Andrew Haines Posted October 21, 2020 Share Posted October 21, 2020 2 hours ago, Tecmo said: Spartans FC 2028-2029 - Championship - 9th (relegated) Time to get back to this, great to see how busy this has gotten the last few months. Going to keep this one pretty short, we were promoted to the Championship last season but things did not go to well, I started experimenting too much and we ended up in 9th by 1 point and lost in the playoff to get relegated. Board is sticking with me though so we'll see if I can't jump right back up. The step up to the Championship is brutal from League One. In previous years I've gone straight down as well. Sometimes relegation can help you rebuild and have a fun year smashing your way through the league below. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted October 21, 2020 Author Share Posted October 21, 2020 2 hours ago, Andrew Haines said: The step up to the Championship is brutal from League One. In previous years I've gone straight down as well. Sometimes relegation can help you rebuild and have a fun year smashing your way through the league below. I agree. Sometimes one step back helps propel you two steps forward... Good luck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 I'm liking who I've brought in so far. And as a bonus, my new assistant coach is Jake Bidwell, recently retired from my Swansea team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Haines Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 East Kilbride Scottish Premier League– 2030/31 – 1st Squad Transfers Overview After the disappointment of last seasons poor 7th place finish we turned it round this season and won our first SPL title. In part this was aided by having no European commitments, the reduced fixture list helped but this was also probably the strongest team I have fielded. It was not an easy ride though. Poor form around the turn of the year placed us around 5th or 6th place. Heading into February and March I was concerned by the prospect of the sack. After the previous season, I was not certain I would survive another failure. From mid-February however we embarked on a winning run that continued to the end of the season. In all we won 12 games in a row which saw us finish at the top of the table by a clear margin. At the close of last season I was left with a healthy bank balance and a significant transfer fund. This was augmented by a clear out of a number of players including previous season first team players Marek Smejkal for £4.1m to Dinamo Zagreb and towards the end of the summer Maroslav Kostic for £17m to Valencia. Kostic was head and shoulders our best player but had a minimum fee release clause and I chose to pursue a transfer for him rather than drag out his transfer as top European clubs circled. These funds were invested in a handful of promising foreigners with the highlight being Polish left back Jakub Zapotocczny for £3.8m from Legia. In addition we signed two players from top EPL clubs with right winger Paul Crawford arriving from Manchester United and excitingly Scottish Wonderkid Steve Adams from Liverpool. Adams had spent the previous season on load with us and performed okay but not exceptionally, clearly he had exceptional potential though. Also, I spent big money on the best two Scottish youngsters playing in Scotland in centre-backs Alan Nisbet (£4.3m) and Lee Dunn (£10.5m) both from Celtic. We started okay but were inconsistent. Come January I made changes. Left back Zapotocczny moved to midfield to re-train to play the holding midfield role. I accepted offers for left winger Adam Kozma and right back Houissine El Azhari who left for a combined £16m. I struggled to replace Kozma and instead drafted in reserve striker Finlay Murray to play the left wing role. Murray was a big money buy for me (relatively) when signed in 2027 for £1.8m from Aberdeen as a 20 year old. He was a regular for two seasons but then was usurped and sent out on loan to St Mirren for the previous season. On his return I had designated him as cover for my strikers but when the left wing role opened up, I decided he was my best option. He had scored consistently when given chances with an almost goal a game ratio. He maintained this from the left wing and scored 12 goals in that last 12 games in the run in. He finished as top scorer in the league as well as players and writers SPL player of the year. With the additional bite in midfield and Finlay Murray and Steve Adams scoring regularly we steamrollered the last 12 games. Despite how well we were playing though my final two games were against first and second placed Hamilton and Rangers. Hamilton had a great season and at one point held an eleven point gap over the chasing pack. At one stage I was in second place to them and was amused by the prospect of failing my objective to be the “best of the rest” despite being above Rangers and Celtic. In the end though 3-1 wins over both teams saw us finish top by a clear margin and secured our first title. First XI · GK - Vladimir Fydrych – Czech goalkeeper signed in January from Viktoria Plzen for £6m. · RB – Brett Wright – Signed on loan from Bayern Munich, the English right winger converted to full back and has agreed to sign permanently. · CB – Alan Nisbet – Promising Scottish centre-back signed from Celtic for £4.2m and a regular in the Scotland squad. · CB – Lee Dunn – Another young Scot, the 19 year old cost £10.5m when he signed from Celtic. · LB – Peter Henslee - Regular Scotland left back Henslee initially lost his place at the start of the season but reclaimed it as Zapotoczny moved into midfield. · MR – Paul Crawford – Signed on a free from Manchester United, the right winger scored an impressive 9 goals. · MC - Adel Abdelli – In his second season on loan from Chelsea, the playmaker averaged 7.94. · MC – Jakub Zapotoczny - The Polish international left back is converting to play the midfield holding role. · ML – Finlay Murray - Murray secured his place on the left wing mid-season and ended up joint top scorer. · ST – Luis Cisternas – Chilean striker did okay but only scored 9 league goals. · ST - Steve Adams – Signed permanently from Liverpool following his loan spell and joint top scored with 26 goals. Record Season League Position Europe Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Lge 2 1st Promoted, Champions 2021/22 Lge 1 3rd Promoted 2022/23 Championship 5th 2023/24 Championship 1st Promoted, Champions 2024/25 SPL 4th 2025/26 SPL 3rd 2026/27 SPL 5th 2027/28 SPL 4th League Cup Winners, Cup Finalists 2028/29 SPL 3rd LC Finalists, SC Finalists, Europa Conference League Finalists 2028/29 SPL 3rd LC Finalists, SC Finalists, Europa Conference League Finalists 2029/30 SPL 7th LC Finalists 2030/31 SPL 1st Champions Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebaker Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 @Andrew Haines well done on winning the title, that must the lowest celtic have finished. Looks like you have a really strong squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 well done @Andrew Haines - your persistence finally paid off and a combination of a good squad, great form and a tactical tweak certainly helped you finally overtake Celtic and Rangers (and bizarrely Hamilton!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 (edited) Gonçalo Brandão | NK Krk | Croatia | 2052/53 (Season 33) Season Summary | League Another routine domestic season sees us take home the domestic treble, but our largest ever defeat total while still winning the league is a touch worrying. As for the Champions League, a very comfortable group win was followed by a trip to Porto where we lost 2-0 in the first leg. We were made to work for it on the return leg - only able to level the score in normal time and requiring an extra time goal to see us through. Juventus were next, with the trip to Turin yielding a narrow 2-1 loss and quite a bit of confidence going into the home leg. Unfortunately we just couldn't find the opening we needed and pushing for that goal left us exposed at the back to really put the nail in the coffin. I'm very conscious that FM21 is rapidly approaching and I'd really like to get a completion in before then. Telmo Silva by no means tore up any turf, but his performance was most definitely worthy of a £55m player, finishing just shy of the 30-goal mark, but only making runner-up in the Ballon d'Or (to Lucas Zalazar). Those attributes still look so great, though. His understudy isn't letting him rest on his laurels though. Tomas Prucha spent a large proportion of the season cutting in from the right wing, because he's too good to just sit on the bench and wait for Silva to not be available. 22 goals for himself shows that the future definitely looks very bright. Francisco was also in excellent form again, although I think I may have toyed with the midfield roles a little too much trying to find the ideal partner for him. I'm going to spend the offseason trying to work out which areas of the team are looking weakest and I may possibly stump up some big money once again. It feels like I need something significant in order to make that one last big step, but I've not quite worked out what it is yet. Edited October 25, 2020 by Biscotti Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 fingers crossed for you @Biscotti. Really hoping you manage to complete before FM21 (no pressure though!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebaker Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 Table | Squad | Transfers In spite of starting the season strongly, when the team did draw a few games they found themselves behind Diosgyor. At one point the club was 6 points behind but finished strongly to win the league on the last game helped by Diosgyor blowing the title by drawing the last 2 games. Lost in the final of the Hungarian cup to Diosgyor. In Europe the team went straight into the CL group stage but could only manage 7 points to finish 3rd. Dropping down to the Euro cup the team thrashed Standard before good defensive displays eased the team past Valencia and OM. In the semi final Leicester were the better side in both legs but Eger proved more clinical to win the away leg 2-0 and go through 4-2 on agg. In the Final the game against Chelsea was even up till just before half time but they then pulled away to win 7-1. Finances are still huge as i can't spend it on facilities or find 1st team players to bring in. I strengthened the defense bringing in a new goalie and selling Youth product Prats who wanted to leave and club favorite Kaladze. I signed Cardozo who was a good addition at CB and Ansah. In midfield club favorite Rose left on a free, Bytyqi left after his min fee clause was activated even though i had increased it to £30 million only 2 months before. I did take advantage of a min fee clause to bring in his replacement Gonzalez. Johnson has also made big strides in the past year to become my best player. Club legend Ilyushchenkov continues to churn out the goals although the performances seem to be declining, the other strikers are rated better but don't seem to score the goals. M'bow may be the answer long term. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Haines Posted October 26, 2020 Share Posted October 26, 2020 (edited) East Kilbride Scottish Premier League– 2031/32 – 3rd Squad Transfers Overview We failed to secure a second successive title and in truth Rangers and Celtic were miles ahead of us this season. Although we strengthened from last season, we lost too many games by an odd goal where we had dominated. Teams were parking the bus and we lost at least four games to the other sides only shot on target. The only major first team signing in pre-season was midfielder Hans Sigvardsen joining from Midjylland for £9.25m. Following the end of Adel Abdelli’s loan last season I had struggled to bring in a replacement midfielder. The big money spent on Sigvardsen was not ideal but there really was no-one else on the market. We dealt with the demands of competing in the SPL and the Champions League well in the first half of the season. We qualified from our Champions League group comfortably in second spot behind Manchester City. In the league we were okay but as mentioned threw away some very winnable games that we dominated. In January we ended up doing significant business. Youngster Jim Grady was on loan at Hearts in the Championship where I intended to leave him for the season but I decided to bring him back early and play him in the first team. He did well and joins fellow young Scots Alan Nisbet and Lee Dunn in the defence. I had no real intention of replacing keeper Vladimir Fydrych but I spotted English wonderkid Joshua Kadzidlo coming to the end of his contract at Manchester United. I offered him a big contract and he signed up. I then transferred him immediately for £4.2m. We exited Europe in the first knockout round although a 1-0 aggregate defeat by Bayern was respectable enough. Form to the end of the season was good and we were always a long distance behind the big two but a long way ahead of fourth placed Hamilton. The big positives are that a new stadium has been announced. We have built up K Park to a 5,000 capacity but this is far below what we require. We will move to the 15,000 capacity East Kilbride Stadium at the end of the coming season. We have also done considerable work on the training/youth facilities so our infrastructure is looking good. First XI GK – Joshua Kadzidlo – English Wonderkid was out of contract at Man Utd at the end of the season. Sorted out a £4.2m deal in January for him. RB – Brett Wright – Ex-Bayern Munich winger cum full back signed on a permanent deal after an initial loan spell. CB – Alan Nisbet – Young Scottish centre-back is a regular in the Scotland squad and had a great season averaging 7.27. CB – Lee Dunn – 20 year old Wonderkid looks like he will be a special player. LB –Jim Grady - A product of youth team and our first to hold down a first XI spot. Returned from a loan spell at Hearts in January. MR – Paul Crawford – The English winger had a great season scoring 12 goals and contributing 21 assists. MC - Hans Sigvardsen – A big money signing at £9.25m from Midjylland, the Danish midfielder had a decent first season. MC – Jakub Zapotoczny - The Polish international midfielder adds bite in the midfield. ML – Finlay Murray – Not as effective this season as less and likely to be replaced. ST – Petr Krizek – Czech striker signed from Sparta Praha for £3m. ST - Steve Adams – Star striker for club and country, the Scottish ex-Liverpool striker scored a respectable 25 goals. Record Season League Position Europe Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Lge 2 1st Promoted, Champions 2021/22 Lge 1 3rd Promoted 2022/23 Championship 5th 2023/24 Championship 1st Promoted, Champions 2024/25 SPL 4th 2025/26 SPL 3rd 2026/27 SPL 5th 2027/28 SPL 4th League Cup Winners, Cup Finalists 2028/29 SPL 3rd LC Finalists, SC Finalists, Europa Conference League Finalists 2028/29 SPL 3rd LC Finalists, SC Finalists, Europa Conference League Finalists 2029/30 SPL 7th LC Finalists 2030/31 SPL 1st Champions 2031/32 SPL 3rd Edited October 26, 2020 by Andrew Haines Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 Città di Campobasso 2030 - 2031 The year we beat Inter in the Cup... After a great season and getting the Serie A title, we were set to the Champions League Group Stages, our first real shot at the final stretch of this challenge. Of course, it's going to be the hardest... Let's take some time to remember the priorities I had set myself at the beginning of this season... Quote - Don't make a fool of myself in the Champions League Group Stage - Qualify for Europe again, ideally finishing in the top 4. - Find a proper partner for Mariano Transfers Last year, we were bitten by the Serie A strict transfer rules from nonEU players, so this year I was determined not to step into them. I also managed to find a few really good players on Free transfers, as unfortunately money is not unlimited... So, in the Out column, Nkosi Cele was sold to Freiburg for 5.75 M€, essentially to free up a nonEU slot for Gaen, who had been sitting on the bench patiently since last January... He was promising, but had not developed as I would have hoped and it was the right time to sell him. I have also managed to offload Oliver Ivanowski to China in January after scoring 3 goals in the first half of the season. He was not thrilled, but he can take his low determination elsewhere. In the In column, we have quite a few interesting folks. First and foremost, Iván, who signed on loan from Real Madrid. Couldn't afford him otherwise and I won't be able to renew him next year as Madrid wants to give him some first team time. Scored 33 goals, 23 in the league which was good for the top goalscorer spot and won the World U21 Footballer of the Year, the European Golden Boy awards too. When he eventually found stride with Mariano, they were very hard to stop. Objective 3, checked, at least temporarily. Jeroni Lobato was another interesting signing, from Bristol City. After a few very successful seasons over there, his contract was not renewed. I jumped on him as he was pretty good value for the money and he's been a rather well established player in our schema. I feel he was not getting the credit he deserved in the ratings, he was often 1-2 passes away from the goal. Edmond Luka was signed to provide a backup to Oldrich Cervenka. A 19 year-old Albanian International, he has pretty good potential and I'm not too scared to put him in when Cervenka needs a little rest. Europe Performance When you get in the Champions League from Serie A, you get directly in the group stages, which has this advantage compared to coming from a lower reputation league. Then, the winner of the league is automatically seeded 1st, which was my case despite having a very low coefficient. Group H was Man City (who lost in the final last year), Campobasso, Olympiakos and Lokomotiva Moscow. We got a strong showing in the group, drawing 3-3 at home with Man City, destroying the other sides but losing quite heavily away at Manchester... We then faced Tottenham, which had won the competitions the previous two years, so we knew it was going to be tough. We drew 2-2 at home and eventually went out to lose 2-1 at Tottenham. A respectful 4-3 defeat against a very strong tie, I can't fault the guys on this one. Objective 1: Don't make a fool of ourselves in Europe. Check. League performance As two years ago, playing in Europe and in the Serie A proved to be hard. We were hovering around 5th to 8th place for most of the year, varying depending on how many backup players I was playing at the time. There were stretches of the calendar which were truly hard. For example, across all competitions, February was Milan, Inter, Inter, Torino, Tottenham, Juventus, Inter. Then, in March, two easier ties agains Cagliari and Napoli (which I both lost), then Tottenham and Atalanta. Serie A is hard. This year, the first group of 4 was quite contested. 1 point between the first 3 and Inter finishing 4th, a good distance in front of us. We allowed way too much goals to even hope to have a chance. Objective 2: Qualify for ECC again. Semi fail, we only qualified for EURO Cup. Italian Cup Performance Guess who I have drawn in the Italian Cup Semi-final again...? Yes, Inter, for the 4th year in a row! this year however, we got through, squeezing on away goals after winning 1-0 at home and losing 2-3 in San Siro. It looks worse than it really was, as they scored at the 75th and 90+5. Still was quite nervous, but the guys held on. In the final, played agains Juventus and squeezed a 1-0 win, with a goal from Ivan at the 34th minute. Not a spectacular match quite even with very few chances, but the guys held on to win our first Italian Cup! Objective 2b: We qualified for Europe also as Cup Winners. Italian Super Cup Performance Having won the league last year, we were in the Italian Super Cup, agains Juventus. It was a great game, where we dominated from one end to another, taking a 3-0 lead in the first half. We then shut the door to win the trophy! Notable player performances - Iván: 33 goals, 6 assists, 7.26 avg. rating. Too bad he's returning to Real Madrid. - Mariano: 18 goals, 7 assists, 7.06 avg. rating. Still an important part of the offence, playing as a pressing forward he's often disrupting the plays. At 25, he has likely plateau'd but at close to 100 goals for the club, he'll be with me for a while... - Pablo: Again a rock in the defence, scored a couple of goals, had a few assists but mostly doesn't let his man through. Now worth 60 M€, his contract no longer has a release clause. - Gaen: The other part of my central defence, very promising and will likely step in a bigger role if/when the big clubs manage to outbid me for Pablo. - Hernando Mendez: Actually signed last year, became an integral part of our midfield. He especially rocked it in the Champions League, averaging 7.93 and getting 16 assists throughout the year. - Oldrich Cervenka: Great season from my Left Wing back. 5 goals, 10 assists, 7.26 avg. rating and quite responsible defensively even when he gets quite forward. Won Serie A Defender of the Year. - Alex Ghidini: Strong Mezzala in the midfield, has developed well and attracted bids of close to 35 M€ from Chinese teams that he doesn't want to speak to. Awards of the Season - Oldrich Cervenka: Serie A Best Young Player of the Year. - Me: Manager of the Year! - Ivan: World U21 Player of the Year. European Golden Boy. Serie A Top Goalscorer of the year. 3rd place in European Golden Shoe (behind Haaland and Diogo Jota) - Antonis Siatounis: Serie A Goal of the Year. A 30 year scorcher from a left-foot volley. Yeah, it was nice. Finances Champions League money rolled in. Didn't have lots of large transfers coming in, so made quite a hefty 65 M€ profit this year. Priorities for next season - Find a replacement for Iván (Hint, it's already signed) - Allow less goals in the league. - Manage at the same time a credible European challenge AND a proper league performance, aiming at top 4. Other news - Inter's manager got sacked because of poor league performance (they finished 4th after all). In the notable reasons for board insatisfaction was their defeat against us in the Italian Cup. I'm quite proud of this after being knocked out by them a few times in a row... - New owner is less stupid as the previous, they expand our facilities without asking them too much, but are much more critical of performances on the field. - I have a couple of decent prospects coming in. Nothing earth-shattering, but Daniel Samoilā has been scoring goals left and right at 17 year old in the U21s. - I was offered the Italian National Job. Declined it as I wand to focus on Campobasso. - We're now ranked 45th in Europe, but have two seasons where we'll climb again quickly, as they have a 0.00 coefficient. Club History Season | League | Position | Italian Cup | CL | EURO CUP | Other | European Position ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20/21 Serie C/C 15th 2nd Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 21/22 Serie C/C 12th 2nd Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 22/23 Serie C/C 6th - Promoted 2nd Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 23/24 Serie B 16th 3rd Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 24/25 Serie B 5th 4th Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 25/26 Serie B 6th 4th Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 26/27 Serie B 1st - Champions Quarter Final N/A N/A N/A 27/28 Serie A 8th 1st Round N/A N/A N/A 28/29 Serie A 6th 1st Round N/A N/A N/A 29/30 Serie A 8th Semi Final N/A Semi Final (Man Utd.) N/A 94 30/31 Serie A 1st - Champions Semi Final N/A N/A N/A 95 31/32 Serie A 5th. Winners! 1st Kn.Round (Tottenham) N/A Super Cup Win 45 One step back, two steps forward (and maybe a step sideways too). Forza Campobasso! 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jmarchand Posted October 28, 2020 Share Posted October 28, 2020 So this just happened... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 On 28/10/2020 at 02:53, jmarchand said: So this just happened... not sure how not replied earlier... (real life) Job hunting i guess. Wow, that is a big signing... The fans seem happy though. hope it works out for you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 *** FM21 *** In other news, I have been thinking about FM21 and how this challenge might look for the new version. I am debating expanding the challenge to a 'Global' level (less England as we have Dafuges challenge for that). I have mentioned it in the Ideas thread and am mentioning it here to gauge opinion. The premise would be the same, i would just have to work out the nuances for the other continents. A few years ago i did a save in South America and that was good fun. On previous FMs we had threads for these challenges run by other players but for FM20 these don't appear to have existed. Alternatively, separate threads could be created for those saves - I just feel that they might work best in a collective? Does anyone have any thoughts on this? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 4 hours ago, rlipscombe said: *** FM21 *** ... I think consolidating all those challenges into one thread makes a lot of sense. There's some countries where the concept is (near) impossible, but it shouldn't take too much research to work out which ones. This thread goes through spikes in activity and having a few more options available might help even that out (and encourage more people to try something new). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 4 hours ago, rlipscombe said: (real life) Job hunting i guess. Best of luck with that! As for FM21, it does make sense to consolidate into one thread. it becomes win the highest possible continental competition starting with a club promoted in the lowest playable division in this country rather than just focusing on the Champions League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
yezzko Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 The more the merrier :). I even thought of making it version-agnostic so people who for whatever reason dislike the latest installment of fm (or more of them) can participate in the thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 44 minutes ago, Biscotti said: I think consolidating all those challenges into one thread makes a lot of sense. There's some countries where the concept is (near) impossible, but it shouldn't take too much research to work out which ones. This thread goes through spikes in activity and having a few more options available might help even that out (and encourage more people to try something new). My thoughts exactly. It would need some research into promotions / relegations etc for example but as you say, the increased variety may encourage new players / new saves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 43 minutes ago, jmarchand said: Best of luck with that! As for FM21, it does make sense to consolidate into one thread. it becomes win the highest possible continental competition starting with a club promoted in the lowest playable division in this country rather than just focusing on the Champions League. Thanks! Good old Covid put pay to my last employment so currently looking for something new. And yes it would be the highest achievable continental club competition possible for that league Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 How many times can I play Juventus in the span of 5 weeks? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 (edited) Gonçalo Brandão | NK Krk | Croatia | 2053/54 (Season 34) Season Summary | League I think the fact that I feel only reaching the Quarter Finals in the Champions League feels like an early exit tells you a lot about where we are right now. With FM21 looming I'm not sure I'm going to have more than 1 more run at this. On the plus side, it was a record-breaking season in the league. Still no unbeaten season, but we sent new records for wins (31), points (96) and goals (99) - not bad at all for a 36 game season. As for players? Of course it's my boy Francisco again. The first truly great product of our youth academy has been superb once again, and is due to sign a new contract any moment at £300k p/w. I'm happy to pay it, as it will mean he's unlikely to get poached by another team. Still primarily coming in from the right wing, Tomas Prucha has also been essential. This year he was the top scorer in the league and I can see him continuing on to ever greater things from here. I've not highlighted defensive players for a while now, so I'd also like to shine a light on Noël Beugré. Probably my cheapest ever "world class" player, I picked him up for only £245k at 18 and at only 22 he is among the best defenders in the world. You may also notice a lack of Telmo Silva here. This season was likely to be his last one as first-choice and Man City offered some reasonable money for him in January. I feared not, though, as I had someone out on loan in St Etienne who fit the bill just as well. Meet Fernando Marques. As a result of how he's developed, I think Prucha might continue to live out on the wing - especially as he's playing well - meaning I still have an extremely scary looking attack for my opponents to face. Edit: I've just rejected a bid of £124m for Beugré. From Marseille, of all teams. Edited November 4, 2020 by Biscotti Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 Seen in a blowout Juventus win against Sassuolo. 3 goals, 5 assists, but not good enough for a 10.0 rating. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 4, 2020 Author Share Posted November 4, 2020 12 minutes ago, jmarchand said: Seen in a blowout Juventus win against Sassuolo. 3 goals, 5 assists, but not good enough for a 10.0 rating. Must have done something really bad to upset the ratings guy in a past life... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 4, 2020 Author Share Posted November 4, 2020 13 hours ago, Biscotti said: Gonçalo Brandão | NK Krk | Croatia | 2053/54 (Season 34) Season Summary | League I think the fact that I feel only reaching the Quarter Finals in the Champions League feels like an early exit tells you a lot about where we are right now. With FM21 looming I'm not sure I'm going to have more than 1 more run at this. On the plus side, it was a record-breaking season in the league. Still no unbeaten season, but we sent new records for wins (31), points (96) and goals (99) - not bad at all for a 36 game season. As for players? Of course it's my boy Francisco again. The first truly great product of our youth academy has been superb once again, and is due to sign a new contract any moment at £300k p/w. I'm happy to pay it, as it will mean he's unlikely to get poached by another team. Still primarily coming in from the right wing, Tomas Prucha has also been essential. This year he was the top scorer in the league and I can see him continuing on to ever greater things from here. I've not highlighted defensive players for a while now, so I'd also like to shine a light on Noël Beugré. Probably my cheapest ever "world class" player, I picked him up for only £245k at 18 and at only 22 he is among the best defenders in the world. You may also notice a lack of Telmo Silva here. This season was likely to be his last one as first-choice and Man City offered some reasonable money for him in January. I feared not, though, as I had someone out on loan in St Etienne who fit the bill just as well. Meet Fernando Marques. As a result of how he's developed, I think Prucha might continue to live out on the wing - especially as he's playing well - meaning I still have an extremely scary looking attack for my opponents to face. Edit: I've just rejected a bid of £124m for Beugré. From Marseille, of all teams. I admire your determination to try and crack the CL - certainly seems to be a glass ceiling at the moment in terms of the Quarter finals. Really hoping you can break through it and complete the challenge. Beugré looks to be a beast and a future star without doubt. £124m is an insult, particularly when it comes from Marseille....... Any of the BIG teams interested? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted November 4, 2020 Share Posted November 4, 2020 1 hour ago, rlipscombe said: I admire your determination to try and crack the CL - certainly seems to be a glass ceiling at the moment in terms of the Quarter finals. Really hoping you can break through it and complete the challenge. Beugré looks to be a beast and a future star without doubt. £124m is an insult, particularly when it comes from Marseille....... Any of the BIG teams interested? Marseille are actually the top ranked team in Europe right now. Transfer window still hasn't shut, and their offers have reached as high as £169m now. Also getting £112m offers for my DM (who I've not really highlighted in a season summary yet) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 4, 2020 Author Share Posted November 4, 2020 28 minutes ago, Biscotti said: Marseille are actually the top ranked team in Europe right now. Transfer window still hasn't shut, and their offers have reached as high as £169m now. Also getting £112m offers for my DM (who I've not really highlighted in a season summary yet) They've grown in stature then. Getting some serious offers then for your players. Keeping him a mystery... What are your finances like in general? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 7 hours ago, rlipscombe said: They've grown in stature then. Getting some serious offers then for your players. Keeping him a mystery... What are your finances like in general? in the region of £400-500m in the bank, but I've got to be careful about spending it for FFP reasons. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebaker Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Table | Squad | Transfers This is probably the last season with this save and the league proved easy as the other clubs didn't prove a challenge. Lost in the Qtr-final of the hungarian cup to Diosgyor on away goals. In europe qualified straight into the CL group stages and come 2nd in the group. After overcoming R Madrid in the 1st KO rd, the team faced Man City in the Qtr-final. The away leg was a battering with a late goal by M'Bow providing some hope. The home leg turned on a red card for Man city in the 25th min. Early in the 2nd half the score was 1-1 but 3 goals in 6 mins proved enough to take Eger through. Milan in the semi-final was a step too far as they were a lot better. Finances continued to grow. Cardozo was a big loss as his min price was met. Al-Daykh left after kicking up too much of a fuss, not a bad profit in 18 months on 2.4K. Broke the club record buy with this young czech player. My top forward was Okrah who pipped Ilyushchenkov and a youth player on loan from us to the league top scorer on mins per goal. Randy Johnson is the best player at the club and possibly world class. This youth came through this year and was rated as being as good as Johnson Season League Position Hungarian Cup Europe Top Scorer Attendance Training Youth Junior Youth Rec Notes 2020/21 Division II 15th 3rd Rd Korbely (11) 546 Below Average Basic Fairly Basic Fairly Basic 2021/22 Division II 8th 2nd rd Baros (18) 608 Below Average Basic Fairly Basic Fairly Basic 2022/23 Division II 9th 4th Rd Kasza (15) 712 Below Average Basic Fairly Basic Fairly Basic 2023/24 Division II 12th 2nd rd Licuriceanu (19) 579 Below Average Basic Fairly Basic Fairly Basic 2024/25 Division II 1st 4th Rd Baros (23) 779 Below Average Basic Fairly Basic Fairly Basic Promoted 2025/26 Division I 5th Quarter Final Mencezeles(9) 2145 Below Average Basic Fairly Basic Fairly Basic 2026/27 Division I 3rd 4th Rd Licuriceanu (15) 2022 Adequate Below Average Average Average Qualified for Europe 2027/28 Division I 5th 2nd Rd 2nd Q Rd Euro cup II Bracun (11) 2542 Average Adequate Adequate Adequate 2028/29 Division I 6th Semi-final Illyuschenkov (22) 2402 Good Adequate Good Good 2029/30 Division I 6th Semi-final Illyuschenkov (21) 2344 Great Adequate Excellent Exceptional 2030/31 Division I 2nd Semi-final Illyuschenkov (35) 2280 Great Adequate Excellent Exceptional Qualified for Europe 2031/32 Division I 2nd Semi-final 1st KO Rd Euro cup II Illyuschenkov (35) 2894 Excellent Average Exceptional Exceptional Qualified for Europe 2032/33 Division I 1st Final Qtr-final Euro cup II Illyuschenkov (33) 3177 Superb Good Exceptional Exceptional Qualified for CL 2033/34 Division I 1st Winners CL 1st KO Rd Illyuschenkov (37) 6648 State of the art Great Exceptional Exceptional Domestic Double 2034/35 Division I 2nd Winners CL Group St Illyuschenkov (24) 6284 State of the art Excellent Exceptional Exceptional 2035/36 Division I 1st Final 2nd KO Rd Euro cup Okrah(28) 7237 State of the art Superb Exceptional Exceptional 2036/37 Division I 1st Qtr-final CL Group, Qtr-final Euro cup Illyuschenkov (25) 8315 Superb State of the art Exceptional Exceptional 2037/38 Division I 1st Final CL Group, Final Euro cup Illyuschenkov (24) 8476 State of the art State of the art Exceptional Exceptional Euro cup finalists 2037/38 Division I 1st Qtr-final CL semi Final Illyuschenkov (21) 8302 State of the art State of the art Exceptional Exceptional Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 Finished my 2033 season, full report coming in. Dropping this gem for you all while I type it in... He's barely better than my current Ass Man, but my current Ass Man was not named Lionel Messi. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 5, 2020 Author Share Posted November 5, 2020 16 minutes ago, jmarchand said: Finished my 2033 season, full report coming in. Dropping this gem for you all while I type it in... He's barely better than my current Ass Man, but my current Ass Man was not named Lionel Messi. Don't blame you one bit!! I have currently got Barry Bannan, who isn't good enough for the first team at Sheffield Wednesday any more in my save, as the Director of Football. He's not overly good but I can't bear to part with him and want him involved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 Città di Campobasso 2032 - 2033 A tale of two seasons After a good showing in the Champions League but a disappointing league performance, we were set out to perform well in the EURO Cup, but most importantly, build a solid squad that would be able to challenge for the future and firmly establish ourselves in the top 4 in Serie A, getting a CL qualification year in and year out. It's the goal of the challenge, after all... The objectives that I had set myself for last season were Find a replacement for Iván, our star striker whom we had on loan from Barcelona Score less goals in the league Manage at the same time a credible European Challenge AND get a top 4 league performance Goal #3 was the most ambitious one, having suffered from fixture congestion in the past... Transfers Not many transfers in, but very important ones. Let's start by the Out column... Fontanarosa, our faithful centre back that joined us in Serie C was consistently getting outplayed by Gaen and Pablo and wasn't playing much. He was interested in moving out, so getting 2.8 M€ for him was quite satisfying. Luca Fazio, a pretty good attacking midfielder, got the large head and was asking ridiculous wages in the last year of his contract. Sold him off to Kyiv for less than the board would have liked. Finally, Gaen, a rock and great prospect in the central defence, attracted the attention of Real Madrid. I was thinking that I would keep him while Pablo was getting bidded on, but the opposite happened. In the end, Madrid triggered his 63M€ release clause. He went on to get a good season in Madrid (300k€ per week, much more that I could offer, with a nice 7.11 avg. rating), getting 5 caps in the process. He's going to be great and I hope I don't face him in the road to CL victory. That gave me quite a bit of money to spare... To bolster the central defence, I had spotted Antonio Panadic, playing at Borussia M.....lach. Croatian Wonderkid, already featuring in the main international team at 21 year old, strong stats and unlimited potential. I decided to splash the cash for him. They didn't want to sell, but my options to get solid in the defence weren't too numerous in the market, so I decided to send my DoF negotiate the transfer. He put in a sum of money that I would have never fathomed to do myself, but in the end, I decided to accept the transfer and roll on with it. We have to improve the squad after all. He went on to have a pretty good season, forming a good partnership with Pablo in the central defence. Next (well, it happened previously in the save, but anyhow) is a replacement for Ivan, which, after 33 goals, was returning to Real Madrid and which I can't afford to buy. My scouts found Éder Nogueira over at Grêmio. He has had a couple of great 20 goals seasons, but appeared to fall out of favour. He was still impressive to me, my scouts liked him and I was able to get him for 18.5 M€. His salary of 135 k€ p/w made him my biggest contract ever given, so I was a bit nervous but confident it would turn out well (and it did, more on that later). Finally, last key signing of the season was Arjan Slagboom, which, to be totally honest, I signed partly because he has the best name. Reasonably priced out of Feyenoord at 23, I brought him in to cover for a somewhat plateau-ing Alex Ghidini and an aging Antonio Siatounis. He turned out to be one of our best players in the midfield and I'm very happy to have him. Europe Performance Having qualified for the EURO Cup last year due to our Italian Cup win, we were through the groups directly. Seeded 2nd this time around, we were drawn with LOSC, LASK and Ferencváros, three sides that we were able to defeat without much trouble, although there weren't any blowouts. In the second knockout round, we were drawn against Valencia. and yes, this time, there were blowouts to be had. The guys went to Valencia with a knife in their teeth and came back with a 8-0 win, our largest win ever. Winning 5-1 in the second leg, it was a whooping 13-1 in total. lovely. The Quarter Final saw us against Atletico Bilbao, which we defeated quite confidently 2-0 in Bilbao and 5-1 at home. They had just knocked off Arsenal from the competition out on penalties, so that was one less force to worry about. Next up in the Semis, Manchester United, who had knocked off from the Euro Cup 3 years ago. We were confident going into the tie, as our team was much better that it was back then. And the lads showed up tremendously, winning 1-0 at home, and holding on with a heroic 2-0 victory at Old Trafford, despite being dominated in shots and chances. We were through the final! and it was against a very familiar Atalanta side, who were not as strong in the league in as they were in the past few years... And it was a dramatic game. Nogueira with a goal in the 7th minute got us in the lead. We held on very well until a late late late goal sent us in overtime. In there, we take the lead quickly with a header from Pablo on a corner, then they score 3 minutes after on a fluke goal, a missed free kick from 40 years that somehow ended in the net. Heroically, Mariano, who was nurturing a bad leg and came in as a late sub in Extra time, scored the winning goal, with an Nogueira assist. Magic. Brilliant. Mariano came through again. A real hero. There it is, EURO Cup champions. <Insert here wild cheering crow noises> League Performance League performance was in two distinct steps. With these large pieces out of the team (Ivan, Gaen) and replacements coming in, it took some time for the guys to find each other. Coupled with a quite challenging start of the season (Lazio, Inter, Juventus, Atalanta), in which we got only 1 point - draw at home against Juve, we were in the relegation zone and not looking good. Then, fortunes slowly started turning and the guys hit their stride. A 4-2 wine at Roma really kicked things off and we started crawling back up. Then, things got really great. In that hard stretch of the season at the start of January which I posted earlier, we managed important wins. The win in the league against Juve was great, we didn't get humilitated in other fixtures and things were looking up. After that Fiorentina loss (quite a bad one), the team rallied and didn't lose a single game after that, making it 21 undefeated across all competitions. In the end, we rallied up to third place, with 81 points, a record high for Campobasso in the Serie A. Note the number of goals allowed here, it's part of why we're up there. Objective 2: Less goals allowed in the league. Check. Our progression graph is quite interesting to see. It shows that we were 1st at times, but we were really never 1st in the standings, due to games not being played in the same time. But coming from 17th place after 6 games and rallying up is a good achievement for the guys. Objective 3: Good European Challenge AND Top 4 finish. Check. Italian cup Performance With the EURO Cup and the league to focus on, we could care less about the Italian Cup. A couple of wins saw us pitted against Juventus, which we lost in penalties after two 0-0 ties. Mariano and Slagboom both horrendously missed their penalties, but we put this one behind us quickly. Italian Super Cup The competition that no one cares about, really. Lost 1-0 against Juventus. Meh. Notable Player Performances. - Éder Nogueira (screenshot above): it was hard in the beginning of the year, but he formed a great duo with Mariano. 37 goals, 15 assists, Golden Shoe Runner up, Serie A Best Striker and EURO Cup Player of the season. The words lack to tell how dominating he had become. He's 24, is classified as a World Class Talent and I hope to keep him for a very long time. Leading goalscorer AND has most assists of the Serie A. - Mariano: Nogueira's partner in crime, often on the receiving end of his assists. 22 goals in 37 starts, including the heroic EURO Cup winner. A real legend for the club (but the game only recognizes him as an Icon...) - Arjan Slagboom: Great midfield presence. 6 goals, 11 assists and a 7.30 avg. rating. My guys tell me he won't improve much, but if he stays at this level for a while, we're in good shape. - Pablo: 6 goals in the EURO Cup, 2 in the league, but more importantly, an everpresent defensive force which can be relied on. 7.26 avg rating... - Hernando Mendez: Assist king last year, took a bit of a more discreet role this year with Slagboom's (man I love this name) emergence. Still with a 7.22 avg. rating - Antonio Panadic: Good first season, very high expectations for the kid going forward. Him and Pablo are a good reason why we've had such a good defensive year. - Fluedinaldo: Dependable right back in his 4th season with us. Showing a bit of regression, I kinda hope to sell him to China this summer... Awards of the Season - Éder Nogueira: Serie A Player of the Year, Serie A Top Goalscorer, Serie A Team of the Year, EURO Cup Player of the season, Golden Boot runner-up (behind Haaland, again). Finances 112 M€ went out to Panadic, but, more worryingly, we're losing money when we're in a steady state. This means that we're hitting the fiscal limit that we have with our 14701 (and slowly expanding) stadium. It can hold up to 25000, but the board only opens up a thousand seats or so each year. Priorities for next season 1- Mount a credible Champions League challenge. I hope to cruise through the groups and reach at least the Quarter finals. 2- Qualify for the Champions League on a consistent basis from now on. 3- Offload a bit of "useless" players for a profit, rely on some promising youngsters for rotation. Other News - After having invested in the youth facilites, we got this year quite a few decent prospects. The game told me that it was a golden generation, but I'll believe them when I see the prospects actually challenging a bit for the first team... - I hired Lionel Messi as an Ass Man. That's my favourite thing to do in Football Manager. I hope he does well in the press conferences I'll send him to. - Iván has scored 14 goals with Real Madrid in 27 games, with a 7.63 avg. rating. He's going to be real quality in the future (and Madrid wants me to fork over 225 M€ to even consider an offer for him...) Club history Season | League | Position | Italian Cup | CL | EURO CUP | Other | European Position ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20/21 Serie C/C 15th 2nd Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 21/22 Serie C/C 12th 2nd Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 22/23 Serie C/C 6th - Promoted 2nd Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 23/24 Serie B 16th 3rd Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 24/25 Serie B 5th 4th Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 25/26 Serie B 6th 4th Qual Round N/A N/A N/A 26/27 Serie B 1st - Champions Quarter Final N/A N/A N/A 27/28 Serie A 8th 1st Round N/A N/A N/A 28/29 Serie A 6th 1st Round N/A N/A N/A 29/30 Serie A 8th Semi Final N/A Semi Final (Man Utd.) N/A 94 30/31 Serie A 1st - Champions Semi Final N/A N/A N/A 95 31/32 Serie A 5th Winners! 1st KO (Tottenham) N/A Super Cup Win 45 32/33 Serie A 3rd Semi Final N/A Winners! Super Cup Runner-up 21 Now you're actually Champions on the European level. Go Get the Champions League now! Forza Campobasso! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 6, 2020 Author Share Posted November 6, 2020 @jmarchand - first off, a great update. Congratulations on winning the EURO Cup - fantastic achievement and on paper deserved looking at the stats for the final. As for the league, great to see you have CL football again next season. Hopefully you can at least achieve your targets and go deep into the competition. Heading back in the right direction in the league too. As for signings, big money on Panadic but it looks like it may turn out to be a great investment. Nogueira looks a steal based on a good first season. Looking forward to seeing how you get on next season. My fingers are crossed for you. Would love you to complete before FM21 comes out - no pressure!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 Thanks. It's been indeed a good season. I was worried about Nogueira at the beginning, but once he started, he was very impressive. I hope to finish at least one more season before FM21 comes out and hopefully, push for the Champions League. If previous challengers here prove right, it's going to be very hard. In 2033, Inter won it, and we've beaten them a couple of times now, so we have a chance! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebaker Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 there is a degree of luck involved in winning the CL. @Biscotti clearly has a team and players good enough, considerably better than my team which reached the semi-finals. @jmarchand possibly you stand a decent chance since it seems much easier winning from one of the big leagues, easier then actually winning the league at times. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 26 minutes ago, Thebaker said: there is a degree of luck involved in winning the CL. @Biscotti clearly has a team and players good enough, considerably better than my team which reached the semi-finals. @jmarchand possibly you stand a decent chance since it seems much easier winning from one of the big leagues, easier then actually winning the league at times. Agreed on both counts. With the team I have, I feel that when I'm in an European competition, the teams are generally a good notch below us (case in point, 13-1 against Valencia). Attracting and retaining top talent isn't so bad too, we're in the top 20 most reputable clubs in the world at this point, so I didn't get any I want to leave for a bigger club yet. Next year, I'll probably aim at a medium-sized league, to get a bit of both. I had managed it in Croatia in FM09 or FM10, I don't remember exactly, with NK Metalac, out of Croatia. It was a very enjoyable save and I remember fondly signing Dusan Nulicek (https://www.transfermarkt.us/dusan-nulicek/transfers/spieler/56702) and he carried us for 10-12 seasons and scored the CL winner as a super-sub. Good times! That and @Biscotti's attempt tend to push me towards that direction again next year, we'll see! I love to take leagues of countries I've travelled to, it's easier to get some emotional attachment to the team too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebaker Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 1 hour ago, jmarchand said: Agreed on both counts. With the team I have, I feel that when I'm in an European competition, the teams are generally a good notch below us (case in point, 13-1 against Valencia). Attracting and retaining top talent isn't so bad too, we're in the top 20 most reputable clubs in the world at this point, so I didn't get any I want to leave for a bigger club yet. Next year, I'll probably aim at a medium-sized league, to get a bit of both. I had managed it in Croatia in FM09 or FM10, I don't remember exactly, with NK Metalac, out of Croatia. It was a very enjoyable save and I remember fondly signing Dusan Nulicek (https://www.transfermarkt.us/dusan-nulicek/transfers/spieler/56702) and he carried us for 10-12 seasons and scored the CL winner as a super-sub. Good times! That and @Biscotti's attempt tend to push me towards that direction again next year, we'll see! I love to take leagues of countries I've travelled to, it's easier to get some emotional attachment to the team too. I did it in hungary about 10 years ago but it took about 40 seasons of reaching qtr and semi finals. Last year i played dafuges and won the CL twice but not the premier league. Czechia seems a good bet as the number of good regens in my game is quite surprising . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 7, 2020 Share Posted November 7, 2020 (edited) And this is why I was so enthusiastic about the Nogueira and Mariano pair yesterday... Taken from the EURO Super Cup against Inter, which we just won 3-2. Edit: I'll never grow tired of this: Edited November 7, 2020 by jmarchand Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 My path to completing the challenge. Juventus -> Tottenham or Man City ---> Chelsea or Real Madrid or Liverpool (FCP is not getting through this) Wish me luck, I'll need some. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 12, 2020 Author Share Posted November 12, 2020 6 hours ago, jmarchand said: My path to completing the challenge. Juventus -> Tottenham or Man City ---> Chelsea or Real Madrid or Liverpool (FCP is not getting through this) Wish me luck, I'll need some. In the bag.... "To be the best, you gotta beat the best...." Good luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 FCP kicked Liverpool out of the competition! Also, Iván killing it at Real Madrid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 One down, two to go. Tight contest, Mariano came in as a sub with an important goal. Next up: Manchester City, while Porto gets Real Madrid. I am quite hopeful, actually. We did get Real Madrid in our group and we beat them at home and drew with them away. While there is no small clubs at this point, most of the top guns (Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, Juve and Inter) are out of the competition at this point. Since I'll jump in FM21 after that, it's really my last shot at it. Fingers are crossed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 12, 2020 Author Share Posted November 12, 2020 fingers crossed for you @jmarchand Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 (edited) Gonçalo Brandão | NK Krk | Croatia | 2054/55 (Season 35) - The Final Season Season Summary | League Some of the screenshots here will have to wait - that'll make sense in a minute. Another comfortable league win, which saw me rotate quite a bit in order to keep my best players fresh for this final Champions League push, which mean we scored a noticeably lower points total than we have been previously. We also came away with a cup win, pushing me into the European Hall of Fame - albeit right towards the bottom. Our champions League group looked pretty easy, and we were able to progress without losing a game there. This gave us a pretty straightforward 1st round draw of Benfica. I didn't want to slip up, though, so we took them seriously and advanced comfortably. Our Quarter-Final opponents were to again be Lyon, and at this stage we'd played them 10 times previously and never lost, so I felt confident. We drew the away leg 2-2 and never got out of second gear to win the return 1-0. Man City were the last hurdle before we could make our first ever final, and we'd not beaten them in our previous 4 meetings, which didn't bode well. A 2-0 win at Roberto Mancini Park made me feel much happier though, and we brought them home to beat them 3-2, never really looking like we were in too much trouble. Interestingly, the Man City side we faced in that second leg had no fewer than 8 former Krk players in their matchday squad. I'm yet to play the final, but it will be against Juve. In part, I'm writing this up now to put it off - I've never felt this nervous about playing a match in FM before. I'm probably going to watch the full 90. When I pluck up the courage to actually start the match. We have actually beaten them once before, but that was only once in 8 meetings and it was 11 years ago. So partly just to delay this moment a little longer, but mostly because I think the team fully deserve it, I'm going to immortalise every single member of this squad that has played a part in getting us to this stage. First XI Hugo Lara - Brought in for £36m in 51/52 to replace an outgoing player, Lara has proven to be solid albeit unremarkable as a 'keeper. He's not breaking any of our records, but I've also never felt like he was a liability. At the end of the day, is that not what you need from a goalie? Soren Kisoor - A big money signing for us at right-back, having joined us in 2046 for £71m. Ever-present for us, he's never been valued at anything like what we paid for him, but seeing as none of his 9 seasons with us have averaged less than a 7 rating I feel like he's been good value. He's been a little less present this season due to a 3-month layoff with injury. He was also named in the most recent World Cup dream team. Noël Beugré - I mentioned him last season, but I think Beugré might have been my best signing through this entire save. He cost me less than £250k 5 years ago, and he had to wait a little while for space to open up in the first team, but he's now been 2 seasons as first choice and both seasons he has averaged over 7.5, with his towering presence at set pieces having added 17 goals in those two seasons. I'm glad I didn't let my head get turned by the £169m bids I was turning down. Dalibor Mionic-Krizman - I think I probably overpaid a little for Dalibor, but at the time I identified a severe lack of Croatian talent in my squad. He originally left Croatia to join Watford in 2048, despite us having him offered a deal at the time, but we enticed him back in January 2052 and he's been exactly the left-footed centre-back we needed in that time. Ronny Simons - We originally brought Ronny to the club in 2047, but pressure from the big boys in the Premier League meant we sold up in 2050 to Man City - with a 50% resale clause. When he popped up as available last season I felt like it was an opportunity I couldn't turn down and £67m later he had returned to the glory of Krk. Andrea Di Scioscio - This is the other fine gentleman we were rejecting £100m+ bids for this season. 24 now, we originally brought him in about 7 years ago for £23.5m. He had to wait a few years as understudy for the first team place to open up for him, but he grasped it firmly with both hands when it was presented. I've got a real love in the last few years for the "half back" role, to enable marauding wingbacks, and Andrea has really exemplified that for me - rarely providing the goals or the assists, but super key to the way we play. Lucas Lucchetta - I was actually debating a little here whether Lucas was my main playmaker here, but the stats definitely show that I'm picking him ahead of the other player who best fits his role. A £48.5m signing from Milan last season has never really grown on me in the same way as most of the rest of the team. Clearly he's a great player, and deserves his slot here, it's just never quite clicked for me. Francisco - The only academy-produced player to be on the club's favoured personnel (and a legend, no less). I absolutely love this guy. He's been playing in our Mezzala role and I 100% will not hear a bad word about him. 50 caps for Spain on a 27-year-old who has never played outside of Croatia is a wonderful achievement, and I don't care at all that he's being paid £300k p/w. Tomas Prucha - I've highlighted him a few times now, and despite my regularly saying he'll eventually be my man through the middle he's still cutting in from the right wing. It's working though, as he's come up with 24 goals for us this season despite missing a combined 2 months this season due to injuries. I had also forgotten that we'd only paid £4.4m for him in 2050. Samuel Gonçalves - Not originally my first choice on the left flank, by the mid-point of the season it was clear that he was ready to step up and become the first-teamer we needed. If I were carrying on beyond this season, I feel the left wing is still where we've got the most room for improvement, especially as Gonçalves cost us £45.5m a couple of seasons back. He's still been good, but I don't feel like he's been £40m+ good. Fernando Marques - Much like Prucha, his season has been defined by injuries, but he's still come along with 16 goals as the main striker. It's not quite Telmo Silva, but as long as goals are coming from other places it's a very respectable total. He cost us £26.5m in 2048 and this season has been his first proper season as first-choice. I think if I were carrying on he would become quite the beast. The Bench (no blurb for these guys, as I've written too much already!) Stephen Davidson Francisco Sanz Jin Sugawara Dimitri Ribeiro Paulo César Mateo Liber Antonio Pfitzner Tiago Vieira Beso Kahric Bruno Santos Gabriel Ernst Meeus Martin Viera Right, I'm about to go and play my final. Wish me luck! Edited November 12, 2020 by Biscotti 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 Go get that trophy @Biscotti! Go Krk! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 And, against all odds, FCP is through! It's the year of the underdogs in the Champions League, Forza Campobasso! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 (edited) VS A rainy night in Madrid played host to the 2055 Champions League final between Juventus and NK Krk. Both sides seemed very cagey and it was quite obvious within the first ten minutes that we weren't going to witness a thriller. There were chances on both sides, but not really enough to make you feel like either side deserved to be ahead. On the 35th minute (former Krk man) Simone Rossi was penalised for a push inside the Juve penalty area and Tomas Prucha calmy slotted home the spot-kick. 1-0 to Krk. The Old Lady picked things up a little after that, but only caused Lara to make a couple of saves from range. Even into the second half, as Juventus were forced to commit more and more players to attack, the game never really looked like opening up. A few more minor chances going to either side saw a fairly dull game come to an end with NK Krk as your new European Champions! So literally with our last gasp, we have completed the challenge. Now to move on to FM21. I feel relatively confident I know what country I want to go to next time, so I'll see you guys in that thread. For completeness - my overall best XI Edited November 12, 2020 by Biscotti 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 Congratulations @Biscotti! The club with no vowels is European Champions. <Insert wild cheering noises here> 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 (edited) We scraped it through! FCP, here we come! In FM20, a 7.6 rating on a keeper tells you how the game really went... Edited November 13, 2020 by jmarchand Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmarchand Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 To the final! Actually getting in the Champions League Final against FCP, we were actually marked as favorites to win by 6-4 odds. It was expected to be close, but we were confident going in the match. Played at the Stade de France in Paris, in front of 77000 people (the actual population of Campobasso is 49230 inhabitants...), we were fielding a starting XI that has been crucial for us in for the whole season. GK: Emiliano Safon Cavedo: Played almost every match in the last 4 seasons, after we rescued him from the bench at Inter. Has a 6.9 avg. rating, but he rocks. DR: Fluedinaldo: Good, but sometimes inconsistent right Full-Back signed in 2029. DC: Pablo: A rock in our defence, injured for both legs of the semi final, came back just in time for the Final. DC: Antonio Panadic: Record transfer last season for the Croatian Wonderkid. Had a solid season. DL: Oldrich Cervenka: Our captain, with ordinary stats on paper but always comes up with great games for some reason. MCR: Arjan Slagboom: Has been pulling strings in the midfield all season, I'm playing here in his natural Deep-Lying Playmaker role. MC: Sherif Mohamed: Young Egyptian wonderkid signed this year to anchor the midfield and play defensive duties. At only 20 years old, we see his ceiling is sky high. MCL: Hernando Mendez: Columbian international, a bit in the same mould as Slagboom, they're often swapped as games go on, actually. AMC: Jaroni Lobato: Signed on a free transfer from Bristol City 3 seasons ago, he's I think the weakest part of our XI, but was still racking up assists because of the firepower in front. ST: Éder Nogueira: A star last season, not as dominating this season but still is our top goal scorer with 27 goals across all competitions. ST: Adam Cermak: Wonderkid signed from Slavia Prague (because signing young strikers is a mental disorder...), alternated with Mariano and scored 20 goals. Sky is the limit for him. The match Our guys sprint right out of the gates, dominating the early part and getting on the scoreboard with a curling free-kick in the top corner from the edge of the area by Slagboom. 1-0 Campobasso! Shortly after, Cervenka goes on the left wing, tries to center, and a defender from Porto misses his header. Cermak is just there to pick up the header and bang it home! 2-0 Campobasso at the 31st minute! After the break, Lobato picks the ball at midfield, dodges a challenge and passes in the run of Cermak, who puts it to the left of the keeper. 3-0 Campobasso! At the 60th minute, I sub a quiet Nogueira for Mariano, as I want to give him his shot at scoring in the CL final. He will eventually hit the post, but not get on the scoreboard... The rest of the game goes on smoothly, with us managing the lead and not taking any unnecessary chances. The whistle is blown and... That's it! Campobasso are your European Champions in 2033-2034!! The road to the Champions League was hard. Surviving a group with Real Madrid, then winning against Ateltico Madrid, Juventus, Manchester City and FCP. With his two goals in the final, Cermak actually wins the best goalscorer of the competition, at the tender age of 18. Bravo Città di Campobasso. You were certainly lucky at times, you were clutch when it mattered and took the most of your opportunities. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted November 13, 2020 Author Share Posted November 13, 2020 what a way to bring an end to the challenge for FM20 - HUUUUGE congratulations to you @Biscotti and @jmarchand. So pleased that you both managed to achieve completion before the natural end of this thread. Think it's time to have a breather and hopefully we wil lsee you in FM21...!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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