The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge

[darren1983]

Season 2020/21 Review

 

A short one as usual for the first half a season. Took over with the side in 9th and a media prediction of 2nd so I thought we were a decent side, we won first game in charge 3-0 and I thought this would be easy, we of course then lost the next 2 both 1-0. A little chopping and changing as I figured out my best side but we were remaining unbeaten, 2 draws in the run in to sides around us left us 5th and 4 points off of 3rd and the playoffs with 2 games to go. All we could do was win our games and hope. That's what we did and TS Sporting failed to win either game meaning we snatched 3rd by a point and made the playoffs. This was the first time all season the side had been that we had been in the top 3. In the playoffs we faced Cape Town Spurs (2nd in our league) and Black Leopards from the top flight. 3 wins and a draw saw us top the group and achieve a promotion that is probably a season early as the squad needs a rebuild (it is very old) but might be better to do that as a top flight side than a championship one. We were out of all cups when I took over so nothing to comment on those.

Career Progress

Season  	 Team   		 	Position  	Notes and Achievements
2020/21		Uthongathi (RSA)		3rd 		Promotion via Playoffs

Challenge Progress

Club
0/10 top domestic leagues ()
0/10 domestic cups ()
0/5 club continental championships ()
0/1 club world championship

International
0/5 continental tournaments ()
0/1 world tournaments ()

 

[_JHTB_]

FC Edmonton 2021

We did make a decent amount of changes to our team this season with most our our signings secured before the league had ticked over to the new season which almost cost me due to the salary cap of the league, a few loans out and I managed to perfectly hit the maximum on squad salary, squad size and foreign players which was pretty lucky really.

Another season of success for us. We walked the league winning both the Spring Season and Fall Season pretty comfortably. Injuries at the end of the season did cause us a little issue in the final against Valour though we managed to win it in the end to retain our title. We lost just the one league game in both phases combined which is really good, though that didn't stop the bookies suggesting we were the 3rd favourite for the sack with just one game of the regular season remaining. We also managed to qualify for the Canadian Championship final, though we were lucky being the only all Canadian Premier League tie in the Quarter Final. Though, in the Semi-Final in spite of losing the first game 1-0 to Vancouver we comprehensively beat the 3-0 in the second leg. Unfortunately we couldn't find our way past Toronto in the Final who beat us on away goals after a 1-1 aggregate result; a good showing nonetheless.

In Continental Football owing to our victory in the North American League last season we did compete in the North American Champions League also where we lost to Seattle in the Quarter Final. Due to the league scheduling we did then also take part in the North American League yet again, and it was another retained trophy for us with us failing to lose a single fixture. Through this season I've also managed to complete up to my National B license whilst currently studying for my National A.

Best Player  - Easton Ongaro
Ongaro for some reason was out on loan when I joined the club last season but this season forced himself to be our main striker and whilst started slowly ended up with 29 goals in all competitions which is a very good showing considering his 41 total appearances for us. I have noticed that centre backs do get high ratings this year as our best two players in average ratings terms was our centre back partnership.

What Now?

This does bring the end of my time with FC Edmonton as I feel I've achieved everything that I could realistically expect, even if I was close to winning the Canadian Championship. I'm probably going to resign in spite of my contract expiring in the next month and will look for a new job, I'm probably going to search for a 2 star reputation job as my next stop - I had applied to a few throughout this season at FC Edmonton but none of them thought I was the best fit for them.

Story So Far

Challenge Progress

 

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by _JHTB_

[libbyshuss]

Season 2 (2021/22)

Vilafranquense

La Liga NOS

Finish: 5th

A really strange season for our first in the Portugese top flight. I think I under-estimated hpw poor it actually is outside the top 4. We started well, winning our first 3 games despite not playing very well, but then came a run of 5 games including Porto, Benfica and Sporting. We lost them all without even scoring a goal. But then we scraped a draw, got a lucky win, scraped another 2 draws when something strange happened. We won. and won again. and again. For 12 games in a row. At the end of the run we'd beaten the big 3 and were sitting top of the table with only 11 games to play.

We only won 2 of those 11 and slipped to 5th, but qualifying for Europe is a huge achievement for a club our size

 

 

So now what? Realistically I've already taken them as far as I can. They have a 5k stadium and a tiny wage budget, I'm scraping around for free transfers and loan deals to get a decent squad together. My reputation is up to 25% but probably not enough to get a much beter job. Maybe one more season and a European adventure and then I'll see where I can go next. Hopefully somebody has noticed me!

 

Career Record

Challenge Progress

[Siepe1990]

Season 2 (2021/2022)

 

 

So, after finishing a decent 6th after taking over half-way in the previous season, I was hoping for a similar performance this year. However, my Transfer Budget was quite small and I gave most of it up to increase my Wage Bill, so I could at least sign some players on a free transfer. I wanted to improve my squad, but being pretty cash strapped I was not counting on much. However, Arsenal decided that, after scoring 19 goals in the first season, my young striker Pavlidis was worth 5 mio, so that gave me some money to spend. Surprisingly, I managed to sign Ali Akman for free from Bursaspor, even though several high profile clubs were chasing him. That gave me a striker for free and money to spare, so I decided to splash some cash on a RB (Coyle for Hull City), a MC (Martello from Hellas Verona), a CD (Mumin from Vit. Guimaraes) and a LB (Horn from 1. FC Koln). I also brought in a few players on free, the most notable - besides Akman of course - being Jack Wilshere and Andy Carroll.

 

I started the season with a packed schedule, trying to qualify for the Group Stage of the first edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League. I managed to qualify - beating Galatasaray in the final qualifying round - but it cost me 2 points in the league at least. My group for the EC2 was quite straightforward (2 minor teams and 1 major team, Lazio Roma), so I managed to qualify for the first round knockout. There I beat Olympiakos, only to be kicked out one round later by Lille OSC, the # 2 in France at the moment.

Competition-wise it was a great, great season... I managed to grab several impressive wins along the way and found myself with the title race in my own hands, facing AFC AJAX in the 3rd-to-last round of the competition, trailing them just one point. Sadly, Ajax was just too strong, deftly smashing our title hopes by defeating me with 4-2. I did manage to hold on to the 2nd place though, so that means: Champions League next year (well, 3rd Qualifying Round, but still...)!

Returning to my transfers: Ali Akman... remember the name. 28 goals in 29 appearances... He's an insane striker and I'm now faced with the task of trying to keep a hold of him whilst probably the entirety of Europe will start chasing him. In the top 10 best perfomers of the year in the Eredivisie were 4 of my own (besides Akman a major year for Guidetti, scoring 16 and adding 10 Assists on top), with my best peformer being my new CB, Mumin, scoring a 7.35 average (only bested by Dusan Tadic with 7.56 average...).

Oh yeah, about Jack Wilshere... terrible signing, spent way too much wage on him, not worth it at all... disappointing that, really...

So, on to the next year, hopefully with Akman still wearing the beautiful colors of Willem II and another shot at the title!

 

Edited November 16, 2020 by Siepe1990

[kkfootball]

Five league matches into our League Two season and things just seem odd with the team. Preseason saw us earn a draw against a Championship side and a Premier League side (newly promoted) and in the Carabao Cup we beat two Championship sides while being competitive. In the league, however, we are finding it difficult, being outplayed and beaten by sides regularly. Because of this, I think it is likely that I will leave the job in winter unless we find our form. 

A particular highlight of the save so far has been our keeper (originally signed to back up Ryan Huddart, a legend in a FM 15 LLM save) Arthur Okonkwo. In his time at the club he has found himself in three penalty shootouts (1 Playoff final, 2 in the Carabao Cup) and in all three had three stops giving us easy victories. Further, looking at some of the key performance indicators for his position, he seemed to have been top of the league last year. Wouldn't be surprised if he was a large factor in creating the "luck" we seemed to have. Still too early to look at the defensive analytics for this season, but as the team settles into play I imagine they will look solid.

Spoiler

Spoiler

In other news, I have just completed my Continental C License and have started on the B License. Good to see it coming along nicely. 

[lukefox44]

Seems like a very interesting challenge, so lets give it a go.

 

Here's the starting profile -

 

And here is where the challenge begins, FC Edmonton -

[libbyshuss]

I'm ready to take my first foray into international management!

 

 

 

[bjwphneb]

Scott Williams

Manager Movement

In a move that has shocked the world Mauricio Pochettino has retired from management at the age of just 71! After four consecutive league titles he makes way for his successor at....

Spoiler

 

The hardest thing about this challenge is saying goodbye to a club when a better offer comes along. Realistically winning the league with Sociedad would have taken at least two or three more seasons. So as hard as it was, Scott has made the switch to the new powerhouse of German fusball. As usual when a club like Sociedad finishes as high above expectation as they did, clubs are going to come knocking for players, and with release clauses in Spain it was looking likely that their top players would be leaving, why waste a year in Spain just to see out the contract when hopefully he can win the league and cup in just one season with Dortmund.

This is actually the first time Scott has left an "unfinished" project and so it hurts so much more. Hopefully he can return to Spain in a couple of seasons and win what he so desperately desires, what a fairytale it would be if he made the return to Sociedad.

 

[vikeologist]

@bjwphneb Good luck at Dortmund. Have you taken over mid-season?

@libbyshuss Think you can take Serbia to silverware? 

@lukefox44 Welcome to the challenge. Edmonton, and Canada's short season, a popular choice in this first official year for the league. 

@kkfootball Arthur's certainly a big lad, isn't he?

@Siepe1990 GL with the title chase next season.

@_JHTB_Tough luck in the final.

@darren1983Congrats on promotion

[lukefox44]

19 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

 

@lukefox44 Welcome to the challenge. Edmonton, and Canada's short season, a popular choice in this first official year for the league. 

 

Thanks mate.

Yeah its one of the few jobs available on the day of loading in the game, combine that with the short season i can see it being a very popular start.

Hoping to get a coaching badge or two, maybe sneak a league or cup first season and possibly be out of there before the start of Jan 21, seems like a nice simple start until some more interesting jobs pop up.

Really looking forward to the challenge. I've tried the pentagon challenge a few times before but get bored when i'm not in continental cups, this challenge seems to solve this by making potentially any and every season count. So hopefully i will be in it for the long haul.

[_JHTB_]

1 hour ago, vikeologist said:

@_JHTB_Tough luck in the final.

Flash backs to my attempt on FM20, I'm not good at winning cups (albeit I wasn't expecting to win it regardless)

53 minutes ago, lukefox44 said:

Hoping to get a coaching badge or two, maybe sneak a league or cup first season and possibly be out of there before the start of Jan 21

Judging by mine and @Danny_H22 attempts the league should be absolutely achievable but the cup will be a tougher due to the MLS clubs that are in it, though not out of the question with a bit of luck

[treva]

Finally got through my second season with Spurs to end up losing my second Champions League final of this save. My god this challenge tests your enjoyment of playing this game!

Made all the more annoying is that I told myself I wouldn't get FM21 as I wanted to finish this save.. Will put together an update when I've calmed down.

Edited November 16, 2020 by treva

[libbyshuss]

11 hours ago, vikeologist said:

 

@libbyshuss Think you can take Serbia to silverware? 

honestly? No, I just wanted the experience to boost my rep really!

But then, looking at their squad, it's really not bad....

[JHL]

Hi folks, I am still reading through some of the previous threads, but I would also like to play the game, so here goes:

 

Spoiler

I have loaded all the North and South American leagues, so it will be interesting to see whether I can get a job in one of the better leagues, or if I will also go to the Canadian league

I'm on FM21.

Edited November 18, 2020 by JHL
Started over, added leagues, new screenshot

[kkfootball]

After playing half the League Two season, I have decided to take the Hull job in the Championship.

Spoiler

 

I think there ought to be some reflection on the time at Dartford as well as what the plans are moving forward with Hull. 

With Dartford, this season has been strange so far with our performances in the league being mediocre and our performances in the Carabao Cup being brilliant. In the league, we are usually evenly matched and tend to struggle to hold onto our leads late into games (at least my perception), but in the Carabao Cup we routinely beat clubs in the Championship and even beat Tottenham while giving them a credible game. 

Spoiler

While the performance in the league has been strong enough that we are challenging for a playoff position, the team is just a mess. There are some bright spots, but our midfield is not performing well and the goals are all being scored by one striker for the most part. Thankfully he is an absolute menace in front of goal and has 28 goals in 22 league games. I plan on bringing him and Okonkwo (keeper) with us to Hull despite the fact that their stats are so poor that they shouldn't be performing as well as they are in League Two. Okonkwo can take a comfortable backup role for the striker, we will see if he can challenge. 

Spoiler

Spoiler

Regarding Hull and my plans there, I should say that they were not my first choice. I had no intention on continuing to manage in England, but, taking inspiration from those of you who found getting good clubs with low reputation, no German or Spanish top-flight clubs would so much as interview us. Additionally, no MLS jobs were on offer even after the season concluded so I decided to start applying to Championship clubs upon getting interest from some. As a couple clubs (Swansea and Middlesbrough) rejected me after interviewing, I figured Championship was a good level for me and went forward with the Hull job.

If I can get a promotion to the Prem in the next couple seasons and have a good campaign in our first season there, I believe it could be a great jumping off point for A-tier clubs. I believe this as my FM 20 save had went by these same start rules and after taking Reading up and keeping them top 10 in the Prem, I landed the Bayern job. 

With Haiti, we still haven't had a competitive fixture but this summer Gold Cup comes around. I don't want to leave the job until we have a go at that. 

[vikeologist]

14 hours ago, treva said:

Finally got through my second season with Spurs to end up losing my second Champions League final of this save. My god this challenge tests your enjoyment of playing this game!

Made all the more annoying is that I told myself I wouldn't get FM21 as I wanted to finish this save.. Will put together an update when I've calmed down.

I feel you. 

On the domestic front I needed just one more league title, but 3 more cups. So you can guess what happened.

The league was never in doubt, (I've won with about 7 matches to go), but disaster struck in the Cup semi-final. Against a resurgent reigning league champions Dun Streda everything that could go wrong in the first leg did. Amazing free kick goals (for them), penalty kick (for them converted), penalty kick for us (missed), a sending off for a straight red, (us obviously). We lost the first leg 5-1, leaving us with mission surely impossible in the second leg.

Adopting a gung ho attacking approach, we were 4-1 up by half time in the second leg, (having saved a penalty but conceded a goal via a howler by our normally reliable goalie). We couldn’t get the one extra goal we needed in the second half though, and were out.

So, I have to stay another year here, just to get the cup.

The I need to go to another 2 nations, just for the cups.

I have the Euros with Italy this summer, and if I get sacked failing, this challenge may have pushed me to my limit as well. It would leave me with only one nation able to win the Euros; Portugal, and frankly there's a difference between able and probable. However, my Italy side does look good, and definitely my best chance. 

[_JHTB_]

Royal Eagles 2021/2022

 

My time away from management was a short one with me receiving 4 job offers before the turn of the year, one from Kedah of the Malaysian Super League, whilst Belarusian First League sides Lida and Baronovichi wanted me to take over for the start of their new seasons with the former just missing out on promotion. But, it was Royal Eagles in South Africa that I decided to go for, incidentally landing in the only continent I didn't visit in my FM20 attempt - curious as well that North America was my first stop this time round after lasting all of 30 days last time. I joined at the start of the midseason break which allowed me to bring in reinforcements to a squad that only contained 17 players when I arrived and lost one not long after.

The task at hand for Royal Eagles was simple - avoid relegation. When I joined we were rooted to the bottom of the table though only 3 points from safety, something that increased to 5 points after my first game as we lost 3-0. Luckily, our following 3 games were against the two sides directly above us in the league as well as a lower league side in the cup which proved vital morale boosts to kick start the season. After those games we never really looked as though we would face relegation putting in solid performances in most of our games even if we weren't blowing away teams. Ultimately we secured our survival with 2 games remaining and eventually ended up 10 points clear of the final relegation spot. In the mean time we did manage to reach the cup quarter final but only faced one top tier side in our journey in Cape Town City who at the time were leading their division, a 3-2 loss probably made the match seem closer than it was but we still put up a good fight.

Best Player - Rebone Ntsoane

It was pretty hard to work out who was probably the most stand out player for me this season as really, in spite of our general upturn in form, no one player was much better than everyone else, a good team effort. Ntsoane however, did put up some good numbers for me in the second half of the season with the young South African scoring 7 of his 8 goals this season whilst under my tutelage.

Story So Far

 

Challenge Progress

 

[lukefox44]

Luke Fox

 FC Edmonton

2020/2021

 

        

 

 

 

End of season one with FC Edmonton and it could not have gone better.

 

We finished second in the table but then the second phase pretty straight forward. The final was cagey, we went one-nil down to an early goal, but had levelled before half time. Looked like it was going to head into penalties but we managed to snatch an 85th minute goal and then hung on just about to win the Canadian premier league final.

We had our fair share of luck in the cup. Second round of the cup and we got beat 3-0 convincingly by Valour Fc in the first leg and to be honest we were lucky it was only three, even if they were away goals as well. Second leg we pushed the DM forward to an attacking mid, went a bit more attacking and had a real go at it. Leading one-nil with 10 minutes left it was not looking good, chucked on a target man, went route one and got men around him. Quick fire double in the 81st and 83rd minute and its level. We then had the momentum, we were confident going into the shout out and won fairly comfortably 5-3. Maybe equally as lucky was the draw, we managed to avoid the MLS teams for the whole tournament and the rest was straight forward. A nice shock cup win in season one is a massive bonus.

Another bonus was our Northern American League run. We were far too strong for any team we played, won most games around 3-0.  The only scare was the final itself, the first leg ended 3-2, we bossed the game but a dodgy penalty and a set piece left us with only a one goal lead and the opposition with 2 away goals. In training for the second league our first choice Goalkeeper picked up an injury that put him out of the second leg.  Instead our 19 year old back up had to make his debut, he made a few good saves at 0-0 early on and we then went on to win it easily 3-0 on the night, 6-2 on aggregate.

 

Also been doing as many coaching badges as possible, just started work on my National A licence so hopefully that helps boost my rep. Possibly looking to jump ship before the start of next season if a nice job comes , currently looking at a few options in the K league that look interesting.

Just need to learn how to do those charts on here to keep track of my progress now and we are properly started haha.

 

[lukefox44]

21 hours ago, _JHTB_ said:

Judging by mine and @Danny_H22 attempts the league should be absolutely achievable but the cup will be a tougher due to the MLS clubs that are in it, though not out of the question with a bit of luck

Yeah like you said the league is very achievable with some decent recruitment.

Also managed to get the luck in the cup you talked about, managed to win it without playing an MLS side at all.

 

Congrats on keeping the Royal Eagles up as well mate. Comfortable in the end for you, think you can challenge at the top end of the table next year? Looks a really tight league, few good signings and you could be flying. 

Edited November 17, 2020 by lukefox44

[_JHTB_]

5 minutes ago, lukefox44 said:

Also managed to get the luck in the cup you talked about, managed to win it without playing an MLS side at all.

That is some luck considering how few teams are in the cup in general. well done though!

 

7 minutes ago, lukefox44 said:

think you can challenge at the top end of the table next year? Looks a really tight league, few good signings and you could be flying. 

I knew there was something I forgot of my season write up, the looking forward section. Based on my overall form I should be able to be at least top half of the table, though I've not found it the easiest to find potential targets. The league does make it so you can only offer a maximum of 1 year contracts to players so I should be able to find some decent options however, most of the league are professional clubs with only us and one of the relegated sides as semi-professional so that could cause us some issues when trying to recruit.

[bjwphneb]

23 hours ago, vikeologist said:

@bjwphneb Good luck at Dortmund. Have you taken over mid-season?

Beginning of the season, had a full transfer window to make the changes I felt were needed to hopefully secure Dortmund's fifth straight title. Early sings are looking promising

[vikeologist]

So @lukefox44's screenshot has me worried.

 

Is the Canadian Premier League Island Games  a one-off competition?

 

Mind you, I suppose it doesn't matter. Even if it only happens one time, it is a domestic league. All the top domestic league teams were in it, yes?

 

So, I confirm what i said before. It counts towards the 10 leagues.

--------------------------------

 

Also, I want to address what people have said about feeling bad about the easiness of getting a first job.

Even if it is a bug, and unrealistic, that's just the way the challenge is.

I win the league every year because I guess I'm exploiting the match engine. 

There's nothing wrong of course with being a purist, or following an LLM type approach.

But you wouldn't complete the challenge.

There's no reason why one should complete the challenge of course. When this challenge was created, I rather assumed it was impossible. In fact, if you look at the original thread, impossibility was the brand for the challenge. I personally assumed nobody would ever complete it, and certainly not me.

Ever.

But those of us who have completed it probably have about a 75% win record, with one exception who had 100% win record until he won something, which seemingly dropped down to about 25% after.

So, I think completing the challenge, and having a 'realistic' save are almost mutually exclusive.

I wouldn't want anybody to feel that this challenge is all about completing it. In fact,let's be honest. Probably the best experience one could have with the challenge is to win some stuff, cruelly lose some stuff, and then quit with your sanity intact. Honestly, I'm quite tempted to go down that path right now.

That's why I try to be quite laid back about how you go about it, although as you can tell Mr 100/25 still winds me up. 

[libbyshuss]

5 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

as you can tell Mr 100/25 still winds me up.

lol, i'm intrigued now

 

For me, the fun in these sort of challenges isn't in the completion, it's in the journey. I love a good journeyman save, me.

[vikeologist]

1 minute ago, libbyshuss said:

lol, i'm intrigued now

 

For me, the fun in these sort of challenges isn't in the completion, it's in the journey. I love a good journeyman save, me.

To be fair, it was actually 99/25. Near the end of the challenge he did fail to win one competition at the first time of asking; which was dashed poor luck for him. 

[lukefox44]

54 minutes ago, _JHTB_ said:

That is some luck considering how few teams are in the cup in general. well done though!

 

I knew there was something I forgot of my season write up, the looking forward section. Based on my overall form I should be able to be at least top half of the table, though I've not found it the easiest to find potential targets. The league does make it so you can only offer a maximum of 1 year contracts to players so I should be able to find some decent options however, most of the league are professional clubs with only us and one of the relegated sides as semi-professional so that could cause us some issues when trying to recruit.

Ah, not so easy as it appeared by your form then. The one year contract thing is probably both interesting and annoying at the same time. Guessing you dont have anywhere near enough money to go fully pro? 

 

[lukefox44]

17 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

So @lukefox44's screenshot has me worried.

 

Is the Canadian Premier League Island Games  a one-off competition?

 

Mind you, I suppose it doesn't matter. Even if it only happens one time, it is a domestic league. All the top domestic league teams were in it, yes?

 

So, I confirm what i said before. It counts towards the 10 leagues.

----------------------------

I'll be honest I was a little worried about it as well before I started, until I saw a few others take the same job haha.

It seems to be a condensed version of their normal league format. With just one league stage then playoffs and not a spring and fall season, then playoffs. You do show in the past winners screen of the Canadian premier league however.

 

Hopefully along my travels I'll win enough leagues to not have to count the dubious Canadian premier league first season haha. To be honest more likely I hardly win anything and get too frustrated to carry on haha.

[_JHTB_]

24 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

Is the Canadian Premier League Island Games  a one-off competition?

It still lists the winner as the Candian Premier League champion, the Island Games is just the name they settled on for the shortened season this time round, though is listed as 'first phase' in the league winners list. 

 

13 minutes ago, lukefox44 said:

Ah, not so easy as it appeared by your form then. The one year contract thing is probably both interesting and annoying at the same time. Guessing you dont have anywhere near enough money to go fully pro? 

We were good value for staying up, but even according to the bookies we weren't the main favourites to be relegated. On the Professional Status question though....

 

[lukefox44]

11 minutes ago, _JHTB_ said:

It still lists the winner as the Candian Premier League champion, the Island Games is just the name they settled on for the shortened season this time round, though is listed as 'first phase' in the league winners list. 

 

Yeah I saw that it lists it as first phase, but in 2020 it's the only league that happens. But as you said, it is just a shortened season.

 

13 minutes ago, _JHTB_ said:

We were good value for staying up, but even according to the bookies we weren't the main favourites to be relegated. On the Professional Status question though....

 

That's a bit harsh after you kept them up after being brought in when they were rock bottom.

[treva]

Going to keep updates shorter than previously but here's an overview of my latest season...

 

2035/36 Season

 

Having won the Premier League and FA Cup in my first season, it was just the Champions League on our radar this season. Everything went to plan until the final week of the season. Despite heavy rotation we dominated the league, winning back-to-back titles with four games to spare, ending up 9 points clear of Chelsea at the end of the 38 games. We also picked up the pointless EFL Cup beating Newcastle in the final after a relatively easy run of things in the competition. It all unravelled when I chose to start former Ballon d'Or winner Suad Kurtic in the final game of the season against Bournemouth. He injured his hip inside 10 minutes and was ruled out for the FA Cup Final against Chelsea and the Champions League Final against PSG. Ignoring the FA Cup for a second, we had progressed from our Champions League group with Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Ferencvaros with six wins, 19 goals scored and 0 conceded. We then dispatched Rangers in the 1st Knockout Round before our first real test came against Chelsea. We lost the away leg 3-1 but bounced back at home to win 2-0 and go through on away goals. Reigning champs Barcelona were no match for us in the semi final as we beat them. 4-1 on aggregate to set up a tasty final with PSG. Leading up to that final we lost the FA Cup Final 3-1, only our 8th loss across all comps. Quadruple denied, we still had the main prize up for grabs. Sadly nothing went our way in the final. They scored a worldie and we were always playing catch up. As we pushed for goals the game became ridiculously open and ended 4-3 with three goals in the final 10 minutes - typically their winning goal came from the penalty spot.

 

So, where does that leave us. Well, we've already qualified for the Club World Cup in 2037, so I'm going to stay and have another crack at the Champions League. Our squad is by far the strongest in Europe in terms of depth, so it would be disappointing if we aren't able to win one, if not both, of those competitions we need. I spent this whole season not using 'Instant Result' bar one friendly - those days are over. I will be 'instant resulting' every game that isn't a Champions League or Club World Cup match.

 

 

On the international front I am still with Mexico. The squad includes two of my Spurs stars which is excellent for their progress, particularly my young CM who has already scored several international goals and made the PFA Team of the Year. We've made the CONCACAF Nations League Semi Final with ease where Costa Rica await us in the semi final. In friendlies we ran Germany close with a 3-2 defeat and most recently beat England 3-1 and Netherlands 3-2. Excellent signs heading towards major competitions.

 

 

Challenge Progress 11/32

Club

4/10 Top Domestic Leagues: Indonesian Liga 1 (x2), Chinese Super League (x2), Liga BBVA Bancomer MX Apertura (x2), English Premier League (x2)

4/10 Domestic Cups: Piala Indonesia (x2), Yanjing Beer Chinese FA Cup, Copa Argentina, Emirates FA Cup

2/5 Club Continental Championships: CONCACAF Champions League, Copa Libertadores

0/1 Club World Championship:

International

1/5 Continental Tournaments: 2035 Africa Cup of Nations

0/1 World Tournaments:

Edited November 18, 2020 by treva

[Basschaapje.2]

I am going to have a go at this challenge. Lost interest in my most recent save but don't expect too much of me since i am not a wonder with tactics and lose interest quite fast. Here is my manager and the team i will be coaching will be a team in asia but i don't know which one yet.  

[Basschaapje.2]

I started at XJ TS Leopard in China and took a national job at New Caledonia at the same time. I hope that makes my reputation go up faster so that i can get to more decent teams quicker. Here we go

[vikeologist]

10 hours ago, Basschaapje.2 said:

I am going to have a go at this challenge. Lost interest in my most recent save but don't expect too much of me since i am not a wonder with tactics and lose interest quite fast. Here is my manager and the team i will be coaching will be a team in asia but i don't know which one yet.  

Welcome to the challenge.

Your manager's 22. You have to be 20 (or 19) when you start.

Edited November 18, 2020 by vikeologist

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2051/2 Slovan Bratislava (and Italy) Report

As previously revealed, we won the league by a lot,

 

 

but had a disastrous semi-final in the cup, meaning I have to stay for another year to get one of the three cups I need to complete things domestically.

I mean, I don’t have to. The Rangers job in Scotland is vacant, (they approached me without my even applying) and Scotland has 2 cups, but I might as well stay. The chances of my winning the 1 cup with Slovan are probably greater than my chances of winning either with Rangers.

In a year’s time I’ll add all the nations I know of that have 2 domestic cups.

 

Top Goalscorer - Matías Bessone - 26

I was a bit surprised his goal total was so low. A 21 year old Argentinian striker I paid over £3million for, which is a lot in Slovak football terms.

Hopefully he’ll be even better next year. His current and potential abilities are maxxed out at 5 stars, probably because he’s so much better than the other players. He has no release clause, but I can’t offer him a better contract to make him more likely to want to stay, because his agent insists on putting such a clause in. I imagine he’ll get itchy feet soon, and I may well sell him, but for a lot more than the £1.8 million that his agent wants to insert (which as revealed above is a lot less than we paid for him).

 

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Bruno Suárez – 7.69. Not even our best central midfielder according to the coaches. An attacking midfielder. Honestly I think his average is due to him taking the penalties and free kicks. Approaching 100 caps for Bolivia.

 

Man of The Match – Matías Bessone - 8

Most Valuable Player– Matías Bessone

 

Domestic
Season	Team		Division		Position	MVP				Notes										
20/21	Folkestone	England VNL South	4th		Alfie Matthews 	(SC) 		Lost in playoff S/F
21/22	Folkestone	England VNL South	1st		Jobi McAnuff	(MR)		FA Cup R4, won league by a country mile.
22/23	Folkestone	England VNL Conference	1st		Dion Rankine	(MR)		FA Cup R4 again, back to back promotions to the Football League
23/24	Folkestone	England League 2	4th and lost in playoff final without me 	Left after 21 matches with Folkestone in 2nd and on course for 3rd promotion in a row.
23/24	Everton		Premier League		11th		Alexander Nübel	(GK)		Took over after 16 matches. Won Carabao Cup.
24/25	Everton		Premier League		7th		Christopher McKay (MR)		Won Carabao Cup (again) and Europa League, thus qualifying for Champions League.
25/26	Everton		Premier League		3rd		Christopher McKay (MR)		Carabao Cup Threepeat, Lost in CL Final.
26/27	Everton		Premier League		1st		Moise Kean (SC)			League / FA Cup Double.	
27/28	Everton		Premier League		2nd		Christopher McKay (MR)		Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup Treble	
28/29	Everton		Premier League		1st		Christopher McKay (MR)		League, FA Cup, Champions League, Club World Championship	
30/31	Dortmund	Bundesliga		2nd		Juan Manuel Jiménez (MR)	Won Europa League. Whoopy Do.
31/32	Dortmund	Bundesliga		1st		Aarón Fernández (SC)		League / Cup double
32/33	Valencia	Primera Liga		6th		Sergio Goñi (SC)		Took over after 16 matches. Qualified for Euro II.
33/34	Valencia	Primera Liga		2nd		Carlos Gimeno (ML)		Won Euro Cup II
34/35	Valencia	Primera Liga		2nd		Nathan (SC)			Once again, a distant second best to Real Madrid.
35/36	Valencia	Primera Liga		2nd		Nathan (SC)			Spanish Cup and Champions League
36/37	Valencia	Primara Liga		1st		Nathan (SC)			League, Champions League
2037	Atl Mineiro	Brazilian 1st		1st		Leandro Mederos (MC)		Took over after 17 matches in 8th. Won league. CL S/F
2038	Atl Mineiro	Brazilian 1st		1st		Ley (DC)			League, Libertadores and the pursuit of happiness. Sorry, I mean the Brazilian Cup.
39/40	OM		French 1st		1st		Batata (SC)			League. Knocked out of Frech Cup on penalties. 
40/41	Juventus	Serie A			1st		Dustin Abeßer (SC)		League / Cup double.
2043	SIPG		Chinese SL		2nd		Anderson Omar (MC)		Took over after 13 matches. ACL S/F
2044	SIPG		Chinese SL		1st		Ninja (SC)			League, cup, Champions League triple, Unbeaten league season.
2045	America		Mexican Opening		13th						Took over after 14 matches in 17th place (of 20). Won all 5 remaining matches
2046	America		Mexican Closing		1st		Miguel Macías (MC)		League winners
2046	America		Mexican Opening		1st						League and Leagues Cup winners
2047	America		Mexican Closing		1st		Misael Hernández (SC)		League and NACL winners
46/47	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Premier	3rd						Took over in 3rd with 3 games to go. 
47/48	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Premier	1st		Tshidiso Zimu (ML/C)		League, Super 8, K/O Cup, SA Cup, Confederations Cup. Everything basically.
48/49	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Premier	1st		Siphamandla Mlungwana (AMC)	Won everything (apart from the CWC) again, this time including the Champions League.
50/51	Slovan 		Slovak 1st		5th						Took over with 8 matches remaining in 6th. Won the Euro League II Playoff.
51/52	Slovan 		Slovak 1st		1st		Matías Bessone (SC)		Fantastic all seson apart from a disasterous S/F 1st leg saw us crash out.

International
Year	Team				Achievements
23	Indonesia U23			Topped U23 Asian Nations Cup Qualifying. Quit shortly afterwards.
24-26	Uruguay				World Cup S/F
26-28	France				Knocked out in Euros Q/F
28-32	Argentina			World Cup		Matías Gayoso (GK)
					Copa America		Matías Gayoso (GK)
32-34	Spain				European League		Ansu Fati (SC)
					Knocked out in '34 WC R3 by eventual winners Germany
34-36	France (Again)			Nations League		Manuel Jourdan (SC)
					Lost Euro '36 S/F to eventual winners Germany
36-39	Mexico				Lost in Gold Cup final.
					World Cup Quarterfinalists
					Won Gold Cup 		Juan Pablo Diaz (MC)
40-42	Holland				Nations League		Stefan van Roon (SC)
					World Cup 3rd Round
42-43	South Korea			Asian Cup		Wookie (ML)
46-47	Switzerland
47-49	Ivory Coast			Knocked out in ACON R2
49-50	Ghana				Knocked out in WC R2
50-	Italy				3rd Nations League	Gianfranco Tammaro (SC)



Challenge Progress 27/32

Club
 10/10 top domestic leagues 		(England, Germany, Spain, Brazil, France, Italy, China, Mexico, South Africa, Slovakia)			
 7/10 domestic cups 			(England, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Italy, China, South Africa)						
 5/5 club continental championships	(Europe, S America, Asia, N America, Africa)	 	
 1/1 club world championship

International
 3/5 continental tournaments 		(S America, N America, Asia)		
 1/1 World Cup		

 

[Basschaapje.2]

3 hours ago, vikeologist said:

Welcome to the challenge.

Your manager's 22. You have to be 20 (or 19) when you start.

Oh my bad i used my real age without paying attention

[Basschaapje.2]

So i restarted now beginning in North-america. My manager with the correct age. And i will be starting with georgia to get some reputation. While searching for a club with some money so that i can get my badges fast.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Basschaapje.2

[lukefox44]

Luke Fox

Steenberg United 

2020/2021

New job time, always exciting. After doing an unexpected league and cup double with FC Edmonton it was time to move on. I took a look at the CONCACAF Champions league and it would of been almost impossible to even consider getting into the later rounds, I had taken FC Edmonton as far as I could. I offered contracts to those who needed new ones and even made a few nice signings to set up the next manager before I handed in my resignation.

 

Then the job search was on, I got offered a few interviews in Singapore but it really felt like a step back. I had been unemployed for around a month and during the Christmas period a whole heap of jobs popped up. I noticed the Steenberg United manager had been appointed by a mid table team in the division above and decided to take a look. Steenberg were predicted by finish towards the bottom of the league but had been overperforming and were sitting in 9th only 6 points away from the playoffs with a third of the season to go. I applied for the job and was offered an interview very quickly, before I knew it they had offered me the job.

 

 

As I said Steenberg were overperforming before I took over and my plan was to keep the good form going and maybe even sneaking into the playoffs. Even if we don't attack the top of the league this year the club has some very good players and some decent finances that mean next year should be a good one for us. As you can see below the league table is very very close, hopefully smart recruitment can pull us clear of some the lower teams.

 

  

On a personal note I'm still studying for my National A licence and my reputation has gone up to 1.5 stars / 25%. Hopefully a good season or two with Steenberg can catch the attention of one of the bigger boys in South Africa or we can get Steenberg promoted from the second tier of South African football and challenge the more established names. 

[lukefox44]

8 minutes ago, Basschaapje.2 said:

So i restarted now beginning in North-america. My manager with the correct age. And i will be starting with georgia to get some reputation. While searching for a club with some money so that i can get my badges fast.

Good luck mate.

[Britrock]

21 hours ago, vikeologist said:

I wouldn't want anybody to feel that this challenge is all about completing it. In fact,let's be honest. Probably the best experience one could have with the challenge is to win some stuff, cruelly lose some stuff, and then quit with your sanity intact. Honestly, I'm quite tempted to go down that path right now.

That about sums up my FM20 journey with this challenge! Hopefully my FM21 journey when I start on it as well (probably when the full game drops)

[Basschaapje.2]

January update- Still haven't found a juicy club in North-America. Things going decently well at Georgia though i placed for the Euro's. This is my group

[Crispypaul]

Have decided that I'll be giving this a go again once the full version is released.  

[Siepe1990]

Season 3 (2022/2023)

Well, that was surprising... After finishing 2nd last season, I was hoping for a top-3 finish, but honestly I was expecting to fall behind Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord at the very least. Shows I just can't predict a thing: CHAMPIONS! Willem II have won their first Eredivisie since 1955. After an amazing season, in which Ajax was beaten twice, Willem II finished 5 points ahead of Ajax, but the title was only clinched on the final day, with a win at home against ADO Den Haag and Ajax drawing against SC Heerenveen.

Back to the start of the season. I lost topscorer Ali Akman (as was expected) for a meager 8.5M due to his Minimum Release Clause. My scouting team suggested a 19-year old from Valencia, named Andres Garcia - remember the name! He went on the score 40 goals in 39 appearances, which is just absurd. Another key 'signing' was the loan of Ferran Torres from Manchester City - the guy is simply insane: 18 goals and 17 assists in 35 appearances... So two players, both contributing 1 Goal/Assist per game - combine that with a stellar defense consisting of Almamy Toure (major signing) and Sebastian Holmen (already at the club when I got here, 7.25 rating two seasons in a row) and you have the foundation for the Championship-run.

In Europe we failed to qualify for the Group Stage of the Champions League, losing to Olympique de Marseille. I thought the European part of the season was over, but apparently losers get a ticket for the Europa League Group Stage. After some nice performances in the Group, we even managed to beat Real Sociedad in the 1st KO-round, only to be eliminated by AS Roma in the 2nd KO-round. The Domestic Cup was over in the 2nd Round for the second season in a row, which is just... utterly annoying...

Anyhow, let's see what the summer brings. Perhaps a new challenge? I've achieved all I can at this club, so if something nice comes along, I might just take a chance...

Season Overview

Spoiler

 

Progress

[libbyshuss]

and     

Season 3 (2021/22)

Vilafranquense and Serbia

Liga NOS

Finish: 4th

Another good season for us that got undone by the world cup in Qatar. With November and December out we found ourselves playing 3 games a week through March and April, really spreading our thin squad to breaking point. We managed ok and qualified for Europe again but really, it's time for me to move on. With only 5k attendances there's no way we can realistically compete with Porto, Benfica and Sporting at present. But at only 35% rep, who will take us?

I finally managed to find a reliable striker in Ecuadorian Bryan Angulo who joined on a free. 20 goals in 32 starts is pretty good for us! He's so good he's got interest from Millwall and Ghent!

The Europa Conference was fun - we got all the way through to the quarter finals where we were beaten by Roma. No shame in that though.

Not much to report on from Serbia. They wanted promotion in the nations league which I managed to provide. We are now 2 games into the Euros qualifying with a win against Cyprus and a loss to England. For some reason everything I say demoralizes the squad. Maybe because I'm a 22 year old pipsqueak with relatively little experience? We'll see how it goes.

 

Career stats

Challenge Progress

[MShing]

Completed my first coaching qualification  had to persuade the board to let me do it though, their excuse was they didnt want a bigger team trying to poach me  I shortly tried to ask for a second one, but they were having none of it 

[libbyshuss]

So I decided my time in Portugal had come to an end and I was ready for the next challenge. I sent my CV around and applied for a few jobs. Clubs in South Korea wouldn't look at me, Feyenoord gave me an interview but went elsewhere and then Rennes and Anderlecht both interviewed me and offered me their jobs. So now.....

Spoiler

Very happy with that appointment! Hopefully I should be able to start winning some trophies that count soon.

 

 

[Basschaapje.2]

So finally found a club, Forge FC in Canada. The summer with Georgia went pretty well. In my last post i said i placed for the European championship, i expected to roll out of the groupstage but actually finished first in my group. The group was Spain, Slovakia and the Czech republic. Here is my schedule, i started off by beating Spain 3-2 in an undeserved victory. Then lost 2-0 to the Czech republic and after that beat Slovakia with 1-0. Giving me 6 points finishing top of the group with Czech republic coming in second and Spain also qualifying being 3rd. In the last 16 we faced Wales and smashed them 3-1 even missing a penalty. In the quarter final we faced Germany, so i'm thinking i'm ****ed. Then i remembered that they don't have real players and that got my hopes up. Got smashed 4-0 and that was the end of the European journey lol. Germany went on to win it in the end in a final against Scottland. 

P.S. do you guys think i should stay with georgia hoping good talents come through and place for the world cup or just leave on a high point?

 

[libbyshuss]

26 minutes ago, Basschaapje.2 said:

P.S. do you guys think i should stay with georgia hoping good talents come through and place for the world cup or just leave on a high point?

 

I'm going to have a similar problem with Serbia in a season or two

I'm thinking in terms of the challenge I'm going to have to leave to have any realistic chance of winning something

So I'd leave on a high point

[lukefox44]

2 hours ago, Basschaapje.2 said:

So finally found a club, Forge FC in Canada. The summer with Georgia went pretty well. In my last post i said i placed for the European championship, i expected to roll out of the groupstage but actually finished first in my group. The group was Spain, Slovakia and the Czech republic. Here is my schedule, i started off by beating Spain 3-2 in an undeserved victory. Then lost 2-0 to the Czech republic and after that beat Slovakia with 1-0. Giving me 6 points finishing top of the group with Czech republic coming in second and Spain also qualifying being 3rd. In the last 16 we faced Wales and smashed them 3-1 even missing a penalty. In the quarter final we faced Germany, so i'm thinking i'm ****ed. Then i remembered that they don't have real players and that got my hopes up. Got smashed 4-0 and that was the end of the European journey lol. Germany went on to win it in the end in a final against Scottland. 

P.S. do you guys think i should stay with georgia hoping good talents come through and place for the world cup or just leave on a high point?

 

Good effort that mate.

Just a quick question, how much does having a national job effect your manager reputation ? Struggling to decide if I need to be getting a national team job yet or not.

Cheers.

[vikeologist]

2 hours ago, Basschaapje.2 said:

 

P.S. do you guys think i should stay with georgia hoping good talents come through and place for the world cup or just leave on a high point?

 

No. I don't think it's worth staying with international teams that aren't going to win anything, especially since (at least in recent versions) international jobs make it much harder to get good club jobs.

Just my personal opinion of course.

[libbyshuss]

47 minutes ago, lukefox44 said:

Just a quick question, how much does having a national job effect your manager reputation ?

seems to be none for me so far

[vikeologist]

46 minutes ago, lukefox44 said:

Good effort that mate.

Just a quick question, how much does having a national job effect your manager reputation ? Struggling to decide if I need to be getting a national team job yet or not.

Cheers.

I don;t think it has much. I mean there's your overall rep, and then your local rep. You#re most likely to be sacked from international jobs, and that does knock your rep, but I deliberately avoid looking 'under the hood' too much, and it does seem that FM21 may have changed this whole area quite a lot.

Early on, if you have a club job you're going to stay at, an entry level international job maybe helps.

But I know nothing about FM21.