[FM20] Prussia to gloria - a german adventure

[sgevolker]

Prussia to gloira - a german adventure

Introduction:

Hi everybody my name is Volker and I'm a german 50 years old guy, playing football manager since 2013 and Footballmanager games since the nineties. I'm a season card holder at Eintracht Frankfurt, the once how were beaten by Chelsea in the last year Euroleague halb finale. We had a long distance to go in the past 30 years until we were able to win the german cup in 2018. In the past I've managed in a lot of countries, f.e. Spain, Italy, Austria and France but I never managed in my home country Germany. So I decide to do this with the current version of Footballmanager. I don't want to manage my favourite team Eintracht Frankfurt because it would be to easy for me. I always look for a traditional club in a lower league which I can develop to the top. 

Before we start with the save I would also like to apologize for my english writing. Beside the challenge to bring Prussia (Preussen) back to gloria writing in english is also a huge challenge for me 

The Club:

I would like to call them by their original name Preussen. The club is from Münster.

Münster is based in Westfalia and has round about 300 thousand inhabitants. The club is founded in 1906 and was famous back in fifties of the last century. 1951 the managed to reach the german championship final which the unfortunately lost against Kaiserslautern with the famous Fritz Walter. In 1963 they were one of the founders of the German Bundesliga but unfortunately relegated after one Season and never came back. Over the years the fall began till to the Oberliga Westfalen, one of the fourth leagues in Germany. Today Preussen Münster is playing in the third league with a large fan crowd and a old fashioned stadium. 

I hope you like the introduction and I would be happy if some of you like to follow my journey 

[sgevolker]

Season 2019 / 2020

So Preussen hire Francesco Rossi as coach at the beginning of the first season. Francesco is a German/Italian guy an Preussen is the first station of his manager career.

Club Vision and DNA:

Before I started a save I always think about what I would like to achieve with the club. For this save it's:

• Become the Westfalia's first club. There a a lot of local rivals like Arminia Bielefeld, VFL Osnabrück and SC Paderborn. At the moment they're all based in front of us in the second and first league. 
• I would like to play counter style with fast ball translations between defence and attack. 
• Develop local players is also a target for me. Gain youth recruitment and bring our own newgens to the squad.
• Last but not least to reach the German Bundesliga and to become a stable member is one of our main targets. 

For the first season the board expects to finish mid table and for the next years the expectations are also not to high. I hope that we can surprise here and overachieve the low expectations. 

The media see's us in the last half of the table. I don't think that our squad is so bad, I would see us right in the middle of the table. 

 

Our balance it round about 4 Million Euro and the wage budget is 213 thousand Euro. Not much, we take it like it is.

We've got a 15 thousand capacity stadium, our training facilities and youth facilities are both average, so a lot to improve.

My next post will be about the tactic I would like to implement and some of the important players I've got in my starting squad. 

[sgevolker]

Coming to the tactic topic. As I wrote my target is to play a counter style with fast translation from the defence to attack.

I usually analyse my squad before I start a save. For this I use a google sheet. 

The screenshot is from a previous test save with Eintracht Frankfurt. 

My important players at the moment are:

21 year old Heinz Mörschel wo will act as attacking midfielder

25 years old Luca Schnellbacher who will act as advance forward

   31 year old Julian Schauerte who is my right wing back and also my captain

I usually also set up set piece routines before I start a save and customize my squad screens for attributes, training, contract, development and league stats.

Next post will be about the results of my first season.

[sgevolker]

Results of the first Season 2019/2020:

After a long season with a lot of steady results 

We managed to secure place three which allows us to play relegation playoffs

The games will be against VFL Bochum and we play first at home. We played one of our best matches and secured a 4:2 win which gives us a good spot for the re match.

It was a really heartbreaking match but we were able to hold or overall lead. 

I never expect something like this and it's a kind of miracle that we got promoted.

I usually make screenshots of the league stats but this time I forgot to do so 

I only have a screenshot of the saved print out file which I generated out of Footballmanager.

My best goal scorer was Luca Schnellbacher with 16 goals following by Maurice Litka with 13 goals. Both have also the highest average rating with 7.16 and 7.03.

Stay tuned to hear a lot more about the next season when we try to fight bravely against relegation as biggest outsider.

That's everything for now. I hope you like it 

 

[wicksyFM]

Well done. I might be starting a save with Preussen Münster tommorow. Was going to write about it here. Probably won't now as we already have Munster save going. 👍

[sgevolker]

vor 58 Minuten schrieb wicksyFM:

Well done. I might be starting a save with Preussen Münster tommorow. Was going to write about it here. Probably won't now as we already have Munster save going. 👍

Thanks. I‘m sorry for that. I don‘t mind if you also do a save with Preussen Münster and wrote about it. If you don‘t like to, there are a lot of other interesting teams in the third german league, like MSV Duisburg, 1860 Munich, 1FC Kaiserslautern or Eintracht Braunschweig. All teams with first league and international experiences.

[SixPointer]

Brilliant stuff so far I’ll be following I’ve enjoyed Germany twice. With Rostock and Kaiserslautern 

[sgevolker]

vor 16 Stunden schrieb SixPointer:

Brilliant stuff so far I’ll be following I’ve enjoyed Germany twice. With Rostock and Kaiserslautern 

Thanks, I appreciate this. Before I start the next season I would like to add three videos which shows the style I'm currently playing. Remember we want to play a counter style with fast translations from the back. And this is how it looks like sometimes 

[wicksyFM]

On 07/12/2019 at 17:26, sgevolker said:

Thanks. I‘m sorry for that. I don‘t mind if you also do a save with Preussen Münster and wrote about it. If you don‘t like to, there are a lot of other interesting teams in the third german league, like MSV Duisburg, 1860 Munich, 1FC Kaiserslautern or Eintracht Braunschweig. All teams with first league and international experiences.

That's ok. I probably wouldn't of wrote about it anyway. I like the idea of doing it but I can't really be bothered. Im starting the save today and will follow yours. 👍

[SRL88]

Good luck with this. Nice first season

[Hootieleece]

Exciting times in the old Bishopric! 

Were you able upgrade any youth coaching or training facilities to help with your goal of local players?

 

[sgevolker]

Am 8.12.2019 um 20:10 schrieb SRL88:

Good luck with this. Nice first season

Thank you very much. I had a lot of fun playing the first season and the result was outstanding. 

[sgevolker]

Am 8.12.2019 um 20:15 schrieb Hootieleece:

Exciting times in the old Bishopric! 

Were you able upgrade any youth coaching or training facilities to help with your goal of local players?

Thanks. The Bishop is also pleased about the results 

I wasn't able to get any update to youth and training facilities. I requested this from time to time with the same results. Not necessary at the moment.

I also had the first youth intake.

Nothing special. The best newgens are:

Simon Schwahndorf which I will develop as central defender

Elmar Hohs which I develop as box to box midfielder

Both are not outstanding. I hope the next youth intake will be better.

[sgevolker]

Season 2020/2021:

so we're promoted into the second german league. This will be a huge adventure and challenge for us. 

This is what the board expects from us:

• Make the most of set pieces
• Play high tempo football (I really like this, because it fits to our Club DNA)
• Fight bravely against relegation (of course we will do this!)

Before I start with the new season I always do some kind of squad planning. This time I use a squad print out and make manual remarks who should go and for which position I need an upgrade.

The results are the following new players:

Unfortunately we are still huge outsiders:

 

Let's see how we are doing. The next post will be at the mid of the second season. Stay tuned. 

 

[Hootieleece]

Can you out physical teams?

I generally look for Big, fast, athletic players who muscle opponents off the ball. It might not be pretty but the players and pressing win a lot of games for me. Even if the bookies don't favor me.

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by Hootieleece

[sgevolker]

vor 13 Stunden schrieb Hootieleece:

Can you out physical teams?

I generally look for Big, fast, athletic players who muscle opponents off the ball. It might not be pretty but the players and pressing win a lot of games for me. Even if the bookies don't favor me.

 

At the moment honestly I didn‘t have enough budget to scout for players who meet all attributes from our club DNA. Normally concentration, teamwork, pace and stamina are attributes I‘m looking for to support my kind of playing style. Later in the save I will scout for players with this attributes.

[sgevolker]

Season 2020/2021:

Here are our targets for the first season in the second german league.

We obtain a lot of money which helps us to improve the squad a little bit.

Also the youth budget improves, which should give us the possibility to include our own youth players in the next time.

After a long season we were able to finish on place 8. This was better then I ever expected. 

One of our goals was to score goals from corners. I think we did very well here.

Last but not least the season review's

Better the ever expected. So I was able to start the planning for the next season early and were able to buy some players on a expired contract. 

I also did some analyses of the stats for the finished season and saw that I might have a problem on the right side were I should have a closer look.

That's all for now from the second season. 

 

 

[sgevolker]

Season 2021/2022:

I Germany we say the second season is more difficult then the first season in a new league. The opposition teams now knows you and you playing style and there is no surprise any more. 

What are the club goals for this season? Still remain in the second Bundesliga.  Make the most of set pieces again and play high tempo football. So nothing changes here.

One of our newgens for this season was this guy.

I decide to give him some chances during the season and he didn't disappoint me. 

Add se end of our second season in league two we finished on place 13. It was not our best season and we also had some disappointing results like our lost in the derby in Paderborn with 4 goals in 4 minutes. 

When I look on the stats for this year, some of our best players where only on loan with us. So for the next season I've got a lot to do to build up a squad who is able to play a safe season. 

Sorry for not writing to much, I've lost a view screenshots and I also was a little bit ahead with playing. Now I'm back in the current season and I will try to write more at the end of this season, also about my squad and the players.

[sgevolker]

btw. does someone know why my screenshots are so blurry? When I open them on my PC there are clear and good to read. 

[ManUtd1]

I love how detailed/purposeful you are in squad building.

(Screenshots are plenty clear for me, when I click and zoom in...)

[Hootieleece]

The Spreadsheets of information to do squad building is impressive.

I just sort of eyeball is based on average ratings and what the team report says.

Keep up the good work!

[sgevolker]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb ManUtd1:

I love how detailed/purposeful you are in squad building.

(Screenshots are plenty clear for me, when I click and zoom in...)

Thanks, I'm glad that you like it. 

[sgevolker]

vor 59 Minuten schrieb Hootieleece:

The Spreadsheets of information to do squad building is impressive.

I just sort of eyeball is based on average ratings and what the team report says.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks. Honestly it's not so much work to do it. I download the data and do some analysis in google sheets. Round about half an hour time every season. 

[sgevolker]

Season 2022/2023:

Hi everybody, it's me with a new update for our fourth season in Münster. We start the season with an increase of our transfer and wage budget. Also the youth development budgets have adjusted. That are great news for us. 

Additional we are now doing an upgrade to our youth facilities. Great to see that the board is committing into spending money for this, because for a club like us it is important to develop young players and to sell them at a high amount. 

The youth intake brings up some interesting guys. 

Pawel Tamaszewski is our top youth prospect this year. 

I also brought a lot of new players to the club. Some of them like Timothy Tillman are now fix on board after a loan last season. 

I also decided to adjust my tactic a little bit, last season I conceded a lot of goals so I switch now to a defensive midfield player to stay a little bit more stable in the defense. 

For our top youth player Kean Köseoglu we get an offer about 4.9 Million Euro. But I decide that he has to stay the next 2 season because I think  we can obtain a lot more money in the future if his development goes the way I plan it should be. 

That's what he looks like with 15 and the actual status with 16 years. A nice improvement. 

The board also decided to reward my good work and gave me a new two year contract. 

After this I was able to convince the board to spend some money into our training facilities. 

I also was able to employ a new Head of youth Development. 

 

That's all regarding facilities, youth development and other stuff. Stay tuned for the results of the last season. 

 

 

[sgevolker]

Here a now the results of the last season. We were able to stay in the top half all the time with contact to the relegation spot. 

So we finished on place six. Curious are the 14 goals against Ingolstadt in 34 league games 

Only four goals after corners is not what I would like to achieve. So set pieces are a part for improvement in the next season. 

Anton Fase with 14 goals and Niklas Schmidt with 7 assist are in the tables. Not surprising that both are players and youth players of the year. 

The board decided to give us a huge increase for wage and transfer budget in the next year. This is great and gives us the opportunity to build a competitive squad for next season.

Here are the overall league stats of the season. 

Our important players are:

• Niklas Schmidt as right midfielder, obligated from MSV Duisburg before the season
• Sarpreet Singh as central midfielder, obligated from Bayern Munich before the season
• Thimothy Tillman as left midfielder, obligated from Bayern Munich before the season
• Anton Fase as Advanced Forward, obligated from Willem II Tilburg before the season

So our scouting payed of and the new players are a main part of the success this season

Last but not least here's an overview about the progress we made until the start of the save. Not bad I would say.

The next post will be about the preparation for the next season. A lot will happen in the squad because some of the regular players decide to leave and we have to build a new squad for the next season.

Thank you very much for reading until here. For me it's a huge challenge to write done everything in english. If you like it, please let me know 

[Hootieleece]

Great Job. Are you still promoting players from within or are you going to "poach" a few from the Big clubs. Certainly your loan players might be a few you might want to sign permanently?

[sgevolker]

vor einer Stunde schrieb Hootieleece:

Great Job. Are you still promoting players from within or are you going to "poach" a few from the Big clubs. Certainly your loan players might be a few you might want to sign permanently?

Thank you!

Last season I was able to sign a view players which were on loan permanent. Like Timothy Tillman. At the moment it's a mixture between loan, sign and develop own player like Kaan Köseoglu. As long term policy I would like to develop more and more own players to the squad. 

As always I try to plan my squad before the new season. As you can see we are currently searching for 5 Players and this will be a huge change to the squad again. But it's also a possibility to improve the squad in general.  

[SixPointer]

Just catching up with this after the festive period. Nice work. I love the detail you go into!

[sgevolker]

vor 15 Minuten schrieb SixPointer:

Just catching up with this after the festive period. Nice work. I love the detail you go into!

Thanks, I appreciate your feedback. It's not so much work to do it like this. 

[sgevolker]

Season 2022/2023:

Before I start the next season I decide to do a exercise to make clear for myself what I expect from my players. Therefore I describe the roles in my main tactic and the things I expect from players in these roles. I think this helps a lot to check if the players you have and bring new in the squad are able to fulfill these roles.

Before the season the media sees us at place 15th. Which is short before relegation but a step forward compared to previous years.

One of our strikers, Anton Fase, is now a favorite to be top goalscorer in this season. I'm curios if he can fulfill the expectations. 

He's a really fast player and fits to our current system. 

We also did some facility and recruitment updates. Which is always a pleasure because one of my goals in this save is to develop young players for the first team squad.

What should I say? At the end we had a incredible season finished on the second place and were promoted to the german Bundesliga. After 5 years 

We scored a lot of goals this season even with a more cautious tactic. 

And additional Anton Fase was the top goalscorer in the league. I'm also proud about Kaan Köseoglu who was the fourth ranked goalscorer this season. One of our newgens in this save. 

A lot of my players showed a really good performance this season and two of the were named in the squad of the year.

Even if the board decided to increase transfer and wage budget the next season in the german Bundesliga will be an adventure.

Low budgets, a small stadium and a squad with players who have not the potential to play in the Bundesliga. But I think when we act as a team we will be able to surprise a lot of experts.

[sgevolker]

For those of you who are interested into the results of the other leagues and european cups here is the overview:

Bundesliga and German Cup:

Premiere League:

La Liga:

Serie A:

Lique 1:

Euro League:

Champions League:

[Carambau]

This is a really nice detailed career (Of course I knew that already because I have been a member of MTF before - I especially remember your Eintracht save there - fantastic!) 

Keep it up, I am following 

[sgevolker]

vor 47 Minuten schrieb Carambau:

This is a really nice detailed career (Of course I knew that already because I have been a member of MTF before - I especially remember your Eintracht save there - fantastic!) 

Keep it up, I am following 

Thanks, I really appreciate this 

Yes, I've done some saves in the past and also write about it in the german "Meistertrainerforum".

[SixPointer]

Fantastic achievement getting to the Bundesliga with in 5 years. Especially with the lack of funding or a large stadium 

[Hootieleece]

Anton Fase will continue to score goals. Speed Kills defenses.

 

Impressive Achievement making the Bundesliga. Long may your success continue.

[sgevolker]

Am 18.1.2020 um 02:15 schrieb SixPointer:

Fantastic achievement getting to the Bundesliga with in 5 years. Especially with the lack of funding or a large stadium 

Thanks. I'm not sure if it's me or if the game is to easy? 

[sgevolker]

vor 11 Stunden schrieb Hootieleece:

Anton Fase will continue to score goals. Speed Kills defenses.

 

Impressive Achievement making the Bundesliga. Long may your success continue.

Thank you. Yes speed is a key figure at the moment for us. And of course long balls over the top are a killer. 

[sgevolker]

Well, I expect not much before the season, I wasn't able to obligate a lot of players with Bundesliga level. But then this happens after 4 games.

This is how we score goals. Beautiful  

I'm curious how the season will go on. At the moment I still expect to fight against relegation. 

I will post a lot more about the squad in the final post of this season. I also plan to do a post about our general club DNA and the youth players we develop.

Thanks for reading