[FM19 Network] A Swedish Shift | Halmstads BK & Malmo FF | Seasons Complete: 12

[santy001]

Ninth Season Review: Head to Head Again

Well this was the season I returned to the top flight. The vast wealth gap that has arisen of course means I was in no position to compete for the title. That being said, the title was race was extremely close between Landskrona and Halmstads but 2 draws and then a defeat against @oliscott in August put me too far behind. While Halmstads then marched on to claim the title with a 20 point gap I was within 10 minutes of securing the second champions league spot in the league. However, IF Brommapojkana scored 2 late goals and got the win which saw them finished 2nd on 54 points, and I finished 3rd on 52. 

[santy001]

Ninth Season Review: Landskrona - Title Contenders?

Having been promoted and still having a miserly £35k per week budget I was really expecting the worst this season. My best hope was the loan market, try to get some fresh bodies in to replace the ageing group that had retired at the end of the previous season. This season I ended up getting a great little player in to secure the league status and really kick me on. An Icelandic on loan from Norwich by the name of Thorir Vidarsson:

Initially I planned on using him in midfield, and for the first few matches of the season I did. But a minor injury crisis up front saw me deploy him there and to great success. However, results were generally quite good, but the team still lacked some core experience once more. In the winter there was not much I could do to address this, players simply were not interested in joining me. I sat on a good portion of my wage budget, hoping that in the mid-season summer window when better players were released by their clubs they would become interested.

Enter Gotze & Hiljemark.

I moved quickly in the summer, offering around 13 or so players trials. There were a few high profile, ageing names but most weren't interested. Hiljemark after his release from Genoa was the first to sit down and negotiate. He'd been on trial at the club for around 10 days when he moved on from the "feels the club lacks financial muscle" to coming to the table. My first active Swedish international. The real coup was an ageing, broken down Mario Gotze though. His pace has gone, and his physicals were never that strong to begin with in truth but he has some brilliant movement and technical attributes. 

Both played a significant part in strengthening the side and bringing some great movement to my side. Until I get some actual money coming in from the European excursion which because of the way the schedule lines up means I won't be seeing that until the 2028 season I'm likely to need to continue partnering technical ability from old players with the pace and physicality of technically inferior youngsters.

[oliscott]

End of Season 9

Another season of dominance in the league a cup, I ran away with the league finishing 20 points clear of second. No real slip ups or cause for concerns and I don't really anticipate there to be until Sant catches up with the money and other team starts seeing the benefit too. The cup was straight forward all the way to the final beating Norkkoping 6-2.

The main aim has been for the last few years to advance as far as possible in the champions league with this season being the first where 1st would automatically qualify. However I still had to get past a few teams before that came into play, successive losses against AEK meant I failed at the first hurdle which put me into the Euro Cup.  My group consisted of CSKA, Basel and Gent, five wins and one loss meant I went through to the first round and have been drawn against Real Hispalis who have a few players over the 10 million mark so should prove a tough test.

I was handed a 15 million budget this year so was allowed to finally go out and get players I needed for decent fees, Hrvoje botica and Junior Mavugo arrived for a combined eight million. Both centre backs at the age of 17 Im hoping they will go on to forge my CB pairing for the future. Robin Karlsson arrive for 2 million and he really looks like he could be next Sweden CF for years to come. I patched the squad with other players to pad it out a bit and provide rotation options.

Stand out players this year were Diakhate who chipped in with 21 from DMC, he will prove difficult to replace when the time comes. Callum Gribbin scored 29 in 35 to lead the line up front. Trevor Clarke scored 15 from the right wing and Damico scored 12 from the left so both wingers contributing to the effort.

Aim for the coming season is as always the league and cup double and to progress as far as possible in the champions league for the money.

 

[oliscott]

Well the chairman has made an enemy tonight

[oliscott]

Well the new one is also a twit it seems. Not sure what more he expects.

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 16/11/2018 at 12:08, santy001 said:

I understand what you're going for there, but Manchester United are actually Oli's second team. Which would undermine it.

Meanwhile despite having grown up through the time when there was a Stoke-Vale rivalry in like 95-03 time it's not really a rivalry is it? If I remember my history right, most games between Stoke & Vale have been friendlies and local/regional cup competitions way back when. I dislike Crewe more than Port Vale (listening to Radio Stoke who seemed to bang on about them incessantly in the 90's), although I do think Vale should just be scrapped off. More to do with the fact that the local council would be much better off without football being a political thing within the city and of course it would be much better if resources were just in support of one team that could then arguably help bring more revenue and such to the area. Also revenues would be better for just 1 club as well, attendances etc would generally just be better. 

Since we weren't going to start our main game on the beta this year, we did start a Stoke-Leeds game. That ended up with me being promoted first season and Oli in the second, but then the full release was upon us so it got put to one side.

 

I'm surprised Oli isn't dead if he supports Leeds and manure.

[oliscott]

Lovely transfer window just now with the chairman selling 3 of my best players for a cool 30 million right from under me the bastard.

Big news from @santy001 also

[oliscott]

23 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

I'm surprised Oli isn't dead if he supports Leeds and manure.

Malignant lying **** Sant is

[santy001]

Tenth Season Review: Halmstads Dynasty Forming

Didn't realise I'd forgotten the tenth season review. While @oliscott strode home to yet another title uncontested I returned to default with morale issues. Seemingly an endemic issue with Landskrona that any adversity collapses morale and squad harmony. I slipped just out of the european spots. Meanwhile carrying the nations hopes alone in Europe is beginning to take its toll on the coefficients. Having peaked at 10th the country has begun a slow slide with a drop to 11th mid-season. The coefficients also suggest another drop is ahead as the long runs from qualifies that Oli was putting together 5 years back no longer happen and pull in more points.

[santy001]

Eleventh Season News: Departing Landskrona

The morale/squad harmony issues were becoming too frustrating for me in the long run. I started the tenth season strongly in the cup, but 2 red cards in 2 games saw squad harmony plummet to the 20-30% band, and despite winning 3 of the next 5 games (including one against Oli's Halmstads side) the squad harmony was <20%. 

Another major problem was just the chairman never freeing up any money, the club was still operating with a comparable budget to the 2nd season (around £35k per week) and no money from player sales coming in at all. 

It wasn't exactly planned, but part way through the season I noticed it was still swinging around wildly. We were talking it over and Oli has been suggesting I ought to move clubs for 2 or 3 seasons now, maybe more. I said if the 2 clubs at the time in the league who were close to getting rid of their managers I would jump. The clubs were Malmo and Gotenburg so I said if either offers the job I'll take it just to give it a clean slate. Perhaps early days, but the morale and harmony don't seem as fluid as they were at Landskrona. It's a shame as even on a budget I was putting together a side at Landskrona that could perform - just it seemed impossible to keep the players in a positive frame of mind. 

 

[oliscott]

End of season 10

Just a quick one for season 10 as we motored past the end of season and got stuck into season 11, wrapped up the league finishing 15 points clear of second. Never really in doubt at the moment until Sant gets his act together or the morale issues he has.

Four solid signing in Mateus a solid Anchor Man to hold the midfield in place whilst Diakhate rages forward. Waalkens who is an upgrade on my right side of midfield, he chipped in 27 assists this year to kick off his first season with the club.  Joao Carlos a young forward who I hope will grow into a replacement for Gribbin. Last but not least Ndomba a left back borught in to provide steel at the back and certain upgrade on what I currently have.

The chairman decided to go over my head twice this year selling Johansson and boti for 7 million and 8.5 million. I would have preferred to keep both and build the squad with them but with the offers being accepted at least I can go out and buy some more cheap replacements and the money can go back into the club.

The years Champions league was a write off, was drawn against Spurs, Gladbach and Napoli and only managed to beat Spurs in the first game before losing my next five. Didn't even qualify for the Euro Cup.

No such luck in the Swedish Cup either getting knocked out in the group stage by Sant, ONWARDS AND UPWARDS.

 

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 20/11/2018 at 22:07, oliscott said:

Malignant lying **** Sant is

Beef.

[oliscott]

End of Season 11

Probably my best season to date, 26 wins from a possible 30, 3 draws and 1 loss meant I broke the Points record for a Swedish Premier League season. Scoring 96 in a season and only conceding 20 added the most goals in a season record to my ever growing CV. Sant came in 7th but ultimately decided to leave for pastures new.

The Swedish Cup slipped through my grasp in a 2-0 loss to Hacken and the Champions League was lost after being drawn in a group with Dortmund, Man Utd and Bordeaux. 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses meant I qualified for the Euro Cup and well Ill report back how that went on next seasons review.

The season was marked however by my chairman again cashing in on players and going over my head. Robin Karlson my young Swedish CF was sold to Real Madrid for 13 million, he's currently valued at 50 million. Mateus was sold to Napoli for 13 million, hes now valued at 42 millions and Waalkens was sold to Leverkusen for 12 millions, hes now valued at 20 million. All three players were under 23 and would have been the bedrock of my team for the next five years at least so a bit of a blow to see them sold.

The only new incomings this year were two keepers in Lambert and Talhadas, Lambert started out really well but Talhadas has cemented his place as of now with Chelsea sniffing around. My chairman will no doubt be waiting in the wings. Alexandrov was also brought in to replace Karlson but he hasnt been able to displace Carlos or Gribbin just yet.

Aims for the coming season are to Progress in the Euro Cup, win the league and cup double again and to qualify for the champions league through the qualifiers.

 

 

[oliscott]

Just a little teaser going into the final day.

[santy001]

Twelfth Season Review: Goal Difference Takes it All

Well after the late season switch the year prior to Malmo this was my first full season with the club. At first I thought it might have been somewhat cheesy me getting Malmo because I was stepping into a club who had a £10m budget and £160,000 per week wage budget. This was a phenomenal change and I felt like it would skew the odds in my favour compared to what @oliscott had. Then he mentioned his transfer budget being well north of £20m, and his wage budget being just shy of £500,000 per week. So I was still playing massive underdog it seemed.

In our early season game @oliscott got the win with Halmstads and the title looked to be his for the taking. But a mid-season hiccup with a draw and then a loss to my Malmo side put me firmly in the driving seat. However, with Euro cup qualifies coming thick and fast I prioritised them over the league. In two games around the time of the qualifying fixtures my weakened line-ups only came away with 2 draws. 

In the end it came down to goal-scoring power. The riches of Halmstads certainly helped on this front for Oli, but I'm extremely happy with how close I ran him this year. A bit more tweaking and who knows, maybe I could begin to overthrow his side once more.

[oliscott]

End of season 12

The perfect season pretty much, won the title on goal difference from @santy001, the Swedish Cup also from @santy001 and last but not least I brought home the first major European Trophy. The Euro Cup was won by myself after wins against PSV, Spartak Moscow, Monchengladbach and Hertha Berlin saw me in the final against Lyon who I beat 2-0. The momentum seems to be gaining now and with Sant pushing for the title and progressing in europe hopefully the swedish league can start to rise up the rankings.

As it stands in December I've just drawn Southampton in the champions league first knockout round. I managed to win my group this year losing only once in a group of Monaco, Anderlecht and belenenses.

Ive blown a small fortune this year strengthening the squad, I was given a 15 million budget for the season which I pretty much spent in the pre season. Then one of my former players moved to Liverpool and due to a sell on clause I got 17 million that let me go further and reinforce the squad. Due to the numbers signed this year Ill post some player profiles later in the season. All in all 63 million was spent on the squad this year.

Stand out players this year would have to be the entire team, not one player I have has failed to put a shift in however Joao Carlos smashed home 37 goals this year in 42 games. Im really hoping the chairman doesn't screw me again by selling him from under me.

Signings have already been made to strengthen

next year with a new striker, right back and centre back already in. If I can find a Left midfielder ill consider the team complete for now.

Aims for next year as always the league and cup double and to progress as far as possible in the champions league.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Right, you pair have beaten Sweden. Now try somewhere else.

[santy001]

Well the aim is to actually turn the Swedish league into the top league in the world in terms of reputation and co-efficient. We have since said that it has proven to be too straight-forward though. @oliscott is paying players in the region of 50k a week now so it's definitely happened quicker than expected and we were mentioning perhaps starting lower down maybe in the Republic of Ireland.

Alternatively, but we're unsure how it would work, outside of Europe could be interesting. But on FMT there's less options available in terms of database (a big gripe of mine!) considering a 100 season network game isn't out the question for me and Oli we could do with something such as over-throwing Europe as the most high profile region. I'm not sure how attainable that is though, considering that in Sweden we're using Champions League participation to increase the prestige of the Swedish league but without there already being a high prestige competition in the region how would you get it higher? The club world championship probably doesn't carry enough weight to help with say getting the Asia Champions League to eclipse the European one.

[WillHoward42]

8 hours ago, santy001 said:

Well the aim is to actually turn the Swedish league into the top league in the world in terms of reputation and co-efficient. We have since said that it has proven to be too straight-forward though. @oliscott is paying players in the region of 50k a week now so it's definitely happened quicker than expected and we were mentioning perhaps starting lower down maybe in the Republic of Ireland.

Alternatively, but we're unsure how it would work, outside of Europe could be interesting. But on FMT there's less options available in terms of database (a big gripe of mine!) considering a 100 season network game isn't out the question for me and Oli we could do with something such as over-throwing Europe as the most high profile region. I'm not sure how attainable that is though, considering that in Sweden we're using Champions League participation to increase the prestige of the Swedish league but without there already being a high prestige competition in the region how would you get it higher? The club world championship probably doesn't carry enough weight to help with say getting the Asia Champions League to eclipse the European one.

Maybe check some of the countries that have had low tiers created? England tier 9? I think I have seen Scotland tier 6.... Classen has made over 50 on the steam workshop. So a lot to browse and have a look at.

Would be interesting to see you still bring a lower nation to high prestige as well as contending with multiple divisions and promotions to really make it a long term ambition.

[santy001]

@WillHoward42 that's the issue with FMT it doesn't allow custom databases as far as I'm aware. The main FM game is just too slow pace for a network game both myself and Oli feel. 

I spend most of my days hoping for FM to become more modular where you pick between the full FM version or FMT's lightweight version. So that things like press conferences could be out but database and training could be in. 

[WillHoward42]

3 hours ago, santy001 said:

@WillHoward42 that's the issue with FMT it doesn't allow custom databases as far as I'm aware. The main FM game is just too slow pace for a network game both myself and Oli feel. 

I spend most of my days hoping for FM to become more modular where you pick between the full FM version or FMT's lightweight version. So that things like press conferences could be out but database and training could be in. 

Ahhh I didn't notice you were on Touch.

I think if you tinkered with the settings and put a 2 or 5 second timer on that you'll fly through emails and between games (might be more enjoyable having that little extra data the full version provides.

I manage to get through a season in about 3/4 hours when really cruising through the 5 second timer and using instant result.

[Nobby_McDonald]

No wonder you get through a season in ten minutes.

[oliscott]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeah Boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

[Nobby_McDonald]

A strange reaction to winning the Champions League.

[oliscott]

Will have to do a proper update this week but the below images sum up things at the moment.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Not like you're rubbing it in Oli.

[oliscott]

15 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Not like you're rubbing it in Oli.

I will do a proper update tonight at some point but I am running away with it now in the domestic setting anyway, Won that 13th straight title last night and did so only conceding eight goals in thirty games and going undefeated. That means in the league the last two years I haven't lost in sixty games and have only conceded I think fifteen goals in sixty games.

However the Champions League is eluding me, I'm managing to get out of the group stages fine but cant get past the first round knockout. This needs to improve so that the league status can and the money starts rolling in properly.

@santy001 is at a heavy loss already but it was similar to this as in our Harrogate/Salford save and he went on to dominate and overtake all records set by me. Im sure Sant himself will say that as soon as he starts getting to the knock out stages of the champions league and the money comes in a bit better for him he will be able to afford and attract the players he wants then things will start to change.

[oliscott]

One to tick off the bucket list.

[oliscott]

Also this peach.

[oliscott]

On a roll.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Bacon and cheese roll please.

[oliscott]

So it's been a while and we've progressed ten season since the last update, below are the league tables from those years.

 

Season 2030

 

Season 2031

 

Season 2032

 

Season 2033

 

Season 2034

 

Season 2035

 

Season 2036

 

Season 2037

 

Season 2038

 

[oliscott]

Edited