GreenTriangle Posted July 22, 2021 Share Posted July 22, 2021 I've been playing FM for many years, but so far I have never tried a career in Asia. I played in Europe (of course), South America, North America, Africa ... but not in Asia. However, I had the opportunity to read on this forum about some exceptional careers that have taken place in this region of the world. Unfortunately, I'm not a good FM player, but that can't stop me from trying such a career. What are the objectives of this career ? As I said, I'm not a good FM player, so I only aim to play as much as possible and have some fun. Will I happen to win a competition ? Great ! Will I not achieve anything and, moreover, I'll be fired ? No problem, I'll look for another club and I'll try again. ****************************** In terms of football, Asia "means" 47 countries, regions or territories. However, two of these territories (Guam and Northern Mariana Islands) are at a great distance, over 2000 kilometers (1250 miles) from the nearest Asian country, which is why I gave up selecting them. I also gave up selecting Yemen because in this country the national football league has not taken place in the last 6 years. So, I selected only 44 of the 47 possible options : So, 44 nations and 79 leagues. Quite a lot, especially because these are custom files and it is possible that such a large number of leagues will become difficult to manipulate for FM after a few years. However, I checked: I loaded all 44 nations and, in a test save, I played (on holiday) until January 1, 2027. There were no crashes or bugs, all the competitions worked very well. However, in order not to have troubles, after 8-10 years of career probably I'll begin to deactivate some of the less important leagues. ****************************** Such a large number of leagues can be difficult to handle not only for the game but even for me. One of the reasons is related to the name of these leagues. There are cases in which the second league is called "premier league" or "first league", which can be confusing. For this reason I changed this names according to the following format: "(nation name, league level), league name", which helps me to differentiate between the first league and the second league. One more thing: I selected only the first league and the second league for each nation. I don't need the lower leagues because I don't intend to play with one club, but with as many clubs from different countries as possible. List of leagues in the Asian database ****************************** Even so, the database seems to be difficult to use. Too many leagues, too many clubs. For this reason, I will introduce some rules : - I'll begin my career having a minimum reputation ("sunday league player") and without any coaching qualification. - Based on the reputation of each league, I grouped the leagues into 7 categories ("levels") and I decided that at the beginning of my career I can be hired only by a "level 1" club (so a club that plays in a "level 1" league). - When I'll leave the first club (whether I resign or I'm fired) I'll be able to play with a "level 1" or "level 2" club (so a club that plays in a league having "level 1" or "level 2") - After 3 years of career I'll have permission to play at a higher level, meaning I'll be able to play with a club / in a league having at most level 3. - After 6 years of career I'll have permission to play with a club in a league having at most level 4. - After 9 years of career I'll have permission to play with a club / in a league having at most level 5. - After 12 years of career I'll have permission to play with a club / in a league having at most level 6. - I'm not allow to play with a level 7 club. So my first club will have to be a level 1 club, so in other words, it will have to be a 2nd league club in Tajikistan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Mongolia or East Timor. ****************************** I started my career in December 2019 : However, in December 2019 almost all clubs in the 5 "allowed" leagues did not have managers. I could have applied to about 80 clubs. Way too many. The game need some time to "hire" managers for the more than 1,000 clubs in the database. So, I decided to wait, that is, to go on vacation until January 1, 2021. Lol, I'm a slightly better manager now, and that's without doing anything specific. Some of my attributes increased just because I was on holiday. It seems like a very interesting method to improve my professional skills, but still, I don't think I'll propose it to my real life boss ... ****************************** I was wanting to get hired as soon as possible, which is why I immediately applied to all clubs available in leagues in which the season will start in the next 2-3 months (Myanmar 2, Cambodia 2 and East Timor 2) : I was immediately offered an interview, I introduced myself, we talked ... and I was hired : So, the 2nd league in East Timor. The league with the lowest possible reputation. ****************************** Some details about East Timor. It is a country in Southeast Asia, somewhere north of Australia. As size, it's very similar to Northern Ireland (15,000 km2, 1.8 million inhabitants). There are two official languages: Portuguese and a local language, called Tetum (which was strongly influenced by Portuguese). As a consequence, players' names are similar with many usual Portuguese names, which is a bit surprising in a country located, however, on the other side of the world. The capital of the country is called Dili and, at national level, it's a very important city ... at least from the point of view of football, most of the clubs in East Timor being located in Dili or in the neighboring localities. East Timor map - regional East Timor map - national ****************************** Football in East Timor. The competitional level is - of course - very low. There are no professional clubs, the national champion being a semi-pro club. Almost all clubs in the 2nd league (including "my" club, FC Nagarjo Dili) are amateur clubs. International performance? Does not exist. In fact, East Timor represents for Asian football what Andorra or Gibraltar represents for European football. The Portuguese influence is obvious. There are clubs called "Boavista", "Benfica", "Academica" ... and even "FC Porto". My club, FC Nagarjo, is (in terms of reputation) the 15th club in the country, which, of course, does not mean much. In the 2020 season Nagarjo managed to position in 3rd place in the 2nd league table, which means that there is some potential, at least to try for a possible promotion. ****************************** As I said, FC Nagarjo is an amateur club. It doesn't have its own stadium and plays on the municipal stadium in Dili, a stadium used by 9 other clubs (!!!). Club's facilities are, of course, extremely limited. ****************************** Club's finances? It's an amateur club, so expenses (and income) are extremely low. Basically, this aspect can be ignored. ****************************** The board would be satisfied with a position in the first half of the table. Personally, I would be satisfied with just a little more than that. In media prediction we're practically considered a mid-table team. We'll see ... ****************************** Rules. We can bring in a maximum of 3 foreign players ... but it's hard to believe that "our great financial strength" could attract even one. A maximum of 27 players can be registered (why 27 and not 30 ? Or 25 ?). But the most unpleasant aspect is related to the very small number of games. The championship will end after only 11 rounds, so there will be quite long periods in which we'll not play any official match. ****************************** As for the backroom staff ... we have. All its members are amateurs (including me, of course). But, in fact, we have everything I need. Assistant manager ... I have. HOYD ... we have. Goalkeeping coach, fitness coach, physio, scout ... we have. I dont't need more ... for now. ****************************** We can register up to 27 players. In the senior squad we have 23, but about 7-8 of them seem (at first sight) not to deserve a place in the squad. In the under21 squad we have at least 5 pretty good youngsters ... but they are not enough to strenghten the first team. I will try to bring some players, although I do not imagine I'll find very good players willing to come to us. In any case, the very low level of the league suggests me to pay attention to physical abilities as they are the most important at this level. Also I will not ignore some important mental aspects (and first of all determination and workrate). Low team cohesion. It's good that it's just that. I hope it can be solved quickly with some friendly matches and specific training. ****************************** The league will start in March and end in July. There will be a two-month break, then the cup games will begin. The cup will end in November, after which another break will follow until March 2022. Of course, no one guarantees that I won't be fired in the meantime, but if I somehow keep my job ... I already have a problem. The season is way too short, and a newbie manager wants as more games as possible. So, if I am not fired, I'll probably look for another club at the end of the league, regardless of whether the performances achieved with FC Nagarjo would be good enough or not. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHurlz Posted July 22, 2021 Share Posted July 22, 2021 (edited) East Timor! I like this save, good luck mate. Are any of your players real or all newgens? Edited July 22, 2021 by LHurlz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted July 22, 2021 Author Share Posted July 22, 2021 Thanks. Only two of them (Jorje Alves and Marcos Gusmao) are real players. In fact, most East Timor clubs have only 1, 2 or 3 real players. Only the strongest 3 clubs (Boavista, Assalam and Lanelok United) have 15 or more real players in their squads. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted July 25, 2021 Author Share Posted July 25, 2021 February (and early March) 2021 ***** Youth intake preview. For now, this review it's a irrelevant. After all, who is FC Nagarjo? An amateur club whose reputation is similar to that of a club that plays in the 10th English League. Moreover, East Timor's national youth rating is 4 times lower than England's, which means that a club in the English 10th league will produce better youngsters than a club in East Timor having the same reputation. (by the way, I use Daveincid's megapack, and the national rating is lower than that default in the game). So ... what will the next intake be like ? Probably interesting, but not out of the ordinary. I'll see ... *************** Transfers. We brought in only one new player. It's true, a very good player, in fact the only really good player who agreed to come to our club. Being an amateur club we could not offer him anything, but the guy was really willing to come to us because his former team (FC Santa Cruz) had just relegated from the 2nd league last season. *************** Initially I set out to rely on players who have good or very good physical characteristics. Unfortunately, I have very few such players ... and the ones I have are weak in terms of the other important attributes. I don't think would be useful a player who has a good stamina and strength ... but extremely low determination and work rate. Finally I gave up major changes and I relied on the squad I found here, to which was added the newcomer Amora and 5 youngsters from under21 team. The team is based on 6 players who stand out in terms of quality: Gali, Gusmao, Ricardo, Amora, Alves, Golias. Unfortunately, 3 of the 6 are only 17 years old. Another problem: I have a lot of strikers in the team ... but I don’t have enough central midfielders. Which means I could use the 4-4-2 configuration, although, I admit, it's risky, because my wide midfielders don't seem to be good enough. The best 5 players I've found here ... and Joao Amora, the 6th very good player Under21 squad *************** Friendlies. We played a lot of games, no less than 10. We needed these games to check how is working the 4-4-2 configuration and to improve the team cohesion and morale. Surprisingly, we won 2 of the 3 games played against some 1st league teams (Benfica, Kablaki FC and Dili FC) ... but these were only friendly matches. League games will obviously be much more difficult. ****************************** March 2021 ***** Wow ! Nice start of the season ! 6 points out of 6 and 8 goals scored in two games. I haven't been able to improve cohesion as I would have liked ... but it seems to be good enough. The team is playing very well anyway. ****************************** April 2021 ***** Shi ... sorry. I shouldn't have been so optimistic. We played poorly and it's no surprising we lost both games. I don't like "short" competitions at all. A few defeats can turn a (possible) good season into a catastrophic one. Unfortunately, we only play 11 matches in the league ... and 4 of them have already been played. ***** That's not well at all. Cohesion was being mediocre anyway, now even the atmosphere is not as it should be. I'll try to find opponents willing to play some friendly games. We have enough time, in the next 9 weeks we'll play only two league matches ... ****************************** May and June 2021 ***** We didn't play much better ... but we got 4 points. We're lucky. We're not a very good team ... but our opponents aren't very good. If we'll be able to to win the next two games we have a very good chance to fight for promotion. That's better ... ****************************** July 2021 ***** 6 points, but in the first game we were extremely lucky. To be honest, during this game there were at least 5 cases in which our opponents preferred to shoot from a difficult angle instead of trying a pass to a teammate who was being unmarked in our box ... ***** A very important game, AS Ponta Leste being our main opponent for promotion. ***** Lol. We lost against the weakest team in the league, a team that in the previous 9 games had gained only 3 points and had not defeated anyone .... It's very clear now. If two teams have the same number of points the ranking is based on goal difference. To promote 100% we need to win the last game. We can also promote with a draw, but provided that the YMCA wins the maximum one goal difference. Or provided that Ultramar does not win. Last round schedule ***** YES ! We did it ! ***** Of course, we were very lucky. We are no better than the teams that missed the promotion. We were just luckier than them. ***** *************** Players' stats. We have two very good youngsters in our team. Both were called in the U19 national team, and Gali (the goalkeeper) is a regular starter there. ***** Like I said, we haven't been the best team in the league. Our attack worked quite well, but the defense was pretty weak. Fortunately for us, our goalkeeper is very good ... and opposing strikers missed quite a lot of clear chances to score. ****************************** ****************************** Everything is good and beautiful ... but I have a problem. The rules. At the beginning of this career I set some rules ... and one of those rules is ... Quote - After 3 years of career I'll have permission to play at a higher level, meaning I'll be able to play with a club / in a league having at most level 3. What is the level of the first league in East Timor? Level 3, this league being on the 75th place in the ranking of Asian leagues. What this means? That I'll leave FC Nagarjo before this team plays in the 1st league, that is, before February, 2022. To be honest, I would have looked for another team anyway. As I said in a previous post, the first round of the league is in February (at the end of the month) and the last round in July. There is also the national cup, which takes place in October. So there are 5 and a half months out of 12 in which no match is played. Such a league that offers very few games is interesting in the short term, but not in the long term. What options do I have? Until January 1, 2024 I'll only play in the "level 1 and 2" leagues, which means (sorted by the month they start) Myanmar 2 (January), Nepal 2 (January), Bangladesh 2 (February), Macau 2 (February), East Timor 2 (February, I've already played here), Cambodia 2 (March), Singapore 2 (March), Kyrgyzstan 2 (April), Mongolia 2 (April), Tajikistan 2 (May), Lebanon 2 (September), Oman 2 (September) and Sri Lanka 2 (October). We are already in August, so at the moment I have only two options: Lebanon 2 and Oman 2. I'll apply to clubs in these two countries. *************** I applied. It was about 3 clubs and all those three clubs informed me I had not reached their shortlist or, in other words, they were not interested in my services. That's it. Now I have only one option : to try to get a qualification (license), so to follow the coaching course. I wasn't sure the Nagarjo board would accept my course ... but they accepted (yay !) : *************** I didn't know if a possible resignation would mean the cancellation of my coaching course, so I refrained from applying to other clubs. I was going to wait quite a while (4 months) ... but it was worth. In the meantime, I still had something to do in Nagarjo. The "12 de Novembre" cup (national cup) was to take place in October, so I had to prepare the team for this competition. ... We played two friendly matches ... then I calmed down. I would have been stressed in vain because in the draw our opponent was going to be Boavista FC, that is the champion of East Timor in the 2020 and 2021. Our chances of qualifying? Almost zero. And to make it as difficult as possible, our best players (goalkeeper Gali and striker Golias) were called up to the U19 national team exactly when we were going to play against Boavista. ***** "12 Novembre" cup, 2nd round : That's it, at least we tried ... ***** That's good for them ... ... but I'm not interested in a new contract. ************************* January 2022 At 8.53 I was informed that I had got the "National C" license ... And 7 minutes later, of course, I resigned. ****************************** On the same day I started looking for a new job. I would have been interested in a job at a club that would play in a league that would start in the coming weeks, so I applied to the 2 clubs in Nepal and the 7 clubs in Bangladesh. Clubs looking for a new manager First job interview offer received : Only 4 days were enough to reach the signing of the contract. My new club : Pulchowk SC Lalitpur, from Nepal. ************************************************** ************************************************** And a review of the various competitions that ended in 2021 (or even 2020 in the case of some continental competitions) National competitions - Western Asia National competitions - Central and Southern Asia National competitions - South Eastern Asia National competitions - Eastern Asia Continental competitions - clubs Continental competitions - national teams ************************************************** 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koetzer Posted July 25, 2021 Share Posted July 25, 2021 Bhutan league looks insane, 4 relegated teams from 8? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted July 26, 2021 Share Posted July 26, 2021 Mate, I adore your effort and dedication! Keep up the good work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted July 27, 2021 Author Share Posted July 27, 2021 Thanks. ***** So ... Nepal. First, some details about this country. It's located between China and India and the map suggests it is a relatively small country but this impression is caused by the fact that it borders with two very large countries. However, Nepal it's not a small country. Its area is exactly as large as cumulated area of England + Wales and its population is quite large (almost 30 million inhabitants). Of course, the best known aspect about Nepal refers to extremely high mountains that are located in this country. 8 of the highest mountains on earth are in Nepal, and 5 of them are less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the country's capital, Kathmandu. I was referring to Kathmandu. In ancient times Kathmandu, Patan (the old name of the present city of Lalitpur) and several other smaller localities were separated. Now, however, all these towns are part of an urban agglomeration, practically forming a large city. This urban agglomeration is crossed by a river called Bagmati, the streets north of Bagmati being part of Kathmandu and the streets south of Bagmati being part of Lalitpur. Regarding Nepalese football, over three quarters of clubs in this country are located in Kathmandu-Lalitpur area and nearby localities. ****************************** And now, back to my virtual career. I was hired by a club called Pulchowk SC. A semi-professional club based in Lalitpur, but playing in a stadium in Kathmandu. The stadium is quite large (8000 places) but the attendance will be low (in the previous season the average attendance was only 124 per match). As for the facilities ... they are minimal. Anyway, I wasn't expecting anything else, I was hired by a small semi-professional club. *************** How small is this club? Well ... it has the lowest reputation of all clubs that play in the first and second Nepalese leagues. And there are at least about 10 other clubs in the lower (regional) leagues that have a higher reputation than ours. But compared to the reputation of my former club, FC Nagarjo Dili? Well, Nagarjo has a higher reputation. In fact, from this point of view Nagarjo would be one of the top 12 Nepalese clubs. *************** Last season Pulchowk was not a top team at all. In fact, they hardly avoided relegation to the regional league after they managed to get only 6 points (and only one win) in the 11 games played : *************** Our board seem to be aware of the current situation, which is why they only asked to be achieved a not very ambitious objective : "fight bravely against relegation". The media prediction surprised me a little. We are not the main favorite for relegation, which means we have better players than I would have expected. Of course, our players are not as good as those of that teams that fight for promotion ... but it seems we have a mid-table team or, in the worst case, a "top 10 places" team. *************** Rules of the Nepalese 2nd league are quite similar to those of the 2nd league in East Timor. The 12 teams will play only 11 games (one round) and the winner will promote to the first league. We can use a maximum of 3 foreign players, but this rule is useless in the 2nd league, especially for a semi-pro club. The maximum number of players to be registered is higher here (35 players in the Nepalese league compared to only 27 in the East Timorese league) *************** Club finances. It's not a very important aspect because we have very little money and, of course, due to our very low reputation we can't attract good players. At best, perhaps, I could improve our backroom staff a little. *************** The staff is quite complete, except that I don't have an assistant manager. I searched, but I haven't found anyone willing to come to our club. After all, it doesn't even matter. I asked our HOYD to pretend to be assistant manager and he agreed. He's as good as any other assistant I could find. *************** We have two squads (seniors and under18) ... and a total of 46 players (excluding the gray ones). Unfortunately the qualitative level of these players seems to be pretty low. Even the best players (those that my HOYD considers to be "3-5 stars CA and 4-5 stars PA") seem to have a way too low level in terms of some important attributes. Our best players : *************** However, the team report is quite encouraging. It is obvious, although we don't have very good players overall, we have some players good enough to be able to fight for a mid-table position. *************** So ... what do I usually do? I analyze the squad(s), decide which players I'll keep and what kind of players would be needed. After that we play a few friendly matches (to improve the team morale and to check tactical configurations) and so on. But can I do that now ? No, because the championship has already begun. The first round was played two days before I was hired and the second round is scheduled exactly the day after my arrival at the club. I don't have time for analysis, friendly games and improvements. Worse, the period in which the 35 players can be registered ends in just 4 days, ie on January 29. So, I have to move very fast ... *************** First ... what to do with the squad ? I have a few players that our HOYD (who pretends to be an assistant manager) considers "surplus of requirements". I should believe him ? Or i shouldn't believe him? Given his impressive abilities (judging current ability 3, judging potential ability 2, tactical knowledge 2) I am rather skeptical. However, I have no choice. I'll believe him. The consequence of this (perhaps excessive) trust : I immediately released 9 of these players who didn't have enough "stars". Then ... do I need some additional players ? I would need, but I don't have enough time to bring them. And, besides, why I should be stressed ? We have some very good youngsters at under18 squad. At least 5 of them seem to be good enough to be part of the senior squad. The atmosphere is not very encouraging. At all. Players do not trust their new manager and, for various reasons, it seems that they even don't trust each other .... or don't like each other. I don't even need to talk about cohesion anymore. Yes, it's not extremely low ... but it's far from that level at should be. One last question ... which is by no means the least important : how should we play? What tactical configuration should I use ? Since some of our best players are strikers ... obviously, I'll have to use 2 strikers. Then, because we have only two quality defenders, it is clear we'll allow many goals. A possible solution ? We could play more offensive trying to score as much as possible. If we'll can, of course. ****************************** (End of) January 2022 ***** Wooooooow ! We scored seven goals ! Of course, I also noticed the fragility of our defense (including some huge goalkeeper mistakes) but it seems even our opponents have about the same defensive troubles. We could aim for a possible promotion? I don't know yet. ***** I have to forget about promotion. We don't have a team good enough for that. Anyway, we played pretty well even if we lost. ***** The first two games were interesting ... but a bit inconclusive. I still don't know what the real level of this team is. ****************************** February 2022 ***** Yes, in the first half both teams used goalkeepers. I can guarantee that, I saw those goalkeepers on the pitch. What ? They conceded 8 goals from 9 shots on target ? They probably remembered only when they got to dressing rooms about the purpose of their presence on the pitch ... Well, we won, 6-4. We didn't concede any goal(s) in the second half and, I have to admit, it can be said it was a very spectacular game: 3 - 0, 3 - 3, 4 - 3, 4 - 6. Like in tennis. Note : both defenses played (again) extremely bad. As usual. ***** Aren't there miracles ? A blatant lie ! There is ! Here, for example, is an impressive miracle : we didn't concede a goal !!! Moreover, 139 minutes have passed since the last goal we received. I would not have imagined such a thing could happen ! ***** We also played two friendlies. The second game was interesting because in the 50th minute the score was 3 - 0 (for us). In the next 40 minutes we conceded 4 goals from a lower league team. In the end, it doesn't matter, it was just a friendly match. On a different note, we are on the 5th place and the difference from the first place is only 3 points. There are only 6 rounds left to play, so ... but no, no chance for promotion. We have played until now against teams in 7th, 8th, 10th and 12th places. The next opponents will be more difficult and I don't think we'll be able to collect enough points for such a daring objective. ***** Cohesion has improved, but the championship will end before it reaches a good enough level. Well, "my" boys will benefit from a good cohesion on holiday. Sometimes a holiday really need this ... ****************************** March 2022 ***** If the game had ended 4 - 2 or 5 - 2 for of our opponents ... I wouldn't have been upset. They really deserved this score. My team played poorly and this time not only the defense but also midfielders made countless mistakes. Still, why did we win ? Because it's the first game in which we had an exceptional goalkeeper, because we have very good strikers ... and because our opponents' strikers missed incredibly. They had at least 5-6 clear cut chances to score ... and missed almost all of them. ***** Before the game I checked (as usual) the abilities of the best players of the opponents. I didn't even notice this striker. After all, in the last year and a half he had played 15 games and scored just one goal. It was far from a potential danger to us. L.K. Lama ... so, we played. And we lost (4 - 0) at home. Who scored all 4 goals? Exactly that striker that I thought is not a danger. It was probably the best match of his entire (past and future) career ... ***** There are 4 more games to play but it doesn't matter anymore. From now on we'll only play for fun. We can't relegate ... but we can't promote either. ***** Madhyapur Youth had managed until now only one win and 3 points out of 21 possible. It seemed to be an opponent easy to beat ... but, of course, they focused to the maximum, we focused "to the minimum" and, in the end, we were satisfied with an draw. ***** What can I say ? A spectacular game. 3 - 1, 3 - 4, 4 - 4, a goal disallowed for our opponents ... then 6 - 4 for us at the end of the game. ***** Well, the only goal we can still achieve would be a position in top 6, ie a position in the first half of the table. ****************************** April 2022 ***** The last 2 games. We lost the first one, although the team played really well. In the second game we achieved a very good performance because we defeated the best team of the league ... and we didn't even allowed our opponents to score. However, opponents had no reason to concentrate and played much weaker than usual. Anyway, a nice victory for us. ***** 6th place. A good enough place. Honestly, I would have liked more, but ... *************** Players' stats. We have some very good players, at least for the level of the Nepalese second league. Our best player, Shyam Gurung, does not have many qualities as a striker ... but he managed to score many goals. Probably the fact that from a physical point of view he is one of the best players in the squad helped him a lot. Shyam Gurung ***** In terms of attacking, we were the second best team in the league. In terms of defensive ... we were the 10th team in the league. On average, the 6th place, ie exactly our place in the final ranking. ***** The board are delighted. It's very good, because I wouldn't have wanted to leave the club "accompanied" by the fame of some extremely bad results. Looks like I did my job in a reasonable way. We didn't manage a promotion, but at least we managed to get some interesting results. ***** Youth intake, Pulchowk SC, 2022. A pretty good intake. Some players seem to be really interesting but, unfortunately, I won't have the opportunity to see them playing. ****************************** By the way, I forgot to include this in my previous post. Youth intake, FC Nagarjo, 2021 Nagarjo FC youth intake Nagarjo FC youth intake - best players ****************************** Now it's time for me to resign from Pulchowk SC and look for another club. Why ? Because the season in the Nepalese 2nd league starts in January and ends in April. Between two seasons there is a break that lasts no less than 8 months. Far too much for a manager who try to improve his professional skills. Where do I intend to go? I have to quote myself : Quote What options do I have? Until January 1, 2024 I'll only play in the "level 1 and 2" leagues, which means (sorted by the month they start) Myanmar 2 (January), Nepal 2 (January, I've already played here), Bangladesh 2 (February), Macau 2 (February), East Timor 2 (February, I've already played here), Cambodia 2 (March), Singapore 2 (March), Kyrgyzstan 2 (April), Mongolia 2 (April), Tajikistan 2 (May), Lebanon 2 (September), Oman 2 (September) and Sri Lanka 2 (October) We are already in April, so I have a choice between clubs from Kyrgyzstan 2, Mongolia 2 and Tajikistan 2. 3 weeks later. I haven't resigned yet because I have an idea. I applied to all available clubs but no one looked for me. Unfortunately I'll have to wait and, because I have nothing else to do, I decided to ask the board if they would not be willing to finance me a coaching course for the national B licence. They agreed ! ***** End of June. Nobody is still looking for me, although I did apply to a few other clubs. However, I think I should resign. I'm not sure if the coaching course continues after a resignation, but now I don't care. I only cared when it came to the National C license. I don't necessarily need a "B", so I can take a risk. ***** Good bye, friends ! It was a really nice experience ! ***** I still "study", even after resignation. That's good. But now I really have to find another club ... ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted July 31, 2021 Author Share Posted July 31, 2021 I applied for a few jobs. Some clubs on the list immediately told me they aren't interested to hire me ... but a few others accepted my application. List of jobs available in early July ***** ... and, after a few days, there were two clubs that even offered me a job interview : ***** After another 3 days I signed a contract : ****************************** So, Oman. A relatively large country (as large as Italy) but which, of course, is not very populated because a large part of the country's territory means desert. In Oman there is oil, of course, but not as much as in neighboring countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oatar). Almost a quarter of the country's population lives in the capital area (Muscat) and there are several other large cities (Seeb, Salalah, Sohar, Suwaiq, Ibri). Al Kamil Wal Wafi is not a town but a wilayat (province) and includes several small towns and villages, none of which having more than 5,000 inhabitants. Of course, all these towns and villages depend on local water sources, which are limited but are enough to maintain an urban lifestyle, parks, gardens ... and even a stadium. ***** The club that hired me is semi-professional and, of course, apart from a rather small stadium, it does not have some good facilities. In fact, this facilities are minimal. ***** Although the club is over 50 years old, the only more important performance is represented by the 3 consecutive seasons played in the second league. Then followed 6 seasons in the 3rd league ... and a new promotion in the 2021-22 season. The team is, therefore, a newly promoted ... and this aspect is very important because that newly promoted teams have (in FM) only a small number of non-grey players in their squad(s) ***** League specific rules are rather similar to the qualification system for the World Cup / European Championship. There are 3 groups of 5 or 6 teams, so these teams play 8 or 10 games each. The first two ranked in each of these 3 groups are qualified for a final tournament (promotion playoff) and those 6 qualified teams will play 10 games each. However, there is a problem: the group stage takes place from September to January, and the playoff takes place from January to April. In other words, a team that does not qualify for playoffs will not play any league (or cup) match from January until September. ***** And here we come to the first serious issue: transfers. When does the transfer window open ? On November 3. When does the championship start ? On September 16th. This means I'll play the first 4 games (out of a total of 8, we were distributed in that group composed of only 5 teams ) having at my disposal only players from the current squad. For those teams that played in this league last season this isn't a major issue. But for a newly promoted team ... it is. From other points of view, everything seems fine. A maximum of 30 players can be registered, foreign players are also allowed (I can ignore this for now) and a maximum of 12 players can sit on the bench (wow !) ***** The club's reputation is, of course, low. Nor can it be otherwise in the case of a club lacking notable performances and, in addition, newly promoted from the 3rd league. However, Al Kamil Wal Wafi SC does not have an extremely low reputation in the game. By comparison, its reputation is better than that of my first club (Nagarjo FC) and much better than that of my second club (Pulchowk SC). Al Kamil Wal Wafi SC vs Nagarjo FC ***** Media prediction: obviously, no one (not even me !) believes in a possible qualification of this team for playoff promotion. ***** The game (FM) seems a bit confused. Probably because of the rather complicated system the game decided my objective should be "reach group stage". Unfortunately, we'll already be playing in that "group stage", so probably the objective is "be competitive" or something similar. ***** Club finances. Interesting. There is a budget, but it is extremely small. Only $ 14,750 per year. It seems enough, but ... only my salary "means" $ 2,400 spent from this small budget. ***** What was I saying ? We don't have players? Well, we really don’t have. Our squads are made up of 12 players ... and about 35 "ghosts", meaning gray newgens. ***** And now ... the staff. It's made up of countless coaches, assistants, scouts, physio ... uh, sorry, this is from another movie. So, being a newly promoted team, the game did not manage to bring us additional staff. There are only two people in the whole club: me and Mr. Chairman. Is there an issue ? Well ... there is, because the extra staff doesn't join us for free. And the entire budget is only $ 15,000 / year. In addition, we are not in Europe, there is no inflation of coaches and scouts here. We hardly managed to find a few people willing to fill the vacancies in the staff scheme. By the way, none of these new employees have a coaching license. ***** So how do I make up for the lack of players? I have to remind : until November 3 we can't transfer (register) any new players. And unregistered players cannot play. The only solution: offering contracts (month-to-month) for all that gray "ghosts". Surprise: "ghosts" are not exceptional players ... but they can be very useful, at least for now. Some of them even have some reasonable abilities ... The best 7 players of our senior squad : ***** And ... the second significant issue : we cannot play friendlies, except for matches against our own U21 and U18 teams : Why ? Simple, due to a setting in the pre-game editor : Reason There is no link between the club and a certain locality, so the game does not know which are the opponents that could be "assigned" to us for that friendly matches. Is it a mistake? Yes, mine, because I checked the database and did not identify this problem. Is the save "unplayable"? No way. It's even more challenging now. [As an idea, there are over 1400 clubs in the database. All major clubs and at least 98% of the "smallest" ones are set up correctly. I myself found only 6 errors and maybe I missed a few more, so it can be said the database is correctly configured and very "playable"] ***** So, we played some friendlies against our U21 and U18 teams. Both teams played much better than us (lol), so I hurried to select from these two teams all players who seemed to be good enough in order to strenghten our senior squad. ***** The cohesion of the team is low, but this is normal because we did not play enough friendlies and, in addition, I moved too many players to and from the senior squad. *************** I didn't necessarily need this license ... but if was possible to get it ... why not ? ****************************** September 2022. ***** We played two games, both in the cup. Surprisingly (at least for me), we won both of these games. Moreover, the team really played very well. ***** Two other games, this time both played in the league. We got 4 points. The beginning of this season was really good for us. Who knows, maybe ... ***** ****************************** October 2022 ***** Another cup match. We were eliminated from this competition but I'm very satisfied because our team got an exceptional result. Al Nasr is a very good first league team. Even in a dream I would not have thought that we could reach penalties in a match against them. ***** Unfortunately, our good run of form is almost over. In the two league games we played poorly and we weren't able to get even an only point. ***** Unfortunately, the two defeats created serious troubles for us. We still have a chance of climb to one of the first two places of the group table ... but this only if we can get 3 points (or at least two draws) in the next two games. ****************************** November 2022 ***** That's what I was waiting for ... ***** We brought in 12 new players, 10 of them being loaned from other clubs. It's risky, of course, because the team's cohesion was low anyway. It will be even worse now. But on the other hand, these newcomers are good players, better than the ones we already had. ***** We lost both games and now we have no chance (not even theoretical) to qualify for playoffs. At least we tried ... ***** There are two more games to play. I hope we'll not relegate, although ... ****************************** December 2022 - January 2023 ***** 6 points out of 6. Undeserved, because we were no better than our opponents. However, it doesn't matter. It's good that we didn't relegate, for a newly promoted club this is a pretty good performance. ***** We didn't qualify for playoffs, and that means I'll resign soon. I have no other choice ... **** Team stats. ******************** I quit ... ... and I started looking for another job. ***** Two months (and a half) later. I did not receive any offer. I'm still looking for a job ... ***** Yes ! Finally, someone oferred me an interview ! ***** ... and I signed a contract : ****************************** 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted August 5, 2021 Author Share Posted August 5, 2021 So ... Koh Kong Football Club. A semi-professional Cambodian club. ***** First of all, a few details about Cambodia. It's a country that, on the map, seems to be quite large, but which in reality has a smaller area than United Kingdom. Population: 16 million inhabitants, much less than neighboring countries, Thailand and Vietnam. The largest city (and the country's capital) is called Phnom Penh, and over two million people live here. There is another fairly large city (Siem Reap, 250,000 inhabitants), but the other major cities in the country are quite small (less than 100000 people each). The vast majority of the Cambodian population belongs to a people who call themselves "Khmers". For many hundreds of years the Khmer kingdom was extremely powerful, and at one point their capital (Angkor) was being one of the largest and most modern cities in the world. Cambodia is divided into 25 provinces. One of them, the largest in term of area, is called "Koh Kong" (literally: Kong Island) and is located in the west of the country, near the ocean. The capital of this province is a city officially called "Krong Khemara Phoumin" (Royal Khemara City), but usually called Khemarak. As in many other cases, the most important club located in the capital of a province was named after this province, so the local club is called "Koh Kong FC". ************************* Returning to my virtual career : as I said, Koh Kong FC is a semi-professional club. Its teams play on a stadium not very big (5000 places) but perfectly suitable for a club in the second league. (The stadium location is wrong, but this is detail that can be ignored). In terms of club facilities ... these are strictly basic . ***** The club has not achieved any notable performance in its history. Moreover, in the last 3 seasons, the senior team ranked 3 times in a row on the last place (10th) of the table. Fortunately, however, there is no relegation from this league. As can be seen, the season started before I was hired here. The team has already played 3 games and results achieved until now (two wins and one defeat) seem quite encouraging. ***** Rules for the second Cambodian league are not very restrictive. It's true, at least 10 players are required to be under the age of 21, but many of players I found at the club are very young anyway. In addition, one of these rules helps me a lot. The transfer window opens in May, so in just 3 weeks. I'll have plenty of time to look for and bring in some new players. As for the specific rules ... they seem pretty usual. 10 teams, each playing 18 games. Teams ranked on the first 4 places will qualify for the promotion playoff and the winner of this playoff will promote to the first league. However, the specific rules for the cup are much more unusual. Honestly, when I saw this I thought it's a bug : No, it's not a bug. There are two separate stages. The first is strictly regional: the best 8 teams in the country and another 9 teams selected on regional criteria will participate in the "regional cup". After that, all teams from the first league and the best 3 or 4 teams in the regional cup will participate in the "national cup". So, there are two separate trophies but, of course, the national cup is much more important. ***** Koh Kong FC reputation seems to be low, even very low. In fact, the reputation of all Cambodian clubs is low. My former club (Al Kamil Wal Wafi SC) was not at all a very powerful club ... but, nevertheless, the reputation of this club is only slightly lower than that of the best Cambodian clubs. Al Kamil Wal Wafi 1st league, 2022 season 2nd league, 2022 season ***** According to media prediction we're a very serious candidate for the 10th (last) place. Our board is also pessimistic. They asked me to "be competitive", which means they don't expect some very good results. We probably won't be able to achieve notable performances, but I still think that by bringing in some good players we could hope for a mid-table position. Club vision ***** Club finances. Well, that's the most shocking budget I've ever dealt with. $ 201 per month, which means a cumulative budget of $ 2,412 / year. A lot of money ... ***** Of course, the staff is made up of two people: Mr. Chairman ... and myself. I am not surprised. Unfortunately, this means we'll not have a full staff. In fact, we'll not have even a half of needed staff. A reasonably good coach (but without any coaching qualifications) wants $ 55-70 a month. A very good one asks for 120 or more, that is, more than half of our the budget. ***** Surprisingly, lists of available staff were quite large. There were dozens of assistants, coaches and scouts who - theoretically - could be hired. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them flatly refused to work for us on the grounds that "they do not want to be hired by a club that has such a low level". It is not about qualified staff, none of those contacted had a license, and some of them had extremely low attributes (at most 3). However, in the end I managed to convince a coach to sign a contract. This coach can be considered unlucky because he will have to work not only as a coach but also as an assistant manager and HOYD. I also found a scout, a physio and an assistant for the U21 team (but who flatly refused the "honor" of being my assistant manager) ***** We have over 40 players in the two squads. How good are these players ? It's hard to say. Our assistant (coach) thinks that about 12-15 of them would be quite good players and there would be a few other players whose potential is promising. In any case, there are positions where we only have one really good player, and if he will get injured or will prefer to sign for another club ... Our players don't have full contracts but only month-to-month and, with a cumulative budget of only $ 200 / month, I can't offer them anything that could convince them to stay with us. Best 8 players A specific detail : unlike Europe and America, in this region of the world the order of a person's names is reversed, his surname being always used first. Thus, the name of the last player in the U21 group list consists of "Ouk" (surname / family name) and "Theara" (given name). ***** Club atmosphere and managerial support are fine. Team cohesion, however ... is extremely weak. At first, I didn't understand why. I thought the previous manager (AI) brought a lot of players at the beginning of this season. He transferred three players, it's true, but the low cohesion is due to the fact the team did not play any game (not even a friendly game) between September 10, 2022 - March 27, 2023, ie for more than 6 months. ****************************** April 2023. The first two games were led by the previous manager, so my first game as a manager was the one played against Prey Veng FC. We got a very lucky draw (3 - 3), considering that we scored 3 goals even if we didn't create any clear cut chance. Anyway, it was a cup match, and at the moment I'm more interested in league games. ***** Wow, that's much better ! Of course, our opponents were surprised because we used a new tactical configuration. The team played surprisingly well even though their tactical familiarity is now quite low. ***** We got only a draw in these two games, but in the first game (a cup game) we met an extremely strong opponent, NagaWorld being current champions of Cambodia. It's true, they probably didn't use the best players they have, but even so, the opponent was very difficult for us. ***** It's not bad at all. In the last 5 games we got 2 wins and two draws, which is more than I expected. However, there is still a long time until the end of the season and anything can happen ... ****************************** May 2023 ***** As I said, anything can happen. Even to be defeated on (our own stadium) by one of the weakest teams in the league. We conceded 5 goals from only 7 shots on target and 1.8 xG. We urgently need one or two better defenders. ***** We got two very lucky wins. At best we would have deserved one or two draws. It seems the tactical configuration we use has some weaknesses. In the next games I'll try to use a more offensive configuration (4-4-2), it might be more effective. ***** A failed experiment. The strength of our attack is even lower in a 4-4-2 configuration. I'll return to 4-4-1-1 ... ***** Only 2 wins from 6 games played. We're still a pretty weak team, so I'm not surprised. However, we did very well in the cup, but probably also because our opponents didn't take us seriously. ****************************** June 2023 (the first few days). ***** The transfer window has closed. We brought 7 new players, 6 of them being very good players. Under 21 squad ***** I tried to improve the cohesion and I even partially succeeded ... but the newcomers canceled this improvement. We'll need a few more weeks for cohesion to become acceptable again. Unfortunately, now even the atmosphere is worse because the last two defeats have seriously affected our players' morale. ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted August 8, 2021 Author Share Posted August 8, 2021 June 2023 ***** During June we played 3 games. The first was a cup match, more precisely the 6th (and last) match in Regional Cup groups. We lost, but I didn’t expect a better result because we played against NagaWorld (champions of Cambodia in 2022). However, we won the next two matches (both being league matches). It's true, we were lucky because we scored 7 times out of only 13 shots on target and 4.1 xG. ***** In the league table we are on the 3rd place and we have good chances to qualify for the promotion playoff. In the regional cup we qualified for quarterfinals, but here some additional clarifications may be needed. ***** In real life, teams participating in the Regional Cup are designated according to a very complicated system. In FM it is very difficult (maybe even impossible) to replicate this system, which is why a simplified system was used. Basically, for the Cup groups, the national champion, the 10 teams from the 2nd league and another 6 teams from the lower leagues (the ones with the best reputation) are qualified. From this point of view, the Regional Cup is a kind of "Lower Leagues Cup" but in which the national champion also participates. The 17 teams are divided into 5 groups (2 of 4 teams and 3 of 3 teams each), winners of these 5 groups and the best 3 teams ranked on the second places being qualified for quarterfinals. We were unlucky because the national champion played in our group ... but we were also very lucky because, although we lost the last game, we got enough points to be one of the 3 teams ranked 2nd qualified for the next round. For quarterfinals are qualified 4 teams from the 2nd league, 3 teams from the lower leagues ... and, of course, the champion. So, we have good chances to advance quite a lot in this competition, maybe even to play in its final. ****************************** July 2023 ***** We played in the Cup quarter-finals against Siem Reap Angkor FC and we qualified quite easily (4 - 0, 1 - 0). Unfortunately we did not manage to win the 3rd game (a league game), although the opponent was quite accessible (the U21 team of vice-champions Phnom Penh Crown) ***** We lost (0 - 1) the first leg of the Cup semifinals ... but we got 3 very important points in the second game. ***** We qualified for the Regional Cup final. And we got 3 more points, which allowed us to climb to 2nd place in the league table. ***** There are 4 more rounds to play in the championship and we are already almost qualified for the promotion playoff. We need 4 more points, or even less because it's hard to believe that one of teams in 6th or 7th place could win in 4 consecutive games. In addition, the Crown FC's U21 team is not allowed to qualify and participate in these playoffs ****************************** August 2023 ***** We lost the Regional Cup final (0-1 against NagaWorld). Too bad, our boys played very well. They played just as well in the next two games (one being a league match and the other being the first leg of the National Cup 1st round), but in both matches we had bad luck and, in the end, we only got 2 draws. Great ! We qualified for the promotion playoff. And, in addition, we qualified - surprising, at least for me - for the Cup quarter-finals. ***** It happens quite often in FM : in the last rounds of the league, the team managed by a human player have to play against the teams ranked in the first places. So it is in this case : we'll play in the next round against the team placed 3rd, and in the last round we'll meet the team placed 1st. Of course, the difference of 6 points between us and the 1st place team is difficult to recover. But ... anything is possible. In theory, the National Cup is a more difficult competition than the Regional Cup, because in the first case all 13 teams from the first league participate, and in the second case only one team from the first league participates. However, something surprising happened : all 3 lower league(s) teams easily qualified for quarter-finals even if their opponents were 1st league teams. ****************************** September 2023 ***** lol. We defeated the 3rd placed team and in the last round we could even win the title if we'll win the match that we'll play right against the team ranked first (Prey Veng FC, which surprisingly lost in this round). There is, however, one condition: because we lost (0 - 2) the first game played against them, we cannot rank first unless we defeat them 2 - 0 or 3 - 1 or 4 - 2 ... or at a higher goal difference. ***** National Cup, quarter-finals, 1st leg. For unclear reasons, almost all 1st league teams played poorly or very poorly in this competition. At least until now. So, we, a 2nd league team, easily won the first leg. It remains to be seen what will happen in the second leg. ***** The decisive match for designating the winner of the second league. We needed an at least two goals difference win. We weren't lucky ... That's it, even the 2nd place is good enough. ***** ***** So, promotion playoffs. I thought they are played in a more usual system (4th place vs 1st place and 3rd place vs 2nd place). It's not really like that. In fact, teams ranked 3rd and 4th will play in "quarterfinals". Winner will play against us in "semifinals". And, if we'll win this game, we'll play the final against the winner of the second league (that is, against that guys we beat only 3-2 a few days ago). The team which win this match will promote to the first league. Each round is played in a "single match" system, so we need some luck. ****************************** October - November 2023 ***** We played the big playoff semifinals game. And we lost it. Honestly, I didn't expect to lose it, but ... that's it, I have nothing to do. Unfortunately my team played very poorly. ***** National cup quarter-finals, 2nd leg. Our opponents shot on taget just once ... and, of course, they scored. We dominated quite clearly in the remaining 80 minutes of play but we failed to score. Fortunately, we qualified in the end ... but only because we were lucky on penalties. ***** We were lucky not only on penalties but also on the drawing. Two of the other 3 teams qualified for semifinals was 1st league teams. The third was a lower league team. There were 2 chances out of 3 to meet a strong opponent ... but we'll meet the weakest opponent. So .... I hope they are weak, it has often happened that these "small" teams to be difficult to defeat. ***** Everything is fine, we qualified for the final. ***** Who were our opponents in the final? A second league team, and not just any team, but exactly Tbong Kmum FC Suong, that is, those who defeated us in the promotion playoff semifinals. Now, in the final, they haven't played so well. Or maybe we haven't played so poorly either. We needed penalties again (and some good luck) ... but in the end we won. ***** *************** Players' stats. Of course, these player's names don't say much. We had two efficient strikers (one of them, Veasna Ouch played very well also as a right midfielder) and one of our central defenders (Visal Khek) is probably the best defender in the second league. However, there is a player who surprised me because, although he played very well and was our best midfielder, he rarely received a high rating. I mean to defensive midfielder Mol Ouv. ***** Teams' stats. We weren't the best team in the league. It can be said that our level was "a 3rd or 4th places team". What helped us was the fact we played very well at end of the season. *************** Since the system is quite complicated (two cups, to which are added the regular season and the promotion playoff), I will create a short summary. So, we ranked 2nd in the regular season. We were eliminated in the promotion playoff semifinals, we lost the Regional Cup final and, surprisingly, we won the National Cup final. Honestly, I didn't expect to win exactly that competition which (apart from the first league) had the best reputation in the country. *************** Youth intake. We received a group of pretty good players, at least for a club that plays in the second Camodgian league. Of course, compared to other countries (even in the Southeast Asia region) their level is - however - low. *************** As expected, the club offered me a new contract. I did not accept, of course, even if the board insisted. Why didn't I accept ? Because the first Cambodian league is a "level 4 league" and I can't manage any "level 4" club until January 2027. In fact, only from January 2024 I'll be able to manage "level 5" clubs. This means if I would promote with Koh Kong FC, I should resign. But I'll resign even if I did not promote because now my only goal is to gain experience in different countries ... and to complete my CV. ****************************** A brief overview of national and continantal competitions in Asia : National competitions, West Asia, 2021 - 2023 National competitions, Central and South Asia, 2021 - 2023 National competitions, South East Asia, 2022 - 2023 National competition, East Asia, 2022 - 2023 Continental competitions, 2022 - 2023 ****************************** December 2023 ***** December 1st. I quit. I'm sorry, it was a nice team. I will return to Cambodia sometime in the future. ***** ***** I have a lot of available options. However, for a start, I'll try to find a club whose team will play in a competition that will start in January or February 2024, ie a club from Myanmar (2nd league), Brunei (1st league), Bangladesh (2nd league), East Timor (1st league) or Macau (2nd league). I'll avoid competitions in which I have already managed a club (East Timor 2 and Nepal 2). ***** Wow, I received 3 job interview offers, all of them from clubs in Brunei ! It's good, I have a choice ... ABDB Army is a little too strong. BSR CF Panaga is newly promoted team, so I may have some troubles because their squads could have not enough players. The third possible option seems to be the most interesting ... And ... my new club : ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted August 11, 2021 Author Share Posted August 11, 2021 January 2024 ***** A country located in Southeast Asia. It borders Malaysia and, in size, is a relatively small country : its area is 3 times smaller than that of Northern Ireland. The population is not too large either, only 450,000 inhabitants, ie 4 times less than the number of Northern Ireland's inhabitants. The largest city (capital of the country) is called Bandar Seri Begawan and in this city live over one fifth of the country's inhabitants. The other cities (in fact towns) from this country are very small (at most 5000 people). Panchor Murai FC represents the locality called Panchor Murai. A very small town, in fact a village (only 500 inhabitants and a few dozen houses) located about 20 km (12 miles) west of the country's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. *************** And now, some details about the Panchor Murai FC virtual club. It's a semi-professional club. It does not have its own stadium and plays on one of stadiums located in the country's capital. This stadium is not very big (3000 places) but it is more than enough because usually team's games do not attract more than 300 people. Facilities available are, of course, extremely limited. *************** The club is not very old, it was founded only 15 years ago. In the first 6 years of its existence the team played in different lower leagues. In 2014 it promoted to the 2nd league (which is still the 2nd league, although it is called "Premier League") and in 2019 this team promoted to the first league. However, this promotion did not means a great performance as it was due to the increase of the first league number of participants from 10 to 16. From 2020 the team played only in the first league but its only performance is the yearly avoidance of relegation. Even in the national cup performances were not outstanding : the team was eliminated every time in the first round of this competition. (by the way, only those 16 teams from the first league are allowed to participate in the Brunei Cup) *************** Compared to the reputation of my previous club (Koh Kong FC), that of the Panchor Murai club is only slightly higher. Which means they both have a similar reputation to clubs that play in the 9th (or even 10th) English league. Regarding the reputation of all clubs that currently play in the first league in Brunei ... Panchor Murai FC is last on the list. *************** Average prediction depends on both the club’s reputation and the quality of that players who are part of its senior team. Our reputation is low and it seems our senior squad is not composed of really good players. *************** Board's requests seem to confirm the media prediction ... *************** Good cohesion. Good atmosphere. Confidence for the new manager ... extremely poor. I don't understand what's happens and why the trust is so low. The club's reputation is not very high and at my previous club I did not have this issue. It's probably something to do with the league's reputation (which, indeed, is significantly higher for the first Bruneian league). There may be other reasons, but I don't know what those are. *************** Club finances. The cumulative budget is $ 65,000 per year, much higher than that budget I had at my previous club. However, as Panchor Murai FC is a semi-professional club, players have month-to-month contracts and the only expenses are those related to various fees and bonuses. By the way, there are no professional clubs in Brunei. Even Indera (last season's champions) are semi-professionals and in their team only 6 players receive salaries. In fact, for us, a larger budget can only be useful in terms of backroom staff. *************** Backroom staff. We have director of football, technical director, performance analyst, recruitment analyst, loan manager. This is good. But we don’t have an assistant manager or a coach (except for the fitness coach), which means that I am the only one who trains players at the moment. I urgently need to find at least one additional coach. *************** Competition rules. General rules are similar to that in Europe : 16 teams, 30 games, the first two teams will qualify for continental competitions, the last two teams will be relegated to the 2nd league. In terms of transfers and registration ... 3 foreign players (we already have one), a maximum of 25 players can be registered (too few) and the transfer window is strange : it starts in April and ends in May, which means that after the 11th round of this season any change in the registered players' list will not be allowed. *************** Players. There are, and they are many. We have no less than 66 players in the two squads, of which 42 in the senior squad. Unfortunately, I'll only be able to register 25 players. I'll have to select 25 people and I have no idea how to do it. The simplest for me would be to evaluate players' attributes. I did it and I managed to find 8 good players. The others have various characteristics I don't like. I can't ask the assistant because I don't have an assistant. For now, our HOYD is distributed in the assistant role but his skills in terms of JCA and JPA are not good at all. In the end, though, I'll probably believe him. I have no other choice. ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted August 15, 2021 Author Share Posted August 15, 2021 (edited) January 2024 ***** The day after our players returned from holiday. Team meeting. I was not too sure about players' reactions but I decided to take a risk : I suggested to them as our objective for this season "to avoid the relegation battle." In my opinion, it seemed a reasonable goal. In their opinion, my suggestion was almost an insult, being far too ambitious compared to what they thought would be a realistic goal. They only became a little more cooperative when I proposed to them the least ambitions objective in the list, that is, "trying to avoid relegation." ****************************** February 2024 ***** The day before the first league game. It was very difficult for me to choose the 25 players that can be registered. I'm not sure I made the best choices, but now I have nothing to do. I released 20 players, some because I didn't like their attributes and others because my assistant (actually our HOYD) thought they weren't good enough. I didn't bring in any new players because scout's reports weren't very encouraging and I wouldn't have room for additional players anyway. And so it was quite difficult for me to choose 25 players out of those 66 I had in the two squads. We have a "slightly below average" squad in all respects. I don't like that low stamina or that passing ... but for now that's it. Normally such a team could rank somewhere in the 8th to 10th place. Even a better ranking could be possible, but that remains to be seen. We need to play some games before I can assess the real potential of this team. U19 squad *************** Friendlies. We only played against some lower league teams. Results (and especially the defensive game) were not very satisfactory ... And I haven't yet found the best tactical configuration for these players. Players don't trust me at all. I tried to talk to them. They seem to be cooperative, but that has no effect on trust. I decided to praise them periodically (especially team leaders). I can't do it every week because some players are unhappy with the unhealthy amount of praises given, instead everything seems fine if I offer them a dose of praises every two weeks. *************** We played the first two games. We only got one point and, that's worse, we didn't play well at all. We have an excuse : both opponents are very strong, but this doesn't mean there's no need for some tactical improvements ... ****************************** March 2024 ***** 4 points out of 9. Something better. The 4-1-3-1-1 configuration seems to be the most suitable for these players. At least for now. ***** We played badly against Kuala Belait FT. We got a 2-2 but we didn't deserve that point. The second and the third game were a little better, but we got only one point. I still don't know what to believe. Some players have a good potential, but they don't play as I would have expected. ***** 7 points and, surprisingly, only 6 goals conceded. During the period of friendly games I was convinced that our big problem is related to defense. Now I find that the defense works very well ... but we have trouble with the midfield line, especially central midfielders (DM-CM-AM). I tried several role combinations but I didn't find one really good yet. Of course ! Now even the atmosphere has "reddened." Way too much red ... ****************************** April 2024 ***** In the first game I wanted to commit suicide. Of course, not in real life. In fact, I wanted to play very risky and aggressive and for this purpose I chose a configuration that I knew (4-4-2). We conceded 5 goals, so, it was a bad idea. In the second game I went back to 4-1-3-1-1 but we played so badly that I was happy when the match ended, even if we had just been defeated by a mediocre team. I continued experiments in the third game as well. We got a point, but only because we were very lucky. I should probably give up these experiments ... *************** Untong is not team leader but only one of the three "highly influential players" in the squad. But he has been leader until one month ago and if he is outraged then his teammates really trust him. So, I'm in trouble ... The second warning. I'm in big trouble ... *************** The season will be interrupted from April 13th to May 31st, so we have a chance to improve our morale by playing some friendly matches. Of course, all opponents are lower league teams only. We are in 15th place, the team's morale is low, team leaders do not trust me and my managerial job is "insecure". I really don’t like what’s happening ... ****************************** May 2024 ***** I decided: I have to be tough. Like a rock. After all, what did I lose ? Will I be fired? And ? I'll find another club to destr ... sorry, to manage. But before I leave, I can also fire some players, especially since they have month-to-month contracts and no compensation has to be paid. ***** So ... we have six leaders. The most outraged is Untong. He seriously bothers me. Another player that bothers me is Ahmad Saudian, our number one striker. He played 7 league games, did not score any goal, did not offer any assist, and in friendlies he missed from almost all possible positions. Guys, I have a surprise for you ... A gift from me ... *************** I fired two leaders and the team immediately revolted. Who's the leader of this riot ? Nigerian midfielder Ezeagu, who forgot he is 34 years old. He's - still - a good player ... but not really indispensable. I talked to the rebel group. I promised them I would do everything they want (by the way, I lied) and they were quite happy to hear that. ***** I'm sorry, man, but I feel stronger than Chuck Norris now. No one can stop me ... *************** Really ? Didn't anyone tell them who Chuck Norris is ? However, I would need Zakaria, he's the best goalkeeper we have ... ***** Desn't matter. I'll fire all players if needed ... *************** What the ... That's enough ! I can't kick Ali out. We have way too few right midfielders, and of those we have only Ali has played well enough until now. "All right, guys, if you really want me to leave ... I'll leave. Here's what we should do : I'll take care to not bother you too much ... and you'll take care to play some football from time to time". The meeting ended with the signing of a peace treaty between the two warring parties. *************** The transfer window closed. I was looking for a replacement for Ezeagu (I have to admit, he was a good player). I found an even better player, midfielder Haji Migrad. Unfortunately, I didn't find a good goalkeeper to replace Zakaria. Bad luck ... Haji Migrad *************** The only game played in May. We got a point. It's better than nothing. We played an official game and some friendlies. Our offensive starts to plays better now. Instead, the defensive plays worse. I no longer understand anything ... I don't understand what it's with these contrasting personalities ... but I don't care. They are free to be as contrasting as they want, provided they get better results. ****************************** June 2024 ***** Woooooow ! What a surprise, 7 points out of 9 ! Good job, guys ! ***** We climbed to 11th place. It's already a great performance, considering the poor start of this season. To be honest, I got bored of praising them, especially since no matter how much I praise them, it still doesn't work. They have probably realized those praises are not sincere at all. I think I'll take a break from this activity of intensive praising. *************** Don't expect much. All right, I won't expect much. However, I hope we'll get at least one or two reasonably good (i.e 3 stars or more PA) players. *************** I tried. I failed. No problem, I didn't expect anything else : ****************************** July 2024 ***** KBS is on the 1st place, Indera (last year's champion) is ranked on the 3rd place. We got a point, which is good enough for a small team like us. ***** Little by little, we move away from the relegation zone. I still hope we'll be able until at the end of the season to climb to a mid-table place. *************** Players' stats. Surprisingly, that striker who seemed to me the weakest in the squad (Zaini) proved to be the most effective. Sometimes player attributes can be really misleading. ***** Teams' stats. I should improve the offensive, but I have no way to do it. The transfer window will not open again until next winter. We could play more risky, but that would mean conceding more goals. I would also have the option to change the tactical configuration, but I am not at all sure this change will not have a lot of negative effects. *************** The board does not seem satisfied enough. However, I hope they'll refrain from firing me until the end of the season. ****************************** Edited August 15, 2021 by GreenTriangle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted August 19, 2021 Author Share Posted August 19, 2021 (edited) August 2024 ***** After countless efforts I managed to get quite good relations with almost all players. Sahrul Sabut is a "highly influential player", so he is a kind of team leader. Today Ali is an "influential player", so he is a vice leader. The others are just "other players", so, their opinion should not be extremely important. *************** Honestly, I was expecting an improvement ... but in the first two matches in July the team played extremely bad. ***** I changed the tactical configuration. Apparently the 4-4-2 configuration allows for better results, at least for now. We had some bad luck in the first game, but the second our team managed the best game of this season. We lost the third match but we didn't play bad at all. For now, even 4 points out of 9 is a pretty good achievement. ***** Obviously, we have no chance of getting a place in the middle of the table (7th to 10th places). Now our main concern should be to avoid relegation. It's not a very glorious objective, I aggree, but ... that's the situation now. Of course, I wouldn't be upset if towards the end of the season we'll manage - by a miracle - rank somewhere in the first 11 places. It would be the best performance got by this club' team during its entire history anyway. Atmosphere is a little better than at the end of the previous month. Managerial support is catastrophic, but I don't have any solution for this. It doesn't matter whether team leaders are tolerant of their manager. The other players don't want me. ****************************** September 2024 ***** We should have gotten at least one point in the game against Menglait because they are one of opponents involved in the relegation avoidance fight. We played well (really well !) and, of course, we lost. We also lost the next game but this time it was a deserved defeat, the opponent (Kasuka FC) being much better than us. Instead, we won (undeservedly, but luck helped us) the third game, the one played against another relegation opponent, Jerudong FC. ***** It's clear now. There are only 6 rounds to play, and only two teams remained involved in the fight to avoid relegation : us and Jerudong FC. Our schedule is a bit more difficult than theirs, but we have one more point than them and a slightly better goals difference. Come on, guys, now is not the time to worry about "contrasting personalities". We have more important things to do .... ****************************** October 2024 ***** Youth intake 2024. It's probably a pretty good generation, but it's hard to say how good it is. The overall level is very low and, anyway, none of our staff members have a "judging ability" higher than 4. Probably some of their assessments are incorrect. ***** That's i wanted. This match allows me a more objective evaluation. The "candidates" team clearly defeated our U19 team. Given this result, I decided : all these 16 players received at youth intake deserve a chance to play for Panchor Murai U19. *************** During October we played 3 games ... and we got (only) 3 points. The culmination is we got these 3 points in the only match in which our opponents tried to play offensive. In the other two games we met teams that came to defend (and counterattack) and we didn't manage to get close to their goal. If we had been a little luck, maybe we could've got an extra point. But we weren't lucky ... ***** We continue to have one more point than Jerudong FC. Unfortunately, the schedule does not favor us : we'll meet the team ranked 3rd (Wijaya FC), a mid-table team (Tabuan Muda FC) and the best team in Brunei (Indera SC). Nothing new ... ****************************** November 2024 ***** lol. We scored 6 goals on the stadium of the 3rd ranked team ! But they scored us 7 goals, of course ... Jerudong FC got a draw (2 - 2). I think they really want to see me fired. I have no idea why are they so hostile ... *************** Goodbye, first league, it was a pleasure to meet you ! Jerudong got another draw (congratulations to them !) ... and they buried us deeply in the second league. Of course, we still have a little theoretical chance to save us if we'll be able to get at least a draw in the last game (we'll against Indera, the most powerful Bruneian team). Let's be serious .... ***** Probably Mr. coach wants to joke. He's not funny at all. Not even 100 meetings can save us. ***** As expected ... ***** ***** I don't like what I see, but in the end even Mourinho was fired during his career. Why wouldn't I be ? I can do whatever he does ! ***** *************** Stats are not very interesting, of course, but I see no reason to ignore them. ****************************** So ... why did relegate the team I led ? I should blame some tactical configurations used ? Let's be serious. These configurations worked well for other teams/clubs. Moreover, they worked well for Panchor Murai FC U19 team (which was forced to use all configurations used by the senior team). The difference is that U19 team was an "average" team (in terms of players' quality), and the team's morale was always high enough. In fact, my big mistakes were not tactical but strategic. The way I organized this team was wrong even from the beginning. The way I approached the second half of the season was wrong. The fact I refused to use the "weapon" called "team meeting" was a mistake. But everything is fine as long as I'll use these mistakes to learn what I should avoid in the future. ****************************** The list of those clubs which are looking for a new manager is extremely long. But, of course, I can only apply to level 1, 2 or 3 clubs. And I'll especially look to apply to those clubs where the championship will start in the near future (ie in January or February, which means clubs playing in Myanmar 2, Banghadesh 2, Macau 2 or East Timor 1 leagues). [By the way, I forgot to select levels 1-3 before taking this screenshot. Sorry] List ****************************** I was fired on November 22nd. I applied on the same day ... and after only three days I received this offer : **** Four days later I signed the contract ... ***** So, my new club is .... Nay Pyi Taw FC. A club that just promoted this season to the Myanmar's second league. ****************************** Edited August 19, 2021 by GreenTriangle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted August 22, 2021 Author Share Posted August 22, 2021 So, Myanmar. A country also known as Burma or (in Latin countries) Birmania. In fact, the people of this country call it both Myanmar and Burma, the difference being that "Myanmar" is the official name and comes from the so-called "literary" language while Burma comes from the commonly used language. In the following, I will use terms "Myanmar" to refer to the country and "Burmese" to refer to its inhabitants. The country is located in Southeast Asia and, because it borders really big countries (China, India) it seems to be quite small. In reality, its surface is larger than that of France and about three times larger than that of United Kingdom. Also, its population is not small at all : almost 60 million people. Since most of the population is rural, there are not a lot of large cities. However, the largest city in the country, Yangon (formerly called Rangoon) has over 5 million inhabitants. There is another big city: Mandalay (former historical capital of the Burmese kingdom), a city where over 1.5 million people live. Next are 3 other cities that each have 300,000 inhabitants: Mawlamyine, Taunggyi and Naypyitaw. The latter city, Naypyitaw is the one where the Nay Pyi Taw Football Club is located. A few words about Naypyitaw. It is a city similar to Canberra or Brasilia, meaning a city built from scratch strictly in order to be the administrative capital of the state. The first buildings were erected in 2002 and construction was completed in 2012. It is, therefore, a very "young" city. Theoretically, 300,000 people live in this city, but practically many of those who live here come from other cities and will return to their hometowns when their employment contracts expire. The implication of this aspect? A football club located in such a city is not very likely to have a large number of fans. A few words about the name of the city. "Naypyitaw" was a traditional term used to designate the city where the Burmese king lives. When the king had his palace in Mandalay, this city was nicknamed "Naypiytaw" (meaning "abode of king" or "royal capital"). Now Myanmar is no longer a kingdom but the traditional name it's still used to designate the country's administrative capital. ***** Some details about Burmese football. Until 2009 been no professional football clubs in this country. In fact, in 2009 the 1st league consisted of 14 semi-professional clubs, most of which represented ministries or other state authorities. However, in the 2009-2011 period measures were taken to revive football in this country. In just 3 years, 15 new municipal clubs were founded and in 2010 most of these clubs formed a new fully professional league. (Nay Pyi Taw FC was one of these newly established clubs). Effects of these decisions : the continental performance of Burmese clubs has significantly improved, and in 2017 the national coefficient became high enough to allow the first participation of a club from Myanmar in the Asian Champions League. Of course, Burmese clubs still can't compete with really poweful Asian clubs ... but that's a good start. Does this aspect matter in an FM context? Yes, because due to these reasonably good results achieved by Burmese clubs in continental competitions, both the reputation of national leagues and the clubs' reputation are at a higher level than that of leagues / clubs in other countries where I played until now (East Timor, Nepal, Brunei, Cambodia) Continental competitions - club coefficients - season 2025 ***** Now about Nay Pyi Taw FC. Like I said, it’s a professional club. Unfortunately, although in the first years after its establishment it get really good performances, the club regressed, and in the last years it ended up playing in the regional league. It managed to (re)promote in the second league in 2024 but, although it has a fairly large budget (for this level) ... it does not have a stadium yet(*), nor facilities. (*) That's only in FM. In real life this team usually plays its games in a really large stadium (30,000 places) ***** As I said, this team played in the first league for a few years. It is not very clear what happened after 2017, but it is clear in recent seasons it has not participated in any of national leagues (1st or 2nd league) ***** Final standings of the two national leagues in Myanmar, season 2024 : ***** In terms of reputation, Nay Pyi Taw FC is practically the 10th club in the country. This surprisingly high reputation could be due (probably) to those 7 seasons played in the first league. *************** Rules. General rules are those commonly used in Europe. 8 teams will play 14 rounds, teams ranked 1st and 2nd will be promoted, and the team ranked 8th will be relegated. There is, however, a specific aspect: the championship is divided into two periods, the first 7 rounds being played from January to March, and the last 7 rounds in June and July. From mid-March until the end of May there is a break period, during which the National Cup takes place. This means a failure in the cup has as an effect a long period without official games played. Also, transfer windows are quite strangely distributed over time. The winter one will end 3 weeks before the start of the championship, and the summer one will start at the end of the championship, more precisely after the 10th round. *************** Media prediction. We are considered to be the main favorite for promotion. Not surprisingly, we have a very high club reputation and most of our players are really good ... at least for the second league level. ***** Board's requests are not surprising either. We have to win the competition and, implicitly, to promote in the first league. An achievable objective ... but one that can bring me an immediate dismissal in case I'll fail to turn 20 good players into a competitive team. *************** Senior squad. We have 21 players (and another one in the U19 team), and of these no less than 8 of them have played in the first league during their career. One of them (Z.L Htet) even played a few games for the national team. From this point of view it can be said we have a good squad. However, there are some problems : The general level of certain important characteristics and skills (balance, teamwork, work rate, passing, technique, tackling) is quite low. I'm not sure how much this combination of low attributes will affect the team's play. Another aspect: 6 of the best 8 players we have play in the defensive compartment (goalkeeper or defenders). Moreover, the 7th is ... defensive midfielder. So I don’t know how well our attack will work. Finally, a possible serious issue : for financial reasons only 12 of the 22 players have full contracts. The other 10 (of which at least 4 are really good players) are paid from month to month. Which means I can easily give up on any of them ... but also means they can leave us at any time if they are unhappy. *************** Managerial support is, as usual, very poor. My previous experience at Panchor Murai suggests I have to pay attention to this, as a very low confidence may result in extremely poor results. I've already started the praising campaign (especially team leaders, but not only). I hope it'll works. *************** The whole staff is made up of two people : the Chairman ... and me. Of course, I'll have to look for coaches and scouts, but in the first days I discovered it will be a difficult task. Why ? Because salary demands of these coaches and scouts I contacted are high ... and our budget is limited. Of course, I can ignore these limits, but I cannot ignore the progressive reduction of salarial levels allowed by the board. *************** Our cumulative budget ($ 225,000 per year) is, by comparison, quite large for a Burmese second league club. From this point of view we have one of the highest 3 budgets in the league. However, this budget is insufficient because we are a professional club and a player's salary cannot be less than 6000 dollars / year. But good players (especially those who played in the first league) can ask for $ 15,000 or more. ****************************** January 2025 ***** I said we needed coaches and scouts and I tried to offer contracts to some of those I had on the list of "realistic options". That's the salary required by a pretty mediocre scout (JCA 2, JPA 2) : But this scout even didn't ask for a really high salary. Others asked for more higher salaries, reaching up to 1800 per month for an assistant manager. Unfortunately we can offer a maximum of 250 to a scout and a maximum of 750 to an assistant manager. I had no choice but to place adverts for each job (assistant manager, other coaches, physio, scouts) and wait. It took 19 days to find a coach. He's not a very good coach, but I would have hired even a completely incompetent coach because without this coach I couldn't get the strictly necessary information about our players. It took another 12 days to find a scout ... and that's how we managed to receive the first useful information about potential transferable players only on January 2nd. But ... the transfer window was going to close on January 5 ... By the way, because the newly hired scout is not Burmese but Bhutanese his knowledge of Burmese players is very limited. As a result, most of his proposals referred to players from Bhutan. Players from Bhutan are, comparatively speaking, no so good as the ones from Myanmar ... but I had no choice. We really needed a right defender because out of the 22 players we had in our squad, only one could play in this position. So, we transferred the best Bhutanese right defender I could find ... The 22 players we registered immediately after the transfer window closed : U19 squad : a mediocre youngster and 16 other "gray" players *************** Staff list : 3 people from Bhutan, one from Myanmar. It's a pretty good team, although their abilities are quite low. Unfortunately, for financial reasons, I cannot hire other staff members. *************** I had serious difficulties in finding opponents for friendly matches. But because we didn't have much time for friendlies anyway, I was satisfied with two games played against our U19 team. They beat us in the second game, which seems to suggest our team is not as good as I thought. Neither the cohesion nor the atmosphere are as good as I would have liked ... but for now I don’t have much to do. I hope in the future they will significantly improve ... ****************************** January 2025 (last week of the month) ***** Two games played, two wins. A really good start of the season. ***** ****************************** February 2025 ***** Two more games played, two more wins. Now it’s obvious: we have a very good team and normally we should be able to promote easily. ***** So, in the 5th minute we scored, but the goal was disallowed. No problem, in the next 19 minutes we scored twice more, and at the end of the first half it seemed impossible to lose this game. However, in the second half, some unusual things happened : - although opponents shot on target only 3 times during the entire match ... they managed to score from all 3 shots. All right, it can happen. - their third goal was scored in the 90 + 5 minute. Unpleasant, but it can happen. - that goal in the 90-5 minute was scored from a penalty kick. Very unpleasant, but it can happen. - that penalty in the 90 + 5 minute resulted from a hilarious mistake. A kind a mistake that it's doubtful could be committed even by the weakest player of the weakest team in an amateur league : ***** We won easily the game played against Sagaing United, that is, against one of the only two teams that could have prevent us from winning the championship. So it seems that our only opponent who can now cause us some troubles is Mawyawadi FC, ie the team that defeated us in the previous round. ***** *************** Of course, after any series of good results there is someone who tries to ruin the atmosphere. For now, most important players are on my side, but ... anything is possible. However, it would be appropriate for these important players to continue to be on my side because I'm already bored of praising them all day long. ****************************** March 2025 ***** A game won easily. However, we scored 6 goals out of 7 shots on target, which in reality happens extremely rarely (maybe once every few hundred games). ***** The next game, a Cup match against Mawyawadi FC, meaning against the same team that defeated us in the championship. They shot on target 3 times ... and scored 2 goals. We shot 8 times on target, we missed a penalty and about 3 other clear chances to score, we had two disallowed goals ... and we lost. ***** Since we were knocked out from the preliminary round of "General Aung San Shield" (meaning the National Cup) ... we won't have much to do in the next three months. The next championship game will take place on June 12. Until then ... training and some friendly games. *************** April and May 2025 ***** As I said, I intend to play some friendly games. Unfortunately, options I had were extremely limited : only two teams were available for friendlies. One of them was being our own U19 team, the other being Mawyawadi FC, that the team that defeated us in the championship and knocked out us in the cup. At one point, a third team became available for a few days : Shan United (national champion and the only team in Myanmar which participated in Asian Champions League). But as I did not want to be defeated with scores like 7-0 (or worse) I gave up the idea of playing against them. So, I chose four friendlies, two against the U19 team and two against Mawyawadi. ... but Mawyawadi is a busy team (not like us), which is why one of these friendlies was canceled. We're lucky, we have a U19 team, otherwise ... Huh, the U19 team defeated us (5-4) ! And it's a team made up almost exclusively of gray players ... Fortunately, we won the other two friendly matches, so the team's morale was not very affected. ****************************** June 2025 ***** I have no idea why we played so awfully bad in the first game. And I have no idea how we were able to quickly recover and play well in the next two. In the end, the important thing is we got 6 points out of 9. There are still 4 rounds to play, but we are almost promoted to the first league. Only an incredible series of very bad matches could prevent us from getting this promotion. ***** So, we have four strikers in our squad : P. Moe, T. Tan, M. Htike and S.W. Tun. For a team that usually uses the 4-4-2 configuration this number of strikers seems to be optimal. However, sometimes very paranormal phenomena occur and even these four strikers can be far too few : June 19. One is injured but we still have 3 strikers ... June 26. One are injured but we still have 2 strikers ... June 26. Three are injured and we have only one striker ... Fortunately, this series stopped here, but even so I had to give up the 4-4-2 configuration and (in the last 4 rounds) to use the 4-4-1-1 configuration. ***** However, there are some positive aspects. The two unhappy players discovered their reasons for unhappiness are not so important and the entire team started - finally - to have a little more confidence in their manager. ****************************** July 2025 ***** That's all. We defeated Mawyawadi FC in the decisive game (2-0), we promoted in the first league and, because we have a better goal difference in the two games against Mawyawadi (2-3 and 2-0), we can't lose the first place anymore. ***** The last two games of this season. We won both games, although our players were less focused than in the previous games. ***** Players' stats. ***** Teams' stats : from all points of view Nay Pyi Taw FC was clearly the best team in the league. *************** Our U19 team also won easily the competition reserved for U19 teams. Quite surprising because our team was made up almost entirely of "gray" players while the other teams were made up of many players produced at those clubs (youth intake). It seems Nay Pyi Taw FC's high reputation (nationally) has generated a pretty good group of "gray" players. Also, it seems tactical configurations used are quite balanced (by the way, U19 team used the same configurations that I used for senior team) One more thing : the high club reputation helped me a lot, because due to this reputation good players were not tempted to leave us for other clubs. In addition, this high reputation determined some players from the second league or even from the first league to transfer to Nay Pyi Taw FC even when Nay Pyi Taw was a lower league club. *************** A very long vacation has started for players : the preseason will start in just over 3 months (in November), and the season itself will start in just over 5 months (in mid-January) *************** It's not very important, but I find it interesting. For next season the club has set a very large budget (for a Burmese club) : $ 535,000 / year. It's not really the biggest budget ... but it's certainly one of the biggest budgets a first league club has. *************** Finally, the club has now its own stadium and facilities. The stadium isn't big ... but at least it exists. Facilities are not developed either ... but they also exist. I'm glad for this club. ****************************** And now, for me it's time to resign. I'm not allowed to manage a club whose team plays in the 1st league in Myanmar until January 2030. There are 5 more seasons until then, so ... it's time for another club. *************** *************** An overview of my career : 2021 - 2025 ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted August 29, 2021 Author Share Posted August 29, 2021 Various national and international competitions that took place in Asia between 2023 and 2025. ****************************** So, I resigned. Of course, immediately after that I applied for a new job. Unfortunately, available options were quite limited, and that's because I intended to be hired by a club that participates in one of the (only) 5 leagues (*) that were to start in the next 90 days : Bahrain 2, Kuwait 2, Lebanon 2, Pakistan 1 or Sri Lanka 2. (*) I mean leagues having at most level 3 because I couldn't be hired at a level 4 club until after January 1, 2027. August has passed. No one offered me any interview. September has also passed. No interview offers. October. Likewise, no offers. It seems quite natural, because my reputation (only half a star) is mediocre. Also, the fact I resigned so many times probably significantly reduced the interest of some clubs to hire me. Lastly (but not least), I applied to (way too many) clubs and this could have had a negative effect. In any case, at the beginning of November I added a new league to the list (Nepal 1). In vain, I did not receive any offer. In December I changed the list : I deleted all competitions that had already started and I added second leagues from Bangladesh, Macau and Singapore. I found a few clubs that didn't have a manager yet, so I applied ... but I did not receive any interview offers. At the beginning of January I decided to add even second Cambodian league in the list, although 3 years ago (in 2023) I had managed another club in this country. Surprise : I immediately received an interview offer : Of course, at that moment I had nowhere to choose and I would have accepted any offer. So, when they offered me a contract, I hurried to sign : ****************************** Cambodia. A country where I also managed another club (Koh Kong FC Khemarak) 3 seasons ago. I referred in detail to this country in a previous post, so now I will only refer to the city where the Asia Euro United club is located. Krong Ta Khmau (Krong means "town") is a satellite town of the country's capital, Phnom Penh. It has only 75,000 inhabitants but this aspect is not so important as it is part of the large urban agglomeration (over 2 million people) composed of the city of Phnom Penh and several other neighboring localities. ***** The club. It's a relatively young club. It was founded in 2007 as Asia Euro University. The team managed in just a few years to get from the local league to the first national league, where it played no less than 10 seasons. In the last few years, however, the team has not been able to stay at the previous level. It relegated to the second league and in the last two seasons it only managed the mediocre performance to qualify once for quarterfinals in the promotion playoff. In FM the team plays on a very large stadium, the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh (70,000 places), but in real life the club has its own stadium (much smaller, only 1000 places). Club's facilities are, of course, minimal. ***** Asia Euro United club's reputation is quite low, although it is a little higher than that of the previous Cambodian club I managed in 2023 (Koh Kong FC Khemarak). ***** The cumulative budget (wages and transfers) cannot be big, of course, because Asia Euro United is only a semi-professional club and, in addition, most clubs in this country do not have very large sources of income. However, compared to the other clubs that play in the second league, our budget is quite good : about $ 40,000 per year. ***** Rules. As I said in a previous post, the general rules are quite complicated. The championship takes place in two stages: the regular stage (18 games) the first 4 ranked teams being qualified for a promotion playoff. There is also a national cup, which also takes place in two stages (regional and national). As for the transfer rules ... I have to act quickly because the transfer window will close in just 2 weeks (on January 21) ***** Club vision. "Sign players under the age of 23." I'll try, depends on what kind of additional players we need. "Work within wage budget". I think I can do it. "Mid-table". I prefer a position somewhere in the top 3 followed by a promotion. "Cup: quarter-final". It depends on what opponents we'll meet. "Develop the best youth system in the country". I really like that. But what does "the best in the country" mean ? I'll check. I checked. The first four clubs in the country (sorted by reputation) all have "poor" training facilities and "poor" youth facilities. Our facilities are also "poor," so there's no difference. The maximum level of junior coaching is "fairly basic", as good as ours. As for youth recruitment ... the best in the country is "basic". Ours is "limited", so, to get "the best youth system in the country" I need the board approval to improve the level of our youth recruitment from "limited" to "basic". It seems easy to do. ***** Media prediction is not very optimistic. The 8th team out of 10 and an odds of 350-1 suggest our squad would be quite poor in terms of quality. ***** For now, the staff consists of 3 people. But since Mr. Chairman is ... chairman, in fact the staff is composed of two people: me and a performance analyst. A little too few people, especially given that the transfer window will close in just a few days. I urgently looked for a coach and a scout ... We found a coach. I don't know if he's a good coach ... but it's clear he's a man. ***** Squads. At a first glance, it would be said our senior squad looks good, since the best players are distributed fairly evenly between various compartments. We also have about 4-5 promising players in the U21 squad. In terms of team report ... there are 5 important characteristics (decision, determination, teamwork, work rate and first touch) which are worryingly low. ***** Our best 11 players : ***** When I saw this player's name, I remembered that when I was manager at Koh Kong Khemarak, the name of the best striker in that team was "Ouch Veasna". I was sure it was a coincidence, but I thought I'd check. Surprise : my player is exactly "that" Ouch Veasna, the Koh Kong team's top scorer. Hey, man, I'm glad to meet you again ! ***** I don't understand what caused this extremely low cohesion level. It's true, 5 new players were brought in during November and December, but that does not explain the "abysmal" level of cohesion. *************** The transfer window has closed. We brought only one player, and that's only because I was inspired to ask the scout to check some players from my former team, Koh Kong. Chan Kakada is the only really good player who was willing to come to our club. It was a good deal because this player has a very good potential and, in addition, he is only 21 years old. ***** National Cup. The draw for the group stage took place. Unfortunately, we were not very lucky because, although in this stage 11 of the 22 participating teams are from lower (regional) leagues, we'll play against two pretty good teams from the 2nd league. It will be quite difficult. ***** I had no illusions, but I thought I'd give it a try. Obviously, without any success. *************** The list of registered players who will be allowed to play for our first team ... at least until the opening of the next transfer window, ie until the beginning of May. ***** Friendlies. We played against three future opponents in the league (Electricite, Prey Veng and Bati Youth). Overall results were pretty good, but the team did not focus enough during that games played against (theoretically) weaker opponents. ***** Cohesion has improved a little but we still have a lot of work to do until it will be good enough. *************** March 2026 ***** The first two games: we got 4 points out of 6. It's pretty good, but it would have been even better if we had drawn in the first game and had won in the second, the one played against my former team. (This's because in the championship we are going to play 18 rounds and a draw can be compensated in the next match. In the cup, however, we only have 4 games to play, and we have already lost two points in that game played against Koh Kong) ****************************** April 2026 ***** A very good game ... and a very bad one. Overall, 3 points. We still don't play the way I would want to. ***** 7 points out of 9, no goals conceded. It's much better now. I'm glad we were able to to win the second game in the cup's groups. ***** ***** 3rd place for now. Not bad at all. In the cup ... we are in the first place for now. I hope we'll stay on this place because only the first placed team will qualify for quarterfinals, and reaching quarterfinals is an objective requested by our board. ****************************** May 2026 ***** The first game was interesting. In the 91st minute the score was being 2-0. After only 3 minutes ... 2-2. It's my mistake, I thought the match is already won. Anyway, 4 points out of 6 is a pretty good achievement. ***** We easily won the first game. We also played well (even very well) in the second game but we didn't manage to win. Too bad, a win would have practically meant our qualification for cup quarterfinals. In the last game we'll have to win at Khemarak. We can also get a draw, but in this case we'll have to hope Prey Veng FC will not win their last game they will play against Koh Kong. ***** I don't know what happened during the last game ... but in the second half we played extremely poor. It is possible I made a mistake during team talk. In any case, in the last 45 minutes our players made a lot of mistakes and practically they did not significantly react to any tactical change or shout. ***** We climbed to 2nd place. Surprisingly, our main opponent to winning the league seems to be exactly my former team, Koh Kong. ***** The summer transfer window has closed. We didn't bring any other players. We lost a pretty good youngster (San Samnang), but that was to be expected because the club that bought him is one of the four most powerful clubs in the country. ***** Cohesion is growing extremely slowly. However, it grows ... ****************************** June 2026 ***** We played pretty well and, maybe, we deserved a draw. However, it's almost impossible to avoid a defeat when the opponent scores 3 goals from only 3 shots on target ... We can no longer win the group. In any variant (1 - 0, draw or 0 - 1) one of the other two opponents will rank in the first place. Goodbye, cup ! ***** Our good run of form is gone. No, we didn't play very bad (shots on target 16 - 13, xG 3.9 - 2.7) but, nevertheless, we only got one point. Reasons? I think one of the possible reasons is related to complacency. Our players know our objective was a mid-table position and, of course, they are no longer willing to focus and to work hard. The second reason could be related to the way our opponents look at us. At the beginning of the season we were considered a mediocre team. Now, it seems, we are being treated with more respect ... and a much more defensive style of play. ***** It was a very bad month. I hope, however, our team will be able to become focused again. We have 5 more games to play and normally we should have no problem getting one of the first 4 places (or even 5 places, as Phnom Penh Crown U21 cannot participate in playoffs) ***** The atmosphere continues to remain at a fairly high level despite those 3 consecutive defeats. Managerial support is also very good. The assistant (actually the coach who pretends to be an assistant) suggested me to organize a team meeting. I refused because I rely on that positive dressing room atmosphere. I hope I'm not wrong. In any case, since in July we'll play only one league match, I intend to schedule 3 or 4 friendly matches. Any improvement in cohesion and atmosphere will be welcome. *************** Youth intake preview. Interesting. It seems at the next youth intake we'll get at least two good or very good players. We'll see ... ****************************** July 2026 ***** Oh, I didn't expect that. The team played very good, even if the opponent was the team ranked 1st in the table. Well done, boys, a nice victory ! ***** There are still 4 rounds to play, but our schedule is really favorable : we will meet the team ranked 8th (Electricite), the team ranked last (Bati), the team ranked 4th (Kampong) and the team ranked 9 (RCAF). Normally we should easily qualify for playoffs. **** The 3 friendlies we played helped us to improve a little our morale and cohesion. *************** I tried again, but it was useless. Maybe after the ending of this season I'll have a better chance. ****************************** August 2026 ***** We won the first two games ... ... and we are almost qualified for playoff. The only problem for us would be if we'll play in quarterfinals (teams ranked 3rd and 4th) or directly in semifinals (team ranked 2nd). ***** Whoops ! Calculations got complicated. At this moment we can lose the qualification, but only if we'll lose in the last game (in which we will meet the team ranked last, RCAF). Sure, it's funny, how could we lose such a game ? Well, I've lost a lot of "very easy" games during my glorious (lol) career. It can happen at any time. ***** ****************************** September - October 2026 ***** I was scared for nothing ... Good job, guys ! ***** We ranked in the 2nd place and we'll play directly in semifinals. Who knows, maybe we'll qualify for the final. And if we qualify ... anything is possible. ***** Playoff schedule. Our opponent will be decided as a result of the game between Siem Reap Angkor FC and Prey Veng FC. I have no preferences, we can beat any of them. ***** Everything looks good ... or at least acceptable. *************** Playoff. Semifinal. ***** In the first 45 minutes our opponents shot on target 4 times. And of course, they scored 4 goals. What the ... In the second half we tried to play more offensively, of course, and towards the end of the game we risked a lot. We only managed to score one goal and we said goodbye to qualifying for the final. Bad luck. Maybe next year ... ***** *************** Players' stats. Well, we obviously have an issue. Only 3 players played very well throughout the season : goalkeeper Pich (but who is 37 years old !), Ouch Veasna (I expected this, he's a very good player) and Oum Dara. We can't hope for promotion if we play with only 3 "pistons". The other players have been inconsistent, sometimes playing very well and sometimes very poor. For the next season I'll have to bring in at least 3-4 more very good players ... but I'll also have to pay attention to the (far too low yet) team cohesion. ***** Teams' stats Throughout the season we were one of the best teams in the league. Unfortunately, we started to play weaker and weaker just towards the end of the season. *************** Our U21 team easily won the competition in which it participated. It's obvious we have in that squad some good players who - maybe - would deserve to be promoted to our senior squad. On the other hand, the U21 team used strictly those tactical configurations that I used for the senior team, which suggests that these configurations are balanced enough to be also used next season. *************** Yay, big suprise ! We have the best "junior coaching" in the country ! Obviously, this improvement will have no effect on this year's youth intake ... but next year, who knows ... ***** All right, I'm not upset for this. We have a better "junior coaching" now and, for now, that's enough ... *************** The board is pleased. I hope that they'll be even more pleased in the future and they'll approve that so necessary improvement of "youth recruitment". *************** Our cumulative budget has grown from $ 40,000 to $ 50,000 per year. It's a pretty good budget at the moment because we will need additional staff for the U21 squad and, possibly, for the senior squad. ************** My former team (Koh Kong Khemarak) failed to promote this year. I'm sorry for them ... and I hope next year they will be as unlucky as now, because we should be the next team promoted from the second league. *************** Youth intake 2026. Yay ! One 5-star (CA) player, another "only" 4-star player, and, in addition, about 4 or 5 other very promising players. That's a very good intake ! Ouk Udom is already (at just 16 years old) the best offensive midfielder we have ! Sok Chanraksmey is almost at the same level as our number one goalkeeper, Oich Rovenyothin. Unfortunately, however, his low determination and negative personality will surely influence his further development. ****************************** My objective for the next season? Promotion to the first league. In case of failure there is only one option : my resignation. Which will create a lot of troubles for me because I have already resigned too many times and it is more and more difficult for me to find clubs willing to hire me. 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GreenTriangle Posted September 5, 2021 Author Share Posted September 5, 2021 November - December 2026 ***** I signed a new contract and I’ll earn a huge salary : $ 1,800 a year. In fact, the salary proposed by the board was higher (4800 per year) but the club does not have much money and I would prefer this money to be invested in facilities. ***** But because the board conditions the improvement of our "youth recruitment" depending on the increase of the reputation, and our reputation has not increased ... it is very clear : we will get an improvement of the this recruitment only if we'll promote to the first league. ****************************** January - February 2027 ***** However, compared to the other clubs in the second league, our reputation is quite high, and this is exactly what confuses me : the media prediction is based on the club's reputation and the overall quality of the senior squad. If the reputation is high and the prediction is low, it means our squad is weak ... and I know that is not the case. It's weird ... ***** I had to choose between "mid-table" and "top half". It was a difficult choice, given the huge difference between the two budgets . ***** Immediately after choosing "top half" I summoned players to inform them about this change. Their reaction surprised me : they were extremely shocked. The whole sqaud became "red" instantly. Even more surprising was the reaction when I told them I had changed my mind and that our goal would be only "mid-table": they turned green. Lol, I had no idea there is such a big difference between "top half" and "mid-table" ... ***** Interesting name. Of course, in Khmer language the meaning is completely different from that in English ... but the name is interesting anyway. *************** The winter transfer window has closed on January 27. We have transferred two players, but none of them are "new". Tith Noron really wanted to go to a professional first league club (more money, of course) ... but he had no objection to being loaned back to Asia Euro when his club declared him "loanable". The other player, Sos Polroth, is a former Asian Euro player who left us before I became manager here and returned after he "played" more on the reserve bench at his former club. In fact, in the last 12 months we have transferred only one truly "new" player (Chan Kakada), and that happened almost a year ago. I released 13 players. Probably some of them would have been useful as backup but I preferred to give up some players who had an extremely low level of certain attributes that could be important (determine, workrate, anticipation, decisions, stamina). *************** Our senior squad is quite numerous (26 players), but this is mainly due to the fact we promoted 6 very young players from U21 squad. All 5 are only 16 years old and all "come" from the last youth intake. 4 of these 5 young players will be reserves, of course, but the 5th (Ouk Udom, 5 stars CA and the best player we have) will enter directly into the first team. By the way, we received countless offers for this young player but we managed to keep him until now. He already earns more than any of his teammates ($ 110 per game played, $ 25 per game as unused substitute) and, in addition, he's an Asia Euro United fan, so he will not leave us unless he receives an exceptional offer. So far he has not received. ***** Team report. Overall, we have a good squad. Not the best but definitely one of the best 3-4 in the league. *************** Our rating has improved considerably in just three weeks: (from 350-1 increased to 200-1), and this without transferring a lot of new players. Is it because these 5 youngsters we promoted are very good ? Because our opponents lost (by transfer) many important players? Is it a bug ? It's hard to say ... *************** We have also improved our staff, especially in terms of the U21 team. It was mandatory to do it, considering that we have some very good youngsters and that at the age of 16 their development depends primarily on training and less on games played. *************** The draw draw for the National cup - group stage. This system is so complicated that even after two full seasons played here I can't remember exactly how it works. So, a brief overview is needed : 22 teams participate in the regional phase (the national champion, 10 teams from the 2nd league and 11 teams from the regional leagues). The 22 teams are divided into 5 groups, the winners of the groups and 3 of the 5 teams ranked second qualifying for quarterfinals. In the national phase participate 16 teams, ie the 13 teams from the first league and the best 3 teams from the regional phase of the cup. Since usually the champion easily reaches semifinals of the regional phase, it results that for the national phase will be qualified all the 3 teams from the second league (or lower leagues) that played in semifinals of the regional phase. ***** First of all : who is the national champion? Visakha FC Phnom Penh. A team that in the previous season won both the league and the cup (national phase). A team that, even using only reserves, is better than any team in the second league. ***** And now, the draw : I was sure it would happen ! ****************************** March 2027 ***** The transfer and registration rules are strange, and I'm not sure they're completely accurate. So ... Cambodian clubs can bring (transfer or loan) players (Cambodian or foreigners) until January 27 at the latest. Of course, after this date they can sell or loan players to foreign clubs. But players can be registered until the day before the first round of the championship, ie until March 26. As Cambodian clubs use very few foreign players and sell very few players to clubs abroad, it turns out although players can still be registered, the transfer market is useless for two months. Anyway, we didn't bring or sell or borrow any player in the last two months, so both our squads were exactly the same as at the end of January. *************** Friendly matches. We played 9 games, only two of them being played against some strong opponents (Wat Phnom FC, a good 1st league team, and Koh Kong Khemarak). Generally speaking these friendlies helped us, although in the last two games the team played quite badly and it seemed very possible for us to be on the beginning of a bad run of form. The last two games have significantly affected the atmosphere but, on the other hand, the cohesion has increased. It remains to be seen what will be more important, a not-so-good atmosphere or a quite good cohesion. *************** The first two "official" games surprised me because the team played very well, much better than in the previous friendly games. In the second game we clearly defeated the main opponent for the 2nd place in the Cup's groups, so it seems that, despite a very difficult group, we have a chance to get a quarterfinal qualification. ****************************** April 2027 ***** 6 points out of 6. Good job, guys ! ***** As expected, Visakha crushed us. It is, however, a normal result. What is not very normal is the fact the other team in the group, Prey Veng, managed to defeat exactly this team that humiliated us. As for the second game ... we got a draw and I should be satisfied because our boys had serious difficulties in overcoming the opponents' super-defensive play. ***** Not bad ... for now. *************** Wooow ! I knew our U21 team just promoted to the first league, but I had no illusions because we are a semi-professional club and in this first league the U21 teams of the (only) 6 Cambodian professional clubs play. Professional clubs are a real magnet for good players and their U21 teams have far more good players than semi-pro clubs have. I asked the U21 manager for one thing : to use only these tactical configurations that I use at our senior team. Results exceeded any expectations : The question is ... do we really have an exceptional group of youngsters ? Or are these results mainly due to the tactical configuration used ? ****************************** May 2027 ***** 6 points out of 6. Shots on target : 26 - 6. xG : 6.99 (!!!) - 1.42. It’s really incredible, considering that Soltilo has just relegated from the first league and Koh Kong was (in the previous season) our main opponent in the promotion fight. ***** Two games played, 0 (zero) shots to our goal ! The second game was extremely important as it was the third game of the Cup's groups. We have 6 points and, to be sure of qualification, we only need a draw in the last game. ***** Another 6 points ... ***** Sh** ! We lost the last game of the Cup's groups. We have 6 points, but the goal difference is 0 (ie 8 - 8) and the experience of previous years suggests our chances of qualifying are less than 50%. Seven points or at least a positive goal difference it would have significantly increased our chances for qualification ... There are still 8 rounds to play but it can be said we're already qualified for the promotion playoff. Moreover, we are almost qualified for the promotion playoff final (the 1st place team having the right to promote qualifies directly, and Crown U21 does not have the right to promote). ***** Everything is all right. *************** No, it's not "everything all right". We lost the qualification for Cup's quarterfinals. I was expecting this, but the frustration is not lower at all. Five lower league teams, two second league teams and the champion qualified. It would have been room for us too ... ****************************** June 2027 ***** The summer transfer window has closed. We brought a pretty good new player (Sok Chanvirak, MC) but, unfortunately, we lost 3 of the best youngsters received at the previous youth intake. We lost two more youngsters at the beginning of this year, so already a third of our youth intake plays for other clubs . *************** In fact, losing good young players is not just our problem. Many semi-professional clubs have great difficulty keeping their young players because the most ambitious players want to go to a stronger club (which usually offers higher salaries). These are the "magnet" clubs. The 6 (and only) professional clubs in the country : No less than 21 of the 22 Cambodian internationals play for one of these 6 clubs (the only exception plays in New Zealand). As for the U21 and U19 national teams ... the 6 "big ones" provide 35 of all the 44 players. But this does not mean these 6 "big ones" are extremely strong at the continental level as well. In fact, results in the continental competitions are rather mediocre. Lots of defeats and, from time to time, a draw or (even less often) a win. *************** During July we played only two games. We got 4 points but, unfortunately, players' concentration began to decline. ***** *************** Really ?!? Wow, what a surprise ! So, we have one of the best youth academy in the country. Of course, for more quality we would also need better training / youth facilities, but we don't have enough money for this ... yet. *************** Interesting. Two central defenders, one defensive midfielder ... sounds good, but we would also need some wingers. Maybe next year ... ****************************** July 2027 ***** 4 points out of 6. Maybe being more focused we would have even been able to win all 6 points, but it doesn't matter anymore. The important thing is, although the players' concentration decreases, the team can still play very well. ***** We have already qualified for the final. And we only need one more point to win the regular season. ****************************** August - September 2027 ***** Yay, we are the champions ... but, of course, this achievement is worthless if we'll not be able to win the playoff final and promote to the first league. ***** 6 points out of 6. And 10 goals scored. However, opponents were mediocre (the teams ranked in the last two places) and these wins mean practically nothing. ***** The last round in the league. We played really bad. Worryingly bad. The question is ... what should I do ? Should we play some friendly matches ? If we are in a bad run of form the effect could be negative, as possible defeats would decrease the players' morale. Or should we play only one game, that grand final, and to hope the team would be able to concentrate well in that decisive match ? ***** *************** What ? Why has cohesion decreased ?!? Strange thing are happening ... *************** Our first international player. It's true, for now it's just about the U19 national team, but it's a good start. *************** I received an interview offer from a first league club. That's good, because that means my reputation is growing. Not by much, but it grows. However, I'll decline the invitation. I can't leave Asia Euro before a very important game and, in addition, Svay Rieng FC is only a semi-professional club. If I'll receive an offer from one of the 6 professional clubs, of course, I'll go to that interview. Not the case yet. *************** Our opponent in the playoff final was decided: Koh Kong FC. No suprise. However, I don't understand why the game will be played at Khemarak, so on their stadium. I thought it was about a neutral stadium, that is, the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh (which, by the way, is our stadium, lol). ****************************** October 2027 ***** We did it ! And the game was extremely difficult and stressing. 0 - 2 after 45 minutes, 3 - 2 in the 57th minute, 3 - 3 after 90 minutes ... and 4-3 at the end, the decisive goal being scored by our 17-year-old "star", Ouk Udom. ***** *************** Players' stats : ***** Teams' stats. We were obviously the best team in the league. *************** Although we lost 5 very good youngster, our U21 team managed to win the national championship. I can't explain how they succeeded, but I'm glad they did it. We still have some very good players there, so we can strengthen our senior team having minimal costs. The worst part is, however, our youngsters will be even more intensely hunted by the strong 1st league clubs. And, no, we have no chance of making a lot of money. It would be a miracle to get even $ 5,000. *************** Youth intake 2027. We got some good players ... but compared to the previous year's intake, this intake is a bit weaker. No player having at least 2 CA stars. However, it seems we have 3 very good defensive players and there are a few other players who could develop well in the coming years. ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted September 12, 2021 Author Share Posted September 12, 2021 November - December 2027 ***** So, we promoted. Of course, next season will be much more difficult for us because we'll meet 6 professional teams (Angkor Tiger, Boeung Ket, NagaWorld, Visakha, Crown and Preah Khan). The other 6 clubs in the first league are only semi-professional, but that does not mean their teams will be much easier to defeat. ***** Seriously ? It's like in COD-MW2: "Do not trust the assistant ! I repeat, don't trust the assistant". Obviously, the assistant is not perfect, but his suggestions are hilarious sometimes. I mean, what does he want ? Just before the start of the championship I should annoy the best scorer (and also the best striker) we have, Oum Dara ? I should annoy the second best scorer (and best left midfielder) we have, Ouch Veasna ? And I should annoy the third option for the central defender position, Chan Sothearoth ? Come on, Man ... By the way, we don't even have an assistant manager. Man is only a coach but, in his free time, he does volunteer work as an assistant. ***** Rules in the first league are a little different but, fortunately for us, these changes do not affect us : we don't have any foreign player in our squads. ****************************** January 2028 ***** All right, it was just a question. I know, we don't need that, lol. I promise not to try again too soon ... ***** Our reputation has grown in the last two years, but this growth has been microscopic. We are - theoretically - the weakest team in the league. ***** What the ... ?!? Well, what should I do ? How can we create "the best youth system in the country" if you, the board, don't want to ? And how can we increase the club reputation if for a 2nd place (in the first year) and for a 1st place (in the second year) we received only a few reputation points ? ***** We're in first place, yay ! That is, on the first place in the top of that teams with the highest chances of relegation. However, I don't think we're so weak. We have a pretty good squad and, in reality, we can probably get a position in the top 10 or even the top 8. ***** We brought 6 new players, 5 of them being very good, the 6th (Sam Veasna) being "only" good. To be honest, I was surprised that these 5 players (who have a really high level) did not receive contracts at professional clubs. The scouts claim all 5 very good players I brought could have easily played for the first teams of these clubs. As for the "losses" ... we had an U19 international, Sok Chanraksmey. We lost him, but it was normal : he went for a higher salary. I was surprised by the departure of Chan Heang (the best central defender and defensive midfielder in our team). He was a 100% starter and bonuses he earned were quite high. That's it, I hope we can replace him. By the way : being a semi-professional club, we can't offer salaries. But we can offer other advantages, and that's exactly what I did : I increased the appearance fee and unused substitute fee 5-10 times, for all players. That's probably the main reason we haven't lost more good players. ***** The senior squad looks good, although the team report suggests there are some issues : anticipation, composure, first touch, passing and technique are a bit too low. ***** Let's be serious. It is impossible for us to have so many high potential players in the U19 squad. Probably the very low skills level of the assistant coach (and of all his colleagues, by the way) severely affects its perception about the youngsters' real potential. However, in principle, we probably have a very good U21 team and some of these players will probably be important players for the first team in the next years. ***** Friendlies. We played 4 games, all against some lower league teams. I tried to give each player at least 90 minutes of play ... and results were pretty poor. For unknown reasons, the 4-4-2 configuration does not seem to work as I expected (maybe because opponents played very defensively ?), our strikers missed a lot of opportunities and the defense was quite hesitant. I don't like the first rounds schedule at all. In rounds 2, 3 and 4 we will meet the team ranked 2nd last season, then the champion and, finally, the team ranked 3rd. I would have preferred to start against some less powerful opponents. I hope we can get 3-4 points. ***** Cohesion is ... painful. The atmosphere was very good at the beginning of the year, but it was significantly affected by our poor performances we achieved in those friendly games. ****************************** February 2028 ***** Really ?!? We scored 4 (four) goals during we played with only 9 players ?!? Wow ! I've never seen anything like it ! Moreover, opponents were so terrified by our offensive power that, although we had two fewer players on the pitch, they were not able to shot even once on our goal. ***** What can I say ? Even in the most megalomaniacal dreams I did not imagine we'll score 5 goals on the vice-champion's stadium ... ***** That's too much ! 5 - 1 against the best team in the country (Angkor Tiger won the league last season) ... **** And the 4th consecutive win, this time against the team ranked 3rd in the previous season ... ***** This is pure madness. We played against the best 3 teams in the country, we won all 3 games and we scored 12 goals ! How was that possible? I have no idea! (No, I didn't use any tricks). It's true, we have good players, but in no case can we compare our team with that of any of the 3 opponents. We didn’t even play very risky (in all 3 games I used a balanced mentality). I can't explain what happened, but I'm curious to see what happens next. ***** We have 7 players in the team of the month. I'm not surprised, considering the last 3 games ... ***** I read someone's opinion a little while ago. That person claimed "xG is the most useless stat in the game." It's his opinion, but I have to admit, I couldn't help but laugh. In fact xG can "tell" if we were too lucky or not. And in this case we were very lucky. We have scored 17 goals out of 11 xG, which means in the next games we'll score much fewer goals. It's also very possible in the following games our opponents will abandon the ultra-offensive play and try to use the combination "tight defense - quick counterattacks". ****************************** March 2028 ***** We conceded two goals in the last 3 minutes of the game. Nothing surprising, after all, we can't be lucky indefinitely. To be honest, I should have approached the end of the game in a different way, but a series of good results always has an anesthetic effect. It's as if you can't believe you'll miss the victory no matter how your team plays. ***** 4 points out of 6. It's clear : the team will play at a lower (and more "normal") level from now on. We were very lucky in the first 4 games but from now on we will have to rely less on luck and more on the way we play in each game. ***** Everything is fine, for now, but things will get complicated when "the big 6" (the 6 professional teams) will recover and start playing at their maximum level. ***** Cohesion appears to have been severely affected by the fact that we brought in 6 new players (and that 5 of these 6 players "sent" 5 other important players to the reserve bench). However, I am surprised by the low level of the atmosphere and, moreover, I am surprised the team continues to play very well despite the mediocre levels of cohesion and atmosphere. ***** Last year we had only one international player (the young goalkeeper Sok Chanraksmey, called-up for the U19 national team). Unfortunately we lost Sok, but now we have a second international : our "star" Ouk Udom, who at only 17 years old has already been called-up for the U23 national squad. ****************************** April 2028 ***** Another 4 points out of 6. The first game was extremely boring, but in the second game the team managed to return to the level shown in the first rounds of the championship. ***** The first stage of the championship will end in 3 rounds and, at least theoretically, we have great chances to stay in first place at the end of this stage because in these 3 rounds we will meet the teams ranked 13th, 10th and 12th. The only problem is two of these three teams are Preah Khan and Visakha (!), meaning two professional teams that have better players than our. However, I hope that their extremely low morale will help us. ***** Theoretically, this is bad news for us because, normally, the big clubs will try to transfer as many of our players as possible. ****************************** May 2028 ***** 6 points out of 6 ! ***** We won the first stage of the competition ! It's a very good performance, but the second stage will be much more difficult because we'll play in the champions playoff against 5 other very good teams. ***** The atmosphere became very good again. The cohesion ... didn't, and I don't know why. Certainly there is a group of players who are quite unaffected by the lack of cohesion (that's what I see in highlighs), and just as certainly there are players who are severely affected. This means, however, a series of injuries or a possible loss of players by transfer can affect us very seriously. ***** Some of our players have received many offers. Ouk Udom was wanted by 6 clubs, and there were other players with 4 or 5 bidders. Surprisingly, no one left ! In fact, the only "lost" player was Im Channarith, who wasn't transferred by another club but simply asked to be released because he considered he didn't play as much as he would like. How can this surprising players loyalty be explained ? To be honest ... I have no idea ! ***** Our U21 team also managed a very good performance, currently being ranked on the second place. ****************************** June 2038 ***** The last game of the first stage : a win "away" against Visakha. A very good result, but that doesn't matter anymore because we were being already qualified for the championship playoff. Visakha had an really bad season, finishing 11th and only playing in the relegation playoffs. ***** It's the first time I see something like this in FM21: a goalkeeper has been named "the player of the match". In addition, the rating he got (8.3) is very high for a goalkeeper. ***** Fortunately for us, all points obtained in the first stage are transferred to the final stage. So, we have a great chance to fight for the title, which I'm not sure would have been possible if we had to start the final stage from scratch. ***** We already have a third international: Phorn Theara. It's very good, but I'm surprised none of our players were called up to the national senior team. In my opinion we would have at least 2-3 players that could at least be called up for a game or two. Is it "to blame" that the Cambodian national team usually plays very few games every year ? ***** I do not understand ! What does "a terrific group of players" mean ? I see only one very good player, an attacking midfielder. I have to understand that player is better than 5-6 other players together, or what ? ***** Interesting, but ... no way ! In no case will I leave the team ranked first to reach the team ranked 12th ... ***** My assistant strikes again ! "Why don't you try to annoy the best right midfielder in the team (Lim Mony Udom) and the second best central defender (Sos Polroth)" ? Nice try, Man ... but I certainly won't do that. ****************************** July 2038 ***** The first two rounds of the champions' playoff : 4 points out of 6. The team played very well in the first game ... and I made a serious mistake in the second, when, at the end of the match, I urged players to play risky in order to score a second goal when I should have asked them to hold the ball and keep the result. ***** The difference between us and the second ranked team remained at the same level (8 points). We have great chances to win the title, but we must be careful because 2-3 consecutive defeats could destroy the players' morale. The cup also started. Because we play in the first league (and we are not champions) we skipped the regional stage and we'll participate directly in the national stage. Our first round opponent : an old acquaintance, Visakha FC. Given their low morale we should easily qualify for the next round. ***** Low cohesion ... ****************************** August 2038 ***** We easily won the first game. We also won the next two games (including the first match in the cup), but not so easy. In fact, we were lucky because both Visakha and Boeung Ket played better than us. **** Goodbye, Cup ! What can I say ? During about 80 of the 120 minutes we played much better than Visakha, but that goal conceded in the 90 + 1 minute was decisive because most of players were tired and I had been already using all 3 substitutions in an attempt to maintain the draw. ***** It was expected. We lost the first game in the championship, and not anyway but at a humiliating score (1 - 4). I won the second one but it is obvious : a lot of important players are very tired and their morale started to decrease. ***** However, it seems that we are lucky : the distance between us and the team in second place remains at the same level, 8 points. In fact, the only team that can cause us some troubles is Boeung Ket. But there are only 4 games left to play, so ... ***** This invitation is something that normally would have interested me a lot. Crown FC is a professional club and it has a very good cumulative budget (for a Cambodian club, of course). However, at this moment there is no point for me in accepting the interview. Our board is already a bit upset because I failed to qualify the team for the cup quarterfinals and it wouldn't make sense to give them another reason for discontent. ****************************** September 2038 ***** 4 points out of 6. The team seems to have recovered a little, both from a physical point of view and in terms of its morale. ***** There are just two more rounds to play and everything has become very simple : we have 6 points ahead, which means we only need 1 (one) point to win the title. Moreover, we can win the title even if we lose both games because the next opponent will be the exactly Boeung Ket (the only team that can fight for the title now), and at equal points the direct results (and, in case of a tie, the overall goal difference) count. In the first game of the playoff we won 3 - 2, and if we lose with one goal difference (0 - 1, 1 - 2 and so on) we will have a much better overall goal difference, so we'll be champions. ****************************** October 2038 ***** We lost ! 0 - 5 ! That's incredible ! Of course, we still have a good chance of winning the title. We need a draw in the last game ... ***** Yay ! We did it ! However, at one point I was a little scared because, although we played very well, opponents scored their goal and my offensive players seemed to be unable to find any solution to score that goal we needed. In the end we were lucky : the youngster Sin Samnang (17 years old) managed what the more experienced strikers from the first team did not do : to score the goal we desperately needed. *************** Players' stats : Two of the best players last season (right midfielder Lim Mony Udom and striker Oum Dara) continued to play very well this season as well. 3 other very young players (goalkeeper Kouch Rothserey, versatile defender Phorn Theara and "the star" Ouk Udom) also played very well. But who surprised me most was the newcomer Chhun Oudom, a player who did everything on the left side of the field and, also, is extremely versatile (he can play as ML, AML, MC, AMC or STC) ***** We were the best team in terms of defensive and the second best team in terms of offensive (however, in the offensive ranking we competed with Angkor Tiger, the team that played the last 14 games in the relegation playoff and, being the champion of last year, it met clearly inferior opponents) *************** Huh, 9 players out of 11 ! Not bad at all. ***** Well done, kid ! *************** Pich Rovenyothin is 39 years old and in the last few years (except this season) he has been the number one goalkeeper of Asia Euro United. In addition, he was a mentor for the current number one goalkeeper (Kouch Rothserey). A remarkable career. Since the former vice captain (Pich) retired ... we needed a replacement. And this is none other than "the star" Ouk Udom. Not bad at all for a player who is only 18 years old. *************** The season is over, so it was time for the usual pre-holiday meeting. I called all players and said to them : "Guys, congratulations on the trophy you just won, you fully deserve it ! Since we are champions, I think an achievable objective for next season could be, for example .... a mid-table position !" Players' reaction ? Shock and horror ! They felt really insulted by the obscene and monstruous idea I talked about ... They calmed down only after I decided to propose them something much less terrifying : avoiding relegation. It seems a pretty affordable objective for a team that just won the title ... ***** The cumulative budget allocated for the next season will be almost $ 190,000, which means a significant increase compared to that 130,000 budget we had this season. However, compared to the 6 professional clubs, our budget isn't too high. The "poorest" professional club (Preah Khan) has a budget higher than $ 250,000, and the richest (Naga World) has about 400,000. ***** The time has come for some requests. Such as, for example, those related to the improvement of our facilities. I requested, therefore, the improvement of all the 4 categories of facilities. Answers: No ! No ! No ! No ! ***** Of course, I had no illusions ... but I tried. A change of status would have been very useful to us. Answer : no way ! *************** We won the title of champion, which brought us countless additional income, such as, for example, $ 0 (zero) in the form of prizes and $ 0 (zero) in the form of additional / renegotiated sponsorship contracts. *************** However, in the future we'll have a possible source of additional income : as a national champion we'll participate in the next edition of continental competitions. What does that mean ? Well, since the national coefficient is low, we'll not participate in the Champions League (not even in the preliminaries) but we'll be qualified for the playoff of the second continental competition, AFC Cup. If we manage to win this playoff we'll qualify for the regional groups (ASEAN area). It seems interesting, but in this phase of the competition there are no prizes but only travel bonuses. Few tens of thousands of dollars for every match played away. An important amount, but which is not at all easy to earn because, unfortunately, qualifying in groups is very difficult for Cambodian clubs. In the last 9 seasons only 3 clubs have managed to achieve this performance : Continental competitions - qualification places *************** Our u21 team managed (for the second time) to win the national championship. Obviously, we have some very good youngsters and, on the other hand, tactical configurations used (the same as those used by the first team) are quite good, so that performance is not very surprising. *************** Youth intake 2028 Wow ! After two years we received (again) a player having 5 stars CA ! In addition, we received another very good player (3.5 stars) and 9 other players having 2 stars each. I don’t think could be possible a better intake ! Of course, there are some negative aspects : some of those players having 2 stars do not have very positive personalities, and the two strikers have some (too) low mental attributes, but it is obvious some of these aspects can be improved over time. Best 5 players (at a first glance) : ***** The comparison between Ouk Udom (the 5-star player received two years ago) and Run Pheng (the 5-star player received this year) seems to be favorable to the latter. There is only one small problem : Run Pheng is not a fan of Asia Euro United club, so he will probably be much more "sensitive" in case of tempting offers from other clubs. ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted September 17, 2021 Author Share Posted September 17, 2021 Career summary: the last 5 years (2024-2028) : Entire career summary (2020-2028) Manager's characteristics, January 2029 : *************** On overview of national and continental competitions : National, West Asia, 2025-2028 National, Central and South Asia, 2025-2028 National, South-East Asia, 2025-2028 National, East Asia, 2025-2028 Continental, Asia, 2026-2028 *************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted September 19, 2021 Author Share Posted September 19, 2021 December 2028 - January 2029 ***** Our reputation has significantly grown : last year we were the 14th club in the country ... and now we jumped directly to the 8th place. Of course, in the meantime we won the title, but this spectacular climb also means something else : the difference between clubs' reputations in the country is quite small. Probably this explains why we won the title. We didn't deal with clubs / teams far superior to us. *************** Sometimes, our assistant (actually, the coach appointed as assistant) has somewhat hilarious ideas. So, from his point of view, the best striker we have (who in the last 3 years has scored 39 goals in 57 games played and has been our leading goalscorer three times in a row) has the potential to be "a decent second league player in the future ". I don't want to think about what would have happened if he had been "a decent first league player." He would probably have scored at least 100 goals ... *************** So, we won the title, which means we'll participate in the continental competitions. As I said, the national coefficient is extremely low and, for this reason, we'll not play in the Champions League but in the Confederation Cup (the Asian equivalent for "UEFA Europa League"). But this Confederation Cup is practically a competition organized in a regional system, which means we'll play in the preliminary round that allows the qualification for the three groups from the Southeast Asia region. At first glance, the draw favored us, as we'll meet a team from Laos (Vientiane FT) that is not superior to us at all. So we have an important chance to qualify for groups ... and to earn some money. ***** I need to forget about that money. We were eliminated from the competition. I can't say we played really bad : shots 28-12, shots on target 13-5 ... but that goal conceded at the end of the first game (in the 90+3 minute) was decisive. So, we'll receive $ 20,000 for participation ... but we missed the chance to earn at least another 60,000, if not more. (In this phase of the competition there are no prizes but sums allocated to cover travel costs. Each away game involves receiving $ 20,000, and I think for groups phase that sum would have increased to 30,000 per game) *************** As I said in a previous post, our cumulative budget has reached $ 190,000 this season. But as the yarly club income doesn't exceed 80,000 ... it is obvious we would have needed those 60,000 that we lost by being eliminated from Confederation Cup. Bad luck ... *************** The draw for the regional stage/phase of the Cup took place. Since we're champions, I can't complain ... but it's weird. Our opponents are exactly the same as the ones we received three years ago: 2026 draw Moreover, two years ago we met Prey Veng again. Last year we did not participate in this phase, but I'm sure that if we had participated we would have dealt again with Prey Veng and / or Koh Kong. I think this is an error in setting rules by which the draw takes place. ****************************** February 2029 ***** Transfers. We brought in only one player, who isn't even "new." Chan Heang played for us until January 2028, he left for RCAF, he "played" there on the bench, after which he decided to return to us. As for those who left us ... we lost only one player, a youngster (a very good player, but it's about a guy from the U21 squad). To be honest, I'm very surprised. I don't understand why stronger clubs can't attract more players from us. It's true, the difference in reputation is small and we, not being able to offer salaries (we are a semi-professional club) instead offer really big bonuses. But even so, we should have lost more players. ***** The senior squad is almost the same as last year, with 3 exceptions : Chan Heang and the two exceptional youngsters from U21, Run Pheng (5 CA stars) and Keo Piseth (3.5 CA stars). Team report : we have a "mid-table" team. It is difficult to explain how we won the title using this squad. There is, indeed, a group of 8-10 players who are clearly above average, but even so, winning the title is quite surprising. A possible explanation could be related to the use of gegenpressing (*) in the context of a small quality difference between competitors. (*) it's a modified gegenpressing because some physical and technical characteristics do not allow the use of some instructions such as "more urgent pressing", "higher tempo", "run at defense" or "high / very high defensive line / line of engagement" . The mentality can't be too risky either : most of the time I only used "balanced". ***** U21 squad. We have at least 7-8 players who could play (as a back-up, obviously) in the first team. However, is no room for them in the senior squad because they're still inexperienced ... and because I can register only a limited number of players. *************** We have a good enough staff, at least considering the level of the league. Man Chanvirak (the coach) categorically refused a "full" contract ... but he is very happy with a "month to month" contract. He is probably waiting to be contacted by a professional club. I think he'll have to wait a lot ... One more thing: I don't understand why my level of "working with youngsters" is only 1. What exactly does the growth of this attribute depends on ? Of course, that's not important, but it would be interesting to find out. *************** We are considered the 10th favorite to win the title. Pretty good for a recent winner of this competition ... However, I can't complain : for the other teams in the league we'll continue to be somewhere in the "weak teams" category, so we'll continue to benefit from their lack of concentration. If not for the whole season at least for the first part of the competition. All right, boss, I think we can achieve this objective. It will be difficult, we'll have to work hard ... but I think we'll be able to achieve it. *************** Friendlies. I didn't really get everything I wanted by playing these games. Cohesion has improved, but the atmosphere is quite unsatisfactory. However, I hope that "contrasting personalities" will not prevent us from playing well in the next games. *************** Wow ! Three games played, 11 goals scored, 0 goals conceded. I'm starting to like "contrasting personalities". However, the overall xG (7.7 - 1.3) suggests we are into a lucky streak. Certainly the next games will be more difficult. One more thing: Run Pheng, that kid we received at the last youth intake, scored 4 times in his first match for the first team ! True, the last goal was disallowed, but anyway, that's a great performance. ****************************** March 2029 ***** We clearly won the first game, but we had serious difficulties in the second, that is, in the first game of this season in which we met an really tough opponent. ***** Not bad at all ... but we have been lucky so far. ***** Obviously, we got a gift for the series of good results : an excellent morale. ****************************** April 2029 ***** 3 points won in the league (first game) plus 3 points won in the regional stage of the Cup (second game). Overall, 6 points. And we really played well. ***** I have to repeat : "3 points won in the league (first game) plus 3 points won in the regional stage of the Cup (second game). Overall, 6 points. And we really played well". ***** The difference between us and the team ranked 2nd increased from 0 points (previous month) to 6 points ... As for the Cup ... we are almost qualified, provided we get a draw in the next game ... or to win the last (the 4-th) game. ***** As we say, we were lucky. We scored 18 goals out of 13 xG and we only conceded one goal out of 3 xG. It's not possible to continue like this, so it is clear : our offensive and defensive efficiency will decrease in the future. *************** Wow. Run Pheng is only 16 years old ... but he has already been called up to the national team under 23. So, we have 4 "international" players so far : Sok Chanraksmey, Ouk Udom, Phorn Theara and Run Pheng. True, the first (Sok) no longer plays for Asia Euro United, but, anyway, it is a positive aspect for a club that 3 years ago did not have any player called up. ****************************** May 2029 ***** I'm really curious to see how many players will leave us ... *************** Two games (both being league games) ... and 4 points. ***** Two games (both being Cup games) ... and a qualification for the next round. ***** The difference from the team ranked 2nd decreased to only 4 points ... but the difference from Boeung Ket (the only opponent I'm really afraid of) increased from 7 to 9 points. Everything is going perfectly. By the way, we are already qualified for the second stage (Champions Playoff). Cup (regional stage) : an easy qualification for us. ***** The overall morale is ... as expected. But something strange happened : at the end of April cohesion decreased for no reason. Or, at least, for no obvious reason. After which, also for no obvious reason, it increased spectacularly again. ****************************** June 2029 ***** The transfer window has closed ... and we lost only one player (!). Indeed, it is an U19 international (Phorn Theara), but the fact that we can easily keep almost all important players continues to surprise me. *************** 4 points out of 6. In the first game we were unlucky, but I was expecting something like that. ***** We'll play the last game of the regular stage, then will follow the 10 games of the playoff of the champions, plus the games from the regional and national cup. There will be some very busy months ... *************** I have no idea what that might mean : A possible Interpretation : no player will be very good, but all together will be "an excellent group of players" ... ****************************** July 2029 ***** We got a draw in the last game of the regular stage. And we qualified (overall score, 5 - 0) for regional Cup semifinals. ***** We’ll start the Champions playoff with a 5 points lead. It's not much, but it can be very important. ***** We qualified for the Cup final. After a hard fight (during which we only managed to score 10 goals) we got an epic qualification. Overall, it was a very good training in view of the much more difficult games that will follow. In fact, the first playoff game proved this : we won, but with a lot of luck, and not only because we scored the winning goal in the 90+1 minute and also because our first goal was scored from a shot from outside the box then, after this goal, opponents (ie the AI) started to play very risky, which allowed us to speculate some (way too large) spaces in their defense. ***** (Regional) Cup final. We won quite easily, but this wasn't an important performance because the opponent is (qualitatively speaking) far below our level. ***** Overall, July was a very good month. Unfortunately, however, some key players we have have started to be more and more tired. I hope they doesn't get injured right now. ***** Two years ago I would have been delighted to receive such an invitation. But now ... no, I'm not interested. ****************************** August 2029 ***** The draw for the National Cup first round. From now on, our opponents will (probably) be only teams from the first league. The first opponent (Svay Rieng FC) looks to be not very difficult to defeat ... provided we'll not be affected by complacency. ***** The first game of this month was very important, the opponent being our great rival, Boeung Ket. Unfortunately, we played extremely poorly and Boeung Ket easily defeated us. We didn't recover in the next game either, being defeated (again, quite easily) by NagaWorld. We managed to win the third game (the first round of the Cup) but it is obvious : we are in trouble. Big trouble. ***** In the next two games we got two wins (one in the league, the other in the cup) but we had the same problem : we conceded a lot of goals at the end. In the first game we had 4 - 0 in the 37th minute and the game ended 4 - 3. In the second game ... the same : 3 - 0 and 3 - 2. What is this called ? Simple : complacency. Of course, a good manager would manage to mitigate this issue, but I'm not very convinced I'm "a good manager". Anyway, I'll try ... ***** Wow, we scored 5 times in just 28 minutes ! And the opponent was by no means a very weak team. Good job, guys ! ***** There are 5 more rounds until the end and we managed to keep a 4 point difference between us and Boeung Ket. It would seem the next two games will be extremely important. If we'll manage to get these 6 points then ... we'll be champions. In any case, it's essential for us to defeat Boeung Ket in the second game. *************** 4 more "internationals" ! In the last 3 years our academy has produced 8 players who were subsequently called up to the national teams. We have already lost two of these players, but for us the balance is extremely positive anyway. ****************************** September 2029 ***** We should have won the last game. Sure, we were lucky in the first game (the one that ended 2 - 2), but I would have preferred to lose this game and beat Boeung Ket. Regarding the first leg of the Cup quarterfinals (the game against Angkor Tiger) ... our team played very well and got a deserved win. Too bad they didn't manage the same performance in the next game ... ***** There are 3 more rounds to play and we have two points more than Boeung Ket. To avoid any risk we should win all 3 of these games, but the next one is very difficult : we'll play (away) against NagaWorld. *************** Youth intake 2029. Not bad at all ! Two Cambodian citizens with very interesting names : Enzo Battesti and Mariano Raggi. In fact, Battesti has dual citizenship (he's also French), while Raggi is also Italian. This year we did not receive any player having 5 CA stars ... but we received at least 7 very good players : Especially these two players seem to look very promising. Ung Chandara is already better than the best central defender in the senior squad ... and Say Chanvirak could easily become a better striker than Oum Dara, that striker who was 3 times in a row our team's best scorer. ****************************** October 2029 ***** The team played very well, but failed to get more than a draw ... Well, it looks like this is not "our year." We are tied on points with Boeung Ket but in case of tie points the direct results between the two teams matter ... and these results (0-2 and 1-1) disadvantage us. Of course we still have a chance to win the league, but only if Boeung Ket will lose points in the next two games ... ***** National Cup, quarterfinals, 2nd leg. I was expecting to a qualification, but the fact we scored (again !) 5 goals against a pretty good team like Angkor Tiger surprised me. I have to remind : just 6 weeks ago we defeated the same team with the same score (5-1) and our five goals were scored in the first 37 minutes of the game. Now we have improved our record : in the 23rd minute the score was already 5-0. In semifinals we'll meet a team that we especially like. It's called, of course, Boeung Ket FC : ***** Back to the next league game. Our opponent did not seem to be very difficult to defeat ... but they created a lot of problems for us, they scored 3 times (fortunately two of these goals were disallowed) and "allowed" us to score the winning only in the 90th minute. By the way, for the manager this was an extremely tiring (and sometimes frustrating) game ... ***** Boeung Ket got only a draw ! Everything depends only on us now. We will have to "just" win the last game. It's a difficult game, of course, especially since we'll play away, but it is always better to try to win by playing than to wait for the opponent to make a mistake in another game. ***** National Cup, semifinals. Rules for this competition are sometimes very strange. So far all rounds have been played in a "home-away" (two legs) system. Finals are played at the Olympic Stadium, so on a neutral stadium (which is actually "our" stadium, but that doesn't matter ). The Cup semifinal (national stage) is played in the form of a single game, the host being the luckier team in the draw. In this case, the "lucky ones" were Boeung Ket, so we played "away". However, for unknown reasons, our opponents played really poor. They were probably not interested in winning the Cup and used some players who are usually reserves. In any case, we won quite clearly and qualified for the final. ***** And now, the last round of the league. So, we needed a win. At the end of the first half the score was 1-1 but until then we had played better than our opponents and three of our shots had hit the post in the 15th, 41st and 44th minutes. At this point I realized that I have no idea how we should play in the second half. We should play like we played in the first half (balanced and waiting for opponents mistakes) ... or we should play more offensive (and riskier) ? I chose the less risky option. Consequence : we conceded the second goal. Of course, I immediately asked players to give up caution and attack, the effect of this approach being two more goals conceded at the end of the game. So, we lost 4-1 and missed out on winning the title. Bad luck ... ***** *************** Awards collection : Player of the Year (Lim Mony Udom / right midfielder) , Young Player of the Year (Run Penh, / attacking midfielder or striker), Goalkeeper of the Year and (Kouch Rothserey), in addition, 5 players included in the League Team of the Year. *************** Our U21 team won the championship again, for the third time in a row. *************** Cup final. We were very lucky ... but also very unlucky. Why do I say we were lucky ? Because we played bad for at least 80 minutes out of 120 but we scored two goals and then we won on penalties. Why were we unlucky ? We conceded the equalizing goal (1-1) in the 90+4 minute, then, in extra-time, we missed a penalty-kick. *************** An overview of the two phases of the National Cup : *************** *************** Players' stats : just a year ago Run Pheng was just a kid waiting for the day when he would make his debut in the first team. Now he is already an international (U23) and the best young player in the league. He has 36 games played for the first team, 17 goals scored, 11 assists ... and a very promising future. ***** Teams' stats : We weren't the best team in terms of attack ... but we were the best team in terms of defense. It was not enough to win the title again, but even so performances we got are clearly better than expectations. *************** The club received $ 20,000 for its team participation in continental competitions (2029 season). Unfortunately, however, we missed earning at least another 60,000 just because we didn't manage to qualify for regional groups ... and at least another 20,000 because we didn't win the title this season (which means we didn't qualify for the next edition of continental competitions) ... *************** It's been a while since the last attempt to persuade the board to accept some improvements for our facilites, so ... I decided to try again. Surprise : they accepted one of the 3 requests ! Consequence : at this moment Asia Euro United has the best academy in the country. *************** And now ... it's time for a change : ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted September 23, 2021 Author Share Posted September 23, 2021 January 2030 ***** I waited until January because I wanted to apply to as many clubs as possible, and my self-imposed rules allowed me to apply for level 5 clubs only after January 1, 2030. However, I was unlucky. I did look for clubs in that leagues that were to start in January or February. Theoretically, I would have had countless options because I could have applied to clubs in Malaysia (2nd league), Singapore, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Macau. Practically, however, only a few clubs were looking for a new manager : ***** After a few days I received two interview offers, both from clubs in Macau : ***** After a few more days I signed a contract. My new job is ... ****************************** Macau. Special administrative region of China, and a former Portuguese colony (which is why Portuguese is used as a second official language). Basically, Macau is a city. A fairly large city (almost 700,000 inhabitants) located in the vicinity of another special administrative region of China, Hong Kong. As I said, Macau is a fairly large city, but compared to its "neighbors" it seems very small. Within a radius of 130 kilometers (90 miles) around it are cities such as Guangzhou (16 million inhabitants), Shenzhen (14 million), Dongguan (10 million), Foshan (7 million), plus Hong Kong, whose total population exceeds 7 million. But what about its surface ? From this point of view, Macau is very small : twice smaller than San Marino, 5 times smaller than Liechtenstein and 12 times smaller than Andorra. It sounds funny, but compared to Macau, Andorra is a really big country. In fact, Macau is smaller than towns like Colchester, Chesterfield or Lincoln. Macau is a rich region ... but from a football point of view it has two issues. First : local clubs have no chance to compete with clubs in the region. In other words, any very good players produced in the area get to play for clubs outside the region very quickly. The second issue : that very small area of the region implies the existence of a small number of stadiums. The city has 6 stadiums, an totally insufficient number, but there is no space to build others. In addition, the largest stadium is used only by national teams, which means that teams of over 100 clubs in Macau use only these 5 available stadiums. ***** And now, back to my virtual career. First, about the club. It is a semi-professional club and it has extremely limited facilities. The two teams (seniors and U18) play their home matches on a stadium shared with other 16 (!!!) clubs, which means that on this stadium usually play over 30 teams. This stadium is used by 6 teams from the second league, 5 teams from the 3rd league ... and, of course, there are also 5 other teams from the first league that use it : CD Monte Carlo, CDS Alfadenga, ADC Kuan Tai, SPFT Police and Sporting Clube. What this means ? Practically this stadium is used every day and most league rounds are held in a very irregular way. In addition, the pitch condition is quite precarious. ***** This club's history is interesting and, in fact, it's one of the reasons why when I had to choose between the two clubs, Artilheiros and Chao Pak Kei, I chose the second one. First of all, its table positions from 2017 to 2024 are very symmetrical : 3rd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th place. But, more important, in real life Chao Pak Kei FT is really the best team in Macau. Their record in the last 3 years is impressive : 40 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss, 237 goals scored and only 20 conceded. In FM, on the other hand, their situation is not as good at all. In the previous season (2029) they hardly avoided relegation. Obviously, this club has a much higher reputation and potential than this 8th place they got in the previous season and I'm curious about how high we will be able to reach the end of this season. *************** I was talking about reputation. Indeed, Chao Pak Kei has a good reputation, being considered the 4th best club in Macau. ***** Is there a significant difference between the reputation of my current club and the reputation of my former club, Asia Euro United ? Not really. In fact, from this point of view these two clubs are very similar. *************** The general rules are ... "European" : 10 teams, 18 rounds, teams ranked on the last two places will relegate. A maximum of 8 foreign players can be registered (out of a maximum of 26 "registrable" players) but only 4 of them can play at a time. As for us, everything is all right because we only have 4 foreigners in the two squads, all these 4 foreigners being Portuguese citizens. *************** Being only a semi-professional club, we do not have serious problems in terms of finances. In other words, our expenses are relatively small, and our incoming ... the same. *************** In media prediction we are considered as being the 3rd favorite, which could mean that, apart from our good club reputation, we have in our squads also a number of good or very good players. ***** At least for now our board don’t seem very optimistic. Given the media prediction, probably another board would have requested reaching of more difficult objectives than this "top half". *************** The available staff seems to be good enough ... for now. We don't have a HOYD yet, but I'll deal with this later. *************** The first game in the league will be played in just one week, on January 17. We don't have time for friendly games anymore. In fact, these games are not very necessary, the cohesion and atmosphere being quite good. Unfortunately, players don't trust me at all, but I don't have anything to do for now. *************** This is the second reason why I chose this club : our senior squad consists of no less than 76 players. If the 13 players from the U18 squad are added, it results that we have no less than 89 players at the club. However, according to the rule, we can only register a maximum of 26 players. Normally, it would not be a problem because the list of registered ones can be modified until February 11th. The question is ... how will react those players who were left out of the list ? How will react some players if one of their friends is very unhappy because he is not on the list? I could just kick-out those players we don't need, but how will react the other players ? If this reaction will be extremely negative then I will simply have to resign. I hope it won't be needed. ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted September 25, 2021 Author Share Posted September 25, 2021 Well ... I told them what I was going to do. They were not very happy but the overall reaction was not nearly as negative as I thought it would be. ***** In conclusion : I kicked-out no less than 45 players. In the case of some of them it was very simple, as their level was obviously very low. In the case of others, however, I had to choose, as their attributes were quite good but the assistant claimed that these players are "surplus to requirements". In the end I decided to take into account what the assistant says. The "cleaning" operation resulted in a very unbalanced squad. Some overall attributes are exceptional, others are mediocre. However, from a physical point of view we obviously have the best squad in the league (except "balance"), and at this level (quite low) good physical attributes can be extremely important. U18 squad. We have a number of very good youngsters, especially the two AMCs. Unfortunately I can't register them, so for now they won't be allowed to play for the first team. *************** The first three games of this season : we got 7 points out of 9 but, for now, the team is not consistent, the very good playing periods alternating with really weak playing moments. ***** ****************************** February 2030 ***** The transfer window has closed. Of course, we didn't bring in any new players. I had a lot of difficulties in choosing the 26 players to be registered and I didn't want to be stressed again because of this kind of choices. *************** 0 points out of 6. We didn't play very badly but the inconsistency "killed" us ... ***** 4 points. In the first game we played pretty well in the first half but bad in the second. We barely managed to get a draw. The team's morale had started to decline, we were lucky : in the second game we met a mediocre team that "helped" us to recover. (By the way : in Portuguese "Artilheiros" means "Gunners". This club is a a kind of smaller Arsenal) ***** The leader, CS Monte Carlo, is 3 points away, although it only played 6 games. Unfortunately, we are only on the 5th place. Next month we'll play against three teams from the second half of the table (Policia, Windsor and Alfandega), and our future objective depends on these three games. If we'll manage to get 7 - 9 points then we can aim for a top 3 position. If we'll get 4 - 6 points then we have to focus only on getting a place in the first half of the table. But if we'll get less than 4 points then ... this is a case of resignation. ****************************** March 2030 ***** Yay, 9 points out of 9 ! ***** And, surprisingly, we became leaders ! It's true, this also happened because the former leader, CD Monte Carlo, got only 4 points in their last three games. *************** We have 5 players called up to the national teams. Two of them are already important players in the senior national team (goalkeeper Chio P.K. and striker Ng C.H.), both already having over 10 selections. Cheong U.C is also a very good goalkeeper and Graca is the best right defender in our squad. As for Wong C.L ... his selection for the U23 national team seems surprising to me because until now he didn't prove to be a very good player, at least in our team. His abilities (CA) are probably better than I thought. ****************************** April 2030 ***** 4 points out of 9. To be honest, it's a little hilarious. We played against two (theoretically) very strong opponents, Benfica and Monte Carlo. Shots : 36 - 3 (!). Shots on target : 20 - 2 (!). xG : 3.1 - 0.3. Goals scored : 0 - 1 (?). ***** We fell to 3rd place, but the difference from first place is minimal. However, something is wrong. It's true, our opponents started to play more defensively, but that does not explain the fact that our strikers hardly manage to find the opponent's goal even when they receive the ball in ideal positions to score (unmarked, in the central area of the box). ****************************** May 2030 ***** We played a friendly game. We had exactly the same issue : our offensive players weren't able to score ... and our opponents managed to score even if they shot on target only twice. ***** The team played poorly, but that's an improvement : at least now I know why we lost. I prefer to lose because we play badly than because our opponents score the winning goal form their only shot on target. *************** So, we have two team leaders (striker Rafael Balas and goalkeeper Chio P.K) and an highly influential player (central defender Vu L.I). One of the two leaders, Balas, was extremely upset when he ask me why I don't give him more playing time and I criticized his poor playing performance (7 games played, zero goals scored, zero assists). Two of the three team leaders agreed with Balas and this, honestly, annoyed me a bit. However, Balas' supporters reacted quite well when I asked them to be professional and to not affect the atmosphere in the dressing room just because of a player's ambition. What should I have do next? Of course, I had only one option : to kick-out Balas immediately, regardless of whether the other players are upset or not because of this. *************** And ... big surprise : we won the next game (played against the 1st placed team, FC Artilheiros). And not anyway, but scoring 3 goals from only 3 shots on target ! [I know, it's strange. That's why I have to specify : I didn't use "reload" or any other trick. Simply immediately after Balas left the managerial support suddenly increased (from "poor" to "average") and the team jumped from "we can't score a goal even from 15 shots on target" to "we can easily score 3 goals from 3 shots on target" ] ***** If we had lost the last game Artilheiros would have had 31 points and we only 24. There are just 3 rounds to play, so our chances of winning the championship would have been practically zero. But we won, which means we remain in that group of 5 teams that continue to fight for the 1st place. As I said, the managerial support has increased a lot, and that happened just in one day. ***** The team ranked on the last place (at that time) defeated one of the 5 teams that are fighting for the 1st place. Two days later : another team ranked on the last place (at that time) defeated one of the 5 teams that are fighting for the 1st place. *************** Youth intake preview. Very interesting formula : a "great prospect" + a "fine prospect" + a "plenty of promise" + a "caught the eye" + "should keep a close eye on" = "don't expect much from this intake". I understood a lot and nothing. ****************************** June 2030 ***** Summer transfer window just closed. A summary : no players left us, no new players came. *************** In Macau there are two distinct cups : a lower league cup (in which participate teams from the 2nd and 3rd leagues) and the Macao Football Association Cup (in which participate only the 10 teams in the 1st league). We are qualified directly for quarterfinals, where, most likely, we'll meet one of the favorites of this competition, CD Monte Carlo. We'll play "away", but "their" stadium is also "our" stadium, so ... *************** If they had won this game, Macau U23s would have had 32 points, which would have given them a significant chance of winning the championship. The fact that they only got a draw turned us into the main favorite. ***** First Division, the 16th round (for us). We met a mediocre opponent and won extremely easily. I really can't understand how Sporting managed to beat Benfica 3 weeks ago. (By the way "Sporting against Benfica" really sounds very Portuguese) ***** FC Artilheiros failed to defeat a modest opponent, AD Windsor Arch. What was I saying a few days ago? That we had become the main favorite to win the championship ? Now we are even "more favorite" than we were then. ***** What can I say? In case of a points tie ranking is based on goals difference. So, if we'll win the next game we are 99.9% champions. We have the trophy in our pocket. ***** Macau FA Cup, quarter finals. I forgot about that. So, in the preliminary round of the Cup, the big favorite CD Monte Carlo was eliminated by a team (ADC Kuan Tai) that is almost relegated from the first league. I don't understand how something like that happened, considering that in the game against us ADC Kuan Tai played very bad. ***** ***** ***** ***** ****************************** July 2030 ***** First Division, the 17th round (for us). As expected, we won. And, if we don't lose the next game 10 - 0, we are champions. ***** First Division, the last round. Not only did we dodn't lose the last game, but we even scored 6 times. I'd like to say this trophy was won due to my exceptional managerial abilities. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We won because our opponents tried (and even managed) to lose as many points as possible against all "small" teams in the championship. In other words, we won because I was lucky. ***** *************** Both of our two internationals won an award each. In addition, we have 7 players in the Team of the Tear. *************** Our U18 team was very close to winning the youth championship. *************** Macau FA Cup, Semi-finals. We easily won. We qualified for the final, and there we'll meet Benfica. Fortunately for us, it's Benfica from Macau. I don't even want to think how many (tens of) goals could score us the other (and much stronger) team called Benfica. ***** Macau FA Cup, Final. Another game easily won. And another trophy. ***** *************** *************** Players' stats : Ng Chi Hou has scored 21 goals in 21 games played. I’m not surprised, he’s one of the best players in the league. Our best 8 players : ***** Teams' stats : *************** Surprisingly, there is a prize for winning the cup ... but not for winning the championship. In any case, for our budget even these 11,000 earned as a prize are important. Since we have more money and, in addition, the board is pleased with performance we got, I hurried to ask for our club's facilites improvement. We only got a budget increase for youth/junior coaching, but even so, it's a significant improvement. *************** The pre-season will start in November but, unfortunately, the next season will start only in mid-January. A second season in Macau would probably have been very interesting, but 5 months means a (much too) long break, so ... *************** ... it's time for another job. ****************************** Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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