GreenTriangle Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 Why Bulgaria ? Spoiler Well, from my point of view, Bulgaria is an interesting experiment. In FM23 youth rating of this nation was low, one of the lowest among the playable European nations. For example, it was 25% lower than that of Poland. Of course, it's possible that in FM24 this rating will be higher, but I assume that the changes will not be very big. Also in FM23 the reputation of the first two Bulgarian leagues were similar to those of the first two leagues in Poland. The reputation of the clubs was also similar to that of clubs in Poland. I assume that there are no significant changes in FM24 In FM23 the number of countries that were specified in "nation transfer preferences" was 16 for Poland and 37 (!) for Bulgaria. This practically means a higher number of agents who propose foreign players to Bulgarian clubs, so, implicitly, a larger number of players proposed by these agents. (Note: this situation also exists in real life : there are more Brazilian or Argentinian players playing in the Bulgarian first league than in the French, Belgian, Dutch or Swiss first league. Of course, the quality of these players is not very high, but some of these players can reach at very good market values after a few years) *** In conclusion: low national youth rating, reasonable high reputations, a large number of available foreign players and few restrictions regarding them. In my opinion, this is a combination of factors that deserves to be experienced, especially considering the fact that the FM24 has an improved transfer system. Career settings Spoiler Of course, first I selected Bulgaria and the "big 5" (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France). I also have added all countries neighboring Bulgaria and that are playable in FM (Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Romania). After that I added Argentina and Brazil, being nations that supply a large number of players to Bulgarian clubs. Finally, I added Belgium, Holland, Portugal and Croatia as "additional markets". In addition, I selected "add players from national teams" and "add players from clubs in continental competitions" for Europe and Africa. Thus I reached 94,000 players, a number that will probably increase quite a lot in the following seasons. It's quite a demanding configuration for my PC and I hope it won't be necessary to give up any of these nations. Active leagues *** Note : I haven't checked the option "add players to playable teams". So, this is the default database. The club Spoiler First of all, I'll specify an important aspect : it's very likely that I'll be fired at some point, so it makes no sense for me to call this career "Club X, the way to glory" or something. Also, I still don't have a clear idea about how this career will unfold. Will it be based on many foreign players ? Many Bulgarian players ? On many players produced by the club ? I don't know yet. In time, depending on what will happen, I'll choose a certain strategy. *** Club choice. I wanted to start from the second league, and the simplest option was to choose one of the 4 clubs that were promoted from the 3rd league. One of these 4 clubs was founded in 1923, that is exactly 100 years ago. This club, FC Bdin Vidin, seemed to be the best choice for me. *** FC Bdin Vidin, some details "Vidin" is a city. In fact, is a town, it has only 40,000 inhabitants. It's located on the banks of the Danube river, at the border between Bulgaria and Romania. About 25 kilometers from the city there is another border, the one between Bulgaria and Serbia. "Bdin", the name of the club, is a historical name. More precisely, this is what the city of Vidin was called many hundreds of years ago. In real life, the Bdin Vidin club has never achieved notable performances. Its team played in the first Bulgarian league only one year, in the 1947-48 season, so 74 years ago, and in the last 11 seasons (since 2012) they only played in the 3rd league. Other details Spoiler I'll start without badges (so, Sunday League player and no license). It seems quite risky to me, since the game suggested "professional player and Continental C license" as being the optimal configuration. *** The tactic used. I didn't intend to use a certain tactical configuration in the long term, but, at least for the beginning, I will choose the 4-4-2 positioning. Regarding the team instructions, I'll use the "control-possession" template ... for now. ***** We have a fairly large stadium, capacity 15,000, and the facilities are quite good. However, most clubs in the Bulgarian second league have facilities similar to ours, so it's likely that the players we'll receive at the next youth intake will be quite mediocre. (Due to the low national youth rating, the second league in Bulgaria produces few very good players and and it would take a lot of luck for any of these few very good players to be generated at "my" club.) *** The staff available at the club is composed of a mediocre manager (myself), an assistant manager (quite good), two coaches and a doctor. Plus a manager for the U18's squad. We have no HOYD, no scouts and no physios. Positive aspect : we have players ! Less positive aspect : we have only 22, of which none in the U19's squad. An even less positive aspect : we don't have any left defender, as for the left midfielders, we have only one, a guy who's also the team's number one striker (and who, anyway, is only "competent" as a left midfielder). *** I tried to convince the Board that a possible coaching license could be really useful for the club. Surprisingly, I succeeded ! ***** June - July 2023 Transfers. I brought 3 players. One transferred, two loaned. I wanted more players, but, in the end, these are good too. Anyway, the team is now a bit more balanced. Only a bit : *** The Board asks me to "attempt to avoid relegation". A good idea, although I'm not at all sure I can do it. But I can try. (I don't know why, but "media prediction" table doesn't work. I wouldn't say it would be a big problem, I already know that we're in last place ... or near it) *** We played 6 friendly matches and, yay, we won them all, and even scored countless goals. The team's morale is now a bit better, although we will probably have some troubles due to low cohesion. Full schedule *** The main rules in the Second Bulgarian League ***** July 2023 Wow ! Very nice ! ***** August 2023 Wow ! Very ... as expected. We're back to normal. I would have preferred to see something abnormal for at least another 5-6 matches ... *** After the match played against Spartak Varna I was a bit nervous. I don't remember what I said, but it seems I said something interesting. As a result, the team leader urgently called a riot in the dressing room. In the next match the team played badly (although they still got a draw). I heroically refrained from saying interesting things, but the leader didn't give up : this time the riot was even bigger, and the morale of the team seriously reddened. *** We lost the left midfielder whom I had barely managed to loan. Why ? Because at the time of the loan, my managerial genius led me to forget to uncheck the "will only play as a left defender" option. It's called stupidity. *** Matches played in July and August : ***** September 2023 That's ... interesting. In the first game our opponents shot 8 times on target and scored 7 goals. In the fourth game the opponents shot 6 times and scored 5 goals. In total, 12 goals scored from 14 shots on target. How it was possible ? I don't have any idea. But I can guarantee that we had a goalkeeper. And he even played ! *** However, this is not the time to be upset about the 12 goals conceded : we're leaders ! Not in the league table (there we are in 5th place) but in the xG table. (I don't think it has any importance, but I want to be optimistic). *** After the match we lost 7-2 I was a bit nervous again. But I reminded myself that my players have sensitive souls, so I tried not to be harsh. I avoided any trouble ? Not a chance : our leader immediately found followers for another riot, a little smaller this time. Then, after another week, a new riot. This time, however, his teammates (probably they were bored, even rioting should have a limit) were of the opinion that what is happening is a bit exaggerated. As a result, the guy got angry and missed the training. (I think I should ask the Board for a salary increase. The working conditions seem quite difficult here). *** Matches played in September : ***** October 2023 Considering the conditions, I think these results are really good ... *** Matches played in October : ***** November 2023 We were very lucky in the second match and very unlucky in the third. I would have preferred it to be the other way around. Three points would have been better than two ... League table *** Our great striker who scored a goal in the 9 matches he played is very unhappy. He threatened me that he would leave, and I told him that I was waiting for this news like the arrival of Santa Claus. I am curious if someone will be found to offer him a contract. (By the way, SI Games, if I met a lady looking like Mrs. Hill on the street, I would probably have a heart attack, especially if it happened at night in some poorly lit places. I really think that some cosmetic touch-ups would be welcome). ***** December 2023 3 points out of 6 and a win against the second place team. Good enough. According to xG table, we're a top 3 team. According to my personal opinion, the current 5th place is a miracle. We will probably play worse in second half of the season, but I hope we'll stay somewhere in the middle of the table. *** Matches played in November and December : *** Player's stats : 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted October 24, 2023 Author Share Posted October 24, 2023 (edited) December 2023 - February 2024 I have a problem: I don't know what to believe. Looking at the statistics regarding the number of shots/shots on target, it would seem that everything is fine : we have a very good defense. But despite all that, we conceded a lot of goals. According to the statistics, it would not be necessary to try to bring in better players. But according to the number of goals conceded, it would be necessary. Since the team is in 5th place I can probably postpone solving this problem until the summer. In fact, the situation is quite complicated : Spoiler - we have a really small wage budget, and we are already spending more than was foreseen (which seriously limits my ability to offer good salaries to potential transferred players). - we don't have a budget for transfers (so I have to limit myself to free players, loans and players whose contract will expire in the summer) - although the club's revenues are quite good and the Board is willing to support possible losses, I don't know if the budget for next year will be much higher than the current one. - the contracts of no less than 22 players will end in June 2024. - we lost a second player who was on loan, for the same reason: he did not play in the specified position at the time of the loan. As a result, I'll strictly limit myself to bringing the necessary players for the two positions in which we have problems, left defender and left midfielder : (The 24 players in the squad / The two new players, those who were loaned this winter / The other two players, those who were loaned in the summer but were recalled by their clubs). Consequently, this is the squad I'll use in the spring season : *** A point of view regarding the settings chosen for this career and the consequences of choosing these settings : Spoiler As I said in the previous post, Bulgarian clubs are very "friendly" when it comes to foreign players, at least in FM. Transfer preferences are specified for many other countries and the rules regarding the squad registration and match squad contain very few restrictions. This fact, combined with the fact that I chose not to tick the "add players to playable teams" option and with the fact that I only have 23 active leagues, resulted in a real avalanche of foreign players available for transfer (even for a small club like ours). If the club's budgets were bigger, it would probably be very easy to build a very good team made up only of non-EU players and EU players, but not Bulgarians. Some examples : players interested in a transfer, December / players interested in being loaned, December / players interested in a transfer, January / players interested in a transfer, February / players interested in being loaned, February In fact, even in real life there are a certain number of Bulgarian clubs where a high number of foreigners (non-Bulgarians) play. The most "extreme" example is this (19 foreigners, 4 Bulgarians). Of course, after a few years the number of foreigners will decrease because many "new" Bulgarian players will be generated at youth intakes. But because Bulgaria has a low youth rating, the number of foreigners would continue to be quite high, anyway higher than in the case of other nations that have many foreigners but also produce many very good young players. In my opinion, a "youth only" career in Bulgaria would be difficult, probably more difficult than in many other countries. As a result, I decided that this career should not turn into one based only on the youngsters produced at the club. It would be way too difficult and frustrating. *** Before the resumption of the championship I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to test the team. As a result, we played two friendly matches in Serbia. Opponents, two teams from the Serbian second league (a better league than the Bulgarian second league). The result of this experiment was not encouraging at all. We lost the first match 0-4 and managed a draw (0-0) in the second, but this result is deceptive : we played badly and could very easily have conceded at least 3-4 goals. Fortunately, however, the team's morale wasn't greatly affected by these results. ***** February - March 2024 Well, that's not quite what I would have wanted. I suspected that the team would play worse in the second part of the competition, but I didn't expect that the attackers would manage only 8 shots on target during the 5 matches played. In any case, we'll have to start playing better. In April we'll meet the teams ranked 12th, 18th, 17th and 15th. The minimum objective would be 7 points won in these 4 games. *** Matches played in February and March : ***** April 2024 What the ... ?!? The first three games were embarrassing. The last two were downright humiliating. All in all, we're in a big mess. Why ? I have no idea. Probably FM wants to recreate the situation in which a team necessarily wants to get rid of its manager. I mean, the boys wanted to scare me by organizing countless riots. I wasn't scared, and now they act through more subtle methods. In any case, the teams' morale is not low, but very, very low. In the last four games we'll meet the teams ranked 1, 17, 4 and 8. In other words : goodbye, Bdin, it was a pleasure to work for you ... Yes, dear supporters (and AI), I know what it's about. Sorry, I have an obsession with 4-4-2. I dream of 4-4-2 in the morning, at lunch and in the evening and I will not give up the 4-4-2 even if we lose 20-0. *** Matches played in April : *** It's not important anymore, but... ... it would have been interesting. The players that the assistant considers to have good potential are exactly those who have not exactly recommendable personalities. (by the way, I assume that these canceled matches and the lack of players in the list can be considered bugs) ***** May 2024 It was expected ... ***** I achieved the performance of being relegated and fired after only one season. It would not be said that it was the best possible start of my career. But I'll continue. Fortunately, I had the inspiration to improve my qualification a little : in October I got the National C licence, and in April the National B licence. ***** June 2024 Two clubs whose teams have just been promoted from the 3rd Bulgarian league are looking for a manager. Of course, I applied immediately : After a few days, both clubs invited me for an interview : And, after a few more days, both clubs offered me a contract : Septemvri / Vihren Both offers were similar, so I also checked other aspects. Regarding the facilities, those owned by Vihren are superior. Also, Vihren have a second team and, in addition, it have more players in the main squad (Septemvri having a lot of grey players). As a result, the choice was easy : ***** National and continental competitions, 2023-2024 season Champions League - Group Stage / Champions League - Knockout Stage Europa League - Group Stage / Europa League - Knockout Stage Conference League - Group Stage / Conference League - Knockout Stage *** England 1 and England 2 / Spain 1 and Spain 2 / Italy 1 and Italy 2 / Germany 1 and Germany 2 / France 1 and France 2 Belgium 1 / Holland 1 / Portugal 1 Turkey 1 and Turkey 2 / Greece 1 and Greece 2 / Serbia 1 and Serbia 2 / Croatia 1 Bulgaria 1 Edited October 24, 2023 by GreenTriangle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherwinriga Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 12 hours ago, GreenTriangle said: It was expected ... Wow! Not a great start that you got fired in your first run. I hope that you'll be planning to turn things around next season because managing in Bulgaria is harder than Mongolia as soon as you have planned on going back to Asia for sure. Who's the new manger in Bidin when you got fired? Other than that, I'll be following your journey just like I have followed in Mongolia, but hopefully, you'll get a crack in getting winning ways for sure! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marios1999 Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 Following, as a guy based in Sofia and managing in Bulgaria atm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted October 26, 2023 Author Share Posted October 26, 2023 So, I have to move my luggages from Vidin (north-west Bulgaria, near the border with Romania and Serbia) to Sandanski (south-west Bulgaria, near the border with Greece and North Macedonia) Who is my new club, FC Vihren Sandanski ? First of all, Sandanski is a town. It's somewhat smaller than Vidin (it has 25,000 inhabitants). Regarding the club : in real life, FC Vihren was founded in 1925. It played for 50 years in the lower leagues (until 1977), then in the second and third leagues (1977-2005). The team was promoted to the first league in 2005, but only played at this level for 4 years. Two years in the second league followed, another relegation, the disbanding of the club in 2011, the re-establishment in 2013, promotion from the regional league in 2014, 10 years in the 3rd league... and a new promotion (in FM) in 2024. Regarding the name: "Vihren" is a mountain peak located near the city of Sandanski. It's the second highest mountain peak in the entire Balkan peninsula, and its name, "Vihren peak" could be translated as "the stormy peak" or "the whirlwind peak". ***** June 2024 I arrived at my new club. First impression: we have green shirts (nice !), we have reasonable facilities (nice !), we have a rather small stadium (for now, is's not a real problem) : Second impression : I have a lot of work. I should have asked for a higher salary... First. We have only 20 players, 19 in the main squad and one in the second squad. Obviously and as expected, we don't have enough players on the left wing. As for the youngsters, being a newly promoted team, we only have one U19 player (the one from the second squad) . But we have 3 players aged 35 or more, plus three others who are 31-34 years old. Is the fact that we only have 20 players my biggest problem ? Of course not. For now, my biggest problem is that we don't have staff. I mean, we have a manager (myself) and a doctor. Which is good, in case I need medical assistance, but it's not really what a football team would need. Okay, we also have a chairman, but he's the boss, so ... Since I don't have an assistant manager and the doctor has other things to do, of course I can't see the CA and PA levels of my players. And I would kind of need to see these levels : the club was semi-professional last year and just now went professional. Consequently, almost all my players have amateur contracts. But they don't want amateur contracts because, what the h***, we're a professional club now. As a result, about half of my players are "concerned". They aren't unhappy yet, but I have to act quickly because if half the team would become unhappy I would probably have to find another job. Is there at least one positive aspect in this whole story ? Only one, but very important : we have money ! I can spend up to 40,000 monthly. It should be more than enough. ***** June - July 2024 I partially solved some problems. We have staff. It's not complete, but at least it's there. I also discovered that I have 3 players in the squad who have attributes of staff members. In fact, one of them (Yakimov) is now our U19's manager. I would have wanted to appoint Stoev as assistant manager, but after that I gave up the idea : Stoev seems very willing to comment on my decisions and I wouldn't want to argue with my assistant all day long. I found another assistant, but because I was in a hurry, I ignored the fact that he has a not exactly positive personality (he's unambitious). I'll probably replace him sometime, in the future. *** However, I didn't solve something that would have been important : we didn't bring any new player. I acted slowly, which was a mistake. Initially, I hoped that, for the beginning, there would be a need (as in the Bdin case) of 2, 3, maybe a maximum of 4 players, and that I could complete the squad after the start of the championship (July 14). But after playing a few friendlies I discovered that the situation at my new club is more complicated : I think I have to explain : Rozova Dolina and Minyor Pernik are teams from the 3rd league. Strumska Slava was relegated last season from the 2nd league to the 3rd league. Krumovgrad plays in the first league. So, the former manager (ie the AI) won the first friendly with 3-1. I lost against a relegated team (Strumska) and, worse, I lost 1-5 against another 3rd league team. And when you get 5 goals from a team in the lower leagues it's clear that something needs to be changed urgently. And since I don't want to change the tactics, I have to bring in new (and, if possible, better) players. Squad (July 14) : Players' details / Full schedule Club vision. The board asks me to "attempt to avoid relegation". Which was to be expected, by the way. Surprisingly, media prediction works this season (it was not working in the previous). According to it, we're among the teams that have a high chance of being relegated, but the assigned odds (18-1) are surprisingly high. Which probably means that there are not very big differences between the teams participating in the second Bulgarian league. ***** July 2024 Only one point out of 9. It's clear that something is not right. Since I was hired we've played 6 matches (including the three friendlies) and only got a draw. ***** August 2024 Well, yes, it's a bit better now. We won a match ! But we won in a way that probably happens once in more than 100 games played. Also, since we needed to improve morale, I looked for the most microscopic amateur team from the lower leagues available for a friendly, so, that spectacular 6-0 doesn't mean much. *** Matches played in July and August : ***** September 2024 Transfers : I brought 9 players. Of which two goalkeepers, and this because our reserve goalkeeper (Zagorski) did not want to sign a full-time contract unless he is "first choice goalkeeper". I told him he could leave ... and he left. We immediately brought in another goalkeeper (Boyadzhiev) who was seriously injured after only 4 games played. We have a lot of money but for now I can't use it as I would like because I don't know yet which are the positions for which we already have enough good players and which are the ones that need new and better players. In fact, the way the team plays, it would seem that we need players for 11 positions. In any case, for now we have loaned many young players, and in the winter, after the situation will become more stable, some very good players will also be transferred. And, yes, we lost a good player. Or a player that, at first glance, seemed to be good (4 stars CA, 4 stars PA). The guy didn't want to sign a full contract until he was promised that he would play the way he want and the team would be strengthened. I didn't want to promise him, he became unhappy, then he asked me to let him go. Since he was an "influential player", I preferred to get rid of him. (Speaking of promises. Throughout this career I'll avoid promising, no matter what. I prefer to have troubles because of what I do, not because 100 years ago I promised someone something). *** At this moment (September 6), according to the assistant's report, I have a better team at Vihren than the team I had at Bdin at the beginning of the year. So, the situation should improve, especially since at the end of August I organized a team meeting, the players reacted positively and the team's morale is now much better. In addition, I also completed the staff. Maybe my assistant is not really the best possible, but the HOYD and the two coaches are really very good for a club of a rather low level, as Vihren is at the moment. *** Three wins (one in a Cup match) and 3 defeats. It's not exceptional, but it's better than before ... *** Matches played in September : ***** October 2024 Three draws and one defeat at the end of the match in a game (the Cup) in which we met one of the strongest teams in Bulgaria. In appearance, everything is good. In reality, it's not good at all. In two of the three matches that ended in a draw we played poorly, but we were lucky. We were also very lucky in the Cup match. Of course, luck is also needed, but we cannot rely only on it. In xG table we're in last place (and we were there also at the end of last month). It will be necessary to play better in the last matches of the season, otherwise ... I might be fired. *** Matches played in October : ***** November 2024 4 matches played. We had 14 shots on target, the opponents had 13. We scored 3 goals, the opponents 7. As I said, we can't just rely on luck. Summary of the month : zero points, we fell to the last place and we are 5 points away from the 17th place ... *** Matches played in November : ***** Before the last game I received a warning : After that game I received an invitation. The chairman was celebrating his birthday ... sorry, mistake ... I was invited to give explanations and make some promises : Initially I didn't want to go, but if I didn't go I would have been fired, and my CV would have been seriously affected if it had to contain two dismissals during just a year and a half. I attended the meeting, but I didn't want to promise anything. However, I couldn't have remain at Vihren. I would have been sacked anyway. So : Players' stats ***** After only two days I received a recommendation : I found the wording "a job that matches your reputation" interesting. I didn't really understand what it was about, because I acquired (with a lot of effort !) a reputation as a guy who can relegate any team easily and without very much pain. At first glance, it sounds like this club definitely need a relegation, and in this case, of course, I'm the better expert they can find. I still had some doubts, because Montana is exactly that team that "kicked me out". I thought they weren't too interested in hiring their victim. In any case, I applied : ... and, surprisingly, they really invited me for an interview : More surprising was that they also offered me a contract. I imagine that they had some remorse for the fact that they sent me to unemployment. Or maybe they really want to relegate, who knows ? In any case, I hope that once I was hired by this club I'll give up the dubious habit of relegating everything I touch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
442isDead Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 I've also started a career in Bulgaria, as part of a Balkan journeyman, started unemployed, with no badges or experience. Got the Sportist Svoge job about 9 games in, and they were sitting third from bottom, and it's going far better than expected, as I head down the final stretch of games, I sit third, and in a good position of holding onto the promotion playoff spot. Automatic promotion is probably just beyond reach, but since taking over I've lost once in the league and am on an incredible winning streak since returning from the winter break. We have no money either so I'm looking like losing many of my first team, including Svetoslav "Paul" Dikov the league's top scorer with 28 goals as he agreed a contract with a top division club. But I've secured some youngsters for next season, and if I get promoted, I may have more options. Will post some screenshots when I get back to it later tonight or tomorrow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
442isDead Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 Well the season is finished and I don't think I've had such a start to a career in the 25+ years I've been playing CM/FM Defeated only once after taking over on October 16th I went on a 11 game winning streak after the winter break. Ended up being in a shout with the title going into the last day but needed results to my way to make the dream a reality. It wasn't to be but we find ourselves promoted nonetheless. Our success was down in no small part to the form of Svetoslav Dikov's 35 goals in 32 games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted October 29, 2023 Author Share Posted October 29, 2023 (edited) On 28/10/2023 at 00:04, 442isDead said: The most important thing is to have fun. For example, I've been playing FM since 2014. I've played 10 of the last 11 iterations of this game. In the last 5 years I have, cumulatively, over 6000 hours of gaming (although probably about 1500-2000 hours I haven't actually played, the game being only open in the background). In any case, the last time I won the Champions League was in FM18 (of course, using a downloaded tactic and some other tricks). However, the game continues to be very fun for me, even now. Another aspect : I use the 4-4-2 formation. It's a pretty difficult formation to manage, especially because in FM23 the movement of the players was improved (and, by the way, another important improvement also took place in FM24). If you check in FMBase you'll see that, among the tactics considered "the most effective" for FM23, there are only 3 "4-4-2" in the top 100, and none in the top 60. Moreover, 15 of the "best" tactics don't even contain a MC, MR or ML. The improvement of player movement had the greatest impact in the central area, and for this reason the tactic creators focused on less "affected" positions (mainly DM, but AMC/R/L also). Note : I'm not saying that it is impossible to have very good results using 4-4-2. But the 4-4-2 formation is more difficult to balance and it is more likely that the opponents (that is, the AI) will be able to exploit some weaknesses of these tactics. ***** January 2025 I have to pack my bags again. But this time I know the way and I don't need GPS. Last summer I traveled from the northwest to the southwest. Now I just have to go back using on the same road : *** "Montana" is a town. A relatively small town, having about 35,000 inhabitants. The name is somewhat surprising, because it's not of Slavic origin. It was chosen in 1993 because during the Roman Empire there was a fort here called "Castra Montanesis" Montana 1921 FC, the football club, has achieved reasonable performances in real life over time : over 40 seasons played in the second league and 10 seasons in the first league. Plus a Bulgarian Cup final in 2016. *** The Montana 1921 FC club is professional. It has a relatively small stadium (capacity 8000) and, compared to other clubs in Bulgaria, it has average-level facilities : *** I already knew from the moment I was hired that it would be easier for me at my new club, Montana, than it was at Bdin or Vihren. Why ? First of all, Montana has a much better reputation. Secondly, media prediction considers us to be the fourth favorite for promotion. (It's true, the team's current position - 13th - doesn't really suggest promotion, but rather a possible relegation). Thirdly : we have a good team, even very good, significantly better than the one I had at Vihren and much better than the one at Bdin. Fourthly, we have 40 players at the club, of which 21 are in the main squad and 19 players in the U19 squad. It's true, of the 19 guys in the youth squad, only about 4-5 seem really promising, but it's still a step forward because now I have an almost complete team. The senior squad : These are, in detail, 20 of the 21 players who make up the senior squad. Regarding the U19's squad, as I said earlier, there would be about 4-5 better players (details). Of course, not everything is as I would like. For example, some of these players' contracts will expire in June (12 in the main squad, 3 in the U19's squad). For now, I don't know which of these players are strictly necessary for us and which are not, so I'll risk and postpone the extension of these contracts. We also have a loaned player, Statev, who seems quite good (4 stars CA, 4 stars PA). Unfortunately, his loan agreement expired in January, and his club (Levski) doesn't want to extend this agreement. On the other hand, his contract with Levski will expire in June. I tried to propose him to come to us, but his financial demands were much too high. There is another problem, less important ... but annoying (for me). I have two players whose name is "Nikola Borisov". It was necessary to rename one of these players because, otherwise, it would have been difficult for me to distinguish between them. *** To be honest, I think I was very lucky. Probably the game (FM) came to the conclusion that I need some help and, therefore, it helped me : I received a very "compact" team, from the point of view of attributes. I've rarely seen a group of players having such well-distributed attributes : *** Are there any problems ? Of course. For example, the team is also very compact in terms of social groups, which means that the opinion of the leaders can more easily cause the unhappiness of a large number of players. And it turns out that one of the leaders (more precisely, goalkeeper Vasil Simeonov) doesn't really like me, which is why the managerial support is "poor" and very red. In addition, the fact that I have a low reputation and only a "National B" licence doesn't really help me to solve this problem. *** The staff. The good news : it's quite complete (details). The less good news : both the HOYD and the manager of the U19 team are "unambitious". The HOYD bothers me the most, because he can affect some of the players we'll receive at the future intake (of course, if I'll not be kicked out by then). However, this problem can be postponed because for now I've other (and more stressing) things to do. *** Finances. Did I say earlier that I was lucky, that the game (FM) favored me by offering me a job at Montana FC ? Well, that's right : Montana has (after the second teams of some big clubs in the first league) the most generous sponsors in the second league. So, the club has no financial problems and, although it doesn't have much income from other sources, it has enough money. *** The current situation of the team : as I said, we're in 13th place. In fact, the team played very poor only in the last games it played, the ones in November and December. However, according to the xG table, it seems that even at the beginning of the season, when the results were better, the team's play wasn't very good. As a result, those last 5 games were enough for the team to reach the relegation zone and for the former manager to be dismissed. Players' stats ***** January - February 2025 Transfers. I brought (on loan) two new players (details). On the other hand, because in the Bulgarian 2nd League there is an obligation to use two Bulgarian U21 players, I moved 3 of the best players (Ivelin Georgiev, Genkov and Todorov) from the U19's squad to the main squad. I'll have 5 U21 players there and, in case of injuries, it'll not be necessary to browse the U19 squad again. Since I didn't rush to extend the contracts of those players whose contracts were expiring in the summer, four of them have already signed with other clubs (actually 5, Ivelin Georgiev also refused the contract extension). From my point of view the departure of these players doesn't seem to be a very big problem because I think we can easily find replacements for them during the next transfer window.. But that wasn't also the opinion of our team leader, Simeonov, who immediately started a serious riot in the dressing room. I managed to keep a fairly good level of atmosphere (being helped by some reasonably good results we got in the friendly matches we played), but the support for the manager dropped dramatically ... *** We improved the staff level a little by bringing in a coach and a scout, both very good. I hope it doesn't happen like at Vihren, where, after I built a full staff, I found myself having a choice between being fired and resigning ... ***** February - March 2025 In the first 5 matches we alternated quite good games with games in which we played badly or even very badly. The team was like a car with the handbrake on. It took one more friendly game, a game in which we met an extremely modest opponent, to decide that I had to to do something. Although we had won the friendly, the team's morale was extremely low, and so was the managerial support. At that moment I got very angry and fired the instigator, Simeonov. It was possible to do this because, fortunately, I didn't extending his contract (which was to expire in June). After Simeonov left, surprise , the team played very well in the last game in March and, moreover, the team' s morale improved considerably. By the way: right after Simeonov left us, the best backup goalkeeper we had at that moment, Andreev, got seriously injured (7 weeks). It was an "accident" ... *** Matches played in February and March : *** Youth intake 2025 Well, it's not bad, it's not bad at all. A number of players are really very promising. Indeed, the HOYD's personality had some influence, but this influence wasn't so powerful as I had feared. ***** April 2025 What I'm going to say might seem silly, but in the first game we really played very well. Unfortunately, we met the best team of the league, whose strikers are in top form. Anyway, even if the last game was not very good, I can say that the team is much more stable now compared to the first matches of the season. According to the xG table, our chances of avoiding relegation are high, either because we were playing a bit better now, or because our opponents are now playing worse than at the beginning of the season. *** Matches played in April : ***** May 2025 Round 31. We lost the match played against Ludogorets II. We didn't really play badly, but the guests' win was deserved. *** A draw against the 3rd place team. We scored first goal and then we defended very well. The best match achieved by my team in this half of the season ... at least from a defensive point of view. The first reserve goalkeeper, Andreev, is still injured. I brought the young Tsankov from the U19's squad. He played a match and then, of course, he got injured . Well, come on, SI, that's way too much ... *** We won quite easily the third match of this month. And, due to the fact that the main opponents will meet in the last round, we have already avoided relegation. *** 11th place, 42 points. I think it's not bad at all, considering the fact that we had some problems during the season. It's interesting that Montana achieved the exact same performance last year, being, of course, led by an AI manager. Of course, the performance is not remarkable considering the high reputation of the club and the quality level of the players, but there are elements (the xG table, for example) that suggest that in the next season I should expect much better results and, of course, a much better place in the league table. *** Players' stats Best eleven *** I was informed that our facilities were downgraded. However, the list of facilities has not changed (training facilities = average), so I assume that the level of training facilities has not decreased so much that they are included in another category. The financial situation of the club is good, the budgets for wages and transfers have increased, but probably the situation is not so good that we can improve the training facilities. That's why I thought of some cheaper improvements : So I asked the staff if I could improve my coaching qualifications. No, it's not possible. I asked the staff if they could increase the budget for junior coaching. Not possible. I asked the staff if it's possible to improve our youth recruitment. Not possible I asked the staff if we could set up a second team. Not possible I asked the staff if something, no matter what, is possible. No, it's not ... *** However, I couldn't help myself, I had to improve something urgently. As a result, we decided that our unambitious HOYD must be changed. I found a slightly better (and more ambitious) HOYD and hired him. At least I can say that I did something useful ... Edited October 29, 2023 by GreenTriangle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sizeman21 Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 5 hours ago, GreenTriangle said: The most important thing is to have fun. For example, I've been playing FM since 2014. I've played 10 of the last 11 iterations of this game. In the last 5 years I have, cumulatively, over 6000 hours of gaming (although probably about 1500-2000 hours I haven't actually played, the game being only open in the background). In any case, the last time I won the Champions League was in FM18 (of course, using a downloaded tactic and some other tricks). However, the game continues to be very fun for me, even now. Another aspect : I use the 4-4-2 formation. It's a pretty difficult formation to manage, especially because in FM23 the movement of the players was improved (and, by the way, another important improvement also took place in FM24). If you check in FMBase you'll see that, among the tactics considered "the most effective" for FM23, there are only 3 "4-4-2" in the top 100, and none in the top 60. Moreover, 15 of the "best" tactics don't even contain a MC, MR or ML. The improvement of player movement had the greatest impact in the central area, and for this reason the tactic creators focused on less "affected" positions (mainly DM, but AMC/R/L also). Note : I'm not saying that it is impossible to have very good results using 4-4-2. But the 4-4-2 formation is more difficult to balance and it is more likely that the opponents (that is, the AI) will be able to exploit some weaknesses of these tactics. ***** January 2025 I have to pack my bags again. But this time I know the way and I don't need GPS. Last summer I traveled from the northwest to the southwest. Now I just have to go back using on the same road : *** "Montana" is a town. A relatively small town, having about 35,000 inhabitants. The name is somewhat surprising, because it's not of Slavic origin. It was chosen in 1993 because during the Roman Empire there was a fort here called "Castra Montanesis" Montana 1921 FC, the football club, has achieved reasonable performances in real life over time : over 40 seasons played in the second league and 10 seasons in the first league. Plus a Bulgarian Cup final in 2016. *** The Montana 1921 FC club is professional. It has a relatively small stadium (capacity 8000) and, compared to other clubs in Bulgaria, it has average-level facilities : *** I already knew from the moment I was hired that it would be easier for me at my new club, Montana, than it was at Bdin or Vihren. Why ? First of all, Montana has a much better reputation. Secondly, media prediction considers us to be the fourth favorite for promotion. (It's true, the team's current position - 13th - doesn't really suggest promotion, but rather a possible relegation). Thirdly : we have a good team, even very good, significantly better than the one I had at Vihren and much better than the one at Bdin. Fourthly, we have 40 players at the club, of which 21 are in the main squad and 19 players in the U19 squad. It's true, of the 19 guys in the youth squad, only about 4-5 seem really promising, but it's still a step forward because now I have an almost complete team. The senior squad : These are, in detail, 20 of the 21 players who make up the senior squad. Regarding the U19's squad, as I said earlier, there would be about 4-5 better players (details). Of course, not everything is as I would like. For example, some of these players' contracts will expire in June (12 in the main squad, 3 in the U19's squad). For now, I don't know which of these players are strictly necessary for us and which are not, so I'll risk and postpone the extension of these contracts. We also have a loaned player, Statev, who seems quite good (4 stars CA, 4 stars PA). Unfortunately, his loan agreement expired in January, and his club (Levski) doesn't want to extend this agreement. On the other hand, his contract with Levski will expire in June. I tried to propose him to come to us, but his financial demands were much too high. There is another problem, less important ... but annoying (for me). I have two players whose name is "Nikola Borisov". It was necessary to rename one of these players because, otherwise, it would have been difficult for me to distinguish between them. *** To be honest, I think I was very lucky. Probably the game (FM) came to the conclusion that I need some help and, therefore, it helped me : I received a very "compact" team, from the point of view of attributes. I've rarely seen a group of players having such well-distributed attributes : *** Are there any problems ? Of course. For example, the team is also very compact in terms of social groups, which means that the opinion of the leaders can more easily cause the unhappiness of a large number of players. And it turns out that one of the leaders (more precisely, goalkeeper Vasil Simeonov) doesn't really like me, which is why the managerial support is "poor" and very red. In addition, the fact that I have a low reputation and only a "National B" licence doesn't really help me to solve this problem. *** The staff. The good news : it's quite complete (details). The less good news : both the HOYD and the manager of the U19 team are "unambitious". The HOYD bothers me the most, because he can affect some of the players we'll receive at the future intake (of course, if I'll not be kicked out by then). However, this problem can be postponed because for now I've other (and more stressing) things to do. *** Finances. Did I say earlier that I was lucky, that the game (FM) favored me by offering me a job at Montana FC ? Well, that's right : Montana has (after the second teams of some big clubs in the first league) the most generous sponsors in the second league. So, the club has no financial problems and, although it doesn't have much income from other sources, it has enough money. *** The current situation of the team : as I said, we're in 13th place. In fact, the team played very poor only in the last games it played, the ones in November and December. However, according to the xG table, it seems that even at the beginning of the season, when the results were better, the team's play wasn't very good. As a result, those last 5 games were enough for the team to reach the relegation zone and for the former manager to be dismissed. Players' stats ***** January - February 2025 Transfers. I brought (on loan) two new players (details). On the other hand, because in the Bulgarian 2nd League there is an obligation to use two Bulgarian U21 players, I moved 3 of the best players (Ivelin Georgiev, Genkov and Todorov) from the U19's squad to the main squad. I'll have 5 U21 players there and, in case of injuries, it'll not be necessary to browse the U19 squad again. Since I didn't rush to extend the contracts of those players whose contracts were expiring in the summer, four of them have already signed with other clubs (actually 5, Ivelin Georgiev also refused the contract extension). From my point of view the departure of these players doesn't seem to be a very big problem because I think we can easily find replacements for them during the next transfer window.. But that wasn't also the opinion of our team leader, Simeonov, who immediately started a serious riot in the dressing room. I managed to keep a fairly good level of atmosphere (being helped by some reasonably good results we got in the friendly matches we played), but the support for the manager dropped dramatically ... *** We improved the staff level a little by bringing in a coach and a scout, both very good. I hope it doesn't happen like at Vihren, where, after I built a full staff, I found myself having a choice between being fired and resigning ... ***** February - March 2025 In the first 5 matches we alternated quite good games with games in which we played badly or even very badly. The team was like a car with the handbrake on. It took one more friendly game, a game in which we met an extremely modest opponent, to decide that I had to to do something. Although we had won the friendly, the team's morale was extremely low, and so was the managerial support. At that moment I got very angry and fired the instigator, Simeonov. It was possible to do this because, fortunately, I didn't extending his contract (which was to expire in June). After Simeonov left, surprise , the team played very well in the last game in March and, moreover, the team' s morale improved considerably. By the way: right after Simeonov left us, the best backup goalkeeper we had at that moment, Andreev, got seriously injured (7 weeks). It was an "accident" ... *** Matches played in February and March : *** Youth intake 2025 Well, it's not bad, it's not bad at all. A number of players are really very promising. Indeed, the HOYD's personality had some influence, but this influence wasn't so powerful as I had feared. ***** April 2025 What I'm going to say might seem silly, but in the first game we really played very well. Unfortunately, we met the best team of the league, whose strikers are in top form. Anyway, even if the last game was not very good, I can say that the team is much more stable now compared to the first matches of the season. According to the xG table, our chances of avoiding relegation are high, either because we were playing a bit better now, or because our opponents are now playing worse than at the beginning of the season. *** Matches played in April : ***** May 2025 Round 31. We lost the match played against Ludogorets II. We didn't really play badly, but the guests' win was deserved. *** A draw against the 3rd place team. We scored first goal and then we defended very well. The best match achieved by my team in this half of the season ... at least from a defensive point of view. The first reserve goalkeeper, Andreev, is still injured. I brought the young Tsankov from the U19's squad. He played a match and then, of course, he got injured . Well, come on, SI, that's way too much ... *** We won quite easily the third match of this month. And, due to the fact that the main opponents will meet in the last round, we have already avoided relegation. *** 11th place, 42 points. I think it's not bad at all, considering the fact that we had some problems during the season. It's interesting that Montana achieved the exact same performance last year, being, of course, led by an AI manager. Of course, the performance is not remarkable considering the high reputation of the club and the quality level of the players, but there are elements (the xG table, for example) that suggest that in the next season I should expect much better results and, of course, a much better place in the league table. *** Players' stats Best eleven *** I was informed that our facilities were downgraded. However, the list of facilities has not changed (training facilities = average), so I assume that the level of training facilities has not decreased so much that they are included in another category. The financial situation of the club is good, the budgets for wages and transfers have increased, but probably the situation is not so good that we can improve the training facilities. That's why I thought of some cheaper improvements : So I asked the staff if I could improve my coaching qualifications. No, it's not possible. I asked the staff if they could increase the budget for junior coaching. Not possible. I asked the staff if it's possible to improve our youth recruitment. Not possible I asked the staff if we could set up a second team. Not possible I asked the staff if something, no matter what, is possible. No, it's not ... *** However, I couldn't help myself, I had to improve something urgently. As a result, we decided that our unambitious HOYD must be changed. I found a slightly better (and more ambitious) HOYD and hired him. At least I can say that I did something useful ... I have been loving following your management adventures in Bulgaria. Your team performed admirable this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
442isDead Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Absolutely no offence meant, just sharing the success I had in the same league. Absolutely the most important thing is to have fun. I agree with you though, 442 is a more difficult to get success with in recent iterations due to the evolution of tactics over the last decade in particular. In the lower leagues I don't worry so much about not conceding as the defenders are rarely that good, so try to bully and outscore my opponents. In this save I'm using a 5-2-3, with wingbacks and a forward line of 2 targetmen and a poacher. Not sure how that is going to do next season in the higher league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted October 31, 2023 Author Share Posted October 31, 2023 National and continental competitions, 2024-2025 season Champions League - League Stage / Champions League - Knockout Stage Europa League - League Stage / Europa League - Knockout Stage Conference League - League Stage / Conference League - Knockout Stage European Championship 2024 - Group Stage / European Championship 2024 - Knockout Stage / Nations League 2024 - Groups / Nations League 2024 - Final Stage *** England 1 and England 2 / Spain 1 and Spain 2 / Italy 1 and Italy 2 / Germany 1 and Germany 2 / France 1 and France 2 Belgium 1 / Holland 1 / Portugal 1 Turkey 1 and Turkey 2 / Greece 1 and Greece 2 / Serbia 1 and Serbia 2 / Croatia 1 / Romania 1 (2023-24) / Romania 1 (2024-25) Bulgaria 1 ***** June - July 2025 (Until this moment, I used various combinations of instructions based on control-possession and counter-attack (fluid or direct). Starting from this moment, it's necessary to give up some restrictions : I'll start using gegenpressing. Moreover, I downloaded, adapted and tested several tactical 4-4-2 configurations used in FM23, and two of them proved more effective than the default template 4-4-2 gegenpressing for FM24. I'll use them). *** Until now, I wasn't concerned about the size of the pitch. The old dimensions I used (105X85) are recommended for wing-oriented play, but I won't play like that. So, I chose a narrower pitch (standard, 105X68) : *** One of my players really wants to make trouble for me. Unfortunately, Nikola B Borisov is a "highly influential player", so I can't ignore him. Since the guy started to affect the team's morale (which was far from being very good anyway) I promised him that I would do everything I could to find him another team. And I really will, I don't need riots in the dressing room. *** I kicked out 17 players, 16 of them being former members of the U19's squad. I don't need too many players at U19's and I intend to offer contracts to a limited number of youngsters at the next youth intakes. Also, I moved two youngsters from the U19's to the main squad, not because they're really needed here but to avoid possible problems related to the obligation to use 2 Bulgarian U21 players. As a result, our U19's squad now consists of only 10 players. Only 6 of these 10 youngsters seem to be really promising, but, for now, I'll let this squad as it is. *** At the beginning of July we had 18 players in the main squad (plus Borisov, who will leave). We lost some pretty good players (especially Iliev, who was a "best eleven" player). From the experience of the previous seasons, I know that many injuries can occur, so we would need a team composed of at least 25 players. I brought the two youngsters from the U19's, but I need better players because I intend to seriously strengthen the team. At the beginning of the month we brought (on loan) two quite good players, but we still need about 4-5 more. The budgets would allow me to buy (transfer) some players, but there is a small problem : really good players are expensive. So, for the time being, I'll look to loan players from other clubs, and then in the winter I'll decide if (and what) we can buy. For now, we have offered contracts to the two players who were loaned to us at the end of last season (M. Dimitrov and Aliev). Is enough. *** According to media prediction, we have now a "first half of the league table" team. The Board requests me a "mid-table place". The assistant's report seems to suggest that the players we have at the moment are quite good, slightly above the average level of the league. So, normally, a ranking in the top 8 should be easy to achieve. But I intend to improve the team, and this improvement combined with the use of an much more effective tactical configuration should allow us to fight for one of the top three places. The main squad : *** We played some friendly matches. The results we got were mediocre, and this is exactly the reason why I decided to use gegenpressing plus downloaded and adapted tactics. In the first three games we shot on target 19 times, the opponents 12 times. The xG ratio was 6.7 (us) vs 2.9 (opponents). Regarding the goals scored ... we scored 6, the opponents scored 8 (!). Of course, these results in friendly matches can be deceiving, but it was clear to me that if I continue to use the same tactics I'll not be able to balance this 4-4-2 and the results will be at most "honorable". I could give up the classic 4-4-2 and switch to the 4-4-2 DM, but for now I intend to explore the possibility of getting good results even using the classic 4-4-2 formation. Schedule Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 1, 2023 Author Share Posted November 1, 2023 July 2025 A good start to the season. It should be noted that in the third game we were clearly outclassed in the last 30 minutes, even though the opponent was just a newly promoted team (Kyustendil). Fortunately, by the 60th minute we had already managed to secure a three-goal advantage. *** Matches played in July : ***** August 2025 We were unlucky in the match against Ludogorets II. It is worth noting the clear victory (3-0) that we achieved against a team (Hebar) that seems, at least for the moment, to be one of the main contenders in the fight for promotion. *** Matches played in August : ***** September 2025 The transfer window closed on September 4. Summary : we brought in 5 more new players, all on loan from other clubs, all being very good players (better than the one we already have in the squads). The squad on September 5 : *** It was a pretty good month, at least in terms of results. However, it wasn't a good month good in terms of the way we played. At least the 4th match, the lost one, was embarrassing. We were easily defeated by a newly promoted team that until then had managed to get only two points in the 10 matches they had played. In the third game we won 5-1, but we scored 5 goals from 5 shots on target, while the opponents missed at least 4 clear cut chances ... Apparently, it would seem that, although only 12 rounds were played, the three teams that will fight for the two places that ensure direct promotion have already been decided. According to xG table, however, the situation is more complicated. Ludogorets II and CSKA II are second teams and cannot be promoted to the first league. But there are at least 5-6 other teams that, if they play just a little better, could be involved in the fight for promotion. *** Matches played in September : ***** October 2025 Yes, we beat CSKA II 6-1 (yay !), but, again, we were extremely lucky : we scored 6 times out of 7 shots on target. Honestly, this exaggerated luck is starting to worry me. We might start having bad luck exactly when it will hurt us the most. From other points of view, however, everything is fine : we clearly and deservedly beat Spartak Varna (one of the other two favorite teams for promotion) and, in addition, we also clearly won the Cup match, a match played against an opponent (Botev Plovdiv) who play in the first Bulgarian league. However, it should be noted that Botev used no less than 7 reserves in the starting eleven. *** Matches played in October : ***** November - December 2025 We didn't deserve to lose the first game or to get only one point in the match against Lokomotiv Gorna. On the other hand, however, we didn't deserve to win the last two games. In fact, according to xG Table, we didn't play much better than teams like Spartak Varna or Dunav. It's still worth noting the victory in the cup, as Krumovgrad is the second Premier Bulgarian League team we managed to knock out. We qualified for the quarter-finals, but from now on it will be much more difficult because we'll meet much stronger opponents than we're. *** Matches played in November and December : ***** Players' stats *** I started a new coaching course, this time to get the National A licence. For now, everything is going well, but in case I had somehow kicked out again, I would prefer to have at least a Continental C license. It would be easier for me at the (possible) my new club. *** Since the financial situation of the club is stable and the results we got are encouraging, I decided that I can try to ask the Board for an increase in the budget for Junior Coaching. I was right, the Board was as cooperative as possible and accepted this improvement. As a result, the level of our Junior Coaching has increased from "adequate" to "good". *** Personal note : before the start of the competition I estimate the level of my players to be "above average". Using a normal tactic, I thought I could get 32-35 points, which would have meant a 5-6th place ranking. However, as we brought in some good players, the overall level of the team increased. This, combined with the use of an aggressive tactic (as i specified in my previous post) had spectacular effects. Of course, I expect, that in the second part of the competition we'll not achieve the same very good percentage because complacency will probably intervene. However, since in the previous editions of the championship 60-62 points were enough to get the promotion, it's obvious that the chances of my team to promote are very, very high. Honestly, I don't care if we get promoted from first place, from second or even as a result of the play-off match, all I want at this moment is to get this promotion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 3, 2023 Author Share Posted November 3, 2023 January - February 2026 Transfers. We didn't bring any new player. I don't know if it was better or not to try to bring in other players, but I thought not to unnecessarily affect morale. It is known that the players have sensitive souls and start to cry if somehow it seems to them that the competition is too strong for the position they are playing. *** For now, the team's morale is very good, which was to be expected considering the fact that we are in first place in the league table and, in addition, we easily won the two friendly matches we played at the beginning of the year. ***** February 2026 We lost the first match of the season, and it was a deserved defeat. Our opponents (Dunav) played much better than us. Also, we were kicked out of the Cup (which was to be expected, we were already very lucky to reach the quarter-finals). *** Matches played in February : ***** March 2026 4 matches won quite easily. The most important was the second one, the one played at the stadium of the team ranked 3rd, Spartak Varna. We played very well, we won clearly and, practically, we secured our promotion to the first league. *** Matches played in March : *** New things : we've four players called up to the national teams. In fact, one of them (Siderov) is not really our player, being on loan at Montana. But the other three (Genkov, Georgiev and Yanev) are "products" of our club. ***** April 2026 The promotion has already been "solved", four rounds before the end of the competition. At first glance, an impressive achievement, especially since before the start of the competition we were far from being one of the favorites of the competition. At second glance, the situation is not so good. We lost in a shameful way the match we played against Hebar. Not the score (0-3) is the big problem, but the way my team played. The fact that after that we won the next three matches quite easily isn't relevant at all, considering that all these opponents were teams from the relegation zone. Besides, the xG table warns me that in fact I was very lucky and that in reality my team is not as good as it might seem based on the league table. *** Matches played in April : *** Youth intake 2026 It wasn't a very good intake, but that's it. However, about 4 players could, with some luck, someday become useful players for the main squad, at least as reserves. *** Speaking of youngsters ... one of our players was poached a few days youth intake, and a second player three weeks later. Of course, I'm talking about players who would have become "visible" only at next year's intake. I'll try to check after the 2027 intakes of the two clubs that poached those two guys to see what's the real level of these players. *** I got the third licence, the "National A". I would need a Continental licence, but I'll not ask the Board for a new course in the coming months. Maybe next year. ***** May 2026 The concentration of the players decreased, which affected the team's play and its results. But it's not important. We achieved the promotion I wanted. *** Matches played in May : *** Players' stats : *** Our Board agreed to a further improvement of the facilities (after the Junior Coaching, which were improved in December). Youth recruitment (which was "average" until now) has now become "above average", that is, it's at level 5 out of 8 possible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 3, 2023 Author Share Posted November 3, 2023 National and continental competitions, 2025-2026 season Champions League - League Stage / Champions League - Knockout Stage Europa League - League Stage / Europa League - Knockout Stage Conference League - League Stage / Conference League - Knockout Stage World Cup 2026 - Qualification / Europe *** England 1 and England 2 / Spain 1 and Spain 2 / Italy 1 and Italy 2 / Germany 1 and Germany 2 / France 1 and France 2 Belgium 1 / Holland 1 / Portugal 1 Turkey 1 and Turkey 2 / Greece 1 and Greece 2 / Serbia 1 and Serbia 2 / Croatia 1 / Romania 1 Bulgaria 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 4, 2023 Author Share Posted November 4, 2023 So, we promoted to the first league. It seems that there is an unusually large difference in reputation between the first and second Bulgarian leagues. Thus, in the ranking of the leagues' reputations, the first league is on the 24th place and the second league is on the 72nd place. Considering the leagues with similar reputations, it's as if we were promoted from the 4th English league (Sky Bet League Two) directly to the 2nd league (Championship), or from the 4th German league (regional) directly in Bundesliga 2. Is this aspect important ? May be. Considering this difference in reputation, obviously, my objective should be primarily to avoid relegation. We'll surely concede many goals, and it will be much more difficult for us to score than it was in the second league. Also, in the previous season we used an aggressive 4-4-2 tactic. The 4-4-2 formation can generate more goals scored, but it is more vulnerable from a defensive point of view compared to other formations. An aggressive tactic (based on gegenpress) can also generate more goals scored, but, also, it's vulnerable defensively when the opponents' players are very fast and technical (as I assume many forst league players are). Should I give up the 4-4-2 ? Should I give up the aggressive tactics ? I don't know, I'm not an expert. But I know I have two problems: First: the efficiency of my strikers in the second league decreased in the second half of the competition from 48 goals scored in the first 17 matches played (almost 3 per match) to only 34 goals scored in the second (only 2 goals per match). This may mean that the simple use of a tactic does not guarantee the scoring of many goals. There are many hidden factors (complacency, low morale) that can influence the number of goals scored. Second : because I relied on many players on loan from other clubs I cannot keep the best eleven that I had in the second league. In the case of 6 of the 7 loaned players, their clubs refused to extend their loan, and as for their purchase, the amounts requested are very high. We could bring only one player, Ivanov, and only because his contract had expired. On July 1, I have 4 goalkeepers and only 10 players aged 18 or older. Of course, the 16-17-year-old youngsters can be useful, and we have at least 8 players (4 in the main squad and 4 in the U19's squad) who are this age who are this age and seem quite good. But I doubt that we can survive in the first league only using a lot of youngsters (no, I'm not an expert in youth-only careers). At this moment, according to the assistant's report, we don't really have a first league team. According to media prediction we're the main candidate for relegation, and the Board has set an objective accordingly (club vision). Of course, it will be necessary for me to quickly find as many good players as possible, and there are two aspects here : - at first glance our budget seems good, even very good. Sponsors' contributions have increased significantly after promotion, and from this point of view, in the second league, we were the club that receives the largest amount as sponsorship. Besides, we are not among the "poor" ones even in the first league. In addition, this season we received a significantly higher amount as TV rights. However, I cannot rely on transfers because a really good player would cost us at least 40-50,000. I have to admit, I made a big mistake : I ignored the transfer problem in the spring, when there were some very good players whose contracts were expiring and they would have been willing to come to us. Now they have signed contracts with other clubs. On the other hand, the rules of the first league are more permissive than those of the second league. We can have up to 20 non-EU foreigners and we can use 5 of them (or even more, if they are U21; there is no restriction for U21 players, no matter if they are Bulgarian, EU nationals or non-EU nationals). - I want to avoid promises. I don't want to loan players who "must" play in a certain position or, worse, having a certain role. *** I received an interesting invitation for an interview. Honestly, I was tempted by the idea. Botev Plovdiv is a solid club (the 6th most reputable club in Bulgaria) whose team has been playing in the first league for many years. In addition, they have a large budget (sponsorships alone exceed one million) and a team that, in a few years, would have allowed me to play in European competitions (Bulgaria is currently in 21st place in the European ranking). It would have been much easier for me if I had managed to be hired by this club. However, from my point of view, the attractiveness of the career would have decreased, at least at this moment, so I preferred to decline the invitation. *** July 10, 2026 (the day before the start of the championship) Transfers. I didn't have enough time to bring in the players I would have needed. I managed only one transfer (in fact, a loan). Instead, I moved three more players from U19 to the main team. At this moment, I have 7 players in the team who are 17 years old or younger, 4 goalkeepers ... and only 11 players "over 17". It's risky, poor results in the first rounds can seriously affect morale, but for now there is no other solution. I'll bring more (and better) players in the following weeks. I also decided to continue using the 4-4-2 formation and an aggressive (based on gegenpressing) tactic. Detailed list of players in the main squad *** Schedule We played three friendly matches. All three opponents were teams from the second league, and the results (and especially our mediocre play) disappointed me a bit. I hope we don't continue to play like this ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 5, 2023 Author Share Posted November 5, 2023 July 2026 It wasn't a very good start to the championship. We have serious difficulties when we have to create scoring chances. From a defensive point of view the team is quite fragile, but this was to be expected. It's obvious that we'll concede many goals, and the only solution to get better results is to score as many goals as possible. *** Matches played in July : ***** August 2026 Our attack is not working as it should. We have a reasonable number of shots and, occasionally, we create some "half chances" to score, but we don't really manage to create clear chances. From my point of view we played quite well in the first 4 matches, considering that the opponents we met (Cherno More, CSKA '48, Levski) are teams from the first half of league table. But if we don't manage to score more goals then we play better "for nothing". Besides, we had some difficulties to score in the last match as well, although the opponent was at our level and we played better than them. Our luck was called Yordanov. Unfortunately, he's not that type of striker who can score in every game. According to xG table, we have a good defense (wow !). But we also are one of the weakest teams in terms of offensive. Thanks, xG table, I already knew this. The trouble is that I have no idea what I could do. Normally, 4-4-2 gegenpress with improvements (downloaded tactic) should generate many goals conceded, but also many goals scored. It seems that FM24 doesn't agree with this idea. *** Matches played in August : *** The game (FM) is trying to convince me that at this moment I'm making a big mistake. Not a chance, FM, no matter what you do, I'll not give up the 4-4-2. ***** September 2026 Transfers. We brought 8 more players (three strikers, three wing midfielders, a central midfielder and a central defender). From a qualitative point of view all of them are very good players, at least compared to the players we already had in the squad (new players, details). *** Hooray, we beat the best Bulgarian team, Ludogorets ! Of course, in the next game we were humiliated by a mid-table team ... Some very strange things are happening : Hebar is on the first place. I have nothing against it, but I cannot understand how a team (Hebar) that fought hard with us last year to promote in the first league is now able to fight on an equal footing with the best teams in Bulgaria ... *** Matches played in September : *** Something else also happened that showed me that I have big problems. We played two friendly matches. I specifically chose very weak opponents, hoping to win at big goals differences and thus improve morale (which is low). We won the first game 10-0, so everything was fine. Then I decided to rest some important players. Result : 3-0 at halftime (the opponents not having even a shot) ... and 3-3 at the end. If we can't beat even a microscopic team then... what chances do we have to avoid relegation ? *** Normally I don't refer to AI v AI matches, but this match really deserves to be remembered. The score is extremely unusual (7-6), but even more unusual (and even abnormal) seems to me to be the distribution of goals. And another interesting detail : both teams use DMs (the preferred formation is "4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide" for both) : ***** October 2026 We won a point ! Impressive ! If we play well, it is possible that in the next 10 matches we will win one more ... or even two ! Seriously speaking, our problems are getting bigger and bigger. According to xG table, not only that our attack is very weak, but now also the defense has started playing badly. The team's morale is low, but this doesn't surprise me, considering the last results. However, I appreciate the fact that the managerial support is good. This "good" support confuses me because I have no idea what bothers these players so much that they play worse and worse. A few words about the cup match. Before the draw, I hoped that the game would be merciful. Normally, teams from the first league will meet teams from the second or even third league (if they qualify). But the game (FM) was perverse. 15 of the 16 matches will be played "the team from the second / third league vs the team from the first league". Only one match will be played "first league vs first league", and exactly in that match we played. The opponent ? A team of our level ? Neh, we met Levski, a team that played in the continental competitions. Of course, there is also a possible positive aspect : we were playing on home ground, and the attendance at the match was going to be high. And in case, by some miracle, we managed to qualify, the team's morale would have increased a lot. What's happened ? We played, we lost in extra time ... and the attendance was lower than for regular championship matches ... *** Matches played in October : ***** November - December 2026 We won a match ! With 3-0 ! A miracle happened ! FM, please, don't do this again, this incredible event increased my blood pressure, pulse (and some other things) to the highest limits ! Looking at that league table, I see that, however, our situation is complicated. If I also look at the xG table, the situation already becomes very complicated. Since I have no chance to improve enough neither our defensive play nor our offensive play, I have only one solution : to organize a prayer session : "Great FM, all-powerful game, help me ! Give our opponents countless injuries, red cards, riots in the dressing room and bad runs of form !". Unfortunately, I don't think that approach will really work ... *** Matches played in November and December : *** Players' stats : *** It's time to think deeply (even very deeply !) about what I have to do in the future. For this purpose, it's necessary to take into account all the important aspects : 1. The Board is, generally speaking, pleased with what I've done so far. 2. The financial situation of the club is good. We'll make a profit and, probably, in the next season I'll have a budget similar or maybe even bigger than the current one. 3. For unknown reasons, the team's morale improved significantly. I didn't do anything for this purpose, I didn't tickle the players and I didn't organize any meeting. Probably the shock of that 3-0 was so strong that the team woke up from sleep. 4. I checked very carefully the attributes of the players we have at the moment. After 5 minutes of thinking (and using my entire computing power) I didn't come to any conclusion, so I have no idea if the attributes are good or not and if I need new players or not. 5. The schedule for the last 10 rounds of the regular season is ... interesting. We'll meet (not in this order) the teams currently ranked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 15 and 16. So, our chances of getting countless points in these matches are small. After that, we'll play in the relegation stage, but the team' s morale will probably be quite affected after we meet 7 of the 8 best teams in the league. 6. In the last three years, 36, 29 and 33 points were needed to avoid direct relegation. So, in the best case, we would need to get 17 points in the next 15 matches, this after in the first 20 matches we got only 13. My enthusiasm has already decreased considerably after this finding. 7. While we are struggling to avoid relegation, another team that was promoted last summer, Hebar, is the leader of the first league. 1-0 for AI. 8. I only have a National A licence ... but, anyway, it's better than nothing. In conclusion : there is no chance to save this team from relegation. I can relegate together with the team hoping that I won't be fired and that I can try a new promotion in the future ... or I can resign. A more heroic and professional gesture would be for me to try to help the team. But, on the other hand, considering my recent performances, it's possible that an AI manager would be more useful to them. Therefore ... Of course, I'll stay in Bulgaria and look for a second league club. However, I intend to continue my career at another club only after the current edition of the championship ends. In the meantime, I'll check how FM "distributes" interview invitations. It's a known fact that in the previous versions there were many cases in which no invitations were received at all during the 6 months of "holiday". I have a low level license, but I still expect at least one or two clubs to offer me an interview. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherwinriga Posted November 5, 2023 Share Posted November 5, 2023 5 minutes ago, GreenTriangle said: In conclusion : there is no chance to save this team from relegation. I can relegate together with the team hoping that I won't be fired and that I can try a new promotion in the future ... or I can resign. A more heroic and professional gesture would be for me to try to help the team. But, on the other hand, considering my recent performances, it's possible that an AI manager would be more useful to them. Therefore ... Of course, I'll stay in Bulgaria and look for a second league club. However, I intend to continue my career at another club only after the current edition of the championship ends. In the meantime, I'll check how FM "distributes" interview invitations. It's a known fact that in the previous versions there were many cases in which no invitations were received at all during the 6 months of "holiday". I have a low level license, but I still expect at least one or two clubs to offer me an interview. Oof. I don't think that Bulgaria will work out for you after you haven't find a way to groove in. I wonder how your former clubs looked like when you left because I want to see their aftermath that you left. Also, it's better to manage a second division team that fell off from the first division, so that you'll have a chance to redeem yourself for sure! Good luck finding for another team to coach! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 6, 2023 Author Share Posted November 6, 2023 (No, my friend, what I wanted to say in my previous post is more complicated than it seems). ********** Surprisingly, I received no less than 6 invitations to the interview. I was expecting smaller clubs, possibly clubs whose teams are struggling to avoid relegation to the second league from Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece or Turkyie (Turkey). But I received invitations from clubs having a much higher reputation : KV Kortrijk, a top 6 club in the Belgian first league Almere City, which is trying to avoid relegation from the Dutch first league PEC Zwolle, a club whose team is currently in 13th place in the Dutch first league Burnley, English second league (Sky Bet Championship) Fulham and Sunderland, clubs whose teams had just been relegated from the English first league. The fact that I received 3 invitations from English clubs seems natural to me, considering the fact that I "endowed" my manager with English nationality. However, for any of these clubs the license I have at the moment (National A) would not be enough. It seems that the problem from the previous editions of FM has been solved, and at this moment it's much easier for a manager to find another club even if he doesn't have a Continental license. *** At the end of June, I had 5 possible options to apply. Of these, one was excluded, as it was the first Bulgarian league (Lokomotiv Sofia). Two other options referred to teams that had just been promoted from the 3rd league (Kyustendil and Chernomorets Balchik). I excluded these options as well. So, two clubs remained : Chernomorets Burgas (6th place in the second Bulgarian league) and Etar Veliko Tarnovo (a team that had just been relegated from the first Bulgarian league). I applied at Chernomorets because of course I don't want to be hired by a club (Etar) whose best players are going to leave as a result of relegation. It's a logical thing. By the way, as it can be seen, my former club (Montana) was also relegated. In the last 15 rounds they got only 8 points. I had calculated that in the best case we would have needed 17 points to avoid relegation. It was a wrong calculation, because in reality we would have needed 35-13 = 22 points. It would have been impossible, I'm glad I left. *** The interview was funny. Especially this question. I honestly regretted that I didn't have the option of saying "no, guys, I'm much more dangerous than you think : I've not just one, but three relegations !" Anyway, it seems that I was convincing, because after a few days I received this reply : *** (I'm going to do an experiment and only after that I'll come back with a presentation of my new club). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 7, 2023 Author Share Posted November 7, 2023 (edited) I said I would do an experiment. I did it: Spoiler So... what would happen if I took the players I have on July 1, 2027 at my new club (Chernomorets) and simulated a season using two of Knap's tactics ? Warrior 4-4-2 : Warrior 4-4-2 - full schedule *** Sloe Gin 4-4-2 (Knap says it's 4-4-2, but in fact the formation he uses is 4-4-2 2DM) Sloe Gin 4-4-2 - Full schedule Of course, in this case I could have reloaded the last match in the championship (the one played against Slavia Sofia) until I would have got a draw and, implicitly, the promotion. (By the way, I never use the reload. I find it boring to use it because I don't want to know that I'll win that match for sure. If I lost a match then that match remains lost, even if a promotion or winning a trophy would depend on it. I'm not saying that using the reload is something "bad", just that it's not fun for me). *** In both cases the team scored a very large number of goals, over 90. I find it interesting. However, I would never use such an aggressive formation (with both flank midfielders in attack duty, plus a BtBM in the central area) Another interesting fact : the team conceded 50 goals in the 4-4-2 formation (so without DM) but only 38 in the 4-4-2 2DM formation. In conclusion, the use of a DM or even two DMs could be useful to me. However, I don't intend to use any DM. I'll only play using the 4-4-2 formation. *** The game (FM) says that both tactics are "custom tiki-taka". Possibly, but in my opinion both are gegenpress with some tiki-taka influences. A slower gegenpress in terms of game speed but 100% gegenpress in terms of aggression. *** This was strictly an experiment. I'll not use these results nor the two tactics which, from my point of view, are way too aggressive. But I'll continue to experiment with gegenpress and possibly try a gegenpress-control/possession mixture. *** National and continental competitions, 2026-2027 season Champions League - League Stage / Champions League - Knockout Stage Europa League - League Stage / Europa League - Knockout Stage Conference League - League Stage / Conference League - Knockout Stage World Cup 2026 - Group Stage / World Cup 2026 - Knockout Stage Europe Nations League 2024-2026 - Group Stage / Europe Nations League - Final Stage *** England 1 and England 2 / Spain 1 and Spain 2 / Italy 1 and Italy 2 / Germany 1 and Germany 2 / France 1 and France 2 Belgium 1 / Holland 1 / Portugal 1 Turkey 1 and Turkey 2 / Greece 1 and Greece 2 / Serbia 1 and Serbia 2 / Croatia 1 / Romania 1 Bulgaria 1 / Bulgaria 2 Edited November 7, 2023 by GreenTriangle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 10, 2023 Author Share Posted November 10, 2023 On the occasion of this career I significantly improved my geographical knowledge about Bulgaria. I started my career in the north-west of the country, in Vidin. Then I moved to the south-west, to Sandanski. I returned to the north-east, to Montana, and now I moved my luggage to the south-east, to Burgas. A few more seasons and I'll visit the whole country : Spoiler ********** So, I was hired by the Chernomorets 1919 Burgas club. Some details about it : Spoiler First of all, the city, Burgas. It's not a big city (200,000 inhabitants), but it's much bigger than Vidin, Sandanski or Montana. In fact, in terms of the number of inhabitants, it's the 4th city in Bulgaria. The name, "Burgas" comes from "Pyrgos", a Greek name meaning "tower". The club. FC Chernomoret 1919 is a club founded recently, in 2015 and which took over the track record of an older club (also called Chernomorets) that was disbanded in 2006. The "old" Chernomoret played 30 seasons in the Bulgarian first league, but without achieving any notable performance. The new Chernomorets played in the 3rd league from 2018 to 2023, promoted to the second league, then (in FM) it promoted to the first league in 2025, where, however, it played only one season. By the way, the name "Chernomorets" means "Black Sea man". It seems to be a quite a popular name, considering that in Bulgaria there are 4 other clubs having the same name, the most important being Chernomorets Balchik, another club that plays in the Bulgarian second league. As for the nickname... "akulite" means "the sharks" And, in FM : The facilities are ... average, so similar to those available to most Bulgarian clubs in the second league. Spoiler "Lazur" is actually the stadium of the number one rival, Neftochimik Burgas. However, this rival plays in the 3rd league and Chernomorets, being the strongest club in the city, has been using this stadium for many years, which, by the way, can also host Champions League matches. It seems that in real life there is an intention to build a new stadium, but the current performances of the team still does not justify this investment. Regarding the reputation of Chernomorets : it's very similar to that of my former club, Montana FC. As for the financial aspect, at first glance everything is fine : we have a relatively large wage budget (40,000 per month). At second glance, however, the financial situation at my former club (Montana FC) seems to have been better. The club I left from had a slightly smaller wage budget, but it had more money in the bank, bigger sources of income and I could make a profit more easily. It seems that at Chernomorets I'l be able to maintain a reasonable financial balance only if I sell some players. ********** July 2027 I met the players. First impression : we have players and they are many. We have 58 players (20 in the main squad, 19 in the second squad and another 19 in the U19's squad). Some 20 of them (especially many from the U19's team) seem a bit useless, but that's fine anyway. Second impression: the main squad is quite balanced and includes enough good players. I don't think it would be necessary to bring many other players, at least not in the next months. Also, we have about 7-8 quite good players in the second squad and about 7 more promising players in the U19's squad. *** Regarding the quality of the players ... based on the assistant manager's report and the attributes (main squad, second squad, U19's squad) I think that the players I have now at Chernomorets are somewhat similar to the ones I had at my former club, Montana FC. The difference at Montana FC was made by the players I loaned from other clubs, players who, generally speaking, were better than the club's players. At Chernomorets I have no intention of bringing on loan many players from other clubs. I'll try to manage mainly with the players we have now. Looking at those lists, I realize that there are some problems. By example, I don't have midfielders with very good defensive abilities. It will probably be necessary to bring one or two additional midfielders. Also, the crosses will represent another problem because we don't have very tall attacking players (and those we have are not very good neither in terms of heading nor in terms of jumping). Anticipation is not good enough either. As for crossing ability, only two of my full-backs are reasonably good. The only midfielder who is able to cross good enough, Cabanelas, needs additional positional training because he's AML and I need him as ML. *** The staff. As expected, we need improvements. We don't have a HOYD, we would need a coach, and the chief scout has rather limited skills. In addition we would need at least one more scout. Regarding the second squad and the U19's squad, we have altogether two managers and a goalkeeping coach. The good part is that the U19's manager seems to be good at "judging" and has very good tactical knowledge, which is why I appointed him responsible for player reports. *** Club vision. Fortunately, this season the Board's requests are easy to fulfill, especially considering the fact that, according to media prediction, we have good chances to get involved in the fight for promotion to the first league. *** The tactical approach. As I said in the previous post, I'll use a mixed configuration, a combination of gegenpress and control-possession. Regarding the roles and duties, I'll avoid using playmakers and wingers. For now I won't experiment a lot because I don't "know" the players. (A list of available templates, if anyone is interested; M/R/D means "mentality / role / duty". All qualitative evaluations/levels refer to the specific level of that template compared to the default level of the mentality used) *** Transfers. I brought (on loan) a player from my former club, Montana. Yanchev was very useful to me there, he has pretty good defensive skills and, in addition, he can also play as right midfielder if necessary. We lost a player, the striker Osvaldo. For us he was a "top 5 player" regarding the CA, but I had nowhere to go, because the Board considered that an offer of 95,000 is "too good to be refused". That's it. Also, I brought two players from the second squad (Grudev and Ivelin Georgiev). I only have 22 players in the squad, but for now I don't need more. By the way, all the other guys from the second squad were declared "available for loan". It seems that they aren't particularly wanted by other clubs : we only received a few offers. *** The squad on July 9, the day before the start of the championship : *** We played two friendly matches. The team's morale is quite good, although for now they don't really like their new manager. I guess they're right, I wouldn't like that guy either. Schedule ***** For now, everything is good, except that in the first match we were defeated by a team that scored the winning goal from their only shot on target. Incidentally, in the third match the opponents scored their goal from their only shot on target ... (I know that this kind of thing happens quite often in football, but it seems to me that it happens a bit too often in FM). *** Good news : we have a new HOYD, we have a new coach, we have two new scouts. All of these guys are good, even very good (for our club's level). The less good news : our new HOYD is ... 69 years old, so he'll probably retire very soon. I hope, however, that he'll positively affect (at least) the next generation of youngsters. ***** August 2027 10 points out of 15. It's not bad, but could have been better... *** Matches played in August : *** The news of the day, of the week, of the month and possibly, even of the entire season : he's our best player ... mistake, he was our best player : See you next year, man ! Even after he recovers, he'll probably never reach his current level again ... ***** September 2027 Transfers. We didn't bring new players but instead we lost a player. However, in this case, the business was really good for us. Yordanov was not among our most important players and, in addition, he needed positional training because we could not have used him in the position in which he's natural (AMC). We also lost Stamatov, a very good player, but only since next year. For now, Levski agreed to let him play for us (on loan) for one more season. The other players who left on loan to other teams are anyway members of the second squad, so it doesn't matter. I'm even disappointed that we didn't manage to loan more players to other teams : In a way, it's good that we managed to sell some players, because this way we balanced our budgets until the end of the season and, probably, even for the first half of the next season. However, comparing the squad that I have now at Chernomorets and the squad that my former club, Montana FC has, it turns out that I'll need some additional players in the near future. Chernomorets is superior from a physical point of view (an important aspect in the lower leagues), but Montana has better players from a mental and technical point of view. ***** 10 points out of 12 (plus a win in the Cup match) and, in addition, I can say that my team played well, even surprisingly well considering the fact that our best player, Petkov, cannot play. However, the xG table seems to suggest that it's just a temporary good run of form ... plus some luck. In reality, we didn't create as many clear chances as it would seem and the defense was not really that safe. So, this second place we're for now is only due to a favorable conjuncture. (As usual in FM, the most difficult match was the one played against the last ranked team (Yantra, in this case). It's interesting that I didn't play aggressively. In the second half I reduced the height of the defensive line, reduced the tempo and asked the players to hold the ball and focus on keeping the result. No way ...) *** Matches played in September : ***** October 2027 In a way, I expected these results. Without Petkov our offensive play is now slower and less imaginative. We conceded more goals (6), although the defense didn't play much weaker than in previous matches. Fortunately, our opponents in the fight for the first places are not in an exceptional form either (Dunav 9 points out of 12, Slavia 8 out of 12, Maritsa 7 out of 12) (We almost received the award for the most spectacular first half of the year. Unfortunately, one of my players had the idea to try to shoot towards the opponents' goal. I hope, however, that such "superb" performances will not become a habit). *** Matches played in October ***** November - December 2027 "Italian" efficiency (0-0, 1-0, 2-1). I thought that we'll score a lot of goals and concede a lot. It seems that I was wrong. Of course, we were lucky in the first game, the one played against Slavia. The other three opponents are mediocre and probably not in a very good form either. On the other hand, the counter-candidates for the first places are also playing more and more poorly (especially Maritsa). For now, we're in second place both in the league table and in xG table. But I had another experience in Bdin, in the first season, when in December we were in 5th place and at the end of the season we were relegated ... *** Matches played in November and December *** Players' stats : 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sizeman21 Posted November 11, 2023 Share Posted November 11, 2023 Nice work so far this season. Just keep pace with Slavia and you should find your golden ticket outta the second league! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 12, 2023 Author Share Posted November 12, 2023 (edited) January - February 2028 We brought in four new players. Two of them are actually "new" for the club, but not for me, because they are two of my former players from my last club, Montana FC. One of them, Vasil Vasilev, was received at the youth intake in 2025 and even then he was considered as being a very promising youngster. The second player, Kiril Georgiev, deserves a special attention. When I was hired at Montana FC he was in the U19 squad and, from my point of view, he was "surplus to requirements", having only two PA stars. However, even then he had very good attributes, and now the scouts and my assistant evaluate his as being a very good player even for our first eleven. I don't really understand what it's about. Has this guy developed so much in just two and a half years ? Or is our current team significantly weaker than the one I had at my former club ? In any case, Montana asked very little money for his transfer, so it's possible that he's not as good as he would seem at first glance. Spoiler A third explanation is also possible : although we had at Montana FC and I have now at Chernomorets a good staff ("good" for the second league, of course), their attributes were not and are not high enough. It is possible that these mid-level attributes significantly affect the way they "see" the players. In fact, this is the reason why I probably shouldn't sort the players according to PA at the youth intake. Such sorting is likely to be really useful only if the club have a very good staff. Otherwise, it's just a way to arrange some stars for fun. It seems that many of the other clubs in the second league lost a lot of their good players because suddenly we climbed to the second place in the media prediction. Of course, the 4 players we brought in are very good, but their coming isn't enough to fully explain the significant increase in our odds from 6-1 to 2-1. As for Slavia, it seems that their squad is much better than ours. So, we probably don't have much chance to compete with them, but we have a good chance for second place. The squad : *** As usual, we also played some friendly matches. The team played poorly, the most important players seemed uninterested and, as a result, the results we got were mediocre. However, even though we played badly in the friendly matches, the team's morale is (still) very high. Schedule ***** February 2028 Very good results. We were a bit lucky in the match against Ludogorets II but, overall, the team is playing well ... for now. *** Matches played in February : *** Seriously, FM, it's time to calm down. I don't transfer a player just to look at his attributes. I want to see him playing on the pitch ... ***** March 2028 The transfer window closed on March 1. No other player came, no one left. *** Two good results and one bad. The team played quite well, but none of the opponents we met this month were very strong. However, it's embarrassing that Lokomotiv, the team that beat us (1-0), conceded no less than 7 goals in the next championship match ... *** Matches played in March ***** Youth intake 2028 Nothing really interesting. Three somewhat better players, but all of them are very unbalanced in terms of distribution of their attributes. ***** April 2028 Only 7 points out of 15 ... The first match of the month was balanced, so the result is fair. In the second match we were 3-2 at halftime and until then we had played much better than the opponents. In the second half we tried to attack, but the opponents surprised us on the counterattack (3-3). Then they changed the mentality and, because they were more and more dangerous, I tried to keep this result. No chance, we got the defeating goal in the 90th+2nd minute. I was a bit afraid of the next match because the opponent (Yantra) was in 17th place and these "already relegated teams" can play very well sometimes. Fortunately, we had no problems (By the way, Petkov, our number one player, returned in this match after that very serious injury). The match against CSKA II followed. We played better than our opponent, we missed a penalty, we also had a denied goal ... but we still lost. We could have gotten at least a draw if we had a bit of luck. Then, in the last match of the month, we met Etar, one of the main contenders for promotion. Honestly, I would have been happy even for a draw, although Etar was in a bad run of form (they had managed only 3 points in the last 4 games). However, my boys played very well and won easily (3-0). This last win against Etar helped us a lot. First of all, because in xG table Etar was at this moment, after Slavia, our most dangerous opponent. Secondly, because the team's morale had started to decrease in a worrying way, but it recovered as a result of this 3-0. *** Matches played in April ***** May 2028 The 32nd round was very favorable for us. "My friends" from Montana FC helped me a lot. Just kidding, my team played very well and won the match 4-1. Slavia lost, Etar lost, Belasitsa and Maritsa lost. As a result, we secured one of the first 3 places : *** Round 33. We easily won the match played with Septemvri. Unfortunately, Slavia and Dunav also won, and the end of the season is quite complicated : *** Why is it "complicated" ? Well, because of this : Let's assume that Dunav will win the last match. Their opponent is quite mediocre. In this case, according to the competitional rules : - if Slavia defeats us, we'll play in the promotion playoff against a team from the first league (most likely Lokomotiv Sofia, a club about 5 times "richer" than us). - if we get a draw in Sofia, we'll still play in the playoff because we would have 66 points, and in this case the results between the two teams count. Dunav is advantaged, 2-1 and 1-1. - if we win, we have solved the problem of promotion, but Slavia will play in the playoff because they would have 66 points, in direct matches they are tied with Dunav (1-0, 1-2), but Dunav would have a better goal difference. So, Slavia has strong reasons to play at it's maximum level against us. *** Wow ! Great job, guys ! *** Dunav only got a draw, 2-2, in the match played against Kyustendil ! And that means, of course, that we could have even lost in Sofia. We would have won the direct promotion anyway. (I didn't watch the match played by Dunav. I was strictly interested in the game of my team and a promotion obtained only because the opponent didn't win its match doesn't have the same flavor as a promotion obtained as a result of a decisive win). *** Matches played in May *** Players' stats : Two of the players we brought in in the winter were very important : the striker Dimitrov and my former player from Montana FC, Kiril Georgiev. It's also worth noting that Petkov, although he was affected by a very serious injury, managed to play well and sometimes even very well in the matches he played after his return. Surprisingly, our best player is Ivelin Georgiev, a player who doesn't have very good attributes. By the way, sounds stupid, but ... The name seemed familiar to me, but during the game I didn't make the connection. Only now, when I write, I realize that this Ivelin Georgiev is the same Ivelin Georgiev that I found in the U19 team of Montana FC and who refused to extend his contract at the end of the first season. *** Is this promotion something out of the ordinary ? Of course not. After all, according to the media prediction, we were the number 2 favorite. The players we brought in in the winter had a positive impact, and we didn't lose any very important players in the last year. As a result, we achieved significantly better results in the second half of the competition compared to the first half, while our opponents had rather the opposite tendency. Is our promotion deserved ? According to xG table and according to other indicators, yes, it is. However, it should also be mentioned that Slavia was very "busy" this spring, as they played in the semi-finals of the Bulgarian Cup, so they met some very strong opponents. Slavia's players were probably more tired (phisically and mentally) than ours at the time of the last match in the championship. *** A little earlier, on the occasion of the youth intake, we say that I don't find this intake interesting at all. As a result, I decided : none of the players received at this intake will remain at the club. It's probably a mistake, it's possible that at least one or two of these players could have developed in such a way that they became an option for the first team. But I'm not in the mood for that right now. Speaking of young players. One of our players was poached by another club. It's not something new, when I was manager at Montana I had three poached players (Kostov, Slivov, Mirchev). So far, only one of them has appeared in the U19's squads of the teams that poached them : Slivov. I'll ask the scout to keep an eye on these guys. ***** Summary, 2023-2028 : Edited November 12, 2023 by GreenTriangle Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherwinriga Posted November 12, 2023 Share Posted November 12, 2023 On 10/11/2023 at 21:39, GreenTriangle said: The news of the day, of the week, of the month and possibly, even of the entire season : he's our best player ... mistake, he was our best player : See you next year, man ! Even after he recovers, he'll probably never reach his current level again ... Smh. This isn't good. You might have some back-up that you lost him for the remainder of the season. However, you finally got a title after five years, which is so good that you finally made it. I hope that you'll keep it up to make sure that you'll get a chance to make history in the UEFA competitions for sure! By the way, you need to post the other results of what happened to your former teams that you managed to ensure that it will be great to see how they're doing as well as their roster would be looked like. Again, congratulations on the promotion! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sizeman21 Posted November 12, 2023 Share Posted November 12, 2023 Nice season there Green Triangle! Hopefully you can survive in the top league! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 16, 2023 Author Share Posted November 16, 2023 National and continental competitions, 2027-2028 season Champions League - League Stage / Champions League - Knockout Stage Europa League - League Stage / Europa League - Knockout Stage Conference League - League Stage / Conference League - Knockout Stage European Championship 2028 - Qualifying Europe Nations League 2026-2028 *** England 1 and England 2 / Spain 1 and Spain 2 / Italy 1 and Italy 2 / Germany 1 and Germany 2 / France 1 and France 2 Belgium 1 / Holland 1 / Portugal 1 Turkey 1 and Turkey 2 / Greece 1 and Greece 2 / Serbia 1 and Serbia 2 / Croatia 1 / Romania 1 Bulgaria 1 / Bulgaria 2 ***** May - June 2028 Well, we were promoted to the first league. Very nice. Very cool. Very exciting. Very (any positive aspect here). Unfortunately, I saw this movie two years ago. And the end of the movie was a bit ... unpleasant. Worse, the results I achieved now at Chernomorets are weaker than those I achieved at Montana FC two years ago. When I was playing with Montana FC I used a downloaded tactic for FM23 (but slightly modified). Now I used a much simpler tactic invented by my creative genius (who is not genius at all). "My" tactic was so successful that I achieved almost the same results that the AI achieved 3 seasons ago, when Chernomorets obtained another promotion to the first league. What were the results obtained by AI in the first league ? Only 20 points and a relegation from last place. Before the start of the season I did a simulation using two of the tactics "invented" by Knap for FM24. It's about two tactics that, compared to other tactics posted by Knap, are weaker. In addition, we simulated using strictly the players available in July last year, so without the few players brought after that to strengthen the team. Conclusion : "my" tactic is clearly inferior in terms of attack, but it's reasonably good in terms of defense. Another aspect : what happened to the other teams that have promoted in recent years ? Most had some difficulties, but two thirds of these teams (6 out of 10) "survived" their first season in the first league. Moreover, some of these teams achieved spectacular table positions (Hebar, promoted in 2026 and ranked 6th in the first league as well as Beroe, promoted in 2027 and ranked 5th). How did these teams achieve such good developments ? No, not because of new managers. Both Hebar and Beroe kept their managers with whom they promoted. But practically they changed their teams. Hebar brought 17 new players and Beroe brought 18. (By the way, on this occasion it's clear that the AI is smarter in FM24 because now it's able to build a much better team than the one it had at a given moment . That the AI still it's not able to do it with the a realistic frequency ? It's true, but the improvement is obvious). *** What's the point of this talk ? I'm trying to find out what we would need to survive the first season. Considering the standings after 30 rounds (regular season) and the 5 rounds of the relegation playoff, it appears that, in order to have a realistic chance to avoid relegation, we would need an average of one point per match. So, 20 points after the first 20 rounds of the fall season and 35 points at the end of the competition. If the team plays bad and isn't able to keep the rhythm of "one point per match" then it will be clear that we cannot avoid relegation (unless we're very lucky). So, from a tactical point of view, what should I do ? Should I keep the current tactic, the one "invented" by me ? Should I change it ? If I change it, how could I change it ? Should I use a downloaded tactic ? If I use a downloaded tactic, what kind of tactic? The 4-4-2 variant isn't very efficient. Should I change the formation? After a long and deep thought (about 5.77 seconds) I decided : I'll continue with 4-4-2 and, at least in the next half of the season, I'll use "my" tactic. It's risky, but in the worst case I could be fired. It wouldn't be the first time in this career ... *** Now, regarding the strengthening of the team. Money ... we have. Variants (ie players willing to come to us) ... exist. Ideas ... well, here's a problem, I have no ideas. I don't know what to do. Should I try to bring in a lot of new players ? Should I try to keep the core of the team ? The problem data would be the following: - main (first) squad : various necessary details / attributes / contracts - second squad : various necessary details / attributes / contracts - U19's squad : various necessary details / attributes / contracts I looked at these lists of players and realized that I have absolutely no desire or inspiration to start rebuilding the team. As a result, I decided to postpone the moment when I will start the rebuilding until (after) July 1. For now, I decided to get rid of as many players as possible who are not part of the core of the main team. As a result, we released no less than 24 players, and on July 1st the squads looked as follows : main squad (19 players) / second squad (only gray players) / U19's squad (10 players). According to the squad planner, the majority of positions are quite well covered. However, the squad planner is incomplete. According to the list of positions with which the players are familiar, it appears that we would need improvements on the right flank and in the central defense area. Also, the two goalkeepers we have are not at the level we really need. In any case, according to the assistant's report, the quality of our squad is low, even very low. *** Finances. A little earlier I said that "we have money". Indeed, we have, but only for this season. Last year we could keep the budget balanced only because we sold players. Now we received some extra money from TV rights and, also, attendance at matches will increase next season as a result of the promotion to the first league (over 850 season tickets were sold, with over 500 more than in the previous season). Unfortunately, sponsorship remained at a low level and it's very likely that next year it will be necessary to sell players again. The staff. It's almost complete (and quite good), at least for the main squad. We would only need an additional coach. In the last weeks we brought a scout and a physio. Of course, the idea of a guy like Tim Cahill being hired as a scout at a club like ours is somewhat hilarious. But, after all, this is just a game. ***** July 7, 2028 (the day before the first round of the championship) Transfers. We brought in 3 new players, plus a 4th one who also played last season with us (Yanchev, on loan) but who is now our player. Stefanov and Gustavo Enrique are central defenders. Budinov can play as a defender or midfielder on the right wing. We'll also have a new goalkeeper in a few days. The squad : List of players - details *** The objective set by the Board is quite reasonable. From my point of view, this goal means that I probably won't be fired as long as we aren't in last place, even if we're relegated. The media prediction is quite encouraging because it seems that there isn't a big difference between us and the other 3-4 teams that will probably fight to avoid relegation. *** We played three friendly matches. I only used 6 to 7 players from the best eleven in each of the three matches, so it was normal to have some problems. However, the fragility of our defense seems worrying to me. In any case, the cohesion and the atmosphere are quite good for the moment. ***** July 2028 It's not bad at all. We were lucky in the third match (won as a result of a goal scored in the 86th minute) but, overall, the team played well, better than I expected. Even that 1-5 was quite reasonable, considering the fact that the real difference on the pitch was not that huge. *** Matches played in July : *** I found a good coach. From this moment on, I will be able to focus strictly on the problems related to the players and the improvement of the team. ***** August 2028 I hate these variations. We played very badly in the first half of the first match. The fact that after the break we played much better doesn't matter anymore, considering that at the break the score was already 0-3. In the second match we were lucky. In the third match, we were extremely lucky (we could have easily lost by 0-4 or even more). Then, in the last match, we played very, very well. But the opponents shot at the goal 4 times and scored 4 goals ... Still, until now it's pretty good. We have 11 points, so we stay within the "at least one point per game played" limit. The xG table looks quite encouraging. Less encouraging is the fact that the teams' morale has dropped and I already have three unhappy players. *** Matches played in August : *** I have no idea how it happened, but it seems that one of the first league clubs (Beroe) discovered that we are exactly the source of young players they needed. As a result, in just a few months no less than three players were poached from us : one in July, one at the beginning of August and the third at the end of the month. If those from Beroe will continue at this pace, then our future youth intakes will become completely uninteresting ... ***** September 2028 Transfers. As I said, during July we were going to have a new goalkeeper. We have. Initially, I was thinking of bringing another 3-4 players, but for now I gave up the idea because the team is doing quite well so far and, in addition, I don't want to unnecessary annoy our important players. We already have three unhappy players and I don't want more. *** 5 points out of 9. It's very good. We have 16 points from 12 matches and from the xG table it appears that there are many other teams that play worse than us. So, we would have a significant chance of avoiding relegation. It's not really clear to me what that place of those from Arda means. Should I understand that they use a (very) defensive play and get good results only because of counterattacks ? In October we'll meet the first place team (Levski), the second place team (Ludogorets) and the third place team (Beroe). I don't expect it to be a very good month for us... *** Matches played in September : ***** October 2028 It wasn't a very good month for us. Positive aspects : we were not defeated by very large margins and in xG table we still stay at a reasonable level. Negative aspects : we foolishly lost two points in a game (against Lokomotiv) that we should have won. Also, we qualified for the next round in the Cup, but we played badly, even though the opponent (Etar) was only a team from the second league. *** Matches played in October *** This is what happens when is hired a 69-year-old HOYD. I hope, however, that his fairly high level will positively affect at least one or two generations of players. I would need some good players at the next youth intake... ***** November - December 2028 It's the first time I'm worried. The team played badly (sometimes very badly) in 4 matches out of 5. Maybe we deserved to win the match against CSKA '48, but we certainly didn't deserve to win the last match. The xG table has become very "compact" in the sense that the difference between the team in 10th place and the one in last place is really small. So, a bad run of form in the next few matches (the ones from February and March) can practically decide the relegation of a certain team. *** Matches player in November and December : ***** Players' stats : ***** The team's morale is low, the last (bad) results have seriously affected it. Three of the five central defenders are unhappy, plus goalkeeper Todorov. Genchev is one of the team leaders, the other three are "highly influential players". Two other influential players, Veysov and Allan, play poorly. In addition, our attack line is quite ineffective. I have no other solution but to risk bringing in a number of 6-7 new players, even if this will affect cohesion and even if some of the important players will be unhappy with the possible competitors for their places in the first team. *** One of the two CSKAs offered me a job interview. I was not interested, but it was useful for my personal morale. In other words, even in case of a relegation, I would easily find another club in Bulgaria to hire me. This time, however, I'll not risk in the second league. I'll choose a first league club. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 18, 2023 Author Share Posted November 18, 2023 December 2028 - February 2029 I received another job interview offer, this time from Turkey/Turkiye. Of course, I was not interested, although there is quite a lot of money in the Turkish first league. On the other hand, however, the rules are more restrictive in this league compared to the first Bulgarian league. *** One of our foreign players became a Bulgarian citizen. It's a positive aspect because until now we had six non-EU players in the team and we could only use five. (More than five non-EU players can only be used if five of them are 21 years old or older and the rest are U21). It's interesting to see if I also will receive the citizenship because in June 2029 it will be 5 years since I started to "work" in Bulgaria. *** The reputation of the Chernomorets club has grown in the last year and a half. When I was hired, Chernomorets was in the 22nd place in the reputation national ranking. Now, it climbed to the 16th position. *** Transfers. We brought 5 new players. In addition, we signed a contract with Budinov, a player who until now had only been on loan from Lokomotiv Sofia. Regarding the departures, we lose one player, the central defender Henrique. His club agreed to extend the loan agreement, but only if we pay a rather large amount ("large" in relation to the player's performance) in the form of appearance fee / unused substitute fee. It didn't seem like a good deal to me. In addition, one of the unhappy players (Koilov) was loaned in the second league until the summer, but he wouldn't have played much for us anyway. New players - details (By the way, the new players were a bit "painful" for us from a financial point of view. Wage expenses increased from 35,000 per month to 65,000. I hope it's worth it ...) The squad for the second part of the season : *** We played three friendly matches. The opponents were not particularly strong, but my team moved well and created many scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, however, the quite large number of unhappy players significantly affected the team's morale. ***** February 2029 7 points out of 12. Not bad at all, especially since we beat two teams (Dunav and Krumovgrad) with whom we were fighting to avoid relegation. It's true, in the match played against Dunav we were lucky : after we clearly dominated the first 60 minutes, the opponents seriously crowded us in the last half hour and only the fact that they missed two clear scoring chances saved us . Normally, 35 points would be needed to avoid direct relegation and 40 points to avoid 13th place (and the play-off). So, we would need at least 7 more points in the next 11 games. A very "achievable" goal ... *** Matches played in February : ***** March 2029 The transfer window closed on March 1. We didn't bring other players, so, the squad is the same as in February. *** 6 points out of 9. At this moment we practically avoided direct relegation, but we would need, just in case, to win 6 points in the next 8 games, in which case we would probably avoid 100% the playoffs also. In the xG table the situation is not so clear, but even here we have started to move away from the 4 teams from which - probably - the relegated teams will be "chosen". *** Youth Intake 2029 A mediocre intake, especially in terms of the CA and the players' personality. However, we received two quite good youngsters (Simeonov and Debarliev). ***** April 2029 (end of "Preliminary Phase") Wow ! I did not expect these 6 points. In fact, I don't even think we deserved more than 1 or 2. We were lucky to score first in both matches and we were also lucky not to concede goals, although the opponents had plenty of chances to score. What surprised me the most was the fact that we qualified for the "Second Phase", that is, in the tournament of the teams ranked 7-10. The team played well, of course, but we're definitely not among the best 10 teams in the championship. We were just very lucky. The second stage of the league : *** Matches played in the first half of April : ***** April 2029 (second half) - May 2029 8 points out of 18. It's quite good, especially since our current level is not that high to be able to easily get an 8th place. *** Matches played in the Second Stage : *** Bulgarian First League - Final tables of the second stage : *** Player's stats : Best Eleven (2027-28, 2028-29 and overall) *** Youth intake - later update : I decided to offer contracts only for two players. All the others will leave. It's probably not a brilliant idea, but for now I'll focus on transfers of already developed players. We still don't have the necessary facilities and, in addition, the frequency with which the other clubs in the first league take our young players is a bit too high for now. This is the 4th poached player this season ... (By the way, many clubs in the first Bulgarian league (and some even in the second league) have much better academies than ours anyway. So, for the moment, the possibility of us relying mainly only on the youngsters produced by the academy is excluded). *** Finances. For now, the situation of the club is quite good. But it won't be anymore, because we're already losing money, and next season we'll spend at least 750,000 just for salaries. It is possible that the sponsorships and the amounts obtained from season tickets and gate receipts will increase, but, anyway, we probably won't be able to avoid the necessity to sell some players. *** My former club, Montana FC, managed to promote again in the first league. So I can't even brag a lot about that promotion I achieved in 2026 because the AI achieved a similar performance. However, I can say that I am 5% better than the AI because I promoted from first place while the AI only got a fourth place, followed by a win in the promotion playoff. *** Levski Sofia won the first league in Bulgaria. It's not something out of the ordinary, right ? And yet... it is. Here's why. Let's suppose that a FM player becomes a manager at a club whose team is in the 3rd league. In the first year, he promotes the team to the 2nd league. In the second year, he promotes it to the first league. In the third year, he wins the championship and the national cup. Then he wins the title of champion 11 more times in a row. It would be quite a nice FM career, wouldn't it? Well, that's exactly what happened in real life, and the club in question is called Ludogorets. The game (FM) continued this incredible series for another 5 years, and Ludogorets ended up having 17 consecutive championship titles. Only now, in 2029, the "miracle" happened for another team to win the title, and that team is Levski. *** I decided to do a test. I want to see what would happen if, using exactly the same players I have now (minus Wellington and Zlatanov), I went on vacation, not before asking my assistant to use an extremely aggressive tactic (WOF 4-1-2-3, invented by Knap for FM24). It's a tactic that I couldn't even have imagined because, from my point of view, it's an illogical combination of instructions, roles and duties. But ... it works. Here is the test result : Spoiler Schedule Hooray, we qualified for the Champions League ! (Of course, I'll not use this tactic and these results. I tried this just for fun) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 22, 2023 Author Share Posted November 22, 2023 National and continental competitions, 2028-2029 season Champions League - League Stage / Champions League - Knockout Stage Europa League - League Stage / Europa League - Knockout Stage Conference League - League Stage / Conference League - Knockout Stage European Championship 2028 - Group Stage / European Championship 2028 - Knockout Stage *** England 1 and England 2 / Spain 1 and Spain 2 / Italy 1 and Italy 2 / Germany 1 and Germany 2 / France 1 and France 2 Belgium 1 / Netherlands 1 / Portugal 1 Turkey 1 and Turkey 2 / Greece 1 / Serbia 1 and Serbia 2 / Croatia 1 / Romania 1 Bulgaria 1 / Bulgaria 2 ***** June - July 2029 Something very strange is happening. In 2023, the Bulgarian first league was on the 29th place in the reputation ranking of the European leagues. After only 6 years, it reached the 14th place (!). Also, Bulgaria's national coefficient for continental competitions was relatively low and in 2023 Bulgaria was in 26th place. In 2028, i.e. after 5 years, the coefficient increased a lot, and Bulgaria climbed to the 16th place. After another year, the coefficient increased even more, Bulgaria reaching the 13th place, which, implicitly, means an additional place in the Champions League. Is there something wrong ? Yes, because in FM23 the reputation of the league and the continental coefficient can grew a lot ... but mainly as a result of the very good results got by the human player. It seems that in FM24 this rule is not valid, or at least it is not valid in all cases. In any case, I had no contribution to this surprising growth. Moreover, there are other anomalies in the coefficients ranking : France has a higher coefficient than Spain or Germany. Also, Turkiye (Turkey) has a surprisingly high coefficient, better than that of some nations such as Portugal or the Netherlands. (By the way : all leagues from France, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Portugal and the Netherlands are active and playable) ***** I requested the Board to increase the budget for Junior Coaching. The board agreed. However, I have no illusions : a career based on the players produced by our own academy would be extremely difficult and would probably take an extremely long time. For the moment, the development of our facilities isn't a priority from my point of view. (By the way : another young player from our academy was poached by another club. He's the 5th player poached in the last 12 months ). *** I hoped that in the first Bulgarian league there is a system of prizes based on the place achieved in the league table of the previous season. Unfortunately, there is no such system. Also, the level of TV money received as the initial amount is the same as that of the previous season. From a financial point of view, these aspects represent a problem for us because the budget increase will be quite slow. Of course, sponsorship has increased this season compared to the previous season, but the increase is pretty small. Also, there will be a small increase due to higher sales of season tickets. We can't talk about money from the continental competitions for now and the prizes in the Bulgarian Cup are quite small in the lower stages of the competition. Theoretically, we have a good wage budget, but we certainly won't have enough income to support such expenses. At least until the winter I'll try to stay within the limit of current expenses, which means that I'll not bring other players and I'll not accept spectacular salary increases). *** Transfers. At the end of June we brought in a new goalkeeper. It was necessary, because our former first-choice goalkeeper, Todorov, retired, although at 33 he wasn't very old at all. Regarding departures, we lost a player from U19's (Yunchev) who wasn't a very good player anyway. Also, Genchev insisted on being loaned to another club to play and I preferred to respect his wish because he was a very influential player in the dressing room. The squad : We have no players in the 2nd squad. Also, we don't have many players in the U19's squad either. In fact, at the club we only have 31 players (26 in the main squad and 5 in the U19's squad). As for the players' preferred positions, we're well covered. I'll continue to use the same tactics, but which will be slightly different from match to match as many of the important players have traits that can modify the tactic depending on the position in which these players are used. *** According to the assistant's report, it seems that the current team is not valuable enough to try to repeat last season's performance (8th place). Besides, even in the media prediction we're not considered a team capable of achieving a mid-table place. For this reason, I gave up the intention to ask the Board for a more difficult objective. If we'll get really good performances, I'll change the objective towards the middle of the season. *** We have a new HOYD. The previous one retired (he was 71 years old). The new one is not exactly what I would have liked in terms of his preferred formation(s), but he has good attributes and an quite positive personality. *** We played several friendly matches. The results (and the way we played) were mediocre, but I hope that, once the championship starts, our boys will play better and better. ***** July 2029 An acceptable month, especially considering that we played well and could have won the match against Hebar and that the team came back from 0-3 in the last match. By the way, it's quite annoying to concede 3 goals from only 3 shots ... *** Matches played in July : ***** August 2029 10 points out of 15. We had a unique chance : Levski, the champion, is focused on the continental competitions and didn't use all the players from their best eleven in the match against us. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to take advantage of this. Of course, the game (FM) decided to compensate for that bad luck in the match with Lokomotiv and "gifted" us 5 goals from 5 shots on target in the match against Botev Plovdiv. Honestly, i'd prefer such events to be much more rare than they currently are in the game. *** Matches played in August : ***** September 2029 Transfers. The transfer window closed on September 6. No change in our squad : no one came, no one left. *** 5 points out of 12. It could have been better, especially considering the last match. In the xG table we're on the 2nd place, a surprising achievement. *** Matches played in September : ***** October 2029 A really bad month for us. We met the teams ranked 15th and 16th (Krumovgrad and Montana) and, of course, I expected two wins. We barely managed to obtain two draws. Moreover, in the last match of the month, we were defeated, in the Cup, by a mid-table team in the 2nd league. *** Matches played in October : ***** November - December 2029 6 points out of 15. We beat the more accessible opponents, but we were clearly defeated by the "big boys" of the league, Ludogorets and Levski. In the last game we might have deserved a draw, but we were not lucky enough. According to xG table, we played really well in these first 20 matches : we are in 5th place, at a very small distance from the teams that will participate in the continental competitions. Unfortunately, according to the table that matters, we are far from the first places. In fact, with 25 points, we are way closer to relegation than to the European places. *** Matches played in November and December : ***** Players' stats : *** During November I received 3 interview invitations from clubs in Belgium, the Netherlands and again the Netherlands. I was not surprised, because I have a really good reputation and quite high attributes. In fact, what surprises me is the fact that I came to have such a reputation and attributes despite the fact that I only have a National A license and, in terms of performance, three relegations and two promotions in Bulgaria don't represent an impressive CV. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted November 29, 2023 Author Share Posted November 29, 2023 December 2029 - February 2030 During the two months of the winter break I did ... nothing. Absolutely nothing. I didn't bring new players, I didn't improve the staff either, and the tactics I'll use in the second part of the season will be exactly the same as the one used in the first part (and identical to the one used last year) Transfers (no one came, no one left) : As a result, the squad for the second part of the season will be the same with which we started this season : Also as a result, the quality level of the squad remained as mediocre as until now. On the other hand, the expenses for salaries increased a little because it was necessary to extend the contracts of some players and they, of course, asked for more money. *** We played three friendly matches in Turkiye/Turkey. We met teams from the 3rd league and we tried to play as badly as possible. Fortunately, the Turks were merciful (or maybe bored) and allowed us to get a win and a draw, although in all 3 games we played much worse than the opponents. In order to mitigate the bad impression generated by these three matches we also played a friendly at home, the opponent being the weakest of all possible weak opponents. We won 10-0, a very useful result because the team's morale increased significantly after this "epic" win. Schedule *** February - March 2030 In the first match we played well and lost, 3-4. In the second match we played well and lost, this time with 0-4. In the third match I have no reason to complain : CSKA '48 were better than us. In the fourth match we played very well in the first 45 minutes (we could have easily scored two or even three goals), but after the break the opponents crowded us and we were lucky to obtain a draw. The 5th match followed. My team played very well and normally we would have won easily. But the game (FM) had already decide that we're in a poor run of form and, as a result, I had to be happy for a 2-2. Finally, the last match was a bit more normal : both teams badly and settled for one point each. Statistical summary, Chernomorets vs opponents : 6 matches played, shots 67 - 67, shots on target 32 - 32, xG's 9.7 - 8.9, goals scored ... 8 - 15 (!!!). According to the xG table, we're (still) playing very well and are in 5th place . *** Matches played in February and March : *** Youth intake 2030 : Generally speaking, I can say that I got two very good players and another four quite good ones. But two of the four "good enough" have a little too low mental attributes, so I'll probably offer contracts only to these four players. *** April 2030 (end of "Preliminary Phase") We were lucky in the match against Montana. It's known that the game (FM) sometimes decides that team ranked last can sometimes play better than Manchester City. Fortunately, that was not the case, although Montana scored the first goal and played better than us. Surprisingly, the game allowed us to score two goals and win. Of course, everything has a price : in the next match we shot on target 7 times and the opponent (Krumovgrad) only once. And, surprise (or not), ... they won 1-0. Statistical summary, Chernomorets vs opponents : 4 matches played, shots 48 - 32, shots on target 25 - 13, xG's 5.3 - 4.4, goals scored ... 4 - 6. What can I say ? Kind of strange results. But it doesn't matter, because in the xG table we achieved a historic performance : we're still in 5th place. More than that : in the xG table we have a very good defense (we're in the top 6 from this point of view). *** Matches played in the first 3 weeks of April : *** Starting from this moment, the championship is divided into three groups. We, of course, will be in the weakest group, the one intended for the teams that are going to fight to avoid relegation : In the other two groups will meet the teams fighting for the title and places in the continental competitions ("Championship"), respectively the teams fighting for the heroic title of "the best mid-table team" ("Second Stage"). Regarding our chances of not being relegated, they are, realistically speaking, very high. In the last stage, each team play only 5 matches (only one leg), and the last two ranked are already almost relegated. So there remains to be decided the team ranked 14th, the one that will play in the relegation/promotion playoff. We're only 3 points away from this place, but normally 6 points in the next 5 matches would be enough for us to avoid the playoffs. An achievable objective. ***** April - May 2029 ("Relegation Stage") Of course, I could say that we didn't deserve to lose the two matches in which we really played well (the ones against Botev Vratsa and Lokomotiv), but anyway it doesn't matter anymore. The game (FM) definitely wants to convince me to change tactics. And I don't want to do this. In any case, this time the xG ratio was a bit more realistic now : 9.6 - 6.3 for 9 goals scored by us and 6 conceded. In conclusion: we finished the competition in 12th place. A mediocre place, considering the fact that in the previous season we ranked 8th. But, at the same time, a pretty good ranking, because in the media prediction it was assumed that we would rank 15th. *** Matches played in the "Relegation Stage" : *** Players' stats : Best eleven (2029-30 and overall) *** Youth intake, later update : indeed, I kept only these four players and gave up the other twelve. *** Finances : the Board was generous. They increased the wage budget from 106,000 per month (1.27 million per year) to 160,000 per month (1.92 million per year) which, theoretically, would allow us to become a top 10 team, at least in terms of salaries offered. However, the club doesn't have enough financial resources for such an increase, so I'll probably have to avoid very high expenses. ***** Career summary, 2023-2030 : ***** I have to decide what to do next. Obviously, first of all, I have to improve the team. But in terms of tactics ? I plan to continue playing using the 4-4-2 formation. Unfortunately, I don't know what should I improve ... and how. The current tactic I use is quite fragile, especially from a defensive point of view. This can be clearly seen in the U19's team case. The manager there uses "my" tactics. The outcome ? 33 points last year, 29 points (and relegation) this year. (It's true, I force him to use many "grey" players because I give up most of the players received at the intake). On the other hand, I have to remind : using Knap's tactics (and which does not use 4-4-2) I "obtained" in the simulation an incredible 2nd place (and an average of 2.7 goals scored per match), using exactly the same players . It would be easy for me to "adopt" one of the Knap's tactics... but I know for sure that I would get bored after one season or two, at the most ... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenTriangle Posted December 1, 2023 Author Share Posted December 1, 2023 National and continental competitions, 2029-2030 season Champions League - League Stage / Champions League - Knockout Stage Europa League - League Stage / Europa League - Knockout Stage Conference League - League Stage / Conference League - Knockout Stage World Cup 2030 Qualifying - Europe Nations League 2028-2030 - Groups / Nations League 2028-2030 - Final Tournament *** England 1 and England 2 / Spain 1 and Spain 2 / Italy 1 and Italy 2 / Germany 1 and Germany 2 / France 1 and France 2 Belgium 1 / Netherlands 1 / Portugal 1 Turkey 1 and Turkey 2 / Greece 1, Greece 2 (2028-29) and Greece 2 (2029-30) / Serbia 1 and Serbia 2 / Croatia 1 / Romania 1 Bulgaria 1 / Bulgaria 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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