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

[Jimbokav1971]

44 minutes ago, Hanys said:

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.

Thank you very much again. 

I knew about clubs in other Eastern Bloc Nations that had links to Army/Industry, but had no idea about anything in Romania. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Feb 2030. 

Liga I Betano. 5 points from 5 games doesn't sound great, but when those around you are only picking up 4, 1 and 2 points respectively it's not too shabby. We're now 3rd off the bottom of the table but you will notice that there is no coloured area at the bottom of the table so I don't know how many clubs get relegated. 

It would seem that we play 30 games and then the league splits into 2.

• The top 6 clubs participate in the Champions Playoff where each team plays the others twice for 10 games in total. 
• The bottom 10 clubs participate in the Relegation Group where each club plays the others once for 9 games in total. 

• The bottom 2 get relegated. 
• 3rd and 4th bottom go into a Playoff, (I'm assuming with Liga II clubs). 
• 1st and 2nd in Relegation Group go into a European Places Semi-Final, but I'm not really sure what that is at the moment. 

So basically we must finish outside the bottom 2, and ideally we want to try and finish outside the bottom 4. 

Finances. There is no doubt that we're a selling club, but I'm worried that the players we produce via the intake might not be of the required standard. So few of them are still at the club that It's causing me concern ahead of the Youth Intake. 

Youth Intake history. If I look back through the players that have come through the clubs Intake since the start of the save, I wonder what it will tell us. 

2021. I'm not going to look at 2021 too closely because they signed 25 players. 

2022. 

Ştefănescu is playing in the 3rd tier in Romania.
Periat is no longer in the game. 
David is valued at £400k and playing in Liga 1 for another club.
Gheorghe is valued at £66k and is on loan at 1 Liga 1 club from another Liga 1 club. 

2023.

Petrişor is playing in the Romanian 3rd tier. 
Huţanu is playing in the Romanian 3rd tier. 
Tătaru is valued at £66k and playing for another Liga 1 club. 
Lungu is playing in the Romanian 3rd tier. 
Pintilei is playing in the Romanian 2nd tier. 
Lazăr is valued at £475k and playing for another Liga 1 club. 
Vereş is valued at £12k and playing for another Liga 1 club. 
Fritea is playing in the Romanian 2nd tier. 

2024.

Caragea is playing at a Romanian lower league club. 
Cârstocea is playing in the Romanian 3rd tier. 
Roman is playing in the Romanian 3rd tier. 
Sima is playing in the Romanian 3rd tier. 
Toma is playing at a Romanian lower league club.
Răduţ is playing at a Romanian lower league club. 
Aslău is playing at a Romanian lower league club. 
Lăcustă is playing at a Romanian lower league club. 
Bordea is playing at a Romanian lower league club. 

2025.

Calu is playing in the Romanian 3rd tier. 
Ştefănescu is at an U19 club that doesn't seem to be part of a senior club. 
Berceanu is playing at a Romanian lower league club. 
Dragotă is playing at a Romanian lower league club. 
(25) Pârvulescu (ROU) is valued at £55k and still at the club. 

2026.

(26) Găman. (ROU) is still at the club but has never made a Liga 1 appearance and never will. 
(26) Rusu (ROU) is still at the club, valued at £110k and has made 7 Liga 1 appearances this season and 3 previously. 
(26) Cuc (ROU) is still at the club, valued at £160k and has made 6 Liga 1 appearances this season and 30 on loan previously. 
(26) Apostol. (ROU) is still at the club but while he has made 1 Liga 1 appearance in the past & is leaving on a free to join a Liga 2 club at the end of the season. 
(26) Huţanu (ROU) is still at the club but has made 5 Liga 1 appearances this season. He is joining a Liga 2 club on a free at the end of the season. 
(26) Kunert (ROM) (GER) is still at the club, has made 2 Liga 1 appearances this season and 1 previously. 
(26) Căpăţînă. (ROU) is still at the club but has never made a Liga 1 appearance and has been marked for release at the end of the season. 

2027.

(27) Tomescu. (ROU) is still at the club but has never made a Liga 1 appearance. 
(27) Lunescu. (ROU) is still at the club but has never made a Liga 1 appearance. 
(27) Grozavu. (ROU) is still at the club but has never made a Liga 1 appearance. 
(27) Radu. (ROU) is still at the club but has never made a Liga 1 appearance. 

2028.

(28) Onosă. (ROU) is still at the club but doesn't look great. 
(28) Lazăr. (ROU) is still at the club but doesn't look great. 
(28) Alexandru. (ROU) is still at the club but doesn't look great. 
(28) Ungureanu (ROU) is still at the club and looks reasonable. He's made 1 Liga 1 appearance this season. 
(28) David. (ROU) is still at the club but doesn't look very good. 
(28) David. (ROU) is still at the club but doesn't look very good. 

2029.

(29) Matei (ROU) looks a little raw but could be ok. 
(29) Tudor. (ROU) looks a little raw but could be ok. 
(29) Secelean. (ROU) looks a little raw but could be ok. 
(29) Rădulescu (ROU) looks decent.
(29) Munteanu. (ROU) looks a little raw but could be ok.
(29) Ponta. (ROU) looks pretty poor. 
(29) Baciu (ROU) looks a little raw but could be ok. 

After looking at the previous intakes, I'm not at all encouraged then the imminent intake is going to be anything worth shouting about. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake Day. UTA Arad, Romania. Mar 2030. 

Golden Generation? I don't think so. There is not even a single 5.0 PA player there. 

(30a) Vlădău (ROU) 6'2" DC sits atop the PA pile and he looks like a right back who really needs to play centre-half to me. He looks like an ok centre-half though. He's not a million miles away from being in contention already. 

(30e) Stan (ROU) is the player who really jumps out at me though. A proper finisher. If I can just work on his physicals he might make an impact before too long. 

[Jimbokav1971]

AFC UTA Arad, Romania. Mar 2030. 

Liga I Betano. It was a decent month for us with just 1 loss from 4 games, but if we could just have turned 1 of those draws into a win then it really would have put the cat amongst the pigeons. Our last 2 games are against 12th and 16th, so things are still looking decent. 

[Jimbokav1971]

AFC UTA Arad, Romania. May 2030. 

Liga I Betano. When we hammered Dinamo I was sure that victory over bottom of the table Petrolul would just be a formality. Unfortunately we're not as good away as we are at home and they turned us over in a completely undeserved 1-0. It's the 1st really poor result we have had since my arrival here. It meant that we finished 13th rather than 12th as we moved into the Relegation Group. 

Liga I Betano Relegation Group. I don't know who created the fixtures, but we played the teams sitting 1st, 2nd and 3rd off the bat. so 4 points from those 3 games is pretty decent all things considered. We battered Voluntari, (but couldn't score), could and should have drawn with Viitorul and then it all came together nicely as we absolutely smashed Iaşi. The fact that we have 5 home games and 4 away games in the Relegation Group is significant, as we are so much better at home. I expect us to go unbeaten at home, (2 down and 3 to go), and with any luck the points earned in these matches will be enough to secure our safety. 

Continuing on the league from before, or simply starting afresh would seem to be too easy, so each club starts on 50% of their previous points total and we go from there. After the 1st 3 games we are in the "Playoff" zone, (on goal difference), and are 4 points from guaranteed safety. Remember though that we have already played 3 of the top sides. 

[Jimbokav1971]

AFC UTA Arad, Romania. May 2030. 

Liga I Betano. Playoff Group. We had a really good month, but just as we lost to Petrolul on the last day of the regular season, we lost to them again on the last day of the Relegation Group. They are rubbish, but they have the sign over us at the moment. 

In any case, we finished outside the bottom 4 so not only did we avoid automatic relegation, but we also avoided the Relegation Playoff. We did all this while selling players to the tune of £9,000,000, (£8.5M of which was generated after I arrived), and only spent £1M bringing in replacements. 

[turnip]

A good end to the season indeed. 

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season summary. UTA Arad, Romania. Jun 2030. 

Liga I Betano. Job done, but ASU Politehnica Timişoara fans will surely not be happy as they seemed completely safe at the break, but they prioritised the Cup and although they got to the Final they lost heavily, (5-0), and this impacted on their form in the league as they took just 2 points from a possible 27 in the Relegation Group and this saw them finish rock bottom. Let that be a lesson to us. 

Liga I Betano. Relegation Group.

Romanian Cup. This was before my arrival. 

Squad by Appearances. When you sell 13 players during 1 season it's bound to have an impact on appearances. 

1x 4.5 CA player. It's not good news that the best player at the club played 35 games and only managed an avg rating of 6.87. 

6x 5.0 players. 

Records. 85 yellows!   

Finances. The fact that we sold players to the tune of £9M, while only spending £1M on players ourselves, but only have less than £4M in the bank at the end of the season suggests that this might be a bit of a battle financially. That's a £4M hole for any of you who are not very good at maths. 

Facilities. 

Tracker. 

[Jimbokav1971]

30 minutes ago, turnip said:

A good end to the season indeed. 

Yeah, considering we sold 13 players for £9M we did ok in the end. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Rankings. Jun 2030. 

European Competition rankings.

European Club rankings. 

European Nation Club coefficients. 

Qualification places. 

[Jimbokav1971]

It would seem that North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Albania thought Brexit was a rubbish idea. Jun 2030. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Domestic reputation. Jun 2030.

We are the top ranked of the 2.5 clubs, but there are still 6x 3.0 rep clubs ahead of us. We actually have a higher rep than I was expecting. 

5,933 FCSB.
5,853 Cluj.
5,848 FC Viitorul.
5,728 Academica Clinceni.*
5,602 Uni Craiova.
5,455 Sepsi OSK.
5,361 UTA Arad.

* Just a little note on Academica Clinceni... I had never heard of them, (they are current Liga I Betano Champions and it would seem that they haven't performed at that level in real life and were only promoted to the top tier in 2019, largely by virtue of forming a relationship with FCSB and loaning a large number of players from them. 

[Rikulec]

That was a season of some excellent management, even if a bit risky.

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad planning for next season. Jun 2030. 

*U21 Romanian players in red. If you haven't played in Romania before then I will emphasise again how key it is to have decent youngsters to fill the Romanian U21 slots. 2 must start the game and there must be 1 on the pitch at all times. This is great in terms of youth development, but is really tough if your youngsters aren't great. Our youngsters aren't great so I'm trying to plan ahead. It's quite interesting actually. Players aged under 21 at the beginning of the season can be valued quite high because of their importance, but a year on, even after playing a significant number of games they can be worthless. The value is all in their age. 

Obviously if I sign players then players on this list might get knocked down the pecking order. 

GK. 

Starting. New signing.
Backup. (30b) Neagu (ROU)

DL.

1. Georgiev (BUL) * (Needs PPM)
2. Stoica (ROU) (Needs PPM)
3. New signing. 

DR. 

1. Gibičar (CRO)
2. (25) Pârvulescu (ROU) (Lose PPM)
3. (28) Ungureanu (ROU)

DC.

DLC1. Maly (SVK) 6'4"
DLC2. Nergheş (ROU) 6'6"
DLC3. Băban (ROU) 6'0" *

DRC1. Sbârcea (ROU) 6'5"
DRC2. Gheba (ROU) 6'4"
DRC3. Crăciun (MDA) (ROU) 6'4"

MC.

Albu (ROM) SELL

MLC1. Kovačič (SVN)
MLC2. (21) Bolenyi (ROU)
MLC3. (29) Baciu (ROU)

MRC1. Ionescu (ROU)
MRC2. Parancea. (ROM)
MRC3. (29) Rădulescu (ROU)

ML.

ML1. Sladojević (SRB)
ML2. Grămadă (ROU)
ML3. (30c) Tomescu (ROU)

MR.

Sefer (ROU) SELL

MR1. Lesko (SVK) MR
MR2. (26) Rusu (ROU)
MR3. (26) Kunert (ROM) (GER)

SC.

SLC1. Hoxha (KVX) (Too slow)
SLC2. Andrieş (ROU)
SLC3. (30e) Stan (ROU)

SRC1. Pásztor (HUN) (ROU) 6'0" (Lose PPM)
SRC2. Kovačević (BIH) (SRB) * (Lose PPM)
SRC3. (26) Cuc (ROU)

New signings. 

My old club Zrinjski signed our GK on a Bosman, (who I didn't think was good enough for them), so it gave me the idea to have a look at their GK's and I managed to sign Dizdarević (BIH) on the cheap and in a nice bit of revenge. 

I'm not sure which of the GK's I signed 1st, but I think I got a little confused because I forgot all about Armatas (GRE) who will be our back-up.

Ibrahimovic (BIH) is another player bought in on a free from my old club Zrinjski.

Knežević (SRB) was a big player for me at Zrinjski so I'm hoping he will make an impact here too. 

Antohi (ROU) is another DLP who will offer us some more depth. The fact that he's 20 and Romanian suggests that he will be able to be counted as 1 of our U21 Romanian players which will be a bonus. 

Sárközi (ROM) (HUN) will add some depth to our front line and has the versatility to play in both roles up front. 

Signing Kosta Dražić was a mistake. He's 32 and I shouldn't have signed him but what's done is done. 

GK. 

Starting. Dizdarević (BIH)
Bench. Armatas (GRE)
Backup. (30b) Neagu (ROU)

DL.

1. Georgiev (BUL) * (Needs PPM)
2. Stoica (ROU) (Needs PPM)
3. New signing. Ibrahimovic (BIH) can cover here. 

DR. 

1. Ibrahimovic (BIH)
2. Gibičar (CRO)
3. (25) Pârvulescu (ROU) (Lose PPM)
4. (28) Ungureanu (ROU)

DC.

DLC1. Maly (SVK) 6'4"
DLC2. Nergheş (ROU) 6'6"
DLC3. Băban (ROU) 6'0" *

DRC1. Sbârcea (ROU) 6'5"
DRC2. Gheba (ROU) 6'4"
DRC3. Crăciun (MDA) (ROU) 6'4"

MC.

Albu (ROM) SELL

MLC1. Kovačič (SVN)
MLC2. (21) Bolenyi (ROU)
MLC3. Antohi (ROU)
MLC4. (29) Baciu (ROU)

MRC1 Knežević (SRB)
MRC2. Ionescu (ROU)
MRC3. Parancea. (ROM)
MRC4. (29) Rădulescu (ROU)

ML.

ML1. Sladojević (SRB)
ML2. Grămadă (ROU)
ML3. (30c) Tomescu (ROU)

MR.

Sefer (ROU) SELL

MR1. Lesko (SVK) MR
MR2. (26) Rusu (ROU)
MR3. (26) Kunert (ROM) (GER)

SC.

SLC1. Hoxha (KVX) (Too slow)
SLC2. Andrieş (ROU)
SLC3. (30e) Stan (ROU)

SRC1. Sárközi (ROM) (HUN)
SRC2. Kosta Dražić
SRC3. Pásztor (HUN) (ROU) 6'0" (Lose PPM)
SRC4. Kovačević (BIH) (SRB) * (Lose PPM)
SRC5. (26) Cuc (ROU)

[Edit]

On the original list there were already 2 players available to be sold, and now with the new players arriving it will mean that I can sell more without it impacting too heavily on us. I know we are going to have to sell players, (and important players at that), so there is no point pretending that it isn't going to happen. I need to expect it and try to plan for it. With that in mind I will probably look to sign even more players. The plan will be to sign them before I have to sell them. Replace them before the replacements are needed if you like. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

37 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

That was a season of some excellent management, even if a bit risky.

Haha. Yeah thanks. It went pretty well all things considered. My only real concern is that I'm going to have to do something similar each season because of the £4M short-fall in our finances. I think now that we are a little better set-up in terms of our Romanian U21 players I think it will really help us, and as you can see from the last post our depth looks much better. 

1 upgrade each to our Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching should kick in and improve our intake next season, and I'm hoping that I might even be able to squeeze in another upgrade of each. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad selection problems. Jul 2030. 

You have to register at least 15 senior players for the Romanian league, but you also can't register more than 25 players, 4 of whom have to be HG at club. 

We have lots of players who are products of our Academy, but they are almost all still classed as U21 players, (so don't have to be registered). 

(21) Bolenyi (ROU) and Andrieş (ROU) are the 2 players who are HG at club and that's something that the board need to consider when they are accepting offers for players. 

As it is I will have to deselect 2 players to leave a 2 player gap to cover the shortfall in HG players available. 

We only have 1x non-EU player in Hoxha (KVX), so that at least is not an issue. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Aug 2030.

Liga I Betano. We're really quite good at home, but also not great away. I wonder if we might need a change of tactic away, or if I just keep the faith then as our players improve then things will just click. 

[Pompeyboyz]

8 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

It would seem that North Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Albania thought Brexit was a rubbish idea. Jun 2030. 

I have never seen nations join the EU before.  Didn't know it was a thing 

[deltablue]

47 minutes ago, Pompeyboyz said:

I have never seen nations join the EU before.  Didn't know it was a thing 

In older versions you get Serbia join after a few years, maybe Croatia as well once that was confirmed to happen.

[Jimbokav1971]

57 minutes ago, Pompeyboyz said:

I have never seen nations join the EU before.  Didn't know it was a thing 

It often happens in my games. Is it possible it has happened and you just haven't noticed?

[Jimbokav1971]

9 minutes ago, deltablue said:

In older versions you get Serbia join after a few years, maybe Croatia as well once that was confirmed to happen.

There were some that were hard-coded in because the deal was already done. I don't think this is hard-coded though. 

Looking at the Albania Wiki page though it seems a hugely complicated process that has been going on for decades. 

If we look at the Serbian Wiki page they seem much further along the process and there is already a possible date of 2025 mentioned.

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Aug 2030. 

Liga I Betano. Unbeaten this month and we're up to 2nd with a game in hand. I'm not expecting us to continue with this form, but long may it continue. 

Transfers. 1 in and 2 out. 

 Capră (ROU) was signed largely because of the low price. With an outlay of £88k and £120k being spent per year on wages, I still have a chance on making a real profit out of him. 

Pásztor (HUN) (ROU) 6'0" SELL was going to go sooner or later so I decided to make it sooner so that I could control the deal. He is the 1st of our 2 strikers with the "plays with back to goal" PPM and I have managed to get rid of both. 

Kovačević (BIH) (SRB) * is the 2nd striker with the "plays with back to goal" PPM and I'm really happy to offload him. 

Finances. I have to keep bringing the money in to try and stop the Chairman from interfering. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Only for the First Team? Sep 2030. 

I saw this last season, but I didn't know exactly how it was meant to work and still don't. 

Am I able to select 15 players to play "only" for the first team, but then am I manually able to set them to be available for U19's and 2nd Team? I don't really understand how this works but these are the 15 players I have selected so I will try and work out what's happening and report back.

[Jimbokav1971]

National Team production. Sep 2030.

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Sep 2030.

Liga I Betano. We're doing ok, but 3 of 8 games without scoring is a little concerning. On the plus side we have only conceded 4 goals. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Liga I player development. Oct 2030.

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Oct 2030. 

Liga I Betano. We were 2-0 down against Dinamo Bucureşti so I was delighted to score 4 second-half goals. We're top of the table for the 1st time under my tenure and have a game in hand on 2nd placed FCSB.

Romanian Cup. I have got form for "chucking" Cup games, but I can promise you that we went with a full strength side here and there was no "chucking" involved. What often happens when you are on a good run is that a loss impacts morale and is followed by another negative result, so fingers crossed we manage to eke out at least a draw in our next game. 

[Jimbokav1971]

New contract. Nov 2030. 

They gave me an initial 2 year contract and after just 1 year they are now offering me a 3 year contract. 

Does the new contract start at the end of the existing one or what?

It starts in now, (Nov 2030) and will expire in Jun 2033, so it's 2.5 years, (1of which we were already contracted for). 

[Edit]

There seemed to be no time at the end of the season to ask to go on a coaching course. We have a National A Licence and a 2.5 (Fairly Good) reputation. 

We are fluent in 5 languages and basic in 3 more. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Nov 2030. 

Liga I Betano. Only 1 game this month, bit it's another win and we take another step forward to go 3 points clear at the top of the table. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Dec 2030.

Liga I Betano. We lost our 2nd league game of the season, but thankfully there was no hangover as we bounced back well to win the other 3 games in December. 

A player that scored in all 4 of the games this month is Bogdan Croitoru who I haven't introduced you to. He was signed, (on loan), when I sold the 2 strikers with "plays with back to goal", Pásztor (HUN) (ROU) 6'0" SELL and Kovačević (BIH) (SRB) *. He's in on loan from Academica Clinceni who are defending Liga I Betano champions and although he got off to a slow start, he has now scored 6 goals in 10 appearances. 

Youth Intake preview. There is 1 of each intake upgraded for this, so the chances are the intake is still not going to be great. 

Facilities. We did at least get another upgrade that will hopefully kick-in in time for next season's intake. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Jan 2031. 

Liga I Betano. An unbeaten month that saw us concede just 1 goals and collect 9 points from a possible 12 to leave us 4 points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand. 

Transfers. I've only managed to sell 3 players for a combined £2.1M this season, but surprisingly our finances are not taking the beating I was expecting and we still have £5.5M in the bank. There have been a few hefty bids accepted by the Chairman, but on each occasion the players have rejected the contract and they have remained here. 

Clauses. Transfers are not the only way to bring in cash though and we have a few clauses that the Chairman has negotiated a deal for. 

These 3 clauses will bring in £1,075,000 bringing our bank balance to £6.6M

This has also increased our transfer budget which is up to £4.3M

Finances. 

Facilities. Our Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment levels are at 20 and 19 so we're looking good there, but where as they are really cheap to develop, we know that the Training Facilities and Youth Facilities will be much more expensive. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Feb 2031.

Liga I Betano. We only lost 1 game of 5, but we also only took 8 points from a possible 15. Despite that, we're still top of the league by 4 points, but now with our chasers having the game in hand. 

Transfers. The only player we sold this month didn't involve an up-front cash payment, but hopefully we will still earn from add-ons. 

Clauses. In an attempt to keep the money rolling in, I sold a clause that hadn't been available before, for a player who left the club before I arrived. It's basically free money! 

Finances. We're sitting pretty with £6M in the bank and I'm starting to think about investing in some of our facilities. I would like to get it to £10M first though if possible. 

We've got 3 players at the club valued at £1M+ and I will probably look to sell Knežević (SRB) at the end of the season. (21) Bolenyi (ROU) is going nowhere because of his HG at club status. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Youth Intake day. Mar 2031. 

It's another alleged "Golden Generation", but significantly there is at least 1x 5.0 PA player in (31a) Iacob (ROU) *. I should also point out that we have a poached player in the intake. (31o) Hagiu (ROU) came from Oţelul Galaţi who are a 3rd tier side. 

(31a) Iacob (ROU) quite frankly looks phenomenal. It of course remains to be seen how far he will develop, but from such a starting point, anything is possible. 

[OlivierL]

(31a) Iacob (ROU)  looks great. His Determination and Personality could be better.

You are doing a good job, lovely thread.

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

(31a) Iacob (ROU)  looks great. His Determination and Personality could be better.

You are doing a good job, lovely thread.

You know, I was so impressed with him that I didn't even notice the Det or personality. (I'm not complaining though). 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Mar 2031. 

Liga I Betano. The loss to Dinamo was costly in that it means we're no longer top of the table with 2 games remaining before the split. 

Records. 

This was a record that we set last season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Apr 2031. 

Liga I Betano. This is the 1st time all season we have lost 2 games in a row and the Cluj game was the 1st we have lost at home in the league all season. That's the end of the normal league phase and we now move into the Champions Playoff. While this is great news in that we have done well even to just qualify for this, it does of course man that we will playing the better Romanian teams in every game now. 

Liga I Betano Champions Playoff. 

This is our 1st attempt at this level so it's good to know what's what. The top 4 definitely qualify for Europe, with possibly the 5th team too, (depending on who wins the Cup). Can we hang on and finish in the top 4? 

Records. This shows that we are moving in the right direction, but also that we have a long way to go. 

I wasn't happy with the home loss to Cluj at the end of the normal league stage, so wanted to freshen things up. To that end I started a 15 year old and a 16 year old up front in the 2nd Cluj game. (31a) Iacob (ROU) * only played the 1st 45 mins before being subbed off, but his stats suggest that he did ok. I think it's sometimes a little easy to convert an AP in the CAM line to a DLP in the DM or MC line. Instead I opted to give him a run-out as a DLF. He didn't score, (or even come close to scoring), but that's a hell of a debut. 

(30e) Stan (ROU) went one better in that he scored on his debut before being withdrawn on 61 mins. He has been on the bench a few times this season but this is his 1st appearance. His match stats also make decent reading and between them these 2 young upstarts made quite an impression.

26/26 passes (at 100%).
1 key pass.
1/1 tackle (at 100%).
4/5 headers (at 80%).
2/2 shots (at 100%).
1 dribble. 

Unfortunately his record didn't last long as in the following match against FCSB we were awarded a penalty and because I have dropped my GK nobody was set to take it. Up stepped (31a) Iacob (ROU) *, (I was pooing myself), to send the keeper the wrong way and write his name into the record books. 

Again, he only played 45 mins, but he still hasn't failed with a pass. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Affiliations. May 2031.

Until this moment I have never looked at the Affiliations page of this club and until now had never seen a message about it either. 

It turns out we have 2. 

Chelsea have a really good Croat and Serb and a good left winger who has Turkish as a 2nd Nationality. They also have a young Serb who is listed for loan. I wonder if I can get him in for next season? 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. May 2031. 

Liga I Betano Champions Playoff. 4 away games out of 6 is a little tough, but we managed to win 1 and draw 1 to add to our 2 home wins.

We're 3rd in the league but there is a gap of 7 points to Cluj in 4th with just 1 game remaining, (against Viitorul). If we win we finish 2nd and if we lose we finish 3rd. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Jun 2031.

Liga I Betano Champions Playoff. It was basically a 1-game playoff to decide who would finish 2nd and 3rd. We won with a really late goal so we're Runners Up and will play in the Champions League next season. 

[DaneBramage]

Congrats, great job finishing so high. Making the Champs League already is impressive.

Reading through the last season is making me realise how few Romanian clubs I've actually heard of.

[Jimbokav1971]

6 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

Congrats, great job finishing so high. Making the Champs League already is impressive.

Reading through the last season is making me realise how few Romanian clubs I've actually heard of.

I'd heard of Viitorul, FCSB, Cluj, Voluntari, Dinamo & Rapid, but actually know very little about Romanian football. 

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season summary. UTA Arad, Romania Jun 2031. 

Liga I Betano. I'm really happy with this season. I hoped to sneak into the Champions Playoff but we were up near the top for the whole season. The squad is developing really nicely, despite the fact that I regularly flog anyone who is worth any money once they reach 26 years old. Playing in Europe next season will be a challenge, but one that we will embrace. 

Liga I Betano Champions Playoff. Runners Up is the best we have done since 1972. 

Romanian Cup. We lost to the best team in the Country so no shame there. 

Squad by Appearances. There is still a lot of scope for improvement here. Most of the squad is no more than 3.0 CA. We can improve on that in the next few seasons. 

1x 4.0 CA player. I absolutely love that the best player at the club is one of the few products of our Academy who has remained and also recently became the club League Appearance record holder. 

5x 5.0 PA players. 

Records. 

Finances. The £4M hole from last season was much smaller this season and I think was only about £1M now. With European games next season maybe we will even make a profit? 

Facilities. The Junior Coaching is already maxed out and Youth Recruitment is almost there. Now can we get the Training Facilities and Youth Facilities improved? The other key area here is reputation and we will surely have improved our position in that respect too. 

We've got £5.3M in the bank and I have already done deals to sell 2 more players for £1.6M, (so technically we're up to £6.9M). With that in mind I think I'm going to start trying to upgrade the Training Facilities and Youth Facilities. 

Tracker. I have even managed to surprise myself with our progress this season. We basically just kept selling anyone who was any good last season and I have already got 2 more sales lined up and plan on adding to that over the close-season. I also want to start to re-invest the money though and not rely exclusively on our Academy products, (which can be slow going). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Takeover. Jun 2031.

Not just a takeover, but a Tycoon takeover! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation. Jun 2031. 

5,926 Academica Clinceni was 5,728 (+198)
5,851 Cluj was 5,853 (-2)
5,853 FCSB was 5,933 (-80)
5,824 Viitorul was 5,848 (-24)
5,627 U Craiova was 5,602 (+25)
5,442 Sepsi OSK was 5,455 (-13)
5,329 UTA Arad was 5,361 (-32)

There are a few things that don't seem quite right here. 

1. Academica Clinceni with a large jump is fine because they had a really good season. 

2. How come Cluj are ranked 2nd and FCSB are ranked 3rd, yet FCSB have a rep score 2 points higher than Cluj? 

3. Our reputation has gone down. That doesn't make sense.... unless we have played in Europe recently. I have checked and we played in Europe in 25/26 and 26/27, but nothing worth commenting about. 

I just don't understand this. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Takeover complete. Jul 2031. 

I know that Tycoon was mentioned, but it's a Consortium rather than a Tycoon. 

On the plus side, we ca now buy/sell players again. 

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Jul 2031. 

Liga I Betano. 2 wins from 2 give us a good start in the league. 

Europe. We crashed out of the Champions League at the 1st hurdle, but luckily we have been able to drop straight into the Europa League.

Facilities. We're starting to make ground in terms of Training and Youth Facilities. 

Finances. I know we've sold a lot of players, but it was by design rather than by accident and will hopefully provide the platform to allow us to move forward. We've already started to reinvest some of the funds into new young players and this will continue.  

Records.

[Jimbokav1971]

UTA Arad, Romania. Aug 2031. 

Liga I Betano. Although the squad has really improved since my arrival, we just don't have the depth to compete in both Europe and domestic competition at the same time. I've obviously been prioritising the European games because of the money they will generate, but also because the more games we have the more opportunities we have to give our young players 1st team exposure so it's win/win in terms of money and games, but the trade-off there is our performance in the league. 

We've been a little unlucky in the league games this month. 2 losses by a single goals and a 0-0 draw that we should have romped. I've sold strikers for good money because they weren't exactly what I wanted and I've given opportunities to young strikers who don't deserve it yet. This will aid their development, but there will be a cost in terms of performances. 

Europe. 

We were competitive in both CSKA Sofia games in the Champions League, but they were too strong and deserved to progress. 

We dropped down into the Europa League where we faced domestic rivals Viitorul who gave us a right scare in the 1st leg before we turned things round in a really good performance at their place in the 2nd leg. 

We were then unlucky to lose to Slavia Prague in the away leg and were winning the home leg 2-0 when we had a centre-half sent off before half-time. We were battered in the 2nd half while a man short, and were lucky to come away with a draw in the end. Frustrating but that's the way it goes. I would have been more upset if that had crashed us completely out of Europe, but as it is we "just" drop down into the Euro Conference. We've already played 6 games in Europe and are guaranteed a minimum of 6 more. 12 games in Europe is brilliant for our 1st effort and the cash isn't too shabby either. 

It's a tough group with English and Italian opposition, but we're in the Group Stages of Europe so it's never going to be easy. 

[Thebaker]

The teams i have heard of (Cluj, FCSB and Dinamo) don't seem to be doing very well. Has Clinceni had a tycoon takeover, how are they doing so well?

Less of a surprise that your team is close to dominating Romanian football

[Jimbokav1971]

48 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

The teams i have heard of (Cluj, FCSB and Dinamo) don't seem to be doing very well. Has Clinceni had a tycoon takeover, how are they doing so well?

Less of a surprise that your team is close to dominating Romanian football

That's a very good question. I think I commented previously that Academica Clinceni are a newly created club. (They were basically the FCSB Academy side originally). 

Their dominance is very much a recent thing. 

They were taken over by a Tycoon in 2024 and failed Liga I Betano FP regulations in 2028, but there is no points deduction that I can see.