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Estonishing! (Part III: Return to Estonia)


MarcxD
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Afbeeldingsresultaat voor fc flora tallinn logo

 

Welcome to my new thread, hopefully this one will last a lot longer than my previous one!

From trying a journeyman last time around I realized again that my preference lies with one club saves, so I will return to my usual format.  I wanted to do something different for this one, so I decided to go for one of the many European countries that I really have very limited knowledge of and absolutely zero where the football is concerned. After some research I decided to go to Estonia for this save.

Estonia is a Baltic and former Soviet nation. In 1990 the football league was founded (as was the club I am taking charge of). Estonia is 47th in the UEFA coefficient rankings at the start of the game, and they are ranked 125th in the world in the FIFA rankings. I’ve taken a look at the national team and the only player I know is Ragnar Klavan. I can play here thanks to the Claassen updates, which I will be using, I've also loaded some more players to make things a bit more challenging and realistic in the long run in Europe. (full setup: 1, 2, 3, 4)

I have chosen Estonia out of a few possible nations (I also looked at Montenegro and Georgia, for instance) since I quite liked the prospect of managing in a nation with extremely harsh squad and match rules, which means it's a great place for a focus on our own youth.

match_squad_rules.png

For the long term this is also interesting, since it forces all AI managers to also play a lot of Estonians and hopefully their own youth, which should be good for a growing national team, which I plan to take over at some point in the future.

I chose FC Flora Tallinn, playing in Estonias capital. I chose the club since I quite liked the logo honestly, but there is also ample opportunity for youth development as the u-21 play in the second tier and the u-19 play in the third. Hopefully they don't get relegated!

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The club history isn't completely correct since I have started the save in january 2017. The club did not actually win the "last season" since they ended fourth in 2016.

As always my manager is an Andorran manager, and it was quite a trip.

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(excuse the Dutch names, you'll get the gist of it).

I am limiting myself with transfers in that I am not going to buy any players from other Estonian teams and that our own youth should be the life and blood of the club.

 My tactic will roughly be the same as I've been using in my previous saves, just a little bit simplified to adapt to a lower level of football.

Enjoy. I plan to do this one for a long time.

Edited by MarcxD
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Pre-Season 2017

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We are predicted to finish second and as you can see three of the other 9 nine teams are affiliated with us...

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Quite a lot of room to get in some new players, we are expected to win the title though.

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I've signed a bunch of players on a free, some Estonians and some foreigners (but all EU), including good old Andorran defender Ildefons Lima.

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There wasn't much of a pre-season, but we did win the supercup --- which was broken. The team that won the 2016 league does not actually exist anymore (it fused with another team to create FCI Levadia, who are predicted to finish first) and the game gave us a lower league team to play. A free trophy, I guess. We haven't been tested at our level yet, so we haven't really learned anything.

squad.png

This is the first team squad now. I realized too late that I have only one left back. Oops. Best player right now is likely Carril, who can play at AML, AMC and AMR.

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I've been to one Estonian game six years ago when Nõmme Kalju played a CL qualifier against HJK. I can only remember the Finnish away fans lining up with trolleys full of vodka at the boat back to Helsinki. Love your threads and Estonia should be a cool and rewarding country to manage in, if you look at the registration and how little teams there are to compete for European spots with. Good luck!

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18 minutes ago, Timetxu said:

I've been to one Estonian game six years ago when Nõmme Kalju played a CL qualifier against HJK. I can only remember the Finnish away fans lining up with trolleys full of vodka at the boat back to Helsinki. Love your threads and Estonia should be a cool and rewarding country to manage in, if you look at the registration and how little teams there are to compete for European spots with. Good luck!

Cool, were you just on holiday there or was there a specific reason to watch that game? 

Thank you by the way! 

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It was a holiday with friends with whom I always visit former Soviet countries. This was a Latvia/Estonia double trip. I wasn't even paying attention to the fact it was CL qualifiers back then until I saw the results of the draw and I realized I was in Tallinn.

Nõmme was a pretty funny club actually, you would get a 50% discount on their tickets if you clicked "attend" on their event of the match on facebook. They actually had a separate booth at the stadium for people who had liked the event on facebook :D

Edited by Timetxu
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March 2017

march_new_signing.png

I was worrying about the left back position but I didn't realize we could still sign players on a free and register them for a few days in march. So I signed this guy. Pretty good.

march.png

We started with two games against the teams that were predicted to be our toughest opponents and we won both, so that was very promising. The two games after that weren't so great though, and we got our first loss as well, in a crazy match.

march_league_table.png

In first for now.

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Will be following this. Tried a couple of saves in Estonia and Latvia on previous versions but couldn't quite fall in love with it. Maybe one to try again when I lose interest in my current save. 

Solid enough start :thup:

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15 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Will be following this. Tried a couple of saves in Estonia and Latvia on previous versions but couldn't quite fall in love with it. Maybe one to try again when I lose interest in my current save. 

Solid enough start :thup:

Cheers! It's actually my first time, but I'm liking it so far.

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April 2017

april.png

Busy month, but we did very well. A lot of close games though, it's not like we are already miles ahead of the rest of the league.

april_league_table.png

More clearly in first, with Kalju moving up from 10th to second this month!

Poor season from Levadia so far.

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Good i really want to see an Estonian save here!And what a clever move to sign amazing player and (as character)  Idelfons Lima!It was easy to sign him?Because he has semi-pro contract in Santa Coloma..:thup:I think Paide beeing last is a surprise too...

Edited by Sheriff7
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4 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

Good i really want to see an Estonian save here!And what a clever move to sign amazing player and (as character)  Idelfons Lima!It was easy to sign him?Because he has semi-pro contract in Santa Coloma..:thup:I think Paide beeing last is a surprise too...

I thought of you when I signed him :lol: They let him go for free!

Just now, Minuy600 said:

Will be following as (pretty much) always.

Thanks :D 

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Glad to see that someone making save of my home country ;)

Bit afraid that you will get boring after couple of season as they might not be match against you by this time. Maybe should have gone a bit lower team in tier 2.
But still will keep an eye on your progress. Also thinking maybe to do a save before FM19 and picking Viljandi JK Tulevik or lower team Elva or Tartu, where I am from.

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2 minutes ago, saihtam said:

Glad to see that someone making save of my home country ;)

Bit afraid that you will get boring after couple of season as they might not be match . and picking Viljandi JK Tulevik or lower team Elva or Tartu, where I am from.

When i start a save with Santos Tartu (i have it in my mind for future fms) i will inform you..:lol:Too bad they didn't have any progress after this year in Europe against Tromso...

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Just now, Sheriff7 said:

When i start a save with Santos Tartu (i have it in my mind for future fms) i will inform you..:lol:Too bad they didn't have any progress after this year in Europe against Tromso...

I have been unable to find some database changes that would add tier 2-3 players to teams also. Do you have any luck?

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Just now, saihtam said:

Glad to see that someone making save of my home country ;)

Bit afraid that you will get boring after couple of season as they might not be match against you by this time. Maybe should have gone a bit lower team in tier 2.
 But still will keep an eye on your progress. Also thinking maybe to do a save before FM19 and picking Viljandi JK Tulevik or lower team Elva or Tartu, where I am from.

Cool to see an Estonian here!

You may be right that they won't be a match within a few seasons, but then the challenge will be to achieve something in Europe and getting Estonian football as a whole to a higher level. 

Good luck if you start your save!

Just now, sc91 said:

Tallinn is a pretty awesome place, prefer it summer time to winter though. 

Good luck with the save. 

I've heard that before, never visited myself yet though.

Thank you.

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May 2017

may.png

Not that great a month, we lost to Vaprus for the second time this season and had trouble finishing off games elsewhere.

may_league_table.png

Still in first, but only just since Kalju dropped some points as well. Could be a tense title race if things go on like this. Halfway the season already.

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21 minutes ago, saihtam said:

Glad to see that someone making save of my home country ;)

Bit afraid that you will get boring after couple of season as they might not be match against you by this time. Maybe should have gone a bit lower team in tier 2.
But still will keep an eye on your progress. Also thinking maybe to do a save before FM19 and picking Viljandi JK Tulevik or lower team Elva or Tartu, where I am from.

Cool! Andres Oper was my favourite player for a very long time when he played at my favourite team :D . Thanks to him, I started a save as the Estonia national team manager.

Edited by Timetxu
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4 minutes ago, Timetxu said:

Cool! Andres Oper was my favourite player for a very long time when he played at my favourite team :D . Thanks to him, I started a save as the Estonia national team manager.

Glad to hear ;)  Now you can work with him side by side. Never would have tough that foregens would be into Estonia save.

But if someone nows DB for lowerleague in Estonia with players, then please link here ;) Then I could start from the bottom.

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June 2017

june.png

A bit of a summer break in the league, but we played our first European game and we did fantastically well! At least one more round.

june_league_table.png

That one game didn't change anything of note.

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How is Liivak doing? Few years ago he was our most promising guy. Had some attitude problems, even tough about taking dutch nationality.  A bit shame he is back playing in Estonia.

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4 minutes ago, saihtam said:

How is Liivak doing? Few years ago he was our most promising guy. Had some attitude problems, even tough about taking dutch nationality.  A bit shame he is back playing in Estonia.

Oh wow, he's had a bit of a bizarre career hasn't he? 

liivak.png

For the moment he's one of the more promising players, although I would like him to perform better.

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July 2017

july.png

A lot more busy again, not only did we safely go through the first qualification round, we also beat Ventspils in a Baltic match up. Rangers in the third round seems a step too far though. At least some coefficient points and money, which we need since we're losing money crazily fast.

First cup win was an easy one and doing very well in the league.

july_league_table.png

Kalju keeping up with us, the rest of the league is far gone.

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7 minutes ago, rodesire said:

How are your finances, you seem to be paying a lot on wages and your attendances are not exactly massive

Yes, not good, we started the season at 800k, went down to 250k or so and now we're at 500k again thanks to the europa league money, hoping to get some of that CL money next season

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Youth Intake 2017

youth_intake_17.png

Hopeful, only one player below 1* CA and the lowest rated (PPA) has 1.5* CA, not sure if I've ever seen that before. Of course this all also says a lot about the current skill level of my players but this does look nice. Not a fan of the personalities though.

yp1a.png

None of them really stand out much to me yet, so I'm just showing the highest PPA rated one.

Edited by MarcxD
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September 2017

september.png

A perfect month, including a huge win over lower league opposition in the cup. Fantastic goalscoring performances from Liivak!

september_league_table.png

Title 99% secure with 4 more games to go. 

september_junior_coaching.png

Got this through after the youth intake.

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October-November 2017

october_november.png

Played Vaprus four times this season, beat them once, lost twice and drew once. Have a irrational need to beat them next season.

Disappointing to finish the season with a loss but the title was already won.

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Champions League next season then.

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My B & C sides did very well already, which is kind of worrying in a sense, you would like some better opposition ideally.

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Season Review 2017

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A good start to this career with a league title and decent performances in Europe. The cup will continue in 2018, interestingly enough. 

4% full average attendance, that is a bit of a problem.

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Happy with players like Liivak and Carril, very decent for this level. 

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Will look to refresh the squad a bit, mostly in letting go of some players. Can't see myself signing too many new faces. Might be a little bit too early to let the players from the first intake join the first team but I'll be watching their development closely.

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3 hours ago, saihtam said:

I have been unable to find some database changes that would add tier 2-3 players to teams also. Do you have any luck?

You mean players they have IRL?Why the haven't any now in fm18?

Edited by Sheriff7
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34 minutes ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

Great first season there Marc! Your attendances will be quite difficult I believe, I remember reading an article a couple of years back saying that the Estonian league is the least supported league in all of Europe, so good luck to you!

Thanks man. Well, that is not great to hear but I'm just going to take it as another challenge. At least it will take a while before we need to invest in a new stadium :lol:

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34 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

You mean players they have IRL?Why the haven't any now in fm18?

 

If u click on Elva or Tartu teams, you can see only few guys there. Shame that they are not fully done. Need to check who is Estonia scout for FM.


https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-2018/league/7681559/estonian-first-league

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I do like Estonia, a fantastic country in honesty. I would love to see their national team improve but the league is rather poor so I think this will stop any real progress. The teams never seem to do very well in Europe (beaten in the 1st/2nd Qualifying round) too. Hopefully you can do much better and in the process, help the league and national team improve.

I'm following with great interest! :D 

Edited by KeeToMyHeart
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5 minutes ago, KeeToMyHeart said:

I do like Estonia, a fantastic country in honesty. I would love to see their national team improve but the league is rather poor so I think this will stop any real progress. The teams never seem to do very well in Europe (beaten in the 1st/2nd Qualifying round) too. Hopefully you can do much better and in the process, help the league and national team improve.

I'm following with great interest! :D 

That certainly is my goal. One for the long term, definitely! 

Thank you and welcome!

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Pre-Season 2018

predicted_1st.png

Predicted first this time around, let's see if FCI Levadia can do any better.

transfers.png

Signed another player from the Andorran league, because why not. There is an actual reason for it, by the way. Since my manager has Andorran nationality it's one of the few foreign leagues I actually have knowledge about in the player search.

Also I let go of Freimanis once I signed Januzi because of the squad registration rules. He was on an amateur deal anyway so no harm done.

pre_season.png

Not only did my genius of an assistant arrange a friendly against Zenit, he did it as the first game of the year after a break of almost three months. Perhaps I should arrange them myself in the future.

We won another supercup, although I'm afraid that competition might be broken since we played a team from the third tier this time around. I guess it might be because there hasn't been a cup winner yet.

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March 2018

march.png

Not the start I was hoping for with two draws, but new striker Januzi is starting well at least.

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It doesn't help when his back-up does this though.

march_league_table.png

Same start as Kalju (and Tulevik).

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April 2018

april.png

ANOTHER loss to Vaprus. And another one later too, it seems I can't rotate too much yet. Some decent wins further on, and through in the cup. Next up is Vaprus though, so I'm taking nothing for granted.

april_league_table.png

Others dropped even more points, Kalju not having quite the same season, while Levadia is doing better. But within a month a lot can happen.

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3 hours ago, saihtam said:
 

If u click on Elva or Tartu teams, you can see only few guys there. Shame that they are not fully done. Need to check who is Estonia scout for FM.


https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-2018/league/7681559/estonian-first-league

Weird..I'm pretty sure this is Estonian researcher problem because for example in Greek Leagues you can found real life players names and stats even of amateur players who play in very low category. But our researchers make amazing work every year.. 

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Congratulations for the league title! Really I see how fast are you in your saves and I laugh because I look like a turtle in front of you... Keep going you look very strong and unstoppable!  (except if you play against Vaprus).. 

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1 hour ago, Sheriff7 said:

Congratulations for the league title! Really I see how fast are you in your saves and I laugh because I look like a turtle in front of you... Keep going you look very strong and unstoppable!  (except if you play against Vaprus).. 

IR button mate. 

And a quick computer. 

And time. 

(Still not as fast as @Makoto Nakamura though) 

Vaprus will be in my nightmares now. 

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