[FM20] FC Gütersloh 2000

[metallimuse]

Summer Transfer Window 2037:

We didn't bring anyone into the club this summer, instead we have turned to our academy and been utilizing a few of them now they have come of age that they can be registered to play.

Sadly, more of our academy players are being poached before we even get the chance to see them graduate...

 

A few players did leave the club over the summer to make way for the young lads coming through.

Viktor served us with distinction and was a big part in our rise up the pyramid after so many years of having loan keepers at the club but we have some exciting prospects who need playing time so he has been allowed to leave to make way for them.

Thomas has been a solid player for us but his PA was tapped out and like Viktor, there are some great academy graduates coming through so he was allowed to leave.

Yannic wasn't quite good enough to make the grade for us so was allowed to go.

[metallimuse]

Oct/Nov 2037-38:

Another good couple of months for the club as we rack up 17 points in 13 games now and we're through to the Eighth Final in the DFB-Pokal now were we will face Werder Bremen.

I've been managing to rotate the squad around and everyone is getting game time and happy. Shant Mkrtchyan is still on fire and now has 10 in 12 and is now in two of the top 5 for league stats.

We've got a few teams still sniffing around players and I suspect Argentinian left back Fernando Brandán may be off in the winter break as I've just turned down an £8m bid from Manchester United that he's not happy about. If we can get £10m then we'll allow him to leave. 

[metallimuse]

Youth Intake Preview 2038:

Full backs will be great as I think Youssouf Cissé and Fernando Brandán's time with the club has probably run it's course for different reasons. Cissé probably needs upgrading for the Bundesliga and as I've said previously Brandán will probably be sold soon.

Got a good mix with the rest of the write up so again it will be exciting to get to newgen day.

[metallimuse]

Dec/Jan 2037-38:

Well despite Shant Mkrtchyan now topping the goal charts for the league it's been a pretty torrid run these past few months for the club with just the one win over the festive period at home to Ole Gunnar Solskjær's Würzburger Kickers.

We're still putting in some decent performances but again we look a bit fragile on the counter. Thinking back, this was the case previously when we had a young squad so I'm not too concerned. I think we're still too strong to go down and I'm really keen to blood through these academy graduates as traditionally when I play the game I like to focus on youth and make my saves as close to youth only as I can which I've not really had the chance to do over the save so far due to the board taking so long to upgrade the facilities and infrastructure so this will take time.

I didn't expect to get promoted and to be challenging for Europe instantly so I'm quite happy to take my time and to focus on surviving the next few years and blood through the young lads coming in and then to take it from there. So to sum up, a bad run of form but there's no need to panic yet. We need to stay the course and put in the building blocks for a bright and successful future down the line.

[metallimuse]

Feb/Mar 2037-38:

A better few months for the club as we managed one more win then the last report and a few draws into the bargain. We now sit on 30 points with 7 games left to go so we should be safe as I said in the last update.

We've had a phenomenal run in the DFB-Pokal cup so far this season and we now find ourselves in the semi final against fellow Bundesliga side Freiburg, a game which will be tough but it's not out of the realms of possibility that we could prevail in that and reach a cup final! If we do then we would face Die Fohlen or Die Roten.

Could be a big year for Wolfsburg as well looking at the top of the table as they have a commanding lead and are on course for their third Bundesliga in their history. 

[metallimuse]

Winter Transfer Window 2038:

I thought that there was something missing after my December and January update and there was.

So we didn't sign anyone in the window but a couple did leave...

Griffiths has returned home to Scotland for a profit after signing for £70k five years ago. He had hit his PA and while he played well for us I'm all about the development so once he hit his peak he had to leave.

We couldn't turn the offer for Michel Miller down. He joined us 3 and a half years ago for only £8.25k and we've sold him for a whopping profit.

Due to the sale and our involvement in the Bundesliga our bank balance is incredibly healthy now and we still have the prize money for this season to come...

[metallimuse]

I also hit another milestone over the period just been...

[metallimuse]

Youth Intake 2038:

Here's what John thinks this year...

...and here's how they look...

Not massive PA's this year sadly but there's a few that can make the first team squad so we'll work with that and drill down into their attributes at the end of the year and see what's what. I don't think any will be pushing for the starting eleven though sadly.

[metallimuse]

Apr/May 2037-38:

A dismal end to the season really if I'm honest but thankfully my early season form ensures that we are still a Bundesliga side at the end of the season.

Our play wasn't bad but we struggled to create chances and I think the winter transfer window sales really effected us more than I thought they would. Losing the clubs number one in  Tim Dannheim for 6 weeks didn't help matters either and by the time he returned our morale was in the toilet. But we get to kick about with the big boys again next year which was the goal so I can't grumble too much.

We bowed out of the DFB-Pokal to Freiburg in the semi's but again I can't complain as I said at the start of the year I'd like a decent run and a semi final appearance is exactly that, the FM God's must have heard me.

[metallimuse]

End of Season Review 2037-38:

Well it was a tough season but we survived and that's the only thing that matters.

We had a great run in the cup to brighten up the year and hopefully we can manage to do that a bit more often but truth be told we were lucky to avoid all the big hitters this time out which helped us massively.

 

Despite our struggles in the league the lads still had solid average ratings over the course of the season.

As I said in last years update, we've got a very young squad still and it shows with some of the huge jumps in PA over the course of the season. I'm very happy with how I'm doing with my training schedule's and how much improvement I'm getting out of the squad.

Shant Mkrtchyan was again our saviour and weighed in with a great return of 21 goals this season. I've managed to tie him down to a long term contract thankfully and he's now earning far above anyone else in the squad but we'd be lost without his goals at the moment so whatever it costs to keep him at the club I'll pay. He does have a £30m buy out clause in his contract though so I live in fear that a big European team comes in for him at some point.

The young academy graduates like Tim Dannheim and Jonas Wassinger have become 1st choice picks now and René Daeumler isn't far behind. Eggert and Dämpfling are understudies at the moment but they'll get plenty of game time next year and by the end will be proper 1st teamers.

Mamadou Mbaye and Pascal Anton's contracts are up this season and I won't be renewing them.

 

Again due to the young nature of the squad we see some big improvements in attribute development over the season.

Looking at the spreadsheet though I can see why I'm finding it a struggle as the bulk of the team are currently Bundesliga 2 level though. I'm not going to go out and spend to improve though, not yet. I want to keep working with the boys and develop them and hopefully with the money we are spending on our infrastructure the new academy boys in time will all get up to Bundesliga level.

 

Again, no complaints with the fan awards this season, all very much deserved.

 

Another 13th place finish so I'm happy with that. It felt much more of a struggle this year but I think that's due to the fact that instead of picking up wins sporadically through the season they were mainly in the first half of the season which kept us up.

The fans are still packing out the stadium though and season ticket sales up but the board still haven't found a site for a new stadium. We're working on improving facilities but for some reason they still won't agree to improve our youth recruitment which is annoying.

We're moving in the right direction though and the club is in a solid position with good foundations for me to keep expanding moving forward. I think in a season or two when I start trying to move up the table and challenging for a top half finish we might look into getting a B team.

 

[metallimuse]

Season 2038-39 Preview:

Third season in Bundesliga and everyone still thinks we shouldn't be here and is predicting us as relegation certainties. 

Preseason has gone really well as you can see below and we look a very well drilled and competent team so I'm quietly confident that we might actually be able to climb a little bit and I'll maybe say we can achieve 10th/11th this season.

There has been some movement in the transfer market over the summer with a few players being allowed to leave either because they wanted to or one who wanted a new contract that I just wasn't prepared to give him, but more on that later after the window has closed.

So, another season of fighting I think but yeah, I think we'll do slightly better this time out.

"Wir müssen den Kampf annehmen und ihn lieben!"

[metallimuse]

Aug/Sep 2038-39:

A fantastic start to the season with the team really clicking including a thrilling opening day game against Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal. Sadly we then got a few injuries to key players such as Shant Mkrtchyan and Van Oekel and the wheels have come off a bit.

There's been lots of late goals in games so far this season which is odd.

Nine points on the board so far this season though, a quarter of the way to the magical 35 and survival.

[metallimuse]

Summer Transfer Window 2038:

So a few players left over the summer and we raked in our biggest total transfer fees to date.

Sven wanted more money than I was willing to pay for a third choice striker, Max and Stefan found themselves surplus to requirements due to the emergence of our academy graduates and Fernando we just couldn't turn the money down.

 

So to make up for Fernando leaving we needed and extra body in the left back role and finally my Scottish scout started to earn his keep by giving me a couple of leads...

Harrison joins from Dundee for £600k with PA still to accrue. Hopefully we can develop him and sell him to an English team for a healthy profit in a few years.

Kevin has joined us from St. Mirren for £1.2m to play as my box to box midfielder. He's another with PA to still maximize and I'm hoping I can turn him into a Scottish international while he's at the club before selling on a few years down the line.

 

[metallimuse]

Oct/Nov 2038-39:

Delight for the club as we managed to beat Monchengladbach in the DFB-Pokal to advance. That's two fellow Bundesliga teams we've put out on our run this year and if we're to advance to the quarters then we need to see off another Bundesliga side in Freiburg next.

We managed to bag ourselves 9 points over these two months to take us to 18 points so we're halfway to our target with 21 games left to play. There was some heavy losses though to big hitters like die wölfe, die roten and die schwarzgelben. We simply got played off the park in those games which was a very worrying thing to see.

We're also picking up a lot of injuries this year which is annoying, anyone would think the game was rigged seeing as it's happening after I've trimmed my squad down 

[metallimuse]

Youth Intake 2039:

Another promising group, really need new full backs.

[metallimuse]

Dec/Jan 2038-39:

A solid festive period as we only had one loss through the months. We had to use some heavy rotation due to injury troubles again but we clawed and scrapped our way through. 14 games to go and we only need 5 points to get to the 35 threshold so this season looks like it will be a record breaker for us. The young academy boys are really holding their own now so I'm excited to see what we can do next year once they've had a bit of experience to add to the potential they have.

Despite our good form Shant Mkrtchyan has struggled to make the impact he has the past two years but the rest of the squad are all chipping in to make up the difference.

[metallimuse]

Feb/Mar 2038-39:

There was no transfer activity over the winter window and we went on a terrible run these past two months. It looks far worse than it is though as I took the decision to play the kids in all games since we are assured of survival with this many games left. It means we won't hit the heights that we maybe could do but the chance to increase the lads CA is far more beneficial in the long run than any glory this season.

We've now hit the 35 point mark anyways so safety is guaranteed so I'm going to continue to play the youngsters. The down side to all this game time is though that they've all come to me wanting better contracts 

[metallimuse]

Youth Intake 2039:

As usual let's see what JC has to say...

...and here's how they look...

...wow there is lots to work with in this intake and I'm especially happy to get some full backs. It won't be long until we can field a side completely of academy graduates which will make me a very happy manager.

 

 

[metallimuse]

Apr/May 2038-39:

We managed to pick off some victories over some lower down the table sides over the last two months of the season and we ended it in style with a huge win over relegated Augsburg who sadly are going back down to Bundesliga 2 after just the one year back up.

The kids performed admirably and you'll see in the end of year review that we've managed to really help grown their CA so I'm already looking forward to next year and seeing what we can achieve.  

[metallimuse]

End of Season Review 2038-39:

A relatively comfortable season for the club as we were solidly mid-table. We could of had a better season if I'd played my strongest side more but the rewards for a more balanced team should pay dividends in the years to come.

 

As we can see above there were some huge jumps in CA from the younger academy graduates with the amount of game time they got this season. We just need to work on personalities again now to really get this crop firing on all cylinders in the next few years. The squad is so young as you can see though so there should be some big things to come from these lads.

Youssouf Cissé contract is up and he will be leaving this summer. After many years of service Louis Müllers will be sold this summer also as he's been throwing a hissy fit around the club saying he wants more youth development, I don't know what more I can do so he's out.

Shant Mkrtchyan didn't get his usual goal tally this year which hurt us but enough of the lads weighed in with goals that we didn't miss it too much. It was a real squad performance this year.

 

Training has been brilliant these 12 months with some huge improvements on DNA as well as PA. I need to look at trying to improve the concentration of a few of the forward players over the next 12 months it seems looking at this though.

 

A shock to see no strikers getting the nod this year but none of them dazzled this year. Good to see the backline getting some recognition from the fans.

 

My 20th year at the club and our best season with regards to our finish in the grand scheme of the pyramid. More wins than we've managed in the Bundesliga so far, more goals scored in the division despite Mkrtchyan not finding the net so often and not far off our best defensive record.

The stadium is literally packed out each week and we won't move to our new stadium until 2041, that will only be an increase of 8000 though.

 

It's been a good season. We could have done better as I've said a few times but I'm sure we'll be stronger this season ahead I'm sure. The future is very bright with the talent we're now producing and I've now agreed to a B team so hopefully we'll be able to harness that with future talent which I can call up when someone in the first team has to leave who will be ready to hit the ground running.

[BigShane]

I've just read through this after you linked it on your other save. Great save!

But you need to tell me what happened with the next season playing the youngsters?!?!

[metallimuse]

4 hours ago, BigShane said:

I've just read through this after you linked it on your other save. Great save!

But you need to tell me what happened with the next season playing the youngsters?!?!

The save sadly ended at this point as FM announced the release date for FM21 and I decided to put the game away in prep for the new release and give my long suffering fiancé some attention .

This was a great save though and Bar Malka will be making an appearance in a future save idea 

I feel like there is unfinished business  with Gütersloh though and there could be a future save in Germany again at some point in future releases