FM16 - From Rags to Riches......Hopefully!

[lewis999]

Yeah we didn't deserve to win. I absolutely hate them with a passion. They play a 4-2-3-1 and neither of there wide men track back ever but they seem to have Maldini and Thuram in their primes at full backs. It's so strange.

We only needed to avoid defeat and we couldn't do it. Starting to feel like I don't deserve this title if we do it. Should be beating a team around us at least once.

Monaco next and if we manage to mess that one up, we are really going to start panicking.

[lewis999]

YESSSS!!! Get in, we absolutely hammered them from start to finish. If it wasn't for their brilliant goalkeeper it really could have been 7 or 8. Glad to have won the league in my first full season here.



We currently have a treble with 1 cup final left that could make it a quadruple. Not sure if i'm staying just yet as there's a lot of places I need to see. We'll see.

[lewis999]

Lille End of Season Awards 2020/21

This went as expected. Their keeper wasn't very good, everything we seemed to hit on target, went in. I started my young superstar Danish striker who helped himself to 2 goals and an assist.



It's easily been my best season yet and i'm not sure if I should stay here. I mean i've won the top division, the domestic cups and another season selling fringe players for more money than their world class replacements might just make it a boring season where I win everything again. Obviously that may not happen, i'm not some sort of wizard at FM but as we all know the AI squad building does need improvement. I have applied for the AC Milan job who finished 13th in the season just gone and are further from where they were in their heyday than at the start of the game so that's a possibility. Schalke are another one who haven't won anything for ages and have just finished 7th in their league. I have applied for that job too just to see what they're offering.



No surprise that he's sweeped the lot, i've not had a player this good since about FM12 or 13. He's Messi and Ronaldo good.



Yeah you are reading that right......65 goals. He obviously got the highest average rating with scoring over a goal a game. Renatinho his Brazilian sidekick got the most assists and he's world class too.



As we know I couldn't get past Valencia in the Europa which was the only trophy that eluded us this year. I used the 2nd highest amount of players again as I tried to introduce youngsters whenever I could.



These aren't all the players as their are a few in the reserves and U19's but i'll do a youth watch part soon where I look at the progress of the young players who have potential in our club.



I hadn't updated the last two Ligue 1 results after the Monaco win. We travelled to our fierce rivals Lens and got off to a horrible start going 2-0 down in the first half. Even though we had won the league I really wanted to give them a beating to sign off in style but even though we hammered them all 2nd half and had two goals disallowed (probably rightfully so) we clawed it back thanks to our star player and had to settle for a 2-2 draw.

The Bourdeaux game was really boring until Joe Gomez rose highest at a set piece half way through the 2nd half to give us 3 points.



So all that leaves the final league table looking like this. PSG and Monaco outside the top 2 is a surprise but Marseille were well worth their 2nd place finish. Monacos manager Frank de Boer has already resigned by mutual consent.

[Rikulec]

That simply had to happen with the quality of players you've brought in. Well done.

[lewis999]

Ligue 1 End of Season Awards

2020/2021





Bruno won the best player in Ligue 1 with Renatinho a deserving 3rd. Judging by Sime's average rating for Monaco he probably did deserve to be there.



Our Costa Rican powerhouse won the best rookie award that I think may go to people playing in their first season in France? I'm not 100% sure but his stats show he isn't a rookie so who knows.



PSG had the best defensive record so I can't really argue with this but Nardi had 30 clean sheets in all comptitions but this is purely just the league.



We don't play with full backs but I can't believe any of our 3-4 CB's especially Kevin Wimmer didn't get in here. Although Corchia played at RM he would of been in at RB if Vrsaljko hadn't of got an insane average rating. Our 2 Brazilians were obvious choices as they sometimes won games on their own for us.



I can't speak French but this one is fair to say it was based on the assists in the league with Saint-Maximin having a very good season. Corchia from RM and Renatinho from CM came in 2nd and 3rd.



Top goalscorer for Bruno which was never in doubt.



Not sure how this works but he had the most clean sheets so got this award but he still conceded more than Rulli so didn't get the other one. Sort of get it now I think.

[lewis999]

Bruno Leandro

Not surprised no-one managed to keep up with the Brazilian really. Martial tried and so did Suarez but they're playing in a more competitive league.



Simply put, he's the best player i've ever had on the last 3 or 4 versions of FM. I learnt him his two PPM's throughout the season and he just seemed to get better and better. He's wanted by Man City and wants 135k at the moment but I can only offer 90k so we're a bit away. Even though he has 5 caps and they have all come off the bench (No idea why he's the best Brazilian striker in the world) i'm surprised he hasn't scored in any of them.

[lewis999]

Going to attend now and see what they have to offer. I thought they had finished 13th but it looks to be 14th. That's way too close to relegation and they need helping. If the offers right I might be making the trip to Milan.

[lewis999]

That simply had to happen with the quality of players you've brought in. Well done.

Even with the 4 world class players I managed to bring in, if PSG had been consistent they would of walked it, their team is ridiculous. Their 2nd team if managed by a human manager would probably win this league. Thanks for the kind words

[lewis999]

Another one to attend. I may not get either but fingers crossed.

[lewis999]

The Youth at Lille

"Their one of our own"

The following players came through our academy

Denis Nlend - He has only been here a few months but he's progressing really well and have high hopes for him.

Angelo Devos - Another one showing very good progression having only been here a couple of months.

Joel Roussel - Roussel is the only one i've been getting bids for, he has a lot of interest from the elite teams as well.

Frederic Frey - I think Frey came very under-rated as I had forgot that CM is our strongest area so his potential wasn't as high but I think he could become as good as them and be a 30m player.

Joao Silva - The left winger has a professional personality which is impressive and next year I think he will improve no end.

Pierre Pelletier - The joint oldest of the youths and next year is his make or break season. I'm loaning him out to Ligue 2 to see if he can improve to become a Ligue 1 player.

Patrick Towa - Not the highest rated player but if worked on could make it.



Jakub Sypniewski - Same as above, we don't play with full backs at the moment so he may not make it.

The next set of players came from other clubs

Niels Christian Mortensen - Came from Silkeborg IL for 2m. The best of the lot by far. If I stay he will be a first choice striker in an attempt to make him world class.

Guy Bamba - Came from Nantes for 550k. Will become a very good player as he is rated against world class players.



Angelo Simoes - Joined from Casa Pia in Portugal for 500k. The other oldest player in the group. Next year is make or break as we have a lot of competition at his position.



Soufiane Messoudi - Came from Mouscron in Belgium for 53k. Has high potential but injuries hampered him badly last season.

Lamine Bakari - Joined from Nancy for 550k and another defensive midfielder. He's the newest of the players.

[lewis999]

I have delayed it for 1 week whilst Schalke get back to me.



This is how far Milan have fallen. Even Red Bull Leipzig in Germany have eclipsed them in reputation. They are on a par with Atromitos in Greece and Scottish champions Hearts. Schalke has a higher reputation but I feel their league is more competitive as Gladbach have just won the league added to the obvious ones, Dortmund and Bayern.

If I do get offered the Schalke job what do people think? I'm in more than 2 minds. Any help would be much appreciated.

[lewis999]

There it is. I'm more inclined to take the AC Milan job as they have a lower rep and worse squad, lower league position etc.

[LEEMOD]

Hi Lewis,

First of all apologies about my comment on the editor, I said 'tut tut' as a joke but like I said each to their own as long as you're enjoying it.

It's a tough decision, when you set out on this save what kind of save did you want to do? It would be a shame not to see how those youth players develop of course but at the same time it would be interesting to see what you can do with Schalke.

My vote would be to stay with Lille for two more seasons and watch those kids blossom & then move on.

Whatever you decide good luck

[lewis999]

Hi Lewis,

First of all apologies about my comment on the editor, I said 'tut tut' as a joke but like I said each to their own as long as you're enjoying it.

It's a tough decision, when you set out on this save what kind of save did you want to do? It would be a shame not to see how those youth players develop of course but at the same time it would be interesting to see what you can do with Schalke.

My vote would be to stay with Lille for two more seasons and watch those kids blossom & then move on.

Whatever you decide good luck

It's okay and yes I agree about each to their own but when I am not using any kind of editor as I proved it would wind anyone up, yourself included if someone came on your thread and wrote what you did.

Anyway to the save, thank you for reading and commenting, I seem to be getting a lot of views and people viewing the thread but not many commenting unfortunately. The thing I don't want to happen is to get bored and I did want to have managed in Australia, U.S.A and Brazil before I even got to Lille but it was a good opportunity and the only job that fitted my 'criteria' so I went there. Again this summer there is no jobs in either of those countries except Gremio who have won the title the last 3 years but this year are struggling so have a very good team. They are 14th but only 8 points off the top. It wasn't a challenge big enough whereas Milan seem to be. Their good players like Bacca are ageing and their highly potential youngsters at the start of the game like Mauri haven't been developed so there's a lot of work to do.

Schalke have 4-5 highly promising youngsters which is attractive but Milan at the moment is in a mess so that's why i'm leaning towards them. Again I appreciate the comment.

[LEEMOD]

Oh, I didn't see your reply to it, think both were removed. It was a joke anyway, who cares if people use Editors or not.

Tough decision, if you feel like you've taken them as far as you can perhaps it's best to move on then, in my own save, not sure if you saw I became Manager of Portugal for a number of years, I am now in Brazil with Vasco! I've never managed in Brazil.

Yeah it can be a little demoralising when people don't comment, that's why I try to comment on the ones I enjoy reading to let the author know, no one has commented on mine for a while despite well over 7000 views but as long as you enjoy it that's the main thing and it's good to look back on later

What's the finances like with Milan?

[lewis999]

Oh, I didn't see your reply to it, think both were removed. It was a joke anyway, who cares if people use Editors or not.

Tough decision, if you feel like you've taken them as far as you can perhaps it's best to move on then, in my own save, not sure if you saw I became Manager of Portugal for a number of years, I am now in Brazil with Vasco! I've never managed in Brazil.

Yeah it can be a little demoralising when people don't comment, that's why I try to comment on the ones I enjoy reading to let the author know, no one has commented on mine for a while despite well over 7000 views but as long as you enjoy it that's the main thing and it's good to look back on later

What's the finances like with Milan?

Yeah I don't think the moderators like it when people get accused of using editors without evidence. Anyway I posted my game status page that showed that before every save I tick the option, 'in-game editor not allowed'. I wouldn't read someone's thread if they were cheating and it's a waste of energy and time if people use editors and post in here.

Milan offered about 25m in transfer budget which is good but maybe too much thinking about it. I haven't seen your thread yet but I plan on catching up on all the threads I read once I make a decision over where I am headed next. Good luck in Brazil I want to go there at some point.

[LEEMOD]

Thanks you too

[loklokno123]

Milan sucks but they have lots of potential

[lewis999]

Milan sucks but they have lots of potential

Yeah they haven't been really good. I think they have too much history for my liking. I want to write new memories for a club.

[lewis999]

FC Schalke 04

So back to Germany I go. I feel like I have unfinished business here and i'm hoping I can make a mark in Gelsenkirchen. Over the years whilst i've been in Cork, Munich and Lille, Schalke have sold off most, if not all of their young talent. In 2017/18 they Maximilian Meyer to the big guns, Bayern Munich for £26.5m. As if they needed to be strengthened anymore. In the same season they sold Matija Nastasic to Bundesliga rivals Wolfsburg for a paltry £12m. To offset these sales, Schalke spent big money on Stephen El-Shaarawy in the shape of £40.5m and young German wonderkid Nadiem Amiri arrived from Hoffenheim for £28m. The following season was fairly low key in terms of incomings and outcomings but in 2019/20 they made a crazy decision to re-sign Nastasic for £27m which was more than double what they sold him for. In the same season they offloaded the talented Leroy Sane to Barcelona for £32.5m. Finally the season just gone they sold off the last of their talent in Leon Goretzka for £24m to yeah you guessed it....Bayern Munich. To complete the crazy story, they re-sold Nastasic for £24.5m to Man City!

We have some talented young players here alongide Johannes Geis, Stephen El-Sharaawy and Nadiem Amiri. My hope is to stay here for a fair few years and build a dynasty to topple Bayern and Dortmund. The plan is to do this with young German homegrown talent.

[Rikulec]

Good choice.

[lewis999]

Good choice.

Thanks Rikulec.

[lewis999]

So Schalke have given me 50m to spend. A lot more than I thought I would get. I won't be spending it all and even if I did, top, top players aren't interested in coming here just yet so I need to build up our reputation with young talented players who can improve together.

[lewis999]

FC Schalke 04|Pre-Season|2021/22



Played just the 6 friendlies and a good win against Zenit was brought back down to earth with a loss to Levski. Not too bothered about the results as i'm confident in the new squad i've put together.



In the Europa League we were drawn against Slovenian team Domzale and came through relatively easy. Both games were very comfortable and whilst the team is still learning my tactics i'm pleased.



Our reward for getting past Domzale was a trip to Norway to play Stromsgodest IF. As the seeded team we should win this and the quality we have should shine through.



The first games of our domestic season are upon us soon and this is how we're gonna start. We have Bayern a lot sooner than I would have liked! I'd prefer to never play them to be honest, obviously.



Transfers



We have spent a lot of money this window but we have recouped a lot of that with even more to come in. It was much needed so we could bring in more homegrown players and that's what we have done.

Aboubakar Koffi - A bargain. Very hardworking player who can play in many positions and has brilliant physical stats.

Felix Fromming - Another bargain from Furth who came with his team-mate, Felix is a solid LB who isn't as hard working as I would like but I didn't have much choice in LB's if i'm honest.

Marvin Szimayer - Probably the signing I am most excited about. He will be our first choice striker this year when he's fit and he has absolutely everything. A monster at 6ft 6'.

Jose Antonio Lastra - Couldn't really not get him as it's only a loan and he is brilliant. I may favour homegrown players to him sometimes but he looks very, very capable.

Godwin Kehinde - Another loanee but this time German. He comes from Bayern and can play in a lot of positions and is a very capable player for his age.

Arianit Ferati - Only lasted 1 season at Dortmund and played just 6 times last season which led to him being very unhappy and we were able to get him for a bargain 11m. Very talented and either footed.

Leroy Sane - The golden boy is back to where he belongs. He spent the last 2 seaons warming the Camp Nou bench so was unhappy and wanted to return home. On a high wage but he will be key to us.

Anselmo Castro - Weren't planning on buying Anselmo but I couldn't really turn him down as he is brilliant and has a lot of potential. He's already described as a wonderkid.

Mario Probst - With both goalkeepers lacking potential and not really world class I thought bringing in a new #1 who is just as good but has room to improve was a no-brainer.

Julian Weigl - Another highly thought of German joins us from Atletico where he was upset with the lack of playing time. Fantastic addition.

Mario Eller - I was after this lad when I was the manager of 1860 Munich earlier in my career. He was at Kaiserslautern when we bypassed them to the Bundesliga and ended up a free agent. He rejected me and went to Hannover instead.

[lewis999]

I spoke in the previous post about the fact we may have more money coming into the club and this is what I was alluding to. As the message says our hands were tied and we lose an original Schalke player but he was 'looking uninterested' in games and unhappy so 27m is a good fee that I can now re-invest in the squad if I find the right players. At the back of my mind I was thinking, he won't get in that midfield as they have Goretzka (Was gutted they sold him before I arrived) Hojbjerg, Xhaka and and Marco Asensio so we may get lucky and manage to cut him back on a cut price deal next season when he is unhappy but on 210k a week I wouldn't be willing to pay anywhere near that amount.



Augsburg are in the 2. Bundesliga so it's a game we should be winning.

[lewis999]

Welcome home Max old mate. Probably the bargain of the century.



Infuriates me this. They took him away from us (I know I weren't here but...) for 26.5m and they play him 9 times in 4 seasons and basically ruin all those years of his. 35k a week as well which shows how much he wanted to leave and actually play football.

[lewis999]

We have our Europa League group and it looks really winnable. It's a very good draw and I see no reason why we can't win all 6 when all the new players get used to the tactics.



In other news, look who just arrived in Germany. He wasn't interested and cost Dortmund a bomb so I wouldn't of been able to afford him anyway. 51m for some that good, it's a bargain after managing him, trust me.

[lewis999]

So going into the last week of the transfer window and we need a central defender as that's probably our weakest area and also a striker to compete with Szimayer.

We get a bid from PSG for one of our best players.



It was all spread about and I think we would of got 9m up front. I couldn't accept that as he's a big player and I would need a lot more up front to replace him so I negotiated 45m up front and they accepted. No future clauses just that.



Off Durmus went to Paris. In his scout reports it says he doesn't enjoy big matches and with what we are trying to build here at Schalke, that just won't do so as good as he is, he has a major flaw.

With our new found wealth I had a look at the market for a replacement and a CB as that's what we primarily need. I'm not one for paying out 40m on one player unless he is top, top drawer. That's not what I have done by the way if you're wondering. My plan was/is to get both those players i'm looking for, for cheaper than the 45m we got from PSG.

But firstly a deal that came out of the blue but one I had to do because of the price, the wages, how good he is etc.



Yeah you read it right. 4m total for Brandt who can play on both flanks, adds to our homegrown contigent and wanted just 20k a week. He will just be back-up to start with as we have a few good wingers but he's a fantastic option to have off the bench.

Right now back onto our primary focus. A replacement CM, a CB and an ST, focus Lewis.



Our replacement for our Paris bound midfielder comes in the form of former Leverkusen player (Obvious from the pic, I know) Benjamin Heinrichs.



He is a fantastic all-round complete midfielder with not one weakness on his scout report. Has a professional attitude which will be vital in tutoring the next generation and is very young. Less than half the cost of his predecessor, good deal in my opinion.

Right so that's that out of the way and we still have money left over from the 27m from Geis to Bayern and the 45m from PSG for Terzi. Next on my list was that elusive CB and I had found just the man. As you know by now I have a thing for Brazilians from my time in Lille but this guy looks as special as the others given how good he is already at such a young age.

Meet Moreira....



He cost 9m up front rising upto 22m with clauses such as International caps which he will get soon and also league appearances and things like that. He was transfer listed at Benfica which was a massive suprise until I saw they already had two 25m CB's. 2 down, 1 to go.

So our last signing of the transfer window is an ST and I didn't really have my eye on one in particular. Of course I would of wanted Bruno Leandro from my time at Lille but as I posted earlier Dortmund and their financial clout managed to get him for 51m. I can't compete with that and to be honest I don't want to.



I found Johannes on my interested list and with him being German it added to the appeal. I then start actually looking at his stats and I can't see a weakness. Yeah he might not be the best in the air but 13/13 for jumping and heading isn't to be sneezed at. His 18 anticipation stood out as well as a massive strength and is often an attribute that is overlooked. The ability to know what is going to happen before it does and sense chances is a fantastic skill to have whether you're a left back or a right winger. He also has pace, strength, good build up play (passing and vision), can dribble, good first touch and 16 finishing and 15 composure shows he knows where the net is. He also scored past me when we played RB Leipzig but I won't spoil that result for you as I haven't done my monthly update.



So Johannes cost a very cheap 16.5m and only wanted 60k in wages. I can live with that and I now have strength in depth and have only spent a net amount of 24m in this window and have got us our homegrown identity back which was my aim when I came here.



That is a massive amount to spend for any club but it only tells one half of the story. I knew before i took this job, having looked at the whole club that a lot of outgoings and incomings would happen and it has.



I have managed to sell 126m worth of talent and get our squad ready for this season. We now have over 75% of our squad who are German and homegrown. I am really excited about this season and think it will be the most enjoyable one yet.

If you hace got this far then well done and if I were there i'd buy you a pint, or a half, depends how tight i'm feeling.

[lewis999]

Cheers guys, love you!

[lewis999]

August|Schalke 04|2021/22

Ermmm...not the best month to be honest. Winless in 3 in the league, went 2-0 down against non-league FT Braunschweig and lost at home to Stromsgodest although we had a 2nd team out. The best result was the draw against Bayern, as despite only 41% possession we had more chances and the better quality of chances. We were really battering them in the last 20 minutes but could not force the winner. The loss against Leipzig was courtesy of our new man Eggestein. It was a good finish and he looked very good. Hopefully he can take 3 points back for us when we play the return fixture.



So Gladbach aren't messing about. 100% record from the first 3 games and they are going to be hard to stop. They don't have any world class players really, but think Leicester this year. They are all very solid and are playing brilliantly as a team to retain their league title. Dortmunds 1 loss was a 6-1 hammering from Bayern, hence why they are on -2 GD.



With our performance against Bayern I have a lot more confidence in our team now, might be misplaced but I can't see why we can't win all these games. I knew we were going to start below par as we have a lot of new players and a lot have gone. Our tactics aren't at 50% yet so hopefully that can increase quickly and we can get better results.



In other news this was a nice surprise. He's very good and i'd rather him play for us but he was sold before I got here.

[lewis999]

Finally finished the last coaching badge.

[lewis999]

September|Schalke 04|2021/22

Well we didn't win every one but we went unbeaten which is progress well made. The HSV result was particuarly annoying as they equalised in the 86th minute. It was an even-ish game with us just shading it but you have to win games like that to achieve things. The Rijeka game we made a few changes, not wholesale and we were poor. They probably should of won if i'm honest.



Up to 6th and i'm happy with that as the new guys gel and our tactics become more fluid. Not too far off the Champions League places which is my aim this season. I've told the board Europa as that's what they wanted but inside I want Champions League.



Dortmund is the standout hard game of the month. Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Mainz won't be easy as there is a lot of teams in the Bundesliga that have some very good players. It's very competitive and a good league to be in.

[Bedese]

Amazing work at Lille. Interested to see how you get on at Schalke.

[lewis999]

Amazing work at Lille. Interested to see how you get on at Schalke.

Thanks mate, glad you came in and commented, feel like i'm talking to myself. I can understand how the youth only saves get most of the comments and views though. They're the threads I view to be fair.

[lewis999]

They keep agreeing to upgrade the facilities and everything else. Stay forever Mr. Chairman!



This looks like a generic affiliate but they have agreed to find a foreign team to increase the chance sof getting youngsters from their area through our own academy which is the best type of affiliate in my opinion.



This is very good reading. It just shows the power of our academy and the willingness of Schalke managers past and present to play youngsters and develop them. This number is only going to get bigger as it's my main aim to fill the national team.

[lewis999]

I'm going to start this months round up with the last game and our fierce rivalry against Borussia Dortmund. The natives call it the.....

It's my first one here and they have a fantastic team so I have to swallow some pride and try hit them on the counter attack. They have Pusilic who is world class behind an even more world class player in the form of my old Lille mate, Bruno Leandro and he is lethal. I can't afford to give him space to run into so backs to the walls lads.



We did it! A sold out VELTINS-Arena saw us sit and hit them on the break with regularity. We had less possession which we knew but we had more shots and better quality chances with the space they left behind them. It was a fantastic finish by Nadiem Amiri that won us the game.



These were our other 5 games this month and two very annoying losses. Especially the one against Wolfsburg. They scored right near the end. It was well worked by them I suppose but our marking and positioning was absolutely atrocious and I let them know afterwards. The Leverkusen one was very weird. It was a very even game in terms of everything but everytime they got a set piece they scored it. It was like a pinball machine for both their first 2 goals and then they nicked a 3rd one when we went looking for some ourselves. I had to just wipe that one from the memory as we weren't even that bad. We carried on in good form against Vitesse in the Europa League with a lot of our fringe players playing which is encouraging.



As you can see Bayern have shot up to where they probably do belong with their team. Freiburg are having a tremendous season but if I showed you their results and the times they are scoring their goals it's unbelievable. They are scoring all their winning goals in the 85th minute onwards. It just shows that they keep going until the end and fair play to them. 8 points behind the leaders isn't fantastic but i'm still aiming for that 3rd place. It will give us a lot of money and help me re-invest it into the clubs facilities.



Heres how our European exploits have been getting on. We play Vitesse next and I think if we win we are basically qualified unless we lose heavily to either Nantes and Rijeka. We haven't conceded yet and i've probably just jinxed that but i'm going to post it anyway because well.... rules are their to be broken, you know that.



Probably our easiest month so far looking at the league table and then back at our fixtures and then back again at the league table and seeing Werder Bremen with a big fat round 0 next to their wins column. Nurenburg and Heidenheim aren't faring much better and if we can pick up 9 points from those 3 I will be extremely happy and interested to see how the table shapes up after that. COYS!

[lewis999]

My scouts have just very brilliantly found this young lad from the Czech Republic who is on loan at Furth from Pribram. He's fantastic for a 17 year old and I just managed to snag him for 2m which should turn out to be a bargain. His balance is a little low and i'll be looking to really focus on that but everything else seems very good.



Joining him is another striker this time from my old club 1860 Munich. They wanted 2.3m and that's what they have got so Michael will join us in January. He has a professional personality which is fantastic and is very well rounded for a 16 year old. It looks like my head of youth development who is still at 1860 Munich is still churning out some very good youth players. I will be working on his passing and finishing when he gets here and I have very high hopes for him. I will be selling some strikers who are blocking his path to the first team to accelerate his development.

[Bedese]

Pumprla looks insane

[glynnbob]

loving this story mate bet ya find it annoying all these viewers and hardly anyone commenting!! prefer the smaller clubs myself and I really enjoyed the cork city chapter.

glad you didn't go milan as that club has too much history and I feel that theres more of a sense of achievement when you create your own history.

would love to see you do England (Barnsley) at some point or how about a Scottish 2nd or 3rd tier club??

good luck for the future challenges mate.

[Rikulec]

Nice win over Dortmund.

[lewis999]

Pumprla looks insane

He does mate, can't wait to see him develop.

loving this story mate bet ya find it annoying all these viewers and hardly anyone commenting!! prefer the smaller clubs myself and I really enjoyed the cork city chapter.

glad you didn't go milan as that club has too much history and I feel that theres more of a sense of achievement when you create your own history.

would love to see you do England (Barnsley) at some point or how about a Scottish 2nd or 3rd tier club??

good luck for the future challenges mate.

Thanks for the comment Glynn and I do think I have gone to the big teams too soon if i'm brutally honest. For FM17 if I decide to do another career I will definitely not jump to a bigger team as quick. Once I have finished at Schalke I will be thinking very hard about where I go next. It maybe Scotland, I have never managed there so it will be new and I like new. Again I do appreciate the comment mate.

Nice win over Dortmund.

Cheers Rikulec, it's definitely my best win in Germany so far.

[lewis999]

Quick update on my European progress. We are into the next round with two games to spare and a 100% record which is pleasing. We beat Vitesse in the Netherlands 4-1 and Amiri scored this beauty.



EDIT : My computer re-started after an update so I had to play the Vitesse game again. We won 3-0 but I lost Amiri's goal

[lewis999]

NAC Breda are our new partners. This is the result of an earlier post where I requested a foreign team that can send youth players to us that we may see come through our academy.

[Bedese]

Now that's a free kick! Shame you lost it though

[lewis999]

I've just come across something that made me a bit nostalgic. Not sure if anyone remembers him but I gave a young 17 year old Finnish lad his chance when I was in Ireland at Cork City and I had to sell him to Lazio for 550k because he was unhappy and I try not to stand in players' way with big moves. Here he was back then.

I think I had a scandinavian scout that found him and I picked him up straight away.



Here he is now and he looks like a fantastic player and is still very young. I found him because I was on my player search list and he was right near the top as I had a filter on of 23 years old and under.



I know I had him for one season and Lazio deserve a lot of the credit but if I hadn't given him his chance I don't think he would be as good as he is now.

[Bedese]

From Finland, to Cork, to Lazio. That's quite a career path

He looks really good, too

[lewis999]

So this is going to come out of the blue for whoever is brilliant enough to read my career.

I was just looking at what teams didn't have managers and saw Senegal. Their team is quite good but it wasn't that it was the chance to compete in the African Cup of Nations and having a go at adding that trophy to my CV. I'm quite excited to get going.

[lewis999]

From Finland, to Cork, to Lazio. That's quite a career path

He looks really good, too

It is isn't it? I thought the same. I was surprised he wanted to come to Ireland at such a young age but i'm glad he did. He's brilliant.

[lewis999]

Now that's a free kick! Shame you lost it though

I know it may of got goal of the tournament too. Ahh well I suppose.

[lewis999]

We have just been given our African Cup of Nations draw for next year. They had already qualified before I got here which is a bonus.