FM21: Unia Janikowo - This Year Is Our Year

[Rikulec]

Two in a row.

[Chrisofclubs]

On 01/12/2020 at 23:23, Rikulec said:

They played a suicidal 3-1-4-2 with two wingers and absolutely no protection on the flanks. Let's just say it didn't quite work out for them.

 well played, sir! 

[Rikulec]

3 minutes ago, Chrisofclubs said:

 well played, sir! 

Thanks, this game will sure be remembered for a while!

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - October 2022 - Unia Janikowo

II Liga

Our unbeaten run ends after 11 games in a very frustrating fashion as we absolutely dominated Sandecja, but were undone by three set piece goals (FM20 vibes anyone?). Everyone's dropping points though and we're actually in an automatic promotion spot!

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - November 2022 - Unia Janikowo

II Liga

Not very entertaining, but pretty damn effective! 14 games to go as we enter the winter break six points clear of the play-off spots. Can we hold on?

[Rikulec]

[Rikulec]

Oh dear.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - January 2023 - Unia Janikowo

Friendlies

Some mediocre results, but then we went and smashed a team from one league above us.

Transfers

Filip Laskowski - Machaj finally has some proper competition.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - February 2023 - Unia Janikowo

Friendlies

That's better, even though we should have beaten Kotwica.

We were also supposed to play one league game this month, but it was rescheduled.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - March 2023 - Unia Janikowo

II Liga

Bytovia took revenge for the 7:0 by giving us a proper FMing and winning thanks to a dodgy penalty and us missing a lot of good chances. It's going to be us, Resovia, and KP Starogard battling it out for the two promotion spots, it seem.s

[Rikulec]

Let's make this worth celebrating!

[Rikulec]

Awful, awful news for the young lad. As much as I hate it, that's probably his career done and dusted.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - April 2023 - Unia Janikowo

II Liga

Something worrying seems to have happened to our defence, but does it really matter now? With four games to go we're just one good result away from promotion. So close now!

Youth Intake

Hey, that's not absolutely hopeless!

Bartosz Szałek

[Rikulec]

...wait, hold up.

I almost missed it. Something that's so unlikely that many people never get to see it in years of playing FM. So rare that many of us know the exact odds.

Let's be honest, he's not a very good player. He's also not very likely to develop. I would have never noticed him appearing in the intake if I hadn't randomly spotted my name on the squad list in a report of the U-18s game. At first I thought it was just a newgen who happened to have been generated as my namesake. Then I checked.

Holy ****ing ****. Ignoring the fact that I'd never give my son my own first name, this is huge. A 1 in 10,000 chance and it actually happened. Now, I don't have very high hopes for his development. He's never going to be good enough to play for us, especially knowing where I want the club to be in the next few years. But I'm going to make him as good as possible. Keep him at the club for a few years, give him the best training possible, maybe the odd appearance off the bench, who knows? And I'll definitely be keeping tabs on him once I decide to let him go. Can my boy make a decent career for himself in the lower leagues?

[Chrisofclubs]

6 hours ago, Rikulec said:

...wait, hold up.

I almost missed it. Something that's so unlikely that many people never get to see it in years of playing FM. So rare that many of us know the exact odds.

Let's be honest, he's not a very good player. He's also not very likely to develop. I would have never noticed him appearing in the intake if I hadn't randomly spotted my name on the squad list in a report of the U-18s game. At first I thought it was just a newgen who happened to have been generated as my namesake. Then I checked.

Holy ****ing ****. Ignoring the fact that I'd never give my son my own first name, this is huge. A 1 in 10,000 chance and it actually happened. Now, I don't have very high hopes for his development. He's never going to be good enough to play for us, especially knowing where I want the club to be in the next few years. But I'm going to make him as good as possible. Keep him at the club for a few years, give him the best training possible, maybe the odd appearance off the bench, who knows? And I'll definitely be keeping tabs on him once I decide to let him go. Can my boy make a decent career for himself in the lower leagues?

Crazy that you got a son! I’ve played hundreds of FM seasons and never got one! Congrats man!

 

and we’ll done with the form, back to back promotions here we come!

[Rikulec]

4 hours ago, Chrisofclubs said:

Crazy that you got a son! I’ve played hundreds of FM seasons and never got one! Congrats man!

 

and we’ll done with the form, back to back promotions here we come!

Cheers! I was quite shocked myself when I saw it. To be fair he wasn't even recommended for me to sign after the game against the U18s, but after I saw he was actually my son, how could I refuse? I really hope he can become good enough for the playable leagues.

[Chrisofclubs]

8 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Cheers! I was quite shocked myself when I saw it. To be fair he wasn't even recommended for me to sign after the game against the U18s, but after I saw he was actually my son, how could I refuse? I really hope he can become good enough for the playable leagues.

I really hope so too! That would be a great addition to the story! I wanna see him in 10 years time!

[Bitner]

15 horas atrás, Rikulec disse:

...wait, hold up.

I almost missed it. Something that's so unlikely that many people never get to see it in years of playing FM. So rare that many of us know the exact odds.

Let's be honest, he's not a very good player. He's also not very likely to develop. I would have never noticed him appearing in the intake if I hadn't randomly spotted my name on the squad list in a report of the U-18s game. At first I thought it was just a newgen who happened to have been generated as my namesake. Then I checked.

Holy ****ing ****. Ignoring the fact that I'd never give my son my own first name, this is huge. A 1 in 10,000 chance and it actually happened. Now, I don't have very high hopes for his development. He's never going to be good enough to play for us, especially knowing where I want the club to be in the next few years. But I'm going to make him as good as possible. Keep him at the club for a few years, give him the best training possible, maybe the odd appearance off the bench, who knows? And I'll definitely be keeping tabs on him once I decide to let him go. Can my boy make a decent career for himself in the lower leagues?

Congrats, dad!

Cheers,
Bitner

[Rikulec]

2 hours ago, Bitner said:

Congrats, dad!

Cheers,
Bitner

Haha, thanks.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - May 2023 - Unia Janikowo

II Liga

Never in doubt! We also came really close to winning the whole thing, ultimately falling short just by one point. You may also like to know that Kędziora's goal against Jagiellonia II was his 100th for the club!

[Rikulec]

[Rikulec]

We had to take a bank loan to cover this. I just hope the stadium capacity goes back to normal after it's done - on FM20 it didn't, which meant we needed another stadium expansion after getting promoted to the Ekstraklasa since the minimum capacity there is exactly 4,500.

[Rikulec]

That makes it four this season.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - Season Review - 2022/23 - Unia Janikowo

II Liga

Results (Jul-Nov) - Results (Mar-Jul)

Competition Performance: Runners-up (promoted)

What can I say? I certainly didn't expect us to do so well. I was relatively confident we could avoid relegation, but then we got going and never stopped. It turned out the gap in quality between II and III Liga isn't as big as I thought. In the end we only missed out on the title by a single point, winning it would have been amazing.

Squad

This squad is definitely not good enough for the I Liga level. On the other hand, I don't want a massive overhaul. Plenty of work has to be done here. Urbański, Radomski, Anusik, and Goździk (this time for real) are leaving.

Transfers - Finances

Once again, I couldn't really bring in anyone very impressive. Nowakowski and Laskowski were probably the best incomings. Still, our best players are those who have been here from the beginning.

We need money and we need it quite badly.

Player of the Season

1st - Przemysław Kędziora - the main man doesn't look like he's going to stop anytime soon! Promotion didn't harm his goalscoring ability in the slightest as he finished the season with 25 goals and reached the 100 goal mark (which, by the way, he narrowly failed to do on the previous save). Can he carry on one level higher?

2nd - Michał Wrześniewski - looking at his profile, I can't help but think we've only just now reached the level of football he should be playing at. A massive player for us, I wish he performed so well in real life too! An absolutely key player for our defence.

3rd - Gracjan Fabiszewski - our goalkeeper definitely deserves some recognition as well. 18 clean sheets and some really good performances that surely won us a few points. Last year I took him all the way to the Ekstraklasa, managing to give him as many as 248 league appearances. It would be great to do this once more!

Next Season

I reckon this is where it gets tricky. We need to strengthen and, if possible, rack up some money for future improvements. This is the level I'd preferably consolidate at.

[Khrayze]

Congrats on back-to-back promotion! 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 26/11/2020 at 15:13, Rikulec said:

Cheers! And yes, I had to download a file from a Polish FM fansite to enable the 4th tier, the default game only has two divisions available.

If it's not too much trouble, perhaps you could put a link to the edited database in your opening post. I know loads of people love threads and it might get a few more people playing in Poland. I think it's pretty under-used compared to many others. 

[Rikulec]

50 minutes ago, Khrayze said:

Congrats on back-to-back promotion! 

Thank you!

22 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

If it's not too much trouble, perhaps you could put a link to the edited database in your opening post. I know loads of people love threads and it might get a few more people playing in Poland. I think it's pretty under-used compared to many others. 

No problem at all, done it.

[Bitner]

Congratulations on another promotion!

Cheers,
Bitner

[Rikulec]

33 minutes ago, Bitner said:

Congratulations on another promotion!

Cheers,
Bitner

Cheers mate.

[Chrisofclubs]

Congrats mate! Next season it gonna be tough but you got this! 

[Rikulec]

4 hours ago, Chrisofclubs said:

Congrats mate! Next season it gonna be tough but you got this! 

Cheers mate.

[Rikulec]

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - Season Preview - 2023/24 - Unia Janikowo

Board Expectations:

Fortuna I Liga: Fight bravely against relegation
Puchar Polski: Be competitive

My Expectations:

Fortuna I Liga: Stay up if we can.
Puchar Polski: Not important.

Budgets:

Transfer: £0
Wage: £9,460 (currently spending £5,625)
Balance: £24,207

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2023/24 - Unia Janikowo

Friendlies

Good enough.

Transfers

I found it difficult to bring good players in, our reputation is so low that the scouts keep suggesting ones that are way below the I Liga level and those who I considered to be up to standard didn't want to join us. Still, I'm reasonably happy with the eventual dealings.

Piotr Leszczyński - quite excited for this one, not bad already for a 17 year old and if he develops, he could become a great player for us.

Kacper Zborowski - probably just a rotation option behind Żmuda.

Michał Grzegorczyk - another interesting youngster who's definitely going to get some minutes.

Maciej Zagraba - an old friend comes back for his third season on loan.

Mateusz Kasprzyk - our new starting defensive midfielder.

Kacper Czajkowski - it's going to be a contest between him and Grzegorczyk for the spot alongside Wrześniewski.

Mateusz Duchowski - probably the best pick of the bunch. An immediate starter in the #10 slot.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - July 2023 - Unia Janikowo

I Liga

We come back from behind to grab an opening day win over fellow relegation candidates.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - August 2023 - Unia Janikowo

I Liga

An okay month leaves us relatively safely above the relegation zone.

[Rikulec]

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - September 2023 - Unia Janikowo

I Liga

What a ridiculously tight league this is.

Puchar Polski

A comfortable win over lower league opposition.

A similar trip awaits in the second round as we're going to travel to a 4th tier side Radomiak.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - October 2023 - Unia Janikowo

I Liga

Could have been better if Kędziora hadn't missed penalties against GKS Katowice (twice!) and Odra Opole.

[Polski97]

are you finding this year's challenge with Unia easier than last year's so far ?

 

[Rikulec]

45 minutes ago, Polski97 said:

are you finding this year's challenge with Unia easier than last year's so far ?

 

It certainly did feel so in the first two or three seasons, but that was probably because I started out with better players such as Machaj or Wrześniewski this time. At this point I'd say it's very similar, maybe even slightly more difficult.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - November 2023 - Unia Janikowo

I Liga

A spectacular win over a strong Korona side sandwiched between two rather disappointing results.

Puchar Polski

A heavily rotated squad did the job, albeit not without trouble.

We keep getting blessed with the luck of the draw as we got the final 4th tier side remaining in the competition, Siarka Tarnobrzeg.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - December 2023 - Unia Janikowo

I Liga

Not great, not terrible.

Puchar Polski

We took our time, but once we got going, there was no stopping us.

We've run out of easy opponents - we're facing Lech Poznań at home in the quarter finals, which means we're most likely out.

[Rikulec]

Not sure what to make of this. We do have two young goalkeepers I really like at the club in real life, but they're both too old for the 2024 intake.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - January 2024 - Unia Janikowo

Friendlies

It's all about fitness.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - February 2024 - Unia Janikowo

Friendlies

Almost perfect.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - March 2024 - Unia Janikowo

I Liga

A fantastic unbeaten month! Looks like we don't have to worry about relegation anymore. If anything, we should be looking upwards.

Puchar Polski

Oh boy, we actually did it! This was arguably the biggest game of football in the history of Janikowo and we went out and bloody won it. And it was not a lucky victory - the game was really even, we did very well to shut out Lech's attacking players and kept biting at them even after Zborowski's beautiful placed shot from the edge of the box gave us the unlikely lead. I bet the people who live on the other side of the road and have a view on the pitch from their windows really enjoyed it!

Remarkably, not only aren't we the only lower league side left in the semi final, but we actually drew the other one. We travel to KP Starogard Gdański from the league below us. This could be a massive, massive day.

[Rikulec]

Jakub Słota's Management Career - April 2024 - Unia Janikowo

I Liga

What an absolutely wild ride this season is shaping up to be, and it's only going to get crazier later on. That loss at Puszcza really stings now!

Puchar Polski

Never in doubt! An early penalty set the course brilliantly for us, allowing us to take full control on the pitch and comfortably cruise to the biggest victory in the history of our tiny little club!

Youth Intake

Boo. A bit of a buzzkill really, but we're going to need serious improvements before our intakes become meaningful.

[Rikulec]

The other semi final was quite a surprise as Podbeskidzie eliminated Legia on penalties to earn their first cup final in the history of the club. Sounds familiar, eh?

This is absolutely huge. We're taking a small town club to the heart of Warsaw for undoubtedly the greatest match it has ever seen. I have witnessed the passion and incredible energy at the stadium when we eliminated Zagłębie Sosnowiec in August - thankfully the COVID restrictions weren't very strict back then! I remember how crazy the regional cup final was a few weeks before that. I can't even begin to imagine how such a run would impact not only Janikowo, but the whole region. Of course, in real life we're not challenging for promotion to the Ekstraklasa and there's no way we'd be achieving those results. Still, this is what playing with your club does to you - it really affects your imagination. You walk around the stadium three or four times a week and imagine the buzz there would be if your FM career was actually happening right there. You play the game and see the actual stadium with all its quirks, details, and writings on the walls. The people you actually know sitting in the stands. That's when you really know you love football and you love Football Manager.

Let's bring this cup back home with us!

[Rikulec]

Here's Podbeskidzie's road to the final. You could say they were quite meticulous in getting the exact minimum required amount of work against teams of either similar quality - Arka and Cracovia - or ones that are slightly weaker, that is Widzew and GKS Tychy. The only opponent that was clearly superior were Legia and the lottery of the shoot-out decided that it was the underdog who made it through. If there's anything to make me optimistic here, it's the GKS Tychy game. We beat them 3:0 twice this season, dominating on both occasions; Podbeskidzie only kicked them out with a 115th minute goal in extra time. On the other hand, our rival looks extremely consistent; a team cut out for a cup campaign, you could even say. And obviously they're the favourites here - they're a solid mid-table Ekstraklasa side with a squad that's simply better than ours.

Our campaign mostly consisted of more or less comfortably dispatching lower league teams. The obvious highlight of this run is the Lech game, where we defied all expectations by adopting an approach that was more attacking than what we usually use in the league. The gamble paid off as we nullified their threat before it could really come to life and took our golden opportunity thanks to Zborowski's precise effort. We haven't really faced a side of Podbeskidzie's quality and, to be honest, I have no idea what to expect. We might just sit back in the opening minutes and see what they do, much like we do every weekend. On a good day this can be our game.

Na nich!