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

[Biscotti]

9 minutes ago, aldojags said:

@Biscottiwe’ve all those seasons, dont worry about it, all part of the journey!! You’ll get there 👍

Writing it out and analysing it is very cathartic and has really helped me to pinpoint what changes I need to make, so it's all good. I'm just going to take a few days off it to play other things so I don't get too in my own head about it.

[aldojags]

Finished preliminary phase of season - strange situation where I may have a better chance of European football finishing in the middle section of the league.

 

I finished top 6, which puts me in the championship group. However I am miles off the European places. 

 

But had I finished in middle section, and won it, (which I would, on great form at present), I'd be involved in a one off play off with 4th in the league for European slot. So it's mixed emotions! Proud to finish in top 6, but weird league set up that almost punishes you for trying to finish in top group!

 

Youth preview, and intake. This young attacking mid will feature in first team in a year or too I like the look of him. Not quite sure I see the fuss about this striker, or this keeper.

 

And also thought I'd mention this - my disciplinary record is dreadful, I noticed this in FM20 also, I'd be good for 3 yellow cards in the first half almost every week. FM21 the same. ANyone else noticed this? I dont always have "get stuck in" turned on either, so I'm not quite sure.

 

Also, how can I have a reputation for being strict disciplinarian, but also have this look for discipline on my profile? Anyone else notice, when you go to fine someone for a red card, which i do, it comes up with "you decided not to fine player X for the red card". it's bugged? Found FM21 really buggy for small details like this have you guys noticed this?

 

 

 

[Biscotti]

26 minutes ago, aldojags said:

Also, how can I have a reputation for being strict disciplinarian, but also have this look for discipline on my profile? Anyone else notice, when you go to fine someone for a red card, which i do, it comes up with "you decided not to fine player X for the red card". it's bugged? Found FM21 really buggy for small details like this have you guys noticed this?

 

 

 

Just because you're strict, doesn't necessarily mean you're good at it lol. As for the other thing - I always let my code of conduct automatically handle fines for me so I've never seen that before.

[aldojags]

38 minutes ago, Biscotti said:

Just because you're strict, doesn't necessarily mean you're good at it lol. As for the other thing - I always let my code of conduct automatically handle fines for me so I've never seen that before.

hahaha good point! i did the code of conduct thing in fm20 but never been prompted in this? unless it's the promises section of the team meeting? I never pay attention to that!!

 

 

Further to my "fm21 is full of stuff that doesnt make sense" point - I recently requested to increase my junior coaching, I got this message back about my results being dreadful and they refuse the request...I've lost 1 out the last 9, which was away to top of the league. Otherwise I'm in great form, outperforming expectations in the league....just never noticed this stuff in FM 20

[iseemonsters1]

6 minutes ago, aldojags said:

hahaha good point! i did the code of conduct thing in fm20 but never been prompted in this? unless it's the promises section of the team meeting? I never pay attention to that!!

That's weird! I get prompted with a proposed Code of Conduct at the start of every season.

[rlipscombe]

yeah i always get prompted for the code of conduct too..... 

[aldojags]

Yeh i havent in this at all...noticed it right away as i always had it on fm20...strange!

[jmarchand]

 

 

Yeah, I think I'll give this lad a chance. 

 

EDIT: Here's what he looks like. 

 

Edit 2: Ok, he's not just playing at his level in the friendlies... 

 

Edit 3: This is getting a bit crazy. 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by jmarchand

[Biscotti]

I was briefly confused about how you'd played through 27 seasons already, but I worked it out before making myself look stupid.

[wynter]

Going with Poland

Edited January 24, 2021 by wynter

[aldojags]

@jmarchandbloody hell...that’ll do!! 
 

@wynterwelcome to the fold bests wishes for Poland!!

[aldojags]

Finished season 2023-24.

 

Finished 6th in my first attempt at the top tier, pleased with that. 

 

Had a great start, terrible middle, and great finish to the league. A wee bit more consistency in the middle and I could have got Europe this year, but never mind.

 

New arrivals. Got a new link with Villareal, got this young winger who did the business, he's not interested in coming back next year unfortunately but it was good while it was lasted. 

 

 This Croatian winger on loan was the best player of the campaign - and thankfully he has agreed to come back,

 

My new keeper had a great year, saved like 3 penalties too, he is a stud. Constantly tops my training ratings too like 9.5+.

 

This young Bosnian I got on a free had a good season, Ludogorets sniffing around, but they'll need to cough up big if I'm going to give him away to a team in same league.

 

Analytics...need to tighten up!! Most those goals came in my mid season slump.

 

 

My wage bill has went from 8k per week to 11k, hardly a big deal, but most my starting 11 still consists of loanees, this is going to be a slog until I start qualifying for Europe and get some decent money. You can see the difference in resources with the top team and me. I am surprised that the only team with smaller wage budget than me finished 3rd, so it can be done!

 

 

 

 

[jmarchand]

  

Season 5 - 2025-2026 | The Season after the one we got lucky

Squad | Transfers

After a Cinderella run in the EURO Cup II last year, we qualified again for the Europe, quite barely after a dreadful fixture congestion part. In the off-season, much of our energy was focused on bringing new faces, ideally which would supplant our guys in the first team, thus providing depth at the same time. All of our transfer activities happened in the summer, spending a total of 1.2 M€, which we had thanks to our EURO Cup II run. More on this later, but first, let's look at how well we did. 

 

EURO CUP II

With the first knockout round last year, I think that we were lucky and somewhat overachieved. Entering in the Second Qualifying Round of the League path, I shivered a bit when I saw that we were drawn against Bordeaux, which in my mind was quite a few notches above our standards. 

The guys played well, winning 2-1 at home in a match we dominated and completely hammered them 4-0 on the return leg in Bordeaux, in which they only got one shot, not even on target. 

In the we were drawn against Lokomotiva Moscow. The away leg ultimately proved too much for us, losing 0-2 in a match which was never close. The return leg at home saw us draw 0-0, but that was too little too late and we mostly weathered the storm. 

So, early exit, against a club which made its way to the semi-finals, so I conclude at an unlucky draw. It gave use time to focus elsewhere, but I hoped to get to the group stage again... 

Objective 2: Reach the group stages of EURO Cup II - Failed.

 

League Performance

The good thing about the relatively early exit in Europe was the lighter schedule. The guys played well all year long, dropping a few easy ones here and there, but generally held up their ground pretty well. There were no streaks where we were on fire and unstoppables, but at the same time, never hit a bad run of form which made us slip down the table. 

We never dropped lower than 5th in the league, which is the lowest place that gives an European qualification this year, but at the same time, never threatened Dinamo which was in first place all year long and never left it. We settled in third place after Christmas and never left that spot. With a total of 56 points for the second year in a row, we benefited again from a more competitive bottom of the table and were able to rise up to third place, thanks to a healthy 66 goals for. Yes, with 53 goals agains, our defence really needs to up their game if we want to challenge the top 2.

Due to the increase in league standing last year, this 3rd place was enough for us to qualify for the Playoff round of EURO Cup. I'm thrilled as this is quite a nice progress. Even if we lose there, we should qualify directly for the EURO Cup II groups, so we're at least guaranteed for some nice TV income and prize money, which sorely lacked this year. 

Objective 3: Qualify for Europe again, and not on the last day of the year: Success! 

 

Cup Performance

While it was never a big focus for us initially, I was thrilled to see Dinamo lose to Rijeka 1-1 on penalties in the Second round. This meant that we had a chance...! Following this, I fielded generally the first team in the Croatian Cup, even sometimes to the detriment of the league fixture that was coming soon after. 

And it paid off quite well. 

With a mixture of good wins and lucky draws, we were off to face Hajduk (of course!) in the Final. On the last day of the season, Leon Sipos (of course!) came out big and scored two early goals which allowed us to hold on for the rest of the match. It was a closely contested game, but we ended up as winners of the Croatian Cup! 

 

Notable performances - Transfers

Quite a few new faces in the First Eleven, especially at midfield and great progression for the guys which were already there. 

 

Leon Sipos - ST - 25 goals, 5 assists - 7.17 avg. rating

Still playing at a high level and our main threat up front, Leon Sipos was not as spectacular as last year's EURO Cup II run, but delivered nonetheless. Third best scorer in the league, he was rotated a bit more this year and saw a bit less opportunities. Still, a good season from him and an important part of our side, but I don't think he'll progress all that much more than his current level. Again doubled his value this year at 1.4 M€, he's going to be a star in Croatian football for a while, but I'm not as confident he has what we need to make the step up to higher European competitions. 

 

Matija Lambulic - NEW SIGNING - ST - 14 goals, 3 assists - 6.96 avg. rating

One of the goals of the offseason was to find a decent partner/rotation option for Leon Sipos and I found him at HNK Gorica. This youngster was rotting on the bench and I got him for free at the end of his contract. At some point, I'd love to transition to a formation with 2 strikers in front and he provided a decent partnership with Leon when this happened. With 14 goals in the league, he was actually 5th best scorer, giving us a good pair up front. I feel there are times where I could have played him a bit more, but the Leon was playing so well... Looking forward to him next year as he's just 23.  

Objective 1: Get a good partner for Leon Sipos: Success!

 

Patrick Caculovic - AML - 10 goals, 5 assists - 7.11 avg.

The creative force on the left field, he either was on all in the open to score a goal or provide a good pass to Sipos or Lambuljic. Don't let the 5 assists fool you, he's often at the base of a goal, one or 2 passes away. He's improved slightly with regards to last year, but not quite as much as I would have hoped. Still, he's our most highly valued player at 1.5 M€, but if a decent offer comes in from abroad, I might just go for it... 

 

I'm still not fully enamoured with my midfielders, despite the good seasons of Krizmanic and Kuzminski. With 8 and 10 assists each, the passed the ball well, but have not stood out as initially expected. 

 

Tino Laus - AMC - 6 goals, 4 assists - After 5 seasons in loan with us, Hajduk finally decided not to renew Tino's contact, so he'll be joining us permanently in the beginning of next year. He started the year great, but then somehow stalled. He might be on the shorter end of the bench next year, but at the moment, is still our AMC of chohice. 

 

 

Samuel Paintsil - DC - NEW SIGNING

In the too good to pass up category, he came up on the last stretch of the summer transfer season and is a super promising youngster from a club I never heard about before Hearts of Oak, in Accra, Ghana... He was unfortunately badly injured for 3-4 months towards the end of the season so he lost quite a bit attribute-wise, but he'll certainly feature in the central defence next year. I paid more than 550 k€ for him, so I expect him to do well. 

 

Nemanja Mijailovic - GK

I think I finally found a good keeper, from Rad in Serbia. If all goes according to plan, at 22 years old he has lots of room to grow, while already playing at a very good First League level. I hate shopping for keepers, so if I can keep him for a while at a good level, I'll be more than happy. 

 

Youth Intake/Progression

This year's youth intake was quite promising. Apart from Daniel Matas (the goal scoring machine from a few posts a very promising Austrian winger, Maximilian Tauer, who at 15 already appears to have the level to play in the Croatian Second League. It looks like next year will be the first one where I'll feature some of my youth prospects in the first team squad on a somewhat regular basis. 

Luka Rajic - AMC. Was loaned in Kustosija for the season, where he helped them to a 7th place finish with 3 goals and 4 assists. Not sure he has what he needs to play in the first division, though, but might be a rotation option for us next year. 

Daniel Matas - ST - Could be better than Leon Sipos. 20 goals in 6 friendlies since he came in. High hopes. 

Max Tauer - AMR - A lefty inverted winger, pacy and technical. 

Vice Vukusic - ST - Not as impressive as Daniel Matas in the first matches, but already a good, speedy finished with a good height. it's a shame he's unambitious, but we'll see how it goes. 

 

Awards

Me - First League Manager of the Year!

 

Finances

Not playing long in Europe while trying to get a better club really hit us hard this year, losing a steady 250 k€ per month, and 3.7  M€ over the course of the season. With the European qualification, that should change next year, though... 

 

Goals for next season:

1. Get a total of 3 wins against Dinamo and Hajduk. 
2. Find a star midfielder, either at MC or AMC
3. Transition to having a pair of strikers in front
4. Stay qualified for Europe, ideally EURO Cup again. 

 

Other News

• After leaving to AC Milan on a 1.7 M€ transfer, Ivan Nagy came back to Osijek on loan. They played him as a squad player and he didn't impress at all. 
• No news about stadium expansion. 
• I got an affiliate club in the Second League, Kustosija. I lent them a few good players and they finished 7th, after staying quite on top 
• I no longer have scouting restrictions! 
  • But there is still the limit of 5 non-EU players in the squad, which I'm bumping into already... I might send one guy over to South America, but without much hopes. 
• Dinamo got hammered in a tough CL group, with Barcelona, AC Milan and FC RB Salzburg, with 6 tough losses. 
• Hajduk won their EURO Cup II group, but then lost in the Second Knockout Round against Vit. Guimaraes (who ended up winning the trophy)
• Osijek lost in the EURO Cup II 4th Qualifying Round (one round later than us), quite badly against Craiova from Romania.
• Croatia rose once again in the nations coefficient table, from 11th to 10th! We now have one automatic CL group spot. We will probably see improvement again next year as 2021/22 was not a good Euro season for Croatia...

 

Season Progress

Season  |   League    |  Position (media pred)  |   Croatian Cup   |    Europe     |  Euro Position |  Avg. Att   |  vs. Dinamo/Hajduk |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21/22   |    2nd      |       7th (18th)        |   First Round    |     N/A       |       N/A      |     302     |         N/A        |
22/23   |    2nd      |       1st (18th) - PROM |   First Round    |     N/A       |       N/A      |     342     |         N/A        | 
23/24   |    1st      |       4th (10th)        |    Semi Final    |     N/A       |       N/A      |     817     |    4 pts (1-1-6)   |
24/25   |    1st      |       4th (9th)         |   Second Round   |  EC2 - 1st KO |       271      |    5012     |    4 pts (1-1-6)   |
25/26   |    1st      |       3rd (8th)         |   !! WINNERS !!  | EC2 - 3rd Qual|       218      |    1137     |   11 pts (3-2-4)   | 

 

Edited January 25, 2021 by jmarchand

[Thebaker]

@jmarchandgood progress, looks like you are getting closer to the top 2. Why did your attendance go down compared to the season before?

[jmarchand]

1 minute ago, Thebaker said:

@jmarchandgood progress, looks like you are getting closer to the top 2. Why did your attendance go down compared to the season before?

Last season, we played quite a bit of European football in Hajduk's stadium (35000 seat) and got quite decent attendances over there (25-30 000 spectators). This year, we played all European matches in our puny 3000 seat stadium, filling it to capacity, but only once. 

It should go up again this year, with the automatic qualification for the EURO Cup II Group stages at worst. 

I think I'll track one more indicator of progress, the amount of points I get against Hajduk and Dinamo, that should give a pretty clear indication of improvement (or lack thereof).

[aldojags]

5 hours ago, jmarchand said:

 

I think I'll track one more indicator of progress, the amount of points I get against Hajduk and Dinamo, that should give a pretty clear indication of improvement (or lack thereof).

That’s kinda like my save, if I’m beating Ludogorets then that is a good sign im heading in right direction, I’m drawing with them mostly, and lost a few too. But never beat them, they are the top of the tree so i need to get them at some point

[iseemonsters1]

7 hours ago, aldojags said:

That’s kinda like my save, if I’m beating Ludogorets then that is a good sign im heading in right direction, I’m drawing with them mostly, and lost a few too. But never beat them, they are the top of the tree so i need to get them at some point

Same here with Nacional - prior to my current season, my record against them (despite having actually won the title) was P8 W0 D3 L5 - 3 points from a possible 24!

@jmarchand - congrats on the Cup win! Always nice to have some silverware in the trophy cabinet. Good to see Sipos keeps delivering. Hopefully that coefficient keeps moving in the right direction as that will really help long term!

@aldojags - good work, 6th place at the first attempt is pretty darn good. What position do you normally play Slobodan Gajic in? He looks like he could do a job in a few different spots.

@wynter - good luck in Poland!

[aldojags]

@iseemonsters1i play him aa advanced forward, but yeh is equally goOd on right wing. He has startednext season well, 4 goals from 4 games, and despite interest from ludogorets i was able to tie him down to a new 4 year deal, with optional extension of a year. Agent insisted on £1.5m release clause for foreign clubs, so he has that, but itd better than nothing I suppose!

[iseemonsters1]

C.A. Bella Vista
2026 Season Summary
Uruguayan Primera Division

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

A repeat title win and another great season for us, and on the face of it looks like we really cruised to victory in this one - we only lost one game all season (in the Intermedio, of course). And while, yes, a season in which we won the title without any need for a playoff and only lost one game all season was undoubtedly an incredible season, I think it does disguise a bit how close it actually was.  For the first time ever, we managed to beat Nacional in head to head games this season, not once, but twice (1-0 away, 2-1 home). But those two wins were the only difference between our record and Nacional's - in other words, if just one of those games had been a defeat instead of a win, we'd have been tied on points, and if we'd lost just those two games and done everything else the same, we would have been 6 points behind in the title race and Nacional would be champions again. Going into the last game of the season, we needed to win to make sure that Defensor Sporting didn't pip us for the Closing Stage title, despite the fact we were undefeated (as it happened they only drew so we would have finished ahead even without the win). So we're definitely not done and dusted with close title races yet - but it also has to be said at this point that we are now one of the best teams in Uruguay and barring a need for a complete squad rebuild, we should be there or thereabouts in the title race for the foreseeable future.

 

Copa Libertadores - Quarter Final (lost to Argentinos Jrs) | Group D - 1st

Our second foray into the Copa Libertadores was almost a carbon copy of the first. Entering straight into the group stage, we got a fairly decent draw in the shape of Deportivo La Guaira of Venezuela, Millionarios of Colombia, and Atletico Mineiro of Brazil. Deportivo La Guaira were no threat to anyone, losing their 6 games by a combined 29 goals to 1 - we beat them 7-0 and 5-0. But it was relatively close between the other three teams, even going in to the final group match, where any of the three of us could qualify. Atletico Mineiro were up against La Guaira, virtually a guaranteed win, so they were almost certainly through, which meant it came down to the game between Millionarios and us - whoever won would go through. It was a fairly even game, but we came out of it with a 2-1 win to return to the knockout stages.

We were handed what I thought was a relatively tough draw in the shape of Banfield of Argentina (any team from Argentina or Brazil is a tough draw for us). But we ended up cruising through to the quarter finals 5-1 on aggregate, where we would face another Argentinian team - Argentinos Jrs. In a carbon copy of our quarter final last season, we lost the first leg 3-2 away from home, but the two away goals gave us a glimmer of hope only for us to go down 1-0 at home and 4-2 on aggregate. Clearly then we can give a good account of ourselves in the Group stages and can hope to be playing in the knockout rounds going forward, but we have a ways to go before we can really expect to take on the biggest teams and thrive.

 

Squad & Transfers - Squad | Transfers

Compared to the last couple of seasons, the transfer market was a hive of activity for us this season, both in and out. Most of the transfers out were youth players who weren't going to make it in our first team moving to smaller clubs, but there were two significant moves. The first was Jorge Daniel Correa - we'd been expecting him to move on for the past couple of seasons as he'd clearly outgrown us, but we never got a decent bid for him. However, with his contract expiring at the end of the season and with him having no intention of signing a new deal, it was time to get that move done or risk losing him for nothing. During the pre-season he seemed constantly on the verge of a bid from either Chelsea or Flamengo to meet his self-imposed asking price of £2.7m, but in the end none of those bids materialized. We did get a bid of £1.6m from Olimpia in Paraguay but I held out in the expectation we were going to get some bigger bids. But the transfer window came and went and I began to regret not accepting it, as I didn't want to lose him for nothing. I was ready to basically get anything I could for him in the summer transfer window, but in May Olimpia came back in with a £1.9m bid and I basically snapped their hands off (not sure why Olimpia aren't constrained by the transfer window). It meant we had to go a month before we could get a replacement but it was better than losing out on that amount of money. The other key outgoing was Julio Acosta, our standout right winger who was in a similar situation - out of contract at the end of the season and refusing to sign a new deal - in his case I wasn't able to find a buyer, so he will leave on a free at the end of the year to return to Argentina, but with his value closer to £500k it was less of a loss.

In terms of transfers in, we did spend some money this year. German Perrone was our record signing for about two weeks - a central defender from Liverpool de Montevideo for £120k who became a mainstay for our defence - until he was overtaken by Marcos Sanseviero, who came in for £145k from Defensor Sporting. The young left back was undoubtedly the signing of the season and I think that position is his for as long as we can keep him. Our other key signing was Kevin Mendez, an Argentine central midfielder who we brought in in the summer as a replacement for Correa.

Amongst our other existing players, Alejandro Perez, one of our youth products, continued to make the right back spot his own - he was our Fans' Player of the Season and at 20 years old I gave in and named him the club captain. Jonathan Priore, another youth product, was once again our top scorer, with 23 goals from 40 appearances this season, ending up as the second highest scorer in the division.

 

Finances - Summary

Another good season financially - our wage budget is creeping up a little but is still well under control, and with another £4.3m in Copa Libertadores money, combined with £1.8m in gate receipts, and the £1.9m from the Correa sale, we were at just about £10m in the bank. Then we got the message that the new stadium was finally moving forward - £2.8m paid in cash for a 9,534 capacity stadium, expected to be finished at the very end of next season, bringing us down to a still very healthy £7m in the bank. Next season's transfer budget stands at £1.7m, but I don't intend to spend huge cash unless I find a player who I really think can move us forward.

 

Player of the Season - Alejandro Perez (36 APPS - 3 GLS - 6 ASTS - 7.26 AV RAT)

Young Player of the Season - Alejandro Perez (36 APPS - 3 GLS - 6 ASTS - 7.26 AV RAT)

Top Goalscorer - Jonathan Priore (40 APPS - 23 GLS - 10 ASTS - 7.18 AV RAT)

 

Next Season

Naturally we'll be looking to challenge for the title again next season, and I'm hopeful that our squad is good enough for that challenge. The main question is whether we can make further progress in the Copa Libertadores - again, I'm hopeful that we can progress through the Group Stage, but beyond that it all depends on the draw that we get as to how much further we can go.

[jmarchand]

10 hours ago, iseemonsters1 said:

@jmarchand - congrats on the Cup win! Always nice to have some silverware in the trophy cabinet. Good to see Sipos keeps delivering. Hopefully that coefficient keeps moving in the right direction as that will really help long term!

Thanks. While the Croatian Cup really isn't a focus for us, it's nice that it guarantees a place in Europe (but at this point, I believe it would take a disaster to not qualify...) But I do look great when looking at my reflection the silverware. 

[Britrock]

@iseemonsters1 well done in Uruguay. I had a great year or two there with Nacional when I was doing the Ultimate challenge last year. I wiped the floor with everyone domestically, almost going undefeated, but got nowhere in the Libertadores. The Brazilians and Argentinians were on a different level in both skill and money, it'll be a big challenge for you to compete with those guys!

Edited January 27, 2021 by Britrock

[jmarchand]

Epic shootout in the Croatian Cup. Only in the second round, my mostly rotated squad was held in check for a while and the shootout was decided by a goal from my backup keeper, who did justice himself. 

[aldojags]

@jmarchandsipos just cropped up in my scout reports, got a bit of £25k accepted for him but he wouldn’t negotiate terms, didnt think we could pay him - he was probably right 😂

[jmarchand]

58 minutes ago, aldojags said:

@jmarchandsipos just cropped up in my scout reports, got a bit of £25k accepted for him but he wouldn’t negotiate terms, didnt think we could pay him - he was probably right 😂

Haha! I’m curious, can I get a screenshot of him and his career so far in your game?

[aldojags]

Of course - at work just now but will do this tonight 👍

[Thebaker]

Table | Squad | Transfers

Started this season in good form and after 14 games were solidly in midtable. Unfortunately went on a 8 game winless run inc 6 consecutive losses to fall back into the relegation spots. 3 games from the end of the season the team beat Vasteras 6-2 which was crucial to avoid the automatic relegation spots. In the relegation playoff the team played Ljungskille and in the 1st leg had a lucky 1-0 away win. The 2nd leg was all 1 way and resulted in a 4-1 home win.

In the swedish cup the team played in the group stages from last season and faced a group of prem Kalmer and Hacken and D1E Landskrona. Managed to get 4 points from the 3 games to finish 3rd. Reached the group stages in this years swedish cup beating D1S Hudiksvalls 3-2 away.

Finances have grown and the board have agreed an increase to junior coaching.

Player performances were very inconsistent although Arnesson, Moore and Campos did well in spells. The addition of Lofgren was a factor in avoiding relegation and if not for 5 weeks injured the team may have finished higher.

Season	League	Position	Swedish Cup	Europe	Top Scorer	Attendance	Training	Youth	Junior	Youth Rec	Notes
2021	2nd Div SS	5th	Not entered	N/A	Jashari (15)	193	Basic	Poor	Fairly Basic	Basic
2022	2nd Div SS	2nd	Not entered	N/A	Jashari (23)	207	Basic	Poor	Fairly Basic	Basic	Promoted
2023	1st Div South	12th	Not entered	N/A	Arnesson (19)	187	Basic	Poor	Fairly Basic	Basic
2024	1st Div South	9th	1st Rd	N/A	Arnesson (16)	202	Basic	Poor	Fairly Basic	Basic
2025	1st Div South	1st	2nd Rd	N/A	Arnesson (25)	245	Basic	Poor	Fairly Basic	Basic	Promoted
2026	1st Div Elite	16th	2nd Rd	N/A	Arnesson (16)	377	Basic	Poor	Fairly Basic	Basic
2027	1st Div North	10th	2nd Rd	N/A	Arnesson , Moore (12)	302	Basic	Poor	Fairly Basic	Basic
2028	1st Div North	2nd	Group st	N/A	Arnesson (24)	434	Basic	Poor	Average	Fairly Basic	Promoted via playoff
2029	1st Div Elite	14th	Group st	N/A	Arnesson (16)	539	Basic	Poor	Adequate	Fairly Basic

 

[aldojags]

20 hours ago, jmarchand said:

Haha! I’m curious, can I get a screenshot of him and his career so far in your game?

 

here you go mate

[jmarchand]

1 hour ago, aldojags said:

here you go mate

Awesome! My version fo Sipos has 17 Determination, so that's quite a different player...! Now that he's signed with Rudes, he's kinda doomed to stay in the Second League forever... Interestingly, Rudes pays him more in the Second League than me...

[jmarchand]

Doing the draw of the EURO Cup... Suspense didn't last too long. 

[rlipscombe]

3 minutes ago, jmarchand said:

Doing the draw of the EURO Cup... Suspense didn't last too long. 

you never know................

[jmarchand]

Hehe. I was crossing fingers "not me, not me, not me". Then just clicked on "Draw all teams"...  

 

In other news, Danial Matas' finally turned 17 so he got promoted to the first team. His career as a goal scoring machine against weaker sides is finished. But he doesn't look to bad for a 17 year old in the first league! He scored on his debut too. 

[rlipscombe]

1 hour ago, jmarchand said:

Hehe. I was crossing fingers "not me, not me, not me". Then just clicked on "Draw all teams"...  

 

In other news, Danial Matas' finally turned 17 so he got promoted to the first team. His career as a goal scoring machine against weaker sides is finished. But he doesn't look to bad for a 17 year old in the first league! He scored on his debut too. 

promising start.....

[jmarchand]

Wow. we survived the first leg! 

A miracle *can* happen on the second leg! 

[jmarchand]

Oh well. No miracle, but we've got super clinical finish, with 2 goals in 3 shots on target over the course of these two games...!

Edited January 30, 2021 by jmarchand

[rlipscombe]

 @jmarchandseriously unlucky there...  Yes the stats might not be pretty but to hold them at the Etihad and then get within one goal at home with all that pressure you can't be too disappointed surely.  A great European run 

[aldojags]

Unlucky @jmarchandthat cluld have went either way. Great effort

[jmarchand]

Thanks guys! I kinda feel lucky we weren’t beaten more, but that bodes well for the future! Now, to go get the league and eventually compete against Dinamo! 

[Britrock]

Lusitania Acores - 2022/23 season review

Another middling season, we struggled with consistency most of the season and massively underperformed our XG. We were about 2 goals worse off in the scoring charts, but a massive 8 goals conceded worse off compared to what we should have been. I moved from a 4231 to a 433 late in the season and that seemed to help a little, but I've got some more transfers coming in next season that will hopefully help even more. I want to push on next season, getting out of this division is proving incredibly difficult! Not much else to write about to be honest, the finances are a total disaster though, but what's new in the lower leagues!

Fabio Caires came through the academy the first year and is great, in fact he was even my top scorer this year, but he won't sign a new contract as he doesn't think we're big enough for him. If we can push for promotion next year I'm hoping we can convince him to sign a new contract, otherwise he's gone for good.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Britrock

[rlipscombe]

fingers crossed for you next season @Britrock, if nothing else than for you to hopefully keep Fabio Caires - he looks a great prospect.

[aldojags]

Yeh he looks quality prospect for sure, hope you keep hold of him @Britrock

 

I'm in same situation I was last year, I scraped into the CHampionship group, however too far off the European places, so the remaining 5 fixtures are irrelevant for me. Squad, and first team in particular, is made up of loanees, I do not have the wage budget to attract players of substantial quality, have a parent club relationship with Villareal, they have sent me some great youngsters who have done well, but a lot of them dont want to come back next year. Worry I'll be stuck in this limbo of a mid table team.

 

One thing that I am reasonably pleased with is youth set up, I have good recruitment and good coaching, which I believe is moving to excellent soon. My latest intake was decent, and I am quite excited by Avramov, who I will be playing from the bench first chance I get. Also in terms of youth prospects, Zhivko Tenev became our youngest ever goalscorer, and I think he'll be a big player for us in years to come. He got capped at like u-18 level for Bulgaria this year too I'm sure, would love to get senior squad recognition one day for some of my youngsters. That may be the route my save has to take, I just dont see me ever getting close to the top teams by conventional methods!  Yordan Pashev is a centre half I am planning to be involved in the first team next year, I gave him a start or 2 this year but he's got low self belief, need to get that out his system! 

[aldojags]

Season 24/25 review

 

So near yet so far...

 

As mentioned above I went into the Championship phase a good bit off the European slots, however a great run of form in Championship group put us within touching distance, only to be denied by this 90th minute equaliser, in one of the craziest games I've ever been involved in. Although in this save so far to be fair, I feel like I have about 4 3-3 draws a season, but 5-5 is a first for sure!

 

League Table - crazy that I lost the fewest games in the league, yet didnt qualify for Europe. However I finally broke my Ludogorets hoodoo, beating them 1-0 in Championship group. 

 

Have an affiliation with VIllareal as mentioned in above post, had some real quality youngsters from them this year, pity I couldn't fully take advantage of this. SIlva / Toledano / Pallandres  / Alonso   - those are the pick of the bunch of the ton of loanees I have.

Player of the year is who else, Slobodan Gajic - just a stud, and one of my own players, not a loanee!

 

Finances - lost a bit more money this year, but did manage to get the board to up my junior coaching and recruitment both to excellent, so I imagine this could be why. Wage budget for next season is 18k per week, which is a huge jump, I was only spending 9-10 this season, hopefully I can put it to use.

 

Team of the season - can't disagree with this.

 

Next season, have a few players I want to include more, some of the youth I mentioned in previous post, and this new Ukranian winger, as well as this NOrth Macedonian forward, who I used from bench but he didn't do much, but I think his attributes show he could be a talent.

 

Next season, it has to be aiming for Europe, but it all hinges on who I get back from Villareal, if I dont get anyone back, then the leftover squad wont be good enough

[rlipscombe]

@aldojags - unlucky there.  You have some promising youngsters there - like the look of Avramov and Tenev.  Fingers crossed you can make that last bit and make it to Europe next season - fingers crossed the youth perform for you.

[aldojags]

7 hours ago, rlipscombe said:

@aldojags - unlucky there.  You have some promising youngsters there - like the look of Avramov and Tenev.  Fingers crossed you can make that last bit and make it to Europe next season - fingers crossed the youth perform for you.

I think i’ll get there eventually, just frustrated i blew a season that i had so much quality from Villareal could be a few years u til i get that level of talent from them again. 
 

can u tell me, would it be against the rules for me to load the spanish leagues as “view only”, so as to maximise the potential of my parent club ?

[rlipscombe]

 

1 hour ago, aldojags said:

I think i’ll get there eventually, just frustrated i blew a season that i had so much quality from Villareal could be a few years u til i get that level of talent from them again. 
 

can u tell me, would it be against the rules for me to load the spanish leagues as “view only”, so as to maximise the potential of my parent club ?

Personally i don't see too much of an issue really.  I don't believe it would affect your overall chances of completing too much...

[jmarchand]

   

Season 6 - 2026-2027 | The rise of Daniel Matas

Squad | Transfers

A finish of 3rd place last year got us qualified for the EURO Cup, a competition in which I knew we'd face our toughest oppositions so far. While doing that, I wanted to say qualified for Europe through the league, which meant a top 5 finish (but I was really hoping for Top 3, behind Dinamo and Hajduk). I was confident in the team, so most of the transfers was sending youngsters out on loan at our affiliate club Kustosija in the Second Division. I was betting on the progression of the signees from last year as well as the emergence of Matija Lambulic up front, Samuel Paintsil at defence and Avdo Spahic in the midfield.  

As a reminder, here were my goals for this season: 

1. Get a total of 3 wins against Dinamo and Hajduk. 
2. Find a star midfielder, either at MC or AMC
3. Transition to having a pair of strikers in front
4. Stay qualified for Europe, ideally EURO Cup again. 

EURO Cup

After a disappointing season in Europe, we were qualified for the EURO Cup, in the Playoff stage. With one win, we'd be qualifying for the Group rounds, which was really where I'd wanted to land. 

We were drawn against Olympiakos and, after a narrow 1-0 win in which Leon Sipos got his ankle destroyed by a tackled (out for 4 weeks!), I was cautiously optimistic for the return leg. Complete dominance there, with Leon Krekovic putting on a show and scoring 4 goals starting at right wing. This 6-0 win got us in the groups. 

Seeded 4th, we were drawn against Hoffenheim, Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA-Sofia. Having dodged most of the big names (Inter, Milan, Arsenal and Everton, notably), we were again hopeful of getting a pretty good result. Turns out, that wen't pretty well! 

Sometimes, we looked like PSG out there, winning 5-0 and 4-0 against Zenit (goal difference proved to be what put us in front!), but then losing 2-3 at home against Sofia and close contests against Hoffenheim (1-1 and a 1-0 win), Leon Krekovic again playing the hero with a goal at the 73rd minute. 

Our first place in the group got us straight to the Second Knockout Round, in which we were drawn against Man City. A surprise 0-0 result at the Ethiad . 

and a weathering of the storm on the return leg made me quite proud. 

Man City would then go on to the Cup final, losing 0-1 in extra time against AC Milan. 

Proud of the lads, a strong European run again, which has also increased our standing, helping Croatian football on the long run too. 

On a more selfish level, that did great on our finances for the year. 

 

League Performance

Two years ago when we went on a European run, we suffered greatly of our lack of depth and had a hard time in the league. NOT THIS TIME! Our schedule started on the rather hard, playing Dinamo, Osijek and Hajduk all in the first 5 matches. Our European run this time actually gave the club confidence and even our rotated options played well and maintained our heads above the water while being busy in Europe. 

Then, starting in March, at the same time as the Manchester City results, we went on a 13 game unbeaten streak to finish the season, pushing all the way towards the top of the league table (except for the first place firmly held by Dinamo). 

Final result, we finished up second, thanks in part by the fact that Hajduk had really a rough season, especially in the first half. For a good amount of time, they were hovering around 4th and 5th place, which is quite unusual for them. They rallied towards the end, but we managed to pass them in the last two days of the season. 

In the graph here, Dinamo in Blue, Hajduk in green and Dubrovnik in yellow). Again, we never really dropped out of the qualification places for Europe, which is very encouraging for the future. 

 

With 68 points and a +30 goal difference, I really think that we've turned a corner. We still dropped a couple of few matches which would have been needed to challenge a bit Dinamo for the top spot, a few draws that should have been wins and a few losses that should have at least been draws. 

Against the big two, we had a couple of good results. We dominated Dinamo two times, in the Croatian Cup Final and when we beat them 2-0, but we were well beaten in other games. Against Hajduk, the heavy defeat was early in the season, then we mostly drew against them. Not bad. 

Objective 1: Get a total of 3 wins against Dinamo and Hajduk. : Failed, but got close, a total of 10 points.

Objective 4: Stay qualified for EURO Cup: Exceeded! 

 

Croatian Cup Performance

Again, not a huge focus, we were almost knocked out in the Second round, but won after an epic 10-round shootout against Second League Istra 1961... This time, we escaped draws against Hajduk or Dinamo until the final. Having already secured a Champions Cup place through the league, we came to the match against Dinamo well relaxed and it paid well, winning the Final comfortably. The final result appears closer than the game really was, good performance from the guys. 

 

Croatian Super Cup. 

Who cares. Really. We lost against Dinamo 3-0. But nobody cares. 

 

Notable performances - Transfers

This season, we're in transition from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-1-2, with two strikers in front. We're playing both formations well at this point and that made the goals and the threats come from many players compared to last year. The main reason is that I wanted to be able to play both Lambulic and Sipos together in front and, most of times, that turned out pretty well. In the end, being apt on that tactical schema also allowed to ease in Daniel Matas, who rocked. 

 

Matija Lambulic - ST - 30 goals, 2 assists - 7.19 avg. rating

Was our second choice striker last year behind Leon Sipos, but he emerged this year as our main goal scoring threat, scoring 30 goals across competitions, 21 in the league and 6 in the EURO Cup. A few years younger than Sipos, I feel that he's more on the rise. 

 

Leon Sipos - ST - 19 goals, 8 assists - 7.12 avg. rating

Paired with Lambulic up front, Sipos played well enough to get him a Fans Player of the Year title. However, he was badly injured in the first month of the season and I felt that it took a bit of time until he got back to his former self. Generally, his ability declined a bit this year, but still was a great servant and is clearly a team leader. Valued at 2M€ and under contract for two other years, I love having him around, but it is good to know that I have Lambulic and Matas knocking to get a spot on the lineup. He's now only a 3-star player, mostly because others around him improved... 

Objective 3: Play with a pair of strikers up front: Success!

 

Daniel Matas (YP-27) - YOUTH! - ST - 12 goals, 1 assist - 7.25 avg. rating

We can't play players under 17 in the Croatian First League, so I initially loaned Matas to Kustosija, thinking he's make a beating in the Second League. Turns out I didn't check the rules and he couldn't play there either and was sent to their U19. I recalled him from the loan, and he scored 30 goals in 13 appearances with my U19s. 

He is touted as the next Ivica Olic, which is great to hear from the media.

He turned 17 on January 17 and I mercilessly threw him right in the first team. He thus became the youngest Dubrovnik player at 17 years 17 days, and he scored on his debut, thus becoming our Youngest goalscorer too. Side note, the youngest First League goalscorer was 16 years, 111 days (before they came in with the 17 year old rule) and, this year, a prospect from HNK Gorica scored at 17 years old and 4 days. Bummer! 

That didn't stop Matas from ripping it in the First League too. He grew so much in the pace of a year, from a young prospect to a 3-star squad player, scoring 12 goals in 16 appearances (including 5 as a sub). 18 flair, 16 dribbling, 15 acceleration, 14 pace, 15 determination, he has very good chances of succeeding. He's already playing at the U20 level despite only being 17, so this bodes super well for the future. 

I signed him on a contract without a release clause and I'm sure that the vultures will come soon enough for him. I hope I'll be able to at least cash out on him and enjoy him in the meantime. 

 

Nemanja Mijailovic - GK - 21 clean sheets - 7.09 avg. 

I've found myself a starting keeper. Was doing well in the second half of the year last season, he stepped up this year and was named PoM a couple of times. At only 23, I hope I'll be able to keep him for a while, hoping he doesn't want to leave us because we're too small, which is listed as a Pre-Concern now. I hate shopping for goalkeepers... 

 

Avdo Spahic - NEW SIGNING - MC, AMC - 5 goals, 13 assists, 6.99 avg. rating

Looking for a new creative midfielder, I think I got mostly what I was looking for in this signing from Istra 1961, playing in the Second League. Came in for a 110 k€ fee (plus a youth GK I didn't care about),  he played quite well, but mostly from the center of the park. Next year, I indent to have him take the AMC role, behind the two strikers and, have him rake in the assists, thanks to his good passing skill, his 18 vision and his 17 First Touch. I just need to have someone to teach him to try killer balls and I think we'll be golden. 

Objective 2: Get a star MC or AMC: Not quite, but he's getting close.

 

Eduardo Pérez - DC - NEW SIGNING

I was looking to bolster the defence, my current options weren't awesome, but we got this youngster from Brentwood California out of the Orlando City SC Academy, where he dominated. He came in a jumped right in the first team. With his impressive height, he's covering for the weakness that we had in the air last year at defence. Commands a high salary compared to the rest of the folks, but so far he's proving his worth. 

 

Youth Intake/Progression

This year's youth intake was quite promising. Apart from Daniel Matas (the goal scoring machine from a few posts a very promising Austrian winger, Maximilian Tauer, who at 15 already appears to have the level to play in the Croatian Second League. It looks like next year will be the first one where I'll feature some of my youth prospects in the first team squad on a somewhat regular basis. 

Luka Rajic - AMC. Was loaned again, this year to Sesvete where I thought he'd be playing a bit more than with us. That turned out not to be the case and he appeared only twice in their first squad, scoring once. I don't think he's going to make the cut of our first team in the end, so I think I'll move him next year if I get a good offer for him. 

Daniel Matas - ST - Promoted to the first team part of the report at 17 years old. Yup. 

Max Tauer - AMR - He actually progressed very well, started to play MC while with the U19s, he is very promising and has a 5-star potential rating... 

Vice Vukusic - ST - Stepped in while Matas was in the first team, scoring 25 goals in 15(10) appearances. Turns 17 over the summer, will be loaned next year to Kustosija so he can measure himself against Second League opposition. He's listed as unambitious, so I don't have that much high hopess... 

Mihael Vidovic - AML - On loan in the Second League, he played well and got 8 goals and 4 assists, along with a 7.14 avg. rating. Will again be a Second League talent next year, then we'll see how well he progresses. 

 

Awards

• Me - First League Manager of the Year (again!)
• Matija Lambulic - First League Top Goalscorer, First League Team of the Season
• Nemanja Mijalovic - First League Goalkeeper of the Year, First League Team of the Season 
• Avdo Spahic - First League team of the Season

Finances

After the early exit, our finances are back in black (cue in AC/DC), making a hefty 6M€ profit. I still have to be mindful in blowing all away as we're only one counterperformance away in Europe from losing a whole log of money on the season... 

 

Goals for next season:

1. Get a total of 3 wins against Dinamo and Hajduk. 
2. Reach the Group Stages of EURO Cup. Stretch goal, reach the Champions Cup groups. 
3. Finish in the Top 3 in the League
4. Finish with the best goal difference in the league
5. Win the Croatian Cup again (meme-goal mostly, but getting a third Cup in a row would be great!)

 

Other News

• Ivan Nagy is rotting on the bench in Milan, but at least he was part of an EURO Cup winning squad. 
• It takes 8 consecutive years (yes, you've read that right, eight CONTINUOUS years!) to gain Croatian nationality.
  • I'm almost at the point of getting a Spanish affiliate just to have young signings from abroad gain EU nationality, investing 2 years in them...  
  • It's going to be a while before I'm venturing to scouting South America, with the players that I have around here... 
• Still no news about stadium expansion, but I don't care much at this point. I'd rather play my European matches at Poljud and fill in the 34000 seats than selling out an hypothetical 8500 seat stadium in Dubrovnik. 
• Our affiliate team in the Second League, Kustosija finished 6th, despite not having that much players from us on loan. My goal is to push them to promotion. 
• Dinamo got 1 point in the CL Group stage, a draw against Manchester United and got well beaten in the 5 other games. 
• Hajduk didn't get out of their EURO Cup II Group stage, finishing fourth against PAOK, Bursaspor and Zürich. Told you they had a rough year. 
• Osijek lost in the EC II League Path Third Qualifying Round against Debrecen. 
• Rijeka lost in the EC II League Path Second Qualifying Round against Rangers (tough draw for them, not hopelessly beaten). 
• Croatia rose once again in the nations coefficient table, from 10th to 8th! In addition to the automatic CL Group spot for Dinamo, the second place teams now enters at the 3rd Qualifying Round. We'd have to get up to 6th place to get 2 CL Group spots, that means climbing above Portugal and Russia.  
• European winners: 
  • Champions Cup: Liverpool
  • Euro Cup: AC Milan
  • EC II: Sparta Prague 

 

Season Progress

Season  |   League    |  Position (media pred)  |   Croatian Cup   |    Europe     |  Euro Position |  Avg. Att   |  vs. Dinamo/Hajduk |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21/22   |    2nd      |       7th (18th)        |   First Round    |     N/A       |       N/A      |     302     |         N/A        |
22/23   |    2nd      |       1st (18th) - PROM |   First Round    |     N/A       |       N/A      |     342     |         N/A        | 
23/24   |    1st      |       4th (10th)        |    Semi Final    |     N/A       |       N/A      |     817     |    4 pts (1-1-6)   |
24/25   |    1st      |       4th (9th)         |   Second Round   |  EC2 - 1st KO |       271      |    5012     |    4 pts (1-1-6)   |
25/26   |    1st      |       3rd (8th)         |   !! WINNERS !!  | EC2 - 3rd Qual|       218      |    1137     |   11 pts (3-2-4)   | 
26/27   |    1st      |       2nd (5th)         |   !! WINNERS !!  |  EC - 2nd KO  |       112      |    6115     |   10 pts (2-4-4)   | 

 

Edited February 2, 2021 by jmarchand

[jmarchand]

Aaaaand my problem about non EU players just suddenly improved. With Serbia and Montenegro joining the EU, that frees up 2 spots, instead of waiting on Lambulic and Mijalovic to gain Croatian nationality. 

 

Yay! 

[aldojags]

Great update @jmarchandanother great season.

 

that new striker looks ridiculous as well as the youth prospect, hpe you get to keep him for a bit!

 

i have same problem as you in terms of non eu nations. Every player my scouts recommend seems to be Bosnian or Serbian, Macedonian, Ukranian, all those nations arent in eu and im surrounded by them! My team is mostly made up of Croats as they are in eu.

[Britrock]

t

Lusitania Azores - 2023/24 season review

Progress of some sorts, we moved up from 6th to 4th this year and at one point we were a point from topping the table until we went on a late season flunk. Our defense was great, with an xGA of only 18.72 across 22 games putting us 9th out of the 60 teams in the Campeonato Nacional. Unfortunately we were terrible going forwards, only putting up and xGF of 21.31 which left us 44th. We actually ended up with 26 goals, although 4 of those came in the final game of the season. I'm reaching a point where it's getting harder to find improvements to the squad, but I've got my eye on a new full back and I'm sure I can find a few more before the new season starts. Combining that with a few more tweaks to the tactical setup (that led to that 4 goal explosion in the final game) and we can hopefully get to where we need to be. I didn't think it would take this long to get out of the bottom division!

There were offers for Caires last summer from various teams in Liga NOS and he got cold feet as a result, so I had absolutely no chance of keeping him. I got £20k and a 50% of next sale so hopefully he comes good for Vitoria!

Finances are a total mess, the board put ~£600k in at one point but they're in total freefall and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it!

[jmarchand]

16 hours ago, aldojags said:

that new striker looks ridiculous as well as the youth prospect, hpe you get to keep him for a bit!

 

Thanks. It will be interesting to see how it plays out next year. I have the feeling that Lambulic will be first choice and I’ll be rotating between Matas and Sipos, but we’ll see how it goes and if one gets hot at some point. In any case, a rather frequent rotation is on the menu. 

[jmarchand]

1 hour ago, Britrock said:

Lusitania Azores - 2023/24 season review

Great job on the defence, hoping that you catch your lucky break next season so you can finally get out of this division!