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[FM13] The Scandinavian Shankly: smashing the status quo


withnail316

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January

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A bit of a blip for us this month, but it had to come soon or later. Hopefully we can improve as we move into February - a month where we'll go to Ajax, as well as taking on Slovan Liberec in the Europa League. 

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Struck by an injury crisis on the eve of my European tie. Striker Koning has picked up another knock (I might nickname him 'sicknote' after Darren Anderton) so he is unavailble, while fellow front man Onuh is likely going to miss the rest of the season. Still, that means a potential opportunity for Roel Lagendijk, who I've been trying to find a space for. 

You may remember Lagendijk was one of our two outstanding youngsters when I arrived, along with Gerry Vissers. Lagendijk has scored 19 goals for the youth team this season, while Vissers has been one of our best players this year.

I also have a problem in the wings, with Oar and Van Dijk the only two available in the European squad. Fortunately I do have a bit of cover domestically, though.

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Europa League Round of 32

1st Leg: Slovan Liberec 1-3 FC Utrecht
A really pleasing first leg display puts us in control of the tie. Tommy Oar slotted us in front after 25 minutes, and a penalty from Lars Veldwijk made it two just before the break. The Czechs got back into it early in the second half, but a 68th minute rocket from Peter Van Dijk sealed a brilliant first leg victory.

2nd Leg: FC Utrecht 3-0 Slovan Liberec
With three away goals in the bag, I was quite relaxed about our chances, perhaps a tad over-relaxed. We were poor for nearly 40 minutes, but exploded into life through Anouar Kali. The Moroccan curled a peach of a free kick into the top corner after 36 minutes, and then Jiri Masek blasted home a second just before the break. Gerry Vissers nodded home a corner after 50 minutes, and we were safely through to the last 16. 

We'll meet Galatasaray, with the first leg in Turkey next month. 

 

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February

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A really busy month, but an excellent one on the pitch. It was brilliant to progress in Europe despite our mini injury crisis, but the real sweet point of the month was the win at Ajax. For the first time, I'm beginning to believe that the title is a realistic proposition this season. 

Another highlight was the first senior goal for Roel Lagendijk. I'm hoping it will be the first of many!

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Europa League Last 16

1st Leg: Galatasaray 1-0 FC Utrecht
An extremely tight first leg, but Gala just got the better of us. I hope we're more effective in the home leg.

2nd Leg: FC Utrecht 0-0 Galatasaray
AAARRRGGGHHH! We were robbed here, two perfectly good goals ruled out, while their goalkeeper had the game of his life. After 6 minutes, Lagendijk had the ball in the net with a great header, but the ref saw something and ruled it out, and in the 2nd half, Koning also found the bottom corner, only to be denied by the flag. Frustrating, as I thought this was a winnable tie, but our European run is over. 

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Asked my board to make extra transfer funds available, which they refused. They did however agree to my request to sign this defender:

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He'll arrive for €1.6m, which is a good deal I think, especially in an area where we are short. What's not quite so good is that the board gave him a buy-out clause for €3.1m in his contract! I shall be trying to negotiate a new deal ASAP. 

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FM 13 brings back so many good memories, jesus. This looks so amazing. Feel all nostalgic. 

You've had quite the start to the season, although it was sad about the exit against Gala, but that was never going to be easy. Some sexy players you've got running around flashing some interesting stats. It's looking good for the future!

PS. Shouldn't your title be changed to something with Dutch? :D 

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28 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

FM 13 brings back so many good memories, jesus. This looks so amazing. Feel all nostalgic. 

You've had quite the start to the season, although it was sad about the exit against Gala, but that was never going to be easy. Some sexy players you've got running around flashing some interesting stats. It's looking good for the future!

PS. Shouldn't your title be changed to something with Dutch? :D 

Cheers for reading, man. Yeah I still love 13, but I haven't played a more modern version as I think my laptop would have a fit if I tried.

It has been an excellent season, but I can't help but think we missed a big chance of some silverware. Still, the league is the bread and butter, and we may yet win that instead...

As for the title - possibly, but right now my brain isn't working...

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10 minutes ago, withnail316 said:

Cheers for reading, man. Yeah I still love 13, but I haven't played a more modern version as I think my laptop would have a fit if I tried.

It has been an excellent season, but I can't help but think we missed a big chance of some silverware. Still, the league is the bread and butter, and we may yet win that instead...

As for the title - possibly, but right now my brain isn't working...

I put my laptop under severe pressure too playing FM 16, but despite not being a fan at the start I quite like this year's attempt. Still FM 13 is some piece of beauty, and of course man, nice thread. 

If you win the league you could hardly be dissatisfied as you can't be sure you'd have had the depth to compete and seriously challenge in both the domestic and international competitions just yet. 

Haha fair, as long as you know the Netherlands aren't in Scandinavia I'm good. ;)

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3 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

I put my laptop under severe pressure too playing FM 16, but despite not being a fan at the start I quite like this year's attempt. Still FM 13 is some piece of beauty, and of course man, nice thread. 

If you win the league you could hardly be dissatisfied as you can't be sure you'd have had the depth to compete and seriously challenge in both the domestic and international competitions just yet. 

Haha fair, as long as you know the Netherlands aren't in Scandinavia I'm good. ;)

Hah, yeah my geography isn't THAT bad...plus my manager is Swedish, so it still applies in a roundabout way.

My laptop has a hard time with 13 sometimes, which is why my game world is kept fairly small (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, 30,000 players at the moment) but I don't feel like I'm missing out.

Plus the great thing about this forum is people don't really seem to care what version you're playing, so the encouragement to plough on is always there.

You're right about the squad too, although that is definitely getting there at Europa League level. The Champions League is another matter, though...

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5 minutes ago, withnail316 said:

Hah, yeah my geography isn't THAT bad...plus my manager is Swedish, so it still applies in a roundabout way.

My laptop has a hard time with 13 sometimes, which is why my game world is kept fairly small (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, 30,000 players at the moment) but I don't feel like I'm missing out.

Plus the great thing about this forum is people don't really seem to care what version you're playing, so the encouragement to plough on is always there.

You're right about the squad too, although that is definitely getting there at Europa League level. The Champions League is another matter, though...

Just wanted to be sure you know. ;)

Always sad when a pc sets a limit to a certain game, but 13 is luckily really good and as you say people don't care which version is played. Some probably even prefer the older versions too so it's good to have people keeping the old games alive. They're too good to be forgotten tbh.

That is true of course. Maybe semi-finals wouldn't have been to much of a stretch for the team but the next decisive game after the semi's would have been real tough. How many teams can qualify to CL through league positions? 

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2 hours ago, Benjoe said:

Just wanted to be sure you know. ;)

Always sad when a pc sets a limit to a certain game, but 13 is luckily really good and as you say people don't care which version is played. Some probably even prefer the older versions too so it's good to have people keeping the old games alive. They're too good to be forgotten tbh.

That is true of course. Maybe semi-finals wouldn't have been to much of a stretch for the team but the next decisive game after the semi's would have been real tough. How many teams can qualify to CL through league positions? 

I probably could push it a little further, but it's about finding the balance between enough leagues to be interesting and the game being quick enough that I don't die of boredom waiting around. 

Two teams into the CL, the winners go straight through to the group stage, while the runners up are into 3rd qualifying round. 

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March

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Another good month domestically, and the club's 2nd-ever league title is now within touching distance. I didn't think we had any real chance at winning it this year, but we've been streets ahead for a while. Now we just need to get over the line...

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April & May

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Delighted to secure the Eredivisie title, and by some distance in the end. It is just the second league title in the club's history, the first coming back in 1957-58, when the club was known as VV DOS. Full season review to follow shortly. 

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FC Utrecht - season review 2019/20

 

League (Eredivisie)

Media prediction: 7th
Finished: 1st (champions)

Cups

Dutch Cup: Lost in the 3rd round (eventual winners - PSV)
Europa League: Last 16 (eventual winners Galatasaray)

Champions League winners: Manchester City

Top scorers

Lars Veldwijk: 31 goals in 41 appearances (19 in the league)
Jiri Masek: 25 goals in 44 appearances (17 in the league)

Positives

An incredible season, truth be told. To win the league by 11 points, with so many really good sides in this league, feels like a real achievement. I'm quite optimistic that I can continue to build over the summer transfer window, and so hopefully we can challenge again next year. The form of the two youngsters, Gerry Vissers and Roel Lagendijk, is particularly pleasing. I'm also delighted with Masek's contribution in his first season with us, 25 goals is some return, and I can't believe I was in two minds about paying €650,000 for him now. The European run was pretty sweet too, and the 6-0 win against Roma was perhaps the highlight of the entire season. 

Concerns

Very few, although I need to be careful with the make-up of the squad so that we don't find registering our squad for Europe becomes difficult. I may have a look over this transfer window and see if I can sign some players who are 18 or younger so that we have a few more homegrown players in future. I'm also a little unsure about our centre backs, I'd love to sign loanee Rini de Ruiter, who has been exceptional, but PSV will demand an enormous sum that I just won't pay. 

Ambitions

 I'm not going anywhere, so the plan is of course to try and retain the title. We don't have any qualifying games for Europe this year, and although I'm anticipating a hard draw thanks to our low co-efficient, I'll be targeting at least 3rd in the group. I've also got a bit of work to do with the squad. Gregory Nelson's contract expires this summer, while I'm anticipating selling winger Tommy Oar, who is into the last year of his contract. I could even be tempted to sell top scorer Lars Veldwijk, as I have identified a possible replacement and I think we could make an enormous fee on him, which could be spent on an upgrade of our facilities or even expanding the stadium. 

Player of the season

Manager's choice: Very tough decision, but young Gerry Vissers gets the nod. He's been incredible in his first full season.
Fan's choice: Gerry Vissers

Attendances

Lowest attendance: 16,864 (v Groningen, Dutch Cup)
Highest attendance: 24,426 (sell-out, v ADO Den Haag, Eredivisie) (11 sell-outs in total)
Average attendance: 22,419 (22,217 in the Eredivisie, 6th highest in the league)

Finances

€13,000,000 in credit

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One of those things I'm not very good at doing is updating how the rest of the game world is going (CL and EL winners, World Cup, Euro & Copa America winners etc) so I'm going to try and integrate those things into my thread in future, although I'm unlikely to use screenshots or walls of text. 

My former side Örebro have now won 4 titles in a row, and are top of the league in the early stages. Meanwhile, Galatasaray, who knocked us out of the Europa League, went on to beat Frankfurt in the final, and it was the blue half of Manchester who were celebrating picking up the Champions League at their city rivals' expense, as City beat United 1-0 in the final. 

Closer to home, Feyenoord, AZ and Twente joined ourselves, PSV and Ajax in qualifying for Europe. Groningen won the Eerste Divisie, and they were joined by NAC Breda in celebrating their return to the top flight at the first time of asking. Excelsior and Cambuur were both relegated, while RKC stayed up after winning a play off. PSV picked up the Dutch Cup for the second year in a row. 

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10 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

Phewf! RKC stayed up!! :D

Congratulations on the title win! Great work!!

 

 

8 hours ago, deltablue said:

Impressive title win.

 

8 hours ago, noikeee said:

Congrats, excellent season, the title was never really in doubt.

 

5 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

Well done, smashed it.

Thanks everybody. Now in the midst of a very busy transfer window, and contemplating smashing my transfer record into tiny little pieces...

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FC Utrecht
Season preview 2020/21

Media expectation: 4th
Board expectation: qualify for the Europa League

Transfer budget (remaining): €5.8m
Wage budget: €257,000p/w (€34,500p/w under budget)

I don't tend to do quiet summers on FM, and this one has been no different. Fortunately the board were much more sensible with their budgets this time around though, so I haven't encountered the same kind of problems I had last year. They also agreed to spend another €4.6m on upgrading our youth facilities, although they are still stubbornly refusing to expand the ground. No matter, we shall get there eventually! 

Our financial situation is looking quite rosy at the moment, and I've had another busy summer in the transfer market. The first to leave was Roger Koning, who you may remember only came in last summer on a free. I got quite fed up with his injury record (although he was excellent when fit) so I listed him for €5m. I was delighted to accept a bid of €4.6m from Rapid Wien, and he leaves with my best wishes. Tommy Oar was the next to leave, for a whopping €7.5m, and he joins Freiburg in Germany. Cor Smits also arrived on a free last year, but wasn't really good enough to break into the team, so he leaves for Club Brugge for €500,000. Defender Ferry de Regt was on the slide, and so he packed his bags for STVV for €350,000, and Said de Jong went to newly-promoted NAC Breda for €150,000. Gregory Nelson and Bob Schepers both left the club after their contracts expired. A grand total at this stage of €13m brought into the club, then. There may even be a little to add to that, but we shall see what happens.

There were also a few players to leave the club on loan. Young goalkeepers Anthony Van der Meer and Thorsten Fetch joined SC Veendam and De Graafschaap respectively, while Portuguese U21 midfielder Nunes Vasco will spend the year at RKC. 

As for players in, there is a degree of familiarity to most of this list. I had Rini de Ruiter on loan from PSV last year, and he was simply magnificent. I had enquired about taking him back on loan again (they refused) and on a permanent deal, and had initially given up when they requested an eye-watering €10m. However, when they accepted a €5m offer from Anderlecht, I decided to match it. Fortunately, he decided he wanted to come back to us, and so becomes the club's record signing (the club's previous was €3m, and my own a mere €1.8m.) We had also had Anthony Semekono on loan last year, and when he was released by Lyon we snapped him up on a free. Ed Buijs was released by FC Twente, and although I expect to send him out on loan this year, I think there is plenty of potential there. Finally, Jean Roy was sent back to us on loan from PSG for a second year, he'd been with us for my first season in Holland and did well. So far we have spent €6.6m in this window, then. 

I'm still contemplating a couple of other deals, certainly for a striker. Koning's sale means that our strikers are generally quite young, so I might look for some more experience. Then again, I've identified a couple of 18 year old strikers who could come straight in and improve us, with the added benefit of becoming homegrown, so we shall see what happens. I'm quite keen to give Sekou Tidiane Angban a chance as our back-up striker this year, as the 21 year-old Frenchman scored 16 goals in the Eerste Divisie for Sparta in his loan spell last year. I'm also considering a deal for a youngster at right back, while I need to think long term about my situation in goal - Robbin Ruitter is now 33, and I don't have a long-term replacement at this stage (although I'll be watching the development of the two youngsters out on loan closely.) 

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Two more deals to tell you about (I can't edit my post any more, so this will have to do.) Firstly, leaving the club was 31 year-old defender Ismo Vorstermans. He's been terrific since I've been at the club, and he was our vice-captain, but with our new additions he had slipped to our fifth choice centre-back. You can imagine my amazement then when he was linked to a number of clubs, but after Anderlecht missed out on de Ruiter, they moved for him and offered me €4m. I simply couldn't say no. 

I also couldn't say no to a deal for this lad:

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He joins us for €2.4m from Lech Poznan. 

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3 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Indeed. That's my kind of striker - quick, tall, can dribble, isn't lazy, can do everything.

My only complaint is his strength, but he's likely to be competing for the poacher role so should be ok. I'm now contemplating selling Lars Veldwijk, who was last year's top scorer. He's still a very good striker, but I don't need five first team strikers, and his sale would pay for a training upgrade.

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July & August

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A solid start to the new season, and another trophy in the bag. I was disappointed with our 2nd half performance in the game for the Johan Cruyff Shield though, as we led 2-0 at half time and got very lucky on penalties. Still, we've done well since the league started, got a great point at Ajax, and beat PSV despite having 10 men for 50 minutes. We've had something of an early season injury crisis mind, but only Lars Veldwijk is out for any real period of time - he's likely to be missing until December. 

I've also made one more signing, albeit it is a deal for the future rather than the present:

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Marcel Bond joins us for €1m from SC Veendam of the Eerste Divisie. 

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I forgot to mention we have also sold out of season tickets this year, selling just shy of 20,000 (up from just over 17,000 last year) and have sold out all three home games so far.

I'm very hopeful that an expansion of the ground is just around the corner.

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September

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Results wise, September has been pretty good for us. A derby win against Den Haag was a solid start, but we let ourselves down at Old Trafford. All three goals were from set pieces, which is disappointing. However, I'm really happy with the way we picked ourselves up, and the home win against Schalke was brilliant. Jiri Masek has had a slow start to the season, but he was back to his best against the German side - and the group is wide open. 

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4 hours ago, withnail316 said:

Excellent, Thom Haye has just become the first Utrecht player of my time to break into the national team. Hopefully he is the first of many...

Just caught up on this after your well-deserved award.

Well done on the title. :thup: I'm surprised that you didn't get any Dutch players called up before now though because you have been performing well since you arrived. Some of your youngsters look amazing, 

(Loving the 4-goal haul by Roel Lagendijk in the Cup). :thup:

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1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Just caught up on this after your well-deserved award.

Well done on the title. :thup: I'm surprised that you didn't get any Dutch players called up before now though because you have been performing well since you arrived. Some of your youngsters look amazing, 

(Loving the 4-goal haul by Roel Lagendijk in the Cup). :thup:

Cheers, Jimbo. Looking at the Dutch squad, I'm not surprised it has taken this long. We've got some good players, but there are some stars in the national side. 

And I agree with the youngsters, I do like to try and keep a production line of players from the youth ranks going, although I'm not always successful. Lagendijk is a bit hit and miss this year, but he'll be a star soon. Gerry Vissers though... he's the man. A beast of a defender. 

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October

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A really good month for us, bar the defeat in the cup. It was fantastic to get a result at Porto, although I was actually disappointed at the time - we were in front until the 88th minute - but I'm very hopeful there will be some form of European football to look forward to after Christmas after 3 CL games. We do have a bit of an injury crisis at left back at the moment though, so I have been forced to give youngster Nick van der Pol a chance before he's really ready for it. He's now back-up to Gerry Vissers, who is competent at full back, but it means we're playing without our best central defensive pairing. I hope we can cope. 

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12 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

First chance to congratulate you on your award win! Well done dude!

Cheers man, and to you for yours! I still feel this thread is in the shadow of the one from last year, but hopefully that can change in the next few seasons.

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18 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Don't blame you for not wanting a tycoon, they can be fun, but they can also ruin a good save.

I'm due one I think, only ever had one on 13, but almost all of my clubs have been taken over.

Part of the fun for me is managing the club's finances. I always like to sell high and buy low, and I never sign "names", prefering to sign younger players and develop them. A tycoon will just ruin that for me, so if we do get one I'll look to move on.

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1 minute ago, withnail316 said:

I'm due one I think, only ever had one on 13, but almost all of my clubs have been taken over.

Part of the fun for me is managing the club's finances. I always like to sell high and buy low, and I never sign "names", prefering to sign younger players and develop them. A tycoon will just ruin that for me, so if we do get one I'll look to move on.

I had a tycoon on a save this year, in fact I think it was one I done a thread for, but after a season I found I just didn't like the moneybags squad as much as the one I scraped together before the tycoon rolled into town.

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November

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A fantastic month, and not only do we remain on top of the league, but we're also safely through to the last 16 of the Champions League. I've been approached by three German clubs this month (Wolfsburg, Hannover and Gladbach) too, so I'm obviously doing something right! 

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My only ever tycoon takeover was FM11 with the magical Milan team, perhaps the time I've least needed one especially as we were very profitable as well as successful. A 450M million investment isn't anywhere near as exciting when you've already got it in the bank.

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