF of NACL.....SACKED!! 32/33 Pumas Mexico 1st Closing Stage, Won in Final - Champions!!, NACL Winners 33/34 Inter Milan Italy 6th Qualified for Euro Cup - Boardroom disagreement - SACKED!! 34/35 Lazio Italy 7th Took over in December, team in 14th Position 35/36 Lazio Italy N/A Was 14th in December, players all unhappy.....SACKED!! 36/37 Juventus Italy 2nd Qualified for Champions League, Italian Cup Winners 37/38 Juventus Italy N/A Won Super Cup, Went 12 matches without a win....SACKED!! 38/39 Napoli Italy N/A SACKED!! 39/40 Jeonbuk S. Korea 1st Champions, FA Cup Winners, Manager of the Year 40/41 Jeonbuk S. Korea 3rd Asian Champions League - WINNERS!! Resigned 41/42 Hamburg Germany International 2026 Cameroon Africa Resigned after 2 matches 2026 Morocco Africa Eliminated in Group Stage at World Cup, qualified for ACON 2027 Morocco Africa ACON Winners - resigned straight after 2029 Australia Asia Qualified for World Cup 2030 Australia Asia Knocked Out In Group Stages, lost every match - SACKED!! 2033 Jamaica N. America Lost in Final of Gold Cup - Resigned 2034 Iran Asia Lost in QF of Asian Cup - SACKED!! 2040 France U23 Europe Olympic Games lost to Italy in Quarter Finals Challenge Progress Club 5/10 top domestic leagues (N. Ireland, China, S. Africa, Mexico, S. Korea) 5/10 domestic cups (N. Ireland, China, S. Korea, S. Africa, Italy) 2/5 club continental championships (NACL - Pumas, ACL - Jeonbuk) 0/1 club world championship International 1/5 continental tournaments (ACON - Morocco 2027) 0/2 world tournaments () Edited September 30, 2016 by threelions1goal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikolast86 Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Took some time to make some progress, but here we are..Resigned from Ulsan right after winning the treble. I thought it would be easier to get a job elsewhere, but in the end it took me about six months, until July 2020...I had started becoming impatient and almost got a job at Audax Italiano in Chile, which would be another Anyang allover. But in the end I waited for something better and it paid off, as I landed the job in Kaizer Chiefs and the necessary South African Championship. It was the first time I was playing that league and it seems very interesting. It turns out that Kaizer Chiefs is extremely wealthy for the level of the league, allowing to sign essentially any local star I need. The team had not qualified for African Champions League, which makes it now a bit annoying, because it starts in February, so now I will have to wait at least a year and a half more on the team before even having the chance to win it. Have thought about leaving to somewhere else and coming back at another year, but decided to stay since my squad is well built already. The league started quite badly, but we made an amazing second round and secured the championship rather easily. Also won a few cup tournaments there are in the country (including the SA Cup that counts for the challenge). In the international front, with Ghana we won the CHAN rather easily. In the ACON 2021 the team was not performing really well and ended up losing at the final 2-1 against Ivory Coast. This was a pity, but at least ACON is every two years. So for the moment we focus on securing presence in the World Cup 2022 and make sure to win the next ACON. @vikeologist I had no problem with my players for neither CHAN nor ACON. Everyone was available in both competitions. CLUB CAREER Season Club League Position Cup 1 Cup 2 Cont. Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 KOR Gyeongnam K Challenge (2nd) - Took over after 13 games, sacked after 8 games 2015 KOR Anyang K Challenge (2nd) 5th Took over with 10 games left 7th, ended up 5th 2016 KOR Anyang K Challenge (2nd) 1st 5th rou. Champions! Promotion to K Classic 2017 KOR Anyang K Classic (1st) 5th Final 2018 KOR Anyang K Classic (1st) 4th Semis Champions League qualification playoff. 2019 KOR Anyang K Classic (1st) 9th 5th rou. Quarters Left mid-season to join Ulsan. 2019 KOR Ulsan K Classic (1st) 1st Winners Winners Arrived with team in 4th, 1/8 ACL and Cup 2020/21 RSA Kaizer Chiefs South African Premier 1st Winners Winners Champions, Cup winners. INTERNATIONAL CAREER Season Nation Competition 1 Competition 2 Progress ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Japan Asian Cup (Won) Won Asian Cup 2019/20 Ghana CHAN (Won) Won CHAN, still in qualification for WC, qualified for ACON 2021. 2020/21 Ghana ACON (Final) Lost in the final of ACON 2021, Still in qualification for WC. Challenge Progress Club 2/10 top domestic leagues (Korea 2019 - Ulsan, South Africa 2020/21 - Kaizer Chiefs) 2/10 domestic cups (Korea 2019 - Ulsan, South Africa 2020/21 - Kaizer Chiefs) 1/5 club continental championships (Asian Champions League 2019 - Ulsan) 0/1 club world championship International 1/5 continental tournaments (Asian Cup 2018/19 - Japan) 0/2 world tournaments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 This looks a really interesting challenge - think I will do this for FM17 after trying the dafuge one first. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 Quote FM Touch Instructions To do this challenge on Touch (FM16) you will need to unlock national management before you start this game. You can do this either by having unlocked it in a previous save and then restarting, or by purchasing it. If you don't do this, you will never be able to manage an international team, which would make the challenge impossible. If anyone is curious, for those preordering with the loyalty offer you get the unlockable for national management in Touch 17 for free. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 (edited) @Crispypaul Thanks for the tip. I can barely even remember writing the stuff about national management. I feel as though I know nothing about Touch, (although using a skin for instant result in the full fat game makes international management and pre-season friendlies much more bearable for me). I hope that you will indeed do this challenge. @nikolast86 Congrats on your successes so far. Are you saying that you could use foreign based players for the CHAN? If so, I wonder why. Or do you just mean that you had no injuries or suspensions. @threelions1goal (I must admit, I quite miss reducing your name to its boyband-like 3L1G). Congrats on the Asian CL. I guess that now you can get jobs at clubs such as Hamburg, you might be able to finish the club side of things quite quickly, but I certainly understand why you're leaning towards restarting the challenge on FM17. Like you, I did the challenge (in FM15) entirely in top divisions. Nearly a year and a half without promotion seemed like a long time. I'm itching to start it, because on FM16 I have jumped from save to save, and challenge to challenge, because of bugs, bad decisions quitting clubs and being the only person on the forum that chose a bad tactic from the discussion threads. Hopefully my generally bad saves on FM16 have taught me quite a lot. One thing I think I've learned, and this is something that I will raise again on FM17 when people are starting their challenges, is that some posters suggest that it takes a season or two for reputation to catch up with success (promotion), so it's a mistake to quit too soon after early success. I feel this means that starting in a really small league (like Indonesia) is a bad move because if you win the league in the first couple of seasons, you can't get a better job and have to go backwards. I really don't think that the reputation percentage is the only factor in getting good jobs early in the challenge. Edited October 3, 2016 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEarl Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Great to see everyones progress here. I am thinking about a "comeback" to this challenge. But can't even remember how far I was into writing my updates. I have checked my savegame, which still is intact here, and I am currently with Arsenal and Uruguay. So I will write an update here during this week and see how much I can do before FM17 comes out. Not sure I will buy 17 straight away also, so might keep FM16 for a few weeks/moths after the release of 17. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 4, 2016 Author Share Posted October 4, 2016 Friend of the thread @jaysdailydose has started a new Ultimate Challenge here, or perhaps that should be there, and it's always worth reading his blog to get insight into the challenge and FM in general. Maybe he'll even post updates on this thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 (edited) Vikeologist's Live 2027 Nigeria ACON Report Just to try something different I'm going to try something different; a live update of my attempt to win the 2027 African Cup of Nations. My reports of international tournaments tend to fit into 2 categories. Full detailed reports with spoilers (when I win) and brief mentions (or no mention at all such as with Nigeria in the 2026 World Cup) when I don't win. So, it's not that I think any of you are all that interested (or given that most of you are in Europe, currently awake), but this is probably my last chance to win a challenge trophy in FM16 before the new game comes out. Southend are currently in 2nd place in the Premiership after 21 games, and just a point behind Chelsea, but I don't think that will last; not least because 4 of my fairly small squad are currently at the ACON or Asian Cup. I've achieved nothing in the Ultimate Challenge this year. 12 years into this save, plus about 6 in the other save I did. Minor trophies and promotions to be sure, but you could extend the leaderboard all the way down, and there I'd be at the bottom with a duck along with all the people who did this challenge for 5 minutes. But we have to be one of the favourites. We're the top ranked African team in the world. Just one place below us though are my old team Ghana, (who update have lost their first group match, ha ha). I'm probably not going to play the tournament in one go anyway. I sort of enjoy being in a Schrodinger's Cat situation where the tournament is both won and tossed away with a frustrating loss. Group Stage Vs Algeria 3-2 Vs Morocco 1-3 (We had a guy sent off, but lost because we were pretty dreadful). Vs Cape Verde 1-1 (We only needed a draw so I rested some players. That was fine until Cape Verde scored an equaliser late in the match, where I saw my whole managerial career flash before my eyes). We finished second in the group behind Morocco. Ghana (and one of my best players) crashed out in the group stage, which was a 2 birds with one managerial stoning situation. Quarter-Final (If applicable) Spoiler Vs Tunisia 2-3 aet We were really poor, and never ahead in this game. Out of the competition we go. Semi-Final (if applicable) Spoiler Final or 3rd Place Playoff (if applicable) Spoiler Aftermath Spoiler Well, that's it for me in terms of international management with regard to FM16. There probably won't be time for another major winnable tournament, and anyway, I can't take another one like this. Hopefully I'll fare better in FM17. I resigned straight away, but I would have been sacked. Edited October 6, 2016 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEarl Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 First of all, good luck with the tournament @vikeologist But also, I hope it works for you to edit your post as you play. I can't seem to edit posts anymore here on the board, from what I have heard its only a certain amount of time after the initial post that you can edit it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 6, 2016 Author Share Posted October 6, 2016 (edited) 3 hours ago, TheEarl said: First of all, good luck with the tournament @vikeologist But also, I hope it works for you to edit your post as you play. I can't seem to edit posts anymore here on the board, from what I have heard its only a certain amount of time after the initial post that you can edit it. Yes, not able to edit it, but more importantly, not going to be able to edit the hall of fame, leader board or instructions for the challenge. I thought maybe it was just me, so I posted about it in the appropriate place. Sorted now, and I don't think it was my editing behaviour that made Neil Brock block it for a while, so those of me keen to find out how the ACON will go can follow along. Edited October 6, 2016 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Ultimate Challenge Year 1 – 2015/16 Manager Profile: initial stats | Profile information | Leagues Loaded | Extra players loaded Well, having had a couple of FM-free weeks after completing the youth challenge I couldn’t resist to give this one a go. I decided to start in Asia, since I’ll probably restart this challenge on FM17 and go my usual route of starting in the European lower leagues that time. In the meantime, I'll see how far I get in FM16. It was a slow start jobs-wise, getting rejecting by all manner of premier league Chinese, Korean and South African clubs, despite quite a few interviews. But my heart was secretly set on India in any case, since it was a more realistic place to get a job and a country I actually visited so I could relate to the places and teams a bit more. After almost a year unemployed, I landed a job at East Bengal, a Kolkata-based team languishing in lower-mid-table despite 20-30k home attendances. Not much to be done this season, I took charge of 3 games, drawing one and winning the other 2, but finishing in 6th, where I started. The league was won by our city rivals Mohun Bagan. I have a huge squad of mostly 1 – 1.5 star rated players, whose contracts are expiring in the summer, so I’m anticipating a big clearout. The main constraint is my limit of 4 foreign players in the squad, so I have to scavenge some decent-quality Indian players on free transfers and find a good foreign leftback since that position is really lacking. My two star players are foreigners Bernard Mendy (DR, 3 caps for France!) and Ranti Martins (ST, Nigeria). The aim for the next couple of years is to win the Indian league, maybe the cup, and move to a higher-rep country; no idea where in the world at the moment. Season summary League (IND, top division): 6th/9 Top scorer: Ranti Martins, ST (14 in 15 apps) Top assists: Bernard Mendy, DR (10 in 21 apps) Top rating: Bernard Mendy, DR (7.59) Domestic: Season | Country | Division | Position | Cup | Continental | Top scorer | Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2015/16 | India | I League (top div.) | 6th/9 | n/a | n/a | Ranti Martins (14) | Took over end-March with 3 games to go International: no jobs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 6, 2016 Author Share Posted October 6, 2016 @dkouv Welcome to the challenge. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLapira Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 As usual I'm not posting from my laptop, so no screenshots yet(In fact I probably won't get a chance to play Football Manager again till the end of next week I'd say). Anyway just a quick update on the 2026/27 season with Real Madrid. With the previous manager having being sacked for finishing in 5th the season before, my main aim was to secure Champions League Qualification, after that anything else would be a bonus. With my 4-4-2 proving really successful with both Roma and Italy, i decided to go with this formation for Real and once i signed the necessary players we started to see the benefits straight away. As the season progressed it turned into a two horse race for the title, between us and Valencia. It came down to the last day with us 1 point clear, knowing a win guarantees the La Liga crown and my players stepped up to the mark securing Real's first league title in 5 years. We also won the Spanish cup, beating Villareal in the final, meaning it was back to back domestic doubles for myself. Juventus knocked us out on away goals in the Europa League and even though it doesn't count toward the Challenge it was still a competition i would like to win. On the Italian national team front, we won all of our games in that Nations League thing and our first 2 games in the Euro 28 qualifiers so things are going well on that front. Hopefully next season I can sign the players my squad needs to have a real go at the Champions League. CLUB CAREER Season Club Pos DC1 DC2 Cont Notes & Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015/16 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 1st R.4 R.1 n/a Champions and promoted to League 1. 2016/17 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 2nd R.4 R.2 n/a Promoted to Championship via playoffs. 2017/18 Berwick Rangers(SCO) 3rd R.5 R.3 n/a Reached playoffs but lost out on chance to go the Premiership. Challenge Cup WINNERS!! Resigned from Berwick. 2018 Suwon FC(KOR) 3rd n/a n/a n/a Took over with 12 league games remaining. Promoted to K-League Classic via Playoffs. 2019 Suwon FC(KOR) 9th R.5 n/a n/a Favourites for relegation but survived. 2020 Suwon FC(KOR) 11th R.5 n/a n/a Left Suwon for Swallows(RSA) with 9 games to go. 2020/21 Swallows(RSA) 7th R.2 WIN n/a Took over with one game played. KO Cup WINNERS!! 2021/22 Swallows(RSA) 6th n/a R.2 n/a Left after 10 games to join Vancouver Whitecaps. 2022 Vancouver(USA) 1st n/a n/a Q.F MLS CHAMPIONS!!! Won Canadian Championship. 22/23 NACL still ongoing. 2023 Vancouver(USA) 3rd n/a n/a WIN NACL CHAMPIONS!!! Left for Busan. 2023 Busan(KOR) 1st n/a n/a n/a Took over with 22 Games gone in 5th. League Champions!!! 2024 Busan(KOR) 7th WIN n/a WIN Very poor league performance. Korean Cup Champions!!! ACL Champions!!! Resigned from Busan. 2024/25 Roma(ITA) 3rd WIN n/a R.1 Took over with Roma in 4th position, 22 games gone. Italian Cup Champions!! 2025/26 Roma(ITA) 1st WIN n/a S.F League and Cup Double!!! Knocked of Champions League in the Semi Final. 2026/27 Real Madrid(ESP) 1st WIN n/a Q.F League and Cup Double!!! INTERNATIONAL CAREER Year Nation WC Cont. Conf. Notes & Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 2016 Scotland u19 n/a n/a n/a Qualified for European U19 Championship 2017 Scotland u19 Resigned as Scotland u19 Manager 2018 2019 China u23 n/a n/a n/a Resigned as China u23 Manager without playing a match to take over Tunisia 2019 Tunisia n/a n/a n/a Qualified for 2020 CHAN. 2020 Tunisia n/a n/a n/a CHAN WINNERS!! Qualified for 2021 ACON. 2021 Tunisia n/a WON n/a ACON WINNERS!! Secured 2022 World Cup Qualification. 2022 Tunisia 3rd n/a n/a CHAN WINNERS!! Finsihed 3rd in World Cup. Left Tunisia for Costa Rica after World Cup. 2022 Costa Rica n/a n/a n/a CAM WINNERS!! 2023 Costa Rica n/a WON n/a GOLD CUP WINNERS!!! Left Costa Rica. 2024 Brazil u23 n/a n/a n/a Olympics WINNERS!!! Resigned from Brazil u23s. 2025 Italy n/a n/a n/a Qualified for World Cup. 2026 Italy WON n/a n/a WORLD CUP WINNERS!!! 2027 Italy n/a n/a n/a On course for Euro 28 qualification. Club 4/10 top domestic leagues (USA,KOR,ITA,ESP) 4/10 domestic cups (RSA,KOR,ITA,ESP) 2/5 club continental championships (N.America, Asia) 0/1 club world championship International 2/5 continental tournaments (Africa, N.America) 1/2 world tournaments (World Cup) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 8, 2016 Author Share Posted October 8, 2016 Vikeologist's 2025-7 Southend Reports 25/26 Season I never wrote this season up, but I did write it off. I stopped this save a few months ago after a poor start to the season. When I restarted it didn’t get any better, probably thanks to my 41311 winger-less formation. It didn’t work in the youth challenge. It didn’t work in this challenge. It did work in my EEE Updates add-on with Folkestone, but that update itself didn’t work. Essentially I’ve wasted about half of FM16 on a tactic that I read about on a thread. For FM17 I won’t be deviating from 442. Unfortunately, due to having sold all my wingers, I had to wait until the end of ’25 (when we were hovering around the relegation places I think) to buy a couple. They were pretty good especially Bilal Ould-Chikh on the right wing, and we made steady progress up the table but only made it to 12th. 26/27 Season I splashed the cash, including bringing in another right winger on a free transfer making him our highest paid player, and probably the highest paid reserve in the league. I also spent £30 million on a central defender. I was worried all season that the attendant significant bumps in our wages was going to make us fail the FFP salary cap and cause us a 5 point penalty. I wish that SI could make the FFP predictions more intuitive, comprehensible, or indeed correct. In the end it looks as though we weren’t even close. Anyway, at the start of January we were in second, 1 place and 1 point behind leaders Chelsea, (and had spent most of the first half of the season actually in first place). I didn’t think we would hold on and actually win the league, but I was getting my hopes up of qualifying for the Champions League. However, our second half of the season was pretty terrible. Flukily, we went into the last game of the season with a mathematical chance of moving from 5th to 4th and nabbing a CL playoff spot, but I was pretty certain that Tottenham wouldn’t lose their match at home to allow that to happen. However near the end of the first half Tottenham did indeed go a goal down and were losing. The problem was - so were we. We overturned the deficit with 2 goals and immediately went into a 55000 formation to try to hold on. We did, and Tottenham lost 1-0, so we have finished 4th and squeaked into the CL playoffs with a points total and goal difference that would not have been enough in any previous Premier League season during my save. Another huge salary bump coming up over the summer. (Because I was trying to reduce our wages, we made a lot of money over the course of the season, so I have over 100 million to play with. Top Goalscorer - Zak Faour - 25. That figure may sound good, but given that 8 of the goals were in the FA Cup it's actually a little mamahuhu. Our best striker Kevein Lloyd was injured for the first part of the season, so Zak (who's been with us from the start) is a top candidate to be replaced this summer. Average Rating - Bilal Ould-Chikh 7.67. A good part of the success that's come in the last season and a half isn't the 442 tactic so much as the guy I brought in to play it. Man of the Match - Zak Faour - 7 Season Team Position Notes Challenge Landmarks 15/16 Unemployed n/a I have my standards and I'm sticking to them 16/17 Southend (England League 1) 13th Yawn 17/18 Southend 13th Wake me up when tomorrow comes 18/19 Southend 8th Missed out on playoffs in final game of the season 19/20 Southend 1st English league 1 Champions. League cup semi-finalists 20/21 Southend 4th Lost Playoff final in extra time. League cup semi-finalists again 21/22 Southend 1st Won league by a country mile. FA Cup semi-finalists. 22/23 Southend 15th Lost final 6 matches and achieved safety in final game of the season (if being thrashed by one of the other relegation contenders counts as an achievement). 23/24 Southend 15th Consistently inconsistent 24/25 Southend 8th The best team of the bad teams 25/26 Southend 12th Picked up save after bad start to season but had to wait until Winter Break to buy players and revert to trusted 442 tactics 26/27 Southend 4th Great first half of season. Terrible second half, but squeeked into Champions League with a come from behind win in final match of season. Year Team Achievements 2019-22 South Africa 2020 CHAN Champions. Eliminated in group stage of 2021 African CoN Qualified for 2022 World Cup Eliminated in group stage of 2022 World Cup. Quit to manage a better team in Ghana. 2022-23 Ghana Lost in World Cup 2nd round in my first match in charge Sacked after losing in Q/F of ACON - to South Africa! 2023-25 Saudi Arabia Qualified for Final group Stage of WC Qualifiers and won West Asia Football Federation Championship 2025-27 Nigeria Reached 2nd round of World Cup. Resigned after losing Q/F of ACON Challenge Progress Club 0/10 top domestic leagues 0/10 domestic cups 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 (edited) Season 2 – 2016/17 – East Bengal (IND) Season review Given the rather substandard nature of my squad, and that almost everyone’s contracts expired in summer 2016, I oversaw a massive clearout during the summer, releasing 20-ish players and bringing in 12; and reforming the coaching team for good measure. It then transpired that I had a lot of waiting to do: the Indian league season runs from January to April, with only a few cup games in-between (!!). So a lot of arranging friendlies and pressing continue during that season. Still, it all started well as I won the cup, partly helped by the fact that most of the big teams were knocked out early on. By the time the league started, it seems like my squad had time to gel and I absolutely steamrolled the league, winning 15 out of 16 games and finishing a distant first. The top players again were the foreigners, with the Nigerian striker Martins finishing as the league’s top scorer (17 goals in 10 league apps), and my new leftback Kone topping the average rating table. Summary League table | League win | Cup final League (IND, top division): 1st/9 Cup: Win Top scorer: Ranti Martins, ST (17 in 11 apps) Top assists: Do-Dong Hyun, ML/MR (8 in 16(2) apps) Top rating: Ibrahim Kone, DL (8.18) Looking forward Am now trying to get a job outside the Indian league as quickly as I can, the idea is to stay in Asia and move to South Korea or China; but I’ve already been rejected by some top-division clubs. The Indian league isn’t really that enjoyable to play in for the following reasons: a). Lack of games, b). Terrible finances, I’m losing more than my wage bill every month and am on -£900k now despite 30k home attendances. Board keeps cutting the wage budget. Many other teams in the league also have “insecure” finances so not sure if it’s intended or is a bug… Question: Does anyone know if resigning first makes you more likely to land a new job? And does it matter when you resign for some reputation-boost cut-offs? (eg waiting till end of season even though you win the league) Otherwise I’m a bit tempted to stay on and play a few Asian Champ league games if I keep getting rejected from jobs. Club Career: Season | Country | Division | Position | Cup | Continental | Top scorer | Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2016/17 | India | I League | 1st/9 | Win | n/a | Ranti Martins (17) | League and cup double; looking for a better job 2015/16 | India | I League (top div.) | 6th/9 | n/a | n/a | Ranti Martins (14) | Took over end-March with 3 games to go International career: no jobs Challenge Progress: Club 1/10 top domestic leagues (India) 1/10 domestic cups (India) 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments Edited October 9, 2016 by dkouv fiddling with code at the bottom Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysdailydose Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 (edited) It's been a long time since I've kept up with the thread as I've been focused on my blog and Twitter, but I restarted this challenge this week when I got a new laptop. I'm planning on it being my new long-term save, as I always purchase the new game as a late buy (usually after the winter update now!) @Vikeologist it is so good to see all you've done with this amazing challenge! I got my first job in the new save in League 2, at Exeter City F.C. -- I took over with 11 fixtures remaining in 2015/16, and am about 10 matches into the 16/17 campaign now. I'm going to do my first full update after the first FULL season ends -- just wanted to say "I'm back" and a big hello to my buddy Vikeologist (and many others, I haven't forgotten any of you!) Here's to my Grecians! For those who don't know me, my blog is at FMChampions.Com and I post updates of EVERY competitive fixture on my Twitter at @FM_Champions if any of you would like to follow step-by-step progress of my challenge exploits -- but I will be posting an update here every season, as well as on the blog! Edited October 9, 2016 by jaysdailydose Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
numero uno gunner Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Season Review 2033-34 FS Stars and USA Well, after being spectacularly sacked halfway through the Gold Cup with Mexico, I was beyond angry. I took a little while to regroup, dusted myself down, and heading to San Jose in Costa Rica, and Chicago for interviews about two national vacancies I wanted. I clearly impressed, as I was offered both positions. After weighing it up, I plumped for the stars and stripes of Team USA. After being mauled by Mexico in my first game (5-1), I was scared about what I had let myself in for. However, results improved, and we qualified for the World Cup in fairly decent fashion. A turgid build up saw us go into the World Cup with the target of being competitive, and despite the early boost a 2-1 victory over Ecuador provided, we were suitably thrashed 4-2 by Serbia, before Portugal tore us apart in a 5-1 defeat, which could quite have easily been a cricket score had their forwards been more ruthless. I think I'm going to keep my job, which means I should be given the chance to have a proper crack at the Gold Cup next summer, and get redemption after the carnage that was the summer of 2033. Domestically, I stuck to my guns over which jobs to apply for. Jobs at teams of the bottom of the South African Premiership came and went, and eventually a job came up at FS Stars. They were lying in 12th, but I remembered that they were one of the top 6 sides last season (they were on my shortlist). The club information screen said that they weren't involved in any continental competition, so I assumed that they must've finished 5th or 6th. So, imagine my surprise when, two days after taking over, I was invited to the draw for the preliminary rounds for the Champions League! It was obvious that we weren't going to qualify again this year, so I instantly prioritised that competition over anything else. 10-0 and 10-1 aggregate wins took us into round 2, where we duly dispatched of ES Setif 7-3 over both legs and into the last 8 group stage. That will kick off in preseason, which will be a challenge, but we'll do our best. We performed well in the cup, beating league leaders Supersport Utd 1-0 after extra time, we were knocked out on penalties in the quarter finals by Orlando Pirates. We played really well, and were just a little unlucky overall to be honest. I used the league matches to try and evaluate as many of the large squad as I could, but we actually put together a good string of results and finished 7th in the end. By South African standards, FS Stars are incredibly rich. The board have given me a budget of £20m for next season. Evidently, attracting high calibre players isn't going to happen, regardless of our budget, but with that much spending power, I should be able to recruit some of the best South African talent from my title rivals, not only strengthening our squad, but also weakening those around us as well. This summer could be a big one in terms of shaping a squad to be able to challenge on multiple fronts. On that note, a quick question. I've seen that there are several cup competitions in South Africa. Am I right in assuming only the SA Cup counts towards the challenge? In reality, there is the possibility, if all things go right, that 2034/35 could see me complete this challenge. Evidently, the Champions League has to be my priority this season, especially as I know I'm not going to be playing in it the season after. If I don't win it this season, I'm going to be in South Africa for at least another couple of years. Fingers crossed we can escape a difficult group and claim the title! Club Season Team Position Notes and Achievements 2015/16 Dungannon 10th Won Northern Irish FA Cup and kept Dungannon up after taking over with 3 games to go 2016/17 Dungannon 8th A solid but unspectacular season 2017/18 Yiteng 8th A settling season in China 2019 Jiangsu 1st Won Chinese Super League and FA Cup, as well as claiming MOTY. 2020 Jiangsu 1st Won Chinese Super League and Asian Champions League 2020/21 Aberdeen 9th Won Scottish League Cup 2021/22 Monterrey 5th/5th Won Opening Stage, knocked out in semis of closing stage. Won NACL. 2021/22 Salzburg 1st Won league and cup double 2022 Corinthians 1st Won league 2023 Corinthians 8th Won Copa Libertadores 2024/25 Juventus 1st Won Serie A and Italian Cup 2025/26 Juventus 2nd Won Italian Cup 2026/27 Real Madrid 1st Won La Liga and Spanish Cup 2027/28 Real Madrid 1st Won La Liga and Spanish Cup 2028/29 Everton 10th Knocked out of both cups and Europa League. Left them in 10th with 10 games to go. 2028/29 Chelsea 4th Took over with 10 games to go and club in 8th. Won FA Cup and Champions League! 2029/30 Chelsea 1st Won the title on the last day of the season! 2030/31 Unemployed 2031/32 Marseille 1st Won Ligue Un and Coupe de la Ligue 2032/33 Schalke 1st Won Bundesliga and German Cup 2033/34 FS Stars 7th A solid if unspectacular season after joining with 12 games to go and the team in 12th. Season Team Notes and Achievements 2016/17 Congo Resigned without playing a game 2016/17 Cameroon One win away from WC qualification 2017/18 Cameroon 2nd round of 2018 World Cup 2019 Cameroon African Cup of Nations winner! 2021 Poland An abject failure! 2022 Ireland 4 wins, 2 draws and promotion to European International League Division B 2023 Ireland 2 wins, 2 defeats from 4 qualifiers before taking Colombia job 2024/25 Colombia Currently top of WC qualifying and ranked 4th in the world 2026 Colombia World Cup winners! 2027 Colombia Copa America winners! 2028 Italy European Championship winners! 2029 Italy Confederations Cup winners! 2030 Italy Knocked out of World Cup in group stage! 2031 South Korea Asian Cup winners! 2032 Mexico World Cup qualification is going well 2033 Mexico World Cup qualification is still going well, and I'm gearing up for the Gold Cup. Incredibly, I was sacked midway through the Gold Cup! 2034 USA Knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages Challenge Progress Club 9/10 top domestic leagues - China (Jiangsu), Mexico (Monterrey), Austria (Salzburg), Brazil (Corinthians), Italy (Juventus), Spain (Real Madrid), England (Chelsea), France (Marseille), Germany (Schalke) 9/10 domestic cups - Northern Ireland (Dungannon), China (Jiangsu), Scotland (Aberdeen), Austria (Salzburg), Italy (Juventus x 2), Spain (Real Madrid), England (Chelsea), France (Marseille), Germany (Schalke) 4/5 club continental championships - ACL (Jiangsu), NACL (Monterrey), Copa Libertadores (Corinthians), Uefa Champions League (Chelsea) 1/1 club world championship - Chelsea 2029 International 4/5 continental tournaments - ACON (Cameroon 2019), Copa America (Colombia 2027), European Championships (Italy 2028), Asian Nations Cup (South Korea 2031) 2/2 world tournaments - World Cup (Colombia 2026), Confederations Cup (Italy 2029) *********************************************************************** I'm really pleased to see how active this thread is. I'll get round to commenting on everyone's games over the next day or two, but I just wanted to say that reading other people's saves has been one of the key things that has kept me going on mine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 @numero uno gunner Glad to see you again. There's 2 eligible South African cups; the 2 where all the top division teams can enter. Names change occasionally, but usually called the FA Cup and the Knockout Cup. There's one, sometimes called the Super8 Cup, which is only for the top 8 teams and thus doesn't count. @jaysdailydose Happy that you're doing the challenge again. I bigged up your site a few posts above. @dkouv I'm not sure anyone is really certain how the job acquisition / reputation things correlate, but this is what I believe. Your success in India won't have an immediate effect on your ability to get a new job. Some people think that reputations need to 'catch up'. This is why starting in a nation such as India where you can win everything quickly could be counter-productive. I might be wrong of course. Anyway, I do think quitting a job quickly can also be counter-productive. The experiences of quite a few people who've done this challenge, including me, suggest that you might struggle to get a better job at this point. In fact you may even have to 'go backwards'. Obviously I hope I'm wrong, but if you stay unemployed for a long time waiting for the right job, you may never land it. That's not to say that the time in India was useless. You've got some trophies and it will help your reputation. Just be prepared to have to take another 'ground level' job; this time maybe in a bigger nation. As I say though, the correlation between reputation and attractiveness to employers is not completely predictable, or at least not to me, so good luck landing a big fish. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted October 10, 2016 Share Posted October 10, 2016 Season 2.5 - 2017 end-year update - Chongqing (CHN) @vikeologist Thanks v much for that explanation, makes a lot of sense! (or at least seems to correlate very well with my limited experience!) I decided to quit East Bengal because I applied for a job and they said they couldn't reach an agreement with my current employees. But things didn't get much better as I applied for jobs all through the summer and in early autumn, getting a few interviews in Chinese Premier League (including a dream job at a couple of super-rich teams) but was rejected. In the end I got a job at Chongqing who were rock-bottom of the Chinese Super League with 3 games to go - and I mean rock-bottom, already relegated having only amassed 10 points from 27 games. Examining the squad it became obvious why, as they had zero left backs (!) and only one senior centerback (an ageing Hong Kong international with pace and acceleration of 5). I went on to lose 2 and draw 1 of the remaining 3 games, and am currently undertaking a thorough squad rebuild; have already bought 2 left backs which bodes well. So this reputation info made me feel better as I kind of was thinking I wasted a season or two because I end up being relegated and then have to get promoted again and established in the top division before applying for other jobs, in all likelihood. Anyhow, I managed to secure some decent players in the transfer window so far, so the aim is definitely to go straight back up next season. I also got a job at India under-23s for the upcoming Asian under-23 World Cup in January 2018. I'll still post a few stats from Chongqing's season because it's kind-of amusing how bad they are League: 16/16 (Chinese Super League) Top scorer: Wang Zihao (8 in 30) Top assists: Feng Jin (7 in 20(1)) Top rating: Emmanuel Gigliotti (6.79(!!)) Most crucially, the club's finances are secure, so I finally managed to start a coaching course, and the £4m transfer budget meant I could play around in the transfer market without penny-pinching too much. Just to say, I'm really enjoying the other updates, looks like @numero uno gunner is very close to completion! And good to know about FS Stars finances since they keep sacking managers on my save, so I might end up there at some point. Club Career: Season | Country | Division | Position | Cup | Continental | Top scorer | Notes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015/16 | India | I League (top div.) | 6th/9 | n/a | n/a | Ranti Martins (14) | Took over end-March with 3 games to go 2016/17 | India | I League | 1st/9 | Win | n/a | Ranti Martins (17) | League and cup double; looking for a better job 2017 | China | Super League (top div.) | 16th/16 | n/a | n/a | Wang Zihao (8) | Took over in October with 3 games to go and the side already relegated International career: Season | Team | Notes --------------------------------------------------------- 2017 | India U23s | Took over in November Challenge Progress: Club 1/10 top domestic leagues (India) 1/10 domestic cups (India) 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shankly84 Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Will this be started again for the new release? I was thinking of merging this with the gundo or dafuge challenge. All the criteria should still be met provided the promoted team hire you as manager after applying for the job (presuming its available). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 @Shankly84 Good luck. You should have no problems getting a newly promoted side in England to give you a job, if as you say it's available. No problems combining with one of those challenges, although I'd have thought that the objectives would diverge at some point. Mind you, if you achieve Gundo / Dafuge, then this will give you a nice extension save. I don't think that we need a new thread, so I suggest we keep posting here. It doesn't look as though there's anything at all different which would affect the challenge. We restarted it last year because we wanted to clarify some of the rules, and I wanted to have the first few posts available for hall of fame etc. The only concern is that 'old' threads encounter problems because of deleted posts, but I'm not aware of any problems at all with the new forum. Maybe a shiny new thread would encourage more people to start the challenge, but I don't think that's reason enough. I'm having a trial start in South America, and it still seems almost impossible to get any job at all there. Going to play until the new Peruvian league date to see if I can get a newly promoted side. Looking forward to seeing what kinds of jobs new starters can get, and whether there's any difference. I'm all in on this challenge now. Have a whole year to achieve it, (but will probably take longer). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 19, 2016 Author Share Posted October 19, 2016 Vikeologist's Start of Challenge Report I had a couple of trial runs in South America and The UK to see what jobs I could get, but I decided ages ago to start in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland or Denmark. In almost 20 years playing FM, I have never managed in any of these countries. I believe I’m correct in calling these the Nordic countries. I’m not sure how good a first job one can get in these nations, but I was quite pleased to get a job in the Finnish top tier with FC Lahti. I guess this means there’s a fair chance that I will once again do the whole challenge in the top divisions without promotion. I do like me some promotions, but we’ll see how things pan out. I’m not sure that starting in a nation as low rep as Finland is the best move, but we will see. I’ve taken over with 10 games to go; 1 point and 1 place above the relegation playoff spot, so my first priority will be to avoid relegation. Domestic Season Team Position Notes Challenge Landmarks 16/17 FC Lahti Took over with 10 games left. International Year Team Achievements Challenge Progress Club 0/10 top domestic leagues 0/10 domestic cups 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEarl Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Nice place to start @vikeologist and yes you are correct to call these countries for the Nordic Region. There is a name Scandinavia, but that would be only Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Good luck in the home of Winter Sports land of Lahti. (Not sure, but guess your stadium is used for Cross Country World Championships during the winter break hehe) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siepe1990 Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 (edited) Well, I'll be restarting as well, might as well since I just got started in FM16 (managed to win Germany with Hoffenheim since my last update, no more progress after that). Loaded same leagues as in FM16, curious to see what job I'll land this time around, I'll keep you guya posted. @vikeologist: Lahti is not bad at all, birth place of the magician Jari Litmanen ?! Good luck there! Edited October 19, 2016 by Siepe1990 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiserwatman Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Lucchese Libertas 1905 Back on the road again , how the trip will fare will have to be seen . I am taking an approach this season to allow my performance elevate me through the leagues rather than chasing clubs left right and centre. It may be slower and there may be the odd underdog title along the journey but its one thing I learned from the previous campaign. The 2016-17 season past very quickly with only a few interviews dotted throughout , namely lower sides within Lega Pro. Following the end of the season I managed to sign my first managerial contract with Lucchese 1905 who had finished in mid table . The club itself is in a pretty poor financial state with a young inexperienced squad essentially relying on loan players to put a side out but they made this quite clear during the interview process. At least I have the summer months to sort something out before the challenge properly kicks off . Manager Profile Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shankly84 Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 I tried to start in the Ukraine linking the challenge with Gundo's, but the promoted teams all had manager's already. So I think I'm going to have to do it the good old fashioned way. Will probably start it tomorrow night now. Looking forward to it. Good luck everyone!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 20, 2016 Author Share Posted October 20, 2016 (edited) @Shankly84 So are you going to do this challenge or Gundo's? @Kaiserwatman For some reason I thought that you'd got on to the leaderboard in FM16. Anyway, I'm pretty certain that you did better than me. Over 2 saves I must have played nearly 20 seasons, and I didn't achieve a single challenge landmark. I almost did. In my final season with Southend we got to the League Cup Final. I think we lost to a goal in injury time, but I could be wrong. I'm quite keen to block out that final (now forever unfinished) season which I didn't enjoy, and which League Cup aside, was just awful. GL with the new save. @Siepe1990 - GL to you too. Looking forward to reading where you start up. If anybody spots any information important to the challenge, especially challenge-killing bugs, weird things in nations such as those discussed in post 3 or FM Touch things, please let me know. Edited October 20, 2016 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 So i'll be starting this challenge again most likely today. I've done a few months in-game with my favourite team from my last attempt (Lech Poznan) just to get the hang of fm17 but now i'm ready to get started on this and hopefully get closer to completing it this time! i'm thinking of possibly starting outside of Europe just to change it up but we shall see. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 20, 2016 Author Share Posted October 20, 2016 (edited) Vikeologist's 2016 Season Report Firstly, one thing I didn’t mention before is that I used the recently loosened guidelines to load up what few points I had at the start to give my manager as many points for adaptability as possible. I think that may be a useful attribute for this challenge, though there are a lot of different ways to go allocation-wise. I thought that I should point this out as some people might have missed that the guidelines have changed. Kaiserwatman has gone for the balanced and flat allocation, which may well be the best bet. I just wanted to reiterate that the guidelines are more flexible now. Anyway, as said before I took over with 10 games to go. I told the board that I could get the club into the top half of the table, but I didn’t realise that was pretty much mathematically impossible, even if I had won all 10 matches, which I certainly didn’t. I got off to a good start, but ended up with just 9 points from the 10 games, which basically is as bad as my predecessor had done. However it was more than enough to steer us away from relegation danger. Nonetheless we finished in 10th place (out of 12) which is where we started off. I’m a bit worried about how much better we’ll be next season. There’s lots of good players around, but I’m already way above my wage budget, so unless I can offload some of my dross, I can’t bring many people in, and I really need some new strikers. I have 2 good ones. One is 37 and the other wants to go to a bigger club, so I need a few new ones. Domestic Season Team Position Notes Challenge Landmarks 16/17 FC Lahti 10th Just 9 points from the remaining 10 matches International Year Team Achievements Challenge Progress Club 0/10 top domestic leagues 0/10 domestic cups 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments Edited October 20, 2016 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shankly84 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 @vikeologist I'm going to do this one. Really enjoyed it last year, although I hate moving on to the next club as I get too attached haha. I'm more of a one team man on FM. Will post my opening screenshots later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEarl Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 A little question here that someone might be able to answer. Want to start a new game on FM17 and UFMC is of course one of the targets. @vikeologist has altered the rules so we might have a second nationality if we use our true life nationalities and actually have one. But I can't change my main nationality, it only comes up England. Anyone know if this is a common bug? If not does someone know what I am doing wrong? My correct nationalities should be Norwegian/Swedish. I can set second nationality to Swedish, but main stays at English no matter what I try to do.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welsh Wizard Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 @TheEarl Took myself awhile to work it out but you delete English and start to type what you want instead of the old drop down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEarl Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, Welsh Wizard said: @TheEarl Took myself awhile to work it out but you delete English and start to type what you want instead of the old drop down. Thanks @Welsh Wizard I will try that later when I get home. EDIT: Thanks a lot, finally figured out how to do it. Edited October 20, 2016 by TheEarl Problem solved Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 20, 2016 Author Share Posted October 20, 2016 7 hours ago, TheEarl said: My correct nationalities should be Norwegian/Swedish. I can set second nationality to Swedish, but main stays at English no matter what I try to do.... Additionally there seems to be a thing where the game assumes that certain nationalities can speak extra languages. Not for English people. The game quite correctly seems to know that the chances of an English person speaking an extra language are next to zero, but other nationalities may need to pay attention. Mind you, if anyone does find that their manager can speak extra languages, it's not the end of the world. You don't need to restart the game. It may be that what the game gives you the game gives you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiserwatman Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 (edited) Lucchese Libertas 1905 Under mass financial pressure Lucchese were pretty much patched together with players promoted from within with the odd free transfer with only ex Bologna right back Salvatore Tazza cementing a place within the first XI. Loan signings were also pretty much hit and miss as only Davide Petermann managed to hold down a spot consistently. My hands were pretty much tied though with the club leaking near 300k a month and administration looming as debts were in the region of €10m before a late cash injection from the board of directors to save the season. I had originally planned to use a 4-1-4-1 formation throughout but could not seem find a way to get the lead striker in the game enough and lead to inconsistent results so I caved in and went back to 4-4-2 which has served me well in the past . Mattia Cecconella a target man who had only made 2 substitute appearances for the club was plucked from the u20 squad to be the lead man. Results began to pick up and eventually finished 3rd in Serie C1A before entering the very prolonged Italian Playoff regime . A draw against Robur Siena saw me through on ranking before narrowly defeating Salernitana on aggregate . Modena were next up and after losing the away leg by a solitary goal Lucchese were unable to over turn the result drawing 2-2 at home in the second leg to remain in Lega Pro next season. As I completed this challenge last year I am going to play with a caveat that I will only apply for jobs to change country though if I am headhunted that's fair game Top Scorer - Mattia Cecconella 20 Net Transfer - £0 License - Studying National C license Season League Club Position Notes 2016-17 Lega Pro Lucchese - - Took over at end of season 2017-18 Lega Pro Lucchese 3rd Lost in Playoffs Edited October 21, 2016 by Kaiserwatman Realligned Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 @Kaiserwatman Oh, I'm so sorry I forgot you completed. That's why you weren't on the leaderboard. There's only been 7 people complete it, so I have no excuse for forgetting, but I was sure you'd got at least 10 trophies, and of course you had. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siepe1990 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Short update: it's Stevenage for me ?. Took over on January 20th 2017, so still have 10 days to get some much needed loans! Currently in 18th place and expectations are mid-table, so I'm up for a challenge! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 (edited) Royal Eagles Season 2016/17 I loaded up lots of leagues to kick off my second attempt at the challenge with most of them being outside Europe to see if a different approach works any better. After applying for a few jobs in South America and getting rejected, I applied for the position at Royal Eagles. I got the job, and realised I was in a much better position than I initially realised, as this was a club with decent facilities, pretty good finances and they were sitting in 6th in the South African First Division! I took over with 12 games to go sitting in 6th but fairly close to all the teams above us. League- We performed really well in the league, only losing 1 of the remaining 12 games of the regular season! this slowly propelled us up the table and we even spent a week right at the top, however had to settle for 2nd place to Jomo Cosmos by the end which I was still very happy with. We then went into the promotion playoffs with the team that finished 3rd (Santos FC) and the team that finished last in the league above (FS Stars). We played a kind of mini tournament, playing each other team home and away and then the team with the most points at the end were promoted. We won the first game 2-1 against Santos pretty comfortably at home, then drew 1-1 away despite getting an early red card. We then lost 2-1 at home to FS Stars despite being big favourites and went into the final game needing a win to get promoted, noting else would do. Our last game was incredible, we scored soon after half time to go 1-0 up and tried to hang on for a while but Stars scored twice in quick succession to dash our hopes of promotion. I lost hope at this point and simply threw on my "usually a wingback but also plays a bit of striker" Ace Bhengu and pushed everyone forward but had already accepted the loss. Ace scored a scrappy goal in the 91st minute which was good but still did nothing for us, we needed a win. Then, in the 93rd and last minute Ace found our wide midfielder Nyeko Tshabangu who poked it through the keeper's legs and gave us an incredible promotion! Transfers- I was able to catch the end of the mid-season transfer market so was able to bring in: centre back Gladwin Shitolo (who got the signing of the season award), fullback Kibelo Lichaba, young central midfielder Siphiwe Mnguni and Nigerian right midfielder Felix Obada. All four of them established themselves in the starting 11 and i wouldn't have gotten promoted without them Best Players- Gladwin Shitolo was the pick of the new lads, but additionally we had striker Katlego Mphela (15 goals, 3 assists) and our keeper Siya Mngoma (11 clean sheets) who performed well. Unfortunately Mngoma already had a future transfer arranged when i arrived so he's already gone, and Mphela is now 32 so is declining in form. Overall a good season and already good progress towards the challenge. My reputation is now 10%, I have obtained my national C coaching badge and we've been promoted! I think this team will be able to stay up next season with some additions, however I don't think i'll win anything soon with Royal Eagles so will also be on the lookout for new jobs if they come up. Season Team Position Notes and Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17 Royal Eagles 2nd Promoted to South African Premier League Challenge Progress: Club 0/10 top domestic leagues 0/10 domestic cups 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments Edited October 21, 2016 by Fadedaf Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMadMonk Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I'll have a craic at this with the new release - albeit the Beta. I think I'll start with either Eire,Wales, or Norn Ireland - and try and get a 'win' on the board early - with the hope that winning one of those leagues may give me enough reputation boost to try a decent asian/african team. I've played Football Manager since the time it was the Original Football Manager and don't think I've ever ventured outside Europe for a full season, so should something different for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted October 22, 2016 Author Share Posted October 22, 2016 @TheMadMonk Good luck in those countries. I might as well warn you that in FM16, getting a win on the board early didn't necessarily seem to help too much with getting a second job, if you left too early. I don't know whether things have changed in FM17. However, we do need 10 leagues and cups, and the big 5 in Europe and the other 4 continents totals 9 at most, so having that extra nation in your pocket is helpful. I certainly hope that I can get some Finnish silverware from my starting club. Hopefully things have been adjusted. Having won a league, even in a small nation, and the reputation it brings should help get a better job. The game will certainly be more 'fun' if we can get new jobs more easily. @Fadedaf Congratulations on promotion. I think that your progress in your first game, managing a Premier League club West Ham in about your 6th season was fantastic progress, and you're clearly killing it again. @Siepe1990 GL at Stevenage. Yet another manager who was making great progress in FM16. Hopefully that dry run will lead to completing in FM17. Be interesting to see who'll get on to the leader board on FM17 first. Pretty confident it won't be me, but I'm sort of enjoying Finland. Is anyone continuing their FM16 save? I hope @numero uno gunner is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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