[FM17] How Andorra somehow became the Catalan football capital.

[MarcxD]

December 2019

Of course we lost to Barcelona twice, but still unbeaten in the league! The title is more and more a realistic possibility. 

Andthis was the result of the Barcelona games. How nice. We're still not rich enough to become professional and the board denied upgrades to the facilities as well... 

Interesting draw where a lot of nations have a chance to qualify. Pretty much everyone but us really..

 

[MarcxD]

January 2020

Quite a poor month, we just couldn't score... 2 goals in 4 is unacceptable, certainly if three of those games are at home. It's interesting to see that one of the title rivals, Logroñés, also hasn't lost yet and has drawn even more games. Let's see who will lose first..

As it was January I was looking to do some more deals but it was tough to find any players who I could sign permanently - either they asked way too much wages or they just were not good enough. Loan deals had to do, hopefully next year with a bit of a reputation boost (and maybe in the Segunda A? ) we can attract more talent.

I also got my second coaching badge and after signing a new contract the board allowed me to go on another course.

The board kept on refusing most improvements I asked for but they did allow for a further junior coaching improvement!

 

 

[deltablue]

Good luck with the promotion chase. 

[MarcxD]

2 hours ago, deltablue said:

Good luck with the promotion chase. 

Thank you!

[MarcxD]

February 2020

And we're back to winning and scoring ways! Great month. Logrones still unbeaten as well though. The stadium expansion has been completed as well, so now we have 3345 seats to fill. 

[kandersson]

Great story!

[MarcxD]

6 hours ago, kandersson said:

Great story!

Thank you 

[MarcxD]

March 2020

Perfect. After having trouble scoring I opted for using a tactic that's more offensive and it worked wonders.

And because Logroñés started losing we've pretty much secured the title as well... and a lot of the season is still to be played!

And of course if I was thinking that anything was possible the Andorra national team showed me what reality looks like... oh well. 

Well... what is there to say? The national reports show me that some players could one day be a star for Andorra, that's about it. 

[MarcxD]

April 2020

Well, we finally lost but who cares? We are the champions! Tons of goals scored as well. 

Some personal accolades after the title!

The board finally relented on the facilities, very happy that this will happen regardless of whether we'll get promoted or not. (remember that we still have to play play-offs even if we are champions)

 

[MarcxD]

May 2020

And a little perfect month to cap this amazing record season! It really has been amazing. We're in great form for the play-offs and I'm sure hopeful but whoever we're playing will have won their respective league as well so it's save to say it won't be easy. 

[MarcxD]

Play-Offs 2020

Promoted!

An amazing result against Lugo at home made sure we will be playing in the Segunda Division, the second tier of Spanish football. We were close at becoming the overall Segunda B champion as well, but Lleida Esportiu just beat us in the final. Too bad but I won't be crying about it. The play-offs were the first time we sold out are stadium as well.

Not that our stadium is big enough for the league we have been promoted to........

 

[MarcxD]

Season Review 2019-2020

For most of the season we were first in the table and in the last couple of months we steamrolled the competition and secured promotion. I was ready to qualify for the play-offs again but winning the title with such a gap and winning the play-offs was a big surprise.

I'm hoping that we can replace the loan-players for next season because they have played a big part in the success. Acosta who I Signed in january when he was still injured performed great but all of the rest as well. Alex Gil and Javi Jiménez will stay for another year but the rest will return to their clubs or will be looking for new adventures... elsewhere some players are just not good enough for the Segunda probably so it will be a very busy and tough summer to prepare for next season.

The Best Eleven overall and of the season:

 

 

[MarcxD]

June 2020

Not much to shout about yet with the national team!

Another little upgrade. 

And finally the big news. More coaches and scouts... I Got a full time deal, but it won't be easy to give the key players or all players full-time deals. Last year's star player Ismael, for instance, is on a 40K p/a part time deal but wants about 150k now! 

 

[MarcxD]

Pre-Season 2020

A big financial step up in the new league as well, hopefully we can stay up and a couple more seasons of this should help us grow the club a lot.

The budget has increased of course, but not hugely. I've changed this up a bit towards the wages so I have a budget of 1.3M p/a now.

It has not been an easy window, with us still having to resort to loan players and back-up players from other segunda sides or even segunda b... still though, the squad now is decent although if it will be enough will have to be seen.

The friendlies went okay, I guess, but nothing to really write home about. 

The league has a couple of different squad rules. We can now register 25 players in stead of 22, and finally the 16 player over 23 limit has been lifted. A new limit of 2 non-eu players has replaced that though, but for now that is no worry of mine since we can only scout europe anyway (and before this season only spain and andorra).

Logically we are predicted to finish last of 22 teams. This will be the most lengthy season so far. The bottom four teams are relegated so the goal will be to finish 18th or higher. We have beaten a team like Lugo before but realistically it is going to be very tough. 

 

[MarcxD]

August 2020

Well, an interesting start to the season. We could've won at home against Racing but the two away-games were tough and could've easily been losses.

[MarcxD]

September 2020

Well, a lot of draws still... a tough start to the season I guess but the good thing is that I haven't lost by much yet and through to the third round of the cup.

I have won as manager of Andorra though, which is kind of a miracle. My tactic uses wingers, and the available players are so... limited that my starting AMR right now is a youth player of mine, and you've seen how good they are!

Some further long-term improvements here, the first youth facilities upgrade (after the season) and another coaching badge. 

[MarcxD]

October 2020

Another month filled with draws and we're through in the cup after another penalty win. We did get our first league win of the season though! The bottom 8 teams in the table are differentiated by 1 point so it might very well become a very tense battle against relegation.

Two difficult games with Andorra with the expected results although it was a nice surprise to see Andorra score three times in one match.

As long as we're not last I'm already happy.

[MarcxD]

November 2020

I've returned to the more attacking tactic which was so successful last season, and it has worked here as well! A ton of goals scored. Of course we conceded a lot more as well. No more draws though! We're out of the bottom 4 spots, on goal difference, but it's all still very tight.

I've gotten about 450k p/a more of a wage budget, so in january I should be able to improve our squad some more. We're making big profits each month thanks to the tv money which should really help out in the long term. 

The 2020 nations league is done, and it has gone okay I guess, no hugely embarassing results and we didn't finish last. 

[Toffle]

Great story

[MarcxD]

55 minutes ago, Toffle said:

Great story

Cheers! 

[MarcxD]

December 2020

A couple of very good results all though I wish we had beaten Mallorca as well. We're out of the cup but Levante is just too strong a team for us at the moment, so I was already quite pleased with the draw in their stadium. We're up to 14th in the table but only 3 points ahead of the relegation spots so not safe by a long shot!

I've only received international offers before this month (Russia, Ireland and Belgium if I remember correctly) but this month the AI has gone crazy. 10 offers, among which several La Liga clubs. I've said no to all of them, of course. 

 

 

[MarcxD]

January 2021

A decent month with a huge victory against Tenerife. Only 2 points separates us from the relegation spots though... with the 3 teams ahead of me only 1 point ahead. Everyone in the bottom half should be anxious....

This is a big problem, Ismael is probably my best player at the moment. There are replacements ready but obviously this is a huge loss.

I've gotten two more job offers as well.

Finally I did a couple of transfers, although most of the added wage budget has gone towards players I signed for next season.

I've loaned out a bunch of players, including a few of my youth players to Andorran clubs. 

 

Edited September 29, 2017 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

February 2021

What a start to the month with a crazy 6-3 game against Huesca. After that the results and the football became more of a worry, but Eibar looks to be the strongest team in the league and any away-game right now is tough so it's hard to be too critical of these results. We still got 6 points this month and we are 5 points ahead of the relegation spots. That doesn't necessarily mean much because I've looked at the schedule and we still have to play a lot of difficult games. A lot of games regardless, we are still 14 games away from the end of the season (in June!)

5 more job offers. 

Edited September 29, 2017 by MarcxD

[john1]

Insane amount of job offers   Decent start in the league  

[GryphonFlick]

Nice work so far! Looking more and more like you'll beat the drop this year.

[MarcxD]

11 hours ago, john1 said:

Insane amount of job offers   Decent start in the league  

Thank you, as long as F.C. Andorra has a low reputation (1.5* right now) a lot of clubs will come calling I guess, I was surprised to see clubs like Villarreal amongst them though.

7 hours ago, GryphonFlick said:

Nice work so far! Looking more and more like you'll beat the drop this year.

Cheers, it's looking more positive by the month but I'm not celebrating until it's absolutely certain!

Edited September 30, 2017 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

March 2021

A fantastic month with two away wins! We're looking more and more secure, a 10 point lead should be enough but still 10 games to be played. Somehow we're pretty close to the play-offs (5 points) as well but that would be ridiculous. Besides, the season is long enough already.

The first qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup were played as well, and they went about as well as you would expect against opposition like this....

The youth intake got through again as well and while they're still obviously mainly extremely poor for the first time we've got in a prospect who has more than a possible 2.5* PA. Elsewhere I usually just sign players for good personalities, and I've asked for national reports on all of them, if there's any that are deemed to have a future in the national team I'll sign them too. 

Of course he's not great but he could turn out a very good player for the Andorra national team at least. I'm curious to see what the national report will look like.

Two more significant job offers as well. Sevilla is definitely the biggest club so far.

 

Edited September 30, 2017 by MarcxD

[deltablue]

Good work this season. Survival never looked like it was going to be easy. 

[MarcxD]

8 minutes ago, deltablue said:

Good work this season. Survival never looked like it was going to be easy. 

Thank you and I agree, it's an interesting league where you really can't have a huge dip of form at any point and when you have good form like right now you can really make big steps up the table since so many teams are so close.

 

[MarcxD]

April 2021

Another great month and before the match against Mirandés I was dreaming of a clean sweep! If that happened we would be really close to the play-off spots but we still are, incredibly. 6 more games to be played and only theoretically we can still get relegated. Really relieved at how the second half of the season has gone. It has to be said though we were quite lucky against Murcia but I loved how we beat Girona, a team that really should be much stronger than us but we dominated the match.

This is the national report for Tiago Pinto, my best youth player thus far. As you can see he's supposed to be the 6th best central defender already, with a few of those ahead of him barely better and much older. Consistency and teamwork are problematic but perhaps that can still be fixed. 

Two more job offers, although of a lesser caliber than last month. 

Edited September 30, 2017 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

May 2021

3 very convincing wins make for another great month, and puts F.C. Andorra in 10th but with one game to be played we have a theoretical chance of making the play-offs since we have the best goal difference by a mile. 

With the money we have made this season I got the board to agree to another upgrade.

A final job offer this season. No thanks.

[MarcxD]

June 2021

A bizarre match to end an exciting season. 10th is great but I'm especially happy with the amount of goals we scored. No team scored more than we did. 

Less exciting were two more qualifiers with the Andorra national team. It would be nice if we looked at all capable of scoring.

 

 

[MarcxD]

Season Review 2020-2021

A great season with some surprisingly good performing players.

We were reliant on some loan players though, and they will need to get replaced ASAP. Both central defenders were loan players and will not be staying. Barcelona loanee striker Domenech will stay though for another loan and I've signed Santi on a permanent deal. His attributes and ratings are not amazing but he's performed extremely well.

Most striking perhaps is Diego Cordero, who I'd signed in January.

The fans definitely love him.

A 7.6 average! His big downside is obviously his determination, but I had no possible tutors. It didn't stop him from getting the league's best average performance though... 

Best Eleven OVerall/This Season:

Diego Cordero not even in the first eleven, remarkably.

I made a little table like you see in other threads, I'd wanted to do it before and I had saved the info before but forget to post it. Anyway:

 

 

Edited September 30, 2017 by MarcxD

[Rikulec]

Great progress there. Just one win off the play-offs.

[MarcxD]

2 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Great progress there. Just one win off the play-offs.

Thank you - yeah we were really close. It was funny to see once I stopped worrying so much about relegation we were close to getting to the play-offs...

[MarcxD]

Pre-Season 2021-2022

Another little rise of the wage budget and a transfer budget I could use, always nice.

It has been one of the busiest transfer windows so far, even though we performed quite well last year. I needed to replace the loan players from last year, get a bunch of new back-up players and improve elsewhere if at all possible though. On the outgoing deals it was less exciting, mostly loan deals for youth players and players I signed for future/future fees. As you can see having Barcelona as a senior affiliate club is really useful. 2 strikers, back-up AMR and a MC were loaned and I signed one of their players they wanted to get rid of, a defender. The other player I paid money was a DC as well. 

In previous seasons sometimes the season preview got me a higher place at the end of the transfer window than at the start, but this time it was the other way around.

The difference between 19th and 20th obviously isn't all that big but going from 551.00 to 951.00 isn't great! The relegated teams are the favorites this year, and Las Palmas, Oviedo and Zaragoza are obviously big clubs. I hope I can get F.C. Andorra to another top 10 finish and if things go well perhaps the play-offs. That's the goal, for now. The minimum will be staying up, of course, since the board wants that as well. 

The first upgrade of the season has been made as well, and remember both our facilities will be upgraded by november.

The friendlies were as succesful as they could be, I guess. I played all of these games on the attacking tactic I used for most of the second half of last season and we scored a lot of goals, but I guess it backfired a bit against Barcelona. Well, we would've lost regardless. At least we scored.

 

 

Edited September 30, 2017 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

August 2021

A good start to the season, although really we could've scored more! The game against Racing was a bit of a let down but we had to play quite a bit of the game with 10 men so in reality a draw is not too bad a result. 

Another youth coaching upgrade, although I'm not 100% sure this is on top of the one in pre-season. On the facilities page it now says good which sounds ... good.

Also, it seems that F.C. Andorra is going to get a new owner! 

Not Marcos Suarez though, apparently.

Edited September 30, 2017 by MarcxD

[MarcxD]

September 2021

Another good month, the season has started really well, at least when you look at the results. The performances aren't quite up to last season's standard though, so this unbeaten streak will probably end soon. The game against Villarreal B was especially weak. It is remarkable that we are the only team in the league to not have lost yet though.

With the bad results beforehand I tried the attacking tactic I'm using with F.C. Andorra as a kind of all-or-nothing for the national team of Andorra.

It did not work out well.

The 14-0 loss was too embarrassing for a manager who has been sought after by clubs like Villarreal and Sevilla, so I resigned. I might come back to the job later when the Andorran team has some more development, perhaps thanks to more of my youth players. We'll see if and when that happens.

 

 

[MarcxD]

October 2021

I was right last month when I said the unbeaten streak would soon be over, but after that we started playing much better, and in the end it turned out to be an awesome month. The opposition wasn't the strongest and we played a bunch of home games, sure, but it was lovely to see. 2nd place now, and a 7 point lead to 7th so play-offs seem more and more likely this season. It's a little bit too early to say we're definitely in the title race but it's starting to look like it.

The facilities have been upgraded but obviously a lot of work still needs to be done so I'm glad the board allowed for another youth upgrade - after some initial denials. 

 

[MarcxD]

November 2021

A tougher month but the results were good, 7 points from 4 when 3 of those games are away is pretty satisfactory. 

Two more to go.

[MarcxD]

December 2021

Another good month with a double defeat against Espanyol in the cup. Next month will be interesting, with the transfer window and a game against Oviedo. It remains to be seen though if I can do any transfers, since there has been talks for a long time about a take-over of the club.

I also got a new landmark as F.C. Andorra Manager. 

[MarcxD]

January 2022

(I'm playing on a bigger screen for now so the screenshots will look different and bigger)

A good month with an absolute classic of a game in Oviedo. I have started to believe in the title, which is kind of crazy, but that also means next year we'll have to play in La Liga. That seems daunting.

The transfers I have done since the summer. As you can see for the first time I've sold a player for a bit of cash. Amengual was a young DR who I'd bought for 16K, he had developed well. He's still only 19 and I wanted to keep him but he was whining about leaving and the money was pretty good. I have decent options for that position anyway. As far as the incoming players are concerned, now that the scouts can do their jobs worldwide I've signed a bunch of foreigners. The non-eu rule (2 in Segunda, 3 in La Liga) seems tough, but all Conotou nations don't count (which means most African and a couple of latin American and Asian nations). South American players can get the Spanish nationality in 2 years, so that's not a big issue either. Of course F.C. Andorra is not actually in Spain and it doesn't seem to be possible for the players to gain Andorran nationality (which would've been useful for the national team of course). But if I loan the South Americans out for two full seasons in a row they can become Spanish.

 

[MarcxD]

The takeover happened, and it was a pretty good one. The remaining debt is gone now and we have a bit more cash. 

[Sheriff7]

Excellent progress mate!!Idelfons Lima retired in national team??

Edited October 2, 2017 by Sheriff7

[MarcxD]

1 hour ago, Sheriff7 said:

Excellent progress mate!!Idelfons Lima retired in national team??

Thanks!

Yeah, I actually used Lima as a coach for the Andorra NT because he had the best available scout skills.

 

[MarcxD]

February 2022

Another good month with a loss against one of the best teams in the league. None of the wins were super convincing though but with a lead of 7 points I'm not going to worry too much just yet.

With the comfortable financial budget it seemed right to ask for another upgrade and the new board approved it. We're going places..... 

[MarcxD]

March 2022

Going on in the same way... decent results but the lack of goals is worrying. 8 points lead though, with 10 games to go.

The first 1.5* CA youth player and the first 4* PA! Slowly but surely it's improving. Last year's talent Pinto has been progressing well actually too so I'm not too displeased. They should turn out to strong Andorra players at the very least.

I'm no expert of youth development by any means but with some improvements to his determination and obviously growth on the technical side of things he could be decent? 

 

[Rikulec]

He's already fairly professional, which is good. Decent attribute balance as well. Could be some potential in there.

[MarcxD]

22 hours ago, Rikulec said:

He's already fairly professional, which is good. Decent attribute balance as well. Could be some potential in there.

That's what I was thinking as well. Him and two from the previous intake are getting me excited for the future, although I'm not sure how and when I will be able to use them since it looks like we're getting promoted to La Liga.. at least they'll be good for the national team.

[MarcxD]

April 2022

Promotion and the title seems to be more and more secure. 13 points lead, 5 games to play. Do the maths...

La Liga... the team really is not ready for that level but whatever happens there it should be a big boost for the club. I'll worry about it all later.

Not one of the youth players I'd necessarily predicted to give a chance in the first team, he was a 2.5* PA talent from last year's intake but with a wave of injuries and some excellent development (currently he's rated 1.5* CA and 4* PA) I thought it was time to give him a chance.

 

 

Edited October 3, 2017 by MarcxD