noikeee Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 2025/2026 - End of season update - Dolny Kubin Transfers (Transfers) We got ourselves an excellent 155K€ fee for defensive midfielder Radoslav Homer, who complained he wanted out due to not playing much (you'd been here for FIVE years on loan and still signed for us permanently, without realizing you never played much??). To cover this departure we brought in Mateo Castellano, who... wasn't much better, but was cheap, having signed on a free. Slovnaft Cup Haniska in the quarter-finals was pretty straightforward, we were winning 3-0 by the half hour (with a nice brace by Ladislav Hlavac) and it stayed that way. This booked us a semi-final tie vs Trencin, who was the team I wanted to get in the draw, but they were far from easy - by now we were the only second division team left in the competition. This was to be played in two legs, and the first one away just went like a dream. We totally dominated them, got two first half goals and that was it. We looked like we were the first division team, not them. This put us in a great position for the second leg, but we had to fight our way through this time. They pressured us much more and got the goal just at the end of first half. However we recovered with a Jorginho goal just after the break, then even got the winner in injury time (a rare goal by Rene Durkot who used to be our star striker, but has been relegated to 3rd choice this year). We had made the cup final!!! Our final opponents couldn't be any harder. Zilina has been Slovakian champions... for the past 10 years straight! They just completely surrounded us the whole first half and it was a miracle we made it to half-time 0-0. However we did much better the second half and the match started playing out in a much more even way. Unfortunately, it was during this period we conceded a goal. We had a couple of chances right at the end, but it wasn't enough, and Zilina claimed the cup despite our brave performance. DOXXbet Liga - East We really had to work hard to beat Kosice away, after conceding an early goal, but turned it around to win 3-1. The same happened vs Ruzomberok, as they equalised after we had gone 2 goals up, but we still managed to make it 3-2. It was much more straightforward vs Bardejov and Lokomotiva with 1-0, 2-0 wins respectively, making it 4 wins in 4 past the winter break. This meant we won the East Group by a quite staggering 23 points, but, more importantly, also went into Promotion Stage with an enormous 18 points head start over West Group winners Nitra. DOXXbet Liga - Promotion Stage It wasn't the best of starts to Promotion Stage with an extremely dull 0-0 at Senec. The next match was important as we faced our closest challengers Nitra, a win for us would diminish any chance of a Nitra comeback in the league to something approaching a miracle. And that was what we did, but it took a superb long range goal from Ladislav Hlavac in the 89th minute, after a tense, even match. We looked as good as promoted already. But there was time for a bit of a wobble. We lost at Sered, our 2nd defeat all year, failed to score again vs Zilina B despite having the better of the match, then drew again at Dulo Sala despite having opened up a 2-0 lead. But despite this momentary lapse in form, our opponents didn't really take advantage of it, and soon we were back at our best. Samorin were stubborn but we beat them 3-2. And in the following match, a slightly underwhelming 1-0 win over Senec, thanks to a Thanasis Moutesidis freekick, was enough to seal promotion already, with 5 matches in hand. DOLNY KUBIN ARE THE DOXXBET LIGA CHAMPIONS AND PROMOTED TO FORTUNA LIGA!! This rendered the remaining matches completely meaningless, so a good chance to rotate players and try youngsters, also I stopped micromanaging tactics like I'd done throughout the whole season, and just let things play out. This explains our inconsistent form during this period, with 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 win. Still, we finished the season with a 18 points lead anyway... Summary After 5 seasons of struggle, we've been rewarded with a dominant title and promotion. And reaching the cup final was a fantastic bonus on top of that! All of this has given me a huge personal boost in reputation, up to 35%. I suspect this means I'll be considerably more in demand in the near future, and I also feel like I've achieved the goal I had set out for this team, so it's time to start thinking of the next move in my career. However, I definitely want to see what can I do with this lot next year, and I don't wish to change clubs until the new patch is out (as I suspect I'll need to adapt, and that's easier when I'm managing familiar faces). So expect to see me stay for at least another season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 2025/2026 - Season review - Dolny Kubin Squad and tactics (Full squad statistics) I took a long time to play this season because of tactics, I finally worked out a system that works really well, but it needs me to pay very close attention to how the match is playing out, and then tweak things accordingly. You can find a very lenghty explanation of what I'm doing here. Finances (Finances) Despite the large income we made on transfers this season, I spent an absurd amount on wages and this meant the board still had to bail me out with "investments" twice... However, we finished the season on a good note financially, thanks to the bonus for winning the title. Remember that this is a tiny tiny club, our stadium only hosts a total of 1950 spectators! I suspect we won't be much better off financially after promotion... Youth watch Pretty mediocre intake, yet again: Pavol Mihalik (DC / DL) Peter Borovsky (ST) Lubos Petro (AMC / AMRL) However there are some exciting news on the youth front, as centre-back Ladislav Varadin has been improving at an incredible rate thanks to some tutoring, and now looks ready for the first team at the age of 18 (although he was a bit unconvincing in the few matches I gave him at the end of the season). As for Zoltan Lesko, unfortunately he seems to have stalled a little and I doubt he'll ever have a place in my side. Top 5 players of the season 5. Ladislav Hlavac (ST) - I suspect he'd be my star player if it wasn't for Marek Mazan, whenever Mazan was unavailable, or needed to be rested, I gave him a chance and he delivered with a great amount of 8 goals in 14 appearances. Lacks a bit of consistency (which is what I like in Mazan as he's the opposite), but this kid has the potential to go a long way... 4. Yulian Mitov (MC) - This was a bit of a strange season regarding the advanced playmaker spot. I started the season benching my long trusted star player Marcel Oravec, to give a chance to Thanasis Moutesidis, and he definitely delivered. However as the year went on Moutesidis, despite playing very well, also lost his place to the younger Yulian Mitov. Mitov's "inconsistent" and "doesn't enjoy big matches", but is brilliant when on top of his game, and got 6 assists. 3. Emiliano Bogado (MR, AML) - Yet another player with an inconsistency trait, and a frustrating poor technical ability to finish as he's often in a great position to do so. However, he did really well with the extraordinarily difficult task of replacing Dawid Rybak. With 9 goals and 12 assists, he was by far our greatest threat besides the striker position. 2. Pedro Amaral (DL) - His 1st season had been okay, his 2nd season very good, his 3rd this year extraordinary. The Portuguese left-back is already a "leading player for most Fortuna Liga sides" - the league we've just been promoted to - and played better than ever whilst grabbing 8 assists. PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Marek Mazan (ST) Last year he'd been backup to Rene Durkot, this season as I signed him permanently and he had shone in the pre-season friendlies, I decided to give him a chance as first choice. I'd never look back. Marek firmly established himself as our star player for the whole year with an impressive 25 goals of all kinds, becoming top scorer of the DOXXbet Liga. [b]Season League Cups International Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Berwick Rangers (Scotland) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 15/16 League 2 - 5th Cup 2nd Rd, LgCup 1st Rd, TrCup 1st Rd --- Resigned at end of the season [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loughgall FC (Northern Ireland) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 16/17 Championship 1 - 10th IRC 6thR, LC 3rdR, ITC 2ndR, MUC winners --- Sacked; won Mid-Ulster Cup [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Municipal Turrialba (Costa Rica) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 17/18 Ascenso - 4th (1/4f) / 5th --- --- 18/19 Ascenso - 3rd (fin.) / 3rd (1/4f) --- --- Apertura finalists 19/20 Ascenso - 5th / 4th (fin.) Copa de Costa Rica 1st Rnd --- Clausura finalists [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dolny Kubin (Slovakia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 20/21 DOXXbet Liga - 8th / 1st (RlgSt) Slovnaft Cup 1st Rnd --- 21/22 DOXXbet Liga - 3rd / 9th (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup 3rd Rnd --- 22/23 DOXXbet Liga - 5th / 2nd (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup 2nd Rnd --- Runners-up 23/24 DOXXbet Liga - 3rd / 6th (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup semi-finals --- 24/25 DOXXbet Liga - 1st / 4th (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup 1st Rnd --- East Group winners 25/26 DOXXbet Liga - 1st / 1st (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup finalists --- Champions, promoted, cup finalists Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Congrats on finally going up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Well done, you deserved that for sticking with them. Good luck next season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 Very well deserved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 Congrats on finally going up. Well done, you deserved that for sticking with them. Good luck next season Very well deserved. Thanks fellas. A few pleasant news items ahead of the new season: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 Marcel Oravec leaves the club I feel this player deserves a special post, he's been with the club for 10 years and was a key part of my team for a long time, I picked him as player of the season in 2 different occasions. He is also the current record holder of appearances for the club, on 254. Unfortunately as he aged he lost his place in the first 11 during the last season, and wanted a new challenge. Best of luck Marcel. Meanwhile, the board, somewhat out of the blue, announced a new link with Italy's Verona as we become their feeder club. Our previous feeder club agreement with Senica has been suspended as we're now in the same division as them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Very well done Noikee. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexSizemore Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Loving this story right now dude! Keep up the good work! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Very well done Noikee. Thank you Nobby. Loving this story right now dude! Keep up the good work! Thanks for following, appreciated! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 2026/2027 - Pre-season update - Dolny Kubin Transfers (Transfers) Every year the magic number seems to be 10 signings in pre-season, and this year was no exception. Martin Junas is the new backup keeper. Florent Kapllani is a new option for centre-back, after I sold both Sam Golan and Sergio González. Ricardo Mangas is a new left-back (unlikely to pose much of a threat to Pedro Amaral), whilst the biggest changes at the back were in the right-back position. Vladimir Franic's contract ran out, youngster and academy graduate Zoltan Lesko was sold, and Leonardo Godoy has picked up an injury recently. So I hired two right-backs in Ralf Ambos and Iliyan Aleksandrov, and Ambos has been doing great so far. In midfield, there was also a need for players as club legend Marcel Oravec left after 10 years playing for us, Szymon Drewniak's contract was also left to expire, and Acácio Flores was sold after a single underwhelming season. I invested heavily in this position as João Costa became our most expensive signing at 52K€, Gambia's Famara Jarju was also signed on loan and also looks very good; and finally later in the window I couldn't resist on grabbing Veroljub Stokic on loan too. Finally, I hired a Scottish winger named Paul Graham, which was probably a bit of a rushed move as I hadn't scouted him properly and he doesn't look as good now; and Juraj Pucek on loan from Auxerre is a bit more exciting, he's too incompetent at crossing to be a winger, but looks an excellent fit for the inside forward position on the left, and can also provide cover for the striker position. We were lacking players for these positions as Iason Pantelidis' contract expired, Dijon Ramaj was sold after a total failure of a few months at the club; and I didn't wish to renew former star striker Rene Durkot's loan anymore. Squad Despite the 10 new faces, this is not a revolution, so far I've been fielding a starting 11 that's very similar to last year's with 2 or 3 changes. However I do think I've gotten a slight upgrade, particularly on the midfield. Fixtures The league seems to start absurdly early, so there wasn't much time for friendlies. I tried to stack a ton of them in few days and with a bit of rotation somehow managed to avoid many injuries. Results were promising if entirely meaningless. The start to the league has been... happy. Our first match was helped by a very early red card, and Mazan took care of finishing off the match in the first half. The next one in Bratislava was more impressive. Vs one of Slovakia's biggest, most prestigious sides, we dominated and beat them convincingly at their home, even after they had equalized. And we continued the trend with another smashing, clear win over Dunajska Streda with a brace from new signing Juraj Pacek who had just come off the bench at half-time; and then claimed a much tougher, somewhat lucky 1-0 win at Trnava. 4 wins in our first 4 matches in the top division! Pohronie next were a tricky one as I remember having lots of difficulties vs them, when we used to face them in the second division. Despite the fact they seem to be struggling in this league, this was the one match we failed to win, and we were massively lucky to equalize with a 91st minute penalty. Borcice next were a little resilient but we survived both an early conceded goal, and a missed chance to score from a penalty, to win 3-2. And if this start to the league hadn't been amazing enough, we hammered Michalovce 4-0 to finish August still in a clear 1st place. Marek Mazan helped us there with an hat-trick, and he's just been insanely good, he has grabbed both the July and August Player of the Month awards. Summary After last season's dominant title, and our good results in the cup vs the teams from the top division, I already expected we wouldn't have many problems adapting to the new division, and certainly wanted to be above the relegation fight. But this early run of results is quite shocking, it's way above what I imagined. We're flying! I think sooner or later Zilina will overtake us as they're just a level above everyone else, they're on a sequence of 11 consecutive Slovakian championships. The real question is, how much further down will we fall? Can we fight for an European place on our first season in the top division? Even midtable would be great already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Safe to say you're staying up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Last year 22 points would've been enough to stay up. So we need to win 1 more match the rest of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 Don't jinx it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 Wow, storming start! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 Don't jinx it. Already did! Wow, storming start! Followed by a dreadful run! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted February 27, 2016 Author Share Posted February 27, 2016 2026/2027 - Mid-season update - Dolny Kubin Transfers (Transfers) There was a bit more movement than usual in this part of the season. First, we had the chance of picking up left-winger Guerino Mastrovito on loan from our new parent club Verona, and he's been an absolute revelation, even when playing on the right-wing as an inside forward, something that was completely unnatural to him (though it's being trained at a nice fast rate). This meant we had a surplus of wingers, so youngster Michal Bartos was loaned away. Meanwhile, speaking of loans, Ladislav Hlavac's manager on his parent club Trencin was unhappy with the fact I wasn't playing him at all, and recalled him. So I had to search for a new backup striker and picked up Miroslav Donchev on a free. Finally, already in December, I was offered an Ukranian midfielder/striker named Mykhaylo Medvedev who looks a great fit for my attack-minded box-to-box role, and I grabbed him. There had already been another change in the midfield as I had sold Mateo Castellano, after a mere few months for the club in which he had done nothing special. Slovnaft Cup Despite our recent tradition of excelling in the cup, specially last year's wonderful run to the final, this year's performance was embarrassing. We started off with a cringeworthy 0-0 with lower league Cadca, saved by our keeper Gabriele Rapisarda's good showing in the penalty kicks afterwards. Then next we were well on course for another penalty shootout vs 2nd division's Samorin, but Emiliano Bogado scored the winner on the 93rd minute. And the 3rd round was the final embarrassment as Podbrezova, also from the 2nd division, despite creating little danger scored the match's first two goals - the second of which an own-goal by our left-back Ricardo Mangas - and not even Marek Mazan who scored coming off the bench could save us this time. Gives us more time to focus on the league, I guess. Fortuna Liga Our excellent start to the league continued with an hectic 5-2 win over Myjava away. That would not be the last time our spectators would be entertained - the next match was just as crazy with a 3-3 vs Trencin, as we suffered the indignity of conceding an equalizer 3 times. We were to face all-conquering Zilina next, at risk of losing 1st place in the league, and that was precisely what happened, a single, deserved goal giving Zilina the table lead. That wasn't the only thing we lost, as our star winger Jorginho, on fabulous form, picked up a 3 months break with injury. This was our first defeat of the year, but coincidence or not, sparked a pretty bad run. It was a festival of goals again when we lost 4-3 to Poprad, with a late Jorge Silva own-goal, having played most of the game with 10 men too, due to an early red card to youngster Ladislav Varadin. A stupid amount of goals happened again vs Slovan, we had opened up a 3-0 lead only for Slovan to turn it round 3-4 then our new striker Miroslav Donchev made it a final 4-4 result. Madness! Bad results continued with a 2-1 defeat at Senica, hugely unfortunate as we had outplayed them and led the match for a long time; a 1-1 at Dunajska Streda when again we conceded a late equaliser; and another 1-1 at home vs Trnava. Despite this sequence of 7 consecutive games without a win... we were still 2nd. The turnaround point came against Borcice. We survived Jorge Silva's second owngoal of the season to beat them 3-2 with a 90th minute winner by Juraj Pucek, picking up a morale boost. Vs Pohronie, Emiliano Bogado came off the bench to score a brace and solve the match. Vs Michalovce, it was our striker Marek Mazan's turn to score a brace, as we again survived a Jorge Silva owngoal (his third of the season!!). And vs Myjava we repeated the 2-1 result to go into Winter Break on a much more confident run of 4 straight wins, and a pretty happy league table situation, too. Summary I'm finding this league to be strangely uncompetitive. 7 straight games without a win and we don't even lose 2nd place. 4 wins and we're almost 1st again. I guess I'm okay with that? Despite the fact we're just one point off Zilina, which suggests we're on a sensational title run despite having just gotten promoted (and having tiny, tiny resources compared to Zilina), I'm not really aiming for the Slovakian championship this year. 2nd place would be fantastic already, and we've got a nice 10 point cushion to rest on for that. Can we hold on to it, when the competition re-starts again in March for the last few months of the season? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 Well, that's a weird one. Surely I've not done anything to manage such a major nation? Feels a tad undeserved, also managing a nation is boring and I feel my success at the moment is very very dependent on my transfer dealings, and how I mould my squad - which obviously you can't do in international management. Rejected. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 I'll just leave this here as a quick update: Now, these are the remaining fixtures. Pay attention to the final match... Bring it on! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 That last match is going to be immense. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 2026/2027 - End of season update - Dolny Kubin Transfers (Transfers) We hired two midfielders in January. First I couldn't resist picking up Mexico's Santiago Alonso on a free, then Loris Marzi, who looked extremely impressive on paper, was recommended to me in a report of the players available for loan from our parent club Verona. To make space for them, I terminated the loans of Famara Jarju and Veroljub Stokic, who both spent a short time at the club after having arrived in the Summer. Fortuna Liga Despite pretty good results in the winter break friendlies, we returned with a pretty terrible performance and defeat at the hands of Trencin. A win over Poprad with the single goal coming only in the 85th minute next, didn't exactly inspire much confidence neither, but that was the point we met Zilina with an outside shot of reclaiming the table lead. Puzzlingly, we... beat them fairly convincingly in our better performance vs them yet. We were surprisingly back to 1st place, but there was a whole round robin to play yet (in this league, with just 12 teams, you play each team 3 times). It was back to unconvincing form with a scrappy 2-1 win over Senica, then a frustrating 3-2 loss at Slovan where we were vastly outplayed despite scoring first. We had to sweat again to beat Dunajska Streda with the winning goals only coming in the 2nd half, and then we drew a bit unfairly at Trnava. We were dropping points, but Zilina were in inconsistent form at this point of the season too, and so we still managed to retain the lead. Another 2 scrappy wins followed - a 2nd half Mazan brace saved us vs Borcice, and he scored a 84th minute winner again vs Michalovce. A brilliant 3-0 win at Pohronie was far nicer - midfielder Osvaldo Lozano scoring a very rare brace after coming in as a substitute. But we lost again at Myjava, with a pretty terrible performance, and this time Zilina were on relentless form and took advantage of our dropped points. This sparked the situation I presented in the previous, short mini-update: 60 points for us, 60 points for Zilina, 3 matches to play and we were facing each other in the final match of the season. The tension couldn't be higher. Trencin looked tough opponents on paper, but we didn't lose our cool in this one, beat them pretty easily 3-1. Poprad next proved way more difficult. We pulled a narrow first half advantage and held on tight, dodging all kinds of danger for 45 minutes. This meant we did our part, but so did Zilina. They struggled in their match and had only scored the winner in the 88th minute, but ultimately continued on a lenghty sequence of wins. It really was going to come all down to the final match as both teams entered it tied on points for an epic finale. Would Zilina, the giants, complete dominators of Slovakian football, playing at home, claim their 12th consecutive league title? Or would we pull the mother of all surprises, tiny Dolny Kubin having just gotten promoted at the start of the season, holding on for 1st place right up until the final match? We only needed a draw. Turned out we choked. Massively. I'd already stuffed things up with a poor team meeting, then soon figured out on the pitch we were going to have a pretty rough day. Zilina cornered us in our own half no matter what we did, and it was a matter of time until we conceded. When they got the first, they destroyed our dreams pretty quickly as they followed that up with another 2 goals in just 4 minutes. Mazan still got one for us just before the break, and I vaguely hoped for a miracle turnaround. We looked better after half-time. But after a while we stopped creating danger, Zilina evened the match again, and eventually even added a 4th goal very late in the game. It was the most disappointing, crushing end to what otherwise had been a pretty spectacular season. Summary What a terrible, downer way to finish the season. We were so, so close to performing the most incredible of upsets, to be crushed 4-1 in the final, decisive match is disheartening. However, if you ignore the sequence of matches and shuffled it all up in any other way, I'd be thrilled. It still was a fantastic season, far beyond my expectations. We shouldn't have been there fighting for the title. European competition in itself is already a dream for the club. I can calmly, confidently say I've done my job here. ... which means it's probably time to leave Slovakia. It's been 7 seasons already, and I want a new challenge. I do have another year of contract, and playing in the Europa League is nice, but not quite enticing enough. I've been wanting for the new FM patch too, and to figure out if my tactics still work I wanted to remain in a familiar environment, but then it appears the match engine has barely been touched. There's very few reasons to stick around. Even the wage budget remains the same for next season. I just need to find a job that suits me, and there's not many that interesting out there in the job centre at the moment, so let's see... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 2026/2027 - Season review - Dolny Kubin Squad and tactics (Full squad statistics) Same tactics as last year with the same complex system for tweaking things as the matches play out, although I've been going increasingly crazy there, even using different formations (for example using an AMC in some matches) or messing with the team width too, I sometimes go narrow to try to swamp the opposition in central spaces. Finances (Finances) Uh-oh, this isn't good. The board apparently got fed up of donating money to the club and let this sum up to a pretty bad bank balance. On the positive side, the club's got European football for next season so even a crappy Europa League qualifier should help out there. Youth watch We got a decent keeper this year, plus a lot of 2 star players I didn't bother taking screenshots of: Ivan Oravec (GK) But this season was marked by the incredible, sudden emergence of centre-back Ladislav Varadin, who not only picked up a regular first 11 place, also became one of the best defenders in the league. Not only is he the only guy in my 7 seasons here that came out of the youth ranks and actually became useful, he's also quite likely a future Slovakian international - currently is on 8 U21 caps. Top 5 players of the season 5. Yulian Mitov (MC) - Quick mention over to right-winger Emiliano Bogado, who scored 10 goals and made 6 assists so was important, but had crappy ratings. As for Mitov, he continued to be rather influential as playmaker with some really good ratings, however as the season went on, January loanee Loris Marzi was starting to steal his place and I benched Mitov here and there in the final few matches. 4. Guerino Mastrovito (ML, AMR) - A really good signing that saved my arse when Jorginho picked up a 3 month injury just as I was heavily relying on him. Another loanee from new parent club Verona, Guerino started off as completely ineffectual at AMR yet seemed to play better there as inside forward from the very beginning, eventually improving a lot in the position and scoring 7 goals plus 4 assists. 3. Jorginho (ML, AMR) - Absolutely fabulous in the earlier stages of the season, far eclipsing his already good performances for us in the 2nd division the past 2 years. However he didn't return very well from that serious injury, and was pretty anonymous the second half of the season apart from an unexpected brace in one of the final matches. 8 goals and 8 assists. 2. Pedro Amaral (DL) - Better and better as the seasons go on, this year he improved his attacking game with a pretty fantastic 11 assists. PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Marek Mazan (ST) Top scorer of the 2nd division last year, top scorer of the main division this year. Player of the Month in July, August, November and April. The only Dolny Kubin player to be nominated for the Team of the Year. Marek's just a machine of relentless consistency. I'll miss him when I start managing elsewhere. [b]Season League Cups International Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Berwick Rangers (Scotland) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 15/16 League 2 - 5th Cup 2nd Rd, LgCup 1st Rd, TrCup 1st Rd --- Resigned at end of the season [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loughgall FC (Northern Ireland) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 16/17 Championship 1 - 10th IRC 6thR, LC 3rdR, ITC 2ndR, MUC winners --- Sacked; won Mid-Ulster Cup [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Municipal Turrialba (Costa Rica) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 17/18 Ascenso - 4th (1/4f) / 5th --- --- 18/19 Ascenso - 3rd (fin.) / 3rd (1/4f) --- --- Apertura finalists 19/20 Ascenso - 5th / 4th (fin.) Copa de Costa Rica 1st Rnd --- Clausura finalists [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dolny Kubin (Slovakia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 20/21 DOXXbet Liga - 8th / 1st (RlgSt) Slovnaft Cup 1st Rnd --- 21/22 DOXXbet Liga - 3rd / 9th (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup 3rd Rnd --- 22/23 DOXXbet Liga - 5th / 2nd (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup 2nd Rnd --- Runners-up 23/24 DOXXbet Liga - 3rd / 6th (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup semi-finals --- 24/25 DOXXbet Liga - 1st / 4th (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup 1st Rnd --- East Group winners 25/26 DOXXbet Liga - 1st / 1st (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup finalists --- Champions, promoted, cup finalists 26/27 Fortuna Liga - 2nd Slovnaft Cup 3rd Rnd --- Runners-up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Unlucky about losing it at the end, but tbf I'm sure at the beginning of the season you would have been thrilled to know you'd finish 2nd. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 And a hint as to where you could find myself managing in the future, as I tweak the list of available leagues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 Unlucky about losing it at the end, but tbf I'm sure at the beginning of the season you would have been thrilled to know you'd finish 2nd. Yeah like I wrote, had that match been in any other point of the season it wouldn't have hurt as it did being the very final one. I'm very happy with the season overall. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 It's interesting when you get such mixed feelings over something like that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 Chapter 5 - The Violets Tuesday, 20th of July 2027, Wien, Austria I was so close to crossing the Ocean back to the Americas. I had a contract in front of me to join CF Atlante of Mexico, and a blank slate to tweak my staff team as much as I wanted, but backed out in the final minute, after reading in Wikipedia that Atlante's a club that has been relocated quite a few times and therefore has a bit of an identity crisis! It's a bit of a crap emotional reason, but I don't think I'd enjoy myself as much knowing I was managing the Mexican MK Dons. Sport Recife of Brazil were looking for a manager too, but they were dead last in the league mid-season, and their State championship of Pernambuco looked horrendously boring. Cremonese of Italy were another option, and one that I nearly accepted, as they instilled me a sense of nostalgia, as a club that I remember as part of Serie A in the early 90s, fallen from grace since. But they were a large step down from my previous Slovakian employers in terms of reputation. In the end, I took quite possibly the least exotic option by making a very small geographical move, to neighbouring Austria. But I am convinced it is a good move. I am the new manager of the famously violet-kit-wearers Fussballklub Austria Wien. Austria Wien finished 3rd last season in the Austrian Bundesliga, so you could think that I've just made a sideways move from a club finishing in the top 3 in a mid-level Central European league, to another club finishing in the top 3 in a mid-level Central European league. However, don't be mistaken, this is a massive step up. With a much larger reputation, a much larger stadium (the Generali-Arena's capacity has been increased in recent years to 17500, several orders of magnitude bigger than the stadium with 2450 seats I left behind in Slovakia), much more powerful finances with a wage budget of 869K€/month (roughly 7 times bigger than the one I had in my previous club), a transfer budget of 3.4M€, and wonderful youth facilities (and a mandatory club philosophy of investing in academy players). But the biggest thing about Austria Wien is its history. They've been Austrian champions in 25 different occasions, and have won 30 Austrian Cups. They've even been quite good in Europe in the distant past, having reached the Cup Winners Cup final in 1978, although they lost it to Anderlecht. They are however in a pretty poor patch, with only 2 titles since 2006, in 2012 and 2017. My task is to make them the kings of Austria again, although I haven't yet had a look at how much stronger rivals Rapid Wien and Red Bull Salzburg are. Squad The squad I'll be managing looks pretty satisfactory. It needs a few tweaks, but it's halfway there to being something able to play my system. These appear to be my finest players: Júnior Cearense (AMC, ST) - I couldn't have hoped for a player more similar to Marek Mazan who made my previous side tick. An equally complete striker with an equal trait of consistency and even a similar PPM of "shoots with power", I expect very big things from him. Patrick Ameobi (DM / DR, MC) - Versatile player who looks most comfortable in defensive positions, but who for now I'm thinking of adapting to my attack-minded box-to-box midfield role. Dino Karic (D/WBL, DM / DC, MLC) - Another extremely versatile player, but I'm a bit confused as what to do with him. Currently the plan is to play him in his preferred position of left-back, but he's not good enough going forward to play as wing-back, so I might have to reverse my tactic left-to-right and play him as the more measured FB/S I normally use on the other flank. Gino Dekker (MC, AML / ML) - Proper winger, another guy I expect big things from, even if he's getting a little old. Goals I've been given a 3-year contract and that sounds like the perfect time frame as I am unlikely to want to stay for as long as I did in Slovakia - I've got 3 years to try to become Austrian champion. For now, the immediate goals are a little less ambitious - I've got the 2nd leg of an Europa League qualifier to deal with (I arrive midway through the tie, as we beat Belgian side Sint-Truiden 1-0 at home the 1st leg), and the task to hurriedly build the squad to my liking as the league starts in 5 days, too. It's very late in the pre-season to join the club, and provided I don't mess things up right now in the beginning until things settle, then I'll try to at least be a factor in the fight for the championship this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 I had a contract in front of me to join CF Atlante of Mexico, and a blank slate to tweak my staff team as much as I wanted, but backed out in the final minute, after reading in Wikipedia that Atlante's a club that has been relocated quite a few times and therefore has a bit of an identity crisis! It's a bit of a crap emotional reason, but I don't think I'd enjoy myself as much knowing I was managing the Mexican MK Dons. It's not just Atlante. There's a tendency in Mexico to relocate clubs, or the relegated club buys the license of the promoted club and exchanges all the players and staff. A few years ago, La Piedad supporters saw their club win promotion to the top flight, and then go out of business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.F._La_Piedad Good luck in Austria, btw. It's one place I'd like to manage but have never landed a job there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 5, 2016 Author Share Posted March 5, 2016 It's not just Atlante. There's a tendency in Mexico to relocate clubs, or the relegated club buys the license of the promoted club and exchanges all the players and staff.A few years ago, La Piedad supporters saw their club win promotion to the top flight, and then go out of business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.F._La_Piedad Good luck in Austria, btw. It's one place I'd like to manage but have never landed a job there. A whole league of MK Dons! I've never managed in Austria before neither. In fact I'd never managed before in every nation I've been through in this career so far! Been a big reason why I chose each club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 2027/2028 - Pre-season update - Austria Wien Transfers (Transfers) This was a very quiet transfer window for my standards. Despite having an unfamiliar squad, I only hired 5 players: experienced centre-back Romain Le Normand arrived on loan, making up a French duo of centre-backs alongside Olivier Boscagli; Croatian midfielder Matija Dreven offers stability in the middle; Greek youngster Petros Vounasis looks like my most exciting signing as a playmaker with large potential; Portuguese winger Leandro Tipote looked okay but has had a very poor start so far; and the contrary applies to Adnan Dzafic who scored a brace in his first appearance and then another important goal vs Rapid Wien next. I didn't do many deals in terms of sales neither, we got a nice fee (1.1M€) for poacher Golan Nimni who didn't fit my side as I need my striker to be more complete than he is; and we also received 110K€ for a left-back named Tebogo Moerane who was langushing in the reserves waiting for his contract to run out. We also let a couple of youngsters go on loans. Squad (Revised full squad list) Quickly becoming one of my typical absurdly overblown large squads. This is partially explained by the fact I inherited a lot of promising players from our academy, but frustratingly pretty much none of them fit what I want from each of my players in my tactics very well. I'm supposed to play them a lot as per club philosophy but I don't really know what to do with them. Fixtures My first match in Austria was also my career debut in European competitions, and I merely needed to hold on to a 1-0 lead the previous interim manager had achieved in the 1st leg over Sint-Truiden. Safe to say the 2nd leg didn't go according to plan - their forward Saïd Banrahma sunk us with an hat-trick, finishing our European campaign very early. My league debut was a lot happier - an easy win over Admira Wacker, and the next match in Linz went very much the same way. This set up the scenes for my first Wien derby, and luck protected me this time. We were awful, conceded first, but then one of Rapid's players lost his cool and got himself sent off still in the 1st half. Even vs 10 men, we continued to create very little but somehow scored twice in the few times we went upfront - winning the derby and going top of the league. We first lost points right next at Altach, and just about scrapped a 1-0 win at Wolfsberger to remain top. Things wouldn't go as well vs Sturm Graz. We scored 3 times in a crazy first half with 5 goals, and then my defenders all went missing as we conceded another 2 in the final 10 minutes, making it a bonkers 3-4 scoreline and our first league defeat. It looked as this would repeat itself in another open match away at Ried, but despite conceding twice we were the ones to turn the game around this time. Summary I think it's been a pretty good start? It's a shame about how the Europa League match went, but I'm quite happy to be within touching distance of Rapid out there at the top of the league, when our tactics aren't even fluid yet. I'd be happy with 2nd place at the end of the year, it gives access to the Champions League playoffs. All the board asks for is for us to make the Europa League again (even if that sounds a little unambitious). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Great start to the season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Great start. I've actually been to the Franz Horr (as it was known then) and the Ernst-Happel when I had a week over there a while back and had a Rapid save on the back of it, never managed Austria Wien though and they never seem to come up either in here of the GPLATG for some reason . Good luck with this anyway Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Good luck in Vienna. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 Great start to the season! Good luck in Vienna. Thank you. Great start. I've actually been to the Franz Horr (as it was known then) and the Ernst-Happel when I had a week over there a while back and had a Rapid save on the back of it, never managed Austria Wien though and they never seem to come up either in here of the GPLATG for some reason . Good luck with this anyway They're a bit of an anonymous club, they're fairly big and well known but stuck in a crap league and not as big as Rapid Wien, or Red Bull Salzburg recently, so don't really get much attention. They're also way past their best with only 3 (real life) titles since 1993. And there's no big "fallen giant" type nostalgia about them neither, because they've never done that well in Europe except for that one time Cup Winners Cup final. All things considered they've got all the ingredients for not registering on the radar. I've got a vague memory of seeing someone managing them in here, or might be mistaken with Rapid? I remember someone managing Rapid for sure, and I don't think it was your career. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 2027/2028 - Mid-season update - Austria Wien Transfers (Transfers) Unlike Slovakia where the transfer window shuts down very late in September, Austria's fairly normal, so I didn't hire anyone on a free or anything after it shut down in August. However, I did let two players go. First the super promising but horribly misfiting striker Branislav Dimitrijevic was sent on loan to Sweden, then I sold defensive midfielder Jean Thomas also to Sweden, in advance of a transfer I have arranged for January to replace him. ÖFB-Cup It looked as if we were set for an epic win over lower league Klingenbach with 3 goals in the first 13 minutes, but it stayed that way. We met First Vienna of the second division next, and we also started well scoring twice in the first half, but then conceded one too and quite embarassingly spent the rest of the match trying to avoid further damage. This booked us a tie vs Mattersburg also of the second division for next February in the quarter-finals. We have responsibilities in this competition, as we are the reigning champions, previous manager Jess Thorup won it last year - the club's first in a decade - before leaving for RB Leipzig in the Summer (which opened up the job vacancy for myself). tipico-Bundesliga Júnior Cearense was in super form in the late Summer, and saved our asses again with 2 goals vs Red Bull Salzburg, enough to avoid defeat, then the winner vs Admira Wacker. We were doing good. But not even 22 shots gave us a goal vs Wacker Innsbruck, who beat us 2-0 next and suddenly emerged as surprise early contenders for the league. It was much the same vs LASK Linz, we shot a lot but couldn't do more than grab a 1-1 draw. The big Wien derby was next and we were hardly on convincing form. Yet perhaps to compensate for our missing luck the previous few fixtures, we overturned a 1st minute goal, as we went forward pretty much twice and got goals each time, and then resisted wave after wave of Rapid attacks to beat them away. Undeserved, but we'll take anything vs Rapid! It sparked a mini-run of more crap, unconvincing wins as we also had to overturn a 0-1 defficit vs Wolfsberger, and then had to rely on a penalty to beat Altach. Weirdly, despite playing like poo we were back to the top of the league. But it didn't last very long. We were inevitably going to fall on this form and it happened at Sturm Graz, as we conceded an 89th minute winner, something which has been a very rare sight on my career so far! A win over Reid - with late goals for us this time - temporarily softened the situation, but we again had to rely on a late goal to draw in Salzburg after playing like poo for the billionth time, scrapped another crap 1-1 draw vs Wacker Innsbruck, and were well on course to lose to Admira Wacker at home, only for winger Guy Aviv to show up as an unlikely saviour with goals in the 82nd and 92nd minute, as we yet again turned a game around without really knowing how. Summary So far I'm finding Austria a hell of a lot more challenging than I expected. It's not as if we're doing badly, indeed 2nd place is pretty much what I wanted to achieve this year. And Rapid are pretty tough, they're just what Zilina were in Slovakia as they're on the back of a run of 10 straight titles. But I'm really struggling to extract proper performances from my team, completely unlike what I was seeing last year with my previous Slovakian club. The defenders are all playing terribly except for the attacking right-back; the trio of midfielders is composed of a wildly inconsistent box-to-box (Ameobi), a 34 year old retiring at the end of the season (Holzhauser) whose 20 year old backup I've just hired isn't improving at all in training (Vounasis), and a very disappointing signing (Dreven); and out of my wingers/inside forwards the only that are doing okay are 30 year old Gino Dekker and 31 year old Guy Aviv - who were already here at the club, as my new signings for these positions bombed too. And I'm struggling to find better players willing to sign for decent wages. I feel like I might well need the full 3 years in my contract to sort out this squad properly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 On the outside it can be hard to see past the fact you are a doing well in terms of results but you are seeing a lot wrong but I think we all get that from time to time (I was very critical in Rhyl save even when we were winning 5/6 - 0 every week ) but looking at the goals against column that is quite a lot to concede considering you are 2nd. I think i'm right in saying in Austria your wage bill is limited to 60% of your turnover which does make things harder for you, it's probably a case of like you say bear with it this year, get yourself in to Europe and build over the next few years, i'd like to see you stay a few years from a personal point of view due to Rapid being dominant and I like seeing managers break that and turn their side in to a strong one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 On the outside it can be hard to see past the fact you are a doing well in terms of results but you are seeing a lot wrong but I think we all get that from time to time (I was very critical in Rhyl save even when we were winning 5/6 - 0 every week ) but looking at the goals against column that is quite a lot to concede considering you are 2nd. I think i'm right in saying in Austria your wage bill is limited to 60% of your turnover which does make things harder for you, it's probably a case of like you say bear with it this year, get yourself in to Europe and build over the next few years, i'd like to see you stay a few years from a personal point of view due to Rapid being dominant and I like seeing managers break that and turn their side in to a strong one I'm definitely prone to being over-critical, I guess having played FM for so many years has made me a little disillusioned with the game too (though I obviously still enjoy playing it!). If I'm losing, I don't understand why and wish I was winning. If I'm winning comfortably, I find it unrealistic and wish the game was more challenging. And if I'm winning but not consistently (like now, kinda), then I feel like I'm not getting the most out of my team. But if you were watching our matches I think you'd be worried too. My tactics rely on an element of control over the game and it's not happening. We're losing the possession battle far too often, which I think is critical for my setup. And when we have the ball, we create too little. It's been unconvincing match after unconvincing match and the odd lucky goal to save our asses. My hope is getting better players in the next few transfer windows, capable of making this team really click. I don't think Austria has that wage budget rule, I think that's only in Czech Republic? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 Saint-Étienne pay Júnior Cearense's release clause Oh dear, we're stuffed. Our best player by miles has just been snapped up at a discount, and that's not even all that bad a discount as just a few months ago I had renewed his contract precisely to increase his release clause. The good news is I quickly picked up a replacement, for about half the price: However this is still a gamble, he doesn't have the "consistent" trait Júnior had which I value so highly, also his career stats are suspicious, he hasn't scored any considerable amount of goals for any of the teams he's played for so far... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I'm definitely prone to being over-critical, I guess having played FM for so many years has made me a little disillusioned with the game too (though I obviously still enjoy playing it!). If I'm losing, I don't understand why and wish I was winning. If I'm winning comfortably, I find it unrealistic and wish the game was more challenging. And if I'm winning but not consistently (like now, kinda), then I feel like I'm not getting the most out of my team.But if you were watching our matches I think you'd be worried too. My tactics rely on an element of control over the game and it's not happening. We're losing the possession battle far too often, which I think is critical for my setup. And when we have the ball, we create too little. It's been unconvincing match after unconvincing match and the odd lucky goal to save our asses. My hope is getting better players in the next few transfer windows, capable of making this team really click. I don't think Austria has that wage budget rule, I think that's only in Czech Republic? I am exactly the same in everything you've just said there I could be wrong about Austria's wage budget, just had it in my head they have it there, Czech Rep and Bulgaria Shame about Cearense but hopefully Ivo will be a good replacement Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I see where you're coming from as well. FM doesn't excite me anywhere near as much as it once did. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 We're all jaded old farts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 My game is getting really slow lately (hope it's not something the new patch caused), I'm gonna have to remove a few leagues. Off go Belgium, Bulgaria, and Northern Ireland where I briefly managed at the earlier stages of my career, and in comes Austria's second tier, for a tiny bit more realism whilst I'm here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 2027/2028 - Late-in-the-season update - Austria Wien I'm gonna do something different, taking a hint from a few other threads (notably deltablue's), and do an extra update just about a month before the end of the season. The idea is to add a little reading suspense, particularly when things are close and some competitions are at stake... which they are. Transfers (Transfers) January news were dominated by the shock sale of our absolutely key player Júnior Cearense, poached by Saint-Étienne through his release clause of 4.6M€. I was already planning beforehand to do a little clearout however, so got rid of another forward, Mladen Delic, for 1.1M€, of veteran defender Derrick Luckassen, and of Austria Wien's youth product Kai Bartel who was a decent midfielder but not really of the standards I need, and unlikely to improve now at the age of 25. Youngster Fabian Oswald was also loaned. In panic needing a replacement for Júnior, I paid a big fee (for our standards) of 2.1M€ for Portuguese Ivo Pereira, but as I also sold Delic I needed another striker and later loaned in English teenager Mitchell Morsley from Chelsea. To my surprise it's been Mitchell who has taken the opportunity, and has been playing even better than Júnior had been! The midfield was also hugely reinforced with the versatile Lars Berglund (capable of playing as CB too), and Chilean youngster Nicolás Hidalgo on loan from Juventus. Finally, I also took on Portuguese centre-back Carlos Mendes on a free, expecting him to be the solution for our defence's chronic problems. I played him twice and got scared enough not to try him again - it's my belief that his PPM of "marks opponents tightly" was pulling my backline completely out of shape, it's particularly misfitting given that I wanted to play him as a covering centre-back. Right-back Edvin Mekic was also recalled from loan. ÖFB-Cup The cup quarter-final vs Mattersburg was the day Mitchell Morsley surprised me by showing all he could do, as I gave him a go in a slightly rotated side. We were 1-1 after 2 early goals each way, when the English teenager scored twice in quick succession, and then scored another in the 2nd half too. He'd never lose his first team place again. In the semi-finals we are away at Salzburg, which could be difficult in theory but Red Bull Salzburg are on a dreadful season. If we beat them, we're probably the favourites to retain the cup title, as the other semi-final pairs Altach with Wacker Innsbruck, but both of those teams are overachieving in the league. tipico-Bundesliga We didn't return well from the winter break - in Linz, as soon as we blinked we were already losing 3-0 and there was little we could do to overturn that game around. Rapid threatened to break away in the league, but we faced them next and for the third time this season beat them 2-1 - in an even but really open match. We were back in contention! But despite our continuous success vs Rapid, we were also continuously inconsistent - we could only get a draw at Wolfsberger's, then were deservedly beaten in Altach with the only goal coming in the 82nd minute. Looked as if we were falling apart, but then we suddenly woke up. Sturm Graz, Red Bull Salzburg, SV Ried, we hammered them all in succession - 4-1, 4-1, 4-0. I figured for whatever reason we seem to be playing better on our most attacking setup with 2 inside forwards, stuck with it, and this was our best form all year. Further victories over Wacker Innsbruck and LASK Linz followed, and with Rapid not at their best, we were also back to leading the table! But there is a price to pay for playing this attacking - it puts further pressure on my rather dodgy backline, and sooner or later this was going to backfire. It did when we travelled to face dead last Admira Wacker, we were holding on to a draw when they killed us with two late goals. Not what we wanted just ahead of the final Wien derby at Rapid's home. And that proved a mini-disaster: our centre-back Paul Kern got sent off and conceded a penalty in the very first minute, for a foul that didn't even exist. Remarkably, Rapid missed the penalty and a few minutes later, we went ahead even with just 10 men. But Rapid picked their game up and scored 4 past us, even if we reduced later. More importantly, this was enough for them to claim back the table lead again. Or was it? Because we beat Wolfsberger next, yet Rapid couldn't help but lose at Altach, who retain a vague hope of still getting into this title fight together with us two favourites from Wien. This has given us the advantage yet again... Summary A thrilling final month is shaping up - beyond my expectations, we have fought our way back into the table lead, but I still don't trust my team. Away fixtures at Sturm Graz and Salzburg look difficult, and will be our tougher tests. Meanwhile, we've also got a decent shot at retaining the Austrian Cup. Will I stuff things up at the very end like last season in Slovakia, or is this the year I grab the first major national trophy in my career? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 2027/2028 - End of season update - Austria Wien tipico-Bundesliga If Rapid had lost their lead vs Altach, it was our turn next. Their counter-attacks were ridiculously effective and helped them beat us with an extremely harsh scoreline of 3-0 to bump up Rapid to 1st again, and Altach themselves were dangerously closing down on both of us too. Sturm Graz next were equally tough, but luck smiled our way with the single goal coming 3 minutes before time, with an header by French centre-back Romain Le Normand, despite having picked up a minor injury earlier. And indeed we were on a happy run of late goals when winger Leandro Tipote sealed his hat-trick with the winner vs Ried in the 91st minute! That sealed qualification for the Champions League playoff as Altach lost points, but we were still 1 point behind Rapid with 2 matches to play. In Salzburg next, I hoped all match for another late winner, but we were lucky enough to not concede and get a goalless draw. Remarkably, Rapid lost their match, and we now went into the final match tied on points. However the advantage was still Rapid's - their goal difference was comfortably better than ours. And they had a very winnable tie at home vs last placed Admira Wacker. I decided not to hold a team meeting, after the crap way it went for me last year ahead of the final match. But we still managed to mess it up. Before I knew it we were losing 0-2, and despite a brave effort in the second half in which we started playing much better, and managed to equalise, we conceded a penalty kick in the dying minutes to lose the match. It wouldn't have mattered anyway as Rapid won their match pretty comfortably, but at least I would have liked to be able to say that we did our part. ÖFB-Cup Our trip to Salzburg was proving quite difficult. We were holding to a tense 0-0 and already in injury time, when centre-back Paul Kern sacrificed himself picking up a red card not to let a Red Bull forward run isolated into goal. We took the game to extra time, but I expected resisting it with 10 men might prove very tough. However, what happened instead was extraordinary. We scored first through Leandro Tipote, that forced Red Bull to move forward, opening up a ton of space behind them - and we exploited it with incredible efficiency, scoring another 3 goals in just 6 minutes. Red Bull had tons of chances too, but missed all of them, and we booked our place in the final with an insane 4-0 scoreline, all goals scored a man down in extra time. The final was vs Altach, who had proven a major pain in the arse in the league, and we were on a crap mood after just having lost the league. I felt as if there were plenty of chances for us to throw this away again. However, this time my fears were unfounded. We completely dominated them. Vounasis scored the first in a penalty kick, Morsley soon added another, then in a corner Morsley's shot was deflected by a defender into the back of the net. 3-0 by half-time and we had even only conceded one shot. The 2nd half was less spectacular, but Gino Dekker added a 4th with a close range tap-in. AUSTRIA WIEN LIFT THE AUSTRIAN CUP FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR!! Summary There is a bit of disappointment for the way we allowed ourselves to be overtaken by Rapid in the final month of the season, but really, this was a good year. Champions League qualification (even if it's just an early playoff), fighting for the title until the end, and my first major trophy in the shape of the Austrian Cup (and a massive personal reputation boost from 35% to 60%!). The cup doesn't feel like a consolation prize - it feels as if it might just well be the start of an Austria Wien revival. We'll stop Rapid's run next time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 2027/2028 - Season review - Austria Wien Squad and tactics (Full squad statistics) I tried to play the same tactics as Slovakia, with the only change of reversing things left-to-right, as my more attacking full-backs were all on the right side. Later on the season however I realized we were playing much better on my alternative, more attacking plan (pictured), so this became the starting plan instead. Finances (Finances) What can I say, I like to spend. Having a negative balance of -5.5M€ looks very very bad, particularly when I've ramped up the wages considerably during this season. However if you look at the top graph, it looks as if we're on that part of the season where we get a massive income from somewhere, I'm supposing TV money? Maybe? Please? Anyway we're getting some Champions League money soon (though that'll be whatever little bit of cash is there for whoever loses the Best Placed Third Qualifying Phase - no way we're getting beyond that stage), so I'm not horribly worried. Youth watch The Austria Wien talent factory keeps churning out players I've no idea how am I going to use: Martin Pirmann (M/AM RC) Sinisa Mesic (DC) Markus Steiner (MC) Yannick Alba (ST) ... which has been a problem at first team level. Blessed with a lot of promising players, I just can't quite seem to fit any of them. The only guy I played regularly was left-back Marc Vogler but he's 22 and at the top of his game already anyway. I'm surprised the board hasn't moaned about it yet, it's one of the club philosophies. They seem upset I haven't followed the other club philosophy - hire big name players (hey, maybe think about becoming rich first? How am I gonna hire big name players on crap wages?). Top 5 players of the season One of those silly situations I can't help but name 6 players. 6. Petros Vounasis (MC) - A big mid-season breakthrough was a revolution in midfield - I was trying to play Vounasis as a playmaker, but he wasn't quite good enough to demote Holzhauser from that position. Once I hired Hidalgo to become my playmaker, I tried moving Vounasis to box-to-box instead, as some kind of creative version of that role. It worked just great, and the Greek kid shone the rest of the year, as my midfield completely changed becoming Hidalgo-Berglund-Vounasis instead of Holzhauser-Dreven-Ameobi! 7 goals, 5 assists. 5. Leandro Tipote (AML, MR) - If I had found an inside forward/winger in January, I'd have gotten rid of him. It seemed as if he had been a total failure of a signing. However, a switch to my more attacking tactics suddenly made him click, and he finished the season on spectacular form scoring quite a few goals - a total of 11, plus 7 assists. 4. Gino Dekker (AMR, ML) - And pretty much the same goes for the guy on the other wing. He was doing okay, but the more permanent switch to the alternate tactic made him my team's king of assists, a total of 15. And he scored 8 goals too. 3. Andrew Eleftheriou (DR) - As always, my tactics make the more attacking of the fullbacks shine. With a total of 12 assists and an average rating of 7.51, I made sure Andrew only got benched on very rare occasions. 2. Júnior Cearense (ST) - The Brazilian forward proved invaluable the first half of the season, adding goals to save my arse as I was still figuring out how to make the best out of my team. Despite the January transfer to Saint-Étienne, still finished as our top scorer on 15 goals. PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Mitchell Morsley (ST) It was a coin flip as to player of the year, but I'll just about give it to the kid on loan from Chelsea, despite a slow final month. He completely caught me by surprise when I first tried him on a cup match, he scored an hat-trick, and followed it with magic performance after magic performance on a brilliant league run. The magic waned off later, but he still made sure to show up in the cup final with a goal and 2 assists to help us lift it. Finished just one goal short of Júnior Cearense's tally. [b]Season League Cups International Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Berwick Rangers (Scotland) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 15/16 League 2 - 5th Cup 2nd Rd, LgCup 1st Rd, TrCup 1st Rd --- Resigned at end of the season [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loughgall FC (Northern Ireland) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 16/17 Championship 1 - 10th IRC 6thR, LC 3rdR, ITC 2ndR, MUC winners --- Sacked; won Mid-Ulster Cup [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Municipal Turrialba (Costa Rica) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 17/18 Ascenso - 4th (1/4f) / 5th --- --- 18/19 Ascenso - 3rd (fin.) / 3rd (1/4f) --- --- Apertura finalists 19/20 Ascenso - 5th / 4th (fin.) Copa de Costa Rica 1st Rnd --- Clausura finalists [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dolny Kubin (Slovakia) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 20/21 DOXXbet Liga - 8th / 1st (RlgSt) Slovnaft Cup 1st Rnd --- 21/22 DOXXbet Liga - 3rd / 9th (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup 3rd Rnd --- 22/23 DOXXbet Liga - 5th / 2nd (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup 2nd Rnd --- Runners-up 23/24 DOXXbet Liga - 3rd / 6th (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup semi-finals --- 24/25 DOXXbet Liga - 1st / 4th (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup 1st Rnd --- East Group winners 25/26 DOXXbet Liga - 1st / 1st (PrmSt) Slovnaft Cup finalists --- Champions, promoted, cup finalists 26/27 Fortuna Liga - 2nd Slovnaft Cup 3rd Rnd --- Runners-up [b]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Austria Wien (Austria) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b] 27/28 tipico-Bundesliga - 2nd ÖFB-Cup winners Europa League 2nd Qual. Rnd. Runners-up, cup winners Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Unlucky to lose it in the end, but Champions League football and a cup is still a decent consolation prize. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 2nd place and a cup final is a great first season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 Unlucky to lose it in the end, but Champions League football and a cup is still a decent consolation prize. 2nd place and a cup final is a great first season Glad you guys are going along with my new, somewhat forced, "glass half full" approach. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 I've got linked to the Tottenham job... who've just gotten promoted back to the Premiership after a single season in the Championship. I'm not particularly interested in managing in England for now, and am not looking for a new club neither, but it's an interesting story that shows I'm suddenly in much more demand. This seems to all have been sparked just because I won the Austrian Cup, which I find an annoying, unrealistic thing in FM (it's ALL about the trophies regardless of how big these trophies are), but it is what it is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 I've now been linked to Porto (my favourite club!), Freiburg and... Inter, who are still a huge club. All are clubs I'd love to manage at some stage, but it's too soon. I want to finish the job in Austria and am very excited by what's going on approaching the new season. edit: add West Ham to the list now too. I think I'll just stop reporting this at this stage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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