Gundo's FM16 European Adventure Challenge™

[Jaskar]

Afan Lido - 2018/19 Season - 2nd

A really poor start but we managed to fight back. TNS are pulling away though.

League - secured 2nd on the last day of the season, just needing a draw against Bala to guarantee a European spot. We started terribly, winning only three of the first round of matches, improving slightly in the second round to take us into the top half and performing well in the closing stage to climb up the table. TNS are miles ahead now and will take a lot of work to catch.

Cups - couldn't have gone any worse. Our poor league form early on matched with us going out in the first round of each of the cups. Much improvement needed.

Transfers - consolidation and incremental improvement on the team from last year. Walsh was the only real failure and barely featured for the team.

Key Players

Luke Fleming - replaced Wilson in goal and matched his ability. Again, does not want to sign a new contract so will be looking for a new goalkeeper for next year.

Mike Lewis - the star man for a second season in a row, and has improved massively. Has also refused to sign a new contract but have managed to snap up a replacement, although he isn't as good.

Adam Murphy - came in as a backup holding midfielder but improved significantly and took a starting spot in centre midfield.

Finances - should probably start spending some of this Europa League money!

Next season - do what I can to solidify second and close the gap on TNS. Really need to improve in the cups, especially against lower league opposition. Need a star striker as well, as the current guys aren't up to it - relegated Airbus have a few brilliant young strikers, so will try and poach at least one of them.

Season     League     Welsh Cup     WPL Cup     Europe
-------------------------------------------------------------
2017       5th          4R            2R          -
2018       2nd          3R            2R         1QR
2019       2nd          3R            1R         1QR

[RocheBag]

Well my beloved Fjaroabyggo have been promoted to the Icelandic 2nd Division in real life, so I can't use them anymore

[arnoldinho]

Arnoldinho ¦ Boldklubben Sollerod-Vedbaek ¦ FMT

Dec 2016 - Mid-Season 1 Review

Well our first half a season in Denmark has been a real slog. We were winless in our first six league games and I feared the worst. The 4-4-2 narrow diamond tactic I had got working by the end of FM15 (took me a whole year mind you ) was not cutting the mustard and we were leaking goals left, right and centre. So I reverted to a 4-1-2-2-1 counter which I've generally found to be a solid option for the lower leagues. It sort of worked as we picked up a little bit and finished 7th of 8 in our autumn group with 2 wins, 3 draws and 9 defeats. Still a woeful record but we played a lot better in the second half and crucially both our wins and two of the three draws came against other sides who finished in the bottom four and therefore will be joining us in the relegation group. Since we carry those points forward that means we actually have 8 points to begin the relegation phase, placing us mid-table and still in with a reasonable shout of staying up if we can keep improving. But I think it'll be a while before they're dancing on the streets of BSV...

In the end it was the cup that was the main positive story of our autumn. We dispatched lower league opposition in round 1 (with ease) and round 2 (less comfortably) before coming up against Superliga side Lyngby in round 3. In the Danish Cup the lower division side automatically plays at home, which I expected to be a nice financial boost... only to see a crowd of 415 show up! Clearly cup fever is not really a thing in Danish lower league football just yet. More fool them though as they missed a cracker. We went a goal behind on the half hour but equalised on the stroke of half-time with our first shot. In the second half they came at us as you'd expect but we clung on for half an hour before eventually our defence was breached again in the 75th minute, and then much more softly again three minutes later. However, somehow we dug deep and on 87 minutes pulled one back. We bombarded their penalty area for 4 minutes of stoppage time but couldn't quite find a way through and exited the cup 2-3 but with dignity very much in tact.

Next for us comes the small matter of the four month winter break! I'm hoping to use the time to do some serious scouting and strengthen my squad where I can. Top of the shopping list is a goalscorer up front and a reliable left-back (I have three - all have been useless). I could use a new GK and CB too if the right players come along. I may also do a bit more tactical tinkering in some friendlies - my experience so far seems to be that leaving the full backs exposed (as both formations I've tried do) involves conceding a lot of goals from the flanks. I haven't wanted to try a flat 4-4-2 as I always like the security of a DM when the player quality is low, but I'm actually wondering if that may be a good option on FM16.

I'll do a fuller update with screenshots etc at the end of the season - probably after the weekend (my wife is going away so there should be some good FM time in prospect!)

[FjollFan]

League table | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

We made it!

It may look like it was easy but it was one of the most harrowing endings I have witnessed in FM. Ever since just after winter break we were 7 teams fighting for the top spots and one after another teams fell apart until it was just 4 teams standing (Us, Ceahlul, Cluj and Voluntarii). These 4 teams literally was just 1 point away from each other for most of the spring but due to Clujs and Voluntariis dreadful last 5 games we managed to secure promotion alongside Ceahlul.

Key Players

Gianni Paraschiv: 26 league goals and 9 assists, that is all.

Marius Marin: Was supposed to play the role Mitea did for us and he did it admirably. 15 goals and 11 assists is brilliant for a MC. Was rewarded with a spot on the Romanian U-21 team and even got a sub for them

Ciprian Brata: Brought in during the winter transfer window and he settled immediatly and gave us some much needed unpredictability.

Youth intake

Ciprian Gheorghe, Gabriel Maghici and Sorin Stroescu were the standouts and all 3 of them looks like they can be useful for us. Worth noting is also this guy from our first intake who both I and my assistant wrote off as garbage, seems like we were wrong

Next season

The board is on what seems like a quest to irritate me as much as possible. They refuse to upgrade anything and besides giving us a decent transfer and wage budget is driving me halway to madness.

Besides that securing our top players (Marin and Chivari) as well as general strengthening of the team will be top priority since we will be by far the smallest team in Division 1. Time to whip out the tactics I had for my first season again

[Taunton]

Congrats, FjollFan​, excellent achievement!

[Fastbasher]

The League

Bottom placed going into the winter break with just 6pts from 17 games, and this is where we stayed. Nothing seemed to work. I sold our Peruvian GK in January and replaced him with a local boy. But shortly after the season restarted, he got injured.

I have no idea why I wasn't sacked. The board wanted a cup quarter final and fight bravely against relegation. We only made the 4th round in the cup and pretty much waved a white flag in the league after game 1.

We finished the season with 5 straight losses and a goal difference of -53.

The Players

We took every player we could on loan from Partizan, which gave us a bit of a Serbian youth team. Most weren't quite good enough for division 1, but I've extended the loans and they should do well in division 2.

Predrag Matejevic, was the pick of the loanees. He was also our top scorer and fans POTY.

Extra Time

The chairman is still throwing money around. Maybe he doesn't know we were relegated........ or are in debt.

There will be a bit of a shake up next season. Four players are retiring and another four have relegation release clauses from 45k-110k. I'm sure all will be met. It will take care of the debt at least.

There has also been a bit of interest in young defender Simonsen. But he has a 4yr contract and no release clause. So I should be able to hold on to him.

There should be enough quality left in the team to bounce back up immediately.

Career Summary

Season     Team          League          	  Position         Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Monor         Div II                   N/A              Sacked in 19th mid season
2017/18    Tatabánya     Div II                   15th
2018/19    Tatabánya     Div II                   2nd              Promoted
2019/20    Tatabánya     Div I                    3rd
2020/21    Tatabánya     Div I                    N/A              Europa League 2nd Round Qualifier. Sacked.
2021/22    Cegléd        Div II                   17th
2022/23    Cegléd        Div II                   N/A              Sacked in 20th mid season
2023/24    Veszprém      Div II                   17th
2024/25    Veszprém      Div II                   1st              Champions, Promoted
2025/26    Veszprém      Div I                    10th
2026/27    Veszprém      Div I                    N/A              Sacked in 12th mid season
2027/28    Baja          Div II                   17th
2028/29    Baja          Div II                   2nd              Promoted
2029/30    Baja          Div I                    9th
2030/31    Baja          Div I                    9th
2031/32    Baja          Div I                    12th             Relegated

[Fastbasher]

Nice work FjollFan. I never would have picked a return like that from Paraschiv. Marin looks top quality though.

[Fastbasher]

There has also been a bit of interest in young defender Simonsen. But he has a 4yr contract and no release clause. So I should be able to hold on to him.

Well that didn't last too long.

Chelsea came in with a bid worth 500k.

Monaco, and PSG joined in a bidding war and I got it up to 2.9m with addons to 4.2m, plus a friendly and 30% of next sale.

He's on his way to Chelsea.

Goodbye Simonsen and thank you for funding a youth facility upgrade, a pitch relay and our promotion campaign.

[FjollFan]

Nice work FjollFan. I never would have picked a return like that from Paraschiv. Marin looks top quality though.

Cheers mate. Neither would I but he seemed to have a uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time.

[Quacky]

Newtown, 2021/22

I didn't really like this team. Took forever to get the first win and then there was a bit of form but really I had given up by then and wanted to get sacked. If I had this chairman at Aberystwyth I would be competing in europe this season with them. I resigned after the board called me in to say my left back was rubbish lying in last place, he kind of is but he's the best one at the team.

Season  | Team        | League | Notes
-------------------------------------------------
2016/17 | Cefn Druids | 12th   | Sacked, 24th Jan
2017/18 | Prestatyn   | 11th   | Relegated
2018/19 | Llangefni   | 12th   | Sacked, 10th Nov
2019/20 | Conwy       | 12th   | Sacked, 17th Dec
2020/21 | Aberystwyth | 5th    | Sacked, 2nd Feb
2021/22 | Newtown     | 12th   | Quit, 1st Mar

[Taunton]

Taunton - Pen-y-Bont - Season review - 2018/19 - Welsh Premier League - FMT

League: "]2nd "](Positions)

A great season rewarded us with a second place finish in the league. Even better was that we were the best team when the league split for the last ten games. That means we are competetive against all teams in Wales and it gives me hope that we soon can start challenging TNS. We beat them twice this year.

Midway in the season we struggled because teams started to take us more seriously. We couldn't rely on defensive or counter tactics, I had to adjust. When we did that we had a great run and came close to the top. Before the last game Bangor and TNS met and that meant if we won our game we were guaranteed the second place. We could only managed a 0-0 draw though, but TNS beat Bangor 3-0, and that was just the result that took us to second place on goal difference. So another shot in Europe, and more money in to build the club.

We went out to Slovan Bratislava in the first qualifying round in the Europa league. We really didn't have a chance in those games. But we netted some money and that was most important.

I was also named "]manager of the year!

Best player: "]Luke Edwards: Like last year, Edwards was our best player. He does a great job on the wing. If you look at his picture maybe he scares the opposition with his looks:D.

Top scorer: "]Jack Laird: Top scorer again. But I would love to have a striker that could score 20+ a season.

Next season: Earn money from Europe and to get another qualification for European football.

Season  | Welsh Prem | JD Welsh Cup |  theWord Cup |    Europe   |  Top scorer        
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17 |    9th     |   4th rnd    |    1st rnd   |     N/A     |  Jake Eyre     (12)
2017/18 |    4th     | Quarter final|    2nd rnd   |     N/A     |  Jack Laird    (14)
2018/19 |    2nd     | Quarter final|    2nd rnd   | EL-1. Q-rnd |  Jack Laird    (13)

[Fastbasher]

Tough going Quacky. Keep going though, interesting career. See if you can manage every team in the Welsh league.

Well done Taunton. Good luck in Europe again.

In my game Hungary is now 12th in the coefficients. The league champs go straight to the group stage, runner up has a qualifier. There are also three Europa places, with one team going straight to group stage there as well.

[arnoldinho]

Arnoldinho ¦ Boldklubben Sollerod-Vedbaek ¦ FMT

Jun 2017 - End Season 1 Review

The Date File ¦ Squad ¦ Transfers ¦ Finances ¦ Results 1 ¦ Results 2 ¦ Autumn Group Table ¦ Relegation Phase Table

The Review

First half of the season review can be found here. In the second half, in the end it was all far more comfortable than expected. We breezed through the relegation phase winning 10 of our 16 games to steer well clear of the drop. At one point we were even in with a shot of topping the relegation phase table but a couple of defeats late on (5 of our last 6 were away from home which didn't help) meant that in the end we came in third. Still, it was so much better than I feared. The combination of some settled tactics and the development of a powerful centre-mid duo in Bonde and Gregerson meant we were able to get a real grip on many matches. Our defence, boosted by new left-back Riis, looked more solid and our young goalie won us two games almost single-handedly as well. The fact we improved our fitness a bit and started scoring goals late on rather than conceding them also made a huge difference. Looking back, I also think we perhaps weren't as bad in the autumn as I thought, as it appears our autumn group was the toughest of the three. Of the four sides who went in to the relegation group, three of us finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th, whilst Fremad-Amager topped the promotion group and have gone up to Division 1, with Frem also missing out on promotion only on goal difference. But whatever the reasons, I'm really pleased with the second half of the season, which gives us a solid base.

Manager's Players of the Year

Sebastien Gregersen - Free-transfer signing who proved to be a revelation, pushing my top-earner Emile Thomsen out of the team in the more attacking of the central midfield positions, and occasionally deputising up front. Finished as top scorer, top of the average ratings, top of the fans players of the year poll, and top of my list for contract renewals, which I was able to secure.

Kristopher Bonde - Gregersen's partner in central midfield for the second half of the season after joining us just before Christmas. He consistently won the ball back for us in the middle of the park and set the side going forward. Amongst a young squad he also added some experience and a cool head. With Thomsen's departure this summer he will probably be our top earner next season and will also captain the side.

Patrick Johansen - The young goalkeeper was not rated by my assman and erratic in pre-season so didn't play during the autumn. But when he broke in to the side in the spring he was excellent. A couple of mistakes as you'd expect from a young keeper but when he was hot he was seriously hot, with a couple of MoM performances in games where our defence went to sleep.

Youth Corner

Mikael Rasmussen ¦ 2016 ¦ 2017 ¦ A good start for the youngster, grabbing 4 goals in 4 starts and 10 substitute appearances. Will be looking for more from him next term.

Morten Due ¦ 2017 ¦ Signed mid-season, yet to make his first-team debut although my assman already rates him our second best CB.

Jakob Nielsen ¦ 2017 ¦ New arrival from our academy who my head of youth development says is one of the best players to come through our system for many years. But this may say more about our youth system than it does about him. Still, looks handy.

Where Next

The board have given me a new one-year contract. Although the finances are heading south, they have also increased the junior coaching budget and raised my wage budget for next season to €5k per week. I already have my eye on a young right winger with Superliga potential; I could also use a left-winger and a better striker. Meanwhile, a lot of dead-wood will head out of the door, saving us a few pennies I hope. If I can come in under the wage budget I will; past experience is that you can get a decent budget in your second season but then it goes down as the finances get worse. League wise, I'm not quite sure what happens with the autumn groups; as one of our Group 1 opponents was promoted and another relegated I guess we might get one team coming down from Division 1 and another coming up from the Denmark Series. Or maybe the whole thing gets re-structured. I'm hoping for the latter as Group 1 was pretty tough this year. It would be nice to see if we can squeeze in to the Promotion Group next season although we're nowhere near ready to go up. Another cup run would be fun too. But mainly I'd like to consolidate some more and keep the team's reputation going up. Our performances this year have led to the number of players interested in joining us jump from around 1150 to 1300; a further increase would be really useful.

[Fastbasher]

Nice, solid first season arnoldinho. You must have had fun with that performance in the relegation group.

[arnoldinho]

Thanks fastbasher. It was indeed good... while it lasted. I just found out we've landed up with both sides relegated from Division 1 in our Autumn Season Group. And chairman elections are coming up with the leading candidate promising promotion. The optimism of my last post is rapidly draining away!

[Quacky]

I'm doing better this season but the game still hates me.

After a 90th minute dive/penalty for them to equalise, the Welsh FA were notable by their silence at my criticism.

[kingjericho]

Brora Rangers - Scottish League One - 2019/20

League Table - we guaranteed maintenance with 3 matches left so it's a positive outcome.

Scottish Cup - we couldn't match bigger opposition.

Scottish League Cup - a good effort, but not enough.

Training Cup - a good run which ended after a tight match.

Squad - we struggled a lot with injuries, which resulted in some difficult periods without wins.

Transfers - we keep our policy of freeing weaker players and sign direct, better replacements.

Finances - the final league prize of £80k helped a lot.

Key Player Profiles

Scott Stewart - indispensable to our midfield, was a lot more present in goals and assist that I would think.

Rafa Malaga - struggled with injuries but was still our most dangerous player from the wings.

Callum McRobbie - our leading goalscorer, even though he had some droughts throughout the season.

Career Overview

Season     Division                 Position     Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Scottish League Two      5th
2017/18    Scottish League Two      5th
2018/19    Scottish League Two      1st          Promotion
2019/20    Scottish League One      6th

Next season

We had ups and downs and with a stronger squad we can hopefully see improvements.

[Fastbasher]

The League

It became a two horse race with us and Mezőkövesd as we raced out ahead of the field. We had promotion guaranteed with 4 games in hand, then a strange thing happened. We both had a mini collapse to make the lead between the rest of the pack look a little closer than it was.

End result, another division two title achieved.

The Team

I managed to keep a few of the division I quality players, and supplement them with 10 loan players. The six from our parent club, Partizan. Three from top division Hungarian clubs and one from Dinamo Zagreb.

Miljan Ljujic was the top scorer and my pick of the loanees.

Győrgy Sipos was another solid performer all season.

We also managed to sign a young Australian by the name of David Ogden from the FFA COE. This seems to be some sort of academy with quite a few promising young Australian players, so I'm keeping a close eye on them. Ogden broke our assists record for a season with 6, and was the fans POTY, despite only joining in January.

Extra Time

Back up to the top flight and with some of the loan players staying with us for a third season. It's almost like Partizan playing in the Hungarian league.

Training and youth facilities are both being upgraded again and the pitch has been relaid. We still have around 3.5m in the bank and the new transfer budget is 1m, probably more if I ask for it. Things are looking good off the pitch, now we just have to match it on the pitch.

I would like to convert from loans to permanent players, but the players available for loan are better than the ones than will join us, and the wages a lot lower.

Career Summary

Season     Team          League          	  Position         Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Monor         Div II                   N/A              Sacked in 19th mid season
2017/18    Tatabánya     Div II                   15th
2018/19    Tatabánya     Div II                   2nd              Promoted
2019/20    Tatabánya     Div I                    3rd
2020/21    Tatabánya     Div I                    N/A              Europa League 2nd Round Qualifier. Sacked.
2021/22    Cegléd        Div II                   17th
2022/23    Cegléd        Div II                   N/A              Sacked in 20th mid season
2023/24    Veszprém      Div II                   17th
2024/25    Veszprém      Div II                   1st              Champions, Promoted
2025/26    Veszprém      Div I                    10th
2026/27    Veszprém      Div I                    N/A              Sacked in 12th mid season
2027/28    Baja          Div II                   17th
2028/29    Baja          Div II                   2nd              Promoted
2029/30    Baja          Div I                    9th
2030/31    Baja          Div I                    9th
2031/32    Baja          Div I                    12th             Relegated
2032/33    Baja          Div II                   1st              Champions, Promoted

[Quacky]

Rhyl, 2022/23

HOLD

THE

FRONT

PAGE!!!!



Mr. Duck did NOT get sacked!

Despite the best efforts of the officials, at the league split Rhyl had just sneeked into the top half by one goal difference on the 22nd match day, securing us against relegation (but not sacking after the Aberystwyth experience). Form continued after the split including a memorable 3-0 home win over TNS (Everyone playing in Wales seems to have posted one of these, its about time I did), we closed the gap on 5th but ended up finishing a comfortable 6th place in the league. Therefore, Mr. Duck shall have a second season in Rhyl, which is good footballwise but for anyone who has ever been to Rhyl I couldn't think of anything worse, I would much rather have had success with a team from a town I don't think is so ****.

Key man: Lee Lucas

Top scorer: Connor Lemonheigh-Evans

Season  | Team        | League | Cup  | Notes
--------------------------------------------------------
2016/17 | Cefn Druids | 12th   | Who  | Sacked, 24th Jan
2017/18 | Prestatyn   | 11th   |  C   | Relegated
2018/19 | Llangefni   | 12th   |  A   | Sacked, 10th Nov
2019/20 | Conwy       | 12th   |  R   | Sacked, 17th Dec
2020/21 | Aberystwyth | 5th    |  E   | Sacked, 2nd Feb
2021/22 | Newtown     | 12th   |  S   | Quit, 1st Mar
2022/23 | Rhyl        | 6th    | Semi | SURVIVED!

[Fastbasher]

Woohoo!!!!!

Congrats Quacky. Sorry you have to spend another year in Rhyl.

Nice cup summary as well.

[Taunton]

Rhyl is my bogey team, but I am very happy for you, Quacky, excellent summary as well!

[arnoldinho]

Arnoldinho ¦ Boldklubben Sollerod-Vedbaek ¦ FMT

Dec 2017 - Mid-Season 2 Review

The run-in to the new season was interesting. Elections were due for a new Chairman a week before the start of the season and my inbox was filled with gossip about who might take over (a nice touch SI!). The leading candidate had stated publically that he wanted to see the side push for promotion - an unrealistic expectation - so I was greatly hoping he wouldn't be selected. In the end he was, but after taking office he didn't seek to change our "steer clear of relegation" minimum expectation that the previous board had set. He kept the proposed wage budget too which allowed me to take on several bigger (let's not say big, this is Danish Div 2 after all) salary players. Casper Olesen (AML/ST), Lucas Ivik (GK) and Simon Ustrup (DRC) all did reasonably, although probably didn't add quite as much to the team as I would have hoped. But the most interesting signing was dynamic right-winger Flemming Meyer who joined us from Superliga Randers, and proved to be rather mercurial: disappearing entirely in some games but being awesome in others.

In fact, Meyer was pretty typical of the team as a whole. The only thing that was consistent about our play was our inconsistency. We looked like world-beaters in some games, hopeless in others, and lost several we really should have won. This was typified by our short cup run, where we beat Division 1 side Naested in extra time in the first round after a terrific battling performance that saw several of our players down in the 30s for condition by the end. Then in the second round we succumbed to another Div1 team Vestjaellend 4-0 and we were lucky it wasn't more. But it was true in the league too. At one point we went five winless but lots of draws meant we were still in the hunt for promotion group qualification with five games to go (on the back of a terrific 3-0 win against HG Koge who were relegated from Division 1 last year). Then in the next three games we didn't pick up a single point or a single goal, abruptly ending our hopes, at which point we of course won the last two games just to remind me what might have been. Our final record was 5 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats, meaning we finished 6th in the group.

There was great drama elsewhere on the last day though, with Bronshoj qualifying for the promotion group by coming back from 3-1 down with 20 minutes to go to win 4-3 via a 92nd minute goal. This was excellent news for me as it took a team we'd lost to twice in to the promotion group, whilst B93 who we had beaten twice will now join us in the relegation group. That means we're beginning the relegation phase with 4 wins and 2 draws already on the board, making us top of the table. My aim is to stay there - there's no prize for winning the relegation group but I want to develop some consistency, morale and a winning spirit amongst this squad. And meanwhile I'll have my fingers crossed that some of the really strong teams from our autumn group get promoted to Division 1 and hope we get some weaker sides from the tier below replacing them next year.

My other priorities are:

(i) find a real striker who can actually score. Across the 14 games in the autumn we created 23 clear cut chances, compared to 17 conceded. Yet whilst we conceded 17 goals (as you might expect) we only scored 14. If we had scored 23 I think we'd have made the promotion group.

(ii) sort out our tactics to stop conceding goals from crosses and counter-attacks. I can't seem to get my full backs to hold decent positions and despite playing on counter most of the time and with a DM(d) in our formation, we still seem to get caught out by long balls. Any tips much appreciated!

[arnoldinho]

Congrats Quacky! Keep this up, and I'm sure you'll grow to love Rhyl soon enough!

[larxus]

Couldn't complete this challenge last year, but I'm here to try again for Iceland.

So meet Knattspyrnufélag Vesturbæjar. Don't look at me, I have no idea how to pronounce that. Let's call it KV going forward. Simple logo which looks kinda cool. Could't get a kit download for this team though, so if any of you know where I can get them for this team, I would appreciate it. By the way, I confirm that the reset date for Iceland is 25 November 2015.

Knattspyrnufélag Vesturbæjar

Larx Magnum has just been hired as the new manager of Knattspyrnufélag Vesturbæjar. The team plays their home games at Frostaskjól.

The transfer budget is £5.34k, while the wage budget is £9.43k, and current wages are "NA". A bit of room to maneuver but still a bit low for my taste. The team plays in the Frostaskjól with a capacity of 1500 so that's quite good.

[Jaskar]

Good luck Larxus and good job everyone else - looks like decent progress is being made!

[Fastbasher]

The League

A nice solid performance for our return to the top flight. We were 7th at the winter break, but again improved in the second half of the season and felt like we were breaking into that group of European qualifiers. A win in our final game would have seen us finish 4th.

The Players

Again, we relied a lot on loan players. Especially from Partizan.

Miljan Ljujic was again our top scorer and fans player of the season. We have developed him very well for Partizan.

Predrag Matejevic has now spent 5 seasons on loan with us and just broke the record for the most league appearances for the club. Strange to have a player that has never been ours to hold that record. Especially since he hasn't always been in the 1st eleven.

Krisztián Páli was one of my bright youth prospects at Cegléd. I wanted to try and make him a one club man. It turns out, my scouts and coaches opinions were correct. He's gone on to have a decent career and significantly increased value.

The Cup

This was a very surprising cup. Not so much the victory, but how the cup panned out. The round of 16 only had 5 teams from the top division left in it and four of them from the bottom half of the table.

The reason was that the round of 32 clashed with international fixtures and all the top teams fielded extremely weakened teams. Even their best youth were away at U19 and U21 games.

We only played two top flight teams. Videoton (who got relegated) in the quarterfinal and BKV Előre in the final.

Extra Time

We finally get another crack at Europe. The board has set expectations of reaching the group stage. Shouldn't be too hard since we are seeded into it.

The affiliate link with Partizan has been cancelled due to our reputation no longer making it viable. They also intend to use most of the players we developed for them as first team players.

A new link has been set up with German club, Köln. I chose them ahead of Celta and Zaragoza as they had better youth and training facilities. Although they don't currently have any youth available.

Without all the loan players, we will be up for another rebuilding phase next season. Hopfully we can still qualify for Europe somehow.

Career Summary

Season     Team          League          	  Position         Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Monor         Div II                   N/A              Sacked in 19th mid season
2017/18    Tatabánya     Div II                   15th
2018/19    Tatabánya     Div II                   2nd              Promoted
2019/20    Tatabánya     Div I                    3rd
2020/21    Tatabánya     Div I                    N/A              Europa League 2nd Round Qualifier. Sacked.
2021/22    Cegléd        Div II                   17th
2022/23    Cegléd        Div II                   N/A              Sacked in 20th mid season
2023/24    Veszprém      Div II                   17th
2024/25    Veszprém      Div II                   1st              Champions, Promoted
2025/26    Veszprém      Div I                    10th
2026/27    Veszprém      Div I                    N/A              Sacked in 12th mid season
2027/28    Baja          Div II                   17th
2028/29    Baja          Div II                   2nd              Promoted
2029/30    Baja          Div I                    9th
2030/31    Baja          Div I                    9th
2031/32    Baja          Div I                    12th             Relegated
2032/33    Baja          Div II                   1st              Champions, Promoted
2033/34    Baja          Div I                    5th              Hungarian Cup winners

[Quacky]

Rhyl, 2023/24

After surviving the season I was able to for the first time ever reinforce the team. No one ever plays the first season with a team of players they are actually happy with, a lot of people filling in the best they can. I still couldn't find a proper person for the troublesome right wing back position but nevertheless many other position were sured up and we stormed towards a 2nd place finish in the league. TNS were always just a little bit out of reach all season, too many draws I feel, I had the best defence in the league but struggled scoring at times. The new right wing back for next season and acquiring a more attacking centre midfielder should help.

Key man/Top scorer: Rhys Evans

Notable mentions: Ex-Port-Vale/Crewe defender, Will Aimson and Ex-Leicester midfielder Andy King (who won't sign a new contract )

Season  | Team        | League | Welsh Cup | Word Cup  | Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17 | Cefn Druids | 12th   | 4th Rnd*  | 1st Rnd   | Sacked, 24th Jan
2017/18 | Prestatyn   | 11th   | Qtr Fnl   | 2nd Rnd   | Relegated
2018/19 | Llangefni   | 12th   | 3rd Rnd   | 1st Rnd   | Sacked, 10th Nov
2019/20 | Conwy       | 12th   | 3rd Rnd   | 2nd Rnd   | Sacked, 17th Dec
2020/21 | Aberystwyth | 5th    | 3rd Rnd   | 2nd Rnd   | Sacked, 2nd Feb
2021/22 | Newtown     | 12th   | 4th Rnd   | 1st Rnd   | Quit, 1st Mar
2022/23 | Rhyl        | 6th    | Semi Fnl  | 2nd Rnd   | SURVIVED!
2023/24 | Rhyl        | 2nd    | Qtr Fnl   | Runner Up | Europa League

[Fastbasher]

Great work Quacky. It's good to see perseverance rewarded.

[FjollFan]

Fastbasher: Nicely done and congratulations on the cup win

Quacky: Seems like Mr. Duck has found his footing , shame on Andy King.

[Taunton]

Great work, Quacky. Good luck in Europe. Hopefully you will earn some well needed money.

[Taunton]

We have won our first "]trophy! It is not the most important of tournaments but a trophy is a trophy!

[Fastbasher]

We have won our first "]trophy! It is not the most important of tournaments but a trophy is a trophy!

Haha. The Word Cup. I had to do a double take on that one. Congrats.

[kingjericho]

It's just a 'L' short of getting you into the hall of fame

[Quacky]

Congrats on the word, the cup my chairman doesn't care how I do in at all. Its worth about £20K prize money to win though on mine which is still a vaguely significant sum. Not that I really understand how the prize money fluctuation works, £20K is certainly more than the 160K NOK you got.

[Jaskar]

We have won our first "]trophy! It is not the most important of tournaments but a trophy is a trophy!

Great work Taunton! Without trying to steal your limelight, I'm pleased to say that we have won our first trophy as well! Full update tonight.

[dervinus]

Tindastoll 2016 Season - Icelandic First Division

Been a little busy since starting this save, but made it through my first season in the Icelandic first division! We were absolutely dire all season long. We were in the relegation zone until the last few weeks of the season, where we pulled off 3 draws to get us 2 points clear of relegation!!!

Here is the league table

My team is still crap. Not sure how I am going to be able to pull off survival again in the next year...

[Taunton]

Haha. The Word Cup. I had to do a double take on that one. Congrats.

Ha ha. I actually didn't think that way, but I see it as well. Wish it was:lol:

It's just a 'L' short of getting you into the hall of fame

He he, would be amazing if it was the World cup, but it is the infamous Word cup.

Congrats on the word, the cup my chairman doesn't care how I do in at all. Its worth about £20K prize money to win though on mine which is still a vaguely significant sum. Not that I really understand how the prize money fluctuation works, £20K is certainly more than the 160K NOK you got.

My chairman doesn't rate it either, and you don't get a European place for it, but the first trophy is always nice.

Great work Taunton! Without trying to steal your limelight, I'm pleased to say that we have won our first trophy as well! Full update tonight.

Nice to hear. I hope it is a more exclusive trophy than mine. Looking forward to the update.

[kingjericho]

Brora Rangers - Scottish League One - 2020/21

League Table - only in the second half we started to get some momentum and a decent string of wins.

Playoff semi final - a miserable first leg killed us quickly.

Scottish Cup - the home draw against St. Mirren was great for us because the replay match allowed us to bank in around £70k in revenue.

Scottish League Cup - we drew a bigger team early on, and that was our end.

Training Cup - we did well against bigger opposition, but it wasn't enough.

Squad - the lack of quality in some areas was a reason for our inconsistency, when our key players did not perform the rest of the team hurt.

Transfers - we snapped up really good players on free transfers.

Finances - the final league prize and the cup run were good boosts for our finances.

Key Player Profiles

Scott Stewart - still one of our most influential players, commanding us from the center midfield.

Chris Blackett - a shame he did not have a striking partner as good as him, he had to handle most of our goalscoring movements.

Ewan Weir - a great loan, very solid, and we already have him loaned for next season.

Career Overview

Season     Division                 Position     Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Scottish League Two      5th
2017/18    Scottish League Two      5th
2018/19    Scottish League Two      1st          Promotion
2019/20    Scottish League One      6th
2020/21    Scottish League One      2nd

Next season

We were not consistent enough to deserve promotion, but next season we hope to be.

[Taunton]

Bad luck, kingjericho. But it looks like you have something going there. Another season in the top of the table and you will get there.

[kingjericho]

I'm hoping we can do better next season. I signed some good lads and we can only improve.

Last season's standing are misleading though, we were far from good in too many matches.

[Fastbasher]

Unlucky kingjericho. Still, looks like you're right up there to mount another promotion challenge. Congrats on the progress.

[Fastbasher]

The League

Well, it was a couple of steps back from last season. But that was to be expected as we transitioned from a team of loanees towards some of our own quality players. We managed to get a lot of local players in there by raiding division II and the U19s league. Köln has produced no youth players at all yet.

Congratulations to Újpest who had an 'invincibles' season. Their expensively assembled group of foreigners are setting some tough records to beat. 28 wins and 5 draws is a record points target in the league.

They won the title 13 times and were runner up 5 times in the last 18 seasons.

The Players

András Kondor became the Hungarian national team keeper. Which was great for him and good to have a current Hungarian international in the team. Not so good for the third round of the cup.

Péter Varga is an ex Hungarian international and was the fans player of the season.

This guy turned me down a couple of seasons ago. But what an awesome name for a lower league footballer.

Euro Cup

We got thumped by Valencia. But so did everyone else. We had a draw and a 0-1 loss each against PSV and Dinamo Moscow which was very encouraging.

Career Summary

Season     Team          League          	  Position         Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Monor         Div II                   N/A              Sacked in 19th mid season
2017/18    Tatabánya     Div II                   15th
2018/19    Tatabánya     Div II                   2nd              Promoted
2019/20    Tatabánya     Div I                    3rd
2020/21    Tatabánya     Div I                    N/A              Europa League 2nd Round Qualifier. Sacked.
2021/22    Cegléd        Div II                   17th
2022/23    Cegléd        Div II                   N/A              Sacked in 20th mid season
2023/24    Veszprém      Div II                   17th
2024/25    Veszprém      Div II                   1st              Champions, Promoted
2025/26    Veszprém      Div I                    10th
2026/27    Veszprém      Div I                    N/A              Sacked in 12th mid season
2027/28    Baja          Div II                   17th
2028/29    Baja          Div II                   2nd              Promoted
2029/30    Baja          Div I                    9th
2030/31    Baja          Div I                    9th
2031/32    Baja          Div I                    12th             Relegated
2032/33    Baja          Div II                   1st              Champions, Promoted
2033/34    Baja          Div I                    5th              Hungarian Cup winners
2034/35    Baja          Div I                    7th              4th in Europa group stage

[Jaskar]

Afan Lido - 2019/20 Season - 2nd

WELSH CUP WINNERS

Still not quite there, but a lot of positives can be taken from this season. Won Manager of the Season and had five players in the team of the year, which was a big boost.

League - another season with an appalling start, we only managed one point from the opening four games, which always left us with a big gap to make up. We kept improving throughout the season though, and we were rampant after the league split, going unbeaten for the final ten games and beating TNS on both occasions. While there is still a big gap between ourselves and TNS, we seem to have pulled away from the rest of the teams.

Cups - actual success in the cups! A first match exit in the Europa League was expected. We managed to reach theWord Cup final only to meet TNS before we had peaked; we were well beaten. The Welsh Cup, however, saw us hit form and beat TNS in the semis, leading to a final against Porthmadog. Our build up was perfect, beating them 5-0 in the final game of the league with a second string line-up before meeting them in the final, with us winning with a comfortable 3-0 scoreline. Sadly, and the same as Taunton, the board weren't worried about the cup and were unimpressed with the Lido taking some silverware home.

Transfers - we're starting to attract some much better players. Some top players were signed in the summer and we were able to improve again in January; something I had neglected in previous seasons.

Key Players

Aaron Morris - superb in centre midfield, and linked up play brilliantly. Unfortunately, he won't sign a new contract - something that is becoming frustratingly common with my best players.

Gary Morgan - the star striker that I was desperately looking for. Thought I had made a mistake when he failed to score in his first ten games, but managed a goal a game thereafter. Won't sign a new contract.

Aaron Walker - came in in January and completely outplayed his attributes, managing 8 goals and 6 assists in his twelve league games. A big hope for the future.

Finances - still improving, but I've been more willing to part with the cash now some better players have become available for me to sign.

Next season - see if I can replace the big names on their way out. Keep closing the gap on TNS. See if I can win another trophy.

Season     League     Welsh Cup     WPL Cup     Europe
-------------------------------------------------------------
2017       5th          4R            2R          -
2018       2nd          3R            2R         1QR
2019       2nd          3R            1R         1QR
2020       2nd           W             F         1QR

[Taunton]

I'll rate that as a great season, Jaskar. And winning the cup is more important than the Word cup, because the cup gives you a place in europe.So finishing second, and winning a cup is great. You are nearer domestic domination. I see that you, as well as me, have a long way to go in Europe, but qualifying every year guarantee some money. So well done!! Are you professional yet?

Also, Afan Lido is quite good in my save. They are currently in fourth place. Have you seen anything to Pen-y-Bont in yours?

Fastbasher, even if it was a setback you are solidly placed in the division. it is all about building the team, I hope you got some well earned money from the group stage as well. I can only dream about group stages for now.

[dervinus]

Board just accepted a 10k bid for my young regen star midfielder who is already in the first team. 1 game to go in the preseason cup and now I have to patch another hole.

[Quacky]

It happens dervinus, I lost my best player as the English clubs came calling and theres no chance to keep him against his will with the reputation difference.

[Taunton]

Taunton - Pen-y-Bont - Season review - 2019/20 - Welsh Premier League - FMT

League: "]3rd "](Positions)

Even though we finished this season in third place, I will rate it as our best ever. We achieved several goals. We won "]the Welsh cup and theWord cup, providing the club with its first trophies. We beat TNS several times, (although we also lost 7-0 against them:rolleyes:) and we showed that we could beat every team in Wales. So that gives us a good foundation to evolve. The games we lost were mostly because of bad finishing or erratic defending, and it shows me that my player material is not amongst the best. That goes out to most teams in Wales. But we have strengthened some vital areas, and thanks to prize money from Europe and the cup double we have money in the bank. That means we can offer more wages to better players.

We lost out to Slovan Bratislava in the first qualifying round of the Europa League this season as well. We were slightly less outplayed than last year:D, European group stages is far away from us still.

Best player: "]Owain Harvey: On the top of my wish list was a striker that could give us more than 20 goals a season. And my wish came true, Harvey was immense and scored 24 goals for us, and even better than that...

Top scorer: "]Paul Powell: Harveys partner up front chipped in with 24 goals as well, I got two strikers reaching past the 20 mark. And Powell is only 18 years as well.

Next season: Can we mount a title challenge? I need some better defenders, and hope that TNS will have a bad season. But we are getting closer.

Season  | Welsh Prem | JD Welsh Cup |  theWord Cup |    Europe   |  Top scorer        
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17 |    9th     |   4th rnd    |    1st rnd   |     N/A     |  Jake Eyre      (12)
2017/18 |    4th     | Quarter final|    2nd rnd   |     N/A     |  Jack Laird     (14)
2018/19 |    2nd     | Quarter final|    2nd rnd   | EL-1. Q-rnd |  Jack Laird     (13)
2019/20 |    3rd     |   [b]Winners[/b]    |    [b]Winners[/b]   | EL-1. Q-rnd |  Owain Harvey & Paul Powell (24)

[Fastbasher]

Nice cup double Taunton. I actually googled theWord cup today at work to find out the background. Slow day on the spreadsheets.

[Taunton]

Nice cup double Taunton. I actually googled theWord cup today at work to find out the background. Slow day on the spreadsheets.

Ha ha, excellent:D!! Am imagining the puzzled face on your boss if he was peeping over your shoulder. And where to start with the explanations!?!

Now I know what to do when I am bored at work, and there is probably some Hungarian football competitions I haven't found out about as well.

[Taunton]

Have to say that playing in Wales with only the Welsh league available in FMT gives you very limited options player wise. I think there is approximately 2000 players in the database, and 70% is sh**e welsh footballers. I tried to search the database for Scottish, Irish and Northern-Irish players, and there were 20 available. All full time professionals playing for top clubs. So the talent pool is very limited.

Fortunately the youth intake provided me with some talent, but it is scarely scarce out there. Well, well, adds to the challenge.