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

[aldojags]

Spartak Pleven - Season Review - 2027/28

League Table  -  Fixtures 1 2

 

2 in a row as Champions of Bulgaria, despite appearance of league table, Ludogorets came back with a vengeance - was a tight 4 way contest between ourselves, Ludogorets, Levski Sofia, and CSKA 1948, Beroe just snuck in at the end as Ludogorets hit the self destruct button. I was pretty inconsistent at times, didn't always look likely, I think I ruined dynamics by signing too many new players! But delighted I managed to retain the title whilst balancing Europe (although that didn't last long).

Annoyingly, the Bulgarian cup, I was 3-1 up in semi final 1st leg, away from home, then lost the home leg 3-0 and got knocked out! Really strange results at time I couldnt account for. Still dont feel I've got a tactic that works properly either, for the attacking talen in the team, I don't really hammer teams like I feel I should, like I normally do in other FM's when you find your feet. Maybe my team is too young.

 

Europe

Fixtures

Qualified through 4 rounds for group stages of Champions League, fancied my group in terms of chances of 3rd (Arsenal, Porto, and Rangers). Thought I'd finish above Rangers, however I only managed 1 point from 6 games, and Rangers made the semi finals!

 

Finances

Sounds strange, but I feel I grew too quickly, In space of a year I've went from annual bank account of £50-100k in bank, to with 2 big player sales and champions league group stages, I had £25m in bank for most of the season, hard to scale up when you are suddenly filthy rich almost overnight.

 

Facilities

I have youth and training facilities in planning, which I believe will raise both to "good". My youth recruitment looks good on paper but I've had nothing of note for a few seasons.

 

Manager Profile

 

Transfers

Signed this talented young keeper - think he could be long option at the position.

Got this full back back on loan for another year, I really like him.

This forward is coming back on loan for another year, will try and sign him after this I reckon I really like him.

Sign Marin Petkov from divisional rivals Levski, for a few reasons, he is a good player, he always scored against me, and I just wanted to make a statement of intent that if I want the top players from other Bulgarian clubs then I'm just going to come and get them. He started unbelievably, but got injured twice mid season and wasnt same player. I've had 2 bids from Inter Miami for him and I'm giving it some thought, I am loaded with attacking talent and I reckon I could replace him, but I feel like I owe him another season!

 

Had Aleksander Zivkov on loan from Red Star Belgrade, who like Petkov, was unbelievable at start of season, so much so, that I lined up the £4.4m purchase of him at Christmas for the end of season. After I arranged the transfer, he went into hiding and did nothing rest of season! But he's my player now, young with bags of potential.

 

Will Akehurt, English attacking mid I signed from Australian team - he looks decent, played ok, but strangely I get messages saying Zidane (now Man City manager) was in Bulgaria watching him. Not quite sure I see the attraction but we'll see, I'd take a few million for him and let him go!

 

Speaking of big clubs wanting my attacking mids, I sold Jamaican Adrian Edwards to Porto for £1.2m. Like Akehurts, decent player, but I cant quite see why a big club wanted him, was happy to take the money. 

 

I raided South Africa for these 3 players - 1 - 2 -  3

 

And fans think I overpaid (£2.5m) for this Colombian defender, but I think he looks the part.  

 

Youth prospects

I posted the youth intake a few posts back - nothing to see that was that special. Main guys who were around first team were this right back - who I think has got first team potential definitely, and this centre back, who I think could be a decent squad player. Whilst on subject of youth, you may remember me mention selling home grown prospect Zhivko Tenev to Inter Milan, well they sold him after a year to Man Utd, so I have lost out on about £3m worth of sell ons for his international career stuff, that money is gone now, disappointing!

 

 

Next year, board want the league again, and 3rd qualifying round of champ league. With money I have spent and way I have blown up wage budget, I kinda need to qualify for group again, or least have a Europa league run!!

 

THe poor reputation of Bulgarian league is a problem, for winning the league you still need to win 4 qualifiers to get into groups, I need to try and improve that over the years!! I need the other clubs to step up also but checking back their fixtures from last year they all got knocked out in qualifiers for Euro Cup II, so I'm really not going to see an improvement in this any time soon.

 

 

[Biscotti]

20 hours ago, aldojags said:

Great season @Biscottiand Muca continues to look the real deal, I've had some great players from Croatian sides in my save - Hadjuk etc I've loaned some great talent from them.

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

Last year's challenge gave me quite an affection for Croatian football, so I'm glad to be able to connect with them again - even if Muça is Albanian.

[jmarchand]

   

Season 7 - 2027-2028 | First venture with the big guys (Champions League!)

Squad | Transfers

A great 2nd place in the league last year got us a ticket to the Qualifying rounds of the Champions League, in which we (secretly) hoped to reach the group stages, provided the draws went our way. I had set for myself a more realistic goal of getting to the Group stages of the EURO Cup and to finish in the League's Top 3. With Daniel Matas quickly emerging as a star player up front  and a somewhat stable group of players this year maturing into one more year, I was quietly hopeful. 

Goals for this 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!)

Champions Cup

Uncertain at the quality of the sides I would be facing in the League Path Third Qualifying Round, I approached Dynamo Kyiv with a bit of caution. It didn't prove to be founded, as we got an easy 5-1 win at home. We were then quite relaxed on the second leg and gave young Danial Matas (still 17 at the time) his first European start and he rewarded us with 4 goals in the first 21 minutes, along with a disallowed one... The 19 away fans who made the travel all the way to Kyiv got a lot for their money. 

In the Playoff, we were drawn against Ajax, a much bigger sides than us, on paper. First leg away was Matija Lambulic show, scoring a hat trick. We disappointingly allowed a goal in the last minute of extra-time to finish with a 3-3 draw. On the return leg, Daniel Matas took the matters in hand and scored twice to send us to the group stages with a 5-4 aggregate victory. 

Then, the real stuff starts. What this challenge is all about, getting out of that group stage and getting all the way to the end. Gotta start somewhere, right? 

For us, that somewhere was Group B, along with these 3 squads of not-part-timers which you might have heard about... I feel like we were robbed of the first match, losing 1-0 against Porto, but we had two disallowed goals on questionable offsides. The return leg against Porto was also a cracker at home, with plenty of missed chances and not-so-pretty-but-still-keeping-me-on-the-edge-of-my-seat football. 

But against the other two, we weren't in it at all.  Like not even close. -13 goal difference, there's lots of room for improvement from us. 

With that ended our first (but not our last!) Champions Cup run. That did wonders for our finances, getting 15.24 M€ in prize money for just showing up. There were also prizes for wins and draws, but we didn't get any of it and i'm still a bit resentful against FCP and the referees in these games... 

Looking at the rest of the competition, there are teams which we've beaten (Zenit, Dinamo, Partizan) which have gotten wins, so we might not be that far from getting something in that competition. 

Objective 2:  Stretch goal, reach the Champions Cup groups - Success! 

 

League Performance

This season was quite interesting and full of twists and turns. In the first half of the season, even with the extra rotation that we had to do with the European competition,  we stayed consistently in the Top 3, which was the lowest we'd fall this year. On the opposite, it was a HORRENDOUS (yes, that deserved caps) start of the season for Dinamo, falling as lo as 7th place after 11 matches played. They shockingly lost against very small sides. They eventually rallied up, at the same time which we went on an 18-game unbeaten run. 

That unbeaten streak unfortunately contained quite a few draws which really should have been wins and that gave Dinamo just enough room to mount a comeback and pass us at the finish line, with 3 games remaining in the season Dubrovnik in yellow, Dinamo in blue and Hajduk in red. 

Still, I'd consider that a successful season, as we were in it all year long, competed on a somewhat same level as Dinamo and Hajduk - even if I recognize that they had tough years themselves... That being said, Hajduk had a rough year for the second year in a row, so that might be a new normal for them. We'll see next year. 

I had 3 objectives in the league: 

• Objective 1: Get a total of 3 wins against Dinamo and Hajduk. 
  • This was a success, thanks to Hajduk's struggles. We managed a 4-0-1 sheet against Hajduk (Including the Croatian Cup) and 1-2-2 sheet against Dinamo (including the Croatian Super Cup). Not bad, can do better. 
• Objective 3: Finish in the Top 3 in the League: Success! 
• Objective 4: Finish with the best goal difference in the league
  • With 66 goals for, the second best total in the league and only 31 goals against, the best total in the league, we narrowly edged Dinamo on goal difference. Our +35 was also an improvement over last year, mostly because of improved defence. Success!   

 

 

Croatian Cup Performance

It's a meme goal for us at this point, there's no prize money and we don't need the Europe qualification place that is tied with it, but since we've won it twice in a row, might as well push for number 3...! 

We made our way to the final, knocking Hajduk in quarter final and Dinamo losing to Lokomotiva (!) in Semi-FInal. 

Against Lokomotiva, the game was close, but we were super wasteful. We ended up going to extra time and conceding a goal in the last second of extra time added. They were lucky to squeeze out a win, but at the same time, I don't think we would have deserved to win... 

 

Croatian Super Cup. 

Who cares. Really. We lost against Dinamo 5-3. But nobody cares. 

 

Notable performances - Transfers

Our transition to 4-3-1-2 is somewhat complete, as we've started more games in that schema. However, that had the consequence of moving Patrik Calucovic and Leon Krekovic a bit out of the formation, much to their despair. They complained quite a bit, but still produced quite well when I gave them a chance. I hope that I'll receive a good offer for them in the next transfer window as it went great with our two strikers up front. 

Daniel Matas - ST - YOUTH! - 29 goals, 4 assists - 7.16 avg. rating

He's becoming a star quite quickly. His rating gained a whole star quickly at the beginning of the season, he started off super strong, but then hit a rough patch... I tried to rotate him as much as possible not to over-extend him and he eventually recovered awesomely in the second half of the season. He ended up with 20 goals in the league, second best striker and looking awesome for the future. 

He is showing signs of wanting to move to a larger club... I can sign him to a long-term deal, but his agent insists on getting a 9M release clause in there, which he'll obviously trigger at some point in the somewhat near future, as his value went from 62 k€ to 2.7 M€ this year. I'm not yet decided on what to do with this contract situation, I'll probably sleep on it. 

In any case, he's awesome and is one of the most exciting prospects I've seen in coming from my Youth Academy in my recent years of playing FM. I'd hate that he went rotting on the bench in some other club. 

  

Matija Lambulic - ST - 18 goals, 8 assists - 7.02 avg. rating

Again, he was our second choice striker, but behind Matas this year. Not as good season as last year, but formed quite a good pair with Matas up front, as we can see with his 8 assists. He regressed a bit this year though, despite still being productive. 

 

Leon Sipos - ST - 15 goals, 6 assists - 7.15 avg. rating

Sipos, still a favourite in my heart, lost a bit of a step this year and was on the short end of the stick with the rise of Daniel Matas. Started 18 games, got 13 as a sub, but still managed 15 goals out of this, not a bad return on investment. He's clearly hit his ceiling and at 28 years old, I don't think he has much left in the tank. I still want to keep him around as he's a great mentor for Matas and his high determination will get him to still produce in big games when he's asked for it. 

 

Boris Kordic - NEW SIGNING! - DL (DR too) - 36 apps, 3 assists - 6.82 avg. rating

With the transition to a 4-3-1-2 without wingers, I needed to invest in my full backs and Boris Kordic was the answer to my left back problem. Coming in from Serbian side TSC for a fee of 1.2 M€ (my largest to date), he was ever present. Found his stride in the second part of the year as he adjusted to Croatian football, he's showed great promise and has helped solidify the defence quite a bit. 

 

Aldair Torres - NEW SIGNING! - AMC - 3 goals, 4 assists, 7.06 avg. rating - 15 games

Signed in the winter transfer window from Colombia, I envisioned that he'd be a rotation option in the midfield and getting at first a few games along with Avdo Spahic. Turns out he found a good place in the squad quite fast, getting on in good form and deserving his starts. A very good passer with great vision and super pacey to launch counter attacks, I reckon he'll do well in the future. 

 

 

 

Avdo Spahic - MC, AMC - 4 goals, 12 assists, 6.92 avg. rating

Playing both in the midfield and at AMC, he's been a creative force in the squad, with a team high of 12 assists. He has somewhat plateau'd this year but Im hoping that he can pull himself together and become a real force in the midfield next year. From the midfield, he played quite a bit in a DLP role, lifting long balls over to the run Matas, proving very effective. 

 

 

Eduardo Pérez - DC - 45 apps - 7.04 avg. rating

Our tower in the defence, who has taken quite a prominent role in the squad, improving over last year and chaining good performances. At only 22, I'm looking forward to a few good years of improvement from him. At 198 cm, his physicality and aerial reach in the defence was greatly noticed this year.  

 

 

Youth Intake/Progression

This year's intake was pretty crappy (and I'm being generous). Nothing above potential 3.5 stars and all personalities are either Unambitous, Low Determination or some variation on that theme. As I'm writing this, I noticed that my new HYOD is also unambitious. Shoot. I know who's no longer having a job soon. 

Luka Rajic - AMC. Was loaned to Kustosija this year and has proven that he won't get better than a Second League club, but he still managed 3 goals and 6 assists in 29 games. He's not getting a contract renewal.  

Max Tauer - AMR - He actually was loaned by HR. Dragovoljac, a struggling First League side, who ultimately got relegated this year. He had a rough time at the start of the year, but somewhat recovered after that. It's a bit of a shame that I try to move away from wingers at the moment, but I believe he's going to be a good First League player in the future. If I can keep him in the league and have him raise the profile of Croatian football, I'll be happy. Hopefully I can get him on loan at another First League side next year. 

Vice Vukusic - ST - Another member of the golden 2025 generation, he was loaned to Kustosija where he got 24 goals in 28 starts, netting the Second League Player of the Year and singlehandedly raising the club to 6th place in the league. I don't think he's going to come close to have the level to play in our side, but we never know. He's likely going out on loan again next year. 

Milan Stojkovic (YP26) - GK - I again made the mistake of loaning out a 16 year-old, but I didn't realize it just yet... Young keeper with loads of potential, we'll see what happens with him. Hopefully he'll get quite more playing time next year. 

 

Awards

• Daniel Matas - First League Team of the Season

<Insert Crickets Here>

 

Finances

Got a profit of 9 M€ this year, up from 6M€ from last year. a good increase, but I'll have to spend this money in order to compete with the big boys. 

 

Goals for next season:

1. Get more depth in defence
2. Reach the Champions Cup Group Stages. Stretch goal, win at least a game. 
3. Challenge for the League title again
4. 15 points against Hajduk and Dinamo (only in the league)
5. Get more goals from set pieces, I think I'm neglecting this part of the game and it will serve us well in Europe. 

 

Other News

• Much of our players are being called up for international duty, Samual Paintsil for Ghana and Matija Lambulic for Montenegro. I expect Daniel Matas to get his first cap soon too, he's on the radar.
  • 13 players are playing at different levels of international football. 
• I've been offered the Croatian national job, but I turned down the offer. 
• Dinamo got 3 points in the CL Group stage, a win against Milan and draw against Sporting 
• Hajduk squeezed a second place in their EURO Cup II group, then narrowly lost to Young Boys. 
• Osijek qualified in second place in their EURO Cup II group, with 3 nice wins, then narrowly losing to Universitatea Craiova (who lost in the Final, actually!)
• HNK Gorica, in a rare European appearance, lost to Dnipro in the Third Qualifying Round, a bit short of the group stages. In the league, they battled relegation, narrowly staying up in the playoffs. Fixture congestion is real! 
• Croatia is stabilizing in 9th place in the nation rankings, no change in the qualification places for Europe. 
• European winners: 
  • Champions Cup: Liverpool (again!)
  • Euro Cup: Bayern
  • EC II: Real San Sebastian. 

 

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)   | 
27/28   |    1st      |       2nd (4th)         |      Final       |  CL - Group   |       85       |    6973     |   14 pts (4-2-2)   | 

 

 

[aldojags]

I love your updates @jmarchandcongrats on a solid season. You and I have clubs in similar part of europe, with same players we’re scouting etc and it seems we are on a similar trajectory. Ive been in group stages of champions league twice now, my record is played 12, won 1, drew 3, lost 8. It’s really difficult. My next goal is try and get into the third pot seedings which may make things marginally easier! but the coefficients are against me as every other club in Bulgaria get knocked out right away!
 

When finances limited like it is we just need to build patiently, we’ll get there. League title cant be far away for you. Matas is ridiculous, unfortunately i think he’ll be moving on soon if he keeps developing like that, cant see you holding off the big clubs? 
 

 

[jmarchand]

6 hours ago, aldojags said:

I love your updates @jmarchandcongrats on a solid season. You and I have clubs in similar part of europe, with same players we’re scouting etc and it seems we are on a similar trajectory. Ive been in group stages of champions league twice now, my record is played 12, won 1, drew 3, lost 8. It’s really difficult. My next goal is try and get into the third pot seedings which may make things marginally easier! but the coefficients are against me as every other club in Bulgaria get knocked out right away!
 

When finances limited like it is we just need to build patiently, we’ll get there. League title cant be far away for you. Matas is ridiculous, unfortunately i think he’ll be moving on soon if he keeps developing like that, cant see you holding off the big clubs? 
 

 

Thanks!  

We are indeed on a similar trajectory, and we're both at the penultimate part of that challenge: consistently getting out of the groups of the Champions League. Laset year with Campobasso, when I got there we were seeded first or second, so that helped quite a bit. This year is going to be vastly harder... 

That's a bit why I'm also tracking the performance in Europe from the other clubs in Croatia, to keep an eye on whether we're doing enough to raise Croatian football as a whole. 

I decided to sign Matas on a 4 year deal, even if that includes a Release Clause for foreign clubs of 9M€. I really don't think I'll be able to keep a hold of him until the end of that contract, but who knows, if he lays low enough in Europe I might have time to renegotiate a contract with him next year and try to remove that release clause. 

[jmarchand]

Funny thing, Dinamo just signed one of my players from my Campobasso save from last year, Luca Falbo, an ex Lazio prospect who was now playing at Entella, who were just relegated in Serie C. I think he'll do well, unfortunately for us... 

[aldojags]

1 hour ago, jmarchand said:

Thanks!  

We are indeed on a similar trajectory, and we're both at the penultimate part of that challenge: consistently getting out of the groups of the Champions League. Laset year with Campobasso, when I got there we were seeded first or second, so that helped quite a bit. This year is going to be vastly harder... 

That's a bit why I'm also tracking the performance in Europe from the other clubs in Croatia, to keep an eye on whether we're doing enough to raise Croatian football as a whole. 

I decided to sign Matas on a 4 year deal, even if that includes a Release Clause for foreign clubs of 9M€. I really don't think I'll be able to keep a hold of him until the end of that contract, but who knows, if he lays low enough in Europe I might have time to renegotiate a contract with him next year and try to remove that release clause. 

It’s a strange one losing your best players but if you use the money right it can really push you on. my board sold two of my stars few years ago when i was pushing for title, but i got like £13 mil for the two of them, which made us a more rounded team and helped with infrastructure!

 

 

 

 

[jmarchand]

Starting the new season, Dinamo is back with a vengeance. 

[SolnaRoyal]

FC Karpaty Lviv
Club Introduction     Manager Profile       Domestic League History       Club Overview

First time around to write about one of these challenges, first of all the club showed up on my first reset date. But looking at the domestic league history something was off.
In the season preview you could see that Karpaty was promoted from the second league, but the league history showed them as 6th in the premier league. So off to Wikipedia we went: The 2020 Crisis (Wikipedia)
So with that brief history and the automatic relagation to the second league due to Covid-19 we find ourselves in the second tier (Persha Liha) of Ukrainian football.

Rostyslav Melnik without any badges and what little experience he got from those rainy days smoking on the sideline of the local sunday league team.
But as the name Rostyslav bears the meaning "To increase glory"  I think we are in for a good run.

The pundits have predicted us to play around the bottom of the league during this season, while the relegation play-off spots are located at 13th and 14th.
As its 3am right now and I have no idea how to left align part of the text I will do an update of the squad and potential tactics tomorrow.

 

[aldojags]

Welcome @SolnaRoyaland glad to see another eastern european save, those leagues are taking over the thread! 
 

thats a pretty rough recent history, but cool to see they had europa league group stage ten years ago, so some reasonable recent pedigree. Hope you can have success!

[aldojags]

Spartak Pleven - Season Review 2028-29

 

Facilities - Manager Profile - Finances

 

League - Preliminary Phase table - Final table - fixtures 1 - fixtures 2

 

3 in a row in the league, Levski made us work for it, although they completed fell off a cliff last month of season, but looked like for a bit that they might nick it this year. I had my cursory thumpings still happen though, you can be sure 2-3 times a season i'll get beat 4-0 5-0!

 

Bulgarian Cup - Fixtures

Won this for the first time, but I was outplayed by Levski, somehow won it and hung on, wasn't a good performance, but a trophy is a trophy!

 

Champions League - fixtures

Made the group stage for the 2nd year in a row, started very well, 4 points from PSV away and Dortmund at home, but ended up in 3rd, dropping into Europe League...

 

Europa League - fixtures

Made it to 2nd knockout round, eventually losing to eventual runners up, Napoli (beaten in final by Leicester).

 

Transfers

Record purchase in Calin, from Cluj. I'm sure you can see why!

General chat is a paid over the odds for Todor Tanev, but a young Bulgarian striker with these qualities, I'm totally comfortable with spending a few mill on him. Also got Atanasov, similar type of player to Tanev, but to meet the Bulgarian quota of my European squads I am going to target young Bulgarian talent like this.

In terms of outgoings, most significant was that I somehow, accidentally, accepted a measly £1.9m for my first choice young Hungarian keeper, I have no idea how this happened, I just got the nofitication he was sold! I pondered reloading and cancelling, but the last save was like 3 weeks ago and i couldnt be bothered. But i didnt agree to this and he didnt have a minimum fee release, so I was sad about this as he was a talent!

 

I rejected back bids of around £3m from Chelsea, Liverpool, and Inter for my new DM Nagy - who due to his aggression, starts every game in aggressive mood! I still dont see much of the appeal with him yet, but the interest he attracted makes me think he'll be a top player! I also rejected some bids from Premiership for WIll Akehurst.

 

Notable club stuff

 

My South African trio ( 1 2 3) won the African Cup of Nations this year.

Youth Setup

Intake preview - actual list

Disappointing yet again, despite my exceptional set up. Facilities being upgraded again.

Weird that I brought through some good players nearer beginning of save with poorer reputation and facilities/recruitment, beginning to annoy me! My HoYD is great on paper, although still not 100% in Bulgarian scouting yet as he is Serbian, so maybe I need to be more patient. 

Pick of this years draft is this centre back. Dreadful physicals though!

Dimitrov is home grown, he got the most game time this year of our youth players. Avramov got a few games too, I like him as  a steady box to box midfielder. 

 

Next season/moving forward

 

Champions league progression is the obvious one, I need to try and get myself into 3rd seeding pot at least to give me half a chance! Otherwise, my main ambition is to get a home grown player an international cap, which strangely, to my knowledge, hasnt happened yet! I've had about 8 seasons in charge now, and havent had a player signed who wasn't Bulgarian from my youth intake. I rarely get 2nd nationalities either. But I really want a home grown player in the Bulgarian national team, Dimitrov is my only hope, but I think there will be better full backs than him!

 

 

[SolnaRoyal]

FC Karpaty Lviv Season 2021/2022

The League

Well the first season is over and it we managed to stay alive, after a start of two straight losses and then three straight wins we reached the fourth position and we were all dreaming that we had hit a homerun with the 3-5-2 tactic that we decided to implement. As the reset date was the 27th of June there was just 14 days before the start of the season and we went in to it with no tactical knowledge, after the three straight wins we ended up on the longest streak of no games won during the entire season. From the 31th of July 2021 to the 10th of October 2021 we did not win a single league game. And we were plummeting towards the relegation zone.

I´ve tried reading the rules and I hope I got most of the required stuff in here, but as the team will change quite rapidly I will not go in to detail of every single singning or in depth of the tactics.

I hope you all enjoy.

 

After a 4 month mid season break (!) we had scouted enough players to start adding some quality to the team to even out some bumps, just to stay clear of the drop and we had a pretty decent run in the end to snatch the 9th place (3 above the predicted 12th).  There was too many games during April that with just threw away and losing or dropping points by just one goal, 

 

The final table of the 2021/2022 Season.

Transfers In & Out

There is not much to say about the players coming in this season, there will be a quick recap further down for those who are interested though.
As we are running a 3-5-2 in the second division in Ukraine, there is not that many left wingbacks to catch when you are a newly promoted team, so we had to bring in some on loan, some of these played out well, some not so much and some became antiheroes, hated by the fans but beloved by the manager and the board.

The highlight of the outgoing transfers would be the sale of Oleg Bereza, a 20 year old left full-back that had to spend most of his time in the club playing as a wingback in a 3-5-2 without any prior knowledge. It was the weakest point in the formation and time was ticking away for him to be send back to the U-21 team as we were getting close to Christmas. Then out of nowhere Desna, a premier league team swoops in and offers €83 000 and a 30% of profit of sale clause for the boy. As I had given up and had no hope that he would ever become a first team member I agreed right away and off he went. We thank Oleg for this subpar service to the club and hope he will do great things in Desna och bring us some more money in the future.

Below I will bring out a few out the players that made an impact or history at this club this year, as it would take too much time to add every single one that might be gone in 6 months.

Oleg "Pegleg" Bereza

 

Falko "Cpt Falcon" Mykyta Maxymovych

Top scorer this season with 13 goals from 26 apps and an average rating of 6.81.
He might sound like god himself played a poacher in a 3-5-2 together with a TM but no, for some reason he only scores when he feels like it, when mercury and mars is aligned!
The nickname Cpt Falcon was born after a beautiful volley in injury time that got us past the first stage in the cup. 
He is not our captain.

Nazar-Stefan Sass

The 20 year old homegrown talent that I have nothing funny or bad to say about, a decent player with great potential.
I hope we can keep him along for a few more years.

Yegor "The Bastard" Bazarov

Came to the club as a loan so that we could have atleast one player that could play as a wingback, right as he signed the contract for a loan deal the supporters were furious. Social media hatered against the poor 20 year old that only wanted to play some football, in a league that he clearly is not fit to play in....according to the supporters. But he played and he did it..decently at first, I almost started to belive that I was not this manager brought down from god to serve the Ukrainian lower leagues. But then it turned around, several key passes , sliding tackles later he had become a face for what we were trying to do here at the club. He saved us wins at least times during the season. And as you can see by the little icon over his head, we gave him a contract to sign if he wants to stay, leaving his former club as bosman. 

27 apps, 3 ass and a 6.65 rating

"...he looks to be the player they expected him to be."

 

Tactics 

A simple 3-5-2 was deployed with a higher attacking and defensive line, the idea was first to keep it tight in the back and counter, but the lack of quality in the team just made it in to a moshpit with leaky defence. We clearly need to fix the defender situation to keep down the goals conceeded next year and the Poacher / TM duo might get adjusted. I will keep this short as there will proably be major changes to the squad during the 2022/2023 season and that might alter the main tactic used.

Finances

For once the economy was well taken care of, we stayed well below the wage budget and spent meerly 10 000 on players this year, the transfer budget grew with the sale of a player and a sell on clause activated in the middle of the season. We will try to keep this tidy as the seasons go along but overall I am not concerned at all. The board would not upgrade the youth intake nor give me a coaching course, so there will hopefully be some expenditure on this during 2022.

 

Well that was the 2021/2022 season, for the 2022/2023 season we will try to maintain a stable mid-table position to gather momentum and players to make a push for the promotion spots. The cup will be played as best as possible as to gain some funds to build the team up. 

Lets see if anyone enjoy these and see you at the end of the next season!

[Thebaker]

@SolnaRoyal good write up. The season is certainly spread out, seems strange they don't simply play in summer like the Scandinavian countries from mar -nov.

[jmarchand]

 

 

Well, that came faster than I had expected/hoped.  

At the same time, he's been in ridiculous form this season so far. 

[jmarchand]

Ha. he agreed in renewing his contract. I'm giving him the wage/bonus he wants, but I'm slapping a 60M€ release clause. 

Come after me now, Chelsea. 

[rlipscombe]

@jmarchand - great work in getting the new contract agreed for Matas.  At least now if/when he does leave you'll get a good fee for him.  Not that he isn't potentially worth more than that for you going forwards.

[SolnaRoyal]

FC Karpaty Lviv Season 2022/2023
Introduction - Season 2021/2022

End of season recap

Well, it was either a fantastic season or a horrible one...
The pundits had us at a solid 7th place this year but after changing up from the 3-5-2 to a simple 4-4-2 so that we could acually get some decent players in, we managed to overperform and get 3rd this year.
It all came down to the last game of the year, we had to win our game against Nyva Ternopil (11th) and Obolon Kyiv (2nd) had to loose their game against Volyn (1st) and we would be promoted.

The game started off with us dropping behind one goal after just eight minutes while Obolon managed to take the lead against Volyn, even after scoring 1-1 after 14min we simply could not force the issue and the game ended 1-1. Meanwhile Obolon beat Volyn 2-1 and the dream of early promotion ended.

Transfers In and Out

As you can tell from the table below we spent about 152k on transfers this year, after our great run in the beginning of the season I was getting cocky and thought I could throw down some money to make that last push to get us promoted.
But as you can tell the players that I acually spent money on did just perform OK at best. And Roman Lebed I consider a total waste of money as he pretty much is an emergency backup. That money could have been spent on something better.
Maxym Bragaru is another player I well overspent on and he pretty much is another emergency backup as well. 

The best player performances came from the free transfers and looking at the table both our wingers did end up with both 5 and 7 assists this season, Gus'Kov is a little bit old for my taste as I don´t see any resell value here. But a great addition to the team that helped us reach the third place this year.

Nothing of value was sold this year, however we did release a few players during the summer, Dodo the brazilian midfielder was sitting on an € 890 / week salary while being one of the worst players in the team (2 CA / 2 PA).
This allowed us to keep the economy in check while getting some new players.

Player	Age	Position	From	Fee	Played	Goals	Assist	Avg rating
Yegor Bazarov	21	WB(R) – CWB	Ingulets Petrove	Free	0	0	0	0
Daniel Ehbudzhuo	21	D(R) – Full back	Shakhtar	Free	27	1	5	6.89
Olexandr Levenchenko	21	M(L) - Winger	Vorskla	Loan	26	0	5	6.86
Olexandr Gus'kov	29	M(R) - Winger	Free Agent	Free	24	2	7	7.06
Roman Lebed	26	M(C) - Mezzala	Karpaty Halych	€ -21.5k	2	0	0	6.75
Griffin Sabatini	24	M(C) - Mezzala	Dnipro-1-Borysfen	€ -92k	9	1	1	6.72
Maxym Bragaru	20	M(L) - Winger	Chornomorets-2	€ -38.5k	4	0	0	6.65
Arthen Zhdanov	18	ST(C) – AF	Olexandriya	Loan	9	9	2	7.18
	22.5			€ -152k

Transfers out

Player	Position	To	Fee	Impact
Roman Danilovskyi	D(C) – CD	Obolon Kyiv	Free	Surplus to requirements
Serhil Sten	AM(L) – Winger	Krystal	Free	Surplus to requirements
Maxym Ivanyuk	ST(C) - Poacher	Prykarpattya IF	Free	Surplus to requirements
Dodo	DM -BWM	Sil	Free	Surplus to requirements

 

Progression

Season	Predicted	Final position	Cup	Badges
2021/2022	12th	9th	First round	None
2022/2023	7th	3rd	Preliminary round	National C

 

 Player of the season

9. Joseph Enete
This was the year that Enete really came to life, scoring 21 goals in 29 games, He has already agreed to a 2+1 year contract with us so we are naming him the best player of the season.
And as you can see his wage is only 600 p/w while Dodo was sitting on 890! Still a very young player but is clearly one of the pillars of this team.

 

The economy is looking good, we did spend about 152k in the beginning of 2023 on transfers. But with the overall balance of 234 000 I think we kept it pretty clean, hopefully some of our younger players can gain some attention and be sold for some profit. I´m unsure if we have the team or the funds to do a promotion push next year, there have to be some new defenders to keep us from throwing away games and while our goalkeeper is a nice prospect, it would be nice with a more experienced one just to push us up in the promotion spots.

 

 

Kept it a little shorter this time and stole some ideas from you guys to get a better overview of the transfers. 
Let´s keep on pushing!

Edited February 21, 2021 by SolnaRoyal

[Biscotti]

Francisco | Sestao River Club | Spain | 2033/34 (Season 13)

Pre-season odds are always going to be a little odd in this division, because all the 'B' teams have no odds against them at all. Because of this, it's safe to surmise we were predicted to finish bottom. I was hoping we could do a little better than that, but I was ultimately still expecting it to be tough going. Where last time we were here I was prepared to go back down and take the money, this time I wasn't prepared to give in so easily.

Things started off better than I could possibly have imagined, and we ended up only losing two games in 2033, although form got rather spotty for a few months after that before we turned it back around and went undefeated for the last 12 games. We actually still had a shot at automatic promotion on the final matchday, but it relied on other results going our way - which they didn't. Regardless, making the playoff - and at the first seed at that - was incredible. I sort of didn't want to get promoted anyway, as I feel most of our squad are barely at Segunda level, let alone La Liga.

As first seeds, the semi final saw us against Albacete. Both league meetings had been draws, so I was expecting a cagey affair. The first leg saw us go 3-0 down before I made a tactical gambit and we ended losing 4-2. The home leg we conceded first, and then when we equalised we conceded again putting us 2-1 (6-3) down by 30 minutes. Gave the lads the hairdryer at half-time and we came back strong to win this leg 4-2 and force extra time. Both sets of players were pretty dead on their feet, though, so very little happened and we were granted passage on basis of being the higher seed - a rule which I was unaware of before now.

Oviedo were our final opponents, who we had beaten 1-0 and lost 1-0 to in the league. Not sure if it was my tactical choices or just tiredness (this was only 3 days after the semi) but we were spanked 4-0 in the away leg and were only able to manage a 1-1 draw at home. We were staying in the Segunda for now.

I really can't complain at all, as we performed way above expectations, but there's still that part of me that wonders what could have been. I feel like my tactical approach is currently very suited to being an underdog and I've tried to be very picky about the kind of players I bring in for each role - at least for the first XI - which is probably what led to our ridiculous performance. Next season we should have access to some player upgrades I intend to keep my expectations realistic. If we manage to make the top half that should be considered a great success, especially as the board are once again only asking that we avoid relegation.

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

Mohamed was once again our top scorer with 26, but Timothy Balogun ran him quite close with 19 of his own. Balogun was second on our assist chart this season as well, with Ricardo Durán topping the list from the centre of midfield. I splashed quite a chunk of our transfer budget on him, which was a risk as the level of scouting we got on him was limited, but I feel like it paid off well and I expect him to add great value to us for a few years to come.

I was a lot freer with the finances this time around, as I had a much better idea of what we were going to make, and we still made quite a bit of money although the board are continuing to defer the required stadium upgrade. Honestly I'd have been ok with going back into debt to fix that, as we're averaging a 99% capacity already, but I guess the board still aren't convinced we'll stay up.

Xabier Garmendia (YP5b) was the only academy product to hit 10+ starts, and that's only because our new #1 missed 4 months through injury. Of the youth intake, Joseba Palacios (YP13) was the standout. As I don't (currently) use wingers, I'm not sure where he'll fit in, but he looks like a reasonable prospect at least. Here's a quick look at the academy players who have left us (and haven't retired). I did look at bringing Esparza back after his contract expired this season, but his wage demands and playing time requirements were quite a bit higher than I was prepared to offer him. Santamaria is listed, but is a little above our price range at the moment, but I'm considering trying to bring him in anyway as we could do with another ball-winner option.

Basque count: 1 player (At least 10 starts, or 20 games overall)

Now that I'm secure in the Segunda I'm going to keep track of this. I'm not going full Bilbao, but I would like to get to having at least 5 Basque players playing a decent role in our squad.

[Biscotti]

9 hours ago, SolnaRoyal said:

Kept it a little shorter this time and stole some ideas from you guys to get a better overview of the transfers. 

Steal away! When I first started joining these I took ideas from all the updates I was reading and over time I've moulded it to fit my own preferred writing style. Even now, I chop and change it as and when I feel the need to freshen things up.

Good progress, too. Hopefully you're not too far away from that next step already. Considering your finances already seem pretty sustainable, are you expecting a significant increase if you were to go up?

[rlipscombe]

@SolnaRoyal - another great update.  Making some good progress.  As @Biscotti says, not stealing at all...  Just taking inspiration from others - we have all done it.

 

@Biscotti - feel your frustration but good progress.  Like your desire to have a Basque core - Going 'full Bilbao' is always going to be a challenge (tempting though....)

[SolnaRoyal]

@Biscotti

I have not managed in Ukraine before, but i´m not expecting a significant increase if we were to be promoted, I think the key in Ukraine would be the fact there is 5 spots for european competitions right now where the biggest income would come from.
The key would be to keep the core team and flip free agents to make a profit as I am expecting the wages to increase by atleast 35% of the current players, that is also a big reason for some players that are older only get a 1+1 contract as we do not want any dead weight (read Dodo) on our team when we finally get promoted.

Last season we had €864 000 in TV revenue and €0 prize money, as Ukraine is about 9th place in the UEFA rankings and also eastern europe I think we will stay around this number for a while, key will be getting further in the cup as getting past the second round will land you a spot in the quarter final and possible increase both TV and ticket revenues. 

Edited February 21, 2021 by SolnaRoyal

[SolnaRoyal]

As the fans celebrate our third place and getting ready for the promotion push in 2023/2024!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSbdDprGoQA&t=1s

[aldojags]

I’ve had a poorer season so far, still top of league and comfortable enough domestically. But got knocked out of Champ League in qualifiers by RB Salzburg, and my Europa group was Spurs, B Monchengladbach, and Sarajevo. I finished 3rd with 9 points (2 wins vs Sarajevo and stole a win in Germany). 
 

but my squad management is challenging, the minute i have someone of promise, a big club comes in and scoops them up, or offers me a bid which I reject, but then player is very angry. I am basically a feeder club for both the Milan clubs, they just bid on all my best players. Really struggling with what to do. I have a really unhappy squad, but i cant just keep selling my top players every year i will never make any progress. 
 

frustrating me to the point i turned game off earlier! I have bid from Saudi for my best cb, which i accepted as i have conveyor belt of cb’s, but my 2 right wingers, both early twenties, both cracking players, inter and ac are in for them. 
 

and despite me having 15 scouts, im really not finding many gems. Maybe its due to my poorer reputation in a poorer league still. But all the 70+ rated players im being recommended is like an 18 yr old serbian, who i need to pay £4m for. But buying an established good player that could come in and improve a team who wants to progress in europe is beyond me just now!

 

can u tell im frustrated 😂

[rlipscombe]

@aldojagsfeel your pain...  that point in the challenge where you are beginning to top the leagues domestically but where the players don't want to join, partly possibly as a result of club reputation maybe but also the leagues standing...

[aldojags]

7 minutes ago, rlipscombe said:

@aldojagsfeel your pain...  that point in the challenge where you are beginning to top the leagues domestically but where the players don't want to join, partly possibly as a result of club reputation maybe but also the leagues standing...

Yeh mate pretty much all the above. Does feel a real kinda glass ceiling thing here where ill just never realistically close the gap! Need to give it a few more seasons, try and boost the reputation etc!

[aldojags]

Case in point -  young South Korean player doesn't want to join because of standard of living in country! Never seen this before! Mainly as I've never played in a country like Bulgaria right enough...

 

 

Spoiler

 

[rlipscombe]

2 minutes ago, aldojags said:

Case in point -  young South Korean player doesn't want to join because of standard of living in country! Never seen this before! Mainly as I've never played in a country like Bulgaria right enough...

 

 

  Hide contents

 

the cheek of it!!!  Probably has a sense of realism though i guess....??

[aldojags]

25 minutes ago, rlipscombe said:

the cheek of it!!!  Probably has a sense of realism though i guess....??

Yeh definitely, I don't know much about Bulgaria but I can imagine someone living in an established first world country would not want to go there. 

 

 

Can I ask everyone what they do with scouting? In this save I have always left mine up to the chief scout, but I'm not happy that I'm getting the best coverage? In older saves I used to do it myself and just assign to the usual suspects, I may go back to this, anyone any tips?

[jmarchand]

1 hour ago, aldojags said:

Case in point -  young South Korean player doesn't want to join because of standard of living in country! Never seen this before! Mainly as I've never played in a country like Bulgaria right enough...

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I’ve seen that a few times in my Croatian save. Didn’t make much case of it and moved on. I don’t remember when they were from, but that was when I was trying to attract youngsters on loan from bigger European sides...

[Britrock]

I may be back on this challenge in Greece! I'm bouncing around between so many things at the moment trying to get one to stick and I think this may have done. I'm going to try and get a year or two in before I post anything to see how it goes though, but I've kept screenshots of the important things so far. I tend to get ~4 years in and realise I'm going nowhere and get the itch to start a new save almost every time but I'll keep trying!

I still have my Azores save but I think that still needs a rest as it was driving me mad and I tried the youth only challenge but after a few years I realised I actually really enjoy signing players! 

Edited February 21, 2021 by Britrock

[aldojags]

@Biscottii like your feature in update of putting Spain’s profile page up I may copy that on my own if you dont mind! Good season there, you’ll be in La Liga in a season or 2. The basque angle would be interesting twist on it all!
 

@SolnaRoyalgood season, Entete looks dynamite, promotion within a year or 2 for you im sure! 

[Biscotti]

6 hours ago, aldojags said:

i like your feature in update of putting Spain’s profile page up I may copy that on my own if you dont mind!

I figure when this challenge gets as popular as dafuge's (HA!) it'll be helpful to remind people which country you're in as there'll be so many posts it'll be easy to forget.

Plus, especially in the smaller nations, it helps keep a track of how much your nation is improving as you go.

Edited February 22, 2021 by Biscotti

[jmarchand]

@SolnaRoyal Great updates, welcome to the fun and it's going to be great to follow you in Ukraine. Getting close to 800 k€ in TV rights in the second season is already quite strong and I'm looking forward to see how you can take that to the next level. It's also interesting to see how that 4-month hiatus will play out when you get to the European competitions. 

@BiscottiGood progress, looking forward to see what it takes to get you to the next level. 

@aldojagsKeep on pushing. Let's get Bulgaria way up in the standings! 

 

Edited February 22, 2021 by jmarchand

[Thebaker]

@Biscottigood progress there, nearly up to the top league now.

@aldojagsnever seen that comment before about living standards and i managed in Hungary last year, perhaps its new.

[rlipscombe]

12 hours ago, Biscotti said:

I figure when this challenge gets as popular as dafuge's (HA!) it'll be helpful to remind people which country you're in as there'll be so many posts it'll be easy to forget.

Plus, especially in the smaller nations, it helps keep a track of how much your nation is improving as you go.

We can dream @BiscottiYou never know......

[jmarchand]

2 minutes ago, rlipscombe said:

We can dream @BiscottiYou never know......

If you started over here, it'd make +1 participant...! :troll:

[rlipscombe]

8 minutes ago, jmarchand said:

If you started over here, it'd make +1 participant...! :troll:

Ha ha!!  I have been investigating possible countries and teams...  Watch this space!

[jmarchand]

Tomorrow, the REAL GOSK Dubrovnik plays in the Croatian Cup Second Round against First League Slaven Belupo. I think I'll tune in to their webcast and cheer for my team. 

https://www.facebook.com/goskdubrovnik/posts/10157960119144080

Edited February 22, 2021 by jmarchand

[Biscotti]

39 minutes ago, jmarchand said:

Tomorrow, the REAL GOSK Dubrovnik plays in the Croatian Cup Second Round against First League Slaven Belupo. I think I'll tune in to their webcast and cheer for my team. 

https://www.facebook.com/goskdubrovnik/posts/10157960119144080

Belupo were my arch-rivals when I was first trying to break into the European places last year - best of luck!

[aldojags]

On 22/02/2021 at 20:23, jmarchand said:

Tomorrow, the REAL GOSK Dubrovnik plays in the Croatian Cup Second Round against First League Slaven Belupo. I think I'll tune in to their webcast and cheer for my team. 

https://www.facebook.com/goskdubrovnik/posts/10157960119144080

I just looked up the score - ouch!!

[aldojags]

Spartak Pleven Season Review 2029/30

Competition Summary - Club Info - Facilities - Finances - Bulgaria Profile - Manager Profile - Manager Attributes

We are now the most reputable team in Bulgaria, after winning our 4th title in a row. Took us a while to overthrow Ludogorets, but we are now established as the biggest club in the country. Poorer season in Europe - didn't make Champions League Group Stage for first time in 3 years, finished 3rd in Europa, and knocked out of Euro Cup II in 2nd knockout round by Augsburg from Germany, who completely outplayed us in both legs. They made the final, losing to winners Wolves. Porto won the Champions League, Man Utd won the Europa League.

 

Finances are good however, as I sold over £46m worth of players, as I mentioned in an earlier post, having trouble holding onto any players with potential, the big clubs come in and offer £5-£10m for them, and the board accept over my head. I'm not too fussed as I usually get to replace them cheaper and keep the team ticking over and winning. And the board give me whatever I want with regards to facilities, I have great facilities for training and youth, with upgrades planned to both this season coming.

 

Notable players sold - Todor Tanev - Inter Milan, £9m. Gezim Kodra - AC Milan £2m. Tshepo Tsoyisha - Al Hilal, £5m. Tumi Yonane - Valencia, £10m!. Jhonny Upegi - Man Utd, £7.5m. Kyle Ngewa - Henan (China) - £6m.

 

Turned down bids for a few others both those are the notable ones.

 

 

First Team

In terms of average rating, Xavier Perez (free transfer from Valencia) was my best player. He did have a good first season I will admit.

Top scorer, and now top league appearances all time - Aleksander Zivkov.

Marin Calin was brought in for £6m from Cluj in ROmania, and he as great.

Got Somolani on a free from a Slovakian team, he looks a great prospect. Versatile too.

Paid £4m for Jankovic from Partizan Belgrade, but he's been injured since i signed him and hardly played! But I think he has huge potential!

I am allowed 3 non EU players in matchday squad, I have far more than this, but when I see a good south american, I cannot help myself! Some of the better ones - Cadena, Sabbag, and Caiceido (have tons of interest for him from big clubs, he won't be here next season I'm sure).

Other players I signed for big money, or am about to sign in summer in pre-arranged deals - Zivic (£2m), Biorac (£1m), Marinsek (4m), Korac (£4m).

 

 

Youth Set Up

You will see the board now want to maintain best youth system in country - this should be easy as I have lots of disposable income, and they always upgrade when I ask.

Intake Preview - Actual Intake

Well better than previous few years, some decent players here, and for first time in my 8 years at club, some non Bulgarians in the intake! I have a good HoYD on paper, with "Professional" personality, yet the players he says he influenced, are all bad personalities, so I am thinking of moving him on. As the personality mix is poor in this intake. Kostov according to reports could be a star for me, I see him as a basic DM but I can see why he'll potentially be a first teamer for me. SLavov and Todorov also rated highly.

My youth team did the double, winning the league and cup!

Dimitrov remains the main home grown player involved in first team, had his first call up to Bulgarian first team squad, but yet to be capped. Really want to increase the number of home grown Bulgarians in my team, but up until this intake it's been dross for years, hoping I can mould some of this intake into first team ready player.

 

Next Year

Obviously want to continue the domestic domination, but I need to get back into Champions League Group Stages. I will just get slammed off the big teams, but to try and improve the reputation of the league and the co-efficient, I need to try and get in!

Enjoying the save immensely though!

 

I will edit it with the winner of the 2030 World Cup (hosted by current holders, Argentina). My players who are going to world cup...

Edited February 24, 2021 by aldojags

[jmarchand]

2 hours ago, aldojags said:

I just looked up the score - ouch!!

1-4. 

I would have thrown a water bottle around. 

[jmarchand]

At least the team wants to keep him around too. 

Liverpool came in with a bid of roughly 7.5 M€, which is actually lower than his actual value. 

And yes, he's having a ri-donk-ulous first half of the season and I don't expect to keep him around for much longer. He is hte leading scorer in the CHampions leagues by 5 goals. Scoop, we qualified for the First Knockout Round, notably because of his great performances. More to come in the season report, I'm halfway there at the moment...! 

 

 

EDIT: I know you're better off at Dubrovnik, Daniel. The lovely view, the old town, the seafood, fresh air of the Adriatic. Soooooo much better than the wet, foggy, rainy, depressing Liverpool. 

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by jmarchand

[jmarchand]

3 hours ago, aldojags said:

I just looked up the score - ouch!!

Take that, Slaven Belupo! 

https://imgur.com/a/1aC5BcE

[Thebaker]

My time in sweden has come to an end as the team have been relegated and the board decided not to renew my contract.

[Britrock]

Veroia FC

So after stumbling around between saves, I've settled into Greece with Veroia FC (although they're called Veria FC on Wikipedia, there's a bit of confusion in the translation from Greek to English I believe). Greece struck me as an interesting challenge because there are quite a few dominant teams (Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, AEK, PAOK) so domestically it won't be too easy, and they're not one of the top leagues but also not a bottom feeder in Europe (the Super League is ranked 18th in Europe).

My starting profile and the club overview are here

Spoiler

There are only 2 leagues in Greece, so with one promotion you're immediately into the big time. Knowing this, I went all out on transfers to try and build my team up for a run at the Super League in my first season. I ended up spending £275k on a variety of players, most of whom went straight into my starting 11.

Spoiler

We started the season fairly strong, but had a huge wobble in November. After that however we went on a 13 game unbeaten run which included 7 straight wins through December and January. This left us at the top of the table, a position which we never gave up. We won the title with a game to spare, despite losing 3-0 and being totally outplayed by the team that finished 2nd bottom and got relegated!

Spoiler

Most of the guys we signed started the majority of games and had incredible ratings. The standout players were my two DMs, Theocharis and Camara, who averaged 7.3 and 7.41 over 23 games. I'm hoping those guys have enough quality to sustain me in the Super League as my finances are not in a good position! We're over £1m in the red, although we're losing ~£4k off the wage budget this season and attendances should increase in the higher league.

Spoiler

I really set out to dominate possession this year, with my transfers we had by far the best squad in the division so I thought why not try and technically dominate. I think I managed it, we averaged 62% possession over the whole season! As a result, the board now expects me to play that way moving forwards and has introduced it into the club vision!

Spoiler

Next season is about surviving in the Super League and hoping the finances start to get repaired!

Edited February 24, 2021 by Britrock

[jmarchand]

9 hours ago, Thebaker said:

My time in sweden has come to an end as the team have been relegated and the board decided not to renew my contract.

Sad to hear. Sweden appears to be a tough nut to crack. 

[Thebaker]

5 hours ago, jmarchand said:

Sad to hear. Sweden appears to be a tough nut to crack. 

I was unable to make up the gap in size to compete and probably wasn't active enough in getting players in.

I wanted to start again in France but it seems tricky to get a choice of club so have opted for Spain, a country i have never played in on FM.

 

 

Profile  | Facilities | League History

I have taken on Xerez who are rather lacking in facilities which is all the more surprising as they were in La Liga for the only time in their history just over a decade ago.

[jmarchand]

6 matches left. I'm ahead of Dinamo on goal difference. Nailbiter finish to the season. 

 

Time to unleash Daniel Matas. 

[aldojags]

13 hours ago, Thebaker said:

I was unable to make up the gap in size to compete and probably wasn't active enough in getting players in.

I wanted to start again in France but it seems tricky to get a choice of club so have opted for Spain, a country i have never played in on FM.

 

 

Profile  | Facilities | League History

I have taken on Xerez who are rather lacking in facilities which is all the more surprising as they were in La Liga for the only time in their history just over a decade ago.

That’s strange, I remember the name from previous fm’s, 800 seater stadium, what happened there!? Should be an interesting save 👍