The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge - Silver Age Archive

[XaW]

XaW - Ultimate Football Manager Challenge - 2030

After I quit Atlético Nacional I loaded up a whole bunch of European leagues in order to try to get a job as soon as possible, however not many decent size clubs were available so the World Cup started before I got a job.

My Serbia were drawn into the group stage along with Romania, Japan and Senegal. A supposedly easy group, though both Romania and Senegal are doing quite well in the rankings while Japan are a bit behind the rest of us. In the first match we fought hard with Romania, but ended on top with a 1-0 win. In the second match we dominated against Japan and won quite easily 3-0 to almost be guaranteed to qualify. In the final group stage match we beat Senegal 2-0 after a very early and very late goal. Unsurprisingly, we won the group and progressed to the knockout stages.

In the 2nd round we drew Holland, a very tough opponent, but we got of to a great start and got a goal after only 3 minutes. We followed it up with another goal at 18 minutes. Holland pulled one back not far after, but we got a third just before half time. In the second half not much happened as we managed to neutralize Holland so the match ended 3-1. In the quarter final we drew England, one of the best team in the world at the moment. This time it were our opponent who got of to a great start as England scored in the opening minutes. We equalized the score after 17 minutes, but found us trailing again when England got their second goal after half an hour. They held the lead into half time. We made some changes, but we struggled to keep the ball against Sean Dyche's team. As the match went into the final stages we threw everything forward, but England managed to keep the ball far away from their goal and it ended with 1-2 loss for us. In the end the World Cup were won by Mexico after they beat Belgium in the final.

Getting to the quarter finals is a quite good achievement for us, and I'm very happy with the lads. I'm still going to leave Serbia for the moment since I got a job offer during the World Cup, but asked to wait until it was finished to take over.

I actually got quite a lot of offers during the World Cup, from Germany, England, Italy and France, and I went to the last one since it was the best team out of the bunch. I'm the new manager of Olympique Lyonnais, or more commonly know, Lyon.

The club finished 3rd last season behind PSG and Monaco so we are playing the Champions League this season. The squad seems good, but I expect the usual culling the first few season and then fight for the title. Guess I'm learning French now to add to my Norwegian, English, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, Serbian and Cantonese. Well call me multi lingual!

Domestic
Season	 Team			Division		Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
2017	 Finnsnes IL		PostNord-ligaen 1       1st		Promoted as champions, got National C licence 
2018	 Finnsnes IL		OBOS-ligaen             9th		Mid-table, got National B and A licences
2019	 Tromsø IL		OBOS-ligaen             1st		Promoted as champions
2020	 Tromsø IL		Eliteserien             1st		Champions                                                                        First league title
2021	 Shenzhen		Chinese Super League    3rd		Cup winner, got Continental C and B licences                                     First cup title
2022	 Shenzhen		Chinese Super League    1st		Chapmions, Cup winner, ACL winner, got Continental A                             League title and ACL
2022/23	 Orlando Pirates	ABSA Premiership        3rd             Took over with 2 games left
2023/24	 Orlando Pirates	ABSA Premiership        1st             Domestic clean sweep, got Continental Pro licence                                League title and cup winner
2024/25	 Orlando Pirates	ABSA Premiership        1st             Won league and some cups
2025/26	 Orlando Pirates	ABSA Premiership        1st             Won CAF CL, left in November						         Won CAF CL
2026	 FC Dallas      	Western Conference      4th             Lost in the Western Conference playoff final
2027	 FC Dallas      	Western Conference      1st             Domestic clean sweep								 Won League and Cup
2028	 FC Dallas      	Western Conference      1st             Left after winning the CL							 Won CONCACAF CL
2028	 Atlético Nacional      Liga Postobón           1st             Won the league, Sudamericana and the cup			                 Won League and cup
2029	 Atlético Nacional      Liga Postobón           1st             Won the league, Libertadores and the cup, left after the season			 Won Libertadores

International
Year	   Team					Achievements
2021       Nigeria                              Won ACON
2024/25    Belgium U21                          Played some matches and then left
2026	   New Zealand				Played friendlies
2027	   New Zealand				Won Pacific Games
2028	   New Zealand				More friendlies
2028	   Serbia				Won European League Div B Group 4
2029	   Serbia				Qualified for the World Cup
2030	   Serbia				Quarter final in the World cup, left after

Challenge Progress

Club
 5/10 top domestic leagues (Norway 2020, China 2022, South Africa 2023/24, USA 2027, Colombia 2028)			
 4/10 domestic cups (Chinese FA Cup 2021 and 2022, South Africa Nedbank 2023/24, USA 2027, Colombia 2028)
 4/5 club continental championships (Asia 2022, Africa 2025, North America 2028, South America 2029)
 0/1 club world championship

International
 1/5 continental tournaments (ACON - Nigeria 2021)
 0/2 world tournaments 

[MWE]

I'm in starting off in Croatia

 

[Lewis89]

So having left leverkusen before the world cup, and having resigned from my role as Spain manager after winning the world cup I was on a job hunt. It took a few weeks but I have landed 2 excellent jobs. Taking over as Barcelona boss and a few weeks later landing the role as USA manager. With this being my first role in charge of a European Heavyweight, I fancy my chances in the Champions League. The squad is stacked and the youth team also looks to have a few gems. Internationally there is a Gold Cup in 12 months time, and we look to be the strongest side involved. 

2 hours ago, MWE said:

I'm in starting off in Croatia

 

welcome to the challenge mate. 

Edited April 17, 2018 by Lewis89

[vikeologist]

On ‎29‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 17:28, XaW said:

XaW - Ultimate Football Manager Challenge - 2022

 

In the Asian Champions League ... to top it all, the second leg was played while all my best Chinese players were in international duty! Who in their right mind would schedule something like that. I've posted it as a possible bug, though having played in China, who knows... At least we managed to win the whole thing even though I had to play with a bunch of youths in the second leg.

 

 

I'm getting a bit worried that something similar is going to hit me in 2021. The East Asian Cup is in December but the FA Cup final (which we're in) and the Champions league final (which we will almost certainly be in) are at the same time in November. Also the Club World Cup is at the exact same time as the East Asian Cup, so we definitely won't be able to win that. (I think we'd honestly have had an outside chance). Not that it matters. I should have no problem winning the CWC later.

For context 14 of the national team come from China Fortune, including 10 of the national team starting XI, (some of whom obviously start for their country, but not for us). To all effects and purposes, we are China.

Interestingly, not one of my players was in the 2022 squad of yours. You'd think there'd be some overlap, given that only one of my national players is a regen.

[XaW]

1 hour ago, vikeologist said:

I'm getting a bit worried that something similar is going to hit me in 2021. The East Asian Cup is in December but the FA Cup final (which we're in) and the Champions league final (which we will almost certainly be in) are at the same time in November. Also the Club World Cup is at the exact same time as the East Asian Cup, so we definitely won't be able to win that. (I think we'd honestly have had an outside chance). Not that it matters. I should have no problem winning the CWC later.

For context 14 of the national team come from China Fortune, including 10 of the national team starting XI, (some of whom obviously start for their country, but not for us). To all effects and purposes, we are China.

Interestingly, not one of my players was in the 2022 squad of yours. You'd think there'd be some overlap, given that only one of my national players is a regen.

Yeah, it kind of screwed me over, but at least I managed through. SI said they have reproduced it, so it should be fixed for FM19 at least. Not that it helps you in any way, though. Good luck!

If I remember correctly, a lot of my players were generated. I think it's because I added the Chinese leagues after the game started. It usually does this to fill out with players not loaded from the original database.

[darren1983]

Season 2021/22 Review - Orlando Pirates

Well I've reached that point in Africa when my team is too good to keep the league interesting but the Champions League is too far away meaning I have to slug through. The side I've built over the past couple of seasons is complete, poaching the best young players each season has lead to this season. We started off by finally winning the Carling Black Label Cup, in the MTN8 we lost in the semi finals as I played the kids in this. In the Telkom and Nedbank I played my back ups to keep them fresh and we won both. In the CAF Confederations Cup we had it to our 3rd straight final. This time we faced Ajax Cape Town, in the first leg at home my back ups (was using them in this as well as all I cared about was the league and Champions League) won 4-0 making me think we had our 3rd straight title. 30 minutes into the 2nd leg and we were 4-0 down! By HT it was 5. 3 subs and a rollicking later we pulled 1 back to give us advantage on away goals. 15 to go they make it 6-1, in the 94th minute our 4th choice striker scored and secured the cup. Or so I thought. Right from kick off they went up the other end and made it 7-2 on the night and 7-6 on aggregate. I've never been so annoyed to lose a final I didn't care about.

The league was a walk in the park this season. We won our first 14 league games. In fact the loss in the league came in March 2022 was our first league loss since September 2020, a 46 game run. We got 81 out of a possible 90 points to win the league by 22 points. We broke all records this season, most wins, most points etc. Was my easiest title win ever.

The Champions League was the big one, if I could win it first time of asking I'd be able to move on. It's going well so far as we sit top of our group ready for the next stage. If I win it in November then I'll resign and move on.

Career Overview

Season	Team				Country			Position		Notes & Achievements

2017/18	Ubuntu Cape Town		South Africa		1st			Promotion
2018/19	Ubuntu Cape Town		South Africa		7th 
2019/20	Orlando Pirates			South Africa		4th 			Won, CAF Confederations Cup, CAF Super Cup & MTN8 cup	
2020/21	Orlando Pirate			South Africa		1st			League winners, Nedbank Cup Winners, Tolkom Cup Winners, CAF Confederations and Super Cup winners
2021/22	Orlando Pirates			South Africa		1st 			League winners, Nedbank Cup winners, Tolkom Cup winners			

International

Year	Country			Notes & Achievements 

2017	Australia U23		Asian U23 Champions
2019	China			Asian Cup Winners
2019/20 Egypt 			African Nations Championship Winners
2020/21 Egypt			African Cup of Nations Winners



Challenge Progress
Club
1/10 top domestic leagues – South Africa 2021 (Orlando Pirates)
1/10 domestic cups – South Africa 2021 (Orlando Pirates)
0/5 club continental championships ()
0/1 club world championship
International
2/5 continental tournaments - Asian Cup Winners 2019 (China), Cup of Nations 2021 (Egypt)
0/2 world tournaments ()

 

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2021 Hebei China Fortune (and Ivory Coast) Report

(Drafted this season report, where I wrote that winning the Champions League was a piece of cake, and then reminded myself that I hadn’t  actually played the final yet. That's confidence for you. Let’s see if that confidence was misplaced).

 

At the start of the season we picked up only 5 points from our first 4 matches, so I decided to change my tactics.

We won our next 24 matches in a row in all competitions.

So the league (and FA Cup) were cakewalks, and I expected the Champions League to be the same. We reached the final with only a little bit of drama. The final against a West Asian team is usually a foregone conclusion, but with our top 2 strikers injured and suspensions, and then a sending off in each leg of the final, we scraped by with a 6-5 aggregate victory. Extremely stressful.

Next up would be the Club World Cup, but with 14 players missing because of the East Asian Cup, (plus my 2 best Chinese players injured), there’s not really a lot of point hanging around.

Unfortunately there’s no suitable jobs open at the moment, and perhaps having an internal job will be a problem if and when they do arise. I have S Africa and Brazil loaded. I’m also going to add Colombia, as I’ve never managed there before and others’ tales have whet my curiosity.

Top Goalscorer – Mehdi Taremi – 43 I needed an Asian player fir the Champions League. (You can have 3 foreigners + an Asian foreigner). Taremi (in case you can’t guess) is a striker.  He didn’t do it all himself. My 3 main strikers scored 115 goals between them. We scored a lot of goals.

Top Average Rating – Mehdi Taremi – 8.19

Man of the Match – Mehdi Taremi – 12

MVP – Mehdi Taremi Obviously

 

 

Internationally I finally got another international job, with Ivory Coast ranked 41^st when I took over. First order of business was to qualify for the world cup with Nigeria in our group, which I managed to accomplish. So, I’ll finally be going to my first international finals. We’ll be in the same group as Argentina, Germany and Japan, so a toughie.

It’s gutting that I didn’t change my tactics while manager of Belgium and had a shot at the Confederations Cup. (I mean, I did change my tactics, pretty much every match to no avail, but it’s a pity I didn’t change to my current tactics). However, it might not delay me that much. It’s still only 2021 in the game. It’s probably blown my chances of setting a record for the challenge completion, but that’s pretty much impossible to do once you fail to win an international competition.

As you can tell, I have a degree of confidence in my latest tactic.

Domestic
Season		Team					Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
2017		Shanghai Shenxin (China)		9th		Took over with 5 matches left, and didn't win any of them. 
2018		Shanghai Shenxin			2nd		Promoted
2019		Shanghai Shenxin			9th	
2020		Hebei China Fortune			3rd		Won FA Cup
2021		Hebei China Fortune			1st		League, Cup, Champions League treble	


International
Year		Team					Achievements
2018		China U23				Won Asian Games.
2019		Norway					Left after 4 matches of Euro Qualifying.
2019-20		Ghana					Left after 2 matches of African Cup Qualifying
2020		Belgium					Sacked after leading the #1 team in the world to 1 draw and 3 defeats
2021-		Ivory Coast				Qualified for World Cup

Challenge Progress 3/33

Club
 1/10 top domestic leagues 		(China)		
 1/10 domestic cups 			(China)						
 1/5 club continental championships	(Asia) 	
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 		
 0/2 world tournaments 

 

Edited April 18, 2018 by vikeologist

[vikeologist]

And my next stop is South Africa.

Ajax CT are 9th in the league with 8 matches to go, and no reasonable possibility of making up the 14 points to 2nd place and qualifying for next year's Champions League. So why would I accept a job here? Because they're still in this year's CL.

If we win, then I can stay and try to win the league and one of the eligible cups next season.

If they fail, then totsiens, bitches.

[blackdevil]

1 hour ago, vikeologist said:

Because they're still in this year's CL.

Vike up to his usual tricks  good luck with the CL.

[vikeologist]

4 minutes ago, blackdevil said:

Vike up to his usual tricks  good luck with the CL.

There's still a long way to go, so it's not really vikeing it. We're at the start of the group stage. I prefer to take over in the middle of 2 leg finals.

[blackdevil]

Still a lot less time involved if you can win it.  Is my memory correct in thinking you took over a Mexican side in between the NACL final legs a while back?

[vikeologist]

2 hours ago, blackdevil said:

Still a lot less time involved if you can win it.  Is my memory correct in thinking you took over a Mexican side in between the NACL final legs a while back?

I took over a Mexican side on the day of the second leg of the Mexican league final. But I lost. And to be fair, I had applied for the job way, way back, when they were only in the semi final or something. 

My only successful vike was taking over Corinthians in the middle of the Copa Lib legs. The second leg was my second game in charge.

But that was 3 versions of the game ago.

Since then I've mostly done the anti-vike, where I take over a South American club, and stay there for season after season of Copa Lib disappointment, thinking surely next season, surely I'll finally get the better of those damn Brazilians. But I never do.

If I don't win the African Champions League this season, (and let's be honest, I'm unlikely to do it because I can't buy any players because the registration is at the start of the season), I would have to stay at the club for two and a half years before I could win the ACL, so it's a bit of a roll of the dice, and not worth staying if I don't pull it off, but the top Brazilian and Colombian sides didn't even offer me an interview. 

[darren1983]

Season 2022/23 Mid-Season Update - Orlando Pirates

The fact this is a a mid-season update probably gives away what happened. However I may as well run through it. When I last posted we were top of our Champions League Group with a 100% record, we continued that record as we won 6 out of 6. In the Qtr final's we played Ivory Coast side Africa Sports where a 3-0 away win set us up nicely for a 6-0 home win. In the Semi-final's we had Enugu Rangers from Nigeria, this was much tougher as a narrow 1-0 win away from home gave us the advantage. 2 early goals in the home leg were enough to see us win 2-0 on the night, 3-0 on aggregate and progress to the final where we would face Cameroon's Coton Sport. We faced them in the group stages (winning 4-1 at home and 2-0 away) so I was confident. We would be at home in the first leg for a change but that didn't affect us as we ran out 3-0 winners. In the return my main issue was defence, injuries and suspensions meant only 1 of my regular back 4 played both games but I shouldn't have worried as an early goal set us on our way to a 3-1 win and 6-1 on aggregate to become champions of Africa for the first time since 1995!

I have resigned as I'm done with Africa at this point. Am looking for a new job with a couple of interesting looking clubs on South Korea and China looking like they might change managers soon.

Career Overview

Season	Team				Country			Position		Notes & Achievements

2017/18	Ubuntu Cape Town		South Africa		1st			Promotion
2018/19	Ubuntu Cape Town		South Africa		7th 
2019/20	Orlando Pirates			South Africa		4th 			Won, CAF Confederations Cup, CAF Super Cup & MTN8 cup	
2020/21	Orlando Pirate			South Africa		1st			League winners, Nedbank Cup Winners, Tolkom Cup Winners, CAF Confederations and Super Cup winners
2021/22	Orlando Pirates			South Africa		1st 			League winners, Nedbank Cup winners, Tolkom Cup winners	
2022/23	Orlando Pirates			South Africa		1st 			MTN8 winners and Champions League winners		

International

Year	Country			Notes & Achievements 

2017	Australia U23		Asian U23 Champions
2019	China			Asian Cup Winners
2019/20 Egypt 			African Nations Championship Winners
2020/21 Egypt			African Cup of Nations Winners




Challenge Progress
Club
1/10 top domestic leagues – South Africa 2021 (Orlando Pirates)
1/10 domestic cups – South Africa 2021 (Orlando Pirates)
1/5 club continental championships – Africa 2022 (Orlando Pirates)
0/1 club world championship
International
2/5 continental tournaments - Asian Cup Winners 2019 (China), Cup of Nations 2021 (Egypt)
0/2 world tournaments ()

 

[darren1983]

My time out of work didn't last long, about a month after leaving I was appointed as the new manager of Guangzhou Evergrande

This is my first ever time in China so we'll see how it goes. On paper this squad looks suited to my style and could be good enough to win it all in 1 season (watch me fail now as I've probably underestimated every one else in the league) 

[Crispypaul]

Thank you for that, Mr Britos! 

[vikeologist]

@darren1983 Congrats on the CL. Looks like we can register new players before the group stage, which is new. Before I think there was just one registration, right at the start of the competition. I hadn't had time to find any good players for my team anyway.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's  Ivory Coast 2022 World Cup Report

Logically I shouldn’t be expecting too much here, given that we’re in the same group as Argentina and Germany, but if we can get a draw against one of them, it could come down to how many we can put past Japan in the final match. That’s my wildly optimistic pre-tournament spin, anyway. Unfortunately my best striker went down in our final pre-tournament win against world #2 (and my ex), Belgium.

 

 

Group Stage

Spoiler

 

Ivory Coast 2 Germany 2   - A promising start, given that Germany are #1, and a big reason I was sacked as manager of Belgium. Argentina beat Japan 4-0, which I guess is to be expected.

Ivory Coast 1 Argentina 1  - Another draw, which puts us in quite a strong position going into the last group match. Germany beat Japan 4-1, so winning by 4 goals will get us through to the next round regardless of what happens in the other match.

Ivory Coast 6 Japan 0        - Much more stressful than the score indicates. We didn’t score the vital 4^th goal until the 86^th minute. Up to that point had Germany equalised in their match against Argentina, we would have been out. But Germany lost 1-0, we scored another 2 in injury time, and we’re through to the second round. Happy to be responsible for Germany, going out. France next, so we’re doing this the hard way.

 

 

Second Round (if applicable)

Spoiler

Ivory Coast 1 France 3 – We had a player sent off when 1-0 down. We managed to equalise, but were vulnerable at the back, and France punished us.

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

3^rd Place Playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

After The Tournament

Spoiler

Really not sure whether to stick with Ivory Coast, or try to get a job with a better nation after the World Cup. The Brazil, Mexico and S Korea jobs will all probably all be available (though not necessarily to me), and pretty much offer a much greater chance of trophies. My Ivory Coast team have done well, but I the ACON is still going to basically be a lottery, (and there's always jobs going, and it's every 2 years). I think I’ll definitely apply for any or all of the above jobs.

 

[darren1983]

6 hours ago, vikeologist said:

@darren1983 Congrats on the CL. Looks like we can register new players before the group stage, which is new. Before I think there was just one registration, right at the start of the competition. I hadn't had time to find any good players for my team anyway.

Cheers. I didn't know they added the 2nd registration window either, but my gradual evolution of the squad I had meant it didn't really matter as by the time we kicked off in the Champions League we were already the dominate team in South Africa.

Good luck with Ajax though, most of my best signings were from them, they've produced some fantastic players in my save. 

[blackdevil]

Same as on my save, I lost my best goalkeeper to Man City as well as some other players to European teams.  It's taken him four years but he's now a regular for the Man City team at 23 years of age.  Even when he was with us at Ajax CT he made a huge difference going straight into the side from the youth intake and when he left the difference in quality was very noticeable.  I wish I could sign him for my side now

Edited April 20, 2018 by blackdevil

[darren1983]

Season 2023 Review - Guangzhou Evergrande

After leaving Orlando Pirates it was time for a new adventure. So off to China I went. Guabgzhou finished 3rd last season but still sacked their manager so that indicated it was gonna be all or nothing for me. The squad was pretty solid and had used up all the foreigner limits so that meant it would be pretty much domestic transfer's only for me. I didn't spend much but then I didn't have to as the squad suited my style. 
In the league we started well and never really looked back, a series of draws early on dropped us down to 4th for 1 game but that was the lowest we ever went, we hot top spot after 8 or 9 games and stayed there all season, winning the title by 9 points in the end.
In the Chinese Cup we took most of the teams around us in the league but were able to win it. The final vs Shanghai was tight, a 2-0 home win set us up well before we lost 2-1 away, but it was enough for us to win the domestic double
Champions League was the big one, board only wanted us to reach group stages which made me feel we might not be good enough on this stage. A slow start (1 win, 1 loss and a draw) left on on edge but 3 wins saw us top thr group. Then we played Perth Glory and a couple of comfortable wins here saw us make the Qtr finals. Facing fellow Chinese side Shandong was gonna be tough but a great 4-1 away win in the first leg made the home one a mere formality. In the semi's we faced Suwon from South Korea and another good away win (3-0) set us up nicely for the return. A 2-1 loss meant we made the final. In that we faced Saudi side Al-Hilal, who boasted a number of familiar faces (Kevin Trapp, Mo Besic, Morgan Schnerdlin, Marco Reus, Ander Herra to name a few) a tight away game ended 1-1. In the home leg both sides stuck early and after that neither side could break through so it  also ended 1-1. Came down to penalties, both teams scored their first, they missed their next 3 while we scored 2 of our next 4 and won 3-1 to complete a treble! 

I left after the cup wins as nothing left for me here, and am currently looking for a new job.

Career Overview

Season	Team				Country			Position		Notes & Achievements

2017/18	Ubuntu Cape Town		South Africa		1st			Promotion
2018/19	Ubuntu Cape Town		South Africa		7th 
2019/20	Orlando Pirates			South Africa		4th 			Won, CAF Confederations Cup, CAF Super Cup & MTN8 cup	
2020/21	Orlando Pirate			South Africa		1st			League winners, Nedbank Cup Winners, Tolkom Cup Winners, CAF Confederations and Super Cup winners
2021/22	Orlando Pirates			South Africa		1st 			League winners, Nedbank Cup winners, Tolkom Cup winners	
2022/23	Orlando Pirates			South Africa		1st 			MTN8 winners and Champions League winners		
2023	Guangzhou EverGrande		China			1st 			League Inners, Champions League winners, Cup winners

International

Year	Country			Notes & Achievements 

2017	Australia U23		Asian U23 Champions
2019	China			Asian Cup Winners
2019/20 Egypt 			African Nations Championship Winners
2020/21 Egypt			African Cup of Nations Winners




Challenge Progress
Club
2/10 top domestic leagues – South Africa 2021 (Orlando Pirates), China 2023 (Guangzhou)
2/10 domestic cups – South Africa 2021 (Orlando Pirates), China 2023 (Guangzhou)
2/5 club continental championships – Africa 2022 (Orlando Pirates), Asia 2023 (Guangzhou)
0/1 club world championship
International
2/5 continental tournaments - Asian Cup Winners 2019 (China), Cup of Nations 2021 (Egypt)
0/2 world tournaments ()

 

[Crispypaul]

Well my first full season with Villa Espanola was going great - top at the halfway mark (there is no Apertura/Clausura in the second division) but then Nacional fired their manager.

On a whim I applied and somehow got the job! They finished a disappointing 6th in the Apertura however there is an opportunity to win the Clausura which would lead to a Championship playoff.

There is also a Torneo Intermedio (like a cup, but only the top division teams so doesn't count) but we're already out of that.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Crispypaul

[XaW]

My scout found a real gem for me and I got him for about £20M. I played him from start in a cup game at home to Marseille. How did he perform? Scored a goal, got 3 assists and won Man of the Match.

In general news, we are in January and we are top of the league, but only 3 points ahead of PSG. We are still unbeaten in the league though, however we lost twice to Barcelona in the CL group stage. We drew Inter in the 1st knockout round, and I think we should have a shot at beating them. The Lyon squad is pretty good, but lacking a bit of quality in the full backs, so that is something I'm looking to improve. Haven't found much quality there yet, but my scouts are still looking.

[blackdevil]

5 minutes ago, XaW said:

I got him for about £20M

20 million!!!  Seems your finances are better than mine  I've got £8m to spend and that's only because my DoF sold my right back.

The squad isn't particularly good either as they've finished 16th, 12th & 10th for the previous 3 seasons.

Edited April 20, 2018 by blackdevil

[XaW]

3 minutes ago, blackdevil said:

20 million!!!  Seems your finances are better than mine  I've got £8m to spend and that's only because my DoF sold my right back.

Well, yeah, we had a lot in the bank...

I just checked and it seems the club sold a player to Man City for £78M just before I joined. I think I found out why we have a bit in the bank...

[blackdevil]

That a nice financial cushion  I was kind of hoping someone try buying my star striker during the Jan transfer window but they decided against it and now lost all interest.  I'm hoping for some cash injection for next season or I think it's going to be a long struggle to win trophies in France with Monaco & PSG seeming so dominant.

[XaW]

1 minute ago, blackdevil said:

That a nice financial cushion  I was kind of hoping someone try buying my star striker during the Jan transfer window but they decided against it and now lost all interest.  I'm hoping for some cash injection for next season or I think it's going to be a long struggle to win trophies in France with Monaco & PSG seeming so dominant.

Real Madrid are sniffing around my left winger, who are good, but I would sell him should I get a good offer. I'm hoping to reach as far as I can in the Champions League this season while we fight for the Ligue 1 title with PSG. We have quite a lot of older, very average players, so the next summer will most likely be a major clearout so a a big sale would come in handy for us with that in mind.

PSG are a very good team, but Monaco are quite a bit behind them and I don't think they are better than my team. My goal before the season were 2nd and do as well as possible in the CL, and so far it seems promising (he said, hoping he wouldn't jinx it).

[XaW]

15 minutes ago, XaW said:

Monaco are quite a bit behind them and I don't think they are better than my team.

And I got the proof!

[darren1983]

Well just over 6 months of unemployment but I have a new job. This feels more long term than the Guangzhou job, but that's alright as I kinda like MLS and all it's odd little things. 

[vikeologist]

3 hours ago, Crispypaul said:

 

There is also a Torneo Intermedio (like a cup, but only the top division teams so doesn't count) but we're already out of that.

The torneo intermedio would count. The requirement for cups is that at least all the top division sides take part (and in Mexico not even that).

[Crispypaul]

11 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

The torneo intermedio would count. The requirement for cups is that at least all the top division sides take part (and in Mexico not even that).

Actually it is part of the regular league season as it counts towards final continental places so I don't think it quite qualifies as a cup.

[vikeologist]

5 hours ago, Crispypaul said:

Actually it is part of the regular league season as it counts towards final continental places so I don't think it quite qualifies as a cup.

I've got Uruguay loaded, and I've had a look, and I'm still not 100% sure how the league works. It's the first year I've had it loaded, so there are some aspects to the rules I might have wrong.

You obviously understand the league better than I do, because I've never managed there. I need your advice.

Intermedio Cup

Tell me if I'm understanding this correctly. It's a cup where all the teams play 7 matches against all the teams in one of two groups. These 7 matches count towards the overall final league table. Then the winners of the 2 groups play each other in the final. generally speaking, I've tried to have 1 cup in each nation count towards the challenge. As it is the only cup in the nation, i would be tempted to allow it to count. Even though it counts towards the league, if you take it in isolation, it is a cup which has a winner. Also, a team's performance does help them qualify for continental competition, but it has absolutely no impact on their winning the league, so there is a sort of separation between league and cup success.

League

Even though there's an apertura and clausura, it's pretty clear that there's only 1 league winner per year; the playoff between the winners of the two stages.  In some nations, there are 2 league champions a year, but in Uruguay, just one; the winner of the playoff. 

In summary, I think that it should be possible to get both league and cup landmarks in Uruguay, as detailed above. Does everyone agree?

 

Edited April 21, 2018 by vikeologist

[blackdevil]

From what I can gather I have to agree @vikeologist.  The winners of the "Campeonato Uruguayo" play the winners of the "Torneo ‌Intermedio" in the "Supercopa Uruguaya" which I'd interpret as being league winners vs cup winners.

[Crispypaul]

@vikeologist

Fair enough thanks for looking, if it's won I will add to the cup list!

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2022 Ajax CT Can't Wait Till The End of the Season Report

I have actually paused the second leg of the Champions League final to start writing this update. It’s frustrating when you have ideas in your head for what you’re going to write when you win competitions, and if you wait to actually win, you forget your best witticisms.

On the other hand, I did come very close to snatching defeat from the jaws of assumed victory in the Asian Champions League last season, so didn’t wait to invite that kind of hubris again.

We’re currently 7-1 up on aggregate, so I think it’s safe to start getting my ideas down on paper.

I reject the notion that taking over midway through the competition was vikeing it. Ajax had played 2 rounds (4 matches) before me, and there were 16 teams left in the competition, the same as the S Africa league.

Don’t get me wrong. I feel no shame about vikeing things. I’m proud to put my name to it, and hope to put my signature onto this challenge save at some point.

Anyway, it’s a relief to get S Africa out of the way. Because of the different ends of competitions, one can stay in S Africa a long time, and failing in the Champions League, when it’s the only reason you’re still at the club can be a real kick in the teeth, as one envisions having to stay for another season with nothing else to play for.

We won the final 7-2 in the end. The only tricky stage was the semi-final against Al-Ahly, champions for the last 2 CLs, who had been thrashing everybody up to that point as convincingly as us. We won the first leg at home 3-0, but in the second leg due to registrations, injuries and suspensions, I was reduced to starting dogends, and Al-Ahly were 2-0 up before we snatched the vital away goal and put the tie to bed.

I will however stay until the end of the season in the hope of adding the league and cup to my list of accomplishments. Given that I’m unbeaten after 9 matches and already 5 points clear, hope is probably slightly inaccurate.

Domestic
Season		Team					Position	Notes										
2017		Shanghai Shenxin (China)		9th		Took over with 5 matches left, and didn't win any of them. 
2018		Shanghai Shenxin			2nd		Promoted
2019		Shanghai Shenxin			9th	
2020		Hebei China Fortune			3rd		Won FA Cup									
2021		Hebei China Fortune			1st		League, Cup, Champions League treble						
2021-2		Ajax CT (South Africa)			5th		Took over with 8 matches left, missed out on Confed Cup qual by 1 point.
2022-3		Ajax CT							Won African Champions League

International
Year		Team					Achievements
2018		China U23				Won Asian Games.
2019		Norway					Left after 4 matches of Euro Qualifying.
2019-20		Ghana					Left after 2 matches of African Cup Qualifying
2020		Belgium					Sacked after leading the #1 team in the world to 1 draw and 3 defeats
2021-22		Ivory Coast				Qualified for World Cup and reached second round, won CHAN.
2022-		Mexico


Challenge Progress 4/33

Club
 1/10 top domestic leagues 		(China)		
 1/10 domestic cups 			(China)						
 2/5 club continental championships	(Asia, Africa) 	
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 		
 0/2 world tournaments 

 

[XaW]

Good job @vikeologist winning the African CL!

In other news, I'm going to have a real fight for the keeper spot next season. I already have a very good Belgian goalkeeper playing for us this season:

However, when one of my long term targets are going to be out of contract in the summer, I couldn't resist:

Cherry seems to be edging it, but it will be a battle!

[blackdevil]

Congrats on winning the African CL @vikeologist.  You landed on your feet with them already being in the CL....and if I'm not jumping the gun to quickly congrats on winning the league

[blackdevil]

Olympique Lyonnais
Ligue 1
2027/2028

Lyon's recent form in Ligue 1 has been poor in past three seasons finishing 16th, 12th and 10th.  The squad has a threadbare defense and an aging midfield.  Although they do have a decent forward and some promising youngsters coming through in comparison to the first team squad.  On top of that they're over £20m in debt so not much to play around with for improvements.
Despite that our form for the first half of the season was good, as we lost once, drew six and won eleven with our only defeat coming against PSG.  After the turn of the year our form took a nose dive as we went six games without a win which saw us knocked out of both cups on via penalties to Monaco (league cup semi) and Saint Etienne (French Cup).  Following our cup exits we turned our form around and went unbeaten to the end of the season, however out of the final fourteen games we drew five which kept us away from Monaco and eventual champions PSG as we finished in 3rd place comfortably ahead of Marseille who'd battled with us for the 3rd spot for most of the campaign.

I'm contemplating where go from here as I think it'll take a couple of seasons to be able to overtake Monaco and PSG as some of the players they've got in thier squads are among the best in the world at present.  On the other hand I'm not likley to run away with the league and cup which is a nice challenge to have but adds to the length of the challenge goal.  Interestingly the Man City job is available again after Antonio Conte got the sack a year after Pep Guardiola did so there may be a managerial merry go round.  With Man Utd's Mourinho also looking on shakey ground as well.
 

Challenge Progress:

Club
4/10 top domestic leagues (CHI, BRA, RSA, USA)
3/10 domestic cups (CHI, BRA, RSA)
4/5 club continental championships (ACL-Wuhan 2020, LIB-Sao Paulo 2022, CAFCL-Ajax CT 2025, NACL-New York RB 2027)
1/1 club world championship (Sao Paulo 2022)

International
2/5 continental tournaments (MAR 2023, KOR 2027)
0/2 world tournaments ()

Seasons:

CLUB CAREER
							Leagues		Cups
Season	NAT	Club			Division	1st	2nd	1st	2nd		Cont.		CWC	Other & Notes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017	CHI	Wuhan			CNFD		5th								Joined in 9th place after 13 games and out of cups
2018	CHI	Whuan			CNFD		1st		Qtr						Promoted as champions
2019	CHI	Wuhan			CSL		1st		Win						League & Cup double.
2020	CHI	Wuhan			CSL		1st		Win			Win			Trebble Winners (+domestic super cup)
2021	BRA	Sao Paulo		Serie A		3rd		Qtr						Joined in 17th after 11 games.
2022	BRA	Sao Paulo		Serie A		1st		Win			Win		Win	Quadruple
2022/23	RSA	Ajax CT			RSA PL		7th		n/a	Win					Nedbank Cup win
2023/24	RSA	Ajax CT			RSA PL		1st		2rnd	Final					League Champions
2024/25	RSA	Ajax CT			RSA PL		1st		Semi	Win		Win			CAF Confederation Cup, League Champions, MTN 8 Cup, Telkom Knockout Cup, CAF Super Cup
2025/26	RSA	Ajax CT			RSA PL		1st*					Win			CAF Champions League, *resigned after 7 league games in 1st place and a game in hand.
2026	USA	New York RB		MLS		1st								MLS Cup & MLS Supporters Shield winners
2027	USA	New York RB		MLS		12th					Win			NACL
2027/28	FRA	Olympique Lyonnais	L1		3rd		10rnd	Semi

INTERNATIONAL CAREER
			Rank		Cups
Year	Nation		FIFA	NL	World	Cont.	Conf.	Other & Notes
2020	Serbia		21st
2021	Serbia		33rd					Failed to Qualify for World Cup
2022	Morocco		15th					Won African Nations Championship
2023	Morocco		18th					Won African Cup of Nations
2024
2025	South Korea	50th					Won East Asia Cup
2026	South Korea	44th					3rd in World Cup group
2027	South Korea	31st			Win		Won the Asian Cup
2028
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[pug 407]

Pug's Update Season 2018-19

So After Going Professional More Than Half Of The Squad Won't Sign Contracts. Also I Can't Seem To Get Any Players That Are Good Enough.

So With That I Applied For Other Jobs And I Got One.

 

Having Just Won Promotion And The Manager Resigning, It Was Now Up To Me. Contract . Expectations .Having Got The Players In So I Could

Play With My Tactic. The First Game Was Against Favourites Kaizer Chiefs And A 3-1 Loss. After We Started To Pick Up Some Good Results.

With 11 Games To Go We Had Taken Top Spot From Kaizer Chiefs And Never Loss It. League Table . Results 1 . Results 2 .In The Nedbank Cup

We Got To The Q-Finals Before Getting Beat By Kaizer Chiefs. Nedbank Cup .In The Telkom Knockout We Won. Telkom Knockout .So My First

Trophy Of This Challenge. Now I've Got A Problem Of Most Of My Players Wanting To Leave. Or Bigger Clubs Coming In For Them With There

Release Clause Met. So With That I Applied For A Job That Had Come Up. Job History . Double . End Of Season Awards . Manager Of The Season .

 

                                                                       CLUB CAREER                      
                                                                       -----------
Season     Club                Leagues        Cups                                     Other & Notes
                               1st  2nd       1st  2nd    Cont    CWC  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18    Soihull Moors                                                               Won Vanarama League
2018/19    Mthatha Bucks       Won                 Won                                 Won ABSA Premiership/Telkom
2019/20
                                                                                     
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                   INTERNATIONAL CAREER
                                                                   --------------------

Season    Nation         Cups                                                                         Other & Notes
                         World Cup    Confed Cup    Euro's    AFC    ACON    Gold Cup   Copa America
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

  Challenge Progress.
  -------------------

Club
----
1/10 Top Domestic Leagues(South Africa)
1/10 Top Domestic Cups   (South Africa)
0/5  Continental Cups    ()
0/1  Club World Cup      ()

International
-------------
0/5  Continental Tournaments ()
0/2  World Tournaments       ()

 

[XaW]

Wow, I did not see this coming... I think I might be through this stage of the Champions League.

[darren1983]

@vikeologistyeah I wouldn't consider that "viking" it either. Congrats on the champions league though, as you said, South Africa can be a long one. It's why I usually start there as first job is usually a long stay so it fits to do that long stay in South Africa at the start at get it out the way.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2022-3 Ajax End of Season Report

As well as winning the Champions League, we completed the quadruple also winning the league, Knockout Cup and FA Cup.

It was a boring season to play, so it would be boring to write about. The only real excitement was our final match of the season which we went into unbeaten in the league. We had a few players missing on international duty, went a goal down, had a man sent off and eventually found ourselves 4-2 down. We just managed to pull 2 goals back and earn a draw, and with it my first unbeaten season in a long, long time. (maybe not since FM15).

We didn’t win the Club World Cup, losing to Paris SG in the semi-final, and then the 3^rd place playoff on penalties.

Top Goalscorer – James Diadla – 65  A young striker who I introduced into the team when I took over for the last 8 matches of the previous season when he was just 18 years old resulting in 9 goals in my 14 matches. This season he ran rampant. There’s actually another 5 Champions League games to go this season technically, so he may get to 70. He’s leaving the club on a free transfer soon for NYCFC, which would be gutting is I was staying, but I’m not so it’s not.

Top Average Rating – James Diadla – 8.22

Man of the Match – James Diadla – 17

MVP – James Diadla Obviously

I think I’m going to quit rather than play the remaining Champions League matches, which of course mean nothing to me. (We’re in the Champions League because we won the competition). No suitable jobs open at the moment, and I have about 6 nations added, which makes the game even slower and thus more boring.

I took over the Mexico job (quitting Ivory Coast) after the World Cup.

When I took over I checked that it would be the A team playing in the Gold Cup, and the B team in the Copa America.

After beating Argentina 6-2 in a friendly though, I wished that it could be the other way round, and then realised that it could.

My first XI are still going to go to the Gold Cup, but I’m sending an extremely strong team to the Copa America. This could backfire badly. Not only USA, but also Costa Rica are world ranked above us. Still, might as well roll the dice.

Domestic
Season	Team				Position	Notes										
17	Shanghai Shenxin (China)	9th		Took over with 5 matches left, and didn't win any of them. 
18	Shanghai Shenxin		2nd		Promoted
19	Shanghai Shenxin		9th	
20	Hebei China Fortune		3rd		Won FA Cup									
21	Hebei China Fortune		1st		League, Cup, Champions League treble						
21-2	Ajax CT (South Africa)		5th		Took over with 8 matches left, missed out on Confed Cup qual by 1 point.
22-3	Ajax CT				1st		Won African Champions League. League, KO Cup and FA Cup quadruple. Unbeaten in league.

International
Year	Team				Achievements
18	China U23			Won Asian Games.
19	Norway				Left after 4 matches of Euro Qualifying.
19-20	Ghana				Left after 2 matches of African Cup Qualifying
20	Belgium				Sacked after leading the #1 team in the world to 1 draw and 3 defeats
21-22	Ivory Coast			Qualified for World Cup and reached second round, won CHAN.
22-	Mexico


Challenge Progress 6/33

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues 		(China, S Africa)		
 2/10 domestic cups 			(China, S Africa)						
 2/5 club continental championships	(Asia, Africa) 	
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 		
 0/2 world tournaments 

 

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2023 Mexico B Copa America Report 

 

So in an attempt to win the Copa America with Mexico, I’ve sent a reasonably strong B team, though none of my starting XI. Will it pay off?

Group Stage

Spoiler

 

Mexico B 3 Peru 2 A reasonably promising start, given that Peru would probably have been expected to finish in 2^nd place. Brazil could only draw with Paraguay, and them being rubbish will help just as much as us being good.

Mexico B 3 Brazil 4 – We were 3-0 up after 30 minutes and dominating Brazil, but then the match turned around. It’s probably not the end of the world, but we will need to get something out of our last match, and Paraguay have held both the other teams to draws so far.

Mexico B 5 Paraguay 3 – Paraguay don’t know when they’re beaten, I’ll give them that. We had a 2-0 lead that they pegged back, with a missed penalty in between, and they caused us problems right to the end of the match. However, we’ve finished second in the group and progress.

Venezuela next, and although that may seem like a favourable draw, they won their group ahead of Argentina, whereas Brazil drew Canada B.

 

 

 

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Mexico B 2 Venezuela 1 – Following a familiar script, we established a 2 goal lead, and then had a stressful second half once we ran out of energy. Canada B beat Brazil, so I guess that wasn’t such an easy match for Brazil after all. Next we face Argentina. It would be nice to have some of our very best national players for that one.

 

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Mexico B 1 Argentina 3 – Oh well, it was worth a try. Could my A team have won the competition. We’ll never know. And guess what, Canada B beat Colombia, and are in the final.

3^rd Place Playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

Mexico B 1 Colombia 0

 

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Argentina did manage to hold off the mighty Canada B team.

After The Tournament

Spoiler

Predictably the Brazil job, amongst others, became available after the competition, but the Gold Cup hasn’t actually started yet, and I don’t think the game will offer me the option of postponing taking a new international job until after the Gold Cup is finished. If I apply for the Brazil job, and then turn it down it might affect my chances of getting it in the future. I’ve applied anyway, just in case they take a long time to decide.

 

Edited April 24, 2018 by vikeologist

[darren1983]

Season 2024 - Atlanta United

I took over just after halfway through the season with the team 9th out of 11 in the Eastern Conference. We had an OK start picking up points but weren't able to string any wins together, we also developed a bad habit of taking the lead in games and ending without a point. It was annoying. The one thing that kept us going was a good run in the US Open Cup, it took us extra time in the 4th round, the Qtr finals and semi finals. In the final we face a decent Houston side and it didn't go well. We were 3-0 down and somehow pulled it back to 3-3 before 2 late goals saw us crash 5-3.

After the cup loss we had 5 games left and we were outside the playoffs, we drew one, then had a narrow win over DC United before suddenly clicking, winning the last 4 games (including the DC result) which included wins over 1st place overall Portland and 2nd in Eastern Conference Philly. This somehow put us in 4th place and 11th overall. This meant we made the playoffs!

In the wildcard match we scrapped through against Columbus 2-1 before playing Philadelphia. a 3-0 home win was followed by a 2-1 away win to put us in the Eastern final. We played Orlando (a side we had never beat) but they did finish below us so I had hope. Away from home it ended 1-1 then at home an OG right on HT put us in the driving seat. A late goal from one of our DP's Ignacio Pussetto sealed the win and put us into the final against San Jose (who pipped Portland to the overall supporters shield) in a nervy the game they took an early lead that they held till HT. I went made at them at HT and the players responded, that guy Pussetto scored straight after the break to level things up and then again with 15 to go to put us ahead. I went very defensive and we held on to win the league for the first time! After finishing 11th - I love the MLS.

I'm gonna stay for the following season to try and win the cup and have a crack at the North American champions league unless a really attractive job comes up in Mexico. Always nice to try somewhere new.

Career Overview

Season		Team				Country			Position		Notes & Achievements

2017/18		Ubuntu Cape Town		South Africa		1st			Promotion
2018/19		Ubuntu Cape Town		South Africa		7th 
2019/20		Orlando Pirates			South Africa		4th 			Won, CAF Confederations Cup, CAF Super Cup & MTN8 cup	
2020/21		Orlando Pirate			South Africa		1st			League winners, Nedbank Cup Winners, Tolkom Cup Winners, CAF Confederations and Super Cup winners
2021/22		Orlando Pirates			South Africa		1st 			League winners, Nedbank Cup winners, Tolkom Cup winners	
2022/23		Orlando Pirates			South Africa		1st 			MTN8 winners and Champions League winners		
2023		Guangzhou EverGrande		China			1st 			League Winners, Champions League winners, Cup winners
2024		Atlanta United			USA			11th 			MLS winners

International

Year	Country			Notes & Achievements 

2017	Australia U23		Asian U23 Champions
2019	China			Asian Cup Winners
2019/20 Egypt 			African Nations Championship Winners
2020/21 Egypt			African Cup of Nations Winners



Challenge Progress
Club
3/10 top domestic leagues – South Africa 2021 (Orlando Pirates), China 2023 (Guangzhou), USA 2024 (Atlanta United)
2/10 domestic cups – South Africa 2021 (Orlando Pirates), China 2023 (Guangzhou)
2/5 club continental championships – Africa 2022 (Orlando Pirates), Asia 2023 (Guangzhou)
0/1 club world championship

International
2/5 continental tournaments - Asian Cup Winners 2019 (China), Cup of Nations 2021 (Egypt)
0/2 world tournaments ()

 

[vikeologist]

@darren1983 Congrats on the league. Just one landmark away from the leader board, which I dare say is the prospect which gets you out of bed in the morning. (I wrote that in jest but with regard to me, it's not that far off the mark). Did you do a lot of stuff in the transfer market, or just make do with what you had?

@XaW Good result there against Inter. Hope the 8 goals was enough for the second leg.

@pug 407 Congrats on your S African double. Wonder if you'll get your third Ultimate completion before I get my second.

@blackdevil So you and @XaW are both managing Lyon. Hope you manage to depose PSG, (or get the job there).

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2023 Mexico Gold Cup Report 

So no sooner have I finished one international tournament than it’s straight on to the next one.

This one has bigger stakes though. If we don’t win this, I’ll be gutted, even though USA are ranked higher than us.

Not only do I not have any international landmarks so far in this challenge save, I’ve got only one to show for the last 3 or so years of FM.

FM16 – 11 seasons played, 5 international tournaments, 0 international trophies

FM17 (attempt 1)  -  28 seasons, 10 tournaments, 1 trophy, 1 game ending Copa Libertadores bug

FM17 (att 2) – 10 seasons, 3 tournaments, 0 trophies

And now FM18 – 7 seasons, 2 tournaments and many botched qualifying campaigns, 0 trophies.

Minor international trophies of course. I have a couple of meaningless baubles this save alone. But no landmarks other than that solitary Asian Cup early in FM17.

Of course, I’m pretty damn confident, but I haven’t forgotten the Gold Cup in FM15 where I was taken to penalties by Ja-bloody-maica, and I haven’t forgiven either.

Group Stage

Spoiler

 

Mexico 5 Haiti 0

Mexico 4 Panama 1

Mexico  3 Trinidad & Tobago 1

Fine, I suppose, although this was a very easy group. Guatemala next.

 

 

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Mexico 4 Guatemala 0 – The score is misleading. Admittedly it was all one way traffic, Guatemala never had a shot on goal, but until the last 5 minutes it was just 1-0. We’re having real trouble scoring goals, probably because we’ve now lost our top 3 strikers to injury during the tournament. USA next, and I’m quite worried.

 

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Mexico 1 USA 0 – That’s a relief. It was a very close game, but we were the ones who managed to score, and believe me, our one remaining proper striker missed at least 2 shockers. Now the final against Ja-bloody-maica.

3^rd Place Playoff (if applicable)

 

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Mexico 3 Jamaica 0 - No sweat.

After The Tournament

Spoiler

 

We were lucky to win our only difficult match of the tournament against USA.

What next. Brazil didn’t want me, but I was offered 3 jobs by African nations after their tournament, which I couldn’t accept as there was no way to delay it. Maybe I should have not applied to one of them in case I could apply after the Gold Cup.

In fact, I definitely should have. Something to note if any of you are in the same position. The Gabon job is still open, but I think I’ll pass.

In the midst of these last 2 international tournaments, I’ve become the manager of Mexican side Chivas. Maybe I’ll be able to train some Mexican players to be better in the roles that I need for both the club and nation.

 

Spoiler

Domestic
Season	Team				Position	Notes										
17	Shanghai Shenxin (China)	9th		Took over with 5 matches left, and didn't win any of them. 
18	Shanghai Shenxin		2nd		Promoted
19	Shanghai Shenxin		9th	
20	Hebei China Fortune		3rd		Won FA Cup									
21	Hebei China Fortune		1st		League, Cup, Champions League treble						
21-2	Ajax CT (South Africa)		5th		Took over with 8 matches left, missed out on Confed Cup qual by 1 point.
22-3	Ajax CT				1st		Won African Champions League. League, KO Cup and FA Cup quadruple. Unbeaten in league.
23-	Chivas (Mexico)

International
Year	Team				Achievements
18	China U23			Won Asian Games.
19	Norway				Left after 4 matches of Euro Qualifying.
19-20	Ghana				Left after 2 matches of African Cup Qualifying
20	Belgium				Sacked after leading the #1 team in the world to 1 draw and 3 defeats
21-22	Ivory Coast			Qualified for World Cup and reached second round, won CHAN.
22-	Mexico				Won Gold Cup, Copa America semi with B team.


Challenge Progress 7/33

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues 		(China, S Africa)		
 2/10 domestic cups 			(China, S Africa)						
 2/5 club continental championships	(Asia, Africa) 	
 0/1 club world championship

International
 1/5 continental tournaments 		(N America)	
 0/2 world tournaments 

 

 

[blackdevil]

@vikeologist The PSG job became available as their manager went to Man City after Conte's sacking.  I did think about applying but decided to pass as whilst they've got a good side they're aging and it was Guardiola who is now their manager.  I've not played as much this week so I'm around mid-way through the CL group stage and the top 3 in the league are Monaco, PSG and ourselves so it looks like it's going to be a three way battle if I can stay clear of injuries and suspensions.

 

And congrats on vanquishing the Jamaican ghosts

Edited April 25, 2018 by blackdevil

[darren1983]

14 hours ago, vikeologist said:

@darren1983 Congrats on the league. Just one landmark away from the leader board, which I dare say is the prospect which gets you out of bed in the morning. (I wrote that in jest but with regard to me, it's not that far off the mark). Did you do a lot of stuff in the transfer market, or just make do with what you had?

Tbh after winning the league my reaction was to be annoyed at not getting the cup because I knew I was 1 short of the leader board  

Did nothing in the transfer market as squad was better than it was performing, a good keeper, solid defenders, loads of options in midfield. Only area lacking was a decent striker but having used up all 3 DP slots my options were limited so I just played different people in there with none doing great but doing enough to allow others to score. Our top scorer had 13 goals for the season. A decent striker or 2 is the plan for the off season. 

[Danny_H22]

Danny_H22 2021 Season Review

My year with Cork City came to an end when reigning Brazilian Serie A champioms Flamengo became available. The jump to South America was an obvious one as it would give me a really good chance to win my first continental competition. I took over a really strong team that with a few additions had the potential to be unstoppable.

On a personal level, my reputation sits at 60% and I am studying for my Continental B license. I have also entered the English manager hall of fame in 9^th spot

 

Brazil Serie A- We started the season as defending champions and one of the leading candidates to lift the league title again. What followed was a truly remarkable campaign which saw us capture the title after just 30 games and remain unbeaten all season. Our final points total was 98 points with 30 wins and 8 draws. I was disappointed by the draws, although four of them came in a row when I was going through a rough patch just before securing the title. We finished 30 points clear of second place, scoring 80 goals and conceding just 14 in the process and breaking all the records along the way

Brazilian Rio de Janeiro State Championship- it was pretty straight forward in the Brazilian league curtain raiser as we won 8 and drew 3 to set up a final against Vasco. The first leg was a bit tougher than we had been used to but we managed to labour to a 2-2 draw. The second leg went much better and we won 2-1 to start the season off on a roll

Copa Perdigao do Brazil- Entering the fifth round, we got off to a solid start by beating Palmeiras 6-1 over two legs. We followed this up by beating Cruzeiro 7-2 and Santos 4-3 in the next two rounds. The final wasn’t as easy as we had hoped, but thanks to penalties we finally overcome Corinthians to lift the biggest cup in Brazil

Brazilian South-Minas-Rio Regional Championship- We were drawn in a group with Parana, Figueirense & Fluminense, with only the latter causing us any issues by beating us 1-0. However, we did enough to set up a quarter final tie with Coritiba who we beat in a comfortable 3-1 victory. The semi was much the same as we put 3 past Gremio to set up a final against Cruzeiro. Despite the scoreline, we dominated in a 1-0 win to lift the cup in front of 75,000 people

Copa Libertadores- It was pretty plain sailing until the quarter finals were we finally failed to win when Sao Paulo managed to sneak a 1-1 draw against us, but not before losing the first leg 3-2. We followed this up with a 5-2 win in the semis before beating Santos 3-1 in the finals thanks to two second leg OGs. A great end to a fantastic season

FIFA World Club Cup- due to our Copa Libertadores win we entered the World Club Cup in the semi-finals where we were matched up with Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia who didn’t offer much in the way of a challenge as we marched on to an impressive 5-0 win. The final proved to be a tougher affair as we squared off against Premier League dominators Man Utd. This was the first game in charge where I really felt like my opposition was going to make a mockery of me, but that didn’t really go as planned due to a first half goal from Kevin Ramirez. Would followed as an hour of amazing football from my Flamengo side to shut down the stronger Man Utd team and lift the World Club Cup! In the end, we dominated the game and really should have scored a couple more goals

 

Top Goalscorer- This was the Hugo Catelli show as he managed 35 goals in 36 starts. He was closely followed by backup/rotational striker Lincoln who got 31 and inside forward Kevin Ramirez with 30

Most Assists- Kevin Ramirez managed 19 assists to go with his 30 goals in a really impressive display. Fellow attacking midfielders Christian Mesquita and Branco Provoste both achieved 17

Highest Avg. Rating- Attacking Midfielder Branco Provoste capped a great season with an average rating of 7.43, closely followed by Miguel Trauco with a 7.41 from left back

Most POTM- Another deserved victory for Branco Provoste with 10.

 

International- I stepped down as USA manager when the Ivory Coast job became available as I felt like they had a really good shot at winning the next CHAN and building towards a successful African Cup of Nations. In the meantime, I have qualified for the World Cup with them so unless a big job becomes available beforehand, I will be going to the World Cup in Australia as Ivory Coast boss

 

Next Season Plan- well that was a long season, with over 80 games played and a lot of trophies won. We really couldn’t have had a better season- not losing a single game all season – so it is best to call it a day now and move on to someplace new. There isn’t any jobs that are available currently that excites me, but I won’t be staying at Flamengo whilst I wait. In an ideal world, I will probably head towards China or South Africa to try and make progress towards another continental cup

 

Season       Team             Position         Continental         Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18      Glenavon          5th                  -              Took over in February. Won Northern Irish Cup
2018/19      Glenavon          1st           First Qual. Round     Manager of the Year. Won Northern Irish Cup, League Cup, Mid Ulster Cup & Charity Shield
2020         Cork City         1st       First KO Round (ongoing)  Won Irish Presidents Cup
2021         Flamengo          1st               Winners           Manager of the Year. Won State Championship, Copa Perdigao do Brazil, South-Minas-Rio Regional Championship, Copa Libertadores & World Club Cup

Challenge Progress

Club
3/10 top domestic leagues - Danske Bank Premiership (Glenavon 2019) Irish Premier Division (Cork City 2020) Brazilian Serie A (Flamengo 2021)
2/10 domestic cups - Northern Irish Cup (Glenavon 2018) Copa Perdigao do Brazil (Flamengo 2021)
1/5 club continental championships - Copa Libertadores (Flamengo 2021)
1/1 club world championship - Flamengo 2021

International
1/5 continental tournaments - Gold Cup (USA 2019)
0/2 world tournaments 

International:
Season       Team                 Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2017/18      Australia U23s       U23s Asian Nations Cup
2018/19      USA                  Won Gold Cup
2020         USA                  Lost in Olympic Games QF
2021         Ivory Coast          Qualified for World Cup

 

Edited May 22, 2018 by Danny_H22

[vikeologist]

@Danny_H22 Congrats on your success in Brazil. I guess at some point I will have to decide whether to follow you into Brazil. The idea of playing all those matches fills me with dread, especially if I'm similarly dominant to your Flamengo team. I think I'm probably going to at least give winning the Lib from Colombia or Uruguay a try as I've never managed there, and I'm going to need a 10th league and cup from somewhere.  (if we get the leagues / cups from the nations we get the continental trophies from, that only brings us up to 9 including the mandatory Euro nations).

 

[Danny_H22]

7 hours ago, vikeologist said:

@Danny_H22 Congrats on your success in Brazil. I guess at some point I will have to decide whether to follow you into Brazil. The idea of playing all those matches fills me with dread, especially if I'm similarly dominant to your Flamengo team. I think I'm probably going to at least give winning the Lib from Colombia or Uruguay a try as I've never managed there, and I'm going to need a 10th league and cup from somewhere.  (if we get the leagues / cups from the nations we get the continental trophies from, that only brings us up to 9 including the mandatory Euro nations).

 

Thanks. I think I ended up playing 85 matches in the end. The worst part about it, my save game got corrupted just before the Copa final and my only other save game was from quite a while back so I had to play the matches twice! Really felt like a chore towards the end. 

I managed in chile last year and can recommend them (as long as you get Colo)