[FM20] Climb The Ladder

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2055/56

DPR Korea League

We went into the league season expected to finish 7th, we had to really scour the transfer market for talent, often taking risks without a scouting team and seemingly no way to get one. In North Korea, the clubs are not allowed to sign foreign players for obvious reasons so it becomes a game of scouting the other teams in the division. We were quick out of the blocks in the league season and got ahead in the league but we were never really comfortable with April 25 and Kigwancha looking over out shoulders. As we got to the final two months, it was beginning to look like we might do it and despite a draw and a loss in the final month the chasing pack were also dropping points and we managed to secure the title in our penultimate game of the season. That is 100 points banked for us in AFC13.

Hweabul Cup

This competition is a tough competition, first there is a big group stage right and the business end of the season when injuries are mounting and the league games are ever so important. We did well in the group stage, qualifying in 2nd place behind April 25. In the Quarter Final we drew Jebi, whom we beat in the league the fixture before our cup game and repeated the win again. In the semi finals we drew the very tough Amrokkang in the cup and that was the end of our journey although we were unlucky. After a 0-0 draw the game went to penalties finally resolving itself 9-8 in favour of our opponents. We are unable to secure the 50 points available from this competition unfortunately.

Squad

Some good performances from the team, but we have been more efficient than amazing on the pitch. Park Kuk-Chol from the wing has been pretty impressive for us and set up plenty of goals this season. Chung Chung-Il has been the man putting the ball in the back of the net with 22 goals this season, his form has been good. Ri Ju-Song has also been pretty instrumental in us going forwards and he has contributed plenty from the attacking midfield spot. All round plenty of good performances, and also to be honest some guys who have not played that well.

Manager Thoughts

We pick up the league for 100 points to bring our total for AFC13 to 250 points, and the halfway point of this rung, but we did drop the cup so I guess not a perfect season for us. I think we will stay for another season at Wolmido, because the league and cup would be worth 100 points to us combined which is not to be sniffed at and I think we have built a good team here. Secondly Kigwancha won the Asian Confederation Cup last season so it is a good measure that perhaps North Korean sides have a chance at Asian continental football so I am willing to risk it. I got a message saying we would be entered into the AFC Champions League but I don't think we could win that, perhaps if we get into the Asian Confederation Cup, considering we already made the final with an Indian and Maldivian team, we could go all the way. Who knows...

Career Summary

Edited September 1, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2056/57

AFC Champions League

Well to some degree it was good that we were good enough to qualify for the Champions League, but really it was means to leave Asian football competition a lot quicker as we were completely outclassed against seasoned top tier competition in the group stages.

DPR Korea League

I have never witnessed something so shoddy and inconsistent as our team this year. We were absolutely woeful, absolutely no backbone, no attacking guile, no defensive solidity. It was terrible. As defending champions you would have expected us to have put up something of a fight but it was so bad this season that we were never remotely close to winning league again and it is looking like a big mistake on my part that I would have stayed for another season here. The final league table might suggest that we were somehow close; that actually we were in around the title but we weren't, we were never close, we never looked like challenging and a 5 point gap is flattering to us. I know they say league tables don't lie, this one does, we were ****.

Hwaebul Cup

By some miracle with consideration of our league form we somehow managed to qualify for the final of this competition. We only just scraped through the group stages, as we were **** for the majority of the games and completely inconsistent. We lucked our way through the quarter finals and the semi finals and then we got exactly what we deserved in the final losing to February 8 in the final. 50 points down the drain but considering the season, a miracle to get to the final.

Squad

A team that won the league last season was absolutely **** poor this season and I can't really tell you why. The Champions League campaign did not help our cause, it is not good for morale to be outclassed for 5 weeks in a row. But it was more than that, we seemingly forgot how to defend. Morale was a problem this season as well, the players spent most of the time in doldrums and despite my best efforts it was difficult to motivate them to be any better than they were. Really no impressed me, not Ri Il-Hyok who got 16 goals from centre-back but can he defend? No is the answer to that question.

Manager Thoughts

I don't know the Korean word for goodbye, but that is exactly what I will be saying. I am very much done here at Wolmido. In the end we probably did a great job to win the league last season as that was only their 2nd ever title, but this season was a traversty. Normally a mention that we missed out on these points and those points. No point this season, never even remotely close. I knew from the start of the season that any points were out of the question. We will be moving to pastures new next time, and we will see what jobs might be available for us. We learnt a valuable lesson here, sometimes staying when I am doubting our ability is not something that I will be able to resolve the next season. We regressed this season if anything.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2058

We left North Korea after our disappointing last season in the country and were out of job for about a month, there were three potential suitors. Druk United in Bhutan, Erchim in Mongolia and Deren also in Mongolia. We got offered the job at Deren first but our target was the Erchim job since they had won the league the previous season and there manager had decided to resign from the job following the success. We eventually got offered the job at Erchim and our new home would be Ulanbaatar, the captial of Mongolia

Mongolia has three main competitions, the Niislel League is the main league competition of the country and worth 100 points to us, The Mongolia Cup is the main cup competition and worth 50 points and the Mongolia Super Cup is just as it sounds and is worth 30 points.

Mongolia Super Cup

Our first competitive game in charge of Erchim was for the Mongolia Super Cup and worth 30 points to us. We came through against Sharyn Gol 2-0 in a tough game but one that we managed to win.

Niislel League

When we lost our first game of the season against Sharyn Gol I was fearing the worst especially after what we endured in North Korea in our final season, where the team was not playing well. I was thinking perhaps we had lost our touch. But the rest of the season we were fantastic. We don't score many goals, but we rarely concede and that is a league winning formula, we conceded only 6 league goals in our 18 games and 2 of them were in the opener where perhaps the players were still adapting to our methods. I could not have asked for me especially after being made 2nd favourites for the league, we led the league from about the 5th fixture and never looked back. Khangarid the team that was favourite for the league were never too far behind but never within touching distance especially at the end. When actually won the league against them in the penultimate fixture for a little extra gloating for our side. We take 100 points from the win which I am very happy about.

Mongolia Cup

The Mongolian Cup is a standard one legged knockout tournament and we started off with a nice 1-0 win against Deren in the 2nd Round. In the second round we faced Khoromkhon who ended up getting relegated this season and we took them apart 3-0. In the Quarter Final we had lower league opposition in Continental and they did not provide much of challenge as we beat them 4-1.

The semi final felt a bit like the final as we faced our main foes in Khangarid away and it was a tough match that was decided by an early goal from ourselves as we came through the tight encounter 1-0.

The final was against lower league Soyombii Barsuud, who I think were just happy to be there as we beat them easily 5-0 in the final to take the Mongolia Cup and pick up another 50 points.

Squad

We delved into the transfer window to try and improve the team and at the first window I felt like we still had a lot of gaps and square pegs in round holes, but we did not really suffer on the pitch and we managed to correct things much more in the second window. In terms of performances, Myagmarsuren Battogtoh was really the man at the back and he was key to our defensively solidity. I need to wrap him up in cotton wool as we need him to be on the pitch as much as possible. At the other end of the pitch Turbold Borbandi, a second window signing was a superb addition and he has been playing out his skin. Sukhbaatar Erdenechulun up front again was a key piece as he put away the chances we did create with 16 goals in the campaign. And the man with the longest name in the world, even for Mongolia it is taking the **** Tsagaantsooj Borhuu-Lkhamsuren was great in behind the striker and got himself plenty of goals as well. Would like to see him getting a few more assists though.

Manager Thoughts

Well that was a great season as we completed a treble in our first season and bagged 180 points in total which elevates our AFC13 campaign towards its completion very nicely. We will be staying next season as we are now very close having attained 430 points so far. That means a league and cup double which we have shown we are very much capable of will mean that we will have enough points to move on. I do need to make sure I keep the defence together as they have been brilliant and it was the opposite in North Korea, where our defence seemingly could not defend especially in the 2nd season.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2059

I am not sure why but it appears that Mongolian clubs do not enter Asian competition or perhaps it is on some very long delay so it was pure domestic football again this season.

Mongolian Super Cup

The Mongolian Super Cup was not that important to me this season just because of the number of remaining points we needed the Super Cup was going to be immaterial to hitting the number we needed. Regardless of that I am happy that we got the win anyway 3-0 against Khangarid. 15 points on the board

Niislel League

The league was very important to us if we wanted to move onto AFC12 at the end of this year, and we were absolutely sublime in the league as went the season unbeaten only dropping two points all season. We worked on the team and got in a little bit more creative all whilst protecting the defence that had helped us so much last season to achieve such a good defensive record and we were pretty much untouchable as everything came together to produce a league season of the highest quality possible. We take another 50 points from having won the league for the second time.

Mongolia Cup

The Mongolia Cup was the key cup we needed to advance this year and our form in the cup was imperious as we failed to concede a goal the whole competition. We started off our campaign in the 2nd Round against Gepro and they probably gave us our toughest test of the whole campaign but we came through 2-0 winners. In the next round it was lower league Zaisan and they were no match for us as we won out 3-0. Then we faced the always tough Khangarid but they seem to be worse this season and we took full advantage beating them 4-0.

In the semi finals we faced Deren away, a potential banana skin on the road to the final but it was no such thing for us as we came through 4-0 winners again to set up what on paper was a tough test in the final against Sharyn Gol, so far the only team to have beaten us while we have been in Mongolia, but they did not trouble us at all as we made it our third 4-0 win in a row in the cup and lifted the trophy. That is our key 50 points that we need to advance to the AFC12.

Squad

We delved again into the transfer market looking for some attacking improvements and I think in general we managed to bring in some improvements and certainly improved our strength in depth as a squad. In terms of standout peformers, look no further than Turbold Borbandi, who continued his fine form from that last season and was a key player this season with goals and assists. Rakesh Shrestha a new signing improved our defence even further this season and he was very good at the back for us. Tsangaantsooj Borhuu-Lkhamsuren was again a key player for us and he was our top goalscorer this season, although he did improve his assists this season, he was on target very often which is nice to see. Ajay Rai another new signing was also very good when he played getting a goal every other game for us this season.

Manager Thoughts

Well finally we are done with AFC13. It was a tough rung to get through and we had a bit of wobble in our second full season in North Korea but managed to get things right in Mongolia to pick up the points that we needed to advance. We finish this leg on 520 points, just above the amount that we needed to advance. So we will be unloading the AFC13 countries and next up we have AFC12, which has Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and Macau. I think this might be a very difficult leg. We will have no chance of doing anything in the continental competitions and there is one less country to work through, so we will have to get things right or suffer the consequences, which would be a long drawn out affair.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2060/61

We were out of work for what seemed like an eternity, but ended up being around 17 months, as we waited for a job to come up. Macau was the first to load, followed by Taiwan but no jobs really came up in the top divisions, and it appeared to me that the reason why the managers got to keep their jobs despite underdelivering was that that they all seemed to spawn with 4-5 year contracts and I don't think the money is there in Macau and Taiwan to sack them. So they are probably stuck with them for a few years. Eventually we did get an opening with Hong Kong's Eastern and we got given the job. It was the end of the Hong Kong season and so we just had a few games to play out until the season ended.

Hong Kong has many competitions. Starting with the Hong Kong First Division which is the top division in the country and worth 100 points to us. They also four cup competitions. The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield, the Hong Kong FA Cup, the Hong Kong Sapling Cup and the Hong Kong Community Cup. The cup with most reputation was that of the Senior Challenge Shield. It has been going since the 19th century so that might explain why. Anyway the Senior Challenge Shield is worth 50 points and the other cup competitions are worth 30 points.

Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield

Already knocked out when we arrived at the club

Hong Kong Community Cup

Already knocked out when we arrived at the club

Hong Kong Sapling Cup

We arrived at Eastern with Sapling Cup semi final to still be played and we played Lee Man in that semi final and got a nice 3-1 win to book ourselves a place in the final, against eventual league champions Wofoo Tai Po, and we got the better of them over the 120 minutes the game ran for as we ran out 3-1 winners in extra time. We took the lead late in the final but they found an equaliser to force extra time, but Yip Tsz Ming stepped up in the first half of extra time with two goals to give us the win and the cup and our first points in AFC12. 30 points for the win in this competition.

Hong Kong FA Cup

We found ourselves in a similar situation to the Sapling Cup for the FA Cup, where we had a semi final to play, and in fact it was our first game as manager. And what a start it was as we battered champions elect Wofoo Tai Po 4-0 to reach the final. In the final we would R&F and again we were forced into extra time. R&F had led from the first half but we got a late goal to bring extra time about and then got the winner in extra time to win the game and the cup 2-1. Another 30 points in the bag.

Hong Kong First Division

We only played the final three games of the league season and to be honest we did not improve the form of the team at all, as we lost two and won one of the games. The games we lost were against tough opposition but it shows that there is a lot of work required with this team to get us competitive. We ended up finishing in 6th place in the league and very safe in the end, despite media suggestions when we joined that we could still be relegated. Hopefully we can have a better league campaign next year when we have the full season to work with.

Squad

Not a lot of great performances on show. I have had too much time to assess the team at this time it does not make sense to point anyone out. No one has secured a spot for next season we are very much going to be looking in the transfer market for improvements to the first team squad.

Manager Thoughts

Well considering we just joined the club to end up with 2 trophies and 60 points is probably above par, we normally get nothing from those end of season initial campaigns we have had with many a club now. So it is nice to get points on the board nice and early with this leg of the journey. Hong Kong has real potential because of the amount of competition up for grabs so, for sure, we will be here next season and hopefully we will have picked up a few more points.

Career Summary

Edited September 2, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2061/62

Hong Kong Community Cup

As FA Cup winners we were involved in the Community Cup against last years league winners Wofoo Tai Po, and it was a very good start to our campaign to start things off. 30 points in the bag.

Hong Kong First Division

Our bread and butter has to be the league and we produced a fantastic display this season. We were unfancied at the start of the season with bookies thinking we would push for fourth place, but they were wrong as we romped home with the league title unbeaten. That is 100 points in the bag for us.

Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield

A competition to forget for us. This was the cup that was worth the most points and we really did not turn up for our Quarter Final tie again Yuen Long. It was 0-0 at full time and they found the winner 2 minutes into the extra time. This was a warning sign that we would not have things all our own way. 50 points not coming to us.

Hong Kong Sapling Cup

The Sapling Cup has a group format before we get into the knockout rounds. In the group stage we were pretty good as we won the group undefeated without much issue. In the semi finals we faced Wofoo Tai Po, who we had beaten to the top place in our group and we got past them although the result probably flattered us as we drew 2-2 in regular time and then in extra time we found a second wind and put 3 more goals past our opponents to win 5-2 after extra time. 

In the final we faced the always dangerous Kitchee, and they were certainly dangerous. Despite having 8 shots to our 29, they always looked dangerous on the attack and they picked us off expertly as they ran out 4-2 winners. More lost points for us although only 15 in this case due to last seasons success in this tournament.

Hong Kong FA Cup

We started off the FA Cup with a win in the quarter finals against Pegasus, narrowly beating them 2-1 on the night but it all went wrong in the semi finals as we lost to a 6th minute goal from Wofoo Tai Po and were pretty spurnful and could not get an equaliser.

Squad

It was a big transfer window for us as we looked to improve the team as much as we could and we were not afraid to spend the money required to do so. With a £4.5m transfer budget we certainly made use of some of it. Our first order of business was to get rid of the foreigners who were not up to par for the club, that were occupying a foreign player allocation slot, and then we looked to buy as well as we could, and I would say we accomplished our goals in really improving the team and the depth of the team.

Our best performer was not a new signing however it was Yip Tsz Ming, who managed to be top goalscorer, top assist maker and top average rating which is a rare feat I must say. He was excellent when he got a chance and to be honest outshone some of the bigger name signings we made. Tomaz Hrnatsik a signing from the second division of Slovenia was a decent player for us, he bagged 11 goals this season and was the only other player to make it into double digits. Jacob Marshall was a pretty key signing in central defence, we were a better defensive proposition with him in the team he joined from Western Suburbs of New Zealand and contributed well with over 3 and half interceptions a game. Finally Leon Hiulaungia the Solomon Islander we bought from Kitchee was a decent proposition and I think he will improve but he was probably outdone by his Hong Kong positional understudy Yip Ho Pan this season, so I am looking for improvement

Manager Thoughts

We picked up 130 points this season, not bad, but also a long way from perfect. At the moment I am unsure of my future, we may remain at the club or we may well go if the right job comes up elsewhere, as I feel the cups are a difficult proposition and I feel like this club is ready to do a "Wolmido" on me and fail badly next season. I just started to get the sense at the end of the season that it might happen. We will see where we end up with the next update.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2062

We said last time around that we may leave we may stay at Eastern, but the straw that broke the camel's back was when the media linked us to a job and we said we would not mind having a go at that job and the board jumped down our throat, telling us we had to attend a meeting or lose our job. Now I was looking to potentially leave anyway but I don't want to lose 100 points doing it by getting sacked. Anyway we turned up and we assuaged the board letting them know it was a one time thing and promptly resigned a couple of days later. Now I know the astute might be saying, shouldn't I lose 100 points for that as I mentioned resigning under pressure, but no not in this case, the board were delighted with me, they would be sacking me for disloyalty. Anyway we did resign and were out of job for about 3 weeks before we were appointed to Benfica de Macau in neighbouring Macau. The club is a powerhouse of Macanese football having won 28 league titles and 31 Taca de Macau, but they were sitting in 3rd place and the board had had enough of their manager. We were appointed to take his place.

In Macau there are three main competitions, there is the Campeonato da 1a Divisao the main league of Macau, this is worth 100 points to us. There is the Taca de Macau the main cup competition worth 50 points and a secondary cup the Macau-Canton Interport Cup worth 30 points to us.

We joined the club at a weird time. The league season was finished but the Taca de Macau was about to begin, so there would be no league action that was done for the year but there would be an opportunity for the Taca de Macau

Macau-Canton Interport Cup

Already knocked out when we arrived at the club

Campeonato da 1a Divisao

The league season had already finished when we arrived but the club ended up 4 points behind champions Chao Pak Kei in 3rd place.

Taca de Macau

As we arrived at the club there we had between 1 and 3 matches left of the season and it all depended how well we did in each successive match, as it was the Taca de Macau, all that was left of the season. In the first game, the Quarter Final we faced off against Lai Chi and got ourselves a 2-0 win. Lai Chi were an unknown to me but I could see they had been relegated so I guess things had gone to form in the Quarter Finals. In the semi finals we faced what seemed to be a natural derby of Benfica vs Sporting, but apparently not according to the game. Anyway we will always treat it as such. We got the better of our opponents Sporting who also almost got relegated this season narrowly surviving as we took the game 2-1.

In the final we faced Ka I, the team who had finished 2nd in the league this season and it proved to be the easiest match of the lot as thye never got going and we were comfortable all game as we ran out 3-0 winner to win the Taca de Macau and record 50 points out of nowhere.

Squad

I only really have one main observation about the squad and that is that is absolutely massive and needs culling down to abotu 25-30 players at the moment we have two pages of names that apparently sit in the first team. This is primarily because the team only has an Under 18 team, so no reserves, so they accumulate in the first team. We will be looking to try and resolve that.

Manager Thoughts

We moved from Hong Kong to Macau and in the space of about a month we had another 50 points to our name to now make it 240 points overall and we are now almost at the halfway stage of AFC12. We will be looking to really improve the performances next year of the team as they clearly under performed this season and hopefully we can go all out on all fronts for the trophies.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2063

Campeonato da 1a Divisao

We had an incredibly impressive season as we look a cut or two above the rest of the league completing an unbeaten league season in the process. We even managed to destroy Sporting de Macau 10-1 in one our league games as they had an another awful season and were relegated to the the 2nd division. Not a lot else to say it was a great campaign and we looked fantastic most of the season. 100 points are earned for this league win.

Macau-Canton Interport Cup

It was a successful campaign in what is a pretty long cup competition in the Macau-Canton Cup. We started off our camapaign away at lower league Va Fai and got a one sided 7-0 win, games aginst Son I and Lai Chi followed in the 3rd and 4th rounds and we won 2-0 and 4-2 respectively.

In the 5th Round we faced lower league Kin Pak and won 3-0 before blowing out Quarter Final opposition Man Fung Hong 5-0. In the semi final we played again further lower league opposition in Enfermagem winning 6-0. The final again was against lower league sides as it appears the competition had plenty of shocks along the way as Aviacao Civil made it to the final and we smashed them in the final 5-0 to win the Macau-Canton Cup and collect 30 points for the victory.

Taca de Macau

The Taca de Macau was a shock for us as we found ourselves 3-0 down to Chao Pak Kei after just 32 minutes and we were wondering what on Earth had just hit us. We seemingly just could not get the ball in their net, until it was pretty much two late, as a we grabbed two late injury time goals at the end of the game to make the game look respectable at 3-2 but we had lost and bowed out of the Cup. I have no idea how we lost the game we had 41 shots, they had 6 and they won the game 3-2. We were caught shellshocked I think after a long season and perhaps a bit of complacency mixed in with the fact that we had had a long season cost us, but there was nothing we could to change it. 25 points dropped really considering the season we had.

Squad

The goal at the start was to get rid of players, and we sold who we could, and demoted the other half to the Under 18s where they cannot play but at least they are out of the first team. We did bring in some very good players that the scouts managed to find along the way. Radomir Kosanovic a Serbian player, came in and he was cut above on the right wing than what we had. On the left wing we brought a serious talent in Tahitian Hennel Pito from one of our former clubs AS Dragon. Hassan Saleh came in from Iraqi football and probably became one of the best centre backs in the league without a doubt, and Sanaila Khan came in from Fijian football and again a brilliant talent at right back.

In the end however without a doubt the main superstar of the squad was Macanese guy who had already been at the club in David Rosado, who was absolutely unbelivable, he bagged 30 goals and 17 assists and clocked an amazing 8.60 average rating. He was like the Messi of the Macanese leagues and it was a joy to behold his wizardry at this level. I would be amazed if he is able to repeat a season as resplendent as the one he just had. There were of course other great performers, Radomir Kosanovic came in and got 12 goals and 12 assists for a very nice return for us. Sio Chi Chong got 20 goals from the striker position. Lao Kuoc Va got 11 goals and 7 assists in another great performance this season. In defence Sanaila Khan may not have the goals or assists but was a threat running down the wing all season and Hassan Saleh ensured we conceded pretty rarely. All round it was a great squad performance.

Manager Thoughts

Well we have now won all the competitions in Macau and often that means we move on but I am enjoying my time at Macau and we have now reached 370 points, putting us near the finish line for AFC12. If we were able to win a treble next season we could pick up 90 points which would leave us on 460 points and would mean that even a main cup competition at a new team could take us through somewhere else. Benfica de Macau seem like a sure thing, I don't see the performance dropping and I think we should take the reduced points rather than placing a bet somewhere else, so barring some amazing job being available with massive upside I imagine we will still be manager of Benfica.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2064

Asian Confederation Cup

By virtue of our league win last season we entered the Asian Confederation Cup this season and it ended up being a short campaign. We faced Taicheng Lions of Taiwan in the first round and it was an easy victory for us but the second round drew quite a tough draw, one that I was confident we could win but still a tough draw for us in Wofoo Tai Po of Hong Kong. We ended losing the two legged tie 1-0 on aggregate and I don't know how it happened considering how well we played over the two legs. We deserved to go through but credit has to be give to Tai Po because they were defensively brilliant to keep it out and played 180 minutes plus of football without the football for the majority of it as we dominated possession and attacking statistics, but these things happen and we lose in the 2nd Round. Never a competition I thought we had a hope in so not too disappointed all told.

Campeonato da 1a Divisao

As good as it can get. This season was a marvel from us as we went the entire season not just unbeaten but with a perfect record. 18 games played, 18 games won. We were by far the best side in the league and that shows in the league table and the gap to second place, but even the best sides have bad days and we simply didn't this season we were great from the first game to last and it is a great achievement. We collect 50 points for our second league title.

Macau-Canton Interport Cup

The Macau-Canton Cup ended up being pretty straightforward for us as we continued our brilliant league for into this tournament. Not once did we need extra time or penalties to resolve things as we got the job done inside regulation time. We played lower league sides up until the Quarter Final and they presented no challenge. The Quarter Final however was probably the toughest game we has as we faced off against mid table side Hang Sai and they gave us a good game as we only came through 1-0, although we were never really in major trouble during the game. In the semi finals we had a regulation win over Policia with two first half goals sealing the result. In the final we faced off against a team that has always been tough in Chao Pak Kei and notably knocked us out of the Taca de Macau last season, but not this season as we again got two goals up in the first half and that would be how it remained to seal the trophy. We pick up 15 points for the trophy.

Taca de Macau

Last season we were jolted out of the competition in the first fixture by Chao Pak Kei and I was hoping the same thing would not happen again. The Taca de Macau happens at an unusual time right after the league season ends so fatigue and complacency are the enemies. We faced Lai Chi, who were poor all season in the Quarter Final and beat them easily enough 4-1, although we did rely on late goal to make the tie safe. In the semi final we faced Ching Fung and we led from the first half 1-0 and made things safe towards the end of the game as we added two more to win 3-0. 

In the final we would face the team that was quickly becoming a bit of a nemesis in Chao Pak Kei. We already knew at this stage that we would have to face them in both cup finals and this was the first one. In all honesty it was a pretty comfortable game, we got ahead just before half time and then added a second halfway through the second half and they really were not that dangerous, we could manage their attacks. They got a consolation in injury time but it was too little too late for them as we picked up another trophy this season and another 25 points.

Squad

I did nothing in the transfer window, no new signings as I felt we had every position sufficiently covered well enough that it made no sense to potentially upset the dressing room with signings. We were fantastic this season in every aspect and the main man David Rosado was back again with some sterling performances. He was perhaps not as good as last season, but last season he was like a god of football, this season he was only a demi-god. He again was fantastic in every aspect and was key to our efforts. Other people to mention; Lao Kuoc Va, Hassan Saleh (who will be leaving us, there was no way we could keep hold of him, he is too good for this level), Sanaila Khan, Sio Chi Chong. I could go on but these guys were the absolute keys to a domestic season where we won every single game.

Manager Thoughts

Well that was a special season, we won every single game domestically and I felt a little hard done by to leave the Asian Confederation Cup so early. We now sit on 460 points after that domestic treble and I think it may be time to move on from Benfica de Macau and get a club where we can hopefully just pick up the main cup in the country and be done with AFC12. Hong Kong is probably a good choice considering the amount of trophies, but we will have to play it by ear at the end of the day. There is a slight chance if there are not the jobs that entice me that we may remain with Benfica de Macau and see things out. We have to make up 40 points and with the diminishing returns that would mean needing another treble to get enough points to complete the round as the league will only be worth 25 points and the cups together will only add up to 19 points together. So I have things to think about in the next month or so to complete this stage as efficiently as possible.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2065

We first assumed we would move on to attempt to get the full points of a cup somewhere else as that seemed the quickest way to potentially wrap up AFC12, but there were simply no jobs going over the off-season so we signed up for another year with Benfica de Macau knowing we needed to repeat the treble of last year to wrap up AFC12 this year.

Asian Confederation Cup

The Asian Confederation Cup saw us regress to getting knocked out in the first round to Taipower. We were good at home but fell behind and only got level in injury time, and then we were well beaten in the away leg in Taiwan. Disappointing, but not important to us this season and may well be blessing for my purposes to have a potential distraction out of the way early.

Campeonato da 1a Divisao

A third unbeaten season in a row saw us lift the title again, and this time a title victory by 17 points, as again the rest of the league struggled to cope with us. That is 25 crucial points added and step one of operation complete AFC12 this year done.

Macau-Canton Interport Cup

We have seemingly always performed well in this competition and this year it was no different as we went ahead and won it again. We only played top tier opposition in the semi final and final and they were rather easy victories in the end as we took Hang Sai apart in the semi final and beat Casa de Portugal in the final 3-1 to claim another Macau-Canton cup and 7 crucial points towards completing AFC12.

Taca de Macau

We had done parts 1 and 2 and now we just needed the Taca de Macau to finish things off here in AFC12. Hang Sai will be sick to death of us as we smashed them 7-0 in the Quarter Final to book a place in the semi finals, where we faced Chao Pak Kei who are always tough. We managed to get the better of them although we trailled 1-0 at half time. A brilliant second half saw us score 4 unreplied goals to take the game 4-1. In the final we would face Kei Lun and it was a much easier affair. We were ahead after a 3rd minute penalty and then opened up Kei Lun to score another 4 in the second half to win the game 4-1 and secure the 12 points and progression from AFC12.

Squad

We lost Saleh this season so we were more vulnerable at the back although we got in a capable replacement in Romanian defender Raul Moraru. We also got in Mario Vazquez a fellow Guatemalan to just sure things up in terms of depth and because I prefer to have Khan operating from right back, where I think he is extremely crucial to our attacks.

In terms of performances, there main man David Rosado was back again and he scored an average rating 8.38 this season to cap off a third brilliant season in a row. He actually spent the first third of the season sulking because we did let him join Hong Kong side Kitchee, but eventually got over it and produced some fantastic performances like we knew he could. Eventually he bagged 22 goals and 21 assists for another stellar year. Ricardo Martins has also been evolving over the past three years and has really become a key player right beside Rosado in attacking midfield, he got himself 15 goals this season which is a great return. Sio Chi Chong from striker got 14 this season as he always gets into the double digits which certainly helps out. Elsewhere Cheong Pak Kan was a bit of revelation this season chipping in with 14 assists and did a fine job at fullback.

Manager Thoughts

We are finally complete in AFC12. We managed to dominate Macau for the past three seasons and I am glad that we have been able to finish AFC12 this season as I was not particularly looking forward to coming back next season as all the competitions in Macau end right at the end of the season and while I would suspect we might do another clean sweep it would be year wasted in the grand scheme of things. So now we will be unloading the countries from AFC12 and loading AFC11 which will consist of Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam and Bangladesh. It is an interesting mix of countries. I do wonder whether it would be possible for us to achieve any kind of continental success with a team from perhaps Vietnam, we will have to have a look when we arrive. But in many respects I am just glad to be moving on the next phase of the adventure.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2065/66

We left Hong Kong and waited about 8 months before we got a job. The job itself was a bit risky, Arambagh Krira Sangha Dhaka to give them their full name play in Bangladesh and were near the foot of the table after a very bad start to the season. Upon accepting the job it became a little bit clearer as to why they may be struggling as they had seemingly registered a bizarre mix of players. They had not registered a goalkeeper and had left their best players in the team unregistered. Needless to say I went in a bit worried. We joined with the season already underway and close to half way through

In Bangladesh they have three main competitions, the Greameenphone Bangladesh Premier League, the main league in the country and worth 100 points to us, the Grameenphone Federation Cup, the main cup competition and worth 50 points to us and the Bangladeshi Independence Cup worth 30 points.

Grameenphone Federation Cup

Already knocked out when we arrived at the club

Bangladeshi Independence Cup

Already knocked out when we arrived at the club

Grameenphone Bangladesh Premier League

Well this season was quite possible the most insane unexpected ride I ever experience in Football Manager. I was very worried that with the way that we had registered the players and the lack of any goalkeeper we were likely toast in the division. Our first game was against top of the table Abahani KC Dhaka and I was worrying that we were not only going to get beaten but destroyed and thus killing off any morale boost that me entering the club might have had. Well we won, and then we never seemingly stopped winning. Every week I was expecting the fun to end and it never did. We shot up the table and I was constantly expecting the scales turn against us but the wins just kept coming. We were playing a greyed out goalkeeper, half silver star defenders and fullback, a two silver star striker and seemingly nothing could derail us as we just continued to put the rest of the league to the sword. When we beat Saif who had had several games in hand over us but now as met in the league they were a point ahead having played the same number of games, we knew we had a real chance. By the time we drew the return fixture against Abahani I knew it mattered very little. Brothers Union had lost and so the only team that could catch, and they are still to play their game Saif would need to make up a hatful of goals to equalise us. Well we won anyway to make it official, we were Bangladeshi champions, the most unlikely ridiculous league win I can think of. 100 points are in the bag.

Squad

A huge massive squad at the club and the best players in a lot of cases were not even registered for the league, no goalkeeper registered for the league. No wonder the last manager got the sack he has no clue who his best team is. If I had to pick out two players for praise to guide us to the title victory it has to be Suroth Taju, who thankfully was registered and was key to our goalscoring efforts along with silver starred Maraful Rahman and Faizul Islam Islam who was the creator. But I am not even sure Faizul and Rahman would make the squad let alone the first XI if we had a properly registered squad.

Manager Thoughts

Absolutely crazy stuff but I am delighted with the early 100 points to the AFC11 account to be honest. It was not expected at all. The likelihood is that I will stay but with the league won I may see what is available elsewhere although I probably won't be resigning like we did at Eastern in Hong Kong. If the right jobs comes around then we will take it, if not, we will stay and try and fight for the league again and the cup competitions. We have qualified for the Confederation Cup, but I do not hold out much hope that Bangladeshi side would have much hope of winning it.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2066/67

Grameenphone Federation Cup

The early season tournament in Bangladesh is the Federation Cup, and we got through our group despite the loss to Brother Union. In the Quarter Final we faced off against Abahani Chittagong and got a nice 2-1 win to book a semi final place. Mohammedan Dhaka were the opponents for the semi final and we swept them away 6-0 to set up a final against Brothers Union. I am not sure what happened in the final to us but we were poor and ended up losing the game 2-0, to spurn 50 points for me.

Grameenphone Bangladesh Premier League

With the Federation Cup lost we entered the league looking to retain our title and boy did we retain our title as we went through the season winning every single game there way, ending up on 24 games played and 24 games won. A fantastic performance for the boys to achieve this kind of feat. In the end the league title was won months before the final fixture was played out and an amazing way to pick up our second title. 50 points earned.

Bangladeshi Independence Cup

After a good start to the Independence Cup we lost to Abahani Dhaka, which was a very confusing result for me considering the league season we were having, but we were finding a way to blow the domestic cup competitions this season and this was 30 points lost.

Asian Confederation Cup

We went into the Asian Confederation Cup with no expectation of getting far in this tournament, but our group performances were very good as we knocked off all comers, ending the group with 6 wins from 6 in a group that contained division rivals Saif, Police of Sri Lanka and Sillong Lajong of India. The Asian Confederation Cup runs across almost two seasons of Bangladeshi football so we had to wait a while for the next round. In the next round we faced Khujand of Tajikistan. It was a tense affair but we got the only goal of the game at home and the score would remain goalless in Tajikistan to give us the win 1-0 on aggregate. In the effective semi final of the tournament we faced Thai side Bangkok United, and a great performance away gave us a 2-1 advantage going into the game back home, where we would finish the job off 2-0 for a 4-1 aggregate win.

This set up a final against Dinamo Samarqand of Uzbekistan and I instantly thought we had a chance of upsetting them. The game would be played away in Uzbekistan, an advantage they would have over us. The took the lead on the 38th minute but we got back level just before half time, and that was how it would remain until the final whistle. Eight minutes into extra time Taju found us the winner as we lift the Asian Confederation Cup and earn a massive 250 points.

Squad

Unfortunately while I was waiting for the Confederation Cup later stages we rolled over into the next season so unfortunately I don't have the stats for the players, but we do have the transfers and it would be some of these players who would be key this season. Mohammed Hoque came in from Bashundhara Kings and was a revelation up front scoring 24 goals this season. The other main guy was Saad Babu already at the club last season he was the top assist maker and really the creative force behind our successful campaign.

Manager Thoughts

What a season, unbeaten in the league, winning every game and we won the Asian Confederation Cup also to bring us to 400 points after just two seasons. We did blow the domestic cup competitions but we made up for it with the Asian Confederation Cup this season. Part of me wants to stay on at the club, part of me realises we are a league title somewhere else from AFC10. I will have to see what jobs are available and then make a decision, I have been putting off contract offers from the club to see if there is anywhere else that seems appropriate for us to manage next.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2067/68

Grameenphone Federation Cup

We knew that we would need a domestic treble to finish AFC11 this year, assuming we could not perform another miracle in the Asian Confederation Cup. The group stage went fine but then we ran into Muktijoddha and a 2-2 all scoreline forced penalties and we succumbed to the shootout as we lost in the Quarter Finals, which meant that we now required a win the Asian Confederation Cup to be done this year. I don't know why this competition has been so hard for us but it continues to elude us.

Grameenphone Bangladesh Premier League

We did it again, almost as if to prove that last year was no fluke. Another season with 24 wins out of 24, another perfect season as we win the league 22 points from Brothers Union. We have a huge unbeaten streak that goes back over 60 games in the league now. Unfortunately for us, since it was the third title in a row it is only worth 25 points to us this season.

Bangladeshi Independence Cup

This time we got one of the cups right as we won the Independence Cup. We had a few narrow wins along the way but we only conceded in the semi final against Saif and even then we were already 3-0 up as Saif made it 3-2. In the final we smashed Sheikh Russell of Dhaka 4-0 to win the Independence Cup and return to us 30 points for the season.

Asian Confederation Cup

Going into the Asian Confederation Cup I was not too confident that we could repeat the feat we managed last year of winning it again. Our group went off without a hitch as we beat Maziya and Foakaidhoo of the Maldives, but we did lose to league rivals Brother Union, but it did no real damage as we advanced from the groups without issue. Having played a former side in the groups in Maziya, we now played another former club in Wolmido from North Korea in the next round and it was a tight affair, with the home leg proving vital for us advancing to the next round.

In the effective semi final we faced Vietnamese outfit Ha Noi and a narrow 3-2 win at home left me with trepidation due to the away goals we had let up, but we were brilliant in the second leg away and beat Ha Noi 4-0 with ease to book another final appearance.

We would be away for a second year as we faced Faisaly of Jordan. The first half yielded no goals but we scored early in the second only to have it cancelled out only two minutes later with the equaliser from the Jordanians. At this stage the game could go either way and 18 minutes from time we found the path to victory with Hossein getting the winning goal as we ran out 2-1 winners in Jordan to pick up our second Asian Confederation Cup. That win and the 250 points it brings would be enough to book our passage to AFC10.

Squad

Our transfer window really sought to just get in as good a player as we could, as we started being able to attract a foreign player or two to make us even better for the new season. Shawkat came in from Jordan and Luis came in from Angola and they were great addition in central midfielder and centre back respectively. 

In terms of performances, it really came down mostly to two main guys this season, Mohammed Hoque, firing them in the net and Saad Babu providing the ammunition, with plenty of guys around them playing cameo roles throughout the season.

Manager Thoughts

We are done in AFC11, and quite surprising we did it all in Bangladesh which was probably not how I was expecting it to go before we arrived. I was expecting to go to Vietnam and potentially build up a side for the Confederation Cup there and I probably expected Bangladesh to be the least likely to provide a challenger for that competition, but we managed really from the start to take Arambagh to an unprecedented run domestically and in continental football. So our next task will be to unload the AFC11 sides and load up AFC10, which will consist of Australia, Indonesia, East Timor and Brunei. I think this one should not be too bad. If we can get to an A-League side, and can get to grips there, then surely we would have a shot at the AFC Champions League from Australia. I always make predictions beforehand and they never come to pass, so we will see how this rung unfolds over the next few seasons.

Career Summary

[corinthiano]

Great job on the back to back Confederation Cups wins with Arambagh! Agree Australia could be potentially a good way to see you through AFC10 quickly.

I was wondering - will you retire your manager at some point and create a new one? The current one must be getting on a bit haha

[TerminalPortugal]

10 minutes ago, corinthiano said:

Great job on the back to back Confederation Cups wins with Arambagh! Agree Australia could be potentially a good way to see you through AFC10 quickly.

I was wondering - will you retire your manager at some point and create a new one? The current one must be getting on a bit haha

Unexpected I must say to win the two Confederation Cups.

You could say he is getting on a bit at 76 years old and well towards 77. Of course by 2050 medicine has everyone living until they're 140 years old . I was thinking about this and actually I am thinking of just keeping Mr Francisco de Leon going until we finish the challenge. Perhaps when he was in Kashmir he drank some of the special water that they apparently have up there that means everyone lives until they are 120 years old.

Edited September 3, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2070

We were out of job for just over a year, when we finally got an offer from East Timor side Karketu. The league season had already finished in East Timor and despite being one of the favourites for the title, Karketu had finished well down the table. There were no other real jobs that we could have gone, the only ones available were in the 2nd Division of Indonesia and that really was not what I was looking for as there would no opportunities to win any points. So it was at least a start to AFC10.

East Timor has two competitions, the East Timorese Premier League, worth 100 points to us and the main cup in the country the Taca 12 de Novembro, worth 50 points to us.

East Timorese Premier League

The league season did not start well for us but it fortunately improved and by the end of the season we we really were comfortable. Even at the end when we lost to Benfica Laulara, there was no real chance that anyone else was going to win the league. Initially I was worried, there are only 14 games in the league season and losing your first and another two draws in the first four games, really is not great in such a short league. Considering we were favourites for the league I was actually thinking whether we might even get the sack if it continued much longer, but thankfully it improved and we won the league for 100 points.

Taca 12 de Novembro

The cup opened up in March against Lalenrok United, whom were relegated last season and we scored an easy 3-0 victory over them to set up a game against Real Ermera Lions. They provided no shocks as we recorded a 3-1 win, before then beating Kulugisa in the 3rd Round 3-0.

In the Quarter Finals and still against lower league opposition in Vernasse Python, we took a 4-0 lead but our opponents did pull it back to 4-2 to add a little drama to the encounter, but we got through comfortably. In the semi finals we faced our first real opposition in Benfica de Laulara who had already beaten us in the league but they provided no real test this time around as we beat them easily 4-0 and we were through the final against the other really tough side in East Timor Ponta Leste. In what was a reasonably tough game we eventually got the win 2-0 to lift the Taca 12 de Novembro and bag another 50 points.

Squad

We did a little bit of business in the transfer window, none of it that amazing, but it added depth where I felt we needed it. It is short season in East Timor so it is a little difficult to judge who did well and who didn't but it is pretty clear Valter Pinho was a key player up front as he bagged 9 goals and had a good overall rating this season. Leroy Jones Vitor from midfield also got himself plenty of assists. The squad is not amazing, but it did the job well enough this season.

Manager Thoughts

It is a successful season at Karteku picking up a double with the league and cup and with that our time here is done. There will only be diminishing returns and with no chance to realistically win the Confederation Cup (yes I know I would have said the same about Arambagh), I think it is time to move and see where we can go. There are some top division Indonesian sides currently without a manager and those might be a good option. We are always looking out for the Australian sides but at the moment there has not been many opportunities. Melbourne Victory sacked there manager but moved pretty quickly to replace him and the new manager is under some pressure at the moment, but we might have a problem with our reputation which seemingly over 51 years of football management and countless (albeit minor) league titles we have not really managed to get a stellar reputation in football management as yet. I still hold out hope that Australia may be our next destination but we will have to see in the near future. For now we are going to resign from our role in East Timor.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2070

We left East Timor and within 8 days we had a job in Indonesia, at Persipura Jayapura. Traditionally one of the better sides in Indonesia, they were having a stinker of a season and I found the club in 15th place in the league just above the relegation spots.

Indonesia has three competitions, the Liga Super Indonesia, the league competition of the country and worth 100 points to us, the Piala Indonesia, the main cup competition of the country and worth 50 points to us and the Community Shield Indonesia worth 30 points to us.

Liga Super Indonesia

Our first fixture in charge was against PSIS Semarang and we managed to get a draw, before a full month of wins which got the boys back more content and dispelled any notion that were going to be relegated this season. The remainder of the season mostly positive as we did drop the odd game and got the odd draw, but more often than not we won, as we dragged ourselves up the table to respectable 7th place finish for the season. Job done in terms of saving the club from relegation although we pick up no points for 7th place.

Piala Indonesia

Already knocked out when we arrived at the club

Squad

Some real talent in the squad but a massive under-performance from the side this season and we will be looking to rectify that next season. Really no one performed well this season and no one deserves a shout out, I am expecting much better next season with the right addition or two if we can find the right calibre of player in the transfer window.

Manager Thoughts

I thought we might end up in Indonesia and we did. Persipura should be a good club for us to challenge for the title next season, although our head can be turned by an Australian club if it does become available. Western Sydney Wanderers sacked there manager and we put our hat into the ring despite on recently having joined Persipura, but we did not even get an interview. I suspect we may have trouble getting a job in Australia much like we did in New Zealand all those years ago. Maybe one of the smaller reputation A-League sides might become available and we might have a chance at that job. If that doesn't happen then the goal is to try and compete on all fronts in Indonesia next season.

Career Summary

[corinthiano]

2 hours ago, TerminalPortugal said:

Unexpected I must say to win the two Confederation Cups.

You could say he is getting on a bit at 76 years old and well towards 77. Of course by 2050 medicine has everyone living until they're 140 years old . I was thinking about this and actually I am thinking of just keeping Mr Francisco de Leon going until we finish the challenge. Perhaps when he was in Kashmir he drank some of the special water that they apparently have up there that means everyone lives until they are 120 years old.

Haha makes sense - he has been to some mystical places so I am sure he will be able to hold out for another 100 years or so.

[TerminalPortugal]

11 minutes ago, corinthiano said:

Haha makes sense - he has been to some mystical places so I am sure he will be able to hold out for another 100 years or so.

Just need to find a job in El Dorado and Atlantis! 

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2071

Well there were Australian jobs going but we never were able to get appointed to any of them. Most of the time we would not even got shortlisted for the job. In the cases of Western United and Wellington Phoenix they gave us an interview but they ended up going with someone else so we stayed with Persipura to see what we could manufacture in Indonesia.

Liga Super Indonesia

The Indonesian league is a long one, well longer than we are used to in our 50-odd years of management, but we managed things well and we managed to get a good start and keep up the momentum and most important win after a loss or draw, so morale was not really affected. For a while Persija and Persib were close to us, within 5 or 7 points towards the middle of the season but they never really could catch us and the gap just tended to get larger and larger as the season went on. In the end we wrapped up the league title with several fixtures left to go to cap off a very nice campaign from the team. We received 100 points for the league title win.

Piala Indonesia

The cup is also a pretty long tournament as after the first couple of stage we move to two legged affairs, a bit like in Spain. PSBS gave us no problems but when we drew Arema Cronus in the next round I was thinking we might have a tough test from them, but in the end they did not put up much of a fight as we beat them home and away. 

Next up was PSS Sleman, who again are a good side in the top division although they had an average league campaign this year. An away draw was positive but left the game in the balance for the return leg at home, but we swept them aside with ease 3-0. In the semi finals we faced PSPS, who were a top division side last year but were relegated, I was expecting to get through this one and we did with 2-1 wins in both games to win 4-2 on aggregate and set up a big final against Persib.

The final should have been a very difficult test but we made the whole tie very simple when we smashed Persib 6-1 at home meaning that Persib needed a miracle to recover. Well they almost did, we were poor in the return leg, perhaps with a little bit of complacency coursing through our veins, they won the return leg 3-0, to make the final aggregate result much more respectable at 6-4, but I guess all that really mattered what that we had won the Piala Indonesia and we pick up another 50 points.

Squad

It was a big transfer window of comings and goings, but it should be noted that there were already a lot of transfers arranged, that must have been set up prior to our joining the club. The key guys we brought in were Kim-Jae Yong and Rahman Silalahi. Ronny Sukmana, Fajar Emiruddin and later in the second window Abdul Haris Hidayat.

In terms of the top performers it came down to two guys. Already at the club Ronny Lestalahu, who bagged himself 17 goals this season and Rahman Silahali, the new signing already mentioned who also got 17 goals but also bagged 16 assists this season and had the highest rating at the club.

Manager Thoughts

A very successful season at Persipura, we achieved exactly what we set out to do in our first season. We also now qualify for the Champions League. I don't even think we are dark horses in that tournament. I think we would have done well in Asian Confederation Cup with this side, but the Champions League sounds like a step too far. On the job front we have not been able to land an Australian job, but it is not for want of trying as we have been applying any time one has come up but I hold minimal hope that they would bring us in. I think, barring appointment to an A-League club we will likely be with Persipura next season, despite the diminishing returns the league or cup would bring us, as it gives us a shot at the community shield for 30 points and a shot at the Champions League which may well end early for us, but it makes sense to see what we might be able to achieve there.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2072

Indonesian Community Shield

Our first task this season was to try and win the Community Shield and we got the job done against Persija winning 3-0. We pick up 30 points for the win.

Liga Super Indonesia

The league rolled around again and this year we started brilliantly as we went the first three months without dropping a point. We built up a very commanding lead in the league and it became a matter of when not if we would be champions. We duly the title mathematically in November, but then actually went on a very bad run where we lost 3 and drew 2. It was mostly down to the long season and I had not rotated the team to much so some of the players were out on the feet by this point, still it did not matter as we still won the league by 13 points this season to claim another 50 points in AFC10.

Piala Indonesia

The Piala Indonesia was a crucial tournament, because winning it would get us within 100 points of completing AFC10. The first few legs were no issue at all as we smashed lower league sides 7-0, 3-1 and 3-0 to reach the two legged rounds. In the 4th Round we faced Persib, always a dangerous and tough opponent and so it proved as over the two legs there was only one goal and we happened to get it in the away leg as we went through 1-0 on aggregate. In the Quarter Finals we had an easier proposition in Persbul and they were pretty easy to defeat, ending 6-1 on aggregate.

For the semi finals we had Bhayangkara, they are a bit of an ups and downs kind of team and they showed it in our two legs as we beat them easily on their ground 4-0, but they came back and won 3-2 on ours, albeit not enough to stop us progressing to the final.

In the final we had Persija, who are always challenging for the honours, so I expected a tough encounter, and it wasn't easy but probably easier than I expected as the first leg scoreline really put one of our hands on the trophy as we won out 3-0, but remembered last year and how we lost 3-0 in the second leg, so I was still watchful that it should not happen again. We had a man sent off early in the second leg, but also got an early goal which ended the tie for all intents and purposes. Persija equalised but it was immaterial as we won the cup. Another 25 points banked.

AFC Champions League

We entered the AFC Champions League. I was intrigued to see what we can do. The first two legs really provided minimal challenge as we beat Yadanarbon of Myanmar 3-0 and Da Nang of Vietnam 2-0 to advance to the final round before the group stages. We drew Chongquig Lifan of China and this would be a big test for us. The game was goalless after 90 minutes, but early in extra time we found the only goal of the game, to book passage to the Group Stages.

The group seemed pretty tough when it was drawn with Ulsan Hyundai of South Korea, Adelaide United of Australia and our former club Arambagh of Bangladesh. Our first game was against Ulsan and away and we managed to get a draw which showed we probably had the mettle to handle this level of football. Next we received Adelaide United to Indonesia and got ourselves our first win with a 1-0 win. Arambagh was the joker in the pack, we knew that we had improved them a lot but that was comparative to the standard of Bangladeshi football and the 6-0 win for us proved that it was not relevant to Champions League football. A 5-1 away win in Adelaide, was probably the moment I knew we were likely to get through to the knockout stages; a huge win for us and Indonesian football. We then followed it up to book our place to the knockouts with a 3-0 home win over South Korean titan Ulsan. 

After beating Arambagh in the final game and claiming top spot in the final standings of the group we were drawn against Jeonbok Hyundai Motors, another side from South Korea and another quality opponent. I felt hard done by when we came away from South Korea having lost 3-1 as I felt we were every bit their equal but I was still hopeful we could turn it round at home. That was not to happen, but we absolutely dominated the return leg, Jeonbuk pretty defended for their lives for 90 minutes but we could not find the breakthrough and bowed out of the Champions League and the 2nd Round stage.

Squad

We made some additions where we could get some more talented players and this year the team was very good although I relied a lot upon the first XI to get the job done most of the time.

The key guys were Abdul Haris Hidayat up front, with his 31 goal tally this season, Rahman Silahali who continued to be a great provider from the wing, and this year was a breakthrough season for Ronny Sukmana who got both goals and assists and was our top average rated player.

Manager Thoughts

We finish up this season with a domestic treble and we performed pretty well in the Champions League. We now sit on 405 points in AFC10 and that brings us to a crossroads as realistically Persipura is just going to give us diminishing returns for wins, so I have decided that we are resigning the manager's position here at Persipura and looking for a club where we can come in and win a league title to finish off AFC10. It would have been nice to have another crack at the Champions League with Persipura but it would be a long shot to win it and we get almost nothing for winning domestic honours at this stage. Considering we need just 95 points, a title elsewhere will do the job nicely.

Career Summary

 

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2072-73

So the first thing to say is that this was obviously not that smart a move. We just needed 100 points and it could be anywhere in AFC10, and so taking on a tough challenge was not the smartest choice, secondly Central Coast Mariners are shambles at this current time, thirdly the Australian league has a playoff to decide the league winner and we will only accept a league win if we win the post season final not the regular season league, which makes things harder. On the hand, they are probably the biggest club that we have managed up to this point, so that's a positive.

How we got the job was quite interesting, we resigned from Persipura and were waiting around for a bit when the Central Coast Mariners job came up. We applied and they went with another manager. 32 days later, said manager was sacked and we applied again and this time they gave us the job. We were out of a job for approximately 3 months in total. Now perhaps I should been a little bit worried that the last guy lasted only 32 days in a job...

Australia has two main trophies, they have the league which is split into the Regular Season and the Finals Series. We will only get points if we win the finals series and that will be worth 100 points to us. They also have the main cup competition with is the FFA Cup which is worth 50 points.

FFA Cup

Already knocked out when we arrived at club

A-League

We were utterly shambolic, pathetic, under performing, poor, and any other bad synonym you can think of. We arrived late in the season for the Melbourne City game late in March and we still have not won in the league. Everywhere else we have been we have managed to at least right the ship, I guess we did a bit when we stopped losing but...wow! This team is absolute ****! Anyway we finished rock bottom of the A-League and there needs to be surgery done on the team to rectify this mess.

AFC Champions League

We came in with the club having played two games in the Champions League Group G. Things went better in the Champions League for us as got wins in South Korea and the Philippines to top the group. Unfortunately we got league rivals Adelaide United, and that was the last thing I wanted considering how poor we had been in the league and they beat us easily over the two legs.

Squad

There is probably some quality in this pile of **** somewhere, but for now I can't see it. We did have quite a few loanees who have left, they were **** too. And a 5 star rated striker who would not renew his contract who basically never ever scored, so I could care less that he has left.

Manager Thoughts

What have we let ourselves in for here. Hopefully next season will be better and hopefully we can navigate the needlessly complicated transfer rules squad registration limits in Australia to build a decent team for next season. I am still mindful that the board were expecting far more from us and I think our Champions League performance kept us in a job, and they still might turn on us. So we will have to be mindful of that.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2073/74

FFA Cup

To pass AFC10 this year we needed the A-League Grand Final crown, so the FFA Cup was less important, it would come in handy if we did not win the Grand Finals as we would then only need a cup somewhere else to progress from AFC10. The offseason was long and we had made the changes that we needed to the team and the results improved.

In the first round we faced Wollongong Wolves and got a big morale boosting win 5-0 at their ground, before we faced our first real test in A-League side Macarthur, and we managed to get a narrow 1-0 win to advance to the third round. In the Quarter Final we faced Melbourne City and I was expecting that this might be the round we exit, but again we managed to pull through and win 2-0.

The semi finals saw us face off against Sydney FC and it ended up being an easy game over in Sydney as we came through 3-0. The final would be against Newcastle Jets, probably the best team in Australia, maybe behind Melbourne Victory and again we managed to pull off the upset as we came through 2-0 to win the cup and claim 50 points. We went through the entire cup campaign without conceding a goal, testament to the improvements that we had made in defence.

A-League

The league was the big one for us, we needed to finish inside the top 6 and then win the Grand Finals if we were to complete AFC10 this time around. The league campaign started off badly with 1 point from a potential 6, but we recovered with 3 wins in a row before we suffered two league defeats against Western Sydney Wanderers and Newcastle Jets. From here we found some consistency in our game and we rose up the table. A loss to Melbourne Victory later in the season meant that we sat in second and Melbourne Victory ahead of us, but we relentlessly put win after win together to eventually take the regular season. This regular season campaign was built on defensive solidity, we almost never blew anyone out of the water, but we rarely gave up more than a goal in a game and often only have up one.

With the 1st spot in the regular season we bypassed the Quarter Final stage and went straight into the semi finals. Adelaide United who sneaked into the Grand Finals late on were our semi final opponents and it was a tough game but we came through the game 2-1 to set up the final against Melbourne Victory. 1st vs 2nd for the Australian crown and in the end we came through again 2-1 to win the Grand Finals and take 100 points that would close out AFC10.

Squad

I said last season that the team needed surgery and in the transfer, after I got my PhD in Australian Transfer Window and Player Registration rules we set about trying to improve the side. Key to our endeavours were a few key players. Thomas Adu, came in on a designated contract as our main striker and he performed very well for us as his goals were crucial in a side that did not score many. Hendro Ibrahim we picked up from Indonesian football and we was key in midfield turning provider for Adu and the main creative fulcrum of the team. In defence the key signings of Carlos Alvarez out of Honduras and Nguyen Cong Thanh made sure that the back line was solid, and probably even more key than that we finally got a decent goalkeeper in Andreas Schonbeck out of the Swedish lower leagues that could give us a chance. With that we managed to build a functional side that was capable of challenging, if not wowing the masses.

Manager Thoughts

AFC10 is complete, it took us three countries and in the end our ill advised move to Central Coast Mariners worked out. This leg did not go how I envisioned, I wanted to get to Australia early and try and win the Champions League to get it over and done with but that never materialised, instead we trudged through East Timor and Indonesia before we eventually got a shot at the A-League which we won. Now we will be resigning from Central Coast Mariners and unloading AFC10, and loading AFC9 which consists of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. Initially thoughts are it should be harder on the continental front, albeit we had no continental success this time around. Perhaps if we can get to Thailand, the clubs there may be able to challenge for the Asian Confederation Cup and that may be a way to get through AFC9 which awaits...

In other news we are now 80 years old and have been in management 54 years now. Going a little bit grey and it's a bit sparser on top...

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2075

We arrived in Singapore some 13 months after we resigned our role at Central Coast Mariners in Australia. The club we would be leading are a bit unique in the country, in that although they play in Singapore, they only have Japanese players and cannot sign anyone who is not Japanese. This actually led a strange bug, where due to the registration requirements which must have two under 23 Singaporean players in the first 11, I was required to play two greyed out goalkeepers every game in the league, one in goal naturally and the other ostensibly at left back. So that made things a little harder. Added to this the club were sitting very much near the bottom of the league when we arrived and with almost no chance of challenging for the league this season.

Singapore has three competitions, the Great Eastern Yeo's S-League worth 100 points, the RHB Singapore Cup worth 50 points and the Singapore Charity Shield worth 30 points

RHB Charity Shield

Won before we arrived at the club

Great Eastern Yeo's S League

As mentioned above we had a bit of a bug to deal with, where we had to play two greyed out goalkeepers for every game due to nationality restrictions in the starting XI, so that made things a little harder, although you would not have noticed that we were effectively player 10 players (or perhaps 9 and a half) for the majority of the time as managed to stabilise the club from our first game against Warriors a 1-1 draw and propel them up the table to second place. A decent job done, but a big gap to a dominant DPMM side.

RHB Singapore Cup

We did well in the Singapore Cup which takes place after the league season ends as we won all our group games. The registration requirement is relaxed here, so we could field as good a side as we had. In the semi finals we faced Hougang United and they proved pretty easy to get by but we ran into league champions DPMM in the final and succumbed 2-1 to lose out on the cup. No points for us here.

Squad

Well it was a bit weird because we were hamstrung with the buy I have mentioned and so I think we coped very well. Murakami and Nakagawa seemed like the main guys in attack and our defence was compromised with what we had to do to get round the bug so I won't be too harsh on us.

Manager Thoughts

Well it was an interesting little period at Albirex but I won't be staying, this bug makes it pretty impossible to build a team, and I had a look for Japanese/Singaporean dual nationals which perhaps we could buy up to fill the void and there are none and we got none in the youth intake, so this will likely be a systemic and continuous issue we will have. We will resign and look for a job elsewhere. 

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2076

We left Singapore and moved up the peninsula to Thailand and Buriram United. We were only out of a job for about a month or so. We actually got two job offers, one from Singaporean side Geylang International and Buriram United, but we opted for the Thai side. Buriram United had finished 6th last season and that was not good enough for the board as they sacked the manager. Thankfully we could step into his shows and hopefully get AFC9 back on track. We joined the club right just as the season had ended which allowed us to prepare for the new season, as opposed to coming in mid season.

Thailand has four competitions; the Toyota Thai Premier League worth 100 points, the Thai FA Cup worth 50 points, the Thai League Cup worth 30 points and the Thailand Champions Cup, essentially like a Super Cup also worth 30 points.

Toyota Thai Premier League

It was a really good first season for us as we got to grips with Thai football. Buriram United are good side in Thailand but so are the likes of Muangthong United, last years champions, Port, and Changrai United. At the start of the season we started well with wins but we were not winning by much, normally relying on defensive solidity to get us through games but as the season went on we were able to become a bit more expansive as the team adapted well to the instructions. We only lost twice in the league as we picked up the league title in the end winning it by quite a significant margin of 15 points. That's 100 points for us.

Thai FA Cup

In the Thai FA Cup, we started in the preliminary rounds first beating lower league Pathum Thani 1-0 in extra time, which was not the best performance we ever had this season, but enough to get us through. We were better in the next round as we beat Inter Pattaya 6-1 and squeaked by Udon Thani 2-1. We seemed to get a bit better in the next couple of rounds as we beat Cha Cheong Sao and Samut Rakan 3-1 and 4-1 respectively, but then we came up against Premier League Sukhotai and were wasteful in the game and were forced to penalties. It seems no team I ever manage does particularly well on penalties as we were knocked out. Disappointing but we had not looked too great in the competition at times and in the end it cost us.

Thai League Cup

In the League Cup we started off against Sukhotai, who would eventually knock us out of the FA Cup, but on this occasion we overpowered them 5-0, and then has trouble to overcome Sumut Songkhram, winning only 3-2 against the lower league side having to come from behind twice to win. We the faced Chaiyaphum United and won comfortably 4-1 before another two tough games firstly against TOT whom we narrowly beat 1-0 win an early goal and then a 2-1 win over Suphaburi, although we had been 2-0 up at half time in that game.

The final would be against Muangthong United, always a tough encounter and they had already beaten us at our ground in the league so I was wary, but we turned up and got an early goal and then a goal on the counter attack in injury time to kill the game off and win it 2-0 and claim 30 points.

Squad

We did not really make any signings as there was not really any better players available. You are only allowed 3 foreign players in the Thai League so short of selling off some our better players and trying to replace them with better ones, there was certainly not much in the way of upgrades for the Thai talent. We already have 5 or 6 of the starters for the National side. We may well look to replace some of the foreigners next season, now that we have a season of football to assess them on.

In terms of performances, it was actually some of the local talent that impressed most with Sripirom up front and Somwang being the keys up front.

Manager Thoughts

We got 130 points banked this season which is not a bad start and we will be in the Champions League next season which I don't think will be particularly fruitful for us, but I think it makes sense to stay here for the next season and see if we can win the FA Cup and the Champions Cup in addition to the trophies we won this season. AFC9 is well and truly underway after our false start in Singapore.

Career Summary

 

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2077

Thai Champions Cup

We opened up the season with the Thai Champions Cup against Chiangrai United and got a nice 3-0 win, to pick up our first piece of silverware of the season. 30 points accrued toward AFC9 completion.

Toyota Thai Premier League

As defending champions we were looking to repeat the feat of winning the league and we managed it again without too much issue as we raced off into the lead in the league race. Again this season we only suffered two defeats, and again quite often we did not score too many but we made sure we kept it pretty solid at the back all season. Another 50 points in the bag.

Thai FA Cup

Last year we exited the FA Cup earlier than I would have liked, this time I wanted to win this one. Our campaign started in extravagant fashion in the first two rounds as we put 25 goals past lower league opposition in a 15-0 win against Prot and a 10-0 win against NFS, to put down a marker as a statement of intent. However when we reached the first round we had a bit of a lucky escape as Cha Cheong Sao took us all the way to extra time before we found the solution to their defence getting the goal in the 106th minute that would win the game 1-0. In the 2nd Round we required extra time again to beat Bangkok United, 2-1 this time around.

In the 3rd Round again it was a tight 1-0 win against Udon United that was enough to see us through to the next round. In the Quarter Final we faced Chainat Hornbill a newly promoted side to the top division and we beat them easily enough 4-0 and followed it up with another easy victory over a Thai Premier League struggler Nakhon Ratchasima, winning 3-0 on this ocassion.

In the final we would face Port and it was a tight game, helped by the fact we got a goal only 4 minutes in. That would be how the game would end and we would lift the trophy to bag another 50 points.

Thai League Cup

We were defending champions in this one and things started well enough as got through Lampang, Maungthong United and their B side in successive rounds to reach the Quarter Finals but Trat managed to defend well and force penalties, and saw us off on penalties. Again the shootout had undone us again in the second successive season.

AFC Champions League

My expectation for our Champions League campaign were pretty minor as we went into them. I was expecting to perhaps get through to the group stages, but half expected to be playing Asian Confederation Cup football this season, with an early knockout prior to the group stages starting. We started off our campaign in the 2nd Preliminary Round against LC Sailors of Singapore and beat them rather easily over there 5-1. This set up a playoff tie against South Korea's Seongnam and I was expecting this might be where the journey ended especially playing the game over in South Korea, but were brilliant and incisive and came away with a famous 4-0 win.

We reached the group stages seemed pretty unfavourable with a very tough draw for us, with Chinese giant Guangzhou Evergrande, Newcastle Jets of Australia and Sanfreece Hiroshima of Japan. Our group campaign started in the best possible fashion as we upset Guangzhou Evergrande at home winning narrowly 1-0 before travelling to Australia and securing a 2-2 draw with Newcastle Jets. We welcomed a struggling Sanfreece to Thailand and could only manage a draw as it ended goalless, At this point we were looking pretty decent and really overperforming from what I could see.

The crunch game would be next as we faced the tough away game in China and another vintage display saw us come out winners again against the Chinese giants 1-0, before then going over to Japan and getting another 1-0 win to secure our place in the Knockout Rounds and send Guangzhou and Sanfreece home. The only left to be decided was who would win the group, with us hosting a Newcastle Jets side that only needed a draw from the final game to secure top spot. However they were undone by our brilliant performance as we ran out 3-0 winners in Thailand.

We advanced to the Knockout Rounds where we would face another titan of Chinese football in Shanghai SIPG. The away leg went very well for us as we managed to hold Shanghai to a 1-1 draw before bringing them back to Thailand and beating them 2-0 to advance to the next round. The next round would see us face Melbourne Victory and this time we were at home first. We laid down a clear marker to the rest of the competition as we beat them 4-1 in our own backyard, before travelling to Australia and closing out the game, with a final scoreline of 0-0 to send us through to the semi finals.

The games got no easier as we now faced our third Chinese giant of the competition in Beijing Gouan and unfortunately this is where we came unstuck as Beijing did a great job of denying us space and time and won the game in Thailand 2-0, putting us under immense pressure for the second leg. In China the game was 0-0 at half time, and perhaps they were getting a little jittery but that all ended when they got an early second half penalty that was slotted home and effectively ended the tie. Beijing won out the tie on aggregate 3-0 to knock us out.

Squad

In the transfer window, which was spread across the screens in FM, we did some business that improved us. The key signing of Indonesian goalkeeper Nyoman Nurhadi improved us in that key position and we sold Mike Buthelezi a South African centre back to make room in the foreign registration slots. Rendy Agachi came in the second window as a big upgrade in central midfield and he ostensibly displaced Nicolas Durand, who is still at the club, because he was registered for the Champions League squad and there were no real takers for him although he has put in a transfer request so I expect him to leave soon.

In terms of performances, it is hard to look past the key striker on our books Ratthapol Sripirom who bagged 28 goals this season and is quickly becoming one of Asia's most dangerous strikers. Wittaya Sansuk had a breakthrough season this year from right back and set up 189 goals this season and got on scoresheet 12 times to mark a stellar year for him. Narongrit Rattanaphian was also a key player from the wing getting 10 goals and 15 assists this season as well. This is a team that is playing extremely well as a unit at the moment.

Manager Thoughts

Well it was a good year for us, we captured three trophies and got to the semi final of the Champions League, that shows some real progress and some real potential for where we might be able to take this team. We took home another 130 points this season to bring our total to 260 for AFC9 and we are now past the halfway point. I think had we not performed so well in the Champions League I would be leaning towards leaving the club at this stage, but I think I owe it to myself and this team to give it another shot next season at the Champions League, and if we managed to go two better next year, we will complete AFC9 by winning the Champions League. The reputation that would give me would also be a boost for the coming future rungs of the ladder anyway. So I expect to still be in the managerial position at Buriram United come next season.

Career Summary

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2078

Thai Champions Cup

We were back for the Champions Cup as the first fixture of the season and we got a 2-1 win against Muangthong United to claim the trophy and 15 points

Toyota Thai Premier League

Another successful league season as we suffered only one defeat to Chonburi on our way to another league title. This time some of the big boys such as Muangthong United and Port, did not have the best of seasons with Muangthong down as low as 10th for large parts of the season and Port, the early contenders, but they fell away badly at the end of the season. Our third league title is worth 25 points to us.

Thai League Cup

We were back for another League Cup campaign and we had no real issues getting to the final this year as we beat all in front of us, however we were facing Chiangrai United in the final who had had a very bad league campaign, but it did not tell anything on the night as they beat us 1-0 to claim the League Cup crown.

Thai FA Cup

We had a pretty easy road to the FA Cup final with mostly lower league sides in our way. In the final we faced Suphanburi and while the game was tight we found a way through them as we won 2-1 to claim 25 points toward AFC9.

AFC Champions League

After having reached the semi finals of last years competition I was excited to see what we could do this year. Getting to the competition involved qualification first and we got through LC Sailors of Singapore and Selangor of Malaysia before we faced off against Chinese side Shandong and got a nice win to book a group stage berth. We got drawn in a very tough group that included our conquerors of last year Beijing Gouan and we faced them first up and lost in China 2-0. We did recover to beat Daegu but that would be as good as it got as we drew to Beijing in the return game and lost in Australia to Melbourne Victory, we needed to beat Daegu away to have any chance at all of qualifying and we could only manage a draw. We finish 3rd in the group and out of the Champions League

Squad

There were no new signings this year as I was very happy with the squad and the depth of the squad. The main man this season already attracting transfer interest from Europe has been Sripirom up front as he got himself over 30 goals in the year. Rattanaphian has been the creative fulcrum of the team with many assists and the best rating at the club.

Manager Thoughts

So it was a successful season with three cup competitions won, but the Champions League did not go to plan and did not go as well as last years campaign, and with that news it is time to move on from Buriram United as the points begin to dwindle due to the diminishing returns we get for each win. It has been a fruitful time for us here and we did well with the club, we perhaps may have gone further in the Champions League last season but it was not to be and we rue the opportunity missed. We will resign our role in Thailand and see what is available in the job market.

Career Summary

 

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2079

We left Buriram United and were out of job for about a month before we found another job still in Thailand as we became the new manager of Muangthong United. This was quite a big risk in terms of winning points as I was leaving the best team in Thailand for a team that had struggled over recent years. However I did know that they had talent, and that if we got things right we might be able to challenge. In theory if we won all the domestic competitions this year we could complete AFC9, but as I got the job I was not expecting that to be realistic.

Toyota Thai Premier League

Our league performance was something quite incredible, at first I was happy that we had started well, but as the wins continued relentlessly month after month I could see that something quite amazing was happening. We were absolutely dominating the rest of the league and Buriram United were struggling. In the end we dropped just 2 points all season as we drew to Port towards the end of the season but it was a majestic league win, quite possibly the best there will ever be in Thai history. 100 points in the bag for us.

Thai FA Cup

We opened up the FA Cup with a tough tie against Suphanburi but we came through it well 2-0. We then faced Nonthaburi and Saraburi lower league sides and we recorded easy wins 4-0 and 2-0 respectively. Chainat Hornbill were not much more of a challenge in the 2nd Round as we beat them 3-1 and then beat Nara United and Ubon United in successive rounds 4-0 and 3-1 to book a semi final place. By this point in the season we were in incredible form and we faced our old club and rivals Buriram United in the semi final of the cup and it was a tough encounter.

They took the lead in the game but we equalised just after halftime and it would remain like this forcing extra time. Extra time seemed to not be resolving anything but a couple of minutes from the end Allen found a goal and we made sure through Pholrach to make it 3-1 and book a place in the final.

The final itself was a little more straighforward for us as we scored three goals in the second half to move to a 3-0 lead before late on Sukhothai pulled one back to make the final score 3-1. We had won the FA Cup and 50 points and there was a just one piece of the puzzle left to complete AFC9.

Thai League Cup

The first round was a routine win against lower league Phitsanulok as we won out 6-0 and then we narrowly beat Port 2-1 to make the 2nd Round. The next three games that would take us to the final were pretty easy as we beat Khonkaen 4-0, Trat 3-0 and Chonburi 4-1 to book our place in the final.

In the final we played Suphanburi and they scored the opener early int he second half, but we responded superbly taking 5 minutes to score 3 goals and take a 3-1 lead. Suphanburi would pull another back only a minute after our third to make it a very tense end, but we held on to win the League Cup and the 30 points and secure ourselves passage to AFC8.

Squad

We made no new signings as manager of Muangthong United, the team looked good and I could not see much better available. The whole team was fantastic this season and they would all deserve a shout out, but clearly the guy who gets the goals is the key guy in this team and he is Chusak Prumchat who bagged 29 goals for us this season.

Manager Thoughts

Well it was a risk to leave Buriram United and stay in Thailand with Muangthong United and go up against them, but it paid off and we had a clean sweep of all the trophies which puts us on 505 points which is enough to complete AFC9 and move on to AFC8. It has been a great leg for us, after a false start at Albirex in Singapore, we found a good home at Buriram and came close to a Champions League success. In the end we completed the journey with Muangthong United which was probably a bit of dagger in the heart of the Buriram fans but we needed the points...

We will be unloading AFC9 and loading the AFC8 countries which are Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. We have played Uzbek and Turkmen opponents in the later stages of the Asian Confederation Cup so they could be a viable route to continental success which would help us complete AFC8 quickly.

Career Summary

 

[mattyjames_]

What a great final season in Thailand! Awesome work!

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2080

With AFC9 completed we awaiting the first jobs that would be available in AFC8 and the first job we could get was Neftch Kochkor-Ata who play in the top division of Kyrgyzstan. We took over with the league season close to about half way through and the club sitting rock bottom of the league. The goal would be to try and stablise the club and bring them to somewhere around the middle of the table if possible.

Kyrgyzstan has three main competitions, the Shoro Top League is worth 100 points, the Kyrgyzstan Cup is worth 50 points and the Kyrgyzstan Super Cup is worth 30 points.

Kyrgyzstan Cup

Already knocked out when we took over at the club

Kyrgyzstan Super Cup

The Super Cup is strange in that it is played in the middle of the season, whereas in most countries the Super Cup is normally the first fixture that is played of the season. We were in it which was a nice little surprise for us, and we took full advantage as we beat Metallurg Kadamjay 2-0 to win our first trophy in Kyrgyzstan and pick our first 30 points of AFC8.

Shoro Top League

When we took over the club, the old manager had registered the wrong players, favouring younger worse players than the established players at the club, we had this issue before at a previous club which we had to overcome. Our first few fixtures we had to play a lot of players that should not in the start XI, but we made a good start anyway and then in the mid season transfer window which is in July we were able to register the players to our liking. We did not lose a game as manager of Neftchi which is a great result for us as we managed to rise up the table and grab 2nd place in the league which qualifies us for Confederation Cup football next year. We got a lot of draws and had we won a few more of those games we would of actually won the league. We finished 2nd because Abdysh-Ata and Dordoy were playing each on the final day effectively for the title. Due to this we could sneak into the 2nd place spot, but it also meant that no matter what result we got in our final game we would not be able to win the league as either Dordoy or Abdysh-Ata would in it. 

Still a positive campaign and something we can build on for next season.

Squad

The squad is huge, we do have a Reserve team Nefchi-2 and we will be assessing the players and reducing the squad down considerably over the off-season. The performances were not great this season from anyone really, to be expected because of the issues I explained with registrations etc. We will be looking in the transfer market for some improvements to the first team. The striker particularly I think is place where we need a major improvement to the side. Whether we will be able to find anyone that will make us better is another story however. This season despite the transfer windows I decided to focus on the players we had in the team and try and improve morale which worked. Next year we try and improve the talent.

Manager Thoughts

We have arrived in AFC8 and we have 30 points, which I would not have expected in the first season, the Super Cup came as a nice surprise and I am glad we are at least on the board in our first season. Qualifying for the Confederation Cup is nice, it a wildcard for us for big points, and I know the teams from this area of the world can compete in that competition so we will see how we do. No plans to move at this stage, we will be looking for success next season and then see where we are.

Career Summary

 

 

[TerminalPortugal]

10 minutes ago, mattyjames_ said:

What a great final season in Thailand! Awesome work!

Thanks yeah we managed to get really great performances out of Muangthong. Was worried that Buriram would be too unstoppable but their new manager did a pretty crap job to be honest.

Edited September 5, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2081

Unfortunately the league season for Kyrgyzstan appears to be bugged as no league fixtures were generated. We have gotten pretty lucky with the lack of bugs so far, so I guess our luck had to run out some time. We also have not yet entered the Confederation Cup, it might because the competition runs over such weird times that it may be staggered.

Shoro Top League

League Season Cancelled. Bugged.

Kyrgyzstan Cup

With the league season bugged we only had the cup to contend with. We got past KG United in the first round rather easily and then faced a very tough match against league champions Abdysh-Ata and came through in a pretty crazy match 5-4 after extra time, with the game having finished 4-4 in regular time.

We were eventually undone by Dordoy in the Quarter Finals however, so the only real points of the season are gone.

Manager Thoughts

Well we are leaving Neftchi for obvious reasons, the bug makes it impossible to continue here. I have checked the other countries and they appear to operating correctly so we will see if we can land a job somewhere there. However for this season we won no points. The season has not really ended, as we are leaving just after we exited the cup, but there is no point wasting time here. It's unfortunate but a bug with one of the leagues was bound to rear its head eventually.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2081

We made the journey from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan to take on the job at FJ Olmaliq. They were sitting in 10th place in the league and not too far away from the relegation places. There was not much left of the season and our job was to ensure safety. We also had the Uzbek Cup which were still in, now at the semi final stage to contend for some points this season.

In Uzbekistan there are two main competitions, the Uzbekistan Superleague worth 100 points and the Uzbek Cup (it is miss identified in the mod I am using to the Vietnamese Cup - Eximbank Cup) worth 50 points.

Uzbek Cup

We were only here for the semi final, which we promptly lost, so that was not great and we lose out on 50 points.

Uzbekistan Superleague

We took over the club for the highlighted Sho'rtan game which we won, to win our first game in charge of the club but we did lose the next one against Paxtakor and drew to Mash'al. Winning the final two games of the season gave us a 7th place finish which hopefully should be something to build on for next season.

Squad

The squad has major problems in that they barely have any centre-backs. This has been costing us this season as we are conceding plenty of goals and my times pride themselves on being difficult to score against. So we will be resolving that situation in the coming transfer window. Really the team needs additions right across it. In terms of performances this season, well it wasn't too good. Abdulla Umarov was probably the only player that I can say had a good season, everyone else has a lot of work to do.

The transfer window will be key, we really need to improve the team badly and make sure we have sufficient cover in all places going into next season.

Manager Thoughts

Well we blew a chance at 50 points, but I am not surprised considering the defence at the moment. We have already been working hard to identify targets for the team and with the right additions I think we will be competitive next season. As I said before I know teams from Uzbekistan can be competitive for the Confederation Cup, although the winner of the league qualifies for the Champions League where I think Uzbek sides would have little to no chance of competing to win the trophy. It has been a slow start in AFC8 and hopefully things pick up.

Career Summary

Edited September 6, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2082

Uzbekistan Superleague

The Superleague season ended up being an exciting one for the neutral. We started well but soon we reached some really bad form in May that pretty much killed our momentum, although credit to us we did recover and put together a very nice run of form. It is a good thing we did as we went into the run in, the title could have gone to 1 of 6 clubs as we all sat pretty close to each other. The season ended up boiling down to the final game, we had the leadership of the league but had to go away to the very tough Nasaf and we knew a slip up would hand either Nasaf, Paxkator or Lokomotiv the title. We won on the final day and that made us champions. It was a very unlikely win, we certainly are not the strongest side in Uzbekistan and I would be surprised if with this team we would repeat the feat next year considering how hard this title win was, but we got over the line this year and we pick 100 points.

Uzbek Cup

My focus had been mostly on the league as we looked to potentially do well in that, but we did a great job in the cup as well. I always felt we were getting lucky to get through games against Nasaf for example. I expected to lose to Paxkator in the final and the game was a bit drab as it finished 0-0 in regular time, but we sprang into action in extra time and got 2 goals whereas Paxkator could only manage one and we had won the double in Uxbekistan and another 50 points to our total.

Squad

We brought in a lot of players to try and improve us in the transfer window, and I think we probably added good depth but I am not sure our signings took us to any kind of new level despite the title win. In terms of performances. Rajabov was very good this season for us as was Xamaroev from full back Elsewhere we probably did not have a striker that did a good enough job, a problem that we have had since we arrived and we still probably concede too many goals. So there is room for improvement.

Manager Thoughts

A quite unlikely double win this season, when we were in May and had not won in 5, I would have been amazed at the turn around but we managed it and we pick up 150 points for the season to make it 180 points for AFC8, which means we are not too far away from the half way point here in terms of points. We qualified for the Champions League next season so while I expect we will not do much in it that is a new competition for us to participate in. We will likely be here next season and then will be making a decision with regards to our future at the end of the next season provided some amazing job does not come up in the mean time I guess.

Career Summary

 

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2083

Uzbekistan Super Cup

One competition I hadn't mentioned was the Uzbek Super Cup, which we qualified for as league and cup winners. The game did not go to plan and we lost 1-0 Paxkator and 30 points are spurned.

AFC Champions League

We qualified for the Champions League and we faced Omani side Al-Khabourah in the first round and got past them without much issue despite the away tie. In the next round we faced Tajik side Kuktosh and we narrowly got through them 3-2 before setting up a tie at home against Al Arabi of Qatar and surprisingly we beat then pretty easily 2-0 to qualify for the group stages. We got given a pretty tough group with Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia and 9 times Champions League winner Al-Gharrafa of Qatar as well as Istiqlol of Tajikistan. We opened up against Istiqlol and got an easy 4-0 win but it would get harder as we faced Al Shabab in Saudi Arabia and were well beaten 3-0. Next we got a good draw in Qatar against Al Gharrafa 1-1, but it was already looking tough to progress from the group.

We beat Istiqlol again before the loss to Al Gharafa at home sealed our exit from the competition. A final day win against Al Shabab only made sure of third place in the group. A good performance for our standing but not enough for knockout football.

Uzbekistan Superleague

Another season in the books and we had an indifferent start to the campaign with 2 wins and 2 draws leaving us mid table but we certainly improved down the stretch and we were comfortable for the majority of the season. We ended up winning the league by three points by Paxkator were always behind us in the league so we kind of strolled to the league title this season despite the gap not being enormous. 50 points earned.

Uzbek Cup

Another succesful Uzbek Cup campaign as we beat teams we should beat up until the semi finals where we faced Navbahor, the first side that perhaps would think they should beat us, but we produced a great display at their place to beat them handily 4-1. Int he final we faced the always tough Paxkator and early goals gave us the win the cup final as we claim another 25 points.

Squad

I think this year the squad was far more settled and we did not need to bring in a mass of players instead just looking for a key signing here and there to help with competition for places.

Akmal Jo'raev came in and hit the ground running to be our top goalscorer this season with 21 goals, and this Elyor Jo'raev to operate from attacking midfield which suited him much more and he ended up with the highest rating at the club as well as double digit goals and assists. Temur Rajabov was the main man in terms of being the provider as he got 17 assists this season. We are improving as a side and it is good to see.

Manager Thoughts.

Another successful season domestically. We looked far more assured this season and I was more comfortable with the side, perhaps a few of the players had also improved from one season to the next. We earned another 75 points this season and the diminishing returns are beginning to hit hard which may well mean it is our final season in charge of Olmaliq as we look to move on to pastures anew, but it will have to be the right job.

In other news Francisco has now reached the ripe old age of 90.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2084

We left Olmaliq in Uzbekistan and actually for once had a lot of options available to us. Turkmentistani champions Sagadam had their head coach job available as did two of the top sides in Tajikistan Khujand and Istiqlol. In the end given all the options we opted for Khujand. Both them and Sagadam had qualified for the Confederation Cup which Istiqlol had not and it just seemed like Tajikistan would prehaps provide more chances for points. The first task was to look into the transfer market as the club only had around 13-15 different players at the first team.

Tajikistan had three main competitions, the Kahramonhoi Todzikiston which is the league worth 100 points, the Tajik Cup worth 50 points and the Tajik Super Cup worth 30 points.

Tajikistan Super Cup

We opened up the season with the Super Cup and we set down a marker for the rest of Tajikistan as we took the league champions Kuktosh apart 5-0, and picked up 30 points.

Kahramonhoi Todzikiston

We went into the league season and I was confident we would do well, but even I probably did not see how good we would be this season as we went the whole season undefeated and we only lose one game in the process. I felt very confident all season, it just didn't feel like we were going to lose a game, we just seemed to always be in control and so we collect 100 points for our league win.

Tajik Cup

We entered the Tajik Cup with a routine win over lower league opponents KMVA-Pomir a lower league side before we had our first test in the 3rd round as we played Regar. It was a very tough match and we had to resolve it on penalties, which normally the teams I manage falter on but we got through this shootout. In the next round we faced Hatlon and got through them 2-1. In the Quarter Finals we faced 2nd Division side Zarafshon Panjakent and we won that pretty easily 3-0.

Istiqlol was the next test and again a tough game as we scored early but got hit back by our opponents, and three minutes from time we found the winner.

The final was also not easy as we faced Panjsher, we only got the winner in extra time but we did get the winner to win 1-0 and take the final and 50 points.

Asian Confederation Cup

We entered the Confederation Cup and while I did not feel confident of winning it i thought we could do well. We first got past Altyn Asyr of Turkmenistan 4-2 on aggregate, and then we faced Kyrgyz side Abdysh-Ata in the 2nd Playoff and this tie was easier as we came through 5-0. 

The tournament then moved into the regional group stages and our group stage was a little strange as we got Sagadam and Arema Cronus of Indonesia. Quite why they were in our group I don't know but it doesn't matter too much. The group stage was pretty easy as we beat Arema home and away and beat Sagadam at home and drew away when we had already assured progression to the next round.

In the effective Quarter Final of the competition we played April 25 of North Korea and they provided no real competition as we smashed them at 5-0 and went over to North Korea and beat them there too 2-1 for a 7-1 aggregate win. In the effective semi finals we faced a team we knew well and the team whom we managed the last time we won this competition some 16 years ago. The Bangladeshi side did not challenge us as we took them apart 3-0 in Bangladesh and 5-2 at home for an 8-2 aggregate win.

In the final we drew Jordanian side Wehdat with the game to be played in Jordan, this to be honest was our first real test of the competition having waltzed our way to the final and we got the narrow win to win the Asian Confederation Cup. The first for the club and my third of my career. With that trophy we also bagged 250 points and more than enough points to book passage to AFC7.

Squad

We brought in a lot of players and still had a pretty moderately sized squad. I felt we did decent business and had a team that could challenge on all fronts and that we did. Key to our efforts were the likes of Yunosov, Yuldoshev, Koumare, and Saburov to name but four of the players, but I really can't fault anyone in the team, we were excellent and winning a Quadruple is testament to how good we were this season.

Manager Thoughts

We never lost a game of football with Khujand but with the task of AFC8 complete we must resign and unload AFC8 (Kyrgyzstan may well be a problem to unload), and load AFC7 which contains, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Afghanistan. 

It is pretty clear to me that Iran would seem the country where an AFC Champions League may be obtainable and I would like to get there early on to have a go at it. Last time around I predicted for the first time quite well that we would have a chance at the Confed Cup, but I have been wrong most of the other times, we will see what AFC7 will bring with it.

Career Summary

Edited September 6, 2020 by TerminalPortugal

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2085/86

After leaving Khujand, we were out of work for a long time while the new leagues loaded (incidentally the bugged Kyrgyz league did unload, which sometimes they don't so I am happy about that), and eventually we got a very good job as the new manager of Tractor Sazi. Tractor are one of the better sides in Iran and it was quite nice to land a big job like this one first up for us. There were not many other jobs we could have taken so very happy with it. They do have a bit of financial issue at the moment, but I think it will sort itself out over time.

Iran has two main competitions, the Iran Pro League worth 100 points and the Hafzi Cup worth 50 points.

Hafzi Cup

We arrived at Tractor Sazi already in the semi final of the cup and with the opportunity to win 50 points in our first season, however the team morale was in the toilet and we could not do much to improve it. The long and short of it is we lost and we were not very good in the game, so 50 points squandered.

Iran Pro League

Our goal in the league was to qualify for the Champions League. It was what the board wanted and it was what I wanted, however we really struggled with Tractor to put our imprint on the team like we have elsewhere. We were horribly inconsistent and for periods just plain bad. Our first game in charge was Saipa on the 3rd March 2086, the day we joined the club and we had decent results here and there but also some bad ones. For example we lost to Nassaji, which was trash, but we beat all conquering league champions Esteghlal to give them only their second loss of the season. We get well beaten by a struggling Foulad side, but we beat Shahr Khodro who finished 3rd 5-0 at their ground. So a lot of work to be done. In fairness we started getting it right in May and we just need to come back with the same mentality. Unfortunately for us though we missed out on Champions League football which is a huge blow to me. The board at least for now have seemingly accepted it without issue but I am very annoyed about it. We must do better next season.

Squad

Clearly there is quality in this team, with plenty of Brazilians around, however there is no superstar player I would say and this is something I would like to just build a team around. We probably won't get the opportunity because we are already over the wage budget and the transfer budget was negative when I joined so I don't expect there to be money to spend. We will probably have to make do as best we can with the squad we already have.

Manager Thoughts

Disappointing, but probably something to build on and perhaps we started to turn things around at the end, we will see over the coming season. Tractor is a great job, more than I could have hope for coming into AFC7 with issues with reputation to contend with, to get this job is a boon. Now we just a) need to keep said job and b) do well with this team. As I have said before and AFC Champions League is definitely possible with an Iranian team so that is what i am aiming for.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2087/88 - Interim Update

This is not a normal update as we have some important news. But the explain the news and the decision we need to explain a little backstory about this season. The club have had a negative bank balance since we joined and it is perpetually there despite player sales or whatnot. The board took it on themselves to continually sell half my first team squad which was already tiny. This at least got us well under the wage budget but then they slashed that as well. All throughout this we have remained loyal to the club, but no more. It is quite clear that Tractor do not share my ambitions despite the fact that we are performing well this season. So we have decided to leave the club mid season. The reason we are leaving is Persepolis, an even bigger club in Iran sacked their manager a little while ago and offered us the job there, which I think is long term a better solution that remaining at Tractor. I expect in the next couple of season they will drop like a stone so we should get out while we can.

Domestic Fixtures

As you can see we have had a great start to the league campaign and we are not far off challenging for the league, however it will not be sustainable long term. The board just want to sell every player we have. We have no transfer budget and a tiny wage budget now. I think they want to field a team of 17 year olds or something. Anyway I am willing to sacrifice a potential league title this season for a club that has ambition in Persepolis.

Transfers

Above you can the fire sale that has happened at the club, some of them I sold myself because I wanted to help the club balance the books and by myself I brought the wages well below the wage budget but the board continued to go further and have provided me no funds to at all improve the team. I have struggled to even get depth players in.

Manager Thoughts

It's a shame, but I am happy to be going to Persepolis. I think we can really challenge a dominant Esteghlal from their in the future. I don't expect we will be getting any points this season, and it is a risk to do this, but I am willing to do it at this stage as I just know the direction that Tractor are going is not one I want to continue on the ride for.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2086/87

So we left Tractor Sazi in favour of Persepolis, who had the resources and the ambition to challenge for trophies and titles and that was the kind of club that we wanted to be a part of. The season was still underway and we took over the club in 8th place in January.

Hafzi Cup

The club had reached the Hafzi Cup Quarter Final and that was our first opportunity to win some silverware in AFC7. Moghavent Tehran presented no challenge to us as we dispatched them 4-0, but we did have a hard time with a difficult Foulad side, fortunately in extra time we got a couple of goals to see them off and that set up the final against Shahr Khodro and it was quite the final as we ran out 6-3 winners, goals rained in, but we managed to get significantly more of them. Not too happy with our defence today but our attack was brilliant. We win the Hafzi Cup to claim our first 50 points of the AFC7 campaign.

Iran Pro League

We picked up with Persepolis, with the club in 8th place and a long way behind the leaders Esteghlal, but seemingly just as we moved, perhaps precipitated by the defeat we inflicted on them with Tractor, Esteghlal went through an awful spell where they could not buy a win. Eventually we even managed to find our way to the top of the league in what looked like one of the most amazing comeback stories, but we still needed to travel to their ground and we lost there and then lost to Mas Kerman at home who would eventually be relegated to hand the title back to Esteghlal. They got very lucky this year, that we were so far behind to start with, had we been here all season, I have no doubt that we would have been champions. in the end the won the league by 5 points from us but we did finish in 2nd place, which is extremely respectable. Champions League football had been assured with the win of the Hafzi Cup, but I think we now no longer need to go via the preliminary qualifying phases which is good.

AFC Champions League

I had not even noticed that the team were still in the Champions League when we applied, but in fact the Champions League had not yet started, so that was a nice surprise. We went straight into the group stages, where we got toughish group. Al Hilal were definitely a tough opponent. Shabab Ordon of Jordon should be the whipping boys, but Al Arabi of Qatar were a bit of an unknown quantity upon getting the group. The group stages presented not too much challenge. In the end we lost once away in Saudi Arabia and won all the other games. We finished second in the end by virtue of results between ourselves and Al Hilal. They beat us 3-1 in Saudi Arabia and we beat them 1-0 in Iran. Our goal difference and even goals scored were exactly the same.

In the 2nd Round we got a very tough opponent in Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia. However we produced a great display at home to win 2-0 and give ourselves every chance heading on over to Saudi Arabia for the 2nd leg, and indeed it would prove enough as Al Ittihad could only manage one goal and won the game 1-0 to allow us the 2-1 aggregate win. That is where the Champions League ends for this season, we will be back next season with the Quarter Final stage and the start of next seasons competition which we now know we will be a part of.

Squad

We did not have much opportunity to do much in the transfer window, but leaving Tractor and knowing the dire situation at the club financially we were able to strike a deal for Iman Karami who was a superb attacking midfielder for us at Tractor and would continue to be great at Persepolis. Indeed he ended up being the player with the best average rating. Fanaei ended up our top goalscorer with 13 which in Iran is actually not a bad return. The league is pretty defence heavy. Cecilliano our Costa Rican left winger ended up with the most assists for the season. I am very happy with the team and perhaps even more so the resources we have should I want to pick up other players and reinforce position on the pitch.

Manager Thoughts

Well it was a season where we were forced to move clubs, from Tractor Sazi to Persepolis and it worked out for us, as predicted Tractor dropped down the league to sixth place, which really won't help their finances much and we almost won the league. We did win the cup and got our first 50 points and we are still in Champions League Quarter Finals, which I am sure we will soon find out who we will play next. All in all it was the right move and who knows, if the Champions League goes very well we could be a few months from finishing AFC7, although I think it may be a bit early for this team to achieve something like that.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2087/88

Iranian Super Cup

By virtue of winning the Hafiz Cup we were in the Iranian Super Cup against league winners Esteghlal and we pulled off a great display to take them down at the Azadi, which is both our home stadium but their fans had the home allocation. We pick up 30 points

AFC Champions League

The AFC Champions League resumed in the new season as we faced off in the Quarter Finals, and we drew Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia who had caused us issues in the group stages. Al Hilal are 10 times winners of the Champions League and we had never won it so it was a mismatch in terms of history and now we were getting to the business end of the competition. We were at home first and a first half goal from Khalili was enough to give us a narrow win to take over to Saudi Arabia. In the return leg we got off to the perfect start as we scored after 4 minutes to make it 2-0 on aggregate and we had an away goal, but it all went wrong as Al Hilal got level on the night a few minutes later and then got a couple of goals as half time approached. We now needed another goal to progress to the semi finals. In the second half there was not a lot happening until finally we got a goal 15 minutes from time by way of an own goal and that would be how the game would remain to book our place in the semi final.

In the semi final we faced Al Gharafa of Qatar and 9 times Champions League winners. The first leg was away from home and we were the better side for most of the match. We took the lead through Aminorayayi in the 11th minute, but two minutes later they were level. Then late into the game with 15 minutes to go Bagaglini got us ahead again but we were undone two minutes from time as they got level and the game ended in a drew. It could have worked out better for us but we had the crucial away goals in the bag. The second leg was a cagey affair as we knew we just needed a lower scoring draw than the result in Qatar to progress and in the end it was a tight and rigid affair as we stopped them playing in front of a ravenous Azadi crowd with 81,000 fans, they could not find their way through us and the game ended 0-0 to put us into the final on away goals.

In the final we faced Chinese powerhouse Shanghai SIPG and they were 2 times Champions League winners. Again it would be played over two legs and we first travelled to China first. It was a tight game but an old face from my past came back to haunt me as Ratthapol Sripirom whom we had at Buriram United a few years ago struck on the 10th minute to give his new side Shanghai the lead. It was a very even game and we could have gotten level and they could have sneaked another but in the end that was how it ended at 1-0. The Chinese had the advantage going back to Iran, but we would have the crowd behind us. In the second leg it was a different affair, we got an early lead through Aminorayayi from the spot, and perhaps the Chinese were affected by the sellout crowd at the Azadi but they crumbled under the pressure as we hit another through Khalili before halftime. We knew that if Shanghai scored that they would win it, but Aminorayayi got himself another 13 minutes into the second half and now the Chinese needed two goals and they never looked like getting them as we still looked the more likely to score. We held out for the 3-0 win and the 3-1 aggregate win that would bring the first Champions League crown to Persepolis.

Domestic Fixtures

We were going pretty well in the league before the Champions League win made it all irrelevant to us. We were sitting in 4th spot with a game in hand and could bring ourselves within 3 points of early league leaders Foulad. We were also still in the Hafiz Cup, and still to lose domestically this season.

Squad

Not enough games played to assess.

Manager Thoughts

Well we did it, we finally got our hands on the AFC Champions League, almost 50 years after entering Asian football, and it was quite the run as we grafted our way past the illustrious historical winners of the competition in Al Hilal, Al Gharafa and Shanghai SIPG to win the trophy and claim 500 points that take us through to AFC6. Despite having qualified for the Quarter Finals I did not expect us to be able to get the job done at the first time of asking with Persepolis. Added to our Super Cup crown this season we end on 580 points for AFC7. We will now be unloading AFC7 and adding the countries of AFC6, which are only three; the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen. Not really sure whether there will be much continental success with these sides. I think if we could get qualification to the Confederation Cup we would probably have some luck but I would be very surprised if we could win the Champions League, but we will find out when we get there.

Career Summary

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2088/89

After our Champions League success we left Iran and loaded the new countries. We were out of a job for about 1 year before we found our next role which was in Yemen at underperforming Al-Saqr Taizz. The club are one of the biggest in the country and as we took over close to half way through the season they were sitting in the relegation places in 12th place.

Yemen has three main competitions, the Yemeni League worth 100 points, the Yemeni President Cup worth 50 points and the Yemeni Super Cup worth 30 points.

Yemeni President Cup

Already knocked out when we arrived at the club

Yemeni League

I really don't know why the last manager was under-performing so badly with this team as a soon as we took over the results improved massively. We are still unbeaten with the side as we shot up the league like a rocket and in the end we got to the summit of the league without much issue and ended up winning the league by 6 points. We must have made up about 15-20 points in half a season. So we pick up our first points of AFC6.

Squad

We tend to leave the first transfer window when we arrive at a club especially half way through a season but not this time as I wanted to bolster some positions which I felt had no real depth.

In terms of performances there were some great performances after we arrived. Akram Al-Najar from the left wing was very good this season and was a very dangerous prospect. Osama Al-Ba'adani got himself 11 goals which was not a bad return considering the fact that for almost half a season he barely scored. Mohammed Al-Habishi was also a key players from attacking midfield this season and got 5 goals as well.

Manager Thoughts

Well it is good to have a club here in Yemen and have picked up 100 points already for a league title. I am likely to stay at least for next season as we should be able to pick up lots more points domestically and I want to find out what if any continental competition we qualify for. I am unsure if we are banned or something but I am unable to see whether we qualify for Champions League or Confederation Cup football. Either way there should be plenty of points domestically to go after.

Career Summary

[DSousa06]

How's your rep? You surely won everything where you pass by

[TerminalPortugal]

2 minutes ago, DSousa06 said:

How's your rep? You surely won everything where you pass by

Not that great really, it went up to 50% and Continental with the Champions League win but FM penalises you for taking smaller jobs so it's only National and 45% now. Could be problematic once we get to China, South Korea and Japan which are not far away. Didn't actually win too much in Iran, first time we did not win the league on a rung of the ladder, the Champions League was a bit of a godsend, Esteghlal, were god tier hard to beat.

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2089/90

Yemeni Super Cup

We started the season with the Yemeni Super Cup, and we got a big win in the season opener as we smashed Al-Sha'ab Hadhramaut 6-0 to win our first piece of silverware for the season and claim 30 points

Yemeni President Cup

We started off the President Cup with what should have been a tough tie against Al-Tilal but it ended up being a one sided beatdown as we won 5-1. In the next round we faced Al-Sha'ab Ibb and got an easy 3-1 win. We faced Al-Shabab Mansoorh in the Quarter Final and this was the first real test for us as we only just got past them with a second half goal to win 1-0.

In the semi final we faced second division outfit Khanfar and they took us all the way to extra time before we found the solution their defence winning 2-0 after extra time. In the final we faced Al-Urooba Zabid and again it was a tough affair but one we managed to win as we got ahead early and managed to keep the lead until the final whistle. 50 points won for the President Cup win.

Yemeni League

We were outstanding in the league and we never looked like we would not win it, even when Al-Tilal led from us after winning their first 8 games of the season. We did lose once this season to Al-Shula Aden, but apart from that oddity, we were superb as we dropped 4 points all season to romp away with the league. We end up winning the title by 24 points. That is our second league title and gives us 50 points.

Arab Club Champions Cup

Yemeni clubs do not enter the AFC Champions League but instead enter the Arab Club Champions Cup. Unfortunately for us it is only worth 50 points for being a secondary continental competition, albeit the biggest trophy we could possibly win. I had very low expectation coming into this tournament as we would have to face the best teams from North Africa and other Middle Eastern sides. We started off against MA Tetouan of Morocco and got a surprisingly good draw in Morocco before bringing them back to Yemen and beating them pretty convincingly 2-0. Although we need a late goal to make a 100% sure of it.

In the next round we faced Algeria's MO Bejaia. We got a great home win to start things off, winning 2-0 with late goals in the game. We went back to Algeria and managed to hold on to a 1-0 loss as we went through to Quarter Final stage with a 2-1 aggregate win.

In the Quarter Final we faced Iraq's Al-Zawra'a, and got a huge win in Iraq 1-0 with a first half goal the only goal of the game before taking them back to Yemen and beating them 2-1 after extra time. It was an edgy game, Al Zawra'a got the away goal to force extra time but in two extra time minutes we got a couple of goals to effectively kill the game off.

In the semi final we faced Tunisian powerhouse ES Sahel, 8 times winners of this competition. We went away to Tunisia and showed our defensive solidity as we got a 0-0 draw to give ourselves a chance of qualifying for the final. Again we needed extra time to resolve things and again we found two goals in extra time that did the job and we were through to an unlikely final.

Standing in our way were arguably the biggest team in African football Al Ahly of Egypt. The game would thankfully be played in Yemen and an 82nd minute penalty was the difference as we got the win in front of our fans and got our hands on the Arab Club Champions Cup for the first time in Yemeni history. Only 50 points for us but a great achievement for the club and ourselves.

Squad

We did not do a lot of business as there were not a lot of improvements that we could make to the side. We get in a couple of players that would give us some added depth.

In terms of performances, there is no doubt that we were great as we bagged a quadruple this season. Osama Al-Ba'adani was the main man getting 31 goals in all competitions at almost a goal a game to provide the attacking threat. Basuki also got plenty of goals for us this season picking up 16 goals and also 13 assists. Al-Najar got the most assists this season with 16. The defence was also great with Salem Sharyan and Salem Manassar being key guys in their to stop the opposition.

Manager Thoughts

A great season as we completed a quadruple including the Arab Club Champions Cup, It was a season where we bagged ourselves 180 points in total to bring us past the halfway point now with a total of 280 points. This may well be our final season here at the club, but it will all depend on what jobs become available in the off season. Getting to the United Arab Emirates seems to make sense but I want it to be a club which has ambitions of winning things. We already had a job interview offer from Emirates a club in the country but we turned it down because of how things were going Yemen, but it feels like it is the right time to move on now. There is probably a slight chance that if there is slim pickings in the job market we may stay for a third and final season here.

Career Summary

[DSousa06]

3 hours ago, TerminalPortugal said:

Not that great really, it went up to 50% and Continental with the Champions League win but FM penalises you for taking smaller jobs so it's only National and 45% now. Could be problematic once we get to China, South Korea and Japan which are not far away. Didn't actually win too much in Iran, first time we did not win the league on a rung of the ladder, the Champions League was a bit of a godsend, Esteghlal, were god tier hard to beat.

I thought after you won everything you did, you at least had Continental reputation. 

 

 

[TerminalPortugal]

1 minute ago, DSousa06 said:

I thought after you won everything you did, you at least had Continental reputation. 

 

 

No despite winning something like 100 odd trophies we only just hit 1,000 half of fame points. It kind of makes sense to some degree, know one knows the who wins the Tahitian league or even the Indian I-League. I have mostly just won tiny trophies throughout my career.

[DSousa06]

7 minutes ago, TerminalPortugal said:

No despite winning something like 100 odd trophies we only just hit 1,000 half of fame points. It kind of makes sense to some degree, know one knows the who wins the Tahitian league or even the Indian I-League. I have mostly just won tiny trophies throughout my career.

You're correct tho, and after you move to south america or africa you will increase it with the major trophies 

[TerminalPortugal]

40 minutes ago, DSousa06 said:

You're correct tho, and after you move to south america or africa you will increase it with the major trophies 

It's North America before those continents so might get some rep in Mexico and USA, also not sure but could get some rep in the big Asian countries, if I can get a job that is...

[TerminalPortugal]

Season 2090/91

We decided to make the move, and Dhofar, a good side in Oman had an insecure managers position. Despite finishing in 2nd place and narrowly missing out on the league the board were not satisfied with the manager. A few messages in the media from myself finally got them to pull the trigger and we were appointed as the new manager. Dhofar are one of the best clubs in Oman so, we would again have opportunities to win more trophies here.

Oman has four main competitions, the Omantel League worth 100 points, the Sultan Qaboos Cup worth 50 points, the PFF Cup worth 30 points and the Oman Super Cup worth 30 points, but a trophy we would not be involved in this season.

Omantel League

We took over at the club with plenty of time to prepare the team to how we wanted to play and that was enough for us to create an unbelievable league campaign with the club as we dropped just two points on the way to the league title, and completed an unbeaten season in our first season in charge. We ended up 15 points clear of Al-Khabourah in 2nd place. That's 100 points in the bag for this season.

Arab Club Champions Cup

On arriving at the club I realised that we had qualified for the Arab Club Champions Cup and as the defending champion manager I wanted to make a fist of this competition again with my new side. In Oman the top side does get into the AFC Champions League as well as this competition, but since we finished 2nd we would have to make to do with this competition. We started our campaign in a rather easy tie against Ngazi of the Comoros and the tie was well and truly over after the first leg in the Comoros as we smashed them 10-0. The return leg was not as flashy but we still won 4-0 to cap off a 15-0 aggregate win.

The second round drew us against USM Alger of Algeria and two time winners of this competition. The first leg was away and we managed a great result with the last kick of the game as we won out 1-0 in Algeria. In the 2nd leg we started in the perfect way with a goal after 4 minutes to put us 2-0 up on aggregate and we made it 2-0 on the night with a penalty on the 60th minute. Nine minutes later Alger would get a consolation but we were never troubled as we went through on aggregate 3-1.

The Quarter Final saw us against Emirati titan Al-Wasl and we faced them at home first and we got a win, but one that was not without trepidation with the away goals that Al-Wasl had mustered as we won 4-2. I needn't of worried as we were superb in the early stages of the game in the UAE as we put three goals past Al-Wasl to effectively end the contest en route to a 3-1 win and a 7-3 aggregate win.

The semi final was against a familar foe as we faced them with Al-Saqr in the semi final last year. We went away to Tunisia and again stunned our opponent with an early goal and another just before half time as we concluded a famous victory in the North African country. The return leg was pretty comfortable, we took the lead and they equalised before in the 2nd half with them searching for goals to bring them back into the game we picked them off 3 times to win the game 4-1.

The final gave us another familiar foe in Egyptian giant Al-Ahly, and I was quietly confident after beating them last year and because we had home advantage for the final. We got ahead just before half time which was the perfect time to score and then increased our lead half way through the second half. Five minutes from time they got a goal back but we held on to win the maiden Arab Club Champions Cup for Dhofar and our second in a row.

We receive 50 points for our win.

Sultan Qaboos Cup

We entered the Sultan Qaabos Cup looking for 50 points to the points. We started up against Al-Shabab and it was a one sided result as we won 6-0. From the 3rd Round the competition turned into a two legged affair as we drew Sur. That tie was over from the first leg as we won away 5-1 and then finished it off at home 1-0, to advance to the next round.

In the Quarter Finals we faced Salalah and we did the same thing and ended the tie in the first leg 5-0, before we drew 2-2 at home.

In the semi finals we faced Al-Suwaiq and again we repeated the trick as we smashed them 6-0 away to make the return leg a formality, which we won 2-0.

In the final we faced the rough prospect of Muscat from the capital city of Oman and they gave us a game, but we came through narrowly 1-0 to win the Sultan Qaboos Cup and 50 points.

PFF Cup

The PFF Cup was a much shorter competition as we opened up against Al-Nasr and won easily 3-0, then in the Quarter Finals we faced Al-Orouba and beat them easily as well 4-0. The semi finals promised to be tough with Muscat again, but we managed it well and recorded a 2-0 win to put us into the final

At this stage we knew that a win in the final would give us enough points to finish of AFC6 in style, not something I even contemplated before we got the job. We faced Saham and did a job on them as we completed a win 2-0 and won the PFF Cup without conceding a goal the whole tournament. We collected 30 points for winning the trophy.

Squad

There were no major transfers really required we just added some depth where it was required. The team performed brilliantly, we did not lose a game all season and it is testament to how good we were.

Peninha is the obvious choice for me, as the Brazilian picked up 30 goals this season. Al-Mazami and Al-Tamtami were also pretty key players for us this season.

Manager Thoughts

Well we did we have enough points to pass on AFC5 and to be honest it kind of blind sided me, I did not see that coming. We again got ourselves a quadruples this time in Oman for another fantastic season. Really this leg ended up being one where we really excelled getting so many points this season and last season with a couple of Arab Club Champions Cups thrown in. We will now be resigning our role here at Dhofar and unloading AFC6 and adding the countries of AFC5, which include Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. I am interested to see exactly how we do in these countries as on first viewing we would have no chance of winning the Champions League with any of them but with our run in the Arab Club Champions Cup perhaps we have a chance at winning that again. We will see once they are loaded.

Career Summary

[Doiggy_2007]

Great read so far, caught up with the whole thread over the past few days! 

Really interesting concept for a save too!

Do you stick to the same tactic with every team or do you mix it up?