Cheekybananafm Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 (edited) 2023/24 - Cruz Azul Another season down another amazingly successful one as well! I kinda expected it to be a bit tougher seeing as I didn't take one of the bigger teams! Mexican First Division Opening Stage - We ended the stage 4th after a pretty poor run towards the end. We sat top for quite a while but we tailed off. 4th however was enough for a playoff spot and boy did we pick up the form! None of the game were thrashing but we scraped through the quarters and semis against tough team and then in the final we got a credible draw away to the top team in the Opening stage Monterray and they beat them 2-0 in the home leg to win the playoffs! Mexican First Division Closing Stage - Once again we ended 4th but this time we were to be knocked out by Leon in the semi finals. Mexican Cup - With most of the big teams not in this due to their participation in the NACL and Copa Lib I knew we had a good chance of winning this. We won all 3 games in the Group stage to progress to the knockouts and then breezed through the 2nd round, the quarters were a lot tighter but we got through, then in the semis we played Morelia, a 2nd division team. We managed to go through but only on penalties. So it came to the final where we would face Jaguares and we smashed them 3-0. Not a bad first season, league and cup double. Now it means I only need to win the NACL to finish off North America, but some interesting news came my way at the end of the Opening Stage final. We had qualified for the Copa Libertadores which was literally due to start the week later, the draw came out for the prelim round and it was the hardest draw we could've wish for! We had been drawn against Santos. In the first leg we were at home, we came out with a defeat, only 1-0, we had played well but it was to be an uphill task. In the away leg I went for it, we dominated and scored early to level the tie but we couldn't find that elusive 2nd goal. In the end it went to penalties and Santos showed their class to win the shootout 3-1. We were out already but it was a bonus to be in it, maybe next season we can be in it again! So the season is over, a league and cup double and I hope that means we have qualified for the NACL although nothing had come up yet about it. I'm surprised how easy it was to win both trophies in my first season but I'm not complaining. Lets hope the NACL is as easy and I can move. Manager Progress - I'm now fully badged up and my manager rep is up to a massive 70%! Chile Update - No major comps as yet but we are mid-World Cup 2026 Qualifying, after a pretty slow start we now sit 2nd after 6 games, level on points with Argentina. Brazil are down in 6th! Season Team Position Notes and Achievements 17/18 Thanda Royal Zulu 1st South African 1st Division Champs 18/19 Thanda Royal Zulu 1st South African Premier Division Champs 19/20 Thanda Royal Zulu 2nd SA Knockout Cup and Super 8 Winner 2021 Thanda Royal Zulu African Champions League Winners 2022 Shanggang 1st Chinese Super League, Chinese Cup and Asian Champions League Winners 23/24 Cruz Azul 1st Mexican Opening Stage and Mexican Cup Champions Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2019, China - Shanggang 2022, Mexico - Cruz Azul 2024) 2/10 domestic cups (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2020, China - Shanggang 2022, Mexico - Cruz Azul 2024) 2/5 club continental championships (Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2021, Asian - Shanggang 2022) 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments () 0/2 world tournaments () Edited July 14, 2017 by Cheekybananafm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 Won the league title with Ajax, off to find me a new job, I am also manager of Australia now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 9, 2017 Share Posted July 9, 2017 (edited) Well I left Ajax, I applied for the Chelsea, Athletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG and Barcelona job and got laughed at for applying, but was kinda expecting not to get a top job, I also applied for the Wycombe job who are in the Championship so hopefully I can get that job and try build something with them. UPDATE - I took the Wycombe job. Edited July 9, 2017 by Ronaldo Beckham Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 I feel like I am having deja vu! This type of thing happened every year for me back at Royal Eagles... I am absolutely furious about this. Not only did we manage to draw Chiefs, our hardest possible opponents in the FIRST ROUND, We managed to have 2 absolute disasters of games. We hit the woodwork 4 times across the 2 legs, including a miss of an open goal. We also had a red card after 17 minutes of the first leg, 2 injuries and gave away a soft penalty in not one but both games! I hate Kaiser Chiefs with a passion. I guess finishing this challenge is still a long, long way off for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 England 2040 Euros report Another summer, another international tournament. This time England are the host nation, so I hope I can finally tick this one off. To start off we have a group of Scotland, Serbia and Kosovo (yes, I also have no idea how they qualified), which should make for a gentle beginning. Group stage Spoiler England 2 – 0 Scotland. Goals: Swann, MacDonald No problems in the derby – Scotland never really got into the game, even though they did hit the bar with a cross. Kosovo 0 – 5 England. Goals: Flanagan x4, Meakin A walk in the park, capped by four goals from the PSG attacking midfielder Flanagan. England 1 – 1 Serbia. Goals: Nicholson Not the best performance but we’re through as group winners. We got a tough draw for the next round – it’s Belgium, who are ranked 5th in the world, but somehow lost to Bosnia to finish 2nd in their group. Second round (if applicable) Spoiler England 1 – 0 Belgium a.e.t. Goals: Swann Tough game, to say the least. Not much was happening for most of it, even though we might have edged it in terms of chances. Then we seized on a defensive error to score the solitary goal in the 108th minute. My second-best midfielder is out for 3 months with a hip injury, and it doesn’t get any easier with Holland next. Quarter final (if applicable) Spoiler England 2 – 1 Holland. Goals: Bywater, Flanagan. Another tough game, and another win, this one in normal time. Nothing much happened until Holland went ahead after a counterattack, only for us to peg them back within 2 minutes. I switched tactic and it paid off as we started dominating, although it took a brilliant freekick from my star man Flanagan to put us ahead, and eventually through to the semis. It’s Portugal next, a match that brings about a strong sense of déjà vu. Semi final (if applicable) Spoiler Portugal 0 – 2 England. Goals: Ramalho o.g., Meakin Well, guess what – one more close game, but we managed to prevail yet again. Both teams had good chances but we started to dominate more in the second half, and were rewarded with a deflected long-shot and a cute 18-yard finish from two of our attackers. We face Spain in the final, who are ranked 1st in the world and have a cracking team – but will they regret sacking me four years ago? Third place playoff (if applicable) Spoiler Final (if applicable) Spoiler Spain 1 – 2 England. Goals: Bywater, Nicholson. Well, well, well, we finally did it. We started in a dominant fashion, but Spain managed to score with their first shot on target after a counterattack. Here we go again, I thought. But the lads fought back and equalised right after half time, and then missed a couple of good chances. On the 84th minute, Spain gave away a penalty. Like a classic England team, I have absolutely zero good penalty takers, so my striker with penalty taking 11 stepped up, and somehow scored, smashing it down the middle. Like David Beckham against Argentina in 2002, only that Becks never tasted such success… After the tournament Spoiler There’s still the World Cup to win, but I’m going to enjoy the Euro success, and have a lie down after these absolutely brutal knockout matches. And I thought supporting Liverpool was stressful… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 @YellowLittle - welcome to the challenge, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic reading a League 2 opening-season update Feels like a lifetime ago for me... @Fadedaf - jeez, what is it with these African competitions! You can't be far away now with Sundowns Congrats to all the others - looks like you're powering through the trophies! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 After 6 months as Wycombe manager and leaving them at 7th in the Championship I decide to leave to go to Everton who were 8th in the Prem, Lukaku and Barkley are still there which I found funny, both are 30, I got Pickford in goal as well who is 29, my right back is Jaio Cancelo, got Galloway in centre of defense, I have Matthew Targett as left back, the only other player I recognize is Juanpi. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 @Ronaldo Beckham Congrats on your success. How many landmarks / trophies counting towards the challenge do you have so far? @dkouv Nearly there now. No chance of a vacancy coming up with the big 2 in Spain after the Euros? @Fadedaf Very strange and unlucky getting such a hard tie so early on in the competition. Certainly dkouv and you are having a tough final lap to the challenge. When you finally get the ACON, will you have a wide range of Asian nations to choose from. In FM15 South Korea were basically the only nation manageable because none of the others had enough players, though by adding the Chinese and Australian leagues I eventually change that; but completed the challenge eventually with South Korea anyway. @Cheekybananafm Congrats on the double. Hope you can get the NACL soon and have the option of moving on. At least if you're losing in the Copa Lib, it's still working in the game. @YellowLittle Stevenage seem to come up fairly often as a first club in this challenge, although maybe I'm wrong about that. The only other manager I remember with certainty was that ridiculously handsome American with the fmchampions website. I've forgotten his username. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 @vikeologist - So far I have won the KNVB Eredivise, African Cup Of Nations, Northern Irish Cup, the Daniske Bank Championship and the JD Welsh Cup, I also have a good chance of winning the Europa League with Everton in my first season there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 @vikeologist I just won the Europa League in my first season as Everton manager in my Ultimate Manager challenge save, also managed to get 5th place and get a higher position then Liverpool so that is good, Lukaku got 44 goals in 44 games, he is a beast even at 31 years old in my save, he got 30 in 32 Premier League games as well, might stay at Everton unless a big job comes available. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowLittle Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 Just a quick update, I will complete my season fairly soon but something quite incredible happened. I've been smashing this season with Stevenage in League 2. In fact I've posted a screenshot below of how well it was going: I picked up some really good players to be honest and they fit my system pretty well and it just ticked along nicely. This included getting into the 4th round of the FA Cup unfortunately knocked out by Swansea. Then, Alex Neil got sacked from Norwich City in the Premier League. I'm a huge Norwich fan and they are under my favourite team on my manager profile. I applied as a bit of a long shot but amazingly I was linked to the job (I'd not been linked to any job prior), amazingly I got an interview and than the job: So I've gone from League 2 to Premier League in about a season, I'm not sure if this is actually a bug but I'm not complaining. My win ratio also 60% which is very decent, but yeah. I now need to keep them up and kick on with the Ultimate Challenge. Will do a full season run down once I've finished the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 @vikeologist Nope; Spain manager either got sacked or jumped ship even though they made the final, but they hired Valencia's manager. To be honest, at this point I prefer staying with Las Palmas at least for another year or two - it's just more fun than winning things with the big clubs, and I got all these good youngsters developing nicely. Although similarly to last summer, my best strikers' release clause just got activated, so I'm scrambling around to try and find a replacement. @YellowLittle Wow, that's a really cool job move! Hope you can put Norwich in their rightful place amongst the world's footballing powerhouses Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 Vikeologist's Dalian Yifang (and China U23) 2018 Report A fairly successful season, primarily because we won the FA Cup which gets us into the Champions League group stage next year. I’ve been invited to an interview by Guangzhou Evergrande (sidenote, I think it would be much better if they translated it into English as Guangzhou Everbig, rather than inserting a bit of faux Spanish to make it sound less dirty). Anyway, I digress. Even though Everbig finished 2 places above us in 3rd, I think they won’t be straight into the group stage. Anyway, the last time I managed Dalian, I deserted them to manage Guangzhou, so I don’t want to re-tread my steps so much. On the other hand, I do want to progress as quickly as possible, and Everbig might be the best way to do that. I’m torn. I’m actually loading other leagues, chiefly South American, but it is tempting to do one more season with Dalian just to see what happens. Even though we don’t have a huge amount of money to splash around, winning the league and Cl next season is I suppose a possibility. Internationally I took the Chinese U23 team to Asian Games success. (We were the best team in the competition by a country mile, apart from south Korea who were the only ones to put up any kind of fight). Didn’t increase my reputation above 45%, (nor did the FA Cup win or winning the manager of the year), but having never won the competition before, it was satisfying. Really need to get a senior international job soon though. Top Goalscorer – John Owoeri – 19. He had a decent goals per minute rate (1:123), but because I could only have 3 foreigners on the pitch at any time, there was a fair amount of squad rotation, and my strike force was a three-headed beast with 2 of them on the pitch at any time. Best Average Rating Li Shuai 7.46. My left wingback, and wingbacks usually get high stats in my formation. My success with China U23 was largely due to using 2 of my 3 senior player spots for wingbacks, and they ran rampant.A midfielder who only got as many games as he did because of injuries. When I looked at the end of season stats, i asked myself 'Who is Zhu Xiaogang.' Now we're promoted, he's obsolete. Man of Match – Ju Feng – 4. MVP – You’d think it would be my very highly paid central defender Ferrari, but he doesn’t seem to excel at any stat; average rating, tackles, passes, MoM, nothing, so I guess I’ll go for Li Shuai. I still have a sense that Ferrari is the most important though. If he’s not, I should get him off the wage bill, because the boy is getting paid. Domestic Season Team Position Notes Challenge Landmarks 2016 Dalian Yifang 7th Took over for last 2 matches of the season 2017 Dalian Yifang 2nd Promted to Chinese Super League 2018 Dalian Yifang 5th Won FA Cup and therefore qualification to CL group stage. International Year Team Achievements 2018 China U23 Asian Games Challenge Progress Club 0/10 top domestic leagues 1/10 domestic cups China 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...
Fadedaf Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 Mamelodi Sundowns Season 2047/48 Report Another season down at sundowns. The goals this season were to have a good crack at the champions league as well as to retain the league. I had forgotten how crazy South Africa can be with the transfer business, as this season my squad was absolutely cannibalised by overseas clubs who wanted to poach all of my best players. I ended up having to replace more than half of my starting team and force a few very unhappy players to stay with the club and play on. We ended up earning 18 Million euros in the transfer market through the poaching of all these players which is absolutely insane for this league. We spent about 4.4 million on players over the course of the season, but of course struggled to replace some of our most talented superstars. Most of them have huge sell-on clauses so perhaps some more money will come into the club in the coming seasons. No less than 24 players left the club and 17 joined this season which is a huge increase on most of my previous seasons. Anyways, here is how we got on: Super 8 Cup- Got to the final pretty straightforwardly but lost out to Kaiser Chiefs on penalties. We are not a very good penalty-taking team and it's always irritating to lose to the Chiefs. KO Cup- The one constant in any season in South Africa is that I win this trophy. This was my 5th as we blew through the competition, winning it by smashing Golden Arrows 4-0 in the final. Confederations Cup- We won every game in our group and made it all the way to the final pretty easily where we defeated fellow South Africans Ajax CT in the final. So i've won an African continental trophy just not the right one! I thought this would serve as a perfect rehearsal for our Champions League campaign but it was not to be. African Super Cup- Won 4-2 away to defending CL winners ES Tunis which further boosted my optimism for our CL campaign... Champions League- We destroyed Iarivo 21-0 on aggregate before drawing, incredibly, Kaiser Chiefs in the first round. A very irritating and unlucky tie followed, and we were dumped out of the CL as soon as we had entered it. I hate Kaiser Chiefs very much. Next year will be our year! League- Looked like we were going to walk it easily and perhaps even go unbeaten but after our CL exit our form disintegrated completely. Luckily we were able to limp over the line and still win the title, beating 2nd place Ajax CT 4-0 in the last game to top it off. South African FA Cup- Made it to the semi finals quite easily where we faced second division side Baroka FC. This was right after our CL exit when our form was in freefall so we finished at 1-1 and proceeded to lose on penalties. Kaiser Chiefs went on to win the final of course. Best Players: Top goalscorer- William Tsotetsi (24 goals, 9 assists, 6 POM) and Siyabulela Sihlangu (24 goals, 11 assists, 6 POM). Sihlangu is an incredibly talented wonderkid who is doing well but wasn;t quite as amazing as I was expecting this season. He was unhappy for most of it of course as I forced him to stay amid huge offers from overseas clubs. I highly doubt he will stay at the club for next season as much as i'd like him to. Tsotetsi is a veteran striker and not a regular starter but does well in the games he is given so credit to him for retaining the top goalscorer award. My other 3 strikers combined for 41 more goals, so a lot of rotation occurred. Most assists + highest avg rating- Shaun Masilela (14 goals, 22 assists, 7 POM, 7.94) Wide midfielder who did really well this season. He got 7 assists in the same game in the Champions League prelim round. Most POM- Masilela and Matar Camara (13 goals, 9 assists, 7 POM) These guys play in the same position unfortunately so I can't play them at the same time! Transfers Results Results 2 So overall while we did really well overall and played some great football, it is still a disappointing season because of the Champions League. It will be our #1 focus again next season so hopefully we can put in a better effort next time. I think next year could be our year. We do need to rebuild over the summer though, as we are lacking a bit of depth in defence as well as a key central midfielder. I'm sure that many of my best players will be poached over the summer, especially Sihlangu so I can see 10 million+ coming in, the problem is finding players that are willing to join us so that we can spend it! On the international side of things it is going pretty well with Nigeria, we won the CHAN and we have already qualified for the ACON with 2 games in hand. That will be my next opportunity to win a trophy for the challenge. Season Team Position Champs League Notes and Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17 Royal Eagles 2nd - Promoted to South African Premier League 2017/18 Royal Eagles 1st - KO Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2018/19 Royal Eagles 2nd - FA Cup runners up, CL qualification, CL ongoing 2019/20 Royal Eagles 1st Semi Final KO Cup winners, FA Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2020/21 Royal Eagles -- Semi Final KO Cup winners, Super 8 runners up, left halfway through season for Molde 2021 Molde 1st - Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2022 Molde -- - Undefeated and 1st in the league when I left for Genk 2022/23 Genk 1st - EL Semi finalists 2023/24 Genk 2nd Group Stage Super Cup winners, Cup runners up, EL Quarter finalists 2024/25 Genk 1st Playoff Cup winners, CL qualification 2025/26 Saint Etienne 3rd - Supercup winners, Cup runners up, EL Semi finals, MOTS, CL qualification 2026/27 Saint Etienne 3rd Playoff Cup winners, EL Quarter finals, CL qualification 2027 Jeonbuk 1st Semi Final Took over in 6th position, CL qualification 2028 Jeonbuk 1st CHAMPIONS Cup winners, MOTS, FA cup best manager, CL qualification, 5th in CWC 2029/30 Tigres 1st + 2nd - Cup winners, Libertadores qualification, MOTS 2030/31 Tigres 1st + 1st CHAMPIONS x2 Quintuple winners, CWC qualification, double CL qualification again, MOTS 2031/32 Tigres 3/4th + 1st 2nd Round + runner up Recopa winners, CWC Champions, NACL runners up 2032/33 Roma 4th 1st KO Round Cup semis, CL qualification 2033/34 Roma 1st 1st KO Round Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification 2034/35 BMG 1st 1st KO Round Cup semis, CL qualification 2036/37 Chelsea 2nd 1st KO Round EFL Cup runners up, FA Cup semis, CL qualification 2037/38 Chelsea 2nd 1st KO Round FA Cup winners, EFL Cup runners up, CL qualification 2038/39 Chelsea 1st 1st KO Round MOTS, CL qualification 2039/40 Chelsea 2nd Semi Final CL qualification 2040/41 Barcelona 1st 1st KO Round CL qualification, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS runner-up 2041/42 Barcelona 1st Runners Up Unbeaten in the League, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS, CL qual. 2042/43 PSG 1st CHAMPIONS Cup winners x2, Supercup winners, CL qualification 2043/44 PSG 1st 1st KO Round CWC winners, French + Euro Supercup winners, CL qualification 2044/45 Celtic 1st - Cup winners, CL qualification 2045/46 Sundowns 4th - FA Cup runners up 2046/47 Sundowns 1st - Domestic quadruple winners, CL qualification 2047/48 Sundowns 1st 1st Round KO Cup winners, African Confed winners, African Supercup winners, CL qual. Challenge Progress Club 10/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde, Belgium- Genk, South Korea- Jeonbuk, Mexico- Tigres, Italy- Roma, Germany- BMG, England- Chelsea, Spain- Barcelona, France- PSG) 10/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde, Belgian Cup- Genk, Coupe de la Ligue(France)- Saint Etienne, Korean FA Cup- Jeonbuk, Mexican Cup Opening Stage- Tigres, Italian Cup- Roma, FA Cup- Chelsea, Copa del Rey- Barcelona, Scottish Cup- Celtic) 4/5 club continental championships (Asian CL- Jeonbuk 2028, Copa Libertadores- Tigres 2031, NACL- Tigres 2031 Champions League- PSG 2043) 1/1 club world championship (Tigres 2031) International 3/5 continental tournaments (Copa America 2031- Brazil, Gold Cup 2035- Mexico, European Championship 2040- Spain) 2/2 world tournaments (Confederations Cup 2033- Brazil, World Cup 2034- Brazil) International: Season Team Notes and Achievements ---------------------------------------------------------- 2018 China U23 Won Asian Games 2019 Cameroon Started ACON qualification, switched to Algeria 2019 Algeria Resigned after 2 games 2021 Nigeria Qualified for world cup, ACON qualification ongoing 2022 Nigeria Knocked out of World Cup in group stage, resigned 2023 Ivory Coast Started World Cup and ACON qualifying 2024 Ivory Coast Qualified for ACON 2025 Ivory Coast Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned 2026 Ghana Qualified for ACON 2027 Ghana ACON runners up, resigned 2028 SK + France U23 Won U23 Asian Cup, Olympic silver medallists 2029 Brazil Qualified for World Cup 2030 Brazil 4th in World Cup 2031 Brazil Copa America Winners! 2032 Brazil Qualified for World Cup 2033 Brazil Confederations Cup Winners! 2034 Brazil World Cup Winners! 2035 Mexico Gold Cup Winners! 2036 Spain Started World Cup qualifying 2037 Spain Qualified unbeaten for the World Cup 2038 Spain World Cup runners-up 2039 Spain European International League Div.A Winners! 2040 Spain European Championship Winners! 2041 Ivory Coast Missed out on World Cup qualification on goal difference 2042 Ivory Coast Qualified for ACON 2043 Ivory Coast Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned 2044 Egypt CHAN runners-up 2045 Egypt Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned 2046 Senegal Knocked out of World Cup in quarter finals 2047 Senegal ACON runners-up, resigned 2048 Nigeria CHAN Winners, qualified for ACON Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 (edited) 2024/25 Season Review - Cruz Azul Another season down and I have to admit this has been a tough one, let's start with the Mexican Comps then move onto the NACL. Mexican Opening Stage - It started off oh so well, we smashed the majority ending top of the league as we headed into the play-offs, the wheels then came off, we scraped through the Quarter final 1-0 on aggregate against Tolouca then we came up against Leon in the semi final and were knocked out 3-1 on aggregate. A really poor end to what was a good half of the season. Mexican Closing Stage - This is where it got weird, draw after draw after draw. After 11 games we hadn't lost a game but had drawn 7 games, this put us down in 6th place. We then lost our first game against Tigres, then lost again and with 3 games left we still hadn't guaranteed a play-off spot. 3 games to save our domestic season and possibly 3 games to save my job. The rumours were circulating that I wasn't going to get offered a new contract. 1st up we played Jaguares away, poor again 0-0 draw. This put us 4 points clear of 9th place with 2 games left. Next up a home game against top of the league Monterray, a 2-0 defeat. What is going on?!?!? Luckily due to other results we had scraped into the play-offs with 1 game to spare. We also lost our final game 3-2 to America(Mex). So to the play-offs and we were to play Leon in the Quarters, confidence was at 0 but somehow in the lst leg at Home we absolutely hammered them 4-0, where the hell did that come from???! On to the away leg and my god did we capitulate, we somehow managed to lose the game 4-0, 4-4 on aggregate and now for the most disgraceful rule I've ever witnessed! We were out due to Leon being the higher seed!!!!! Season over, thanks Mexican FA and you sh*tty rules! NACL - Right it's the big one, the competition we need to move out of North America and tick off step 3 of the 5 Continental CLs. It started really well, a relatively easy group was drawn, we had to play Marathon (Honduras) and Verdes FC (Belize). We won all 4 games to top the group and qualify for the Quarters where we would face MLS side New York FC. The first leg was sensational as we smashed them 3-0 away, the 2nd leg not so exciting as it ended 0-0 but we were through pretty comfortably. When the draw came out for the Semis I was worried and scared, all 4 teams were Mexican and the way our league form had gone I knew it was going to be very very tough! We were drawn against Monterray, a team I never seem to beat. Home first, score? 1-1, now it just got a whole lot tougher. The away leg came round just as the form in the Mexican Closing Stage was going downhill, I attempted to play slightly more defensive and try and hold them off but it was a HUGE mistake, we lost the game 2-0 and never really got going. Out in the Semis isn't bad but I really hoped after last season we would have a serious chance of winning it. The Next Step - As mentioned earlier it was looking highly likely my contract wasn't going to get extended, it's now May 4th and I still have no offer on the table. Seeing as how the season has gone and the fact we are not in the NACL I'm cutting my losses and will not renew my deal and go looking for a new job. I have added the MLS but that doesn't come into the game until December 2025 but I also have Argentina loaded. So a job in either of those would be great or a job with one of the better Mexican clubs. I'm gutted how the season has ended, I was full of confidence when it started but I think it shows you how poor the club as a whole are compared to the bigger boys in Mexico Chile Update - I really feel I've made a massive mess of the International side of this, I took over Chile and have only just realised I have another 2 years until the Copa America and currently 1 year until the World Cup which at the moment is tough and go whether we will qualify. 4 games left we sit in 4th but 5th and 6th are only 1 point behind us. Our last game was a sensational 1-0 win away to Argentina which has put us top of the chasing pack for the final qualification spot. So we should qualify for the World Cup but we don't have a chance in hell of winning it. I may as well stick about now for the Copa America, I've stayed for 2 years so may as well at least see out the tournament then move on to a better job. Season Team Position Notes and Achievements 17/18 Thanda Royal Zulu 1st South African 1st Division Champs 18/19 Thanda Royal Zulu 1st South African Premier Division Champs 19/20 Thanda Royal Zulu 2nd SA Knockout Cup and Super 8 Winner 2021 Thanda Royal Zulu African Champions League Winners 2022 Shanggang 1st Chinese Super League, Chinese Cup and Asian Champions League Winners 23/24 Cruz Azul 4th/4th Mexican Opening Stage and Mexican Cup Champions 24/25 Cruz Azul 1st/6th Nothing Won! Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2019, China - Shanggang 2022, Mexico - Cruz Azul 2024) 3/10 domestic cups (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2020, China - Shanggang 2022, Mexico - Cruz Azul 2024) 2/5 club continental championships (Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2021, Asian - Shanggang 2022) 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments () 0/2 world tournaments () Edited July 15, 2017 by Cheekybananafm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 2026 World Cup - Chile Yes that's right I;ve managed to play 12 months in only an hour or so! Why? Well mainly because I quit from Cruz Azul and haven't had nay interesting job offers. So much so that I've added England, Germany and Spain to give me more chance of a job. So to the World Cup 2026 hosted in the good old US of A. Chile were seeded 3rd and luckily we were given a pretty easy group. Host USA, Wales and Japan stood in our way Group Stage - We started off brilliantly beating USA 1-0 and then Wales 4-0 to guarantee qualification to the knockouts with a game to spare. The final game against Japan I rested a lot of players and we ended up losing the game 4-3 even though we were 3-1 up! 2nd Round - We topped our group so therefore played a 2 placed team in the next round which would be a tough ask against Mexico. We lead the game twice but both times Mexico pegged us back, in the end the score was 2-2 and it went to penalties and we decided to take our like the England of old, missing all 3 of ours, Mexico scored all their 3 and we were knocked out. A shocking way to end the tournament. Really disappointing. I'm going to stick around just to do the Copa America UNLESS a really big job crops up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 15, 2017 Share Posted July 15, 2017 A very quick update. Its taken well over 12 months but I've eventually been offered a new job, it's gonna be a short one (I hope) but I've absolutely fell on my feet with this one. After all the leagues I've loaded to give myself a better chance of a job it ends up that I go back to Mexico Yep that's right I'm going back to Mexico to take over my nemesis at Cruz Azul. Monterray lost their manager just after the 26/27 season started because he decided to take over Argentina. What a job to get. In the NACL. Top of the Opening Stage after 3 games, £10.7m to spend on players and a squad massively better than anything else in Mexico or North America. So the plan is (seeing as I've already won the Mexican League and Cup) is to win the Opening Stage, qualify for the Copa Libertadores. Then I really should win the NACL in 1 season, as long as nothing untoward happens. I also have my shot at the Copa Lib which is a bonus. This should be a 1 season stop then I can move on knowing North America is done and complete! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
numero uno gunner Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 @Cheekybananafm - that's definitely a stroke of luck! I think you should manage to wrap up the NACL pretty quickly with Monterray. It's always a nice feeling when you tick off a continent domestically. @Fadedaf - Africa really isn't your favourite place, is it? I hope you manage to put together a strong enough team to win the Champions League next season. Good luck at the ACON too! @vikeologist - Glad to see you've come back to the challenge. Are you looking forward to the Champions League? Did you jump ship? @YellowLittle - That's a huge jump, and should do wonders for your reputation! Whilst I can't imagine that you'll win the league with Norwich, it might provide you with a good springboard to a better job a little down the line (providing you do a good job of course!). @dkouv - Congratulations on your win with England (no mean feat considering our ability to implode at major championships). What's next on the horizon? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren1983 Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 I recently reached a plateau with my Youth only save (27 seasons and stuck in the championship after 11 seasons has drained me) and have struggled to find a new save so thought I'd give this one a go as never really done a journeyman type save. Anyway, after going on Holiday it took me 6/7 months to get a job in South Africa where I became manager of; Was a good job to get with a media prediction of 2nd, I took over with them in 6th, with 13 games to play (nearly half a season) I was confident we got grab a playoff place, team took my tactics really well and we won 2 and drew one of my first 3 games in charge, without conceding a goal, we of course then conceded 2 in our next game to hand a first defeat. After that we had to wait 3 1/2 weeks till our next match by which time we were 7th, after the enforced break we started to grind out results, with 5 to go we beat the then leaders Milano United to move into the playoffs, with 3 to go a win over mid table Tuks saw us hit top spot, 2 wins from our final 3 saw us clinch the title by a point. Promotion in 1st season was great, one less season spent in Africa the better. Season Club League Position Achievements 2016/17 AmaZulu NDF 1st Title and promotion 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...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 2026/27 Review - Monterray Yep that's right another update already! I have to say I've suddenly got a second wind on this save and I'm loving it. As I said in my previous update I had fell on my feet with the Monterray job and wanted to make this a one season stop to win the NACL. So I won't mess about, we did amazing in the Opening and Closing Mexican league stages winning both only losing 2 games over the whole season but I knew that would be easy! It's all about the NACL so let's not hang about. North American Champions League Group Stage - We were drawn in a very easy group. A team from Guatemala and a team from Belize, we won all 4 games, scoring 21 and conceding 0! Quarter Finals - A tricky tie against New York City, hell no we absolutely smashed them, The away leg 8-1 to us and the home leg 5-0 so 13-1 on aggregate. Absolutely crazy, I thought we would win but that away leg exceeded anything I ever expected. Semi Finals - Onto the semis and once again it was an all Mexican line-up, we were drawn again Pachuca, away leg first and once again we dominated, the scoreline was 4-1 but it should've been a lot more. The home leg was rubbish but it didn't matter, we just needed to see the game out and that's what we did. It ended 1-1 and we were through 5-2 on aggregate Final - The big one, hopefully my final 2 games in North America, standing in our way was Tigres, probably the hardest team we could've got, they are 2nd in the league behind us so it's going to be tough. Once again the first leg was away and it was very cagey, not many chances and not much action. Tigres took the lad after 33 minutes then sat back and soaked up our pressure, we couldn't find a way through and the game ended 1-0. Then to the home leg, we had to be careful, we couldn't afford to concede but had to attack. I went with my tried and trusted 4231 formation and it worked a treat, we scored just before halftime to level the tie and scored 2 more goals in the second half to win the game 3-0 and 3-1 on aggregate. WE ARE NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONS! I always expected to win it although it was tough towards the end. And my one season with Monterray is over, it's now time to move on and try and win either the South American or European Champions Leagues before finishing off the other leagues I need to win. What is more important at the moment is trying to tick off some of the international competitions which I currently haven't won any! The 2027 Copa American is coming up with Chile and hopefully we have a decent chance of challenging for the title after that I'll be looking for a bigger and better international job to try and win some trophies quickly. I'll hopefully be updating you very soon with either the Copa America or a new domestic job Season Team Position Notes and Achievements 17/18 Thanda Royal Zulu 1st South African 1st Division Champs 18/19 Thanda Royal Zulu 1st South African Premier Division Champs 19/20 Thanda Royal Zulu 2nd SA Knockout Cup and Super 8 Winner 2021 Thanda Royal Zulu African Champions League Winners 2022 Shanggang 1st Chinese Super League, Chinese Cup and Asian Champions League Winners 23/24 Cruz Azul 4th/4th Mexican Opening Stage and Mexican Cup Champions 24/25 Cruz Azul 1st/6th Nothing Won! 26/27 Monterray 1st/1st Opening/Closing Stage Winner and NACL Winners Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2019, China - Shanggang 2022, Mexico - Cruz Azul 2024) 3/10 domestic cups (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2020, China - Shanggang 2022, Mexico - Cruz Azul 2024) 3/5 club continental championships (Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2021, Asian - Shanggang 2022, North America - Monterray 2027) 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments () 0/2 world tournaments () Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 I feel like I'm hogging this thread at the moment, sorry for all the updates but I'm gripped to this save at the moment and can't put it down! Anyway this is a double update, firstly the 2027 Copa America and secondly the new job I have Copa America 2027 - Chile We were handed a pretty decent group, Bolivia, Venezuela and Brazil stood in our way so I was hopeful of qualifying through to the Quarters. It started really well, we beat Venezuela 3-2 and then smashed Bolivia 3-0. Lastly was Brazil, we only had to draw to top the group as they had previously drawn Venezuela 0-0. A draw was the result, we scored early but Brazil equalised and the game ended 1-1 which meant we went through in 1st place. Because of this I was hopeful of a slightly easier draw in the Quarters but it wasn't meant to be, we had drawn Argentina! An early red card screwed us and we ended up losing the game 3-1. A poor way to end what started off as a bright tournament. So I'm quitting as Chile manager after just over 3 years in charge. Another international where I've won nothing so next time I'm going to be very careful on the job I take, I need a really good chance of winning silverware or I'll be stuck at the end of the save trying to tick off international trophies. So after the Copa America I was jobless but hopeful of getting a new job pretty quickly. I have Argentina, England, Germany and Spain loaded currently and with my rep at 75% I felt In could get a decent job. I also wanted to make sure as mentioned earlier that I got an international job which gave me a proper decent shot at a trophy. Very soon after I quit Chile, an international role became available that took my fancy and it's back to Africa with the Ivory Coast. Currently ranked 26th in the world they are ranked as the 2nd best African team. We are just about to start African Nations Cup 2029 Qualifying and the squad looks pretty decent. I am still waiting for any job to come up domestically but I want to make sure it's the right job which gives me the best chance of quick success, hopefully there will be another update very soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowLittle Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 (edited) 2017/2018 Season - League Two - Stevenage I started this season with Stevenage after missing out on the play-off's last season and it was a quite incredible start to the season winning 10 of the first 11 games. I got knocked out of the EFL Cup in the 2nd round but I did get to the 4th round of the FA Cup which bought a bit of money to the club. Along the way I beat League 1 Bradford and AFC Wimbledon and also Championship Cardiff City; unfortunately I was stopped by Premier League Swansea City but a decent achievement for a League 2 club. Things didn't really slow down and was storming the league by a mile. With 35 games gone and top of the league by 11 points and also 14 points clear of automatic promotion my favourite club Norwich came calling. Firstly I was surprisingly linked to the job (despite not being linked to any jobs prior) and of course it's a huge step up, so I applied and remarkably I got the job. 2017/2018 Season - Premier League - Norwich City So obviously I took the job. I took over with the club in 18th place with 27 points, 3 points off 17th place Swansea (AGAIN), 9 games to go. I took 12 points from those 9 games. Which is 1.33 points per game, not too bad for a team in the relegation zone. We beat Chelsea and Man City at home and finished the season with 39 points. Unfortunately it was not enough and finished 2 points off 17th place, it went down to the last game of the season and we lost to Leicester City at home. A fairly good effort, I am disappointed to be relegated but going from Stevenage to Norwich in one season is a massive boost so I can't complain too much. Norwich have some decent players and are not broke so next season I will be confident of bouncing back after a bit of a rebuild. The World Cup will be happening this summer so hopefully I'll kick off my international career from the fallout of the tournament! Season | Team |Position | Notes and Acheivements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016/17| Stevenage |10th | Took over with 24 games left in 19th position 2017/18| Stevanage |1st | Left for Norwich job after 35 games 2017/18| Norwich |18th | Relegated Edited July 17, 2017 by YellowLittle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Quick Update So after 3 seasons at Everton and getting 6th.6th and 5th the 3 seasons I was there, also winning the Europa League, League and FA Cup as well I decided to leave and take over at Schalke, I felt like I was never going to win the league with Everton so leaving the English Prem for now, want to have a crack at the German league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
yugular Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Nice to see people making progress! I will continue my career propably next month when kids are back in school etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 (edited) @YellowLittle Hope you can bounce straight back up. Not many people incorporate a relegation into their challenge, but obviously not your fault. @Ronaldo Beckham Congrats on your continued success. You're racking up quite a few clubs. Once you get to 10 trophies, try to include info to help me put you on the leader board. @Cheekybananafm Talking of; just one more trophy and you'll be on the leader board. It is bad when you miss out on the international trophies, but hopefully you'll stand a good chance with Ivory Coast. Your Copa Libertadores still working? @darren1983 Have you never tried this challenge before. I'm surprised, maybe because you're so familiar to me on the challenge threads generally. I also reached a plateau with the youth challenge. I'd gone backwards a little bit in fact after losing probably the best Russian player of any generation. Hope you enjoy the challenge. In many ways it's the opposite of the youth challenge. Intakes and facilities don't matter; win now, forget later. @Fadedaf What happened to Royal eagles in the years you were away from South Africa. It would be worse if even after 20 or so years, it was them knocking you out of the CL every year. Just noticed that you started your international career with China U23 winning the Asian Games as well. I feel a little bit less special now. I'm in the UK for a while now, and (very unlike in China) this site works perfectly here. Clearly the Chinese government are desperately trying to rack this thread and figure out what secrets we're sharing while keeping up this ridiculous pretence of discussing a computer game. Edited July 18, 2017 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 2 minutes ago, vikeologist said: @YellowLittle Hope you can bounce straight back up. Not many people incorporate a relegation into their challenge, but obviously not your fault. @Ronaldo Beckham Congrats on your continued success. You're racking up quite a few clubs. Once you get to 10 trophies, try to include info to help me put you on the leader board. @Cheekybananafm Talking of; just one more trophy and you'll be on the leader board. It is bad when you miss out on the international trophies, but hopefully you'll stand a good chance with Ivory Coast. Your Copa Libertadores still working? @darren1983 Have you never tried this challenge before. I'm surprised, maybe because you're so familiar to me on the challenge threads generally. I also reached a plateau with the youth challenge. I'd gone backwards a little bit in fact after losing probably the best Russian player of any generation. Hope you enjoy the challenge. In many ways it's the opposite of the youth challenge. Intakes and facilities don't matter; win now, forget later. @Fadedaf What happened to Royal eagles in the years you were away from South Africa. It would be worse if even after 20 or so years, it was them knocking you out of the CL every year. Just noticed that you started your international career with China U23 winning the Asian Games as well. I feel a little bit less special now. Yep cops libertadores still working. 12 months after I quit Monterray and I'm still waiting for a new domestic job. Think I may have to lower my expectations as my rep is dropping rapidly! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 Just now, Cheekybananafm said: Yep cops libertadores still working. 12 months after I quit Monterray and I'm still waiting for a new domestic job. Think I may have to lower my expectations as my rep is dropping rapidly! Do you only have South American leagues loaded, or do you have the big 5 euro ones as well. Are you applying for jobs but not getting them, or are there just too few vacancies? At the end of last season I loaded about 4 or 5 new leagues. As it happens, I don't want a new job just yet, because my work at Dalian is not finished yet, but there have been about 2 jobs in the new nations have come up in about 7 months. Not good jobs, any jobs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 37 minutes ago, vikeologist said: Do you only have South American leagues loaded, or do you have the big 5 euro ones as well. Are you applying for jobs but not getting them, or are there just too few vacancies? At the end of last season I loaded about 4 or 5 new leagues. As it happens, I don't want a new job just yet, because my work at Dalian is not finished yet, but there have been about 2 jobs in the new nations have come up in about 7 months. Not good jobs, any jobs. I have Argentina and the big 5 euro leagues and Scotland loaded. There jist any viable jobs going. Chelsea and man city came up but they laughed me off. Other than that it's low down top division teams Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 @vikeologist what information do you need mate ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 @vikeologist Royal eagles won a few trophies including the league and even the african confederations cup since I left them, and are now a pretty solid mid table side. Interestingly, both them and the other team promoted ahead of us in 2017, Jomo Cosmos, have never been relegated since then. It does feel weird to be playing against the Eagles but we do usually beat them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fadedaf Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Faded's ACON 2049 Report So another ACON with another team! Could this be the time I finally win it? probably not going off my past experiences but you never know I guess. This Nigeria team is on paper very capable of winning the competition, with incredibly talented young players coming through all over the place as well. Our only pre-tournament friendly was a straightforward 3-0 win over Guinea and we've drawn a group containing Mozambique, Angola and Tunisia. Anyways here is how we went: Group Stage Spoiler Nigeria 1-1 Mozambique (goal from Uzochukwu) A really bad start. We dominated and should have won comfortably but could only manage a draw against a very poor Mozambique side. Luckily Tunisia drew with Angola in the other game but still this is worrying. Nigeria 4-0 Angola (goals from Uzochukwu x3, Adeniyi) Much better, even though 2 of our goals came from penalties. A solid win and now we just need a point against Tunisia to secure a place in the next round. Nigeria 2-3 Tunisia (goals from Adekunle and Dumaka) Another disappointing result. We've luckily scraped into the next round on goal difference but I don't like our chances. We're up against Ghana. Quarter final (if applicable) Spoiler Nigeria e4-3 Ghana (goals from Uzochukwu x2, Usman, Ameobi) I'm not sure how we won this but we did! we went behind 3 seperate times but kept coming back and won it superbly in extra time! Unfortunately my star striker Uzochukwu injured himself and is out for the tournament along with my best centre mid. On to Algeria in the semis! Semi final (if applicable) Spoiler Nigeria 1-2 Algeria (goal from Adekunle) And we're out. In addition to 2 of my best players being injured for this game, it turns out that 2 more of my centre mids had gotten themselves suspended for this match. This meant I had only my 4th choice centre mid in a formation that requires 2 centre mids. I was forced into playing one of my fullbacks as a defensive midfielder in a slightly altered formation but without all our best players we just couldn't do it. They scored the winner in the 82nd minute to break our hearts. Third place playoff (if applicable) Spoiler Nigeria 1-2 Cameroon (goal from Nkwankwo) Instant-resulted this but we lost of course after going down to 10 men. Final (if applicable) Spoiler Aftermath Spoiler Well another failure at the ACON. I'm not surprised whatsoever, after 6 ACON failures what's another couple more. I'll see you again in 2 years you horrible lottery of a competition! I'd also like to remind everyone that this is actually my second challenge attempt and during my first, one of the only three trophies I won was the ACON, at the first attempt as well! I'm tempted to stay on with Nigeria as they have some very talented youngsters but i'm also tempted to take the South Africa job that just came up, as they are a team I have not yet managed and I could get the chance to use some of my best Sundowns and ex-Sundowns players. On the club side of things it's all going pretty well, although the transfers are just as ruthless. Deadline day saw 4 players leave the club and 5 come in in under 24 hours which just shows how crazy things have gotten. The Champions League is finally about to start again and if I can at least reach the group stage this time i'll start getting my hopes up a bit more. I have no doubt that we are the best team in Africa, we just need to show it! As a result of a few outgoing wonderkids we've been able to test ourselves against 2 German Bundesliga teams in friendlies and ended up with a win and a draw, so our quality is definitely there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 A new job!!! Eventually! It's taken 18 months but I've finally been offered a domestic job! I'm not going to lie it's been really really frustrating, so much so I was close to giving up as I just couldn't get a job. I was interviewed for 4 jobs in Argentina, all 4 I was unsuccessful. So I had to lower my expectations. I have REALLY lowered my expectations!!!!! We are off to Scotland!!! Obviously not the biggest team but they are predicted to end 3rd, are in the Europa League and I have a £2m transfer kitty. To me it's better to have a job than no job so let's just see how it goes, I'll keep an eye on the available jobs as I go, if something bigger turns up then I'll apply. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Just won the Asian Cup with Australia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkouv Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 @numero uno gunner Thanks - I'm staying with England for now to have a go at the World Cup, if we don't win it I might jump ship because a few of the best players are getting old. And still trying to tick off the Spanish trophies with Las Palmas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
numero uno gunner Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Season 2027/2028 Orlando Pirates and USA Frustrating. That's the word which sums up this season. Yes, we won the SA Knockout cup (and so have another trophy to tick off the list, so to speak) but this season had the potential to be so, so much more. With 12 games to go this season, we were only three points behind leaders Kaizer Chiefs. Whilst we weren't exactly setting the league alight, we were winning games, and looked like genuine title challengers. And then the wheels fell off in the most spectacular of fashions. 6 points from the last available 36 tells you all you need to know. Injuries galore haven't helped at all, and I will have to take another look at the squad in the summer. If I'm going to pick up so many injuries, I need to be looking at a bigger squad. I'm not hugely enjoying my time in Africa, truth be told. I think if the chance comes along to move, I may do so and come back to South Africa later on in the save. Internationally, I've stayed with the USA for now, and we're on course for World Cup 2030 qualification so far. The Euros are about to happen, so I may end up moving if a decent job comes along, otherwise I'll take Team USA to the Confederations Cup next summer and see what damage we can cause. Club Season Team Position Notes and Achievements 2016/17 Dungannon 9th Irish Cup winners, Mid-Ulster Cup winners 2018 Sligo Rovers 1st League winners! 2019 Tianjin 1st League winners! 2020 Tianjin 8th FA Cup winners! Champions League winners! 2021 Montreal 4th League (MLS Cup) winners! 2022 Montreal 1st Won MLS Supporters' Shield, currently in last 8 of NACL 2023 Montreal N/A NACL winners! 2023 Palmeiras 9th Brazilian Cup winners! 2024/25 Ajax 1st League winners! 2025/26 Unemployed 2026/27 Orlando Pirates 8th Took over with 10 games to go. 2027/28 Orlando Pirates 4th SA Knockout Cup winners! Challenge Progress Club 4/10 top domestic leagues - Republic of Ireland (Sligo), China (Tianjin), USA (Montreal), Netherlands (Ajax) 4/10 domestic cups - Northern Ireland (Dungannon), China (Tianjin), Brazil (Palmeiras), South Africa (Orlando Pirates) 2/5 club continental championships - Asian Champions League (Tianjin), NACL (Montreal Impact) 0/1 club world championship - International 2/5 continental tournaments - African Cup of Nations (Ivory Coast 2023), North American Gold Cup (USA 2027) 0/2 world tournaments - Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 On 18/07/2017 at 09:56, Ronaldo Beckham said: @vikeologist what information do you need mate ? Domestic Season Team Position Notes Challenge Landmarks 2016 Dalian Yifang 7th Took over for last 2 matches of the season 2017 Dalian Yifang 2nd Promted to Chinese Super League 2018 Dalian Yifang 5th Won FA Cup and therefore qualification to CL group stage. 2019 Dalian Yifang 1st International Year Team Achievements 2018 China U23 Asian Games 2019 Some African country Challenge Progress Club 1/10 top domestic leagues (China) 1/10 domestic cups (China) 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments This kind of table, or at least the challenge progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 (edited) 17 hours ago, Cheekybananafm said: A new job!!! I have REALLY lowered my expectations!!!!! Obviously not the biggest team... To me it's better to have a job than no job so let's just see how it goes, Awa' n bile your head, ye wee cheeky bampot of a banana. May I have the name of your favourite (childhood) team, should the opportunity to manage and disparage present itself. Edited July 19, 2017 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
numero uno gunner Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Strange summer has seen new managers at Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, Juventus, Monaco, Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid, France and Spain. I was hoping this might lead to a knock on effect where some of the next tier down clubs (your Evertons, Lyons and Napolis) of this world might have vacancies, but it seems like all the top clubs have just swapped managers instead. I've been offered the Poland job, and they have some excellent players, but I'm going to turn it down and take Team USA to the Confederations Cup instead. With no new job on the horizon, looks like I'm going to go on a spending spree (with my pot of £3m) at Orlando Pirates. If I can convince anyone to join us, that is... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 (edited) Is it this ok @vikeologist Domestic Season Team Position Competitions Won 2016/17 Bangor City 4th JD Welsh Cup 2017/18 Glentotan 1st Danske Bank Premier, N.Irish Cup 2018/19 Tamworth ( Quit half way through sesson) 2018/19 Cove Rangers 8th 2019/20 Cove Rangers ( Left half way through to take over RKC ) 2020/21 RKC Waalwijk 10th in the Dutch 2nd division but managed to get promoted. 2021/22 RKC Waalwijk ( Left to take over Ajax 2021/22 Ajax 3rd 2022/23 Ajax 1st KNVB Eredivise 2023/24 Wycombe ( Left Ajax and managed Wycombe for a bit before taking over at Everton) 2023/24 Everton 5th UEFA Europa League 2024/25 Everton 6th 2025/26 Everton 5th EFL and FA Cup double 2026/27 Everton ( Left part way through the season to take over Schalke) 2026/27 Schalke Currently top with 5 games to go. International Season Team Position Competition Won 2021-2023 Senegal African Cup Of Nations + African Championship Of Nations 2023-2027 Australia Asian Nations Cup Edited July 19, 2017 by Ronaldo Beckham Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 @Ronaldo Beckham It's great, but it's really the number of trophies in each category (Challenge progress at the bottom) that I need. I think you're on 8 trophies at the moment, are you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 I did the trophies part in the competitions won part, have I done it wrong then, sorry mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 15 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said: I did the trophies part in the competitions won part, have I done it wrong then, sorry mate. But you've included competitions that don't count towards the challenge, and I don't know whether every competition counts towards the challenge. Honestly, do things how you want. I just need the challenge progress if I'm going to include you in the leader board, once you get to 10. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Oh ok sorry I was just listing all competitions won even if they aren't in the challenge, I have just won the German League title with Schalke so you can tick that one off, going to try France or Spain next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
numero uno gunner Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 @vikeologist - I think I make the Schalke title for @Ronaldo Beckham his 8th trophy (3 league titles in N.Ireland, Holland and Germany, 3 cup wins in Wales, N.Ireland and England, plus the ACON and Asian Cup internationally). Europa League doesn't count, and you can only have one cup from each nation so one of the English cup wins doesn't count either. Is that right? @Ronaldo Beckham - One piece of advice I would give you at this stage is that if you're jumping from club to club after winning the league, you're going to end up chasing cup wins at the end of the challenge. Just one to bear in mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 5 hours ago, vikeologist said: Awa' n bile your head, ye wee cheeky bampot of a banana. May I have the name of your favourite (childhood) team, should the opportunity to manage and disparage present itself. My team is Northampton town mate always supported them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Cheers for the advice Numero Uno Gunner, I am now the manager of Marseille. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 I know this aint included in the challenge but I just won the East Asia cup with China. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikeologist Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 (edited) Vikeologist's Dalian Yifang (and new nation and club) 2019 Report We were knocked out of the Champions League 8-6 on aggregate by another Chinese side, reigning league champions Jiangsu. We signed 2 players (including our top scorer Bruninho discussed below) after the Champions League registration which is ridiculously early, and just the once a year. We may have won the CL if I’d had them available. We’d probably have won it anyway if we’d got past Jiangsu as we won 15 and drew 1 of the following matches until I left. We won the league with 3 matches to go. I worried that I’d made a mistake not taking the Evergrande job, as they were formidable and kept up with us for the first half of the season, but our 13 matches won in a row to secure the title meant that they didn’t stand a chance. We were also in the FA Cup semi-final, with a 2-0 lead from the first leg, so would almost certainly have been in the final against Evergrande with a shot at the double. But that would have meant playing another season just to win the Champions League. If I’m going to complete the challenge, I’ll have to get it at some point, but maybe I’ll be able to take over a Korean side later and also grab another league or cup if I need one. Anyway I’d had a couple of interviews with good clubs during the season, but told them I’d have to take over at the end of the season. When the chance came up with U de Chile, it was too good to pass up, because I kind of support them. To be fair, I support a lot of teams, and really I only supported them for the 9 months or so I lived in Santiago, but I don’t think I’ve ever managed them in FM. I also want to win the Libertadores quickly before it stops working. I’ve taken over with 4 matches of the season left and everything to play for domestically. We’re in 5th place, and the top 4 qualify for the Libertadores. We’re also in the Q/F of the cup, although we lost the first leg at home, so it will be a slightly more honourable doing a Vike if I end up winning it. I’m going to state now that the U de Chile squad is rubbish, so this probably won’t be a short-term project. The second leg of the cup will be my debut, so straight into the fire. Obviously a bit sad to leave Yifang. I’ve also lived in Dalian, so thus far I’m just managing teams from places I’ve lived in. Unfortunately I’m not going to be able to do that for the whole challenge as I’ve never lived in Africa, (not to mention Spain, Germany and France). Maybe technically one could say I lived in Italy for about 5 days before I quit my job. I suppose I could start taking jobs from now on in real life based on cities where I get jobs in this challenge. ‘Why do you want this job, Vike?’ ‘Well, you see, I play this game called Football Manager and ……..’ Top Goalscorer – Bruninho – 30 (from 27 matches). Bear in mind that I couldn’t register him for the Champions League and it was an incomplete season, so this was a pretty good strike rate. We did score a lot of goals. In one match we were 4-0 up early on and ended up winning 7-6. Crazy stuff. Best Average Rating Bruninho 7.61. I signed another strker late in the season and he actually did better rating-wise, but I only include players who start 10 matches. Man of Match – Wang Yuan – 7. My shadow striker wonderkid. MVP – This is actually quite tough, but I suppose I have to go for the obvious Bruninho. He’s probably not the player I’m going to induct into my challenge XI though. That would be my captain and midfield general Yu Feng. The fact that he wants to leave and refused to sign a new contract played a part in my deciding to leave Yifang. The foreign players I can replace, but Yu Feng (and Wang Yuan) not so much. Oh yeah, took over Ghana after the ACON. Just friendlies so far. No good defenders or goalies, so they could be a wild ride as well. Domestic Season Team Position Notes Challenge Landmarks 2016 Dalian Yifang 7th Took over for last 2 matches of the season 2017 Dalian Yifang 2nd Promted to Chinese Super League 2018 Dalian Yifang 5th Won FA Cup and therefore qualification to CL group stage. 1st domestic cup 2019 Dalian Yifang 1st Left with 3 matches left and the league already won. 1st domestic league 2019 U de Chile Took over with 4 matches of season left, in 5th place and in Cup Q/F International Year Team Achievements 2018 China U23 Asian Games 2019 Ghana Challenge Progress Club 1/10 top domestic leagues (China) 1/10 domestic cups (China) 0/5 club continental championships 0/1 club world championship International 0/5 continental tournaments 0/2 world tournaments Edited July 20, 2017 by vikeologist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirajzl Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 11 hours ago, vikeologist said: But that would have meant playing another season just to win the Champions League. If I’m going to complete the challenge, I’ll have to get it at some point, but maybe I’ll be able to take over a Korean side later and also grab another league or cup if I need one. This is interesting and possibly a bit risky because you've already established a good squad here so taking the CL wouldn't be that difficult. On the other hand, I know how grindy it feels to play the entire seasons just for one trophy. Interesting to see different takes on the challenge and its classic obstacles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheekybananafm Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 2029 African Cup of Nations - Ivory Coast Group Stage We were given a pretty tough group, Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana stood in our way. First up was Senegal, it was a crazy game which ended with us winning 5-3, Against Ghana we came crashing back down to earth losing 3-0 which meant we had to beat Nigeria and because of our poorer goal difference we had to win well. We did exactly that, I went all out attack on them and at half time we were 6-0 up! The game ended 7-0 and we had qualified for the Quarters Quarter Final We had a tricky tie against Algeria but in the end it wasn't tricky at all. Another dominant first half performance but us 2-0 up at the break, we scored 2 more, they scored 1 right at the end and we were through 4-1 Semi Final Tunisia were our semi final opponents, 57th in the world ranking so I was confident we would win the game. We did what we always do and started like a train, 2-0 up in 23 mins. Tunisia pulled 1 back just before half time. We sat back in the second half to protect the lead and it worked. The final score was 2-1 and we were into the final Final We were saved from a possible rematch against Ghana by the fact Morocco decided to dump them out in the semi final so we all we had in front of us and my first International trophy win was Morocco, 43rd in the world and certainly not the hardest game we could've had! For once we didn't start fast, at half time the game was 0-0, I made a few changes at half time and it worked. 48 mins and we were 1-0, 53 mins 2-0, and then it was 3-0 after 68 mins. The whistle blew for full time and we had done it AFRICAN NATIONS WINNERS! A brilliant way to win it and really pleased to get my first International trophy ticked off. I'm going to stick with the Ivory Coast possibly until the next World Cup in 2030 and I;m also presuming we enter the 2029 Confederations Cup as well. Season Team Position Notes and Achievements 17/18 Thanda Royal Zulu 1st South African 1st Division Champs 18/19 Thanda Royal Zulu 1st South African Premier Division Champs 19/20 Thanda Royal Zulu 2nd SA Knockout Cup and Super 8 Winner 2021 Thanda Royal Zulu African Champions League Winners 2022 Shanggang 1st Chinese Super League, Chinese Cup and Asian Champions League Winners 23/24 Cruz Azul 4th/4th Mexican Opening Stage and Mexican Cup Champions 24/25 Cruz Azul 1st/6th Nothing Won! 26/27 Monterray 1st/1st Opening/Closing Stage Winner and NACL Winners International 2028 - Ivory Coast 2029 ACON Winners Challenge Progress Club 3/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2019, China - Shanggang 2022, Mexico - Cruz Azul 2024) 3/10 domestic cups (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2020, China - Shanggang 2022, Mexico - Cruz Azul 2024) 3/5 club continental championships (Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2021, Asian - Shanggang 2022, North America - Monterray 2027) 0/1 club world championship International 1/5 continental tournaments (African Nations - Ivory Coast 2029) 0/2 world tournaments () Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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