[FM18] Around the World in 80 days. Phileas Fogg Plays Football Manager

[Northernpilgrim]

Club #4 - Petrojet - Objectives

Win the Egyptian Premier League title

Win the African Champions League (necessary as this is my only stop in Africa)

Get the Churchill Brothers SC job

[TheEarl]

9 minutes ago, Northernpilgrim said:

I remove the existing manager by creating a new player, then immediately resign and apply for the job using my Phileas Fogg. I do not, and will not, use the editor. The league has to be won to unlock the next job. I've won Serie A twice, so Petrojet has been available since the end of the first season at Juventus.

 

well still a bit of "editing" but I understand it can be difficult to get the exact jobs if you had to wait for the opportunity.

Nice with the league win, sorry just looked at the last season.

[Northernpilgrim]

Passepartout has refused to join me in Egypt, so he remains as Assistant Manager at Juventus, and I will keep the backroom staff at Petrojet. Here is the squad I've got to work with

[Northernpilgrim]

2 minutes ago, TheEarl said:

well still a bit of "editing" but I understand it can be difficult to get the exact jobs if you had to wait for the opportunity.

Nice with the league win, sorry just looked at the last season.

Maybe I should post Phileas Fogg's history after each move to help people keep track of what has been won and where, especially as there are going to be a lot of moves throughout the career? So, here's my trophy haul so far, listed in chronological order

[TheEarl]

2 minutes ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Maybe I should post Phileas Fogg's history after each move to help people keep track of what has been won and where, especially as there are going to be a lot of moves throughout the career? So, here's my trophy haul so far, listed in chronological order

Cool, and you intend to do this in 80 days of game time, or 80 days of real time?

[Northernpilgrim]

1 minute ago, TheEarl said:

Cool, and you intend to do this in 80 days of game time, or 80 days of real time?

80 days game time, which is why I'm posting how much time has gone by in game after each club move. The first season at a new club always takes me a long time as I need to evaluate the squad, move players on, set up formations etc, but subsequent seasons tend to be a bit quicker. I do play quite slowly as I like to watch the extended highlights of matches, at least until I've won the league. 7 seasons has taken 5 days, so I should have plenty of time to complete the challenge, but expect the stay at Petrojet to be a very long one!

[TheEarl]

26 minutes ago, Northernpilgrim said:

80 days game time, which is why I'm posting how much time has gone by in game after each club move. The first season at a new club always takes me a long time as I need to evaluate the squad, move players on, set up formations etc, but subsequent seasons tend to be a bit quicker. I do play quite slowly as I like to watch the extended highlights of matches, at least until I've won the league. 7 seasons has taken 5 days, so I should have plenty of time to complete the challenge, but expect the stay at Petrojet to be a very long one!

I have so many projects going on in FM at the moment, but if I ever find time (doubt it) I would like to do this with a twist:

80 days of game time

Start as unemployed, no coaching badge, sunday league footballer

Apply for jobs (anywhere in London to start with)

Have to win league in all cities, and CL on every continent visited.

But what was really the cities Fogg visited, tried to search in Wikipedia, Paris was not mentioned there, but he stopped there right? And then it was Brindisi? (Guess I would have to read the story first)

[Northernpilgrim]

2 hours ago, TheEarl said:

I have so many projects going on in FM at the moment, but if I ever find time (doubt it) I would like to do this with a twist:

80 days of game time

Start as unemployed, no coaching badge, sunday league footballer

Apply for jobs (anywhere in London to start with)

Have to win league in all cities, and CL on every continent visited.

But what was really the cities Fogg visited, tried to search in Wikipedia, Paris was not mentioned there, but he stopped there right? And then it was Brindisi? (Guess I would have to read the story first)

Interesting idea, but the whole point was that the start and finish point are the same, and I chose Chelsea as it's the closest to the Reform Club, the start of Verne's story. I do have to win the league in all cities, and Champions League in each continent. I will return to Europe later, so will target the Champions League there with either Liverpool or Chelsea. Fogg started in London, catching trains to Brindisi, which involves changing in Paris and Turin. After leaving Brindisi he sails to Suez (where you find my current club, Petrojet). He then sails to Bombay, and catches a train across India to Calcutta, before sailing on to Hong Kong, Yokohama and San Francisco. He then catches a train to New York, from where he sails to Liverpool, and then finally a train to London. Here's a link with the route

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_Eighty_Days

[Northernpilgrim]

Preseason was a bit of an unknown, as I have very little knowledge of Egyptian teams, but these are our friendly results

[Northernpilgrim]

I have also been very active in the transfer market

[Northernpilgrim]

The season proper kicks off with the Egyptian Cup First Round, and we've got as big a test as we could have had. Zamalek are the defending champions in this competition, have won it 27 times (to our 0), they've been Champions of Egypt 12 times (to our 0), and have won the African Champions League 5 times (to our 0). I don't think we'll make the quarter final, but if we do, we've a chance of winning the tournament.

[Northernpilgrim]

The bookies think it's going to be a tough season, but I'm hoping to sneak into the top 10 to give us a platform to challenge for a place in the Continental Competitions next season

[TheEarl]

6 hours ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Interesting idea, but the whole point was that the start and finish point are the same, and I chose Chelsea as it's the closest to the Reform Club, the start of Verne's story. I do have to win the league in all cities, and Champions League in each continent. I will return to Europe later, so will target the Champions League there with either Liverpool or Chelsea. Fogg started in London, catching trains to Brindisi, which involves changing in Paris and Turin. After leaving Brindisi he sails to Suez (where you find my current club, Petrojet). He then sails to Bombay, and catches a train across India to Calcutta, before sailing on to Hong Kong, Yokohama and San Francisco. He then catches a train to New York, from where he sails to Liverpool, and then finally a train to London. Here's a link with the route

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_Eighty_Days

Thanks a lot mate

[Northernpilgrim]

We got an unexpected win in the Egyptian Cup, and won our opening league game, but lost the last two in August

and the table looks like this

[Northernpilgrim]

September would have been a perfect month if we hadn't slipped up at Military Production

and we end the month in mid table

[Northernpilgrim]

October wasn't a great month, but we only lost once which is pleasing

and we remain inside the top 10, just

[Timetxu]

I know it's very early to talk about this stuff, but I'm very much looking forward to your American phase. It's not only a hugely complicated league to understand, but to try and win the league with San Jose, then joining a New York team to do the same thing sounds like a very hard thing to do (with all the trades and the long lasting consequences of poaching other teams). But keep it up in Egypt, I still think this is one of the most creative saves out here!

[Northernpilgrim]

3 hours ago, Timetxu said:

I know it's very early to talk about this stuff, but I'm very much looking forward to your American phase. It's not only a hugely complicated league to understand, but to try and win the league with San Jose, then joining a New York team to do the same thing sounds like a very hard thing to do (with all the trades and the long lasting consequences of poaching other teams). But keep it up in Egypt, I still think this is one of the most creative saves out here!

Thanks Timetxu  I'm really enjoying this save myself, and I think that my current job is going to take quite a few years to complete. FM18 seems to reflect reality quite well in Egypt (IRL no-one other than Al-Ahly or Zamalek has won the league since Ismaily did it in 2001-2, and only Smouha in 2018-19 have broken that trend on my save (Al-Ahly have won absolutely every season apart from that one). That said, if I manage to Make Petrojet strong enough to win the title, Egyptian teams do have a good record in the Champions League, with the two most successful clubs in Africa being the two above. I'm very much looking forward to the USA, as, like Egypt, I've never managed there either. Time will tell whether I even get as far as the USA, but for now the challenge is winning the league with Petrojet.

[Northernpilgrim]

November wasn't a great month, but we ended with a great win

and that leaves us still clinging to the top 10

[Northernpilgrim]

Our indifferent form continued through December, but we did at least manage to pick up an away win

leaving us still clinging on to the top 10 place I need to meet this season's objectives

[Northernpilgrim]

January wasn't our worst month, and it would have been brilliant if we hadn't conceded stoppage time goals to Ittihad and Al Ahly, costing us a total of three points

which leaves us just about holding on to a top 10 finish

[Northernpilgrim]

There were no additions in the January transfer window, but we did manage to sell a few players to reduce the squad size and begin tackling the wage bill, although we're still way over budget

[Northernpilgrim]

February was horrible, but should have been better as we had a 2-0 lead against Al-Gaish

meaning we drop out of the top 10

[Northernpilgrim]

March was a better month, although it didn't start that way

and it ended with us back in the top 10

[Northernpilgrim]

If March was better, April was unbelievable, as I had my first maximum month in Africa

leaving us well on course for a top 10 finish, and hoping for more

[Northernpilgrim]

Sadly we ran out of steam in May, losing both games

but a 9th placed finish delighted the board

 

[Northernpilgrim]

I arranged tougher preseason games this summer, and the results were not brilliant, but we did get a couple of wins

[Northernpilgrim]

We also managed to add some quality signings to our squad for next season

Leaving the squad a little larger than I would like, and looking like this

[Northernpilgrim]

and the draw for the Egyptian Cup First Round draw has been made

[Northernpilgrim]

We endured a miserable August, which could have been so much better, as we led in both games

and here is the early table

[Northernpilgrim]

From a miserable August which had left me fearing the worst, to a near perfect September

which has us sitting in third place, with the leaders at home our next match. 

[Northernpilgrim]

October was another really good month

and although the top two now has a familiar look, I'm delighted with where we are at this stage of the season

[Northernpilgrim]

We were also unbeaten in November, and have now beaten Al Ahly and Zamalek in the league

but the two dropped points against El Dakhlea, a game we led 3-1, are costing us the chance to be closer to the top 2, and have seen us drop to 4th

[Northernpilgrim]

Our unbeaten run ended, and December was not a great month, but we did end with a win

and we're down to 5th, but still in touch with the top 3 and the possibility of continental football next season

[Northernpilgrim]

Only three games in January, a win, a draw, a defeat

and we're still 5th

[Northernpilgrim]

February only had two games, and no wins

and we're down to 6th

[Northernpilgrim]

March wasn't great, but could have been worse, as we were 3-0 down at Al-Nassr after 78 minutes

and a top 4 finish looks a long way off now

[Northernpilgrim]

April was a little better, but not much

and top 4 is now gone

[Northernpilgrim]

The inconsistent second half of the season continued right to the end, as we got a great win over ENPPI, were expected to beat Arab Contractors and lost, and should have beaten Military Production but could only draw.

All of which left me very frustrated, as despite the last few months, if we'd picked up three wins out of three in May, which wasn't beyond the realms of possibility, we'd have finished in the Continental qualification places. The 5 dropped points sees us end up 8th

[Northernpilgrim]

It's proving really, really tough in Egypt. Zamalek and Al Ahly are just too strong, and we don't have the budget to compete at the top end. Worse still, I'm overachieving (we were predicted 15th in the league, and were 850/1 to win the title this season, so the board think I'm doing really well, and are therefore not going to sack me. 

[Northernpilgrim]

During the summer, THIS happened. On any other save I'd have jumped at it, but it doesn't fit the plan, so I had to refuse

 

[Northernpilgrim]

I set up quite a challenging preseason, and the team responded pretty well, nearly getting results against some pretty good European opposition

[Northernpilgrim]

I felt that our weakest positions in the squad were the left back and right back slots, and I managed to recruit one of each this summer, with Osman looking by far the better of the two

[Northernpilgrim]

And this is the squad I'll be taking into the new season

[Northernpilgrim]

One of the big problems with the Egypt setup is that there are no youth teams, but you still get an annual youth intake, so the squads tend to be quite big. The average youth wage in Egypt is only £7 a week though, so they aren't too expensive to have around, but they do complain about lack of football, so I will be looking to offload a couple of players and loan out the potential first teamers of the future. I'm determined that we're going to keep improving, season by season, and that eventually we WILL make the African Champions League. In fact, given Egypt's relative strength in Africa, I think winning the Premier League is actually going to be harder than winning the Champions League. 

[Northernpilgrim]

We certainly had better luck with the cup draw this time, avoiding either of the big two, who actually got drawn against each other. 

[Northernpilgrim]

Shocker of a start to the season

and we're already in for a long season

[andychar]

Looks like a grind in Egypt. Really going to eat up your playing time. 

[Northernpilgrim]

12 minutes ago, andychar said:

Looks like a grind in Egypt. Really going to eat up your playing time. 

Absolutely. As I said previously, we just don't have the budget to compete. Every time we get an offer for a player that's even slightly above the player value, my chairman sells without asking me. Here are the Premier League wage budgets

[andychar]

Only team in the league with "insecure" finances!