[FM15] Avenir Beggen - a Luxembourg Youth Challenge (take two)

[Ceching You Out]

Cheers, everyone! I started to individually quote everyone and realized it'd take up half a page.

Like a couple people pointed out, $10M prize money plus the extra attendance revenue means we're flush. We'll probably take a few beatings in the Group Stage but I have high expectations for our reputation and European coefficients.

Last spot is Danish club Lyngby.

[shimera]

Congratulations for going so well this season! I think you can scrape a couple points on that group.

[BoxToBox]

Hopefully such a large windfall means it's finally time to kick the recruitment up a notch.

[Adonalsium]

#MessiForBeggen ???

[Ceching You Out]

15 hours ago, shimera said:

Congratulations for going so well this season! I think you can scrape a couple points on that group.

I wish that I had your optimism, but here's hoping you're right!

11 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

Hopefully such a large windfall means it's finally time to kick the recruitment up a notch.

That would be ideal. We've got the money for it at this point, just need the ambition and reputation.

10 hours ago, Adonalsium said:

#MessiForBeggen ???

#Wouldn'tGetInTheTeam #BecauseIts2040

[Ceching You Out]

The more eagle-eyed readers will notice that the last result is missing...

 

 

 

First European points in the last Group Stage game. Fairly certain Napoli played a rotated side as they'd already won the group, but a win is a win. Wasn't nearly as lopsided as the stats look -- not sure they took a single shot inside the box. Delighted!

[BoxToBox]

Rotated or not, that's bloody impressive, well done!

[Bedese]

GROUPS GROUPS POINTS GROUPS POINTS 

[deltablue]

Great stuff in the CL. It's always nice to see Dinamo taken down by a Fountain of Youth team.

[Bedese]

3 hours ago, deltablue said:

Great stuff in the CL. It's always nice to see Dinamo taken down by a Fountain of Youth team.

Seconded  

[Adonalsium]

I wonder if the FM engine has spit out a randomized player named Messi. Do a player search! Just send all of your scouts looking for a footballer who's called Messi. No matter if it's a 49-year old amateur baseball player in Venezuela, he'll be the perfect coach.

 

[noikeee]

Congratulations. The prize money from a win in the CL groups like that could probably fund all the other Luxembourguese teams for a season...

Any ideas on what you'll do with all that cash? Hookers and coke?

[Ceching You Out]

On 10/15/2016 at 14:43, BoxToBox said:

Rotated or not, that's bloody impressive, well done!

Thank you, sir (or madame)! We'll happily take the W and the $1M even if they field a team of toddlers.

 

On 10/15/2016 at 15:37, Jupjamie said:

GROUPS GROUPS POINTS GROUPS POINTS 

And a new chant was suddenly heard around Stade rue Henri Dunant!

 

On 10/16/2016 at 03:49, deltablue said:

Great stuff in the CL. It's always nice to see Dinamo taken down by a Fountain of Youth team.

On 10/16/2016 at 06:55, Jupjamie said:

Seconded  

Quite glad to be the angel of vengeance on behalf of all forum-goers .

 

14 hours ago, Adonalsium said:

I wonder if the FM engine has spit out a randomized player named Messi. Do a player search! Just send all of your scouts looking for a footballer who's called Messi. No matter if it's a 49-year old amateur baseball player in Venezuela, he'll be the perfect coach.

 

Unfortunately just the one Messi. Messinas are a dollar a dozen though.

 

12 hours ago, noikeee said:

Congratulations. The prize money from a win in the CL groups like that could probably fund all the other Luxembourguese teams for a season...

Any ideas on what you'll do with all that cash? Hookers and coke?

Spot on. More than enough to purchase every other club in the league combined.

Well I had earmarked it for one of those Eyes Wide Shut parties with the weird masks and ominous bells, but apparently my board has other ideas. More news to come with the season update.

[Ceching You Out]

Underwhelmed given our season. If I can turn around Albuquerque's personality he'll at least contribute; Marchegiani looks intriguing even if I think he'll fall short of the quality required these days.

 

[tyler16]

The names never cease to amaze. May have to pick up an Albuquerque kit.

[deltablue]

I think Hadziahmetovic is safe from bookings

[BoxToBox]

1 hour ago, deltablue said:

I think Hadziahmetovic is safe from bookings

There's a man that when booked, the ref just writes his number down.

[Ceching You Out]

16 hours ago, tyler16 said:

The names never cease to amaze. May have to pick up an Albuquerque kit.

I love youth with unique names, gives them a bit of personality. This chap probably loves turquoise jewelry and hatch green chiles. Might want to hold off on that jersey though; my coaches aren't quite so hot on him anymore unfortunately.

 

14 hours ago, deltablue said:

I think Hadziahmetovic is safe from bookings

"Hadzi... Hadzi... Hadzi going to work here anymore!"

 

12 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

There's a man that when booked, the ref just writes his number down.

I may have to do the same. Not sure I'd spell it the same way twice.

[Ceching You Out]

Avenir Beggen - 2040/2041

Squad / League / Transfers

Keep it quick.

League - won
Cup - won
Europe - Champions group stage (3 points)

 

Anything else noteworthy?

[maniacally laughs self to sleep]
[wakes up 8 hours later feeling unusually rested]

Easily the most stressful finish to a season I've encountered. Such fine margins in the league this year with a 1-1 draw with Jeunesse Esch ruining our initial chances for separation and an identical draw handing them the initiative for the bulk of the second half of the season. Three points behind in the homestretch and I'd been emotionally preparing for the coming disappointment by blooding youth. Then Etzella Ettelbruck handed us a lifeline, dropping JE; a win would take us level with two more to play.

Of course there was still the small matter of making up a 9 goal difference in GD. Winning the game in hand 5-0 with hyper-attacking tactics shrinks the GD gap to 4. Then an would think an 8-1 victory. We'll take that trophy right now if you please. Wait, what's that? The GD gap only closes to 3?! Final day -- we've got the already relegated basement dwellers Sandweiler, while JE plays a mid-table side. Every appendage crossed and more than a little adrenaline flowing. Is 4-0 at half enough? Not when JE is up by 2. A huge, jittery sigh of relief when we pile on in the second half to finish 10-0. Sorry about ya, Sandweiler.

 

 

There's also the minor news that we made the Champions League group stage this year AND took our first points. League reputation increases to 76, the highest it's been in over 20 years. Beautiful. And in unrelated news, we suddenly have the financing for this surprise development:

 

 

Recordkeeping:

 

[BoxToBox]

Oooh! A new stadium! Brilliant!

[Bedese]

That's an expensive stadium 

[Adonalsium]

I'm surprised. I thought Wiggums would've been very insistent to get his name onto the arena! What a humble man!

*crowds of Beggen fans chanting Wiggums' name in the background*

[Ceching You Out]

On 10/18/2016 at 19:29, BoxToBox said:

Oooh! A new stadium! Brilliant!

Sure looks like progress, eh?

On 10/18/2016 at 20:43, Jupjamie said:

That's an expensive stadium 

Especially for a club our size! A massive 5k more seats than we currently have. Even stranger -- our attendance has been consistently around 94% since we finished our last upgrade two years ago, with only a few sell-outs.

On 10/19/2016 at 03:49, Adonalsium said:

I'm surprised. I thought Wiggums would've been very insistent to get his name onto the arena! What a humble man!

*crowds of Beggen fans chanting Wiggums' name in the background*

You wouldn't believe the fury in the Avenir Beggen offices when he found out the new place would be named for a cult hero, mostly second league scrub from his first few seasons in charge. THAT guy? The engraver has been called to see if there's anyway to salvage "Delic" on the Promotion League trophy. There now appears to be a series of sharp dents and crude scratches through his name.

[Ceching You Out]

We're seeded so this is about as straightforward as it gets.

 

Sorted.

[Ceching You Out]

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things doesn't belong...

 

Mierda.

 

When Pit Chanot (33A) picked up his second yellow card 29 minutes into the first leg, the tie was over. We're not quite at their level yet anyway.

[deltablue]

You were properly Thun over there.

[Ceching You Out]

7 hours ago, deltablue said:

You were properly Thun over there.

 Like a cartoon character by a steamroller.

[Ceching You Out]

I guess we want Rennes? Expecting to crash out here.

 

Packing our bags for Moscow then.

 

A nervy finish to the first leg left us with an advantage. When Manou Polidori (32A) put us up in the second leg, I still had doubts until Torpedo decided to play a man down shortly after half. Back to the group stages!

[BoxToBox]

Hell yes!

[Adonalsium]

What a surprise victory. Wiggums must be literally shaking in his pink pantsuit.

[Ceching You Out]

On 10/21/2016 at 10:24, BoxToBox said:

Hell yes!

2 hours ago, Adonalsium said:

What a surprise victory. Wiggums must be literally shaking in his pink pantsuit.

 

Post game Wiggum consumed a celebratory cigar handed to him by an ultra. It was his first time trying the substance; didn't much enjoy it. A little too chewy for his tastes.

[Ceching You Out]

Surprisingly not far from being a 3rd seed. Guess our travails the last few years have done us no harm.

 

Club Brugge is the last selection. One of the "easier" groups by my reckoning, not that it will be easy for us.

[noikeee]

Astonishing victory over Torpedo!

[Adonalsium]

Ah, good ol' Dinamo. Always there to give us ABs a warm welcome!

[Ceching You Out]

1 hour ago, noikeee said:

Astonishing victory over Torpedo!

Thanks! It's one of those matches that leaves me wondering if we caught them on an off day or we're just better than the sum of our parts.

 

1 hour ago, Adonalsium said:

Ah, good ol' Dinamo. Always there to give us ABs a warm welcome!

Always good to see a familiar face, eh?

[Ceching You Out]

Heading into the last match day, we had a chance to advance. All we needed was to beat Dinamo away and see Pescara lose to Standard. Given our history, that wasn't a moon shot.

For a brief few minutes into our match, both results were going our way. Then Dinamo rectified recent history by pummeling a couple past us and ending the dream. A little hard done by to finish last but no disappointment in our European results this year.

Dinamo went out in the 1st Knockout Round on away goals to Krasnodar. Standard eventually exited in the 2nd Knockout Round to a rampant Man City and their French runner up for Ballon d'Or, Steven Geffroy.

 

[BoxToBox]

Impressive to go into the final game with a shot, at least!

[Ceching You Out]

1 hour ago, BoxToBox said:

Impressive to go into the final game with a shot, at least!

Indeed. Cheers, B2B!

Youth Intake incoming in 3... 2... 1...

[Ceching You Out]

Ugggguuuuuuuhhhh. I think we've reached the point where starting level quality will be rare unless we can upgrade youth recruitment at some point. The GK may turn out decent, other two are unlikely to feature.

 

[BoxToBox]

Jordy Post may be Luxembourg's answer to Lee Trundle.

[Bedese]

10 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

Jordy Post may be Luxembourg's answer to Lee Trundle.

I want to see that more than anything. May Wiggum slip some flair pills in Post's water bottle?

[Ceching You Out]

On 10/22/2016 at 19:00, BoxToBox said:

Jordy Post may be Luxembourg's answer to Lee Trundle.

16 hours ago, Jupjamie said:

I want to see that more than anything. May Wiggum slip some flair pills in Post's water bottle?

That reference
--------->
My head

 

A quick Google search led me to 6+ minutes of highlights on youtube (here). I'll be honest I was entirely too distracted by the video's description to dig deeper:

Quote

If you have a Border Collie checkout http://www.bordercolliechat.com/

Ahh the internet, you wondrous, weird place.

[Ceching You Out]

Avenir Beggen - 2041/2042

Squad / League / Transfers

Keep it quick.

League - won
Cup - won
Europe - Europa group stage (5 points)

 

Anything else noteworthy?

Another squeaky finish to the season. We opened and closed the season versus Jeunesse Esch. Dropping the first game left us in a hole until JE banana peeled themselves to start the second half of the season. Pushing the team hard, we just managed to enter the home fixture in 1st thanks to goal differential. A nervy draw with JE then brought home our 6th straight title. Legends.

The board has decided that we're insecure financially, despite more than $5M in the bank and less than $2M in debt. Zero dollar valuation -- uhh, what?! I'm firing Jerry from accounting in the morning. New stadium should take care of that hiccup no matter how bad any department fails at basic math.

And in another classic FM being FM moment, we're a 2 star club in the official end of the season notification but somehow back to 1.5 before we even kick a ball to start the new season. Bah.

 

Recordkeeping:

 

[Adonalsium]

Ah, this is making me want to play again. My beloved HJK and all of the stars I cheated into the squad.

In other news, AB has finally broken into the top 200 of club rankings. Yeaaaaah!

[noikeee]

That club valuation fluctuation is truly bizarre. It's like every few years, someone suddenly remembers you're a Luxemburguese football club therefore must be worth nothing.

[Ceching You Out]

Player Spotlight - 2041/2042

 

José Silva (31D):

 

The man with the (relatively) bland name, our Portuguese poacher. Silva plays as an inside forward at the ML/AML position depending on how aggressive we're playing. Like a cross betwen Shakira and Shaqiri, he's a short, strong hispanic with luxurious locks. And his hips don't lie either -- he's been our most consistent goal scorer and our highest rated player since he first took the field in 2031.

Silva is another example of a less heralded prospect turning into one of the best players on the team; even now he's in the top 5 by stars. In more recent years we've missed this type of diamond in the rough, whether that's because we've been better at identifying talent or worse at nurturing potential late bloomers along. We could use more luck in that whenever, wherever it may come from. 

Favorite ice cream: Vanilla and red pepper.

[Adonalsium]

Finishing at 5 and he's a poacher? What is this blasphemy?

Whose car did this guy wax to get into the squad?

[Ceching You Out]

On 10/24/2016 at 03:57, Adonalsium said:

Ah, this is making me want to play again. My beloved HJK and all of the stars I cheated into the squad.

In other news, AB has finally broken into the top 200 of club rankings. Yeaaaaah!

That's actually how this save started. A few youth only challenges caught my eye and before I knew it I was plotting my exploits in Luxembourg.

 

On 10/24/2016 at 04:41, noikeee said:

That club valuation fluctuation is truly bizarre. It's like every few years, someone suddenly remembers you're a Luxemburguese football club therefore must be worth nothing.

Haha that explanation makes as much sense as any. I think FM really struggles to handle debt and project finances. Each time we've taken out a loan, regardless of our cash reserves, our club is suddenly valued at pennies on the dollar (or pence on the pound).

Things will get even more bizarre when I share the latest events. Spoiler: we have a takeover by a businessman who apparently clears the little debt we had but we're still valued at $0 despite $8M in the bank, a new stadium we're almost selling out, and decent facilities.

 

5 hours ago, Adonalsium said:

Finishing at 5 and he's a poacher? What is this blasphemy?

Whose car did this guy wax to get into the squad?

Certainly not Wiggum's. He "drives" a bright red Schwinn with a basket.

We're not a team of gifted finishers -- only a couple players crack the upper single digits in the entire squad. In a happy accident our tactics work around that quite well, pushing and pulling the defense in the final third until we create a clear cut chance. Seems that mostly then it's composure that decides whether they put it on frame, which Silva has plenty.

[Adonalsium]

That's weird, to say the least. I've always prioritized finishing in my strikers. I guess composure is pretty important for those big goaling spots though.

I wonder about the AB crew's overall competency though. Like, if football teams had power levels, what would the Beggen boys' be? Say Barcelona is 100 and HB is 1. I'd place AB somewhere around 40 at this point.

[Ceching You Out]

I definitely agree -- our starting striker is the one great finisher in the squad. Silva plays as a de facto Inside Forward in the mid strata but seems to have that bit of magic despite not looking it.

Is 105 an option? I think you're on the right track. Borderline 2 star club rep, 150 in Europe, worth roughly $18M when our accountants aren't on drugs, averaging 11k+ in attendance, and you've seen the level of our best players. All in all, 40 doesn't sound wrong.

 

Time to honor Mr. Avenir Beggen.