[FM21] Going Barmy in Balmy Balkans with help from Riddler.

[Jimbokav1971]

Job Offer. Jul 2038.

I wasn't actually looking to leave, but this is an interesting offer. I was hoping to stay for 2 more years, but this is certainly worth considering. I haven't managed in Slovakia yet and there is the added bonus that they want me to develop the best Youth System in the Country. 

I really am torn. This is an interesting offer but at the same time I don't feel I have finished the job here in Bosnia.

Decision, decisions decisions. 

[Pompeyboyz]

Have you looked at their facilities yet to see what you face in building that youth system?

[Jimbokav1971]

Just now, Pompeyboyz said:

Have you looked at their facilities yet to see what you face in building that youth system?

Yep. 12.11.15.1(so room for improvement).

I've never heard of them but they are the dominant force in Slovakia. 

[theBlackPrince]

I don’t think the job is done in Bosnia, but with the board stripping down your staff and selling players from under your noise recently, is that showing what’s going to happen more in the future?

It almost seems a too good to be true offer with a top team already and want to develop youth players!

Edited July 9, 2021 by theBlackPrince

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Jun & Jul 2028. 

M:tel Premijer Liga. Off to a decent start in the league. We failed to win 6 games last season. Let's see of we ca get that number down a little this season. 

Europe. We strolled through the 1st and 2nd qualifying rounds without too much trouble. I'm sure it won't stay this easy, (although Red Star Belgrade are in no way easy opposition). 

Interestingly, our opposition in the next round will be Dun. Streda who I have just turned down the chance to manage. 

Records. 

[Jimbokav1971]

10 minutes ago, theBlackPrince said:

I don’t think the job is done in Bosnia, but with the board stripping down your staff and selling players from under your noise recently, is that showing what’s going to happen more in the future?

It almost seems a too good to be true offer with a top team already and want to develop youth players!

I think if I was 1 season more advanced in the save and had just done the double and retained the league title as well as having a decent run in Europe I think I would have jumped at it. It was just too early though. 

[Pompeyboyz]

Better beat Dun. Streda then or you will be regretting that choice 

[Jimbokav1971]

Just now, Pompeyboyz said:

Better beat Dun. Streda then or you will be regretting that choice 

That was my 1st thought too. 

They look like they have a decent team based on player prices. 

[Pompeyboyz]

1 minute ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

That was my 1st thought too. 

They look like they have a decent team based on player prices. 

That's an awful lot better than my game that's a few years behind yours.  I looked under the hood too at the current squad and ooooh

[Jimbokav1971]

I think I should have left last month. Aug 2028. 

(26b) Claes (BIH) (BEL) scored 24 goals in all competitions last season and has already scored 5 European goals this season. He will be an enormous loss if sold and I'm not sure I will be able to recover from his absence. We already have a transfer kitty of £3.5M even before we sell him, and this is going to increase significantly if we sell him. 

We've already sold our best player Zulic (MNE) (BIH) * for £1M, (he had a min fee release clause). It's only £500,000 profit, but he was only here for 1 season so it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Kovačević (BIH) (SRB) * also went for £500,000. He hadn't played regularly and we have doubled our money so I still think it's the right decision. This player wasn't a good investment in terms of performances, but to generate £250k profit is not to be sniffed at. 

(26b) Claes (BIH) (BEL) has done us a right favour by turning down these contracts. 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Rikulec]

Oooh, you missed a chance to jump to a really interesting club. Despite playing in the Slovakian league they have very strong ties to Hungary, about 75% of the town's population is Hungarian and it's a huge part of the club culture to demonstrate its connection to the country where it was historically established. There are actualy a few similar clubs in Europe in regions that used to be within Hungarian borders that even compete in the continental cups - Sepsi in Romania is another example.

[Muttley84]

27 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

There are actualy a few similar clubs in Europe in regions that used to be within Hungarian borders that even compete in the continental cups - Sepsi in Romania is another example.

Fair point, also Bascka Topola from Serbia falls under the same type of clubs, Hungary funded.

[Jimbokav1971]

29 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Oooh, you missed a chance to jump to a really interesting club. Despite playing in the Slovakian league they have very strong ties to Hungary, about 75% of the town's population is Hungarian and it's a huge part of the club culture to demonstrate its connection to the country where it was historically established. There are actually a few similar clubs in Europe in regions that used to be within Hungarian borders that even compete in the continental cups - Sepsi in Romania is another example.

As soon as I declined the offer I regretted it, but at the same time (26b) Claes (BIH) (BEL) then chose to stay and we have made the Group Stage in Europe so in that respect it was a good decision. You never know. Maybe the chance will come up again. I will certainly keep my eye on them.

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, Muttley84 said:

Fair point, also Bascka Topola from Serbia falls under the same type of clubs, Hungary funded.

I didn't know anything if this so it's all really interesting. As my reputation increases, so the options available to me should expand. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1st Academy product called up to Senior International squad. Aug 2028. 

Although Zulic (MNE) (BIH) * was capped for the Senior Montenegro side during his time with us, (26b) Claes (BIH) (BEL) becomes the 1st product of our Academy to do so. 

He might have only featured in 1 of our M:tel Premijer Liga games this season, (we have played 5, winning 4), but he has been hugely influential scoring the goals in our left striker position and then filling the DLF role on the right after the departure of Zulic (MNE) (BIH) *. I really want to sign a DLF so that he can move back to the right, 

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Aug 2028.

M:tel Premijer Liga. We lost our 1st league game, (to Željezničar), but I can't really complain. We were prioritising the European campaign, (until we got to the Group Stage), so the fact that we lost to one of the stronger sides is fair enough really. In actual fact we had a few injuries for that game so we were really weakened and a 3-1 loss actually flattered us. 

Europe. GK Tadić (CRO) missed the target completely with an early penalty in the 2nd leg against Club Brugge. We had quite a few chances when the game was at 0-0, and dominated the game in many areas, but we couldn't score and they could, and after the 1st goal went in it was game over. On the plus side, we've progressed far enough that we drop straight into the Euro Conference Group Stage. 

Spain, Austria and Azerbaijan could certainly be worse, especially based on who the Spanish club is. I'm not sure I should expect to collect too many points, but I also wouldn't expect us to get battered too often either. 

Finances. Getting to the Group Stage of the Euro Cup has come just at the right time. Hopefully this will be the difference between keeping the squad together for a little while and selling them after they have developed some more, and selling of the brightest prospects now on the cheap before they have had a chance to develop. Every transfer window that we manage to keep them for means that we will be able to ask that much more for them in the next window. 

[karanhsingh]

5 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Oooh, you missed a chance to jump to a really interesting club. Despite playing in the Slovakian league they have very strong ties to Hungary, about 75% of the town's population is Hungarian and it's a huge part of the club culture to demonstrate its connection to the country where it was historically established. There are actualy a few similar clubs in Europe in regions that used to be within Hungarian borders that even compete in the continental cups - Sepsi in Romania is another example.

Very interesting to hear this considering I am managing in Hungary. 

5 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

As soon as I declined the offer I regretted it, but at the same time (26b) Claes (BIH) (BEL) then chose to stay and we have made the Group Stage in Europe so in that respect it was a good decision. You never know. Maybe the chance will come up again. I will certainly keep my eye on them.

I'd have taken it especially if the board kept going over my head! 

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Summer Transfer Window. Sep 2028. 

There were a few transfers that appeared on last seasons list. 5 young players came in for modest fees. 

Crnkić (BIH) ** is a player I really like the look of and was really keen to sign, (hence the **). His scout report said 5.0 PA but his coach report only says 4.5 PA but either way I like the look of him. He has already hade his debut in both the league and Europe, (and even scored in Europe). I need to have a steady stream of players available to come in and play in the 2st team and then be sold on to fund the players that are staying. 

Groznica (BIH) (CRO) is another player I was really keen to sign, but I will admit that I looked at his attributes and thought he had 16 for finishing rather than First Touch, and my plan was to play him as a DLF. That being said, apart from him being a "righty" I quite like the look of him as a DLP. He was another who had a 5.0 scout report which dropped down to a 4.5 coach report. 

Atanacković (BIH) ** was my 3rd "marquee" signing, and because I thought the previous player was going to play up front, I was looking for a midfield playmaker and he is it. Now I have 2. Again, a 5.0 Scout report turned into a 4.5 Coach report. 

Grozdanić (CRO) was signed on a free transfer, (I think because he was on an Ama contract). He's not Bosnian and I'm not sure how good he will be, but at the very least he will provide some depth. 

Čulina (ALB) (CRO) was signed on a whim and in hindsight it looks a poor but of business. £100,000 isn't that much money, but when his Coach report shows only 3.5 PA, it too much. 

This season has seen more people leave, but none arrive as yet. 

Zulic (MNE) (BIH) * was too good for us anyway. I knew when we signed him that he was too good for us, and that's why he insisted on a £1M release clause. We still made £500,000 profit on him and he performed really well for us while he was here, so win-win. He will be too good for Partizan soon if you ask me.  

Kovačević (BIH) (SRB) * looks great, but something just wasn't working with him so he had to go even if it was on a free. The fact that we made £250,000 profit is just a bonus. I honestly can't tell you why he didn't perform. 

(22) Anquetil (BIH) (FRA) was our 1st choice left back so it's a shame to lose him, but at the same time £500k profit on an Academy product is decent money at this stage. I didn't particularly want him to go, but at 4.0 PA it shouldn't be a big deal. 

The only real problem with letting (22) Anquetil (BIH) (FRA) go is that it's one of the weakest areas of the squad and behind him there isn't loads of depth. (23) Avdic (BIH) * was obviously ahead of him in the pecking order, but obviously we sold him for £2M. That means that this is what we have left at left back is as follows. 

Bajatović (SRB) would seem to fall into the decent but unspectacular category. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Very interesting to hear this considering I am managing in Hungary. 

I'd have taken it especially if the board kept going over my head! 

I think if I had left I would more than I regret not leaving after staying. 

Selling players over my head is annoying, but the truth is we need to do it to survive, (at least we did before we qualified for the Euro Cup Group Stage). The issue isn't having to sell the players. It's not having the depth to adequately cope with them leaving, It's realistic and if anything I like it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Sept 2028. 

M:tel Premijer Liga. This looks like a poor run of form, but actually Sarajevo & Široki Brijeg are our big rivals and in between them was squeezed a trip to Salzburg, (although I did rotate the squad and send the kids). 

Europe. We received £500,000 for the Levante win, and that sort of money is really not to be sniffed at. 

Finances. This is the most cash the club has had since 2023, and probably since the save started. 

We have £3M to spend on players and we're only spending £130k of a £228k budget, so things are looking pretty decent financially. 

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Oct 2028.

M:tel Premijer Liga. We're in good form, but Široki Brijeg have won 14 of 15 games so are setting a tough pace to follow and if we win our game in hand we will still be 9 points behind. We play them twice more before the end of the season, so technically we could claw back 6 points, and I'm confidant that if we beat them twice they will drop other points as a result of the morale loss. The 1st question is "can we beat them in both games?" and the 2nd question is "can we win all our other games?"

Europe. This was unexpected but pleasing. The £500,000 prize money was also well-received.

Bosnian Cup. They are a lower league club so it's not as impressive a result as it appears. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Nov 2048.

M:tel Premijer Liga. 4 more wins in the league make it 8 wins on the bounce in the league. Široki Brijeg drew 1-1 with Željezničar so we closed 2 points on them to leave the gap at 10 points which we might be able to squeeze to 7 points if we win our game in hand. 

Europe. We're really exceeding expectations in Europe and we add a 3rd win to secure qualification to the knockout stages. Had I thought about it a little more I would have tried to manipulate the results to finish 3rd and drop into the Euro Conference, but I didn't think we were capable of finishing 2nd in the league. I was wrong. 

Bosnian Cup. Another lower league club. 

Records.

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Dec 2028.

M:tel Premijer Liga. It was going to be a tough ask to reel Široki Brijeg in before. Now that we have dropped another couple of points it's going to be near impossible. We're 9 points behind and we play them twice so even if we beat them in both games and win all our other games then we will still be 3 points behind. It's too much. They have been phenomenal this season. 

Europe. Our reward for qualifying will be a knockout tie against AC Milan. Well that's that then! 

Youth Intake preview. An excellent group of players. 

[Jimbokav1971]

The beginning of the end? Jan 2029. 

This is a bit strange. The top 2 deals, (AEK and Panathinaikos), were accepted by the board but I had the option to protest or negotiate them. The player had a 18 month contract and a +3 clause so I decided to activate the clause and then protest the transfers to the board in the hope that they would now register that he was signed to the club for 4.5 years and it would be madness to sell him. 

In actual fact, I didn't even need to protest the transfers because as soon as I activated the +3 clause it cancelled the transfers.

His goals scored stats aren't as impressive as you might expect because he has moved from the goal-scoring role on the left to the more creative deeper role on the right. He's made 2 appearances for the (BIH) national side but no goals yet. 

If we don't make it through the January transfer window with him still at the club, I think I might resign in protest. 

[Jimbokav1971]

The end of the end? Jan 2029.

It's 16th Jan 2029 and the transfer window closes in 9 days on 25th Jan.

£3,000,000 cash up front is a lot of money. Our highest ever fee received for a transfer is £2,000,000 for (23) Avdic (BIH) * who went to Fenerbahçe. There isn't a like for like replacement for him at the club and my scouts haven't found anyone willing to sign for us of this sort of ability. 

It looks like we aren't going to win the league and we're highly unlikely to get past AC Milan in the 1st Knockout Round of the Euro Cup, so there isn't a lot worth staying for this season? The Bosnian Cup? I don't think so. 

I have protested the transfer and depending on the result I might actually resign as a result of this transfer.  I have never done this before in FM.

We have 9 days left to the end of the transfer window. 

It's the 22nd Jan now and there are 3 days left before the window closes. 

We're up to £4.8M rising to £8.25M but thankfully he has turned the contracts down. 

He's still here as the window closes but I have a feeling that this will make absolutely no difference to the FGN clubs who are tracking him.

Our scouts have been busy and we have brought in a number of youngsters as I look to anticipate the board selling more experienced players from under me. 

Lynch (ALB) (ENG) is a 5.0 right winger that we paid £150k for. 

Mitrović (SRB) * is a player  I really like and £300k rising to £350k is going to prove a bargain I think. Another 5.0 player. This time a striker. 

I really wanted to sign a good left back and right back but couldn't find the left back I needed. Kcira (ALB) (BIH) * is a 5.0 PA (ALB) right back with (BIH) as a 2nd Nationality. I don't like his personality and hopefully I will be able to change that and sign him to a subsequent contract rather than him engineering an early move. 

Peter (AUT) (CRO) isn't as good as his scout report suggested and only has 4.0 PA on his coach report. 

Pešić (SRB) is the best young left back I could find, (for a reasonable fee), and his coach report shows only a 3.5 PA so let's not expect much of him. There seem to be a real dearth of decent young Balkan eft backs in my database. 

Jovanović (MNE) * looks a nice little signing and the coach report is actually better than the scout report, (but I'm certainly not complaining). 

Hyka (KVX) (ALB) * was signed because I wasn't convinced that Jovanović (MNE) * was going to be good enough. 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Jan & Feb 2029. 

M:tel Premijer Liga. We failed to beat Široki Brijeg and that's basically it. We properly choked in the next game against Radnik too, to make the gap a completely mammoth 12 points now. They have won 19 of 22 games, (losing 0 games), and that's pretty tough to beat with such a young side. 

We've scored more goals than the leaders, (55 to their 50), but their success has been built on a miserly defence that has seen them concede only 12 goals in 22 games, (11 less than us), and it's this that we are unable to compete with. 

Europe. I thought we did quite well in the away leg. We might have conceded 6 goals, but we scored 3 (THREE!)  We went 1 better than that in the 2nd leg and actually won the tie 2-1. Well chuffed with that. 

Bosnian Cup. Business as usual here. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake Day. HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Mar 2029. 

We've gone from having loads of poached players in our intake for 2 successive seasons, to 0. 

(29a) Đorđević (BIH) (SRB) is the player at the top of the PA list, (and the CA list for that matter). 

The player I really like the look of though is (29d) Derdemez (BIH).

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Mar 2029.

M:tel Premijer Liga. We took 10 points from a possible 12, bit still didn't manage to close the gap.

Bosnian Cup. We had a close shave against Velež Mostar, but squeezed through in the end. 

[LHurlz]

Dordevic looks a nice one. Good personality, bags of flair and technical ability, could be a proper player. What's the plan with Derdemez? Hope he grows another couple of inches? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached. Apr 2029. 

Izudin Subotić HG came through the Academy at Široki Brijeg. Again, referring back to my conversation with @GreenTrianglethe best player that we have produced in terms of PA, fits in nicely within the 101-110 window we wanted with a PA of 109. 

[Jimbokav1971]

15 minutes ago, LHurlz said:

Dordevic looks a nice one. Good personality, bags of flair and technical ability, could be a proper player. What's the plan with Derdemez? Hope he grows another couple of inches? 

Yeah he does. There are a few decent looking players in this intake. 

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. M:tel Premijer Liga. Apr 2029. 

M:tel Premijer Liga. A good month in the league sees us take maximum points, but we still trail unbeaten Široki Brijeg by 8 points. When the opposition don't lose a game all season then you have to admit that they deserve to win the league. We have played them twice in the league, (1 draw and 1 loss), so I'm hoping that our 3rd game against them will see us take their unbeaten record. With 3 games still to play they technically haven't won the league yet, (but they have really). 

Bosnian Cup. I have to admit that I expected to lose this, but actually we played well and were deserved winners. We have stopped Široki Brijeg doing the double. Now we have to see if we can win the Cup ourselves, (against Radnik who sit in 5th). 

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. May 2029. 

M:tel Premijer Liga. We trailed the leaders by a whopping 11 points at the death and not only that but because we failed to beat them in the penultimate game if the season we allowed them to become "Invincibles".  It makes more sense when I looked at their front 3 in their last game against us and saw that they had all been bought this season for a combined fee of £7.5M. We can't compete with that. 

Bosnian Cup. After beating Široki Brijeg in the Semi, I expected to romp home in the Final, but I hadn't allowed for the sending off of one of our centre-backs. We completely dominated the game through normal and extra-time, (despite the sending off), we finished with an XG of 3.7 compared to theirs of 0.7. The only stat that ultimately matters though is that we scored twice and they scored twice and then we only converted 3 of our 5 penalties. 

Finances. This is enormous for the club and (rightly or wrongly), I wasn't expecting it at all. We now have £11.3M in the bank and we're set for a few years because I have been so cautious with the wage budget. I'm really been looking after the purse-strings and now we can throw caution to the wind, (a little at least). Whether I will or not remains to be seen. 

The ten year coefficient table? I didn't even know such a thing existed. 

Scouting range. This will help me sign Balkan players who are playing in other parts of the World, (so not much help), but after I leave it will open the doors to a wealth of South Americans and Africans so I think it will be of benefit in the long-term even if I personally have little use for it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season summary. HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. May 2029. 

M:tel Premijer Liga. Only Runners-Up, but I can't really complain. We performed well and it's just that we were beaten by a pretty special team. It's going to be tough going to overhaul them next season. 

Europe. Really pleased how this went. 

I didn't really expect to qualify for the Group Stage of the Champions League at the 1st attempt, but we gave it a damn good go. 

After dropping down into the Euro League I wasn't expecting to qualify for the Knockout stages, but we confounded expectations and we somehow managed it. 

I was expecting to get properly hammered in both legs, but we did pretty well away and then somehow went and won at home.

Bosnian Cup. It still hurts that we lost in the Final on pens. 

Squad by Appearances. Tadić (CRO) might have scored 11 goals from between the sticks, but he actually missed 5 times from the spot. 

2x 4.0 CA players. The 2 players at the club who are rated as 4.0 CA, both have 5.0 PA, so the suggestion is that they still have room to improve their CA and because of this, the level against which the other players at the club are judged against, will also rise along with it. 

17x 5.0 PA players. We've got a huge amount of depth in PA at the club and the really pleasing thing is that 7 of them are products of our Academy. 

Records. 76 points is a record for not winning the league, and it actually would have been enough to make us Champions in 6 of the last 8 seasons. 

Finances. The European TV revenue was a huge boost, but even before that things were developing nicely, albeit more slowly. 

Facilities. If next season is going to be my last here, (and it absolutely is assuming I don't leave before then), then these improvements are likely to benefit the next and subsequent managers more than I, but still had to follow the path of Youth Development and improve the facilities. 

Tracker. The value of the club has rocketed from £6.8M to £21.9M so we are obviously doing something right. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Rankings. Jun 2029. 

European Competition rankings.

European Club rankings. 

Because we had such a good season in Europe means that I'm surprised that we have remained in 170th position, but we lost a season which also had 9.00 points so we effectively won and lost the same this season. 

The 10 year coefficient, (which I mentioned I had never seen before), can be seen here and shows the 9.00 points earned in 23/24. 

Reputation. 

5,187 Sarajevo. (-96)
5,149 Zrinjski. (+46)
5,066 Široki Brijeg. (NA)

These are fine margins in terms of reputation, but because there seems to be so much poaching going on, it's actually really important. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Am I leaving? Jul 2029.

We've had a great bog bod of £5,000,000 in for our 1st choice GK Tadić (CRO), (who is only 19), but if we can't get him back in on loan I think I'm going to leave. 

It's more than double the highest fee we have ever received, but while I was jut going to ask the board to renegotiate the deal to include a loan back clause, I have another idea...

Oh yes. Sneaky plan is good sneaky plan. 

The only problem is that it will obviously only work once and they are likely to come back in with a bigger bid and the real issue isn't the amount of money that we get for him but that we get him back in on loan. 

With that in mind I'm offering him out for this.

I don't care where he goes, just so long as we get him back in on loan for my last season at the club. 

The transfer window is closed and he's still here! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached. Aug 2029. 

Thankfully he's rubbish so he goes with our blessing. 

[Jimbokav1971]

HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, Bosnia. Jul & Aug 2029. 

M:tel Premijer Liga. The 2 points dropped in the opening game mean that we trail Široki Brijeg by 2 points after the 1st 2 months. Radnik top the table, but they have played 2 more games than us and I'm not concerned about them. Not only have we already beaten Sarajevo already this season but they have also lost twice more. They already trail us by 1 point despite having played 2 games more. 

Europe. We've been decent in Europe so far after a bit of a shaky start and have qualified for the group stage. Everything else now is just a bonus. 

Transfers. I had planned that the big transfer of the window would be Čović (SRB) 6'2" * moving to Greece, (and then coming back in on loan again), but my plans were scuppered when Tadić (CRO) moved to Man City in a big deal worth an initial £5.25M. I wanted to get him back in on loan because I doubt that City will be starting a teenage keeper, but the option wasn't available to me. It's great money though so I can't complain. 

Finances. 

Facilities. 

This is definitely the my last season at Zrinjski Mostar, but because of the enforced sale of Tadić (CRO) I might also consider leaving early. 

I started in Albania and am in Bosnia now. Could Kosovo be my next destination? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Resignation. Sep 2029. 

M:tel Premijer Liga. We failed to beat Široki Brijeg again, (they equalised in the 94th minute), and I resigned in disgust. 

I'm out of here!

None of these jobs particularly interest me. I think I deserve a big job after my recent performances. 

I've got a 65% win rate which is decent. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Available jobs. Oct 2029.

[Jimbokav1971]

Available jobs. Nov 2029. 

I'm not overly keen on the Kosovan or North Macedonian Leagues at the moment and I don't want to go back to Bosnia either. 

FC Kosice are struggling in the Slovakian top tier. 

Sered appear to be a bit of an easy slower building option, but while that's the sort of club I often look for, it's not something that fits with my expectations with this part of the save. They are in the 2nd tier in Slovakia, only want me to finish in the top half, (where they already are), and their wage budget isn't far off that of FC Kosice who play in the league above. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Stuff just got interesting. Nov 2029. 

I've already said I'm not interested in the Kosovan, North Macedonian or Bosnian clubs so let's get rid of them and have another look. 

Of course the filter doesn't work so I will have to do things manually. 

Our reputation is 3.0 stars so I'm thinking that all the clubs on here should be within our scope. 

Arda are a Bulgarian club who play in the top tier. I like the culture at the club, but the question is whether the youth they produce are good enough to do the job. I'm not sure I want to risk my reputation at such a club right now. 

FC Rapid of Romania are who I know as Rapid Bucharest. They are in the top tier, have reasonable facilities and a pretty health wage budget. The only real issue is the preference for direct football that I'm not keen on currently. I don't know a lot about Romanian football although the powerbase would seemingly be in Bucharest with FCSB, (Steaua), Dinamo and Rapid 3 of the teams known best to me. Cluj are also a big club but although I don't think they are from Bucharest, I don't know where they are from. (Is Cluj a City?)

UTA Arad are a club I've never heard of, (either in real life or in the game), but they play in the Romanian top tier where they are currently bottom of the league. They have better facilities than Rapid and have a x3.5 wage budget. I like the look of them. There would seem to be scope there to do things even though they are bottom. I think I'm going to apply for this job. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2029. 

UTA Arad have invited me to interview and it must have gone ok because they have offered me a 2 your contract. 

I'm in. Romania is another Nation I've never managed in. 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Nov 2029. 

So far in this save we have just had senior squads and U19 squads. Now we also have a 2nd Team. 

We have just 4 players at the club who have 5.0 PA. 

1 of them is an ex player Kovačević (BIH) (SRB) * from Zrinjski and while he looks ok, the reason I sold him was that I just couldn't get him performing. Let's hope he is better here. 

We've got 7 players who's valuation is £1M+ and only 1 of them is aged under 25. I think it quite likely that all will be available on the transfer market. 

Also leaving will be Mohamed Al-Damja (LBY) who is from Libya and unfortunately doesn't have a Balkan 2nd Nationality. 

We've only got £1.4M in the bank and our transfer budget of £1.6M would take us into the red straight away so I will be trying to generate a war chest to stop that happening. 

We're spending £461k of a £537k budget so there is a little wriggle room there, but if we sell some of our most valuable players then they are also most likely to be among our highest earners so we should generate some wage surplus too. 

The club have been looking after the pennies, but I plan on spending some of the money we generate via player sales. We're going to jump up 3 levels of Recruitment Package and will spend a min of £360k per year to do so. Ideally I will be looking to sign teenagers, but I may sign older players up to the age of 25. I won't be signing anyone older and will be sticking to the Balkan only rule.

It will take a while to get our scouting system up and running and until the reports start coming in and during that time we need to generate some funds to supplement the small amount the board have already given us. 

The window is obviously closed at the moment so we any deals we do now won't actually go through until Jan 2030, so we effectively have the same period to find our targets. 

The club didn't manage a single win in the league, (from 11 attempts), before my arrival, and also crashed out of the Cup at the 1st time of asking. The big problem would seem to be scoring goals as we were scoreless in 7 of the 11 games. 

League Rules in Romania are such that we need 6 players HG in Nation in the squad, 2x U21 (ROM) players in the starting XI and 1x U21 (ROM) player must remain on the pitch at all times. I've just picked my starting line-up for our 1st game of my tenure and I'm 1x (ROM) U21 player in the starting XI short. Hopefully there is 1 on the bench that I can swap. There is, but I don't want to start him so I have brought in a right-winger instead. 

Fingers crossed eh! 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Dec 2029. 

Liga I Betano. After 0 wins in 11 before I arrived, we have managed 2 out of my 1st 3 games, (and we were decent against Cluj). We don't seem to have any problems scoring at least. 

Youth Intake preview. No idea what to make of this if I'm honest. I guess we will have to wait and see. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Jan 2030. 

Liga I Betano. It was a tough month with 3 away fixtures. We managed to get 1 good win at home but only managed 1 point away. The teams around us are not winning and we really don't need to gather too many points to catch them up. 

Transfers. We've managed to bring in £5.25M by selling 7 players who's ages are 34, 31, 31, 30, 30, 28 and the non Balkan player who is 24 and who wouldn't have been sold otherwise. I think we might have a decent chance of staying up even if we continue to sell our experienced players, but I also think that the board expect us to go down and I will keep my job if we are relegated. With that in mind I'm planning for the long-term rather than just concentrating on avoiding relegation. 

Finances. We have £3.2M in the bank and a transfer kitty of £4.2M so we have the cash to bring in new players. We also have a budget surplus of about £200k per month so we just need to find the right players. 

[Hanys]

16 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

FC Rapid of Romania are who I know as Rapid Bucharest. They are in the top tier, have reasonable facilities and a pretty health wage budget. The only real issue is the preference for direct football that I'm not keen on currently. I don't know a lot about Romanian football although the powerbase would seemingly be in Bucharest with FCSB, (Steaua), Dinamo and Rapid 3 of the teams known best to me. Cluj are also a big club but although I don't think they are from Bucharest, I don't know where they are from. (Is Cluj a City?)

Arad seems like much more interesting challenge than any of the big clubs of Bucharest. Good luck in overthrowing them! 

The thing about FCSB being Steaua is a bit more complicated these days :D

Cluj is a city, actually called Cluj-Napoca. It's a really lovely place to visit for a day. So is in fact Arad. Interestingly both cities have strong ties with Hungary, currently Hungarians make respectively 15% and 10% of all inhabitants.

[Jimbokav1971]

10 minutes ago, Hanys said:

Arad seems like much more interesting challenge than any of the big clubs of Bucharest. Good luck in overthrowing them! 

The thing about FCSB being Steaua is a bit more complicated these days

Cluj is a city, actually called Cluj-Napoca. It's a really lovely place to visit for a day. So is in fact Arad. Interestingly both cities have strong ties with Hungary, currently Hungarians make respectively 15% and 10% of all inhabitants.

Thanks. I love this sort of inside info. 

What's the story with Steua? Can you give us a brief synopsis? 

[Hanys]

19 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks. I love this sort of inside info. 

What's the story with Steua? Can you give us a brief synopsis? 

Steaua (meaning 'Star') was founded by the Ministry of National Defence of Romania, it was always basically an army club until the privatization started after Ceausescu death and fall of communism. Such situations were very typical in the Eastern Bloc by the way. Dynamo Moscow had ties with NKVD and KGB, CSKA with an army, so did Legia Warsaw in Poland, or CFR Cluj and Lech Poznań to national railways, just to name a few.

Some ten years ago Romanian Ministry of Defence sued the club for using the name, logo and stadium - all still owned by the Ministry. The court decided that the Ministry was right there and ordered to change the name and badge. So has FCSB been born.

Ministry has its own club - Steaua - once again, playing in lower divisions while FCSB are still the dominating force in Romanian football, just under a slightly different name.

Edited July 20, 2021 by Hanys

[Jimbokav1971]

Winter Transfer window. UTA Arad, Romania. Feb 2030. 

I was completely up front about selling players, but with the proviso that they were either 25+, with the 1 exception to that being the non-Balkan Libyan, (who was actually a decent centre-half but who had to go because of the way I want to play this save. 

So far I have sold players aged 34, 32, 31, 31 30, 30, 30, 30, 28, 28 & 17 bringing in approx £6.25M since my arrival. Of course we are a weaker squad than when I arrived, but we also have money in the bank and am now out of the bottom 2, (so things are better on the pitch too). 

The problem however is that despite this, the board have just accepted a £1.7M bid for a 25 year old player that I didn't want to sell. 

Pásztor (HUN) (ROU) 6'0" isn't perfect for us, (I particularly don't like his "plays with back to goal PPM"), but he's been pretty influential. I think that I could get more out of him if he stayed, but at the same time £1.7M+ is good money and he certainly has his flaws. It's theoretically possible that I can sign someone who is more effective than him on a free at the end of the season. The problem is between now and then. 

Lucky for us he rejected the contract and has stayed. 

In terms of who has come in..... you can see that I have tried to keep the spending down.

Dimov (BUL) isn't brilliant, but I'm hoping that his pace will prove to be a threat that adds more than his ability suggests. At such a low price it seems no-risk rather than low-risk. 

Hoxha (KVX) was signed  on a whim but I don't think it was a great signing in hindsight. He might have only been £11k, but he's another striker who likes to play with his back to goal and I'm really not a fan.

Kovačič (SVN) looks great and is already worth £1.2M after signing him for just £300,000. I really like him. 

Crăciun (MDA) (ROU) is just about on his last legs, but I saw his 80 Caps and his personality and his 6'4" and thought that he would be the perfect stand-in until the end of the season. 

I signed Gibičar (CRO) when I thought I was losing (21) Parfenie (ROU) 6'1". Should add some decent depth. 

Sladojević (SRB) was signed to offer us some depth on the left hand side, (not to mention some more pace). My right sided winger is inverted at the moment so I really want the lefty to go "meep meep". 

All in all I'm quite happy with the business I've done. We've brought in some much needed cash and got rid of quite a few ageing players. What I really need now is a decent intake because what seems key to me now, (having never played in Romania before), is that because of the league rules, it doesn't matter how good your experienced players are, because if you can't pick 2x decent U21 Romanians in each starting XI then you have no chance. It's so key to have these good young players, and not just 2 of them, but 2 of them for every single game. We just don't have that right now so I'm eagerly anticipating the intake next month,