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[FM 18][Closed] Chip chip chip away in Lithuania


rodesire

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March 2025

We had another horrible month.  I tinkered too much with the tactics and it showed.  Our performances were toothless and we're lucky we got any points.

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Lots of friendlies came from the international break where the national team managed to land a big big upset

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On the club level, we lost a promising full-back, probably forever :(

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In the league, we're midtable but it's getting tight again and we need to start getting points on the board asap.

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April 2025

We have now won a total of one competitive game this calendar year.  Something has to give, we just get exposed being too young and naive.

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This crap form left us in the bottom half of the split but we're safe for now.

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The board might improve training facilities after all.  We won't have the money for everything, so it's going to be interesting what they choose as a priority.

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Thank god you have that 7 point cushion, what do you think is the cause for the bad form as you were doing so well? The tactic change or the effect of losing those 3 players last year finally catching up on you? Anyway, hope you can get a few wins to pull you away a bit more 

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58 minutes ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Thank god you have that 7 point cushion, what do you think is the cause for the bad form as you were doing so well? The tactic change or the effect of losing those 3 players last year finally catching up on you? Anyway, hope you can get a few wins to pull you away a bit more 

A quick guess would be the inconsistency of strikers and defenders.  When I look at the stats and passing maps, there doesn't seem to be any major change.  But we're missing a lot of CCCs, most of our goals during the dry spell are coming from set pieces.  Our defenders started giving away a penalty a match + losing the ball to strikers when being last outfield players once/twice a game.  Thinking now, sounds like my opponents would be pushing up, but whenever I get to midfield, they have already dropped back super deep.

As for losing those 3 players, yeah, it was a blow but new kids on paper should be just as capable.  Definitely too early for fancy tactics, especially, mid-season.

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End of season 2024/25

We fifnished the season not with a bang but with a whimper.  Barely 3 points over last 4 games just about got us over the line but it's utterly depressing to watch us getting rekt.

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We ended the season in P12, 3 positions below last year and 9 points down YoY too.

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There weren't many standouts this season as only two strikers hit double digits and only two players had ratings over 7.0 over meaningful amount of games

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Similarly end of season awards were rather sad again with a 17yo winning all major accolades

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We also got a bunch of call-ups to youth teams, so it seems like the process is starting to yield some results.

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Teams of the season were drab, but I'll pop a couple in for comparison. There is a lot of turnover and only 2 players have hit 100 apps in 7 years that I've been at the club.

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Even the media thought the season was uninspiring which is probably the worst thing that can happen in FM.

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At least our finances look fairly good and we've gone deep in the cup yet again.

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Preseason 2024/5

The season started with a great piece of news - we're getting training facilities upgraded!  Now we can maybe develop the players a bit more and actually improve as a club :) No YF upgrade but it's well understandable, our bank is at zero having paid for training facilities.

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Our revenue is increasing despite board's best attempts, so we're poised to regain what we paid in about 2 seasons time at this rate

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The board and media have no expectations third year in a row and this time, I agree, it's going to be a tough year, we need youngsters to step it up.

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And that's about the time when the disaster struck.  One by one I lost 5 of my brightest talents.  With noone to replace them, really.

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To add insult to the injury , our pre-season performance was terrible, so I am now really worried for the season ahead.

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Cr@@p 5 players?!:mad: I know how you feel but at least when you change division and have better reputation they will decide to stay in your club, that's what happened in my save, still I lose some players but it can't compared with the situation back in second division... 

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9 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Cr@@p 5 players?!:mad: I know how you feel but at least when you change division and have better reputation they will decide to stay in your club, that's what happened in my save, still I lose some players but it can't compared with the situation back in second division... 

Yeah, kinda horrid to see 5 leave in one go and I might only be able to replace them with kids who are not ready.

11 hours ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

That's tough to lose that amount straight away :( good luck for the season ahead at least the pressure from the board isn't high.

Yeah, my aim now is basically to survive for a couple seasons.

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August 2025

So I cried a lot in the pre-season and early games proved my worries were reasonable. Two lifeless games where all we did is manage damage to one goal each.  Then something strange happened.  My strikers actually started finding the back of the net.  I stopped playing so defensive and started pinging the ball over defensive line a bit more and my zippy attackers were able to bury a couple of these hail-marys. 

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6 points from 4 games leave us firmly mid-table.  Could have not asked for more, really, and already a small cushion to the relegation zone.  In the cup we got drawn to Suduva B away. It is harder than I would have wanted. However, I do relish the challenge and opportunity to give youngsters more games.

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September 2025

I have been asking the board over and over to improve youth recruitment and they finally caved in. This now means we have the best youth recruitment level in the country.  Now just need to save up either for a professional status or get those training upgrades and push my way to top division.

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We played 5 competitive games this month.  The team looks surprisingly good, honestly.  The only adjustment was playing with an offside trap and that reduced the chances against us so so much!  We're just running rings against our opponents and only concede from mistakes at this point. 7 more points in the league and safe passage to round 3 in the cup, looking real good so far.

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We're comfortably in upper half of the table, 9 points clear of relegation zone already. If we could get to 25 points by winter break (10 more games), that would pretty much ensure survival.  in the cup we'll be facing Zalgiris reserves on the same day their main team is playing, so I am happy with that draw.

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October 2025

Yet another international break but this time there was an exciting bit of news.  Some of my former players cracked national U21 team and my current gems are in U19 adding us to this illustrious list

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Needless to say, I am excited and here's to us topping said list. In the league first two games were very meh, a bit of the old, we can't score and then concede cheaply but then we briefly burst into form in the cup and the game right after before earning a lucky draw against Vilniaus Vytis.  I have now failed to beat them 7 games in a row!

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Overall, 5 more points in 4 games in the league is not stellar but still keeps us 9 points clear of relegation.  In the cup we got a third division club away, so we should really be making quarterfinal again.

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We got 4 league matches and a cup tie next month.  Our shiny new facilities should also be ready then and I am starting to get excited about the future of this team again (but not too much, half of the team is wanted and we all remember what happened last summer)

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12 minutes ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

doing fantastically considering what happened over the summer :thup:

Thanks Dexter!  The kids hidden away in U21 have really stepped up but if I get raided again, I'll be in trouble, there are only 3 more guys with 1* CA left.

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November 2025

It's been a long time coming but the last of the original squad is now gone.  Deividas was a captain but he couldn't get much play-time, so he asked me to be released.  He will be missed having single-handedly kept us in the league in our first season.

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On a slightly brighter note, we got our new shiny training facilities.  They've been upgraded from poor to basic, hopefully, that allows some of our guys reach their potential instead of stagnating.

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National team coach left the team having been relegated in Nations League, so Zalgiris manager took national post instead.  This is great for my hall of fame catchup, hopefully Zalgiris can either make group stage in Europe or fall away and make way for more fair income distribution.

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Competition-wise we had an unbeaten month, 7 points in the league and a safe passage through in the cup.  Firing at all cylinders now.

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This great form (unbeaten in 5 now) didn't actually improve our league position much.  We're now 13 points clear of relegation and 6 points+game in hand inside top split.  Very happy about that, less happy about meeting Suduva in quarters again. Second time in 3 years and away both times :/

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1 hour ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

doing really well this year, keep it up mate :) 

December 2025

We had a bunch of matches postponed, so we ended up playing the whole month.  We're now unbeaten in 8 league games and grinding out 1-0 after 1-0.

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Teams around us have all dropped points recently, so we're suddenly in promotion hunt going into the winter break.  Now I just need to keep my best players at the club over winter.

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January-February 2026

Winter break was as uneventful as they come which is amazing.  We kept the entire team and got no injuries in friendlies.  Well set to keep our amazing form into spring.

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Youth intake 2026

Last year was disappointing but this year was even slightly worse.  We still get lots of high potential players but CA levels have dropped a lot.  I will be looking to increase YC once we get to the top division.  Until then I guess I will have to develop them in house before they can challenge for first team roles.

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Three players had 1.5* CA or better.  There they are, a lovely winger, a decent MC and a poor personality DC.

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March 2026

We continued our excellent form winning a couple games before getting FMed by Nevezis. Then we proceeded to doubly FM Tauras by holding out for a draw and then beat Suduva from set pieces in the cup.

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7 more points and we're really fighting for the title now. We've almost matched our best point haul in 1 League with 10 games to go and we're through to semis where we got local top division team Atlantas.  It's a two-legged tie, so that'll favour Atlantas but I wouldn't be too sure if I were them

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April 2026

The good times just keep on rolling.  I kept rotating the squad and playing second string against weaker teams to grind out draws and then go all out against title contenders. Seems to have worked and we got an amazing two-all draw away at Atlantas in the first leg of the semi-final.

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With 12 points form 6 games, we're just about hanging around the top of the table.  We got second semi-final leg against Atlantas still to go, it's going to be a very exciting May.

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Just noticed the run-in news item.  We got arguably the best run-in but we're playing Panevezys in the final fixture of the league season.

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May 2026

We started the month by dramatically defeating Atlantas, going down in the first half just to equalise late in second.  Then we missed a penalty in second half of added time yet won on pens.  In the league we won 3 games against clubs below us but blew the final match against Panevezys.

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And yet it was enough to lift the title!  Somehow, we are going to the top division next year!  This is beyond my wildest dreams and I will need to work extremely hard to make sure we don't immediately go down.

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It was a very very tight title race and we just barely pulled it off.  We still got a small matter of cup final to play in June but that's next time.

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I am also very very pleased to have finally become a club icon having secured third title in 8 years with the club.

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Just wow! I never expected anything like that at the start of the season with all that happened, I thought you were doing brilliantly just to get midtable when I last posted. Win that cup and get in Europe now, even a round or 2 in there will turn your finances around. 

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22 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Amazing run mate!!! :thup:Big final now!!! 

 

11 hours ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Just wow! I never expected anything like that at the start of the season with all that happened, I thought you were doing brilliantly just to get midtable when I last posted. Win that cup and get in Europe now, even a round or 2 in there will turn your finances around. 

Thanks, guys.  I am still dumbfounded as to how we pulled it off. It was similar to how we won third division a few years ago.  We started weakly, then won a couple on the bounce and never really hit a bad patch of form and that was enough :)

As for the final, I had won it on pens but managed to lose the game by running out of battery on laptop :idiot:  In addition to that, we were about to turn professional too.  Gutted but I'll go at it again :( 

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FA Cup final 2026

It's special when a club that's never been to the top division gets to a cup final.  You get to beat a few heavyweights on the way and build a bit of a legacy.

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The bookies still think you're an outsider and they do have a good reason.  Zalgiris has won on average a trophy a year in this save and we're not exactly a household name.

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The match itself was extremely one-sided, they attacked, we countered.  We had to suffer the first half though we did blow a CCC just before the break.

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In the second half Zalgiris really put the foot down and blew us away though we did hit the bar 2 minutes from time that could have forced extra time. Alas!

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End of season review 2025/26

Oh what a season it was! We came from nowhere to snatch the league with just two rounds to go and were 30 away from an upset in the Cup final too. I am so so proud of my kids, the oldest ones are barely 21 and there is so much potential to be unleashed.

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In the league it ended up being a three-way race to the wire, we got promoted and the other two sides did not, ha! We did score most goals and conceded the least, so I feel like it's deserved.

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Squad-wise we had lots of contributions from all around the pitch, so I am excited for next season to see us grow.

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Our all time and season's best elevens finally looking like something a decent club would have, a few 7+ ratings in there at last!

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The award ceremony was confusing yet again.  Jarmalavicius pretty much swept the statistical categories yet wasn't chosen the player of the season somehow.

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We also broke a couple team records, nothing major but it's still nice, you know.

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The board was very happy with our achievements this year, so I got a one-year extension, they wouldn't give me more, so hopefully the project goes on!

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And did I mention, we're turning professional next season?! WOOOOOOO!

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Finally, some more stats for you to mull over whilst I prep for the new season in top division!

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8 hours ago, kidthekid said:

great season, unlucky in the cup final though

Thanks buddy,  I think we got what we deserved in the cup.  We're not on Zalgiris level and they played a full first team.

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5 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Pro status! You are going to change level mate, keep going.. :brock:P.S What Referee was that in your cup final?!! We must play him over 5 cards in very game he whistles.. :lol::lol::lol:

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Dunno about that ref, he looked reasonable in the final, only 2 yellows.

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Preseason 2026/27

Becoming a professional team has definitely had an impact on our finances as the board managed to negotiate a few sizeable deals and a large TV deal was a cherry on top.

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In addition, I managed to persuade the board to find us a senior affiliate to further improve our finances and we got one in Polish top division Jagiellonia, those 25kpa will pay some of the staff salaries, so a good deal overall for us.

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For some reason the chairman also decided that I needed a new deal having signed one just days before.  Anyhow, a 3 year deal but no improvements due to poor financial projections.  I did manage to get a pre-agreement to improve youth facilities for next season though.

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I have also bagged a Continental Pro license, so I should be good to manage a top team once we get there in 15-20 year time :D 

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That license better start paying dividents quick as we're predicted to be bottom of the pile this year yet again.  Notably we're in the Super Cup as cup runners-up, i guess?

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The fans are all getting excited too with an amazing 67 season tickets sold.  This may be peanuts but it's a 60% YoY increase.

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Finally, we haven't lost anyone due to professional contracts (2+1 FTW) but we did have a nasty start to the friendlies.  This guy was a strong rotation piece and he'll miss half a season at the very least.

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It's summer of 2026 which means there is World Cup going on.  After last edition's slightly more interesting results normality has been resumed with Italy winning it on pens vs Germany. 

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Squad review, Summer 2026

It's been a few years since I last did the squad review, so I thought I'd give it a go and give you guys a chance to see where we are in terms of rotation depth.

In goal we have a couple of decent keepers.  Rukas used to be my first choice but was displaced by Stankevicius after some very impressive displays.  I still trust Rukas, it's just Stankevicius is borderline bonkers at times.  I think he saved 3 or 4 penalties in a row last season.  I will also try make Rukas tutor Stankevicius in a few years' time.

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Defensively things are a bit more complicated, I have a couple of very strong centrebacks and then it's a free for all.  No-one really stands out and most worryingly there are only two or three talents that could get to first team any time soon.  Part of the reason is I refuse to play anyone slower than 6-7 pace and acceleration as these guys just get blown by.

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Midfield is an interesting area as we have quite a bit of attacking potential here but very little defense.  We're also incredibly stacked on the left wing, so I'll try and move some of these talents to right wing.

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Finally, the attack.  There is a change of generations here with the old (21y) slower guys making way for faster kids who can't finish.  I might promote a kid or two from U21s if they develop well enough.

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July - August 2026

We had a fairly standard pre-season friendly marathon except it was punctuated by a Super cup this time round.  I felt we were well prepared and Zalgiris playing second string definitely shifted the odds in our favour.  In the end we won it on penalties making it 4 trophies for the club in 8 years.

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Other than that we did okay in the friendlies but nothing to shout home about.  In the only league game so far we got well beaten by same old foe Zalgiris who played their main team for once.

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4 hours ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Seems you've got a lot of potential in the squad but quite a few that are a while away from reaching it. Hopefully being full time will speed that up a bit now

yeah, about that.  The superstars of the squad have improved but the rest have only slightly improved physically and gained next to nothing technically in 3-4 seasons.

Really hoping having gone pro will change that as I am running out of CA to compete and PA is unreachable for most kids (no potential tutors in this squad for naother couple years)

2 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

I had Jiagelonia as senior affiliate too mate.. Good work in Super cup against Zalgiris. It will be a difficult season but pro status will help... :thup:

Yeah, having none of my players leave is such a  afeeling

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September 2026

Having acquired a senior affiliate paying us tonnes of money I went for a junior one and got a third division semi-pro club with similar facilities to us.  Once the transfer season opens in winter, they'll be getting some of my brightest talents and hopefully giving them some game time.

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Competition-wise, just 3 home league games in a row.  I felt like we really needed to make these count and we partially got there.  A drab draw against Trakai was followed-up by a gutsy win at home. We scored a late goal there having played a half with 10 men.  Then we got promptly beaten by our neighbours Atlantas courtesy of a late direct free kick goal.  All in all, 4 points in 3 games, so cannot complain too much.

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Atlantas game is bound to become a local derby now that other local teams are in division below.  We've had our highest ever attendance and ticket income there.

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Overall, we're quite comfortably mid-table with a point a game so far.  Suduva is having a mare and I'll be shocked if they don't sack their manager by late October.  In the cup we got a second division Nevezis which is a fairly tricky tie even though I expect us to progress playing second string.

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I just noticed this interesting piece of information on the club's page...

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This is by far the quickest I have ever made onto club's legend list and considering we may be building a new stadium within next 3-5 years, I may get it named after me :applause: 

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October 2026

We were pretty poor this month, falling to two abject defeats in the league.  Nothing was going well, so I switched the tactics a bit for the last game and we got a credible draw vs Zalgiris where we should have probably won.  Cup tie went as expected, we controlled it for full 90 minutes and came away with a win.  The biggest game of the month was against Kauno Zalgiris.  We dispatched them courtesy of a penalty brace to lift ourselves of the bottom of the league.

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After a quarter of the season gone, we're just above the relegation zone averaging a point a game.  We'll just need to take all the points from teams around us and hope that's enough to survive.  In the cup we got our feeder team, so that will be an easy morale booster and a quarter-final berth waiting for us in spring.

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November 2026

A perfect month!  Now that's something I didn't expect back in early autumn :) To be fair, we just barely escaped against Sirvena but the team flipped the switch and been awesome ever since!

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2 wins in 2 have propelled us to P5, we're now 9 points clear of the automatic relegation spot and just 2 off European spots.  I am not sure we can sustain a run for Europe but we will surely try!  In the cup we'll be meeting Suduva B and knowing their main team is out of the competition it may be quite tricky. Still, a favourable draw and we should be making semi-finals.

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December 2026

We finally had a dip in form that's perfectly understandable.  Still, we managed to grind out points when we could.  We lost points against Atlantas with the last kick of the game and then we completely dismantled Suduva on the counter in the final game of the month.

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5 points in 4 games and yet we're knocking on Europe's door.  All the teams around us are dropping points and we're keeping a good buffer from the relegation spots.

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January-February 2027

It's winter break time in Lithuania!  We had a very very average break and then were thrusted into league football again.  We got demolished by Zalgiris but then bounced back with two late late victories.

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I have also celebrated 300 games in charge of Kretingos Grudai, 3 promotions, a Super Cup and a club legend, not a bad haul for 300 games.

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In the league, everyone is still averaging around 1.5 points per game, so we're suddenly in P3.  We probably will end up in upper split and may be able to challenge for Europe.

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Youth intake 2027

I got pretty much a full new second squad in this year's intake :eek: We've finally started getting kids from neighbouring towns and not just our hometown and boy are they good.

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Going to put up the profiles of top 4 kids liked the most.  The whole intake is pretty sizzling and I am sure I will be giving debuts before too long.

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March 2027

Kids are on fire, everyone is terrified.  We have continued our red hot form and surely will be in the hunt for Europe now baring any major injuries.

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We're very comfortably P3 at the moment.  Suduva has finally got some momentum and cemented P2, whilst Zalgiris is on another level altogether.  We're facing Jonava in a two-legged semi final and I will be trying to reach second consecutive final.  Should be doable as long as we don't lose too much in the league because of that.

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April 2027

I don't know what's up with scheduling in Lithuania but we had 7 competitive games this month.  We did okay though we did steal at least two wins with late late goals yet again.

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That leaves us firmly in third.  I have no idea how we're doing so well but the teams below us just refuse to pick up any form or points. I can feel the euro adventure now and we're mathematically safe from the relegation.

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