FM21 Global (Less England) Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[rlipscombe]

@jmarchand  -  LOVE the potential of Luciano Leon.  some of those mental stats...   the future looks bright...

[aldojags]

Love the 2 new signings 👍

[Biscotti]

Francisco | Sestao River Club | Spain | 2043/44 (Season 23)

This one has taken me a long time to play through, because it's been really frustrating for me - to the point that I've just wanted to play other games instead. Another relegation on my record, and this time I think I'm in need of a big tactical overhaul. My 5-2-1-2 system has been really good to me in the lower tiers, but it's now apparent that I need to adapt if I want to make it at the top.

Competitions | Transfers 1 & 2 | Youth Intake | Fixtures Part 1 & Part 2 | New Records/PotS | Finances | Best XI (All-Time)

While one Juan Manuel hasn't really made the transition to La Liga, the other Juan Manuel has been our best player. If it weren't for him I think we'd have possibly broken the record for lowest points in a season. The only other player I want to highlight came into prominence toward the end of the season, and will hopefully be my number 9 moving forward, and that's Alain Garcia. He cost me £3.7m last January, and I think if I can just boost his finishing a few points he might really be a star.

This year's youth preview seemed to promise a lot, but when it came round to intake day the only real standout for me was Víctor Albisu (YP23). Added to that, none of my previous academy products where anywhere near playing regular football for us, but I'm hoping to have a couple of them available off the bench regularly for us next season. Yann Magne unfortunately had his release clause triggered, and we were unable to keep him at the club. I think I mentioned a couple of seasons back about Asier Ibañez coming back to us to finish his career, and he has now been my assistant for a little while. Now that he's got a couple of coaching courses under his belt he's looking like a pretty solid AssMan, so I'm glad I pulled the trigger there.

Basque count: 2 players (At least 10 starts, or 20 games overall) 

Edited May 26, 2021 by Biscotti

[Thebaker]

@Biscottithat's hard luck. Perhaps you had too many transfers to get the squad to gel although the team started ok.  Looks like you have plenty of money in the bank to improve the squad for a promotion run if that's actually required as some players  are always better in the 2nd season.

[Tecmo]

C.D. Portosantense 2021-2022

Finally got through a season on this challenge, been bouncing around trying lots of different teams. My Portugal career began with Africanos Braganca but I screwed up on the homegrown players before that season even started. Anyway, ended up on the island of Porto Santo in Madeira.

First, the initial stuff:

Club Info

Club History

Manager Info

I managed through about half the season using a 4-4-1-1 formation and was in 11th of 12 when I put this aside for a couple months. I came back with the thought that I wanted to test a playing style trying to emulate Barnsley, kind of a direct, aggressive 3-4-3 (actually using a 5-2-2-1). I had mixed results and reverted back to my more conservative 4-4-1-1 when I basically just needed a result in my final game to survive, which we did with a 1-0 win.

League Table

Not exactly an impressive season, the offense was awful. Luckily our defense was pretty solid so we were in most games and managed 5 0-0 draws in 22 games.

PT Cup - Drew Olhanense, a level higher than us, got it handed to us 0-3. Luckily we had no expectations for that competition.

Notable Players

AM - Alain Hansen - So he was the main draw to taking over PS. Now 16 year old Luxembourger, a wide playmaker who I'm retraining as a 10. 2 goals and no assists on the season but so much potential. Can't get him to sign a real contract with us but so far no one has come in for him, even after his first U21 cap. Hopefully we can keep him for at least one more season.

MC - Juan Mena - Main engine in our midfield and joint leading scorer with three goals, we just offered this Colombian an extension so hopefully he stays put.

DC - Luis Ferreira - Our signing of the year and player of the year, he was a big part of the reason our defense was so good.

Finances - Really bad. We actually depleted our scouting budget (which for some reason was letting us scout Belgium). The teams is almost 500K in the whole after losing over 600K this season. And we were way under budget as well. I'll have to try being more judicious with our scouting this season, maybe that will help.

Looking Ahead - We need to score more, simple as that. Probably going to go full on with the 5-2-2-1, I have players I'm happy with at most positions. Probably just need to add two starters, a center back and a central midfielder who can defend. Club Vision is to finish in the top half. Seems optimistic but we'll see.

 

[jmarchand]

I love loyal players

[Thebaker]

2031

Squad | Table | Transfers

Started ok but then drew 7 in 8 and didn't really win many more in the season to finish very midtable. In the Swedish cup from last year the team was well beaten in all 3 games in the group stage and in this years cup the team lost in the 2nd rd away to D1N Huddinge 0-1. Struggled to score and had the worst defense in the league.

Finances remained steady but i did manage to persuade the board to make 2 improvements to the youth recruitment. Sold Lind as he wanted to go but his replacement Johnsson failed to fire along with Johannson. Hoxha came in and did quite well. No youth players have yet broken through but Rosendal has now made 40 apps mostly as sub.

 

2032

Squad | Table | Transfers

 

Started with 5 straight wins and then didn't win in 7 games. Had a few more runs of wins and losses but went into the last game in 3rd,  2 points behind 2nd and 3 points and 14 goals ahead of 4th. A disappointing 6-3 loss was compounded by Dalkurd in 2nd losing. In the playoff against Orgryte the team were battered at home but only lost 1-2 and then put in a great defensive display to win 2-0 away. Qualified for the group stages by beating D1S Falkenberg 1-0 away with a goal in the 121st minute.

Finances were saved by the increased prize money, the club turned pro at the end of the season.

Johnsson finished league top scorer as the team were the league high scorers but is really inconsistent frequently putting in poor performances. Hoxha again was the 2nd striker.

 

Season

League

Position

Swedish Cup

Europe

Top Scorer

Assists

Attendance

Training

Youth

Junior

Youth Rec

Notes

2027

1st Div North

2nd

2nd Rd

N/A

Laaksonen (17)

Bardiqi (14)

431

Basic

Poor

Average

Adequate

Promoted via playoffs

2028

1st Div Elite

13th

Group St

N/A

Diawara, Johannson(12)

Johannson (7)

441

Basic

Poor

Average

Adequate

2029

1st Div Elite

8th

Group St

N/A

Diawara(18)

Bardiqi (12)

440

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

2030

1st Div Elite

11th

Group St

N/A

Lind(20)

Bardiqi (6)

435

Below Average

Poor

Adequate

Average

2031

1st Div Elite

8th

2nd Rd

N/A

Johnsson, Hoxha (8)

Bardiqi (8)

508

Below Average

Poor

Adequate

Excellant

2032

1st Div Elite

3rd

Group St

N/A

Johnsson (25)

Rosendal (26a) (7)

694

Below Average

Poor

Adequate

Excellant

Promoted via playoffs

[Crispypaul]

Hello all - thinking of doing this the first time in FM21 - may I ask how rigid the load one league only rule is? As in other one club challenges it is available so I usually load the top division for major leagues in Europe and that's it, at least for a more active transfer market.

[jmarchand]

How would you train this guy...? He has loads of potential, has been scoring on a very regular basis this season in a rotation option. I love his mental stats (Anticipation, Flair and Off the Ball!) as well as the acceleration and dribbling to match. 

 

[jmarchand]

On 29/05/2021 at 13:43, Crispypaul said:

Hello all - thinking of doing this the first time in FM21 - may I ask how rigid the load one league only rule is? As in other one club challenges it is available so I usually load the top division for major leagues in Europe and that's it, at least for a more active transfer market.

Join the fun. @rlipscombe can chime in on the actual rules, but anyways, by the time you reach the top flights, it's generally all regens anyway and you'll have Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona squeaking like vultures around your wonderkids anyway.

[rlipscombe]

7 hours ago, jmarchand said:

Join the fun. @rlipscombe can chime in on the actual rules, but anyways, by the time you reach the top flights, it's generally all regens anyway and you'll have Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona squeaking like vultures around your wonderkids anyway.

Personally i am not averse to the idea.  I might be wrong but i don't know if it is that different to loading countries / regions...?  I guess it would potentially make the challenge harder(??).  I think traditionally it has been there to make the challenge easier for those with slower computers as there would be slower processing speeds otherwise.  Unless others have an issue with it i am happy to allow it...

[Thebaker]

23 hours ago, jmarchand said:

How would you train this guy...? He has loads of potential, has been scoring on a very regular basis this season in a rotation option. I love his mental stats (Anticipation, Flair and Off the Ball!) as well as the acceleration and dribbling to match. 

 

train as an advanced fwd and his shooting, pretty much everything else is already there

[jmarchand]

  

Season 13 - 2033-2034 | Third time is the charm? 

Coming back from a second Champions League title in two years, GOSK Dubrovnik was flying high. A new stadium (recently expanded to 8536 seats), recognized as the 4th best European club in the coefficient list, we were aiming to do it again. 

 

Croatian First League

We went on a very long win streak, drawing our first match on November 27th, a disappointing 1-1 performance from a heavily rotated squad against Rijeka in the middle of Champions League group matches. Then, all wins until February 18th, when we went on a slump, losing 3 matches and drawing one in a 5-game span. Came back up after that, but the league was already won at this point, formally sealing up the title with 6 matches to go. 

Offence was the key part this year, with an all-time record of 119 goals in 36 matches, an impressive average of 3.30 goals per game. Not getting on the point total record which we established in 2031/32, but close enough. A 91 goal difference was also quite impressive.   

 

Croatian Cup

Walking through the league, walking through the Croatian Cup. Apparently, new signing Joao Felix though that getting a domestic cup as important, so I put a decent amount of effort into it. We were never really troubled by any side, dominating Dinamo in the final on a 2-0 win. 4th title in a row!  

 

European Super Cup

The European Super Cup is not so much of a challenge after winning the Champions League... This time, we faced Rangers which were promptly destroyed 5-1, with 3 goals from our new signing Luciano Leon (more on him later!) 

 

Champions League

Again seeded 1st by virtue of our win last time and, now, of our European standings, we got in a group with Chelsea, AS Monaco and Olympiakos. This kids, is how it should be done...! Wins of 1-0 (Home) and 4-2 (Away) against Chelsea. Right in the middle of our winning streak, the team was on fire and great form carried all the way in the Champions League too. 

In the First Knockout Round, we were drawn against AS Roma. With no real experience against them, I wasn't too too worried. It turns out that this matchup came during our mini slump just after Christmas and we struggled a bit more during this leg. A 4-2 win in Rome was necessary as we lost 0-2 on the return leg and squeaked through on away goals. I felt we really dodged a bullet here. 

Then, in the Quarter Final, we were drawn against AC Milan. The first leg was very close (and a bit disappointing for us), ending 0-0. The team wasn't all back up from the injuries so we weren't as strong as I had hoped. On the return leg, Milan was stronger and played better than us in the first half and a late push in the second half wasn't enough to catch up. A 1-2 loss meant that we were out of the competition before the end for the first time in 3 years. Not a bad streak, but I'm still a bit disappointed but this year's showing.

Milan actually went on to reach the final, losing 3-1 in extra time against Liverpool. 

 

Club World Championship

This took the place of our pre-season friendlies, so started a bit roughly against Brazil's GOI 1-1 draw, but then topped the group after beating ES Sahel. In the knockout rounds, things got a bit harder, but we were able to get past SEP and Chelsea (thanks to a last minute goal by sub Paolo Sanchez)

In the final, it was a close match with Manchester United, almost tying the game again in the last minute. 

 

Transfers 

There was quite a few notable transfers this year. In the summer, we've had Luciano Leon and Joao Felix come in. but most notable is on the out column, where there are quite a few names which have been featured prominently in past updates. 

 

• Ladislav Hajek, also known as Chariman's Pet #2, moved on to Basel after becoming unhappy about his playing time. He got behind other options such as Camilo Gonzalez, James Heyes and Antonio Dalic last year and refused to take a step back in his proposed playing time.
• Aldair Torres, after driving our Attacking midfield position for a few years also fell behind Dalic and was occupying a precious non-EU slot. His utilization dropped last year as much as Dalic progressed and played only 12 games for us... There was an opportunity to move him on and to cash in, so he went off ot Independiente in Argentina, where he rocked with 12 goals and 20 assists in 44 games. I'm really happy for him. 
• Péter Albert was ageing and getting behind in terms of quality at Center Back and didn't get his contract renewed. He went on to Schalke
• Josip Strljic (YP28) was a good winger, but didn't quite fit in our system. Inter showed interest for him (and loaned him out immediately to Parma in Serie A). I think he is going to be good, but didn't fit for us. 

 

The stars of the show

Luciano Leon - 38(2) apps, 47 goals, 20 assists, 14 PoM, 7.94 avg. rating

A truly inspired signing for us, at 7.5 M€ from River. He showed awesome quality at every level, scoring goals left and right and tying Daniel Matas record for most league goals, with 34.  He currently has a 38 M€ release clause, but I'll try to get this contract renegotiated this summer to make sure that we don't lose him. 

Daniel Matas - 17(6) apps, 22 goals, 5 assists, 6 PoM, 7.70 avg. rating

Tough year for our club legend, in which he torn a calf muscle in the winter friendlies and was sidelined for 3.5 months. Still managed to keep his one goal per game ratio this year, he was a very good three headed rotation with Leon and Ménendez (and is a local homgrown talent, ta's always great to have). 

 

Fernando Menéndez - 33(2) apps, 30 goals, 14 assists, 6 PoM, 7.69 avg. rating

Due to Luciano Leon taking quite a bit of share from the goal pie, Menéndez took a small step back, but kept being impressive. Again, one goal per game ratio. He keeps putting the ball past the keeper and that's all that matters. 

Joao Felix - AMC - 37(5) - 14 goals, 16 assists, 2 PoM, 7.18 avg. rating

Signed on a free transfer from Manchester City, it was too good to pass up and acts like a very good mentor for younger folks. He's been a bit on the decline this year, but I still decided to renew his one-year contract and keep him around at least one more year. There are games where he's invisible and not doing much, but then there's the occasional flash of genius where he'll come up with 1 goal and 3 assists. Hoping he can contribute again pretty well next year too. 

Elvis Varvodic (YP30) - DR - 36 apps, 2 goals, 7 assists, 7.09 avg. rating

Coming from our Youth academy after a very successful loan at Rijeka, he stepped up this year and became our starting right back. Lots of room to grow and he acquired the Wonderkid status this year, to my greatest pleasure.  

 

Other News

- With a balance of 222 M€, I'm no longer worried about money. 

- The stadium is being expanded, so we'll likely play our Champions League matches at Dubrovnik Stadium now instead of borrowing someone's pitch. Given that most of the revenue comes from prize money, I don't care too too much about the number in attendance. 

- With our club reputation, we now attract big crowds when we play away in the league.

- Other Croatian clubs in Europe this year, we have 6 spots and 2 automatic places in groups! 

• Dinamo: 1 win in their CL group, finished 4th (Liverpool, Roma, Ajax)
•  Hajduk : Lost on Away goals in the CL Third Qualifying Round, then got crushed in their EURO Cup group, finishing 4th behind OM, CFR Cluj and FK Austria Vienna. Disappointing showing, I thought they would do better than this.   
• Rijeka: 4th in EURO Cup Group, behind Napoli, Sporting and Trapzonspor. 
• Sesvete: Lost on away goals against St. Gallen in the EC2 Qualifying rounds. 
• Lokomotiva: They actually got a pretty good showing, qualifying for the EC2 Groups after beating an Icelandic club, Saburtalo Tbilissi and Viit. Guimaraes from Portugal. They then finished 3rd in their group, behind Rennes and Molde, but ahead of Lokomotiv Moscow. Not bad! 

- Second in the world! Next step, overtaking Liverpool! 

 

[aldojags]

@jmarchandthose 2 wonderkids are unbelievable you’ve got quite the youth academy there!

 

agree with what @Thebakeraaid, advanced forward with a focus on finishing, and that boy will soon be one of best strikers in europe. 
 

And the right back is about as complete as you’d want! Great physicals so can bomb up and down the flank all day

[Thebaker]

2033

Table | Squad | Transfers

Started the season by annoying most of my squad by not giving them new contracts. They all seemed to want 5 years deals on quadruple their wages and with very small min release clauses which really wasn't worth  giving them.

Started the season in poor form by losing by the odd goal and went on to just getting hammered in most games by the mid point of the season. Managed a few  positive results by the end and went into the last game of the year in 14th position, safe from automatic relegation and behind Dalkurd on goal difference. Dalkurd lost but my team put in their worst performance of the season to lose 1-5. In the relegation playoff they faced Sirius, after drawing the away leg 0-0 the team comfortably won the home leg 2-0 to stay up.

In the swedish cup from last year the team finished 2nd in the group stage . In this seasons swedish cup the team faced D2 Motola away so i played a few reserves who drew 1-1 and then lost on penalties.

My board came up the crazy suggestion i play defensively solid football for next season. Considering my team conceded by far the most goals last season inc 11 penalties and for most seasons in this save,  into 2034 season this is already not being met!

Finances went up a lot due to prize money , tv money and my attendances tripling which more than offset the increase in wages from players and staff. Increased the training and junior facilities.

I signed this GK who had been unemployed for a year but i could not persuade to join me previously. Was my best player and really was the one to keep the team up.

Johnson scored a lot of goals but his performances are too erratic for my liking.

Season

League

Position

Swedish Cup

Europe

Top Scorer

Assists

Attendance

Training

Youth

Junior

Youth Rec

Notes

2029

1st Div Elite

8th

Group St

N/A

Diawara(18)

Bardiqi (12)

440

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

2030

1st Div Elite

11th

Group St

N/A

Lind(20)

Bardiqi (6)

435

Below Average

Poor

Adequate

Average

2031

1st Div Elite

8th

2nd Rd

N/A

Johnsson, Hoxha (8)

Bardiqi (8)

508

Below Average

Poor

Adequate

Excellant

2032

1st Div Elite

3rd

Group St

N/A

Johnsson (25)

Rosendal (26a) (7)

694

Below Average

Poor

Adequate

Excellant

Promoted via playoffs

2033

Premier

14th

2nd Rd

N/A

Johnsson, (19)

Hoxha (7)

2189

Adequate

Poor

Good

Excellant

 

[Tecmo]

C.D. Portosantense 2022-2023

We met our expectations again as the board asked for a top half finish and we did that, comfortably midtable at 6th.

League Table

We started a bit slowly  but in the second half of the season I switched to a 5-2-3 (3-4-3?) with the three at back, wingbacks, 2 central midfielders, wide attacking midfielders and a lone striker and the offense picked up tremendously. Defense left something to be desired but we also didn't have our best centerback because of injury so that didn't help.

PT Cup

We got a favorable first round matchup, beating a lower league side 3-1 then lost in the second round to Penafiel, a Second League side, 0-2 so no shame there.

Key Players

Claudio Silva was our player of the year and top goal scorer. Signed him on a free from Belenenses during the previous season's winter transfer window, he scored 7 goals and 5 assists with a 7.10 rating. Really thrived once we moved to the 3-4-3. I had been thinking I'd look for an upgrade at striker but his play convinced me to sign him for another season.

Alain Hansen is progressing nicely and finished second in voting for player of the year. 3 goals and 6 assists in 17 games, was a major threat as an advanced playmaker on the right. This was his original primary position, not sure why I was so intent on making him into an AMC. I thought I was going to lose him during the winter as a couple Premier League teams showed interest and he even went on trial with Belenenses but, other than a bid from a Second League team that he wasn't interested in, nothing happened. Not shown as being wanted currently so hopefully we can keep him for another season. Got his first senior cap with Luxembourg.

Diego Bessa finally allowed us to nail down one of our wingback spots. Signed on a free from Porto, he clipped in 4 assists.

Youth Intake

He's actually from last season's intake, but Wilson Marques is looking like a potentially promising midfielder. Made his senior debut in our final game, he should see more action next season although loaning him out is a possibility.

Finances

Ugh, getting ugly.  1.4 million in the red now, steadily going downward. The club vision for next season is that I will repair the financial damage.  Yeah....not sure how that's going to happen.

Looking Ahead

They want me to gain promotion so that will be the goal. Only 2 of the 60 teams at this level go up though so that's asking a lot. But we have a lot of the team returning and I've already added a promising attacker to pair with Silva. Need to find a midfielder, centerback and a right wingback. 

[iseemonsters1]

C.A. Bella Vista
2028 Season Summary
Uruguayan Primera Division

 

Primera Division - 1st - Table | Past Positions  (Apertura - 1st | Intermedio Group A - 1st | Clausura - 1st)

I'm back! Still catching up on everyone's great progress but wanted to get this posted so I could move on to my next season! So, I left off with three progressively easier title wins in a row. Well, this season was even better - we went top on the opening day with a 4-0 win over Boston River, and never relinquished the top spot for the rest of the year. We were undefeated in the Opening Stage, though with maybe a few more draws than we might have preferred - still, we had a 6 point cushion at the top, and as I say, never really looked threatened. We just about topped Group A in the Intermedio, still undefeated but just one point ahead of a strong Wanderers side. Nacional, who only came 10th in the Opening Stage, pulled out all the stops for the Intermedio, and topped Group B to set us up for an Intermedio final against our arch-rivals. We were easily the better team, but couldn't break them down in 90 minutes. We finally managed to snatch the only goal of the game in the 108th minute to defeat Nacional and be the Intermedio champions. Once again we got out of the gates fast in the Closing Stage, going top from the first game and never looking back. Our dream of an undefeated season though was not to be, as Nacional got their revenge by beating us 2-0 at their place. We bounced back by winning all of our last 10 games, to once again be the undisputed champions of Uruguay, a massive 20 points ahead of runners-up Defensor Sporting.

 

Copa Libertadores - Quarter Final (lost to Atletico Nacional | Group F - 1st

It was also a familiar story in the Copa Libertadores, as for the fourth year in a row we topped our Group... only to also go out in the Quarter Finals. Our group was a pretty tough one, as we found ourselves facing some big names in Santos of Brazil and River Plate of Argentina, along with Alianza Lima of Peru. But we've proven our pedigree at this level, and managed to top the group undefeated with three wins and three draws - including an immensely enjoyable 4-0 thumping of Santos. In the 2nd Round we faced Defensa y Justicia of Argentina, who we beat home and away to progress comfortably to the Quarter Finals. Atletico Nacional of Colombia seemed like a relatively favorable draw - dodging the likes of Sao Paulo and Flamengo of Brazil, and Boca Juniors of Argentina - but once again we choked, losing 2-0 away from home in the first leg. We attempted to redeem ourselves but could only win the second leg 2-1, going out 3-2 on aggregate. It's still pretty great to be consistently getting to this stage, but a little frustrating not to be able to progress any further.

 

Squad & Transfers - Squad | Transfers

This season, the main area I was looking to strengthen was central defense, as well as adding a bit of depth to my squad. I ended up finding a couple of good central defenders - first was the arrival of George Ayer from Orlando Pirates in South Africa - being a regular in the South African national side at just 20 years old is a testament to his ability, but unfortunately also meant he missed a chunk of the season on international duty. We also brought in Manuel Asadurian from Wanderers, who became a full Uruguayan international shortly after joining the club and looked immensely solid for us. Incidentally, we're now the Uruguayan club with the most players in the Uruguayan national squad, with four players getting relatively regular call ups. On the other side of the transfer ledger, we saw the departure of Guillermo May, who had spent just one full season with the club after a free transfer move from Nacional - but a fee up to £1.1m for a fringe player was hard to turn down. We also saw the departure of Franco Israel, the goalkeeper I had brought in as my main signing last summer, as we couldn't stand in the way of a move back to Italy for him and we had our ready made replacement in the form of Miguel Montoya (in fact I may never have signed Franco in the first place if my scouts had found Miguel just a few days earlier).

The solid young core of the team continued to impress, with great seasons again for Claudio Lemos, Jonathan Priore, Junior Cranchi, Marcos Sanseviero, and Mateo Bayon. However, the stand out player by some distance was our Colombian striker Jose Luis Mesa. After some good showings as more of a bit player last season, Mesa really made the striker position his own this year (pushing Priore back into an attacking midfield role in the process). With 45 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions, he nearly doubled our record for goals in a season, and something tells me it won't be too long before we are fending off interest for him from across the Atlantic.

 

Finances - Summary

Despite another mostly profitable season, we ended the year with about £1m less in the bank, as the board announced plans to increase the capacity of the stadium by 5,457 seats, bringing us to a new capacity of 14,991 - though we'll be ground sharing for the 2029 season while the work is done. Other than that, I was disappointed that the board refused my request to improve our training facilities - due to technological improvements, our training facilities are now rated as below average, but the board aren't willing to bring them up to a reasonable standard. But there's plenty of money in the bank (over £8m) and plenty of room in my wage budget, so I can't complain too much.

 

Player of the Season - Jose Luis Mesa (47 APPS - 45 GLS - 14 ASTS - 7.58 AV RAT)

Young Player of the Season - Jose Luis Mesa (47 APPS - 45 GLS - 14 ASTS - 7.58 AV RAT)

Top Goalscorer - Jose Luis Mesa (47 APPS - 45 GLS - 14 ASTS - 7.58 AV RAT)

 

Next Season

Can't really see anyone stopping us from claiming our 5th league title in a row domestically, but the big question is whether we can make it any further in the Copa Libertadores. I can't honestly see any glaring weaknesses in the side, so maybe it needs just that little bit of luck for us to progress.

Edited June 12, 2021 by iseemonsters1

[Biscotti]

Francisco | Sestao River Club | Spain | 2044/45 (Season 24)

Once again a long time between updates for me, but this time not because it wasn't going well - I've just been playing other games. After last season's relegation, I wanted to try and keep the squad together as I knew we could bounce back up. A change of style was also in order, which meant bringing in some wide players. In truth, we made it look pretty straightforward. A slight blip in form around March wasn't enough to derail us and we won the league comfortably. The flip side of that is we were embarrassed in the cup. I've not really put much of any focus on that competition so far, but all the same we really should be doing better than a first round exit.

Competitions | Transfers 1 & 2 | Youth Intake | Fixtures Part 1 & Part 2 | New Records/PotS | Finances | Best XI (All-Time)

This season saw us drop down to just having one Juan Manuel, but I feel like earning caps for Spain while in the Segunda is a real achievement. At only 25, he's still got time to establish himself as the Spanish #1 and I hope I can keep hold of him. Sat in front of him has been our top performer by rating this season - on loan Evan Walker. He's been a rock for us, even filling in at full-back on a fair few occasions, and I've managed to get an agreement to keep him on loan for another season. By far my favourite player this year, however, has been Chinese-Italian Xioalong Zang. He joined us on a free from Inter and has been just what the doctor ordered on the right-hand side.

This year's academy class sees Gorka Saizar (YP24) come through the ranks. We're blessed with a glut of attacking midfielders at the moment, especially with Aitor Martínez (YP22a) starting to break into the first team. With our Basque count creeping back towards my preferred minimum, I'm optimistic about where this club is heading.

Basque count: 4 players (At least 10 starts, or 20 games overall) 

[rlipscombe]

@iseemonsters1  -  good to see you back, and congrats on maintaining the national dominance.  The Copa Libertadores is the big one but i sense it's coming closer.  Mesa looks a player of great potential.

@Biscotti  -  good to see you bounce back with promotion.  Saizar looks very promising and Zang looks exciting too.  Good luck next season.

[iseemonsters1]

@rlipscombe - just want to double check - international management is allowed, right? I just got offered the Uruguay job and kind of want to take it - but not if it's against the rules!

[rlipscombe]

15 hours ago, iseemonsters1 said:

@rlipscombe - just want to double check - international management is allowed, right? I just got offered the Uruguay job and kind of want to take it - but not if it's against the rules!

Yep, international management is allowed...  Why would we want to stifle success???  

[Biscotti]

Francisco | Sestao River Club | Spain | 2045/46 (Season 25)

Here we go again - our third bite of the La Liga cherry - and this time I'm thinking if I can't make it stick I might be done for this challenge. Fortunately, we were excellent this season and managed to comfortably earn ourselves an 8th place finish - 12 places above our predicted 20th. The highlight being winning both home and away of eventual league champions Real. Our Copa del Rey performance was better, as well, seeing us reach the fourth round and only losing out to other La Liga opposition.

Competitions | Transfers 1 & 2 | Youth Intake (I failed) | Fixtures Part 1 & Part 2 | New Records/PotS | Finances | Best XI (All-Time)

Juan Manuel did indeed continue to earn Spain caps. I'm still not sure if he's their number 1, but as I type this it's only a couple of weeks until the World Cup (current holders Denmark!) squads get announced. Evan Walker did indeed stick around for another season on loan and earned the Fans player of the Season award. I've made another offer to continue his stay, but it seems Liverpool are looking to get him involved with the first team so I don't think they'll allow it. Leading the "signing of the season" polls is right wing-back Pham Van Luan, a Slovenian that only cost me £1.2m and has been extremely good value for it. Moving forward, our assist leader this season was Xiaolong Zang, although I thought he had a few runs of games that were a little disappointing. My own personal favourite, though, has been £6m signing Aleix Gimeno. 19 goals isn't blow away, but considering the league top scorer only had 21 I feel like we can be proud of that.

Aside from obviously building on our great season, the goal over the summer has to be to keep hold of our best players - even if it means risking their unhappiness.

As for our academy - I completely failed by failing to get a shot of our youth intake, but honestly there wasn't anybody from it who stood out as one to watch. David Bengoetxea (YP21) is now deputising as my cup-goalkeeper. I don't know that he's going to reach a point of being first choice, but he might at least reach the level of being a back up who I have confidence in. I had the opportunity to bring back Ibon Santamaría (YP6b) for free as a versatile veteran, but in truth he never made it to the pitch and has mostly been useful for mentoring. I'm hoping to keep hold of him for that use until his retirement. In forward areas, both Aitor Martínez (YP22a) and Gaizka Moreno (YP22b) got a decent chunk of minutes, with both showing flashes of the players they might be able to become. Too early to commit fully to them yet, but I'm optimistic they'll both have a place in the near future.

Basque count: 3 players (At least 10 starts, or 20 games overall) 

A slight drop in our Basque numbers, and I'll be looking to bring in a couple more who will be good enough for at least some first team appearances.

 

Update edit: Manuel started Spain's opening game and I can't see any injuries, so I guess he's the man 😁. Also, the Walker loan has been extended, albeit with an increased wage contribution.

 

Edited June 21, 2021 by Biscotti

[Thebaker]

@Biscotti really good season there, looks like europe may not be far off.

[rlipscombe]

fantastic season @Biscotti

[Biscotti]

5 hours ago, Thebaker said:

@Biscotti really good season there, looks like europe may not be far off.

 

1 hour ago, rlipscombe said:

fantastic season @Biscotti

 

I'm not getting carried away yet - I'm happy for us to spend a season or two as the nearest chasing team before we get there - but I'm delighted by how we did this season.

[Tecmo]

C.D. Portosantense 2023-2024

We were definitely much improved this season, as was necessary. Our 3-4-3 scored goals, 38 of them, 12 more than last season and combined with the best defense in our group. Unfortunately I fell oh so short of winning the group, tying with Amora on points, but their results against us put them ahead. They beat us 0-1 at their field in the first game, then I blew a 2-0 lead to tie with them 2-2 at home. But it was still good enough to get us into the playoffs. There we dominated our first game against Salgueiros, the second place team from group B, 3-0 at home and a 1-1 draw in the second leg saw us through to the semi-finals. The winner of our next matchup would gain promotion and I was optimistic as we finished 7 points and 11 goal difference higher than our opponents, Pero Pinheiro. We held them to a 0-0 draw at their place in the first leg, but failed utterly in the home leg, falling 0-1. To be fair, we were missing 4 starters, 3 to injuries and, most importantly, Alain Hansen to international duty. Still sucked to get so close and fail.

League Table

Portuguese Cup

We rolled through our first round opponent Camacha, a newly promoted (and subsequently relegated) team in our group 6-1. We then pulled off a massive upset, beating 2nd league side Mafra 3-1 in extra time and it wasn't a fluke as we outplayed them. That led to our first match against a Premier side, Moreirense and we held our own, taking a 0-0 draw to extra time before they scored two to beat us.

Key Players

Alain Hansen finally played up to his expectations, winning our player of the year with 8 goals and 9 assists and a 7.31 average rating.

Claudio Silva was our leading scorer again with 12 goals, but this time he was joint high scorer as our left inverted winger Camilo Duran, a 22 year old Colombian on loan from Louletauno, also scored 12 with 6 assists.

Bruno Silverio was also a major contributor playing a bit out of position in the midfield and backing up Silva at striker. He was on loan from Nacional de Madeira. Both Duran and Silverio are returning on loan again next season.

Finances

Part of our club vision was to repair our financial damage. I didn't do anything in particular but to cash infusions of 500K each satisfied the requirement. Still a million in the red though.

Going Forward

It's win or bust this season. Lots of good players coming back although I have teams circling on Hansen and a couple other youngsters. If we don't lose any of them I'm confident of promotion. Silverio is going to take over the starting striker position. Midfield is a big need. And we're going to experiment with a 4-3-3 using a half back as I have two young players in that position. I'm looking for big things from Nuno Felix in that spot assuming he isn't snatched up. He mostly played as a ball winning midfielder this season but he is ideal for half back at this level.

 

[yezzko]

Taky Maly Yezzko

Donegal Celtic Football Club - Northern Ireland

 

Manager - Club profile - Club history - Squad

 

Hi guys, I'm going to start my atempt to finish this challenge with Donegal Celtic Football Club from Northern Ireland. Wish me luck

[Watson156]

I'm thinking of giving this challenge a go, as I want a 3-5 year challenge. With that in mind I want to do this in the MLS. Does anybody know what the league reset date is, or do I just wait until all of the league games have finished and then take over the team that finished bottom?

[yezzko]

Taky Maly Yezzko

Donegal Celtic Football Club - Northern Ireland

Season 1

2022/23

 

NIFL Premier Intermediate League - Winner

We started the season predicted to finish 9th of the 12 teams in the competition. First two games ended in losses and I was prepared for a tough season full of strugle. However, an amazing run of 20 games without a loss (there's only 22 league games in this competition) followed and we steadily climbed up the table and were top of the league for last 7 matchdays. We finished the season 3 points above Police Service of Northern Ireland FC.

Irish Cup - 5th Round

We entered in the fourth round, winning against fellow league side of Dergview. In the 5th rund our journey was ended by Premiership side of Linfield.

Irish League Cup - 2nd Round

We won our in 1st round after extra time against Newington. Next round was our final one, we were kicked out by Linfield.

Irish Intermediate Cup - 1st Round

Disappointing 0-1 loss against Knockbreda. I hoped for a better run since it's only for lower league sides.

Steel & Sons Cup - 2nd Round

We lost our very first match against Linfield reserve team. Big disappointment.

Transfers

We are semi-pro side with only NonContracts allowed by board. I didn't want to bring too many players at once so brought in a few freebies and few loanees. Top class was transfer(after the league has ended) of striker Mathew Kerr, who is a player way above our standard and I have a high hopes for him.

Finances

Barely any sponsorship or competition money in connection with our pay per game contracts meant we finished the season roughly on 0. Better than being in red. No money no problem

Key players

Michael Isaacs - 17 year old centre back on loan from our parent club Crusaders. 4 goals plus the best rating (7.21) in the team.

Sean Duffy - left winger/ striker, abiliti-wise the best player in the team.

Shea Fraser - our young left back, managed team's best 7 assists.

Youth intake

A lot of pontential, 5 players with 5stars and 4 players with 4+1/2 star.

History

Season   | Division              | Position  | Irish Cup    | League Cup  | County Antrim  | Champions League    | Europa League   | E. Conference L.   | Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23  | Premier intermediate  | 1st       | 5th Round    | 2nd Round   | N/A            | N/A                 | N/A             | N/A                |

 

Edited June 23, 2021 by yezzko
typo

[Thebaker]

2034

Table | Transfers

A generally poor season where the club was lucky that there were 2 worse teams. In the relegation playoff the team faced AFC Eskiltuna and comfortably won, winning 3-0 away and 2-1 at home.

In the swedish cup 2nd rd the team beat D1S Kristianstad 4-0 at home to make the group stages.

Finances went down as the club agreed to increase the training facilities at the end of the season and the youth facilities at the start.

There were only a few transfers in and youth player Blom was signed from me for a record amount while still on a youth contract.

Hoxha was probably my best player

2035

Table | Transfers | Squad

Started this season quite well thanks to some strong home form but soon slid down the table getting only 2 points from a 9 match run. Finished the season well but could only draw the last game away to Hammarby to finish in the relegation playoff again. Beat Mjallby 3-2 away and 2-1 at home to stay in the league.

Managed a terrible 2 points away all season as the team seemed short in almost all areas, could not find the players to bring in that would improve the team, got gazumped on a few players that would have improved things.

In the swedish cup from last season the team beat D1E teams Ostersunds and Sundsvall in the group stage and needed only a draw to progress against Goteberg but got trashed 1-5 away instead.

In this years swedish cup 2nd rd the team made hard work of beating D1S Grebbestads 2-1 at home.

Finances stayed steady with another youth facilities increase and the completion of the training ground increase.

The increase in youth facilities has led to several good youth players coming through in recent years with this player the closest to a first team place. This year was an actual golden generation as my best player Begic is 5 stars and a leading player for the division.

Season

League

Position

Swedish Cup

Europe

Top Scorer

Assists

Attendance

Training

Youth

Junior

Youth Rec

Notes

2030

1st Div Elite

11th

Group St

N/A

Lind(20)

Bardiqi (6)

435

Below Average

Poor

Adequate

Average

2031

1st Div Elite

8th

2nd Rd

N/A

Johnsson, Hoxha (8)

Bardiqi (8)

508

Below Average

Poor

Adequate

Excellant

2032

1st Div Elite

3rd

Group St

N/A

Johnsson (25)

Rosendal (26a) (7)

694

Below Average

Poor

Adequate

Excellant

Promoted via playoffs

2033

Premier

14th

2nd Rd

N/A

Johnsson, (19)

Hoxha (7)

2189

Adequate

Poor

Good

Exceptional

2034

Premier

14th

Group St

N/A

Johnsson, (18)

Bardiqi (7)

2390

Adequate

Basic

Good

Exceptional

2035

Premier

14th

Group St

N/A

Johnsson, (13)

Lind(8)

2396

Average

Below Average

Good

Exceptional

[jmarchand]

  

Season 14 - 2034-2035 | Going for the top of Europe 

After a rather disappointing exit in the Champions League last year, GOSK Dubrovnik was back with a vengeance. Now ranked second in Europe, the goal was now to make it to the top of Europe, getting in front of Liverpool, after 4 titles in the last 8 years and a couple of second places. 

 

Champions League

It's a bit strange to say that, but at this stage of the game, a group with Borusssia Dortmund, Real San Sebastian and PSV Eindoven doesn't scare GOSK Dubrovnik the least. 

We did come out on top, but after a surprising 1-0 loss in San Sebastian and a 1-1 draw in Dortmund. As you can guess from the total of goals for, the rest were rather landslides... 

In the Quarter Final, we drew AS Roma, for the second year in a row. Again this year, the leg in Rome was a hard-fought 1-1 tie, with two teams playing roughly on equal terms. On the return leg, though, it wasn't even close. Menéndez (who had a monster season, more on that later) and Leon both came in super strong in a 6-0 rout. 

 

In the Quarter Final, we were drawn against Liverpool. Yes, the Champions Cup final before the final. We put ourselves in good position by winning 2-1 in Liverpool, then weathered the storm that washed on the coasts of Dubrovnik and got back a solid 3-1 win, going through 5-2 on aggregate. With our arch-nemesis out of the way, we knew we had a chance. 

In the Semi final, we faced another club with whom we had quite a bit of history, Paris St-Germain. It was a hard match in Paris, getting dominated, but managing to get out of there with only a 2-1 loss. We were confident we could overturn the result in the second leg and Fernando Menéndez took care of this, with 3 goals in the first 16 minutes. We continued having chances all the way through, but were through to the final on a 4-2 aggregate win. 

Then, in the final, it was Manchester City, ranked 4th in Europe. The match started quite well, taking the lead in the 3rd minute and looking solid with possession. In the second half, Daniel Matas scored on a beautiful free kick to put it 2-0 after City got red carded and went down to 10 men, quickly followed by Antonio Dalic at the 80th minute. We then made the mistake of going a bit more defensive in a bid to protect our 3 goal lead, but that was underestimating the power of Man City (and of FM...). 

And off we went, to extra time. After going back and forth, guess who is coming again to play the heroes? 

Sprinting past the defence and accepting a brilliant through pass, Daniel Matas puts one past the City keeper at the 108' and we were then able to hold on to that lead, not making the mistake of falling back for the end of the match. 

With that, it's the 3rd Champions Cup in 4 years for GOSK Dubrovnik, a truly magnificent achievement, which I am very proud of...! 

 

Croatian First League

The only negative thing that I think would  think of this challenge is that at a point, the league play in the lower nations becomes much less interesting. Like @aldojags's Bulgarian save, Croatia is not much of a challenge for us these days. I have to think of other ways to make that challenging, such as bringing up new kids, beating records, etc. This year was no different, where we walked over everyone, losing and drawing a few games here and there, but it wasn't even close. At 93 points, we have the exact same record as last year, but our goal difference is better. 121 goals for is a new all time record, but the lowest all-time low goals conceded record is at 19, by Dinamo a few years ago. 

One thing to note, Dinamo really had a bad year, barely challenging for 3rd place. Hajduk is coming back up. 

 

Croatian Cup

At this point, the main reward in the Croatian Cup is trying to score as many goals throughout the competition, while winning the whole thing. Resounding success this year, with Fernando Menéndez lighting the competition up with 14 goals in 5 games. An absurd ratio of a goal every 30 minutes of play got us to our fifth title in a row in an uneventful competition (Dinamo and Hajduk were knock off early on in the process)...

 

 

Transfers 

Lots of action on the transfer market this year, in an attempt to try to cut on the number of non EU players on the side. 

 

• In the Out column, there were a few known names, mostly in the winter transfer window. 
  • Paolo Sanchez was never really featured iin the club, playing as 4th striker most of the time. He went out on loan in the last two seasons and when I got the opportunity of selling him for close to 10 M€, I jumped on it. It was a good profit and a wasted career for him, he could have been pretty good. 
  • Marcos Quintana, our 3rd string central defender, went back to Brazil for 18 M€. A good profit for him, but he really never broke into the top two and, at 27 years old, it was time to cash in, but with a small heartbreak. 
  • Nahuel Marin was our star left Back. I mean, wonderkid and all (screenshot below). He unfortunately got unsettled when Real Madrid came for him and was making a fuss in the dressing room. I then reluctantly accepted an offer for 46 M€ for him, knowing that he's going to be missed. At this point, I know we're weak at Left Back and might try to look into that in the next off-season. 
  • Byron Pavez, was the innocent bystander in our cutting down on non-EU players regimen. He wasn't aware, but one of my plans was to dump him when I found an EU keeper worth splashing the cash for. I came across Lazar Lakicevic (from Serbia) in Bayer 04 and got him for 40 M€, which was the money I got from Marin. Funny thing, now without a keeper, Bayer bought Pavez for 12 M€... Hey, he won 2 Champions Cup with us, getting the Champions Cup keeper of the season on one occasion. Not bad...! 
  • - As exciting as Joao Felix was in his first season, he was really disappointing this time around and showing signs of real regression. He's off to Sporting for 1.5 M€ this summer. 

 

In the In column, apart from Lazirevic, I bolstered the midfield with Francisco Walison and Vitor. At only 22 years old, Walison is really the star catch here and was too good to pass up, despite of holding a nonEU spot. 

The stars of the show

 

Fernando Menéndez - 39(0) apps, 55 goals, 16 assists, 13 PoM, 8.06 avg. rating

After a somewhat so-so season last year and the emergence of Luciano Leon, I decided to offer Menéndez to other clubs before the season. He got obviously mad about it, so I challenged him to raise his game to the level of others (he had become a bit complacent following his latest contract signing according to a few coaches). I made the promise not to sell him and he got to business. He responded magnificently and really stepped up his game with a whooping 55 goals in 39 games. Ever present, either by scoring 2+ goals in a game or by getting a few assists, he was impressive this year at every level. I think he's my first ever 8.00+ average rating over the course of a season in this challenge. 

Luciano Leon - 31(1) apps, 34 goals, 15 assists, 9 PoM, 7.87 avg. rating

A tough year for Luciano, in which he was injured two times for 3 weeks early in the season, but that gave the space for Menéndez to shine. When he came back, it was to his prior self, alternating with assists and goals in a regular fashion. Hey, he's got 18 goals in 19 international caps at the tender age of 23. We should try to figure out what does that match in real life, that but that sounds mighty impressive to me! On the flipside of the coin, he has now recognized his value and commands a salary that's in line with his status (unlike most of my other players). 

 

Daniel Matas - 15(23) apps, 24 goals, 10 assists, 3 PoM, 7.35 avg. rating

Club legend, product of our youth Academy, Daniel Matas is a star and is the veteran in my three-headed monster up front (I might try to play all three next year and go for a true 4-3-3). Hoowever, the quality of the other two has been too much for him and he's really played the role of super-sub most of the time. But he scored (again!) the Champions League winning goal for us, which is awesome in itself. It makes 206 goals in 235 apps for the club in the league. According to what I see in Wikipedia, that is 60 goals more than the highest league scorer in the Croatian First League. Not bad for a 25 year old kid.  

 

 

 

Other News

- We actually lost money this year, and our balance sheet sits at 195 M€ in the black. Pretty good, but 33 M€ less than last year. 

- We've played one match in Poljud (Hajduk's 35000 seater) while our stadium was renovated, it now sits close to 12000 people. 

- Our feeder club, Kostasija, got promotion to the First League!! They finished second and got through the playoffs. They're going to get some quality loans next year, I really want to keep them up! 

- Other Croatian clubs in Europe this year. Not a bad showing, but nothing out of the ordinary... 

• Dinamo: 1 win in their CL group, finished 3rd (Chelsea, FCP, Herta BSC). Not so bad, but got knocked right off the EURO Cup after that. 
• Hajduk : Lost against Rangers in the last phase of qualifying for the CL groups, then choked to 3rd place in their EURO Cup group against Lazio, OM and Zorya (Ukraine). Was knocked off the EURO Cup II by Braga. 
• Rijeka: 3rd in a tough EURO Cup group (Sporting, RB Leipzing and Ludogorets), then won against Partizan in the EURO Cup II, but lost against Atletico Madrid in the following round. Not a bad showing for them. 
• Istra 1961: Knocked right off the EURO Cup II qualifying rounds by Basel. 
• Osijek: Made it through 3 rounds of the Euro Cup II, but was knocked off by Molde before reaching the groups. 

- Despite wining the league on a regular basis, the squad is offended in the pre-season talk about them winning the league again next year. So frustrating. 

Edited July 16, 2021 by jmarchand

[jmarchand]

Top club in Europe now! (that deserved its own post). 

Edited June 28, 2021 by jmarchand

[Biscotti]

Francisco | Sestao River Club | Spain | 2046/47 (Season 26)

After last season being an unqualified success, this season I felt an aim for a safe mid-table finish was a reasonably realistic goal. I still remembered what happened the first time we came up. In truth, we were fairly consistent with last season's performance, finishing just 4 points short of our previous total, but other teams around us also did worse, and with an epic final run of four wins we snuck into 6th and a Europa League spot. I think maybe Real are starting to think we're a bogey team, seeing as we've beaten them three out of the last four meetings. Another fourth round exit in the cup, but it was to eventual winners Sevilla so I'm not too bothered at all.

Competitions | Transfers 1 & 2 | Youth Intake | Fixtures Part 1 & Part 2 | New Records/PotS | Finances | Best XI (All-Time)

Another 20 goal season for Aleix Gimeno - still maybe not quite at the levels I'm hoping for, especially with only one other player in double figures, but definitely not to be sniffed at. I feel like my options to cover for him are lacking, though, so I'm looking at a young player I've had away on loan to perhaps step into the hole. Evan Walker continues to impress on loan from Liverpool, and has already confirmed another year with us before this one ended. He was our top rated player and Liverpool have told me they'd want £160m if I were to try to buy him. My signing of the season came in January, as Porto decided they had no need of Edwin Jiménez and listed him for £2.9m. I bit their hand off, because he's exactly the type of player I've been struggling to bring in up to now.

In terms of the academy, Gorka Iriarte (YP26b) and Mikel Arconada (YP26a) were the top recruits. I'm not sold on them, but it's still early and there's definitely room for squad players who are home grown. David Bengoetxea (YP21) played a handful of games as our understudy, but he's also upset that I rejected loan offers for him, so I'm going to look to shift him now before his contract runs down. At the other end of the pitch, both Aitor Martínez (YP22a) and Gaizka Moreno (YP22b) both played bit part roles. I think Martinez has some mileage as a squad player, but Moreno will probably be moved on as he's not quite got to the level I was hoping for - I'll see if I can find him a loan deal for next season.

Basque count: 6 players (At least 10 starts, or 20 games overall) 

[Thebaker]

@Biscottithat will be your first season in europe won't it. Jimenez looks a steal for what you paid.

[Biscotti]

1 minute ago, Thebaker said:

@Biscottithat will be your first season in europe won't it. Jimenez looks a steal for what you paid.

It will indeed. It's been a frustrating journey, but I'm glad to be finally at this chapter.

I'm still struggling to understand why Porto wanted rid of him, especially that cheap. Unfortunately, my budgets aren't all that generous this year, but playing in Europe will really help boost our finances to make next summer's signings be really interesting.

I'm also really happy with my Basque core. A few of them are squad players, but I've been making a point of using them as my primary back-up when I've needed cover.

[Thebaker]

2036

Table | Transfers | Squad

 

Spent some money this season to try to improve the  squad which helped to persuade Begic to sign a new contract. It also helped to improve player performance as there were very few really bad games. Started with 5 draws and a loss in the first six but brought Hoxha back into the first 11 and the team really picked up from there as he formed a great partnership with Marcelo up front. A loss in the last game to Helsingborgs took the club from 5th to finish 7th overall.

In the swedish cup from last season the team drew with Premier Elfsborg and DIE Eskiltuna and beating D1E Degerfors to finish level with Elfsborg in the group stage. Elfsborg qualified on a higher league position last season!

In this years swedish cup the reserves beat L3 Osteraker 4-0 at home

Finances remained reasonably level mostly due to another team signing this player from me who was still on a youth contract. Not a player likely to be missed, this was a club record transfer received.

The team scored the most goals in the league as all 3 main strikers had 5+ assists and 10+ goals with Marcelo the best of them. Last season he could not score in the division below and had no real goal scoring pedigree in his career so far.

The midfield was also important as i managed to keep Hansen at the club by rejecting several 1 million pound bids which he kicked up a fuss at. The main attacking threat come from Thongbai.

I also let several long serving players go this season in Sveijer (116 apps),  Bardiqi (276 apps,31 goals), Ndoja (220 apps, 13 goals) and Martin (281 apps in 2 spells)

Edited July 3, 2021 by Thebaker

[aldojags]

@jmarchandanother great year, what a career from Matas, at only 25 to be considered a legend. Walison looks ridiculous!

 

i am still in my save…but are no longer Spartak Pleven manager, wait until you hear this…After 3 successive Champions Leagues, I got beat in semi’s one year, and just thought ok enough is enough, I want to try and get my favourite team (Partick Thistle in Scotland). So i quit Pleven, and decided to wait for the Thistle job. In the meantime, I got the Spain job, and won the Euros. I eventually got Thistle job after about 3 years of waiting, they were 8th in 2nd tier of Scottish football with about 6 games to go, I narrowly avoided relegation and finished 8th. In the 3 years I was away, Pleven did the usual thing the AI does, sell all your stars for hardly any money at all, but inexplicably they won the champions league the first 2 years i was gone! So that made it 5 out of 6 years.
My first full season in charge, we romped the league, and got to both national cup finals, losing both 2-1 to Rangers.

 

my first full season in premiership, i ridiculously finished 2nd!! Split Rangers and Celtic, made it through to the Champions League qualifiers! and of course, in the qualifiers who did i get, my main rival inBulgaria all those years, Ludogorets! Couldnt believe it! Managed to knock them out, then beat Sturm Graz in final qualifier and got little Partick Thistle into the group stages of the champions league! Thats where fairytale ended as i got 1 win in a group of man city ac milan and ajax, but was still great achievement! 
 

in my 2nd season in premiership, and the fairytale is not yet over, im 8 pts clear with 8 games to go. Watch this space, winning the league gets me directly into the CL group stages which would be nice! Squad is still nowhere near ready to compete with those teams, need to do what i did with pleven and sell my stars and just keep building the finances and eventually ill put a team together that can win it all

[jmarchand]

On 04/07/2021 at 17:04, aldojags said:

i am still in my save…but are no longer Spartak Pleven manager, wait until you hear this…After 3 successive Champions Leagues, I got beat in semi’s one year, and just thought ok enough is enough, I want to try and get my favourite team (Partick Thistle in Scotland). So i quit Pleven, and decided to wait for the Thistle job. In the meantime, I got the Spain job, and won the Euros. I eventually got Thistle job after about 3 years of waiting, they were 8th in 2nd tier of Scottish football with about 6 games to go, I narrowly avoided relegation and finished 8th. In the 3 years I was away, Pleven did the usual thing the AI does, sell all your stars for hardly any money at all, but inexplicably they won the champions league the first 2 years i was gone! So that made it 5 out of 6 years.

Wow, what a way to continue the legacy at Pleven! I'm trying to get them as a feeder club for the lolz (because that's the level of clubs at which my owner wants to send our players), but they keep not showing up. 

 

On 04/07/2021 at 17:04, aldojags said:

@jmarchandanother great year, what a career from Matas, at only 25 to be considered a legend. Walison looks ridiculous!

Oh, I looked again and he was downgraded to Icon and Menéndez is up there in the Legend section with Leon Sipos, deservedly so. I guess I'll make sure to play him a bit more and get him back to the Legends status!

[Biscotti]

Francisco | Sestao River Club | Spain | 2047/48 (Season 27)

After last season's success, the media definitely had a better opinion of us, although they didn't expect a repeat. Honestly, I'm not sure I did either. In truth, we went even better. 15pts better than we were last season, and yet I'm not sure where our goals really came from - our top scorer only had 13 in the league (although this was the third highest of anyone). Our Europa League run was strong as well, reaching the final only to fall to a Sevilla side that had also thoroughly dominated the league.

Competitions | Transfers 1 & 2 | Youth Intake | Fixtures | New Records/PotS | Finances | Best XI (All-Time)

Our signing of the season would be Nicola Angeloni, although I'm not so sure he was among our top performers this season. Our top rated player was Evan Walker, but I'm not extending his loan again so as to free up a non-EU slot. Instead, I'd like to highlight his regular partner at the back, Levente Unghianu. His 96% pass accuracy has been exactly the sort of reliability we've needed to be able to play out of the back successfully. Our assist king this year has been Simon Carter, cutting in from the left. His average rating doesn't really reflect his impact, in my opinion, having both the best key passes/90 and chances created/90 on our team. That said, I wouldn't be against listening to good offers for him, as he is also taking up a non-EU slot and I think I'd like a Basque player out there if I could find one. Finally, the man who made this whole team work, Gonzalo Sánchez. Originally sitting in a more box-to-box role, he then shifted to a more ball-winner type role midway through the season and he was superb in both. He has been attracting a lot of interest, but I'm intending to hold firm to the £75m release clause he currently has.

In terms of youngsters, Gorka Saizar (YP24) was the only academy graduate who got any real game time this year, but he's coming along very nicely and is definitely a solid choice for my alternate in the #10 role. This year's intake was possibly the worst I've had for years, with Jon Esnaola (YP27) being the best of a pretty bad bunch.

Basque count: 4 players (At least 10 starts, or 20 games overall) 

[jmarchand]

Great season, Biscotti! Looking forward how you are going to fare in the Champions Cup, coming from one of the larger leagues! 

[Biscotti]

Thanks! We still have to qualify, but I'm pretty confident of that. Will be interesting to see our draw.

 

EDIT: Scratch that, it looks like we go straight into the group stage. Maybe because Sevilla won the Europa League?

Edited July 16, 2021 by Biscotti

[rlipscombe]

great stuff @Biscotti.  fingers crossed for the draw...

 

[jmarchand]

  

Season 15 - 2035-2036 | One more for the road

After 3 Champions League titles in 4 years, GOSK Dubrovnik was on top of the European standings and looking to maintain that position of dominance. However, by the end of the season and because of a bit of congestion at both the striker role and with the non-EU slots, Fernando Menéndez ended up the season really unhappy. He takes the relay from Luciano Leon who was pouting because I turned down offers of ~45M€ for him from Chelsea, Man City and Barcelona. He eventually realized that he liked it here, but he's not going anywhere under 150 M€... Tough year on the human resources front... 

 

Transfers In

Most of the transfers in were lottery tickets for the future, with the notable exception of Jaderson who came in from Brazilian side Flamengo for 20M€. The only belmish is that he is unambitious, but I'm doing my best to mentor him with more driven and forward thinking players. he didn't have the best of seasons with 7 goals and 11 assists in 30 games, but I feel that he is mostly adapting to life in Croatia and that next year will be better. 

 

 

Transfers Out

In the Out column this year, notables are Joao Felix, who went back to Sporting in Portugal for 1.6 M€, most likely to finish his career there, after no longer being of the level we required. A bit more disappointingly is Zvonko Rudan (YP28), a wing-back from our academy who became unhappy and made quite a bit of noise. He went to Hajduk for 5M€. I kinda hope he will help them on the European stage. 

 

Croatian First League

Once again, walked over the league and stayed undefeated until the penultimate game of the season, where we lost 1-0 to Hajduk. Again, not close. Worth noting that Hajduk is now consistently better than Dinamo for the past few seasons. Daniel Matas led the league with 26 goals in 18(12) appearances. A good season for him, but slightly misleading as he played often against some of the weaker sides, with Leon and Menéndez being generally preferred when playing against Hajduk, Dinamo and Rijeka. Still, a good season for our club legend who thus completes his 10th season at the club. 

Our feeder club Kustosija didn't last long in the First League. Most of the people I wanted to send on loan over there refused to go, meaning that I could not give them the pat on the back that I had hoped. For them too, it wasn't even close. 

 

The number of goals per minute in the league shows how strong we were up front. 

 

Champions League

Drawn against FC Kobenhavn, AS Roma and Galatasaray, we had no problem in the group, with 6 wins including a 9-1 dismantling of the Danish club, with 5 goals and 2 assists from Luciano Leon. In the elimination rounds, we disposed of Valencia (whom we had beaten easily in the Euro. Super Cup) and AS Roma (again!), before a tough draw against Liverpool in the semi final. A tough 1-0 loss at Anfield after a quite even match put us in a bad position from which we were not able to recover and ultimately lost 3-2 on aggregate. A bit of a bummer, but I know we can't win it each year...! 

 

Best XI

This year marks the return of Daniel Matas in the Best XI, after giving its place to Menéndez in the last few years. Also notable is Mile Haramustek, who's been hanging around in the midfield for a while now, being steady and not dropping a beat even at the tender age of 30. 

 

Youth Products

This time, in the end-season report, I'd like to focus a bit on the youth products that I have had over the years and who've had notable careers by looking at past posts and who I had featured there, as well as a look at what's in the pipeline for us. 

Past GOSK Dubrovnik youngsters

•  Luka Rajic - Class of 2022 - AMC - Played 28 games for us, then faded into oblivion at Kustosija and Hrvace. Retired at 24 years old after 154 apps and 14 goals. Rating: D
• Daniel Matas - Class of 2025 - ST - A true legend at Dubrovnik and the pillar of our club. I read again the first post I wrote when I encountered him, in hindsight it's quite fun to read. Rating: A++
• Maximilian Tauer - Class of 2025 - AMR - Promising winger who didn't really fit the tactics that we were playing. got on loan more often than not and is a good player in the second league, but never really broke up at the First League level. Recently transfered at Lokomotiva for 1.4 M€. 29 goals and 24 assists in 209 apps. Rating: C+
• Vice Vukusic - Class of 2025 - ST - Striker who won the Second League scoring title at the age of 18 when I sent him on loan at Kustosija, but never really broke out after that. Now plays a substitute role in the First League at Istra 1961. Rating: C-
• Mihael Vidovic - Class of 2025 - AML - Winger who never really took off and was sold to Rijeka, where he failed to make an appearance for 3 years. He is now a substitute at Maksimir in the Second League. Rating: I don't know why I featured him in the first place
• Josip Strljic - Class of 2028 - AMR, ST - Promising striker who really was never featured in our side. He was loaned out a few years, then Inter came in with a 2.3M£ bid, which I promptly accepted in 2033. he's then been loaned to Parma and Hajduk (for 2 years), where he's playing substitute. Would probably be good if the AI knew how to play with inverted wingers. Rating: C+

 

Currently playing on the First Team

• Niksa Simunic - Class of 2030 - DC - Good center back who is a regular in the first team now, likely my second choice at central back. Rating: B+

• Elvis Varvodic - Class of 2030 - DR - Star right back who is very dependable and got us 11 assists this year. Rating: A-

• Nikola Karamatic - Class of 2031 - MC - ST. Came in as a striker, but I'm using him more in the midfield, as my attacking mezzala or advanced playmaker, mostly due to congestion at the striker role. Looking forward to see him develop! Rating: A

• Jakov Maretic - Class of 2031 - ST - A bit of a disappointing year where he wasn't used that much due to congestion up front, but has all sorts of potential. Rating: B

 

 

The ones for the future

A quick look at a couple of bright spots coming forward. 

Goran Matusinskij - Class of 2033 - 1 goal and 12 assists while on loan at Istra 1961 in the First League in 13(2) apps. Would likely be ready for more game time next year, but is already close to first league level.

Ivo Grbesa - Class of 2034 - MC - Very promising midfielder at only 16 years old, with Driven personality too. 5 goals and 12 assists in 17 apps with the youth team. I'm looking for quite a few good years from him! 

Ante Kalinic - Class of 2034 - AMC - Was one of the courageous who decided to go to Kustosija where he got 21 starts, getting 4 goals and 4 assists. Not bad for a 17 year old (but clearly not enough to save them from relegation).

Edited July 16, 2021 by jmarchand

[Biscotti]

So glad I got myself an easy draw....

[rlipscombe]

2 minutes ago, Biscotti said:

So glad I got myself an easy draw....

Ouch..... 

[jmarchand]

5 hours ago, Biscotti said:

So glad I got myself an easy draw....

I have faith! I think you'll be able to get a result against Lyon (the French league can be certainly uninspired at times), so I'm not counting Sestao out just yet! 

[GreyedOutMan]

Too late to get involved? Been looking for a new save to do for a while as my last few have got stale. Going to try this in France I think, never managed there before.

[rlipscombe]

57 minutes ago, GreyedOutMan said:

Too late to get involved? Been looking for a new save to do for a while as my last few have got stale. Going to try this in France I think, never managed there before.

not at all.  welcome and good luck. 

[jmarchand]

Quite the transfer. Liverpool paying 219 M€ for a top striker. He looks great, but I hope the game understands why I refuse bids of 45 M€ for Luciano Leon (provided for comparison). 

 

[jmarchand]

Also, I think that the game thinks that I like to sign young players...