MarcxD Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 (edited) Welcome to my actual last thread of FM17. My last thread got cancelled early on because of save-file manipulation and I wasn't really feeling it anyway so I have decided to return to a one-club career, and one I was not going to be able to try at the start of FM18. The club I will be taking over is F.C. Andorra. Quite a lovely crest if I say so myself! They play in the Primera Catalana, which translates to the fifth tier of Spanish football. That's right, they are much like San Marino Calcio in Italy: a club that hails from a small European nation but plays in the football pyramid of a much larger one. Of course FC Andorra are not playable in the vanilla DB of Football Manager, but with a data-update it is possible. And what a moment it seems to be to take control of this club! I'm using a data-update for the Spanish system which adds the Tercera División, the fourth tier of Spanish football, and after a year of holidaying FC Andorra came up, with a whole range of other clubs. Because, if you didn't know already, the Tercera División consists of eighteen regional leagues. FC Andorra plays in the Catalan leagues (their spot in the Primera Catalana was a give away) so they have been promoted to play in the 5th group of the Tercera Division, the Catalan group of course. I've also loaded the Claassen update for the Andorra leagues, and have loaded all players from Spanish and Andorran nationalities and all players who are based in the two nations. The main goal for this thread will be to improve the club - but I don't have a set target otherwise. I don't know yet how long I will be continuing this career. At least until the next game is released, but maybe longer than that if I'm still really enjoying this save. Some more screenshots to show you what I'm dealing with: Not the best of facilities obviously, and the club has turned semi-professional after the promotion to the Tercera División. No grand history or anything, so a clean slate for me. Even though we have just been promoted, we are already predicted to finish 5th, and the board wants me to get to the promotion play-offs (top 4). That won't be easy, seeing as we've just turned semi-pro and all the players are on amateur contracts and we have zero staff. I've also not given myself any playing history or badges. This is the squad at the start and as you can see they're all on amateur contracts. Some players seem decent though, I just hope I can keep them. I've been given a 250K p/a wage budget but since I've no knowledge of players I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to get players in that are big improvements. Just one more screenshot that is of interest: The league rules. We can only register 22 players, of which only 16 are allowed to be older than 23 years, which is a real pain. All of the players already here are old and for me it's not so easy to find new young players who can immediately improve my squad. Oh well, we'll have to make do I guess. We also can only use 5 subs, which I don't like at all. But welcome to my thread! I'm going to update this thread somewhat differently than I've done in the past. I've usually done these threads (semi-)annually, but this time I'll post updates monthly, just to see if that'll improve my threads and to be more regular with it, and I don't have to wait with posting anything. I've also enjoyed other threads on here that do it like that. Edited October 24, 2017 by MarcxD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 18, 2017 Author Share Posted September 18, 2017 Pre-Season Pre-season has went pretty well, a couple of wins and some losses but as I'm new to this level it's quite hard to say how well we've really done! Also, I've tried hard getting in new players but it's not really been smooth sailing. We got some players in but honestly no-one really is crazily good or even absolutely better than what we already got, although some positions did get some much needed improvements. some players left, including some I would've preferred to keep but if Segunda B clubs come in with 40K p/a salaries then I just say goodbye and try to get a replacement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 August 2017 A promising start to the season with quite a lot of goals. My first choice striker is still on an amateur deal though and I've not been able so far to get him to sign a part-time contract so I just hope he stays. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 (edited) September 2017 September was another very good month even though we got our first loss of the competitive season. For now we are looking very good to compete for the play-off spots and even the title, a four-point lead on 5th already. We don't actually play any cup-games this season. Edited September 19, 2017 by MarcxD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 October 2017 A little bit of a disappointing month after the great start we had with only 4 goals scored in 5 matches and two wins from five, but we're still in third. It's ridiculous how close the league is right now, the top 5 clubs are all on 23 points and the teams behind are very close as well. It's very dangerous to get in a form slump, as you can see when you look at Sant Andreu. They were 1st last month and are now 10th... should be an exciting season, hopefully we can start scoring some more goals though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 Interesting challenge and good start, will be following Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 2 hours ago, smp20 said: Interesting challenge and good start, will be following Thank you! In the meantime I've looked a bit more into the club. They don't actually have a website... but they do have a facebook page. I quite like their kits. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 November 2017 A bit of a return to form and we got a little bit of a lead again to the non play-off spots, but for the title it's still really really close. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 December 2017 Poor start to the month, we should be able to beat the last team in the league. Losing against Prat was another blow, since right now they seem to be the biggest rival for the title. two wins to end the month though, so all by all not that bad. We have lost the 1st position though and have 5 points left as a gap to 5th place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 January 2018 A decent but not great month, with two home wins and 1 point from the 2 away games. Because the opposition (mainly Prat) failed though, we have retaken first spot and actually have the biggest lead yet, 4 points. Still only 6 to 5th place though, so it's still not really comfortable. I've also done some more transfers during the season but the registration period is now closed so no more comings and goings for the last few months. I did not mention it before but I've actually let my DoF offer for players and some of the incomings were his finds. Since there are only 22 registration spots and only 16 for players over 23 I've let go some of the Andorran players already at the club when I joined. There are still some Andorran players playing in the first team though, and I hope to keep at least one Andorran player at all times in the first team squad.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenzar Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 You've signed a player called Zazu? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheriff7 Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 (edited) Good luck,i manage them in fm17 but i started from Primera Catalana(editor)..Excellent start i will follow this..P.S Did you left Saez or you couldn't keep him because if i remember wright he is very talented.. Edited September 20, 2017 by Sheriff7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 20, 2017 Author Share Posted September 20, 2017 4 hours ago, Lenzar said: You've signed a player called Zazu? hahaha nice spot, my DoF actually found him, maybe he's a fan of the lion king? He seems decent for this level. 4 hours ago, Sheriff7 said: Good luck,i manage them in fm17 but i started from Primera Catalana(editor)..Excellent start i will follow this..P.S Did you left Saez or you couldn't keep him because if i remember wright he is very talented.. Awesome, have you had much success? I decided to limit myself to the tercera because I'm not on a very fast computer at the moment. This was the only Saez previously at the club but the AI let him go before I took over. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 20, 2017 Author Share Posted September 20, 2017 February 2018 A poor month although we got our biggest win yet. Especially the first game of the month was a disappointment, as the two away games were going to be tough anyway. We did lose the first spot to Rapitenca, but we still have a 5 point lead to 5th place. Still a very tense league with 10 more matches to be played in the regular season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 20, 2017 Author Share Posted September 20, 2017 With the poor facilities and all I did not have high expectations for the first youth intake but it's not actually possible to be worse than this I Think...... Because there are a few with good personalities I've given them a youth contract but otherwise no.... goodbye. Maybe try a different sport. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheriff7 Posted September 20, 2017 Share Posted September 20, 2017 2 hours ago, MarcxD said: Awesome, have you had much success? I decided to limit myself to the tercera because I'm not on a very fast computer at the moment. This was the only Saez previously at the club but the AI let him go before I took over. No it wasn't him.. I won promotion from Primera Catalana and i was in good form like you in Tercera but then i had some problems with my laptop (i change it) and then start my save in Gibraltar.. Anyway good luck i can't wait see you beat Real and Barca.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 20, 2017 Author Share Posted September 20, 2017 March 2018 Besides the youth intake a perfect month! Although it has to be said that the performances were far from perfect, but the wins were there and no goals conceded! All the teams we beat are to the lower end of the table but still, those wins count just as much as any other. The first place is ours again and the play-offs seem more and more secure, 11 point-gap! Also this happened, pretty nice surprise since I didn't even know they were doing this! I had noticed we always filled up our stadium but now I can see why. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 20, 2017 Author Share Posted September 20, 2017 4 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said: No it wasn't him.. I won promotion from Primera Catalana and i was in good form like you in Tercera but then i had some problems with my laptop (i change it) and then start my save in Gibraltar.. Anyway good luck i can't wait see you beat Real and Barca.. I see. It'll take a long time yet before we beat the big two... if ever but thanks for the confidence Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 20, 2017 Author Share Posted September 20, 2017 April 2018 Champions!!! With one game to go in the season. What a season it has been! The month has went well although once again I was annoyed at how we played at times we got the results! Note though that being champions does not mean we are promoted! We still have to play at least one play-off game! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 20, 2017 Author Share Posted September 20, 2017 (edited) May 2018 (including play-offs!!) Yes!!!!!! Promoted! We beat Peña Deportiva, the champions of the Balearic Islands group of the Tercera División! They can still get promoted to their respective Segunda B division though, they still have to get through two more play-off rounds, but we're through! Next season's wage budget is 375K p/a, for now, which I'm actually very pleased with, a 50% raise while we're in quite a poor financial situation. Whether it'll be enough to stay up next year will be something to watch out for I guess... End of Season Awards Our Tercera Legends! (A bit of hyperbole is allowed after winning a title I say ) Season Review What a season it has been! Next season will be very tough but exciting. Edited September 21, 2017 by MarcxD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 21, 2017 Author Share Posted September 21, 2017 Pre-Season 2018 Certainly financially we needed to get promoted to at least get some money in. We do have a bit of a wage budget but I'm not using all of it. As far as the expectations are concerned, it's not possible to fail them! Obviously I will attempt to avoid relegation and we start the cup in the first round. The cup could be a way to make some further money so it would be nice if we did well there. The Segunda B has a couple of different rules, although the squad rules are pretty much the same although now there is a rule that I can not pick more than 2 GK's and more than 20 outfield players. Kind of pointless. I can name 7 subs now, and there is a bit of prize money. Playoffs work the same. As you can imagine it was a very very busy transfer window, with a lot of players leaving or being released. I got in quite a few loan players as they are very cheap (most of them I don't pay any salary at all) and actually very talented if you compare them to the players I can sign permanently. I'm about 90k under the wage budget I think. We're still losing money like crazy but every bit helps maybe? After the season update (july 10th) we were predicted to finish 18th (a relegation spot) but after the transfer period we are predicted to finish 16th, which is just above the relegation spots. The pre-season friendlies went well, but they were not against the best of opposition and as always only competitive games will really show if we have what it takes for this level. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 22, 2017 Author Share Posted September 22, 2017 (edited) September 2018 The first month in the Segunda B was very busy with eight games, and we started amazingly well. A good away game in the league and then more surprisingly we beat Reus, who were just relegated from the Segunda Division (A) and are definitely a much bigger than club than us. Normally we should be in the same Segunda B division as them because they are Catalan but at least this year we'll be playing in a division with Basque and Madrid teams. After winning another game in the league and in the cup reality dawned on me and we couldn't win the last four games of the month, although I'm very happy we only lost once, against the current #1 in the league. This means we're currently 4 points ahead of 16th place (play-off relegation) and 4 points behind 4th place! Perfectly mid-table. Hopefully we can continue like that. I've not noticed any huge financial gains from the cup yet, but of course the teams we've played are also Segunda B. That's also the case for the third round, so let's hope we can win there again and perhaps get a big draw in the fourth round. The big difference so far compared with the Tercera División is that the opposing teams are just better, of course, but especially at creating chances and scoring goals. Also of course the business of the schedule, if you don't include the cup games we still played 6 league games including a mid-week one, that didn't happen in the Tercera. I'm glad now I have a much better set of back-up players who can fill in when players are tired. Edited September 22, 2017 by MarcxD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 22, 2017 Author Share Posted September 22, 2017 October 2018 Another month with two faces, a good start but a poor finish. But we got a couple of points in the league and most importantly we went through in the cup to the fourth round, where we will face Segunda Division (A) side Deportivo la Coruña. In the fourth round it will be both a home and an away match, so at least some money should be made and the opportunity to test ourselves against the best opposition we will have faced so far. In the league I can still call F.C. Andorra a mid-table side, although now we only have a gap of two points to the 16th place. It's very close around those places. This season could be a tense one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PocketMouse Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 Love it! Best of luck with it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheriff7 Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 (edited) Very good man.. I wouldn't concern about financial,this is normal in the situation you are now.. When you get another promotion money in segunda division will be more,your status will change to professional and maybe you will have some good offers for your players.. Let's hope you will make the miracle against Deportivo La Coruna.. Edited September 22, 2017 by Sheriff7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClemB Posted September 23, 2017 Share Posted September 23, 2017 Interesting! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 23, 2017 Author Share Posted September 23, 2017 9 hours ago, PocketMouse said: Love it! Best of luck with it! 32 minutes ago, ClemB said: Interesting! Thank you both! 3 hours ago, Sheriff7 said: Very good man.. I wouldn't concern about financial,this is normal in the situation you are now.. When you get another promotion money in segunda division will be more,your status will change to professional and maybe you will have some good offers for your players.. Let's hope you will make the miracle against Deportivo La Coruna.. Cheers! Your point on my financial situation is true, but if we stay in the Segunda B for too long it could become a problem. I just don't like to see those red numbers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 23, 2017 Author Share Posted September 23, 2017 November 2018 A pretty good month although we really should've beaten Real Madrid Castilla at home. My back-up AML on loan got an injury for 8 months so I sent him back, the problem is that now I only have one AML and he's performing very poorly. Will have to make do at least until january. For the first time ever we're closer to the promotion play-offs than to the relegation play-off spot! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 23, 2017 Author Share Posted September 23, 2017 December 2018 What a month! Absolutely amazing. We were flawless in the league, and with a game in hand we're getting closer and closer to the promotion play-off spots... But that's nothing compared to the cup. The home game against Deportivo went well I thought, an even match against a higher division team. I had a little bit of hope for the away-game but I did not expect much. And then we won 4-0...... this has made us quite a lot of money (we're almost back to not being in the red!!) and next round we'll play Athletic, which we'll 99% lose but that should give us even more of a financial boost. This season so far has definitely exceeded my expectations. In January I'll try to improve our squad a little bit further and we'll see what'll be possible in the long run. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PocketMouse Posted September 23, 2017 Share Posted September 23, 2017 Brilliant win over Deportivo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 23, 2017 Author Share Posted September 23, 2017 5 hours ago, PocketMouse said: Brilliant win over Deportivo Thank you, it really was astonishing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 23, 2017 Author Share Posted September 23, 2017 (edited) January 2019 We couldn't keep up the December form, but I was not expecting that at all. We had trouble scoring but the positive thing is that we are still on the unbeaten streak in the league, while the games against Athletic in the cup went amazingly well all things considered, of course they were better but we had our chances as well and even scored. We are still very close to the play-off spots but honestly I will not be bothered if we don't make them this season. The money from the away game against Athletic was very nice and I could even get in the first improvements. As far as the transfers are considered nothing much happened. As I alluded to before I got in a new AML and I let go one of the players I signed in the last summer since he wanted to leave and he performed extremely poor when he did play, an average of 6.4 is really not what I'm looking for. Overall not too bad of a month really! Edited September 23, 2017 by MarcxD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 23, 2017 Author Share Posted September 23, 2017 February 2019 We can't seem to stop drawing, but we keep our unbeaten run going. No team in the league has lost less games than us! Somehow of the 4 teams we played we beat the team that was #1.... we really should've beaten Sanse who are near the bottom of the table.. also we missed a penalty. The other games were teams at about our level and that showed in the games. We're still very much in the running for the play-offs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 23, 2017 Author Share Posted September 23, 2017 Last year I was wondering if the youth intake could've been any worse, well I guess I asked for it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 23, 2017 Author Share Posted September 23, 2017 March 2019 Amazing month, possibly the best ever so far, with 5 comfortable wins and it's seeming likelier and likelier that we'll make the play-offs and now even the title is somewhat of a possibility........ don't even know what to say, this is ridiculous. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheJanitor Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 (edited) Done very good so far! Shame about the youth intake, hope the next one will be better what with the improved youth setup and all... Edited September 24, 2017 by TheJanitor Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 3 hours ago, TheJanitor said: Done very good so far! Shame about the youth intake, hope the next one will be better what with the improved youth setup and all... Me too, although perhaps we'll need some more upgrades until we'll see some talents that are of some use since the level of players we use is rising every year as well Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 (edited) April 2019 After an amazing month we were either found out or somehow B-sides are our kryptonite.... Lost as many games in this month as in the entire season beforehand. It's hard to identify what exactly went wrong although my first two strikers (on loan) were injured so I had to use the striker I used in the Tercera again, who is on an amateur deal. He scored though, so it's hard to blame him when we concede so much goals. Play-offs are still possible but we have to win the last two games of the season. Edited September 24, 2017 by MarcxD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 May 2019 A good closer to the season and we actually made the play-offs where we have to play Nastic, who ended as second in their respective division. A tough game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 Play-Offs 2019 & End of Season It wasn't to be. They were just better than us in both games and we'll play at least one more season in the Segunda B, which is not that bad actually. Next year we'll be trying again for the play-offs while hopefully getting another decent cup run. Best Eleven Overall & of the year: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 ?! Not sure about this, we just had an expansion and we only filled our stadium 72% last season! And a 564K loan is not ideal, we're already paying off debt. But the club is growing, that is positive of course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 Good first season in Secunda, also great win over Deportivo This is possibly the hardest division in FM to get out of so don't worry too much if it takes a few tries Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 1 hour ago, Dexter_Morgan said: Good first season in Secunda, also great win over Deportivo This is possibly the hardest division in FM to get out of so don't worry too much if it takes a few tries Thank you and yeah with the play-off system it is really tough. None of the teams from last year's division got promoted actually. the Tercera works pretty much the same just with much more divisions and clubs so I was happy to get through that the first time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 Pre-Season 2019 The board wants us to get top half finish which should not be too hard and the second round of the cup, for which they have given us a transfer budget for the first time and another 100K of wage budget. In the beginning of the transfer period we were predicted to finish 11th, while at the end we are predicted to finish 8th. You may notice a lot of new clubs in the league, with the promotion and relegation a lot of shuffling around has been done and it seems like the league is now more heavily basque-based and Real Madrid Castilla has been moved elsewhere. Not as busy a transfer period as in previous years since most players were on 2-year deals and they performed quite well for the most part. It was not easy to find players who were willing to join me and who were actually better than what I already got. Once again I used a lot of loan deals, but I do pay much more wages now about 450K p/a and I actually paid money for a player for the first time. As you can see I now have Barcelona as a senior affiliate club, for now the discrepancy between the two clubs is obviously gigantic and they loaned us a 16-year old DR. Maybe it's a positive thing that Barcelona B has been relegated, they now play in the Tercera. Certainly in the long run I hope to use this link to get in some good players for free. The friendlies did not really play out like I wanted them to, of course new players had to gel and everything and we played some tougher foreign opponents than before but Manlleu and San Mateo are tercera sides which we should beat with relative ease now. Still though - they are just friendlies. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 September 2019 Once we started the season for real we started playing much better! A great start to the season with only 2 points dropped and the first place in the table. We also got through to the third round of the cup, where we'll face Lugo (just got relegated from Segunda (A)). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 October 2019 The fantastic start continues! Still unbeaten in the league and we're through to the fourth round of the cup where we'll play.... Barcelona! Amazing and extremely hard draw of course but financially it sounds extremely appealing. I'm not sure how long we can continue this current run but let's hope quite a bit longer yet. I have now managed exactly 100 games! (Look at that handsome face.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nie jem frytek Posted September 24, 2017 Share Posted September 24, 2017 I tried youth only challenge with FC Andorra back in FM 2011 times, but I was sacked 3 months into first season. Anyway good luck with this! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 24, 2017 Author Share Posted September 24, 2017 22 minutes ago, nie jem frytek said: I tried youth only challenge with FC Andorra back in FM 2011 times, but I was sacked 3 months into first season. Anyway good luck with this! Thank you. If I didn't do any transfers in the first year I would'nt have had much succes either I think... and besides look at the youth intakes I got, the youth challenge seems extremely difficult at the club. At some point in the future I do want to try and focus more and more on youth development here and getting some Andorran players in the first team again but first the club needs to become professional and all that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 25, 2017 Author Share Posted September 25, 2017 Interesting and unexpected. I had wanted to become Andorra manager later on when the club had a much better youth academy but it was just a little bit too tempting. From now on I will be manager of F.C. Andorra & Andorra... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcxD Posted September 25, 2017 Author Share Posted September 25, 2017 November 2019 Some tough games although the opposition could've been stronger, a lot of goals conceded but still haven't lost so that's a plus. Brexit has happened as well, and quite an interesting one although of course it should not have too much of an influence on Spanish and Andorran football. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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