The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge - Silver Age Archive

[bjwphneb]

Scott Williams What Next?

During the season Scott applied for a number of international jobs but didnt recieve offers for any. Eventually after being off the international stage for nearly 3 years, Scott took the role of Guinea-Bissau maanger. Currently ranked 66th in the world they have a number of attacking threats. The 2030 WC is set to take place in the summer witth Guinea-Bissau failing to qualify, Scott will most likely apply for any of the international jobs going after the competition finishes. 

On the club front its probably time to head to Europe, honeslty don't think I can face North America after spending so long in the South but if one of the top clubs come available we will see. With another 18 months left on the contract will probably stay on until something comes available. Don't think it will look good to resign in January. 

Few Bits From Velez

Flavio Mello Monteiro - £35Million from Flamengo. Already had 4 good CBs to fill the Hidalgo shaped void in Velez defence so Scott opted to make the loan signing permanent after he scored 4 goals in 2 games. 

Alexis Alessio - Product of the youth system. Struggled to know where to play him for the last few seasons, but he has taken the LM spott Aguero this season and been in the form of his life

Mathias Reyes - £275K from Rentistas. Scott's scouts may have just found the next Cavani, I'm sure he'll be looking to bring him to Europe with him in the next few years. 

I'm going to add a save file at this point and continue as velez manager away from this challenge, probably not until I've finished the challenge. They've nearly maxed out all the facilities, are looking to build a new stadium, Scott's now a favoured personel and there's a real chance of him becoming a legend. There are some unbelievable youth players at the club breaking into the first team in the next few seasons and it would be a shame to just leave all that behind. 

Edit: Scott has now played the Copa Argentina final and so I'll add it here. Nothing happened in this match outside of the first and last minute. 0:16, Independiente get a red card. 90+3 Independiente make it 1-0, 90+4 Velez equalise. Penalties finish 5-4 to Velez. Third year in a row, two in a row for Scott. 

Personnel Career

Clubs Managed: 6
Nations Managed: 4
Trophies Won: 8
Runner Up Medals: 4
Manager of the Year: 2
2022, 2026/27 (Winner) | 2020, 2025/26 (Runner up)
Number of Sackings: 2 (Kaizer Chiefs, Suwon)

Career Earnings: £3 Million
---------------------------------------------------

Club Career
																	
Season	NAT	Club		Division	Pos	Cup 1	Cup 2	Cont	CWC	Things to Note					
2020	CHI	Nublense	Primera Div B	6th	R2	-	-	-	Playoff Winners, U19s Runners up in Div 1
2021	CHI	Curico Unido	Primera Div	7th	R2	-	R1	-
2022	CHI	Curico Unido	Primera Div	1st	Won	-	R1	-	Domestic Double, MOTY
2022/23	ARG	CA Union	Superliga	17th	R5	-	-	-	Avoided Relegation
2023/24	ARG	CA Union	Superliga	15th	R5	-	-	-	Avoided Relegation
2024/25	ARG	CA Union	Superliga						Resigned End of Phase 1
2025/26	RSA	Kaizer Chiefs	Asba Prem	2nd	RU	Won	-	-	KO Cup Winners RU in other Comps
2026/27	RSA	Kaizer Chiefs	Asba Prem	3rd	RU	R1	Won	-	Champions League Winners, MOTY
2027	KOR	Suwon		K League 1	7th		-	QF	-	Joined July in 5th, Sakced September 15th
2027/28	ARG	Velez		Superliga	2nd	-	-	-	-	Joined December in 8th
2028/29	ARG	Velez		Superliga	1st	Won	-	QF	-	Domestic Double
2029/30	ARG	Velez		Superliga		Won	-	Won	-	Copa Libertadores and Copa Argentina Winners
----------------------------------------------------

International Career

Season	Nation		Rank	Continental	World Cup	Things to Note
2023	Honduras	67th	-		-		Relegated from Nations League
2024	Honduras	72rd	-		-		Qualified for Gold Cup 2025
2024	Russia		42nd	-		-		2nd in NL Div B	
2025	Russia		39th					Qualified for WC Finals 2026
2026	Russia		30th	-		2nd Rnd v SUI	Topped Group, Lost to Switzerland
2027	Nigeria		12th	RU		-		AFCON Runners Up, Resigned as manager
2030	Guinea-Bissau	66th
------------------------------
Challenge Progress
2/10 Leagues 	(Chile; Curico Unido 2022, Argentina; Velez 2028/29)
3/10 Cups	(Copa Chile; Curico Unido 2022, RSA Telkom KO; Kaizer Chiefs 2025/26, Copa Argentina; Velez 2028)
2/5 Continental	(Africa; Kaizer Chiefs 2026/27, South America; Velez 2029)
0/1 Worlds

0/5 Continental 
0/1 Worlds

Total 
7/32

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by bjwphneb

[SkiIIs]

On 10/01/2020 at 08:25, SkiIIs said:

It was close but we had Swansea who were playing in the championship but even they pushed us to extra time where we scored in the final minutes. It was a very baron run towards the end. Surprised we managed to turn it around for the final

Cheers just read the challenge again and it’s the very last item

[Crowy]

Wealdstone 2020/21

---

Manager Profile: Crowy 2021

Key Players: Robbie Burton ~ Conor Carty ~ Archie Proctor ~ George Langston ~ Zain Walker

Squad: Overview ~ Match Stats

---

Board Expectations: Qualify for Play-Offs | Won the League

League Table

Results One ~ Results Two

 

I was confident coming in to this season, as you can see I managed to recruit some excellent players released from Premier League sides and some loans. I'm still amazed I was able to get Robbie Burton, he was on £1,000 a week at Arsenal so I had to wait for him to be released to my surprise no one else was interested in him, his contract runs out soon though and the chances of keeping him are slim. We got off to a fast start in the League I was amazed at how many fixtures there were early on, I had to res my players from training after pretty much every match due to my small squad. My first team were miles ahead for this league I felt, my issue was injuries, if I got too many injuries that could ruin our season as my back up players were well.... panic buys when I was running out of time to overhaul this squad. One of my Panic buys was Conor Carty who was going to be my back up striker but he managed to force his way in to the first team and ended up scoring 24 goals in 35 appearances this season in all competitions. What helped him was a formation change towards the middle/end of the season where I switched from a 5-2-3 Wide to a basic 4-4-2 due to started to draw too many games. I'm definitely going to look at developing the 5-2-3 formation though it's a formation I really like and as you can see in the league table it kept us defensively solid. We had a poor season in Other Competitions to show how poor our lack of depth and quality were in the squad barring the first team.

Looking at next season I may look to move on the board expect me to finish in the top half next season which I think is a little ambitious, with them expanding the stadium I was keen to stay and consolidate for a couple of seasons before making the push towards promotion. I'll see what is available.

---

CAREEER PROGRESS

 

 

 

 

 

 

[XuluBak]

Used 523 (and 3313) with HSV in beta. Lots of fun, but my wingbacks were absolutely huge for me going forward, so could see that being a struggle in lower tiers. 

[Cookie147]

PERSIS SOLO FC

INDONESIAN LEAGUE TWO

Given a healthy wage budget for the new season, I decided to use most of it and assemble a fairly expensive squad for this division. My scouting network found some gems around Indonesia and my squad was looking good for over achieving on the expected mid-table finish. Here are my new signings:

Saddil Ramdani | Adi Setiawan | Riswan Yusman | Arpani | Derry Rachman

Being placed in League Two Group B, I was hoping for the squad to gel quickly and aim for a top four position, meaning we'd qualify for a place in the Second Phase. We remained undefeated in the first sixteen league matches as despite losing twice in the end, we finished second on goal difference.

First Phase: League Table

We were then placed in the Second Phase Group A, and winning two of the three fixtures left us top of the group and into the Semi Final.

Second Phase: League Table

Having only lost two fixtures all season, morale was high and I was fully expecting to win the two legged semi final, or at the very least, the 3rd place play-off for the semi final losers. However, an early red card in the semi final for my best player, and then an unexpected swift decline in form and morale totally derailed what was looking like a perfect season. We lost the semi final 6-4 on aggregate, followed by a 2-0 defeat in the 3rd place play off.

A devastating end to the season has left a bitter taste in the mouth, and I will hope that other clubs in League One have taken notice of what good things we achieved, otherwise I will need to try and go one better next season.    

MANAGEMENT HISTORY

Season		Club		Country		Continent	Division			League Position	Cup		Achievements
2019/2020	Persis Solo FC	Indonesia 	Asia		Indonesia L2 - First Phase	9th		n/a		n/a
2020/2020	Persis Solo FC	Indonesia	Asia		Indonesia L2 - First Phase	2nd		3rd Round	n/a
								Indonesia L2 - Second Phase	1st
								(Lost in Promotion Play-Off)

 

[Cookie147]

PERSIS SOLO FC

INDONESIAN LEAGUE TWO

Given a healthy wage budget for the new season, I decided to use most of it and assemble a fairly expensive squad for this division. My scouting network found some gems around Indonesia and my squad was looking good for over achieving on the expected mid-table finish. Here are my new signings:

Saddil Ramdani | Adi Setiawan | Riswan Yusman | Arpani | Derry Rachman

Being placed in League Two Group B, I was hoping for the squad to gel quickly and aim for a top four position, meaning we'd qualify for a place in the Second Phase. We remained undefeated in the first sixteen league matches as despite losing twice in the end, we finished second on goal difference.

First Phase: League Table

We were then placed in the Second Phase Group A, and winning two of the three fixtures left us top of the group and into the Semi Final.

Second Phase: League Table

Having only lost two fixtures all season, morale was high and I was fully expecting to win the two legged semi final, or at the very least, the 3rd place play-off for the semi final losers. However, an early red card in the semi final for my best player, and then an unexpected swift decline in form and morale totally derailed what was looking like a perfect season. We lost the semi final 6-4 on aggregate, followed by a 2-0 defeat in the 3rd place play off.

A devastating end to the season has left a bitter taste in the mouth, and I will hope that other clubs in League One have taken notice of what good things we achieved, otherwise I will need to try and go one better next season.    

MANAGEMENT HISTORY

Season		Club		Country		Continent	Division			League Position	Cup		Achievements
2019/2020	Persis Solo FC	Indonesia 	Asia		Indonesia L2 - First Phase	9th		n/a		n/a
2020/2020	Persis Solo FC	Indonesia	Asia		Indonesia L2 - First Phase	2nd		3rd Round	n/a
								Indonesia L2 - Second Phase	1st
								(Lost in Promotion Play-Off)

 

[Cookie147]

PERSIS SOLO FC

INDONESIAN LEAGUE TWO

Given a healthy wage budget for the new season, I decided to use most of it and assemble a fairly expensive squad for this division. My scouting network found some gems around Indonesia and my squad was looking good for over achieving on the expected mid-table finish. Here are my new signings:

Saddil Ramdani | Adi Setiawan | Riswan Yusman | Arpani | Derry Rachman

Being placed in League Two Group B, I was hoping for the squad to gel quickly and aim for a top four position, meaning we'd qualify for a place in the Second Phase. We remained undefeated in the first sixteen league matches as despite losing twice in the end, we finished second on goal difference.

First Phase: League Table

We were then placed in the Second Phase Group A, and winning two of the three fixtures left us top of the group and into the Semi Final.

Second Phase: League Table

Having only lost two fixtures all season, morale was high and I was fully expecting to win the two legged semi final, or at the very least, the 3rd place play-off for the semi final losers. However, an early red card in the semi final for my best player, and then an unexpected swift decline in form and morale totally derailed what was looking like a perfect season. We lost the semi final 6-4 on aggregate, followed by a 2-0 defeat in the 3rd place play off.

A devastating end to the season has left a bitter taste in the mouth, and I will hope that other clubs in League One have taken notice of what good things we achieved, otherwise I will need to try and go one better next season.    

MANAGEMENT HISTORY

Season		Club		Country		Continent	Division			League Position	Cup		Achievements
2019/2020	Persis Solo FC	Indonesia 	Asia		Indonesia L2 - First Phase	9th		n/a		n/a
2020/2020	Persis Solo FC	Indonesia	Asia		Indonesia L2 - First Phase	2nd		3rd Round	n/a
								Indonesia L2 - Second Phase	1st
								(Lost in Promotion Play-Off)

 

[XuluBak]

SL Benfica

2026-27 End-of-Season Review

Well, it wasn't as convincing as last year, scoring less and conceding more (only +83 in league), but we cleaned house domestically once again.  Leon Bailey's 91st-minute heroics to keep the win streak alive against FC Porto were undone a few weeks later when CS Maritimo held us to an improbable 1-1 draw at home. Ending the streak at 74. Three results short of back-to-back perfect (league) seasons. Presumably, they were motivated by us thrashing them, 8-0, in the league cup final. The Cup of Portugal final, against FC Porto, was similarly lopsided: 5-0. We simply have far too much quality for our Portuguese competition. We have five world-class/elite players in our first choice XI, three of which are 22 or under, including Portal, who's arguably the best player in the world. Dantas (26) and Bailey (29) being the other two. With our success and resources (> €850M war chest) that divide is only getting larger.

Champions League

Once again, the only part of our season that was competitive...

Spoiler

After nearly blowing it in the group stage, I was really hoping to keep a clean sheet and/or beat Barca by two to give us a chance against heading to Camp Nou. We did neither, conceding early, then squandering numerous chances in a disappointing 1-1 draw. I tried mixing it up, going into road leg using a 4231. It didn't work. Once again, we conceded early. Despite creating a couple chances on the counter, we're clearly second best, and almost certainly going to concede again without a change. So make a sub and switch to 433 in the 31st minute. More solid, but not creating any chances. LB goes down, leaving us with 1 one sub going into the half. I almost never use my 3rd sub until the final 10-15 minutes, but can't justify waiting. Cesar on, 442. Nothing. Not our day. With ~15 minutes left, we push our wingers forward (424) and go for it. This is how we usually play domestically, and teams can't handle the pressure, but it has left us too vulnerable to counter the few times I've tried it in Europe. Not this time though. Ferreira (AML-IW) gets to the byline, pull back to Cesar: 1-1. By any objective standard, except the one that matters, they've dominated. I keep pushing, hoping to ride the momentum. Nothing. Into stoppage time, I accept we're going to extra time. 94th minute. Goal kick. Short to Varnier (RCB), long to Cesar, headed back to Dantas, quickly forward to Portal...only one defender between him and the goalkeeper, flat footed, no chance. Portal doesn't get caught from behind, but is far less clinical in these situations than Cesar...not this time! 2-1 (3-2), with the final kick of the ball! 

Elsewhere, Chelsea, United, Man City, PSG, and Bayern are all out in the knockout round. Shocking! Then, we get an incredibly favorable draw: Lazio in the quarters, then the winner of Atleti/FC Porto in the semis, with Real Madrid and Inter on the other side of the bracket. We took care of Lazio without much trouble: 2-0, 1-0.

Atleti (without their top striker, among others), away first. Let them have the ball and looked to counter. Worked perfectly. 0-0 at the half, then Portal hit them on the counter twice, before Firpo put in a third late.  3-0 with the home leg still to come. Hard, not impossible, to mess that up. Their RB decided 4 minutes in was a good time for his first senior goal with the club, then made it a brace before the half was over. Seriously? Our standard tactic is well suited to attack that, so stuck with it, and in the 66th minute, a long diagonal from Yazici to Bailey restored order. We lost the match, 1-2, but through on aggregate 4-2.

With a chance to repeat, we'd face Serie A champs, Inter, in the final. Quality opponent, but definitely my preference given we knocked them out comfortably last year. Once again we went in slight favorites, and got off to a great start, Bailey, inside ten minutes. However, that's about where the similarities end, as this would have been a fantastically entertaining match for a neutral. Chance after chance, going both ways. They equalized off a corner in the 39th minute and we gifted them a ridiculous penalty less than two minutes later. Down 1-2 at halftime. They eased a lot of nerves by graciously regifting that silly penalty. Portal's pace would once again give him a chance to be the hero, only to be denied by the keeper. Fortunately, Cordoso (top LCB) would get free back post on the ensuing corner. 3-2. It remained fairly even til the end (49/51% possession, 17/20 shots, 11/7 on-target), but we managed to hold on, and defend our crown, as Champions of Europe!

Looking Forward...

I've got AFCON with Senegal coming up, and hope to land something in Europe or South America afterward, but not sure what's next from a club perspective. I didn't expect to stay with Benfica last summer. Thought maybe Gremio in the fall, then Ajax in the winter. Neither worked out. I applied to Atalanta, but they couldn't afford the compensation and I wasn't afforded the opportunity to ask the board to let me go without compensation. After the 1-1 draw to Barca, I was thinking about resigning 'effective after season' if they knocked us out. Dortmund is by far the biggest job currently available, but not really interested in taking it. Something more interesting could come available, or I could go for a project, but tempted to stick around with Benfica, collect trophies, see how insane Portal becomes, and go for the CWC in two years time. That'd mean two more years of domestic boredom, without a possibility of checking off any new club objectives; however, that trophy looks like the biggest club hurdle with its new format, and hard to imagine a better situation to go for it with. Already qualified, stacked roster, insane resources, "domestic ease," etc. 

If I stay, it might be time to change things up tactically. I really don't think it matters what I do domestically, but it'd give me the chance to make some squad changes and figure out a new tactic. (That, or I might start up a new "project" save of some sort, as a change of pace.)

Edited January 13, 2020 by XuluBak

[fmgrandtourer]

Decided to give this a go

[fmgrandtourer]

And I have my first job. It just shows that patience sometimes works. I turned down 2 offers from India and was rejected by numerous South African clubs only for 3 months down the line to be offers this job

Golden Arrows are currently 2nd bottom of the South African Premiership with 3 games remaining. We are 2 points behind 14th. If we end where we are now we enter the relegation/promotion playoffs. A pretty decent first job!

[fmgrandtourer]

Just a very quick update. We won the final game of the season to sneak out of that relegation play off spot! Scraped it!

[bjwphneb]

Scott Williams Manager Movement

Velez --> AFC Bournemouth

Scott Williams has agreed a deal to take charge at AFC Bournemouth come the end of the season. He has agreed a two year deal on £52,000 p/w. Scott has decided to stay at Velez until the end of the season and will hope to add another league title to his collection. Bournemouth are currently 10th in the league after 31 games. Whilst other Premiership clubs would have become available at the end of the season Scott feels that Bournemouth will be a good stepping stone to build his reputation in England and bag himself a top job in the coming seasons. Scott will be linking up with some familiar faces as Bournemouth have raided the Velez academy in recent years. 

[Lewis89]

Season 11 2029 - Club Leon

Competitions

Liga Bancomer MX Opening Stage - League Table    Results

Our first full season started with a win and I hoped we could continue where we left off the season before. Instead I got a real inconsistent side who just could not defend. At times we played teams off the park and still lost. In the end I had to beg for my job after finishing in 12th place. The board set me a target of 10 points from the opening 5 league games of the Closing Stage otherwise I was going to be sacked for the first time. 

Liga Bancomer MX Closing Stage - League Table    Results 1    Results 2

After our points ultimatum and poor showing in the Opening Stage i decided that we needed to change our formation, and switched to a 424 to utilise our strongest players, this worked a treat as we managed to finish 3rd, satisfying the board along the way. This put us into the Play Offs where we beat foes Monarcas Morelia 2-1 in the QF, we beat Tigres Unal 4-3 in the SF. In the final we faced a strong Monterrey side, who despite losing their semi final 1st leg 3-0, were our opponents. I needn't worry, a rampant first 45 mins in the 1st leg saw us 5-1 up, and the tie was already over. The first leg finished 6-3 and we followed that up with a 3-0 home win to seal our first silverware in Mexico.

MX Cup - Results

Due to our failings to qualify for Continental football last season, I thought this would be quite a easy cup to win. I was wrong, we lost in 2nd round. 

Leagues Cup - Results

Still not sure what this comp is but it had little importance to the board.

Playing Squad

Transfers    End of Season Awards    Squad

We have a really talented squad but their consistency worries me. The defence needs some work and that is the area I will be looking to strengthen over the break to give us a chance of challenging for the NACL.

Our top players this season were:

Juan Manuel Britos (CM) - One of our key men, he was instrumental in the midfield this season and has bags of room for improvement. A big move to Europe wont be far away but im hoping to keep him for at least one more season.

Rodolfo Hernandez (ST) -  Our key man since ive been in charge. The striker just loves scoring goals, 37 goals in 43 games.

Victor Hugo Lopez (ST) - I neglected this man for the majority of my first 12 months in charge due to having Hernandez and a preference for a one man up top formation, since changing to a two man attack, we have reaped the rewards. 17 goals in 17 starts. 

Next Season

Manager Profile

The aim next season is simple, to win the NACL. That is all I need to tick off 4 continents of club football and to finally head over to Europe. I don't think I will be competing in any Cup competitions next season in Mexico so will need to go to a League simply for a cup win at some point in this save. I plan on finishing the save in England but that will depend on job availability etc. I am still in charge of the Australian national team and we look almost certain to qualify for the 2030 World cup. Will do an international update once qualification is finished. Manager reputation is up to 75% and hopefully this will rise more if we can win the NACL. With 12 months to run on my contract, It could be another Fluminense where I simply let my contract run down until I know if I need to spend any longer here.

Club Career

							Leagues		Cups	
Season	Nation		Division	Club		1st	2nd	1st	2nd	Cont.	CWC	Other Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20	S Africa	NFD		TS Galaxy	3rd	n/a	R.2	n/a	n/a	n/a	Lost in Play Offs.
2020/21	S Africa	NFD		TS Galaxy	1st	n/a	Win	n/a	n/a	n/a	League Winners, NedBank Cup Winners.
2021/22	S Africa    	APL		M Sundowns	1st	n/a	Win	QF	SF	n/a	League and Cup Winners. Lost in CL SF.
2022/23	S Africa	APL		M Sundowns	4th	n/a	R.2	QF	Win	n/a	Champions League Winners
2023	China		CSL		Wuhan Zull	10th	n/a	Q.F	n/a	n/a	n/a	Appointed 08/06/2023
2024	China		CSL		Wuhan Zull	1st	n/a	Win	n/a	n/a	n/a	League and Cup Double. 
2025	China		CSL		Wuhan Zull	4th	n/a	R.U	n/a	Win	n/a	Champions League Winners. 
2026	Brazil		Ser. A		Fluminense	8th	n/a	Win	Win	QF	n.a	Fa Cup Winners.
2027	Brazil		Ser. A		Fluminense	1st	n/a	S.F	Win	Win	n/a	League and Champions League Winners. Left at End of Contract.
2028	Mexico		Liga Mx		Club Leon	n/a	3rd	n/a	n.a	SF	n.a	Took over at start of closing stages.
2029	Mexico		Liga Mx		Club Leon	12th	Win	R.2	n.a	n.a	n.a	Won Closing Stage Title.



International Career

			Rank		Competitions
Year	Nation		Fifa	NL	World	Cont.	Other Achivements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022	Nigeria		24th				Appointed on 25/15/2022
2023	Nigeria		11th	n/a	n/a	win	AFCON Winners
2026	Australia	61st	n/a	n/a	n/a	Appointed 19/07/2026
2027	Australia	60th	n/a	n/a	Q.F	Lost in Asian Cup Quarter Final	
2028	Australia	55th	n/a	n/a	n/a	
2029	Australia	54th	n/a	n/a	n/a	

Challenge Progress

Club
4/10 Top Domestic Leagues		(S.Africa-ASBA Prem 21/22, China - CSL 2024, Brazil - Serie A 2027, Liga MX Closing Stage 2029 - Mexico)
3/10 Top Domestic Cups			(S.Africa-NedBank Cup 20/21, China - CFA Cup 2024, Brazil - Copa Perdigao 2026)
3/5 Continental Championshsips		(Africa 2023, Asia 2025, S. America 2027)
0/1 Club World Cups

International
1/5 Continental Championships		(AFCON 2023- NIgeria)
0/1  World Tournaments 

11/32

 

[XuluBak]

@Lewis89

Good to see 424 work in a more competitive league. Presumably you press fairly aggressively most/all of the time? Do you ever pull your wingers back into a 442? Go more conservative in general? Pretty sure this is the first time I've used 424/442 in FM, and a bit surprised I don't get dominated for possession for often, even in European competition, unless I'm just letting the other team have the ball. 

[Lewis89]

59 minutes ago, XuluBak said:

@Lewis89

Good to see 424 work in a more competitive league. Presumably you press fairly aggressively most/all of the time? Do you ever pull your wingers back into a 442? Go more conservative in general? Pretty sure this is the first time I've used 424/442 in FM, and a bit surprised I don't get dominated for possession for often, even in European competition, unless I'm just letting the other team have the ball. 

Its the first time i have used it on this FM. Was my go to formation for years but last 3 FM'S i would say 4231 worked best for me. I do play high tempo and press constantly. I dont usually drop my wingers back but do switch to 4231 in game sometimes if are losing the midfield battle.

[to_madeira]

I'll give it a try after in this year's FM after some weak tries in the past.

 

This is Tiago Afonso, a young portuguese manager who aims to conquer the world. This is the setup, hopefully everything is ok.

 

Soon after starting Tiago was invited to two interviews and eventually got a job. Geylang International are a team in Singapore's Premier League. They finished 8th out of 9 teams last year and aim to achieve mid-table. The current roster is a mess: 2 GK, 7 CB/DM, 3 CM, 6 ST, no wide players of any kind (full backs or wingers) so will have to work hard on the transfer market, despite not having much room to play with in terms of wages and a budget of 20k € .

 

(apologies for any language error and the screenshots being in portuguese. Next updates will be in english)

Edited January 13, 2020 by to_madeira

[bjwphneb]

Scott Williams 2030

End of Decade Review

    

The end of the 2029/30 season sees the end of Scott's first decade in management. First up was Nublense in the Chilean Second Division. It was a tough season but eventually Scott gained promotion into the top flight via the playoffs. Into the second Season and Scott didn't hang around to stay at Nublense. Curico Unido offered a bigger budget and a better squad. This was proved as it took just two seasons for Scott to win his first trophies, picking up the league and cup double in 2022. After the seasons sucess Scott made the first poor switch, moving to Argentinian side Union. Here he spent two and a half seasons trying to build the club up in Argentina but was unable to do so as he spent all of his time struggling to survive eventually moving on to Kaizer Chiefs. At Kaizer Chiefs Scott returned to winning ways picking up two more cups and his first continental trophy, but sadly missed out on the league to a dominant Sundowns. Suwon happened next, a staggering 54 days in charge.

Fianlly there has been Velez. Just missed out on the league at the end of the first season. Won the league and cup in the second but didn't manage much on the continental stage. In the third season, Scott picked up the Copa Libertadores title and a second cup win. In January he agreed to joing Bournemouth but stuck it out to try and win another league title. WIth a 3 point lead over second and a 5 point advantage over River things looked promising. It didn't start well in the second phase, drawing or losing 4 of thier first 6. The title decider against River came early on, after being 2-1 up Scott's side fell to a late winner to lose 3-2. Velez ended the season very strong winning their final 11 games in all competitions inlcuding this game. Went down to 10 men after 14 minutes and then 9 after 63. Somehow Velez managed to win thanks to a penalty and then a 95th minute header from a corner. It wasn't enough however, River won their last 14 league games and pinched the title from Velez by 1 point. It was close on the final day, River were 0-0 after 58 minutes but went 2-0 up, Union pulled 1 back late on but couldn't gift their old manager his second Superliga title. 

Manager Profile

With South America and South Africa complete. This next decade will be spent in Europe trying to tick off as many competitions as possible and hopefull being able to pick up one or two international trophies.

Team of the Decade

All Time Best XI 2020-2030
Pos	Player Name		Club      (Seasons)	App  G As Pm   Avg	Notes

GK -	Lucas Gonzales		Velez	  (2029-30)	 43 41 21  1  6.98	Haven't had a stand out GK until this season, Gonzales has made so many crucial saves including penalties. (G/As = Conc/Cln)

LB - 	Agustin Araujo 		Nublense     (2020)	 30  5 11  5  7.32	Haven't had a better LB since the very first season in management
CB -	Gregory Balakasi	K. Chiefs (2025-27)	 53  4  5  0  7.18	Was solid for Chiefs helped to win the African CL
CB - 	Felipe Hidalgo		Velez     (2028-29)	 42  1  1  2  7.22	Would have been the best player by a mile if he had stayed this season
RB - 	Gustavo Shmitt		Velez	  (2028-30)	 92  2  8  3  7.06	Has been solid without being a spectacular 92 games in 2 seasons isn't bad though

LM - 	Santiago Aguero		Velez     (2027-30)	 89 21 22  8  7.22	Just pipped Alessio to the LM position becuase of his goal contributions
CM - 	Pablo Palacio		Velez 	  (2027-30)	119  6 28 13  7.36	Played the most games for me and easy to see why
CM - 	Wandisile Mashiane	K. Chiefs (2025-26)	 53 24 17  9  7.62	Probably the best player I've had in the 10 years. His Avg rating speaks for itself
RM - 	Nevari Mabaho		K. Chiefs (2025-27)	 59 12 14  1  7.16	Haven't had many good RMs, scored some crucial goals in the CL

ST - 	David Escalante		Nublense     (2020)	 40 27 Na Na  7.32	First season at Nublense was unreal, wasn't so hot at Curico Unido
ST -	Ayande Gopane		K. Chiefs (2025-26)	 40 27  5  5  7.19	Tough to pick a second ST as had lots of good ones. Gets it on goals to games ratio


Honorable Mentions/Subs
Sergio Ortiz	  (CB)	Velez		Filled the void left by Hidalgo in the final season at Velez with a 7.32 rating. Would make the XI after another season.
Alexis Alessio 	  (LM)			If he hadn't gone to arsenal (£46 million) would probably be in the starting XI. 7.45 rating before the switch.
Juan Makil	  (CM)			Avg rating of 7.51 in first of two seasons at Velez	
Ayrton Montenegro (ST)			40 goals in 72 apps
Daniel Ngwenya	  (CM)	K. Chiefs	Another great CM but not quite the levels of the two above
Oscar Hernandez   (CM)	Curico Unido	The only player really worth a mention from Unido despite the title winning season.

 

Edited January 14, 2020 by bjwphneb

[XuluBak]

Senegal

AFCON 2027

Despite coming into the tournament winless in 2027, and on a run of four straight shutout defeats, we were slight favorites. To be fair, two of the four were against Germany and Brazil; however, the other two were against Cameroon and Ivory Coast, our most likely challengers. With the latter being the host nation of AFCON. Hoped the poor form was reflective of injuries, rotation, and trying out some different options. Stuck with our tactics from qualifying...

In our first group match against The Gambia, we were largely dominant throughout, went up 3-0 in the 85th minute. That should be 3 points locked up. 89th minute, 3-1. 91st minute, 3-2. 94th minute, 3-3...VAR, offside. We escaped, barely.  Our match against Guinea-Bissau produced a scoreline to reflect the dominance and without the late drama, 4-0. Both other matches had been draws, so we had already clinched the group. A heavily rotated 0-0 draw against Ghana to close out the group.

First up in the knockout rounds: Nigeria. Again dominant, but back to being wasteful, including a penalty right at the opposing keeper to close out the half. We extended our lead to 2-0 early in the 58th minute, only to give away a cheap penalty a few minutes later. We maintained control of the match, but we couldn't avoid late drama. It looked as though they'd evened things up with a long-range blast in the 93rd minute, only for it to be chopped off for offside obstruction.  Our quarterfinal and semifinal matches against Angola and Tunisia, respectively, were comfortable but ugly 1-0 victories. On the other side of the bracket, Cameroon ended a shock run by The Gambia, to setup the likeliest of finals...

We conceded off a set piece early on, only to answer in kind to close out the first half. We were largely in control of the match until our goal-scoring winger was sent off (second yellow) for handball on what seemed a nothing play in their box. Harsh, 35+ minutes of regulation remaining.  We switch to a very deep 3411, bring on Keita Balde (up top) and retirement-bound Kalidou Koulibaly, and hope to hit them on the counter, or hold out for penalties. Neither side creates much, until in the final moments of ET, Balde gets free on a counter, brought down in the box, penalty! Onana denies him. That was our chance. Devastating. Whistle blows, penalties...

Spoiler

FM locks up. I've had that happen at the end of matches 2-3 times before. In those instances, I've reloaded and simmed to reproduce the result, but there's no final result to reproduce. A complete replay seems unfair, regardless of the outcome. So I decide to reload and sim until I get an outcome through penalties. Obviously, can't recreate everything up to that point or ensure the same players on the pitch, but a penalties decision seems the closest thing to a fair outcome. That's how the match was supposed to be decided. Onana vs Gomis. Not perfect, but best of a bad situation... 

We win 7-6. AFCON Champs! 

Blah. So unsatisfying.  I've resigned my Senegal post. Not a priority, but will try to circle back to win AFCON again, under normal circumstances. 

 

[XuluBak]

1 hour ago, bjwphneb said:

Team of the Decade

I like it! Never made it 10+ seasons. Did you have to look back and recreate that yourself, or does FM "help" in some capacity?

[bjwphneb]

I was inspired by @TheEarl s rolling best XI that he has in his updates. I wish FM helped haha.  I went back and looked at the teams I'd managed best XIs from the season's I was in charge to remind me of some of the players and then caluclated the stats from the history tab. I had some idea of the players but was weird to see in 10 seasons I've never had a really good RB or RM

[XuluBak]

17 minutes ago, bjwphneb said:

I was inspired by @TheEarl s rolling best XI that he has in his updates. I wish FM helped haha.  I went back and looked at the teams I'd managed best XIs from the season's I was in charge to remind me of some of the players and then caluclated the stats from the history tab. I had some idea of the players but was weird to see in 10 seasons I've never had a really good RB or RM

Doh! Completely missed that, thought the second post was a double. A few key players definitely stick out for me, but will have to take a closer look later. Using different formations and tactics everywhere I've been could make things complicated/interesting. 

[Britrock]

This seemed interesting to me, all the other challenges I've done have been solo club ones so doing a multi club, multi nation challenge starting from the bottom up is a nice change. With that, here are the leagues I've started with and my manager profile. I started in Malaysia so I've got a super early start date (Dec 2018!) hence me being 19 and I've not loaded a single European league, figuring that I can load them in at a later date. I've played hundreds of games in Europe so seeing the world will be a nice change.

So after applying for various jobs, I've ended up with Tampines Rovers in Singapore. They're predicted to finish 2nd in the season preview but are currently sitting in 7th (out of 9) after 8 games (out of 24). Wish me luck!

[bjwphneb]

3 hours ago, XuluBak said:

Doh! Completely missed that, thought the second post was a double. A few key players definitely stick out for me, but will have to take a closer look later. Using different formations and tactics everywhere I've been could make things complicated/interesting. 

Yeah I've been trying to play different tactics at each club but just forced everyone into a 4-4-2. Mashaine was a CAM hence why he got a lot more goal contribution than Palacio. Will be interesting to see who if anyone survives to stay in the team for the next decade. Even though it's a journeyman would like to take at least one player with me and have him play 500+ games under my management. 

[SkiIIs]

5 hours ago, XuluBak said:

Senegal

AFCON 2027

Despite coming into the tournament winless in 2027, and on a run of four straight shutout defeats, we were slight favorites. To be fair, two of the four were against Germany and Brazil; however, the other two were against Cameroon and Ivory Coast, our most likely challengers. With the latter being the host nation of AFCON. Hoped the poor form was reflective of injuries, rotation, and trying out some different options. Stuck with our tactics from qualifying...

In our first group match against The Gambia, we were largely dominant throughout, went up 3-0 in the 85th minute. That should be 3 points locked up. 89th minute, 3-1. 91st minute, 3-2. 94th minute, 3-3...VAR, offside. We escaped, barely.  Our match against Guinea-Bissau produced a scoreline to reflect the dominance and without the late drama, 4-0. Both other matches had been draws, so we had already clinched the group. A heavily rotated 0-0 draw against Ghana to close out the group.

First up in the knockout rounds: Nigeria. Again dominant, but back to being wasteful, including a penalty right at the opposing keeper to close out the half. We extended our lead to 2-0 early in the 58th minute, only to give away a cheap penalty a few minutes later. We maintained control of the match, but we couldn't avoid late drama. It looked as though they'd evened things up with a long-range blast in the 93rd minute, only for it to be chopped off for offside obstruction.  Our quarterfinal and semifinal matches against Angola and Tunisia, respectively, were comfortable but ugly 1-0 victories. On the other side of the bracket, Cameroon ended a shock run by The Gambia, to setup the likeliest of finals...

We conceded off a set piece early on, only to answer in kind to close out the first half. We were largely in control of the match until our goal-scoring winger was sent off (second yellow) for handball on what seemed a nothing play in their box. Harsh, 35+ minutes of regulation remaining.  We switch to a very deep 3411, bring on Keita Balde (up top) and retirement-bound Kalidou Koulibaly, and hope to hit them on the counter, or hold out for penalties. Neither side creates much, until in the final moments of ET, Balde gets free on a counter, brought down in the box, penalty! Onana denies him. That was our chance. Devastating. Whistle blows, penalties...

  Reveal hidden contents

FM locks up. I've had that happen at the end of matches 2-3 times before. In those instances, I've reloaded and simmed to reproduce the result, but there's no final result to reproduce. A complete replay seems unfair, regardless of the outcome. So I decide to reload and sim until I get an outcome through penalties. Obviously, can't recreate everything up to that point or ensure the same players on the pitch, but a penalties decision seems the closest thing to a fair outcome. That's how the match was supposed to be decided. Onana vs Gomis. Not perfect, but best of a bad situation... 

We win 7-6. AFCON Champs! 

Blah. So unsatisfying.  I've resigned my Senegal post. Not a priority, but will try to circle back to win AFCON again, under normal circumstances. 

 

Funny you say that, my game has only frozen once in match (few times out of match play) but it was also during the AFCON which I just replayed letting FM take control of the result 

[XuluBak]

3 hours ago, bjwphneb said:

Yeah I've been trying to play different tactics at each club but just forced everyone into a 4-4-2. Mashaine was a CAM hence why he got a lot more goal contribution than Palacio. Will be interesting to see who if anyone survives to stay in the team for the next decade. Even though it's a journeyman would like to take at least one player with me and have him play 500+ games under my management. 

I was hoping to do that as well, and may still be able, but my path so far hasn't made it very viable. 

[LeoFM]

 

Guangzhou Evergrande - 2026 report

I decided to accept the offer from Guangzhou as I saw the potential to win both the Chinese league and the Asian CL with them. Having finished in 5th the previous season, we didn't compete in a continental competition this season, which meant we could focus on the league. This was a big advantage for us, and we won our first 9 games. Then our form dropped as we lost a few games but we turned it around and went 19 games unbeaten to end the season. I am really happy with how this season went, and next season we will try to win the ACL.

 

Manager profile

League table

 

							CLUB CAREER
                                                        -----------

Season       Team             Country            League           Position           FA Cup          League Cup         Champs League       Others & Notes       
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019         Magni            Iceland            1. delid karla   5th                -               -                  -                   Joined with 11/22 games to go, was in 5th finished in 5th
2020	     Magni            Iceland            1. delid karla   5th                QF    	     Group Stage	-		    National C licence	
2021         Magni	      Iceland            1. delid karla   5th 	 	     R32  	     SF			-		    National B licence, resigned after last game
2022	     Hudiksvalls FF   Sweden             Division 1 north 3rd		     Group stage     -                  -                   Got my first international job, National A licence	
2023	     Hudiksvalls FF   Sweden             Division 1 north 3rd		     QR2             -                  -                   Continental C and A licence      
2024	     Hudiksvalls FF   Sweden   	         Division 1 north 1st                Won in QR2      -                  -                   -     	    
2025	     Hammarby FF      Sweden	         Allsvenskan      1st                Group stage     -                  -                   Continental Pro licence
2026	     Guangzhou E.     China              Chinese Super L. 1st                R16	     -                  -                   -
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                                   INTERNATIONAL CAREER
                                                   --------------------

Season       Country         Tournament         Finished         Others & Notes             
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022         Haiti           -			-		 -
2023         Nigeria         AFCON		R16		 Sacked after AFCON
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                    CHALLENGE PROGRESS
                                                    ------------------

Club

 2/10  Top Domestic Leagues (Sweden, China)
 0/10  Top Domestic Cups
 0/5   Continentals Cups
 0/1   Club World Cup

International

 0/5   Continental Tournaments
 0/2   World Tournaments

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by LeoFM

[Britrock]

Tampines Rovers 2020 mid-season update

A great start to my journey has seen Tampines Rovers seal the StarHub League Cup! A dominant 100% record in the group stages took us to a close semi final with Young Lions before a mental final against Home Utd. We went 1-0 up early before falling behind 2-1 around the half hour mark. We equalised with a 35 yd screamer from Chew and took the game to extra time. We took the lead early before they equalised late in the first half. We got the lead back early in the second half and managed to hold on for my first silverware. One down, loads more still to go!

Edited January 15, 2020 by Britrock

[Crowy]

Wealdstone 2021/22

 

---

Manager Profile: Crowy 2022

Key Players: Charlie Gilmour ~ George Langston ~ Jordan Davies ~ Kiril Kirov ~ Simon Power

Squad: Overview ~ Match Stats

 

---

Board Expectations: Top Half | Reached Playoffs

League Table

Results One ~ Results Two

Overall not a shockingly bad season, but it could of been better, if you look at my past positions we were in good shape come January. It was my misktake though come end of October time I was looking at financial projections and it was sayin we'd be 200K in the red by the end of the season ( I know these aren't very good guide's). It was at this point I was going to scout to improve the overall team and sell my two best players to get our finances back on track. As you can see we were relying on quite a few loans so felt this would benefit the team overall, but once I done this mini overhaul mid season that is where form got even more inconsistent. I started doubting my tactics and playing signings out of position and I just couldn't get anything going, we were lucky to even make the play offs in the end thanks to games in hand. I'm sure I won't be doing something like that again on this save xD.

 

---

Board Expectations: Reach First Round | Reached Second Round

FA Cup Results ~ FA Trophy Results

We had a good run in the FA Cup but the way we went out was soul crushing, after earning a replay away ay Lincoln we had the FA Cup draw and it was drawn that the winner would get Premier League's Norwich away. The financial benefits from the tie would of probably stopped me making the mistakes I did in January, anyway in the home leg we manage to battle and get it to penalties, we score our first three penalties and they miss their first two and well we all know what happened from there.

 

---

CAREER PROGRESS

 

Edited January 17, 2020 by Crowy

[Britrock]

Tampines Rovers 2020 end of season review

As first seasons go, that couldn't have been any more successful. As noted earlier, we won the League Cup but then we also went on to win the Singapore Cup to clinch the cup double! The path to this final wasn't as smooth, with a few draws along the way but we kept our nerve all the way to the final and another crazy, back and forth game against Home Utd saw us win the cup in the 86th minute. Obviously it's 10 cups in 10 separate nations so only one of these actually counts to the challenge, but every success helps along the way, and the Singapore Cup comes with an Asian Confederations Cup qualification place (which looks to be the Asian Europa League).

The league wasn't as successful, only finishing third, but we were in such a hole when I took over I'm happy with that. We had 8 points from 8 games when I took over and finished with 35 from 24, I reckon with a couple of defensive signings we should be able to win the league and I've signed a contract for next year to do just that.

My cup double success meant that I won manager of the year, while my left winger won Singaporean player of the year

[SkiIIs]

2029 Club World Championship - Mini Update

 

Thanks to Neil Lennon for winning the Champions Cup with Chelsea the year before I took the reigns, I was competing in this tournament after my first full season with the club. The best of the best clubs in Europe all involved.  The group I was in had Al Sadd and Sundowns and qualified on top scoring a combined 15 goals to none. Next up was London rivals Arsenal in the quarters.

Quarters

Spoiler

Chelsea 4 - Arsenal 0. Interesting enough Arsenal had only played a couple of days ago and therefore started some tired players in their 11.  An easy victory. Next up was Barcelona in the semis in their home nation but at the Bernabao at least.

Spoiler

Chelsea 5 - Barcelona 0. Again took advantage of a team that played fatigued players, not sure why this is the case but satisfying nonetheless. A final against PSG to come.

Spoiler

Chelsea 4 - PSG 1. Don't know why every team has so many fatigued players but we coast to victory with a fit and firing squad.

 

Top Domestic Leagues     2 / 10 - Bundesliga (Wolfsburg 2026), Serie A (AC Milan 2028)

Cups                                     3 / 10 - Betfred Cup (Arbroath 2023), DFB Pokal (Wolfsburg 2026), FA Cup (Chelsea 2029)

Continental                         1 / 6 - Club World Champs (Chelsea 2029)

International                       2 / 5 - AFCON (Senegal 2023), Copa America (Brazil 2028)

Edited January 16, 2020 by SkiIIs

[XuluBak]

SL Benfica 

2027-28 Winter Update

I'm still in Lisbon, we're officially the #1 ranked club in the world, and doubt any offer could lure me away until after the 2029 Club World Cup*.  Anticipating a longer stay, it was a very busy summer transfer window with some big departures and incredible buys (see spoilers for details). We also brought a couple players into the team that were out on loan, including, João Resende, a Portuguese poacher that won the European Golden Shoe while at Metz (stealing it from Portal because of coefficient nonsense!).  Turns out, that wouldn't be the only individual disappointment for Portal in 2027. I shot down a move to Barca, which upset him, and led to a poor start. As a result, Leon Bailey, who's gone from disappointment (at AML - W) to one of the best in the world (AMR - IW) took the glory! (One, two, three)

With those roster changes, we've experimented with various formations and tactics, and rotated more than normal to see what some of our new acquisitions have to offer. Not surprisingly, we haven't been as dominant as previous years, dropping points more times through 16 league matches, than my first two years combined. We also seem to have a little competition this year. Very exciting!  They might even have a chance to end our domestic unbeaten run. We won our UCL group (with Juve, Celtic, and Ludogorets Razgrad) pretty easily and have drawn Lyon in the knockout round. Would love to make it three in a row, joining Real Madrid, Ajax, and Bayern Munich.  

Unfortunately, we don't seem to fare as well in the UEFA Super Cup. 

Spoiler

Outgoing

Cesar - First-choice striker, that scored lots of big goals, and sacrificed (playing DLP) for the betterment of the team. I didn't want to sell, but age, injury, and an expiring contract, forced our hand a bit. 

Brooks - A key piece (AMR - IW) in my first season that had been forced into a significantly lesser role in 2026-27. 

Varnier - Brought in during my 1st winter window, a significant contributor in rotation at the back for 1.5 seasons. More than doubled our investment.

Ferreira - Also brought in during that winter window. Used sparingly at first, grew into a first-team regular (AML-IW). More than doubled our investment on him as well.

Firpo - Brought in to be our first-choice LB, only to be relegated to a rotational, and eventually, backup role over the course of two seasons, through no fault of his own. 

Lopez - Third striker, important role player. Wanted to keep him, but his contract demands were too much, so had to sell before losing him for nothing.

Gonzalez - Don't ask. Loaned in for 2022-23, with an transfer of 2.2M. Played sparingly for Benfica B that seasons, never made a senior squad appearance. Has been on loan ever since, with Frankfurt since I'd arrived. Lots of potential, but hadn't done much, so was planning to bring him in and see what I could do with him, but Tottenham really, really wanted him, and I wasn't turning down that kinda money given how little he'd shown.

The rest were out on loan or fringe players. Yazici is still with us, but may be on his way out in January.

Incoming

Daibhid Mahon

Andreas Behles

Elia Amore

Mathéo Fontaine

Mauro Gomes

Jonathan David

Returning

João Resende

Federico Secondo

 

* Hoping that goes well, so I can take a step back, and take on a big project. 

Edited January 16, 2020 by XuluBak

[to_madeira]

Season 1 - 2019 - Geylang International

Competitions

AIA Singapore Premier League - League Table  |  Results

Season preview points us to 5th place but with a huge difference to the top 4. After opening with a loss to Tampine, I though that would be a long struggling season but then 3 wins in a row, including a 5-3 away win against title favourites Home United, gave hope. Next two months looked a copy (1 loss to start, all wins after) and then finally a invincible month saw us look like contenders. With the start of the cup competitions our lack of depth showed with some up-and-down performances and results. In a two-way race, Tampine failed to win in last 5 games and despite we only winning three was enough to clinch the title with 2 games to go. That also meant we're going to play AFC Champions League, from the Preliminary Round. Some serious reinforcements needed!

 

RHB Singapore Cup - Results

After a extra-time win in first round, we played a Philippines side (not sure why) and got trashed.

 

League Cup - Results

Got way of a though group and after a nice win in semis, we found ourselves against Tampine in the final. They we're the better team, which is disappointing as it was a great chance of a domestic double.

 

Playing Squad

Transfers  |  Squad

(Highlighted transfers were done by me)

As previous said the squad was terrible unbalanced and took some work to get it playable. A couple of promotes from B team, some loans and freebies was all I could do given the budgets. Lack of interest in our players didn't helped and I really don't know if will be possible build a competitive squad for AFC CL.

Our top players this season were:

Corey Cuelho (CM) - One of our key men, he was instrumental in the midfield this season and also second top scorer.

Safdary (ST) - Our key man since I rescue him from B team. The striker just loves scoring goals, 16 goals in 21 games.

 Sharif (CDM) - Solid is the word to describe him. Playing as DLP, was very clean in possession and solid in defence.

Adib Yusaf (W) - The only one who really produced from the wings. Top assister and also scored the odd goal.

Next Season

Manager Profile

After winning the league and qualifying for the AFC CL, I renew my contract one more year, as I don't have the reputation to make a move for China or Korea yet. Winning the league again and a cup will be my targets as it's impossible to fight for the CL.

Edited January 17, 2020 by to_madeira

[XuluBak]

@to_madeira

All your steam image links result in error.

[to_madeira]

9 horas atrás, XuluBak disse:

@to_madeira

All your steam image links result in error.

Thanks! Hopefully it's sorted now.

[SkiIIs]

18 hours ago, XuluBak said:

SL Benfica 

2027-28 Winter Update

I'm still in Lisbon, we're officially the #1 ranked club in the world, and doubt any offer could lure me away until after the 2029 Club World Cup*.  Anticipating a longer stay, it was a very busy summer transfer window with some big departures and incredible buys (see spoilers for details). We also brought a couple players into the team that were out on loan, including, João Resende, a Portuguese poacher that won the European Golden Shoe while at Metz (stealing it from Portal because of coefficient nonsense!).  Turns out, that wouldn't be the only individual disappointment for Portal in 2027. I shot down a move to Barca, which upset him, and led to a poor start. As a result, Leon Bailey, who's gone from disappointment (at AML - W) to one of the best in the world (AMR - IW) took the glory! (One, two, three)

With those roster changes, we've experimented with various formations and tactics, and rotated more than normal to see what some of our new acquisitions have to offer. Not surprisingly, we haven't been as dominant as previous years, dropping points more times through 16 league matches, than my first two years combined. We also seem to have a little competition this year. Very exciting!  They might even have a chance to end our domestic unbeaten run. We won our UCL group (with Juve, Celtic, and Ludogorets Razgrad) pretty easily and have drawn Lyon in the knockout round. Would love to make it three in a row, joining Real Madrid, Ajax, and Bayern Munich.  

Unfortunately, we don't seem to fare as well in the UEFA Super Cup. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Outgoing

Cesar - First-choice striker, that scored lots of big goals, and sacrificed (playing DLP) for the betterment of the team. I didn't want to sell, but age, injury, and an expiring contract, forced our hand a bit. 

Brooks - A key piece (AMR - IW) in my first season that had been forced into a significantly lesser role in 2026-27. 

Varnier - Brought in during my 1st winter window, a significant contributor in rotation at the back for 1.5 seasons. More than doubled our investment.

Ferreira - Also brought in during that winter window. Used sparingly at first, grew into a first-team regular (AML-IW). More than doubled our investment on him as well.

Firpo - Brought in to be our first-choice LB, only to be relegated to a rotational, and eventually, backup role over the course of two seasons, through no fault of his own. 

Lopez - Third striker, important role player. Wanted to keep him, but his contract demands were too much, so had to sell before losing him for nothing.

Gonzalez - Don't ask. Loaned in for 2022-23, with an transfer of 2.2M. Played sparingly for Benfica B that seasons, never made a senior squad appearance. Has been on loan ever since, with Frankfurt since I'd arrived. Lots of potential, but hadn't done much, so was planning to bring him in and see what I could do with him, but Tottenham really, really wanted him, and I wasn't turning down that kinda money given how little he'd shown.

The rest were out on loan or fringe players. Yazici is still with us, but may be on his way out in January.

Incoming

Daibhid Mahon

Andreas Behles

Elia Amore

Mathéo Fontaine

Mauro Gomes

Jonathan David

Returning

João Resende

Federico Secondo

 

* Hoping that goes well, so I can take a step back, and take on a big project. 

Bet it’s going to be tough to leave Benfica? I have DAVID Johnathon in my Chelsea squad, not bad back up who can play in all three attacking slots

[XuluBak]

3 hours ago, SkiIIs said:

Bet it’s going to be tough to leave Benfica? I have DAVID Johnathon in my Chelsea squad, not bad back up who can play in all three attacking slots

I'm curious how many times this young core could win Europe if I stuck around and kept them together, but the lack of any real domestic competition has me looking forward to moving on. It'll be interesting to see what happens after I leave. They weren't exactly struggling before I took over.

[Watson156]

On 13/01/2020 at 14:03, fmgrandtourer said:

Decided to give this a go

 

@fmgrandtourer 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but unfortunately you cant have the Canadian league loaded as it's an add on and  not a default league that comes with the game.

[XuluBak]

28 minutes ago, Watson156 said:

@fmgrandtourer 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but unfortunately you cant have the Canadian league loaded as it's an add on and  not a default league that comes with the game.

@vikeologist said we'd make an exception for the Canadian league since it's an official SI addition. 

[Watson156]

22 minutes ago, XuluBak said:

@vikeologist said we'd make an exception for the Canadian league since it's an official SI addition. 

Ok sweet, I must have completely missed that. That's good news though. Might have to start this again with the Canadian League. Thanks

 

[vikeologist]

24 minutes ago, Watson156 said:

Ok sweet, I must have completely missed that. That's good news though. Might have to start this again with the Canadian League. Thanks

 

It was your post that got things changed.

You originally mentioned Gibraltar as an official SI add on, but the only one I've seen either in GD or Steam is Canada.

Is Canada the only one, or do you have a link to an official Gibraltar one? If it's only Canada I could clarify that in the original post.

I'd have thought that Gibraltar would be too much of a hot potato, although better than Tibet I suppose.

Edited January 17, 2020 by vikeologist

[XuluBak]

6 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

It was your post that got things changed.

You originally mentioned Gibraltar as an official SI add on, but the only one I've seen either in GD or Steam is Canada.

Is Canada the only one, or do you have a link to an official Gibraltar one? If it's only Canada I could clarify that in the original post.

I'd have thought that Gibraltar would be too much of a hot potato, although better than Tibet I suppose.

Gibraltar is on steam. It sounds like there are/were a lot of issues with it though, dunno if they've been resolved. I didn't even know these existed until @Watson156 mentioned them.

[Watson156]

I can't seem to find a post about the Gibraltar league but this link shows that they have the licence for Gibraltar, along with them saying it's post release.

If you go into the steam workshop, (which i believe is where you have to get the Canadian league from) the only files that are there are:

• Canadian Premier League
• Canadian Logos
• Canadian Kits
• Canadian Facepack
• Gibraltar League

I don't know if that is enough or if somebody can find something official from SI that says thats it's an official SI add on.

Hope that helps

[Watson156]

Ok so here is my starting profile and leagues loaded

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Watson156

[Britrock]

2020 season update

One of my more disappointing seasons on FM, we got off to a terrible start and were 10 points behind at the halfway point. I managed to get it back to 5 with a game in hand, but then the team fell apart with injuries and we ended up 3rd again. The board were not impressed with this, and combined with my excessive spending on wages (in an attempt to win the league), they decided to terminate my contract at the end of the season. To be honest I'd spent most of the second half of the season applying for jobs anyway, realising that the league win wasn't going to happen, so it's no big loss.

I've taken over Melaka in the Malaysian Super League to continue my adventure. They're a mid-table team but all the other teams I applied for weren't interested in me at all.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Britrock

[Watson156]

Thought that I had an amazing start to this challenge when I managed to get the Johor DT job in Malaysia.  It was great until I realised that I hadn't set the managers age to 19 so I had to start all over again. Oh well!! Back to unemployment

 

[Crowy]

I've had a bit of a break from my save, just because I wasn't really enjoying FM and I honestly didn't know what to do in my save. I've decided to have one more season at Wealdstone before moving on, it'll give me chance to get my Continental C Licence and then hopefully I can find somewhere maybe in League One the season after.

[SkiIIs]

Season 11 - 2029/30

After winning the World Club Cup in little less than a crawl, the season ahead was the year for redemption after bottling the league last season. What better way to start a season with some rage transfers.

The league started similar to last taking up a pretty handy lead, 11 points clear half way through the season and undefeated. League was simply dominant and won the league undefeated only drawing 5 games in the process. A first for me.

The only other live competition was the Champions Cup where were grouped with Barcelona, Borussia M'Gladbach and RB Salzburg. First game was Barca away which we played a thrilling 3 - 3 draw, then MGladbach at home for another draw. Won the next three and drew the last against M'Gladbach again to top the group. First knockout we got a bit lucky with the draw and played rangers. We beat them comfortably 6 - 0 on aggregate. Then drew Man Utd in the quarters, our nemesis in the league from last year. First game away we beat them 2 - 1 then drubbed them 4 - 0 at home, the win was sweet!   In the semi we played PSG, the team we beat in the World Club final 4 - 1. First leg was away. It was a game of two halves, our system of 4231 just wasn't penetrating them and before I knew it we were down 3 - 0 at ht, putting away any chance they had.  I changed the tactcs to 4-2-4 for the second half desperately needing to get something out of it to take to Stamford bridge. We turned the game around creating chance after chance but couldn't score, we got a wee bit of life in the leg after Mbappe scored against his former team in the 82nd minute so the game finished 3 - 1. The second leg started well but couldn't score again. We were given a penalty in the 40th min only for Mbappe to miss, lots of words were said which cant be repeated on this forum. Shortly after Mbappe made up for his miss to score in the 44th minute and in first half extra time we found ourselves in front in the leg with our second goal.  The first half team chat was a lot different to the expletives I gave out earlier. We continued to dominate the game and sealed the win with a 3rd in the 83rd.  To Athens we go for the final against Liverpool who we beat in the last game of the league 3 - 2 at Anfield. Very little action early. Mbappe loves the big stage and opened the scoring in the 41st minute. In a drama-less game we scored a second in the 54th and a third in the 65th minute to win the final 3 - 0.    Games

Its a World Cup year so will provide an update with Brazil after that.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Chelsea and have achieved personal records along the way however some juicy jobs have become available, Barcelona and Conte has just left PSG to go to Man City so I will apply for both roles.

 

 

Top Domestic Leagues     3 / 10 - Bundesliga (Wolfsburg 2026), Serie A (AC Milan 2028), Premier League (Chelsea 2030)

Cups                                     3 / 10 - Betfred Cup (Arbroath 2023), DFB Pokal (Wolfsburg 2026), FA Cup (Chelsea 2029)

Continental                         2 / 6 - Club World Champs (Chelsea 2029), Champions Cup (Chelsea 2030)

International                       2 / 5 - AFCON (Senegal 2023), Copa America (Brazil 2028)

 

[XuluBak]

SL Benfica

2027-28 Season Review

After 128 matches, or 1168 days, our domestic unbeaten streak is finally over. Losing 4-2 at CD Chaves in the next to last league match of the season. A relief, really. It had become an unnecessary distraction, and frankly, I suspected it might be coming with some of our performances and fitness issues.  A second half collapse from Sporting, combined with clean sheets in both domestic cup finals (3-0 vs Porto; 1-0 vs Sporting), allowed for another comfortable domestic treble. Bailey and Mahon collected player and young player of the year, respectively. Despite a slow start and inconsistent form, Portal retained his position as top goalscorer. He ran away with the Golden Boot at Euros, scoring as many as second place finisher in the group stage alone, then doubling that total in the knockout rounds. Unfortunately, he was kept off the score sheet in the Final, as Portugal lost to defending champs England (3-1).  I blame Nuno for excluding Dantas...

Champions League

Spoiler

 

Lyon, away first. Not as convincing as I’d have liked, given the gulf in class, but both legs ended 2-1 in our favor. Set pieces were the difference.

Barca in the QFs. Away first, couldn’t have started much better. Dantas caught them sleeping with a long ball over the top to Amore, tidy finish, justifying his selection over Portal, inside the first minute. Everything looking good, until Bailey went down. At that point, we shut down and hoped to maybe catch them on the counter. They dominated, but somehow, never managed to score. Then, in the 87^th minute, a wayward pass found Amore, who turned, pulled away, buried it. Clinical. Thought they’d pull one back in stoppage time, after a harsh (absurd?) penalty call went against us, but Santana came up with a huge save. His 13^th of the match. They dominated (66%, 33 shots), but we got a massive 2-0 result. Then we got the bad news. We let them have the ball, and created numerous chances on the counter, but no one could find the back of the net for either side. 0-0. Our shock away result was enough. It just cost us the reigning best player in the world for the rest of the season.

Bayern in the Semis. Home first. Unfortunately, Dantas picked up a knock in training that was likely to see him out both legs. Had to go for it in the first leg and hope for the best. They were largely done in by three terrible mistakes in the first half (3’ pen, 16’ weak back pass, ’33 caught in possession). They’d push in the second half, pulling one back, but getting caught twice on the counter. 5-1, with Amore collecting the matchball. Santana kept the road leg from getting more interesting with some outstanding saves (nine total), 0-2 (5-3 aggregate). (our loss to CD Chaves was between the two legs)

We’d face Milan, “Biggest Overachievers” of the competition, in the final. They dominated possession; we dominated chances. Just as our wastefulness started to get worrying, Fernandes found Amore all alone, clinical, 1-0. With them pushing, Dantas found Portal over the top (again!), 2-0. Nowhere near as dramatic as our previous finals, but we’ll take it. Three straight!

 

2028-29 and Beyond...

For better or worse, this will be my final season in Lisbon. Our summer window has been nowhere near as busy as last year, but I've made two major acquisitions: Sergio Sierra and Loïc Loret. Bailey's return is also huge. I'm curious to see how much of his pre-injury form he's able to recover, but don't want to rush him. Gotta focus on the big prize. 

As an added bonus to our success, we've helped grow Portugal's standing, such that it's now even with Germany and France on reputation, and above them on UEFA coefficient, meaning more Champions League spots for the league. Won't affect my time in Portugal, but will be interesting to see if that has any lasting effects on the league and whether it will be sustainable. 

I'm torn on my next position. I want a rebuild, but I'd also love to bring a player or two with me. Although, the timing of the Club World Cup, means I'll likely miss out on the wave of job openings next summer, so will probably focus on other pursuits, and see what comes up first. Speaking of which...

Edited January 20, 2020 by XuluBak

[XuluBak]

Netherlands National Team

(Het Nederlands Elftal, Oranje, etc.)

I have taken over the most successful national team yet to win a World Cup.  There are some (current) household names still around (e.g., de Jong and de Ligt), surrounded by numerous attacking options in the midfield and out wide. Thomas Buitink, now with Real Madrid, has developed into an elite #9. Our options at FB/WB are quite limited, we don't have a physical, ball-winning midfielder, and depth behind our first-choice CBs is underwhelming. Capable, but certainly not favored to lift hardware. Hoping to stick around for a while.

 

Edited January 20, 2020 by XuluBak

[vikeologist]

6 hours ago, SkiIIs said:

Season 11 - 2029/30

After winning the World Club Cup in little less than a crawl, the season ahead was the year for redemption after bottling the league last season. What better way to start a season with some rage transfers.

The league started similar to last taking up a pretty handy lead, 11 points clear half way through the season and undefeated. League was simply dominant and won the league undefeated only drawing 5 games in the process. A first for me.

The only other live competition was the Champions Cup where were grouped with Barcelona, Borussia M'Gladbach and RB Salzburg. First game was Barca away which we played a thrilling 3 - 3 draw, then MGladbach at home for another draw. Won the next three and drew the last against M'Gladbach again to top the group. First knockout we got a bit lucky with the draw and played rangers. We beat them comfortably 6 - 0 on aggregate. Then drew Man Utd in the quarters, our nemesis in the league from last year. First game away we beat them 2 - 1 then drubbed them 4 - 0 at home, the win was sweet!   In the semi we played PSG, the team we beat in the World Club final 4 - 1. First leg was away. It was a game of two halves, our system of 4231 just wasn't penetrating them and before I knew it we were down 3 - 0 at ht, putting away any chance they had.  I changed the tactcs to 4-2-4 for the second half desperately needing to get something out of it to take to Stamford bridge. We turned the game around creating chance after chance but couldn't score, we got a wee bit of life in the leg after Mbappe scored against his former team in the 82nd minute so the game finished 3 - 1. The second leg started well but couldn't score again. We were given a penalty in the 40th min only for Mbappe to miss, lots of words were said which cant be repeated on this forum. Shortly after Mbappe made up for his miss to score in the 44th minute and in first half extra time we found ourselves in front in the leg with our second goal.  The first half team chat was a lot different to the expletives I gave out earlier. We continued to dominate the game and sealed the win with a 3rd in the 83rd.  To Athens we go for the final against Liverpool who we beat in the last game of the league 3 - 2 at Anfield. Very little action early. Mbappe loves the big stage and opened the scoring in the 41st minute. In a drama-less game we scored a second in the 54th and a third in the 65th minute to win the final 3 - 0.    Games

Its a World Cup year so will provide an update with Brazil after that.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Chelsea and have achieved personal records along the way however some juicy jobs have become available, Barcelona and Conte has just left PSG to go to Man City so I will apply for both roles.

 

 

Top Domestic Leagues     3 / 10 - Bundesliga (Wolfsburg 2026), Serie A (AC Milan 2028), Premier League (Chelsea 2030)

Cups                                     3 / 10 - Betfred Cup (Arbroath 2023), DFB Pokal (Wolfsburg 2026), FA Cup (Chelsea 2029)

Continental                         2 / 6 - Club World Champs (Chelsea 2029), Champions Cup (Chelsea 2030)

International                       2 / 5 - AFCON (Senegal 2023), Copa America (Brazil 2028)

 

Welcome to the leader board.