shaunvamos Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 Hi all, After some time away from the game, as real life took over for a bit, I began to think about what sort of ideas I could come up with for my next career update. I've never managed in a major nation on any FM, so I thought I would give that a try this time around. I settled on Spain, and began formulating my plan. It is 2017, and Rafael Nadal, 15 time Grand Slam tennis champion and the undisputed King of Clay, has called a surprise press conference after being knocked out early at Wimbledon again. There is major speculation as to what it could be about. "Thank you very coming today, I really appreciate it no? Uh as most of you know, for me, is getting harder to play at my best level of tennis no, with those injuries for my knees, and feet, is very difficult no. I talk with my coach and my team and uh, I think now is right time to walk away from the sport no. I'm very grateful for everything that tennis has done for me and I'll never forget the support of the fans everywhere, for me is most important thing no, to never forget that. Reporter: "So what's next for Rafael Nadal, are you still going to be involved in tennis in any way? "Well I love tennis no, is impossible for me to not be involved, I still have my academy in Mallorca so my coach Toni will be taking care of that, but now I have major plans for a different sport. Football is very important part for me and my family no, my uncle had a successful career and it is because of him that I made this decision. I have become major shareholder for my local club, C.E. Manacor and have decided to put most of my efforts into making them as successful as possible no. I have already upgraded the training and youth facilities, as the team will be sharing with my tennis academy which also has football training grounds. I have decided to start getting some qualifications to no, I have had experience in playing football, but is very different from coaching no. So I'm here to announce myself as the new manager of Manacor, but until I get the necessary qualifications most of the on field decision will be made by my uncle, Miguel Angel Nadal, who has accepted my offer to become the Assistant Manager of Manacor. Thank you very much for your time. And with that bombshell, the Spanish Bull departs a rectangular grass court for the final time and sets off back to Spain for a game played on a bigger rectangular grass 'court'. Basically I made an attempt to incorporate one of my favourite sports into Football Manager, and with a little football relevance as well. Rafael was supposedly quite the footballer when he was younger, representing his island at U14 level. His uncle is also considered one of the best Spanish defenders of all time, representing them at 3 World Cups and having a strong career with Barcelona and Mallorca too. Now onto the rules. - Only buy Spanish players, specifically those from the region of the Balearic Islands. There are 50 cities according to the editor, the biggest of which are Mallorca, Palma, Ibiza and Minorca. I'll set up a transfer filter for that. - .... I guess that's the only rule I've used the editor to boost the finances/facilities a bit, as he has a significant net worth i put in about 20 million pounds as a starting balance, and increased each facility category by 10 so they aren't maxed out, but range from 13-17. Here's a bit of info on the club: Division: Tercera Division Group 11 Established: 1928 Nickname: El Toro Salvaje (The Raging Bulls) - I changed this one to suit. Status: Professional Estimated Value: $37.7M Training Facilities: Superb Youth Facilities: Excellent Junior Coaching: Good Youth Recruitment: Well Established Stadium: Na Capellera (4,000) Fierce Rivals: C.D. Serverense Media Prediction: 5th Manager Profile I've given him a National A license as a semi-pro football, and the stats I think are as fairly accurate. Doesn't offer much in the coaching department, but mental and fitness coaching is where he is strong and can translate that from tennis. Maxed out his determination to reflect reality too, as he exemplifies that on court. As for the tactic, it is not my own, it is a slight adaptation on @smp20's Arrigo Sacchi tactic that brought him much success in his careers. I was so fascinated and impressed by this tactic, at how vicious it could be on the counter and relentless in defence as well. What better way to describe Rafael Nadal? His ability to turn defence into attack in one shot as well as his ability to close down even the most seemingly impossible to reach balls and return them. So I figured that this tactic is essentially his on court strategy personified on a football field. For those who are interested in the workings of this tactic and the philosophy around it here is the link: https://community.sigames.com/topic/394975-every-country-are-you-nuts/?do=findComment&comment=10646315 I downloaded the Spanish leagues off the Steam workshop, but you can get it here: https://www.fmsite.net/files/file/682-tercera-división-de-españa/ That's it really, hopefully this will be a bit of fun! Squad update coming up next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 Squad Analysis Keepers Don't look very strong in goal, Llabrés has a lot of potential though and is our first choice keeper at 17! Left Back Bit of depth here, Flores looks like a solid player at this level. Very versatile too! Potential in Costa too. Centre Backs Flores pops up again in at CB, and may have to start as there's not much quality here. 3 5* prospects though, Pons is probably our biggest hope here. Right Backs Segui looks phenomenal, he won't be with us for long! Sanchez in at deputy shows there's plenty of youth to burn at RB. Defensive Midfielders CDM is where our best player is, but it's also where the oldest players are, with 3 over 35. Left Wing Jaume looks good. Really good. Just need to retrain him at left mid. Right Midfielders We look immense on the right, with great personalities and ability to go with it. Strikers Few options up front, Oscar Juan looks promising. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 2017/18 Preseason Pretty strong preseason. Transfers Just one player in, Bernal from party capital Ibiza. Brought in as a backup DM to the retirement villagers. Preseason Odds Predicted to finish just outside the playoffs here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 Mid Season Update We had an excellent start to the season, before a couple of losses threatened to derail things. That being said, we are comfortably in the playoff spots halfway through and look the goods to stay there. Transfers We buy 4 more players, and we seem to have no defined transfer window. Our starting LB as Flores plays at CB. Currently the best CB we have, more an immediate quality option rather than one for the future. New starting striker. We sign Juan from Villareal via Ibiza, in possibly our biggest sigbning to date given who we bought him from. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 Great thread. The Nadal imitation is spot on no Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 2018 Youth Intake A very strong first intake, Manacor has some talent! I'll be training him as a left mid, he looks great! This was Nadal's pick of the intake, and it's easy to see why. DM is always a difficult position to cover, and hopefully he will be here for a while. Think I'll have to train him at striker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 11, 2018 Author Share Posted March 11, 2018 End of Regular Season We managed to move up to 3rd, but Mallorca B and Constancia were too hard to catch. That being said as long as we finished in the top 4 we qualified for the playoffs. Our forward pack were amazing, breaking the league record for most goals by one. On to the playoffs! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 12, 2018 Author Share Posted March 12, 2018 2017/18 Season Review An excellent start to this career! We had to beat some quality teams in the playoffs, especially Santander's B side. He's only 18, but he had a hand in 28 league goals this season, and was by far our best player. This is probably the last good season we will get out of Arnau unfortunately. Bought from a team in the division above for only 10k, Ripoll was an excellent bargain, and lethal in front of goal, scoring 22 in 21. Aims For Next Season I'm not sure if we will enter the cup next season, but if we do a win or two would be nice. Hopefully with a few good additions we will stay up in the Segunda B as well. A few members of staff have shown up two as I have extended the signing policy to those from the Balearic Islands to staff as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 12, 2018 Author Share Posted March 12, 2018 I thought I'd show everyone just how small a population I have to choose from. The Balearic Islands have just over a million people. Compared to the overall Spanish population of around 46.4 million, that's 2.4% of Spain! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 12, 2018 Author Share Posted March 12, 2018 2018/19 Preseason Undefeated preseason against lower tier opposition. Transfers A bit of deadwood was released, but we made a few good buys for a bit of money. Automatically becomes first choice keeper by a large margin. From Palma de Mallorca. This guy is my favourite buy this window. I tried to get him permanently but Mallorca wanted 3.5 million minimum and I'm not willing to spend that much at this stage. So he's here on loan, and depending on how he goes could spend more time here. Also from Palma de Mallorca. Sarr comes with bucketloads of potential for a tidy 73k. Currently training as RM but may switch to striker. Half Senegalese, but also from Palma. Our new LB but can fill in at CB if needed. From Palma. Andreu adds a bit of youth to our DM department. From Ciutadella. Our most expensive player was bought on deadline day, mostly because I saw the 16 tackling and thought yep, gotta have him. That being said he's second choice RB. Also from Ciutadella. Preseason Prediction I recognise a lot more of these teams, we are in for a tough season. That being said, we are predicted mid table and the board want mid table so I think it's not unrealistic to perhaps push higher. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 13, 2018 Author Share Posted March 13, 2018 Mid Season Update We got off to a very slow start, with only 1 point in our first 5 games, but we appeared to pick things up and are currently on our best run of the season. I have no idea how Espanyol B have scored 8 and conceded 6 in 19. That's an amazing defensive effort but worrying if you're the attacking coach. We are within touching distance of the playoffs so hopefully this run continues! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timetxu Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 Looking good! How is your scouting/player search set up that you specifically only get Balearic players? Did you just put in every single town that's included in FM? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 13, 2018 Author Share Posted March 13, 2018 8 hours ago, Timetxu said: Looking good! How is your scouting/player search set up that you specifically only get Balearic players? Did you just put in every single town that's included in FM? Thanks! Yeah so on the editor in the Balearic region it has 50 areas, so I listed every one as city of birth in the filter so only they come up. It took me a while, but it's worked 😀 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 14, 2018 Author Share Posted March 14, 2018 January Transfer Update & Youth Intake Just one player in, and becomes our 2nd choice CB. Born in Palma. Youth Intake Lots of great personalities. Looks good, will be trained on the left. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 This is annoying... We lose our AM and uncle of the manager. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 will you still continue with the save following the takeover? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 On 3/16/2018 at 06:06, kidthekid said: will you still continue with the save following the takeover? I definitely will when I get news like this... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 17, 2018 Author Share Posted March 17, 2018 Season 2 Review Second straight promotion! Things are looking very good, only one promotion away from La Liga now! Key Players Thank God we got promoted, if we didn't he probably would've left. Villarreal are the highest profile club that want him at the moment, so it's imperative we hold on to him. Amazing season. Reus are not a bigger club, so he will be staying with us. Insane strike force when paired with Juan. Other News This will max out our facilities. Next season hopefully more players want to join us, and we can avoid relegation against some really good teams. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 17, 2018 Author Share Posted March 17, 2018 Some serious money here. Next season is going to be tough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunvamos Posted March 17, 2018 Author Share Posted March 17, 2018 Season 3 Preseason Standard unbeaten preseason against local teams. I neither bought nor sold any players, happy with the squad I have at the moment. It may be a long season. Hope not! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Good to see you able to improve your facilities so much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheriff7 Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Good to have you back mate.. Good luck!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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