DaneBramage Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 May 2040 - Pacos de Ferreira Squad Stats Bassam Ali, on loan from Inter, was one of the lowest paid players in the team, but he was by far the star of the show. His fellow loanee and partner upfront, Franco Brugni, didn't score as many but also contributed with assists. -------------------------------------------------------------- History This is the first full season of this career where I haven't won promotion. It's nothing to worry about that though, it wasn't expected this season and I did see this as a project that might take a few years. That said, the recruitment team's overuse of loans is possibly an issue. Six regulars won't be back next year, so there's a substantial rebuilding job needed. I really should take charge of recruitment myself, but I'm lazy so I won't. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 (edited) December 2040 - Pacos de Ferreira Transfer Business A few players left the club for a total of £300k, though none from our starting line-up. Seven players joined on free transfers or loans (including a centre-back from Inter), for a total of £79k. -------------------------------------------------------------- Liga 2 The start to the season was absolutely awful. Just one point and one goal from the first six games, without the Inter starlets we had last year we were just bereft of quality upfront. The next couple of months were much improved luckily, as the new additions to the squad started to settle in. We re-discovered the scoring habit and went eight games unbeaten, gaining 12 points from a possible 18. But it didn't last long. Our attack might have got their act together, but our defence forgot how to play instead. Just the one win from four, though at least it came on 22nd December so Christmas Day wasn't ruined. Yikes. The promotion chasing exploits of last year are just a distant memory now, instead we're just trying to avoid getting sucked into a relegation battle. Surprisingly I haven't had any warnings about my job being at risk yet, but the board are dissatisfied with this league performance so I'm sure they'll be having words sooner or later. Losing half of our games is nowhere near good enough, I'd be firing me at this point. -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited March 17 by DaneBramage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 February 2041 - Pacos de Ferreira Transfer Business A sub midfielder had their release clause met, and moved to New York Red Bulls for £375k. A right-back joined on loan from Inter, and an Israeli forward joined on a free. -------------------------------------------------------------- Liga 2 The loss to Chaves made it five defeats in six games, and the team's morale had plummeted again. But when the new additions came into the starting line-up, and a couple of tactical tweaks were made following the advice of my AssMan, we suddenly looked like an entirely different team. We went unbeaten for the next six matches, winning four of them, and finding our goalscoring touch in February. Of course, it had to be Beira-Mar that ended it. We've pulled away from the relegation area, but this season's a write-off. I just want it over with now. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 (edited) May 2041 - Pacos de Ferreira Liga 2 The good form continued into March, with new striker Daniel Cohen scoring a couple of times during the three wins. April wasn't as good, but only getting a point against Mafra was a travesty. We had an xG of more than 2.5 from 22 shots, but just couldn't get the ball into the net. Three games without a win was a mini-slump, but Daniel Cohen showed his quality with a hat-trick to beat Belenenses. We'd lost our previous three games to Chaves, so it was twice as nice to end the season with a first victory over them. We just about pulled ourselves up into a top-half finish, but I'm not happy with it. Although we ended up only one spot below our 2039/40 placing, we earned six points fewer and our goal difference went 17 goals in the wrong direction. -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited March 21 by DaneBramage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 (edited) May 2041 - Pacos de Ferreira Squad Stats A lot of poor performances here. The best displays came from the two January signings. Goals and assists were spread between our strikers and wingers, but with very little contributed from anywhere else. In particular our full-backs were dreadful. -------------------------------------------------------------- History The worst season of my career, and the longest I've gone without a promotion. The decision now is what to do next. I considered giving up here and jumping ship, but that feels like the easy way out. I have a year left on my contract, I think I'm going to stick around and give it one more go. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited March 17 by DaneBramage 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 October 2041 - Pacos de Ferreira Interview Offer Over the last few seasons Arouca have slipped down the Primeira Liga table, ending up 7th, 8th, 13th, then 16th, but as they're a top flight side this is a non-starter. -------------------------------------------------------------- Transfer Business Our starting left-back moved on when his contract expired, but he was crap so I'm glad to see the back of him. We also sold a sub midfielder for £160k. My recruitment team spent £88k on a few youngsters, and for the first-team loaned in three defenders from Inter, and an Argentine striker. -------------------------------------------------------------- Liga 2 Cups are stupid. The league is great though, and going much better than I could have imagined. Our first obstacle was against my old club, Beira-Mar, in the second game of the season. We were all over them but they defended resolutely, until we grabbed the deserved winner in the 91st minute. Including that match we won our first six games of the campaign, which included wins over both newly promoted teams (Porto B and Sanjoanense). The latter was a demolition job. Our first dropped points came against Varzim, but considering we were 2-0 down at half-time I'm going to call that one a point gained. Academica Coimbra are one of the relegated sides and were thought off as favourites for promotion, but they're struggling in midtable and we added to their woes with a thrashing, Yaroslav Koval notching a hat-trick. In the season preview Yaroslav Koval was listed as one of the potential young stars of the division, and he's living up to that with 11 goals so far and an average rating of 8.07. Spoiler We are flying! This has been an amazing start. I'm glad I decided to stay instead of moving on in the summer. We're banging in the goals, assists are coming from all over the team, and the three loanees from Inter have improved our defence massively. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 December 2041 - Pacos de Ferreira Liga 2 Of course, after writing up a glowing review of our early season form we lose the very next game. The FM Gods are always watching. Though at least it was only a loss to a B team, which basically doesn't matter. We haven't quite managed to get back into our groove since then, in particular away from home where we've lost three times. One man on a role though is Daniel Cohen. Two hat-tricks this month have brought him up to 13 goals in total for the season. The second of these, in the whooping of Feirense, was a great way to celebrate my 500th game in management. We have a six point lead over second place, but since that's Benfica B we can ignore them. And looking down to third place makes for very nice reading. Vilafranquense are on a great run of form, winning five games in a row since we beat them, managing a clean sheet each time. But they're 11 points behind, Beira-Mar are 13 behind, and after ignoring Sporting CP B and Porto B, Mafra are 14 behind. Bottling this would be an all-time low, this has to be a 12th promotion. -------------------------------------------------------------- 500 Games Pretty big milestone reached. 64% winning record, and twice as many goals scored as conceded. Very little spent or received on transfers, the majority of these amounts have come during my current employment. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 21 Author Share Posted March 21 (edited) February 2042 - Pacos de Ferreira Transfer Business A sub midfielder and a back-up defender left for a total of £950k. My recruitment brought in three more loanees, including a right-back from Inter. -------------------------------------------------------------- Liga 2 14 hours ago, DaneBramage said: Bottling this would be an all-time low, this has to be a 12th promotion. I don't know why I say these things, I know exactly what's going to happen next but I just can't stop myself. I'd already played the Vizela game before posting the last update, and the Porto B and Beira-Mar losses came immediately after my self congratulations. The FM Gods aren't looking down kindly on me tonight. I thought we'd got back on track when we went four games unbeaten, and Joelmir Rocha scored a hat-trick against Sanjoanense to reach double figures, but our poor away record struck again and we lost to Mafra despite leading twice. We still hold a 10 point lead over Chaves so there's no need to panic, but I don't like this habit of losing so many games. Three blanks over the last two months isn't great either. -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited March 22 by DaneBramage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 March 2042 - Pacos de Ferreira Liga 2 Crap. Every game features a player or two putting in a stinking performance, it's like I'm the only one who wants us to win. We should have battered Vilafranquense, not scoring even once from the amount of efforts we had was embarrassing. There's no more time off for these players. All rest sessions are being replaced with extra training. We're going to get promoted, but we're making hard work of it now. We're lucky no one else is putting a run of form together. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 May 2042 - Pacos de Ferreira Liga 2 Victor Graca is on loan from Portimonense, and he was on a one-man mission to lead us through April. His three goals in successive games won us seven points, and with the 93rd minute winner at Estrela da Amarada SAD, also won us the title. With the pressure of we ended the year with two comfortable home wins, and a hard-fought away victory where we snatched the result with two late goals. We ended with a very comfortable lead over challengers. We took the title by 10 points, but could have managed 18 fewer and still been automatically promoted. We won six more games than anyone else, and scored 29 more. -------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 (edited) May 2042 - Pacos de Ferreira Squad Stats I didn't realise quite how many foreign players we had in the squad. It's definitely a big change at a club this size compared to the rest I've had throughout this career. The Italian loanee contingent was obviously a big part of this, doing wonders to improve our defensive record. Yaroslav Koval had a great first few months of the season, but from December onwards his performances stuck and he found himself benched. Daniel Cohen overtook him to end up as our top scorer with 19 goals. -------------------------------------------------------------- History Three years is the longest I've spent at any club, and if I hadn't managed a promotion this year I would probably have chalked it up as a failure and moved on. This was my fifth promotion in Europe, overtaking Africa where I had four. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- Job Search Time to pack my bags once again. -------------------------------------------------------------- Game World I've had the current six leagues active for five years now, so it's time to freshen up the options. RNG has de-activated Portugal and Ukraine, and brought in Bulgaria and Turkey (from next summer). Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited March 22 by DaneBramage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 (edited) August 2042 Job Search I had a couple of rejections from the South Korean and Argentine second divisions, which was a little disheartening. I was hoping that my successes in Portugal would have boosted my reputation a little more. So I was just waiting around for more appealing jobs to open up when I was contacted out of the blue with a big opportunity. A little while back @BML asked if international management is on the cards, and now it's a reality. -------------------------------------------------------------- UEFA Nations League B - Group 2 Wrong. It absolutely is important. It's going to be a challenge though. After getting promoted in 2040 North Macedonia are now in the second tier of the competition against some decent opposition. Games will be taking place in September, October, and November. -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited March 22 by DaneBramage 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 September 2042 - North Macedonia Squad Selection About half of our squad is based in North Macedonia, and the rest overseas. Centre back Risto Ilievski moved to Ajax in 2040 for £16.75 million so he obviously going to be an important part of the team. We have a couple of players based in Serie A, though Fisnik Gashi is only the back-up keeper for Spezia, Darko Cvetkovski is yet to make a senior league appearance for Roma. Current top scorer in the squad is Rilind Petreski with 10 goals, domestically he's hit 71 league goals over the last four seasons. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- UEFA Nations League B - Group 2 What a result! We went behind early, but then equalised against the run of play with an absolute screamer from veteran right-back Martin Stojanovski. We got to half-time level, and shocked Austria when we took the lead minutes into the restart. We were passing the ball around the back, and I was screaming at them to get the ball forward, but the players knew better than I did. They waited, and waited, then when the time was right a long ball was pumped forward for Rilind Petreski to run on to and score. We were looking the stronger side at that point, which made Austria's equaliser a bit gutting. But another long ball over the top paid dividends, and when we had two players clear Petreski squared the ball for debutant Klaudio Jusuf to tap home into an empty net. Austria were rattled and lost their composure, and failed to defend a stoppage-time corner properly. The ball fell to Darko Cvetkovski just past the back post, and he curled one into the far corner for a goal on his debut. The second game of this international break was one of very little quality. The only highlight was a 92nd free-kick, which we headed wide. Our keeper was man of the match, which possible suggested Ireland had the better of the game, so I'm happy with an away point. We're surprisingly top of the group, but Poland are matching us and we play them next. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 25 Author Share Posted March 25 October 2042 - North Macedonia UEFA Nations League B - Group 2 Poland offered nothing, and the points were ours the taking. But we couldn't capitalise. We made a couple of good chances but my left-winger hit the post twice, once in each half. Despite the red card we were the better team, even with ten men. But a defensive mix-up gave Ireland the opening to steal all three points. The group's pretty even with everyone having one point apiece. Poland are currently in top spot, but anyone could still take it. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 25 Author Share Posted March 25 November 2042 - North Macedonia UEFA Nations League B - Group 2 In the build-up to this international window there was a news story that a Macedonian right-winger playing in Australia was considering a call-up to become a Socceroo, so I drafted him into my squad. Petar Popovski repaid that decision by giving away a penalty less than 120 seconds into his debut, from which Austria took the lead. He did somewhat rectify the situation though, as he was involved in the move that led to our equaliser just before the break. In the second-half we came on strong and in the 81st minute we rattled the crossbar. Unfortunately Austria then broke away down the other end and immediately scored. Promotion was now out of the question, we were instead fighting to stay in League B. I say fighting, that was an exaggeration. It was more like a tame surrender. Ah, nuts. We'd made such a good start too with that opening win. But that being the only one of the campaign was obviously nowhere near enough, and lamely ending with three losses doomed us. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 25 Author Share Posted March 25 November 2042 - North Macedonia History Whoops. This did not go to plan, a first relegation of my career. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- Languages New: Macedonian (basic) Total: 17 -------------------------------------------------------------- Job Search I could stick around and take part in the Euro 2044 qualifying, but I don't really want to. Nations League promotions are the only good thing about international management, and it would be two years until it comes around again, so I'd rather than get back into a domestic based role for now. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 January 2043 Job Search There were half a dozen jobs available in the Argentine second tier, so I put in a couple of applications. Before I got any replies though, I was hit up by the Armenian FA. They came bottom of their UEFA Nations League C group, and are now in a play-off to avoid relegation. I rejected this for the same reason as leaving the North Macedonia job, I didn't want to go through a year of European Championships qualifiers before getting back to meaningful competition. It wasn't long until I received another call, and this time it was the one I wanted. After a few years of poor performances in the top flight, Lanus fell victim of Argentina's average points system and were relegated into the second tier. The media have them as third favourites to go straight back up, while the board want a play-off place. And because this is South America, it's not straightforward. There are 37 teams in the league playing each other once. The side that finishes top is promoted automatically, then the next 12 go into a play-off system. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 (edited) January 2043 - Lanus What's in a name? While I was at Pacos de Ferreira I had a back-up striker called Tomas Guzman. Various other scouting reports and new stories popped-up over the years, also naming a player or two called Tomas Guzman. Small world, what a coincidence I thought. Anyway, there are seven Tomas Guzman's in my Reserve and U20 squads, as well as another four in the coaching staff. In fact, of the 57 members in my playing squads, 55 are called Tomas, along with two Javiers. So that's a fun bug, which definitely won't constantly confuse me. At least all of the first-team have different surnames. Edit: The DoF has just signed a new HoYD - his name is Tomas Guzman -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited March 26 by DaneBramage 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 April 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional The mood around the camp is absolutely miserable. Some players want to leave because of the relegation, and some players want to leave because we can't give them the wages they want (requesting two or three times the maximum amount we can offer). In the week prior to the season beginning, two players were fined for skipping training, including the vice-captain. And performances on the pitch have matched this feeling. Bad times all round. Ouch. My job status is already listed as insecure. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 May 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional Ahead of each game the media are suggesting a loss would see me get the sack, but thanks to the goals of Correa I'm just about hanging on at the moment. There's been no improvement to our league position though, and I'm still living a precarious life. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sizeman21 Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Hang in there, I bet you can right the Lanús ship. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 June 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional 13 hours ago, Sizeman21 said: Hang in there, I bet you can right the Lanús ship. The ship has been righted for now, but I don't think I can take much of the credit. The glory instead has to go to my striker Correa, as he banged in six goals this month to earn us three wins. And probably single-handedly saved my job. He wants to leave but unlike others he's not being disruptive about it, so hopefully he'll changed his mind. We'd be screwed without him. Spoiler The ten points won have seen us shoot up the table, and into the lower reaches of the play-off positions. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 July 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional A disappointing month after the upturn in June. Correa continued to go strong (now at 19 goals in 19 games) and smashed in a four goal haul at Los Andes, but none of his teammates are performing at the same level. I could accept the loss to Mitre (SdE) as they're a good side and the win put them top of the table, but only ending up with one point from the games against Barracas Central and Chacaritas Jrs. was poor. We were leading both games at the 20 minute mark before throwing away the points. We've slipped out of the play-off places for now, and again the board are getting annoyed. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 September 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional There's a lot of red on the board here. Too much in fact. Benitez is doing his part, but no one else is. Though Benitez himself is actually a large part of the issue. He wants a new contract of over £5k per week, but the maximum the board will allow is £2.5k. So he's being difficult, and the rest of the team asked for a meeting where they backed his claim. Obviously I told them to stop being unprofessional, and now everyone's miserable all over again. We've dropped back down the table again and it's not looking good. The board are deeply unsatisfied, I think we all know what's coming next. -------------------------------------------------------------- Trouble Uh oh. Can I get out of this? I can, for now. They've given me one month, four more games to improve the situation. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 October 2043 - Lanus Primera Nacional We showed some spirit at least. We came back from a goal down twice to win a point against Gimnasia, and it is unbelievably unlucky to score five times and still lose. Or defensively incompetent depending how you look at it. We've only lost once in this month, but also only won once. That only makes for five points out of 12 though, I don't think it's going to be enough. We've maintained our position in the table, but we needed to do more and move upwards. Think I know what the content of the next e-mail is going to be. -------------------------------------------------------------- Job Search And there it is. -------------------------------------------------------------- History An unmitigated disaster. We started dreadfully, had a brief flurry though the end of May to the start of July, then went back to dreadful again. No complaints about getting the sack, it was fully deserved. After the previous 20 years of success failure had to come at some point, but two in a row sucks. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- Languages New: Spanish (fluent) Total: 18 -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 May 2044 Job Search Not long after being fired I had a chance to fall upwards, as I was offered an interview with Platense in the Argentine top flight. Can't get promoted from the top flight though, so obviously this was rejected. The available jobs that I could apply for were generally from clubs in the division I'd just left, but languishing further down the table. So that was even less appealing. I ended up sitting out for more than six months waiting for the right opportunity. There were a whole bunch of jobs in the Turkish second and third tiers where the manager's status was insecure, but while I was waiting for one of these a different opening emerged in South Korea. 10th out of 11 teams doesn't look good, but the gap between us and the teams above is very small, so there's potential to rise up the table. Everyone plays each other four times, so there's still 22 games left to improve our placing. The team that finishes top is promoted automatically, then 2nd-5th go into a play-off system. If we get off to a good start then we may even make it into the mix. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 (edited) June 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Although we're down near the bottom of the table, the tide had been turning before I took over. The club had only earned 10 points from their first 12 games which was poor enough to get the manager the sack, but under the caretaker boss they won three, drew two, and only lost one. And winning my first three games in charge was the perfect way to begin and carry on that form. Annoyed by the next two results though. We battered Incheon United and Seoul E-Land, we should have won the full 15 points from this month. It also slightly worrying that all our goals came from just two players. And one of them, Bae Min-Keun, has now left for £140k when his release clause was met. We've climbed up three places into 7th. The fight for 5th is still on. -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited April 1 by DaneBramage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 July 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Only one loss from seven games is pretty good. Only one win from seven games is pretty bad. Drawing with league-leaders FC Seoul is pretty good. Drawing with the whipping boys Gimpo is pretty bad. Up one place despite all the dropped points, and only three points off the all-important 5th place. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 August 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Goals goals goal! This is what I like to see. Tiago Lopes and Lee Jae-Ki were both summer signings to bolster our strikeforce, so good to see them both getting in on the action. All my country-hopping gives us a lot of scouting knowledge for the recruitment team to pull from. Up into 5th, now to see if we can progress any further. If I've understood this correctly, the winner of 5th v 4th goes on to play 3rd. They then have a play-off against the side that finished 10th in K League 1. Independently of this, 2nd has a play-off against the side that finished 11th. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 October 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Our strong form from August carried over, and we made it five wins from six games. Tiago Lopes was in a scoring mood, with goals in five consecutive matches. Going forward into October he made it eight goals in nine games. But a red card for one of our centre-backs after 28 minutes against Ansan put us at a massive disadvantage, and we were lucky to lose by just the one goal. It could easily have been half a dozen. We didn't really recover from that, picking up only three points over our final three games. At least we showed some fighting spirit at home, coming back from being two goals down with a late rally to rescue a point against both FC Seoul and Bucheon FC 1995. We'd pushed up into 3rd place after September, but the weak ending to the season saw us fall back down to 5th. That's what we were aiming for as it gets us into the play-offs, but it is a little bittersweet. If just one of those last draws had been a win we'd have finished in 3rd, and entered the play-offs a game later. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 November 2044 - FC Anyang K League 2 Play-Offs In the semi-final we faced Incheon United, who finished in 4th place. It was a tight game that could have gone either way, but we nabbed the only goal of the game to make it to the next round. Next up was 3rd placed Jeju United. A 19th minute red card was far from ideal and we struggled throughout the rest of the first-half. We made it to the interval with the game scoreless though, and re-grouped. We looked better after the break and took the lead, though they quickly equalised. In a worrying moment they had the ball in the net again in the 85th minute but it was ruled out for a blatant offside. We then stole it in stoppage-time, Tiago Lopes grabbing his second of the tie. After dispatching the K League 2 teams, we moved on to Suwon Bluewings, who had finished 10th in K League 1. The home leg was up first, and momentum and confidence carried us through this. They were probably better than us on the day, but we had our scoring boots on and they did not. The second leg was away at their place, and we looked doomed when Cemae Guehi was sent-off after less then 20 seconds for a terrible challenge. We managed to keep it tight at the back though, and in the 17th minute we made it 3-1 on aggregate when Lee Jae-Ki scored on a counter-attack, ending a drought that had lasted nine games. Ten minutes later he added a second, a tap-in after a defensive mistake, and the game was over. The expected fightback from Suwon never came, and the tie was ours. Promotion! -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 (edited) November 2044 - FC Anyang Squad Stats Sang Hui was voted the fans' player of the season, but that's clearly nonsense. It was a legacy decision, a one club player with over 600 league games and more than 80 goals for the club, but he didn't deserve it this year. Kevin Valoi ended up as top scorer with 13 goals, but the main man during my time here was Tiago Lopes, who managed 18 goal contributions in 18 games. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- History When I took this job I fancied that I could get us into the play-off mix, but getting promoted so easily was a surprise. Kind of a shame in a way, I wouldn't have minded having another year with this team. That's my second promotion in Asia, and the first time I've gone up through the play-offs. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- Languages New: Korean (basic) Total: 19 -------------------------------------------------------------- Job Search Just like normal, promotion to the top flight means it's time to move on. -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited April 6 by DaneBramage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sizeman21 Posted April 7 Share Posted April 7 Nice promotion, Dane! How many leagues do you run at one time? Do you have them all loaded from the start or do you add and subtract while your save progresses? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 On 07/04/2024 at 17:11, Sizeman21 said: Nice promotion, Dane! How many leagues do you run at one time? Do you have them all loaded from the start or do you add and subtract while your save progresses? Thanks! I normally have six-eight countries active at a time, mixing it up every few years. This is the current set-up that has been place since I left Portugal in 2042 (currently in February 2045). I've only been in South Korea and Argentina so far from this selection, and only achieved a promotion in one of them, so will probably leave these options in place another year or two before changing it up again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 (edited) February 2045 Job Search Since I quit FC Anyang in November there hadn't been many vacancies available, other than clubs at the lower end of the Argentinian second tier. I should probably go back there at some point to try and rectify the previous disaster, but none of these jobs were the right option. A short while later two jobs popped-up in the Turkish third tier, and I decided to apply for one of them. 1461 Trabzon FK have turned into a yo-yo club, with three promotions and three relegations in the last 12 years. This season they've been in and around the fight for the play-offs. With 11 games remaining they're just outside these positions at the moment, but recent form has been decent so there's a chance to get back in the mix. -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited April 8 by DaneBramage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 February 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Group An excellent start. Ertugrul Guney is the player with the highest average rating in the division, and he showed why with a brace in my first game in charge. 19 year old Muhammed Acikgoz is our top scorer, and the hat-trick to beat Batman brought him to 15 goals for the season. Nicely done, the gap's down to just one point. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 8 Author Share Posted April 8 March 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Group Muhammed Acikgoz added another hat-trick, and his partner up front Dirbaz Avunc proved himself to be deadly from the spot. It's lucky he did this against Balikesirspor, we absolutely battered them with an xG of 3.91 compared to their 0.52, not winning was a travesty. We had our first dreadful performance against Yeni Malatyaspor. It was men versus boys and could have been much worse. I clearly did a poor job of looking over the squad before taking over, as there's only one centre-back in the squad (including the U19s). We've had to play a defensive midfielder at the back, and it showed here. Ouch. The dropped points have seen us drop away again, and the deficit is even bigger than when I took over. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 May 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Group Brilliant, then crap. Muhammed Acikgoz notched hat-tricks in back-to-back games (his third and fourth in just seven games under my stewardship), then the winner against Kirklarelispor. Spoiler But we missed a penalty at Kocaelispor then fell apart in the final 15 minutes to gift them the win, were missing several players through suspension against Sivas Bld., and our strikers had an off day at Amed SK. The three successive wins saw us climb up into 4th place, but the three consecutive losses then saw us fall back to 6th. Luckily, that was just enough to clinch the final play-off spot. It was a close call though, if Zonguldak Komurspor had turned their draw on the final day into a win we'd have missed out. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 May 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Play-Offs In the first round we're away at Yeni Malatyaspor. They finished 3rd, and they gave me my first loss here, a very poor 3-0 beating. And they smashed us again here. It was utterly terrible. We went 1-0 down very early on, but even so we kept it to just the one goal for the next hour. Then we missed a penalty in the 64th minute and capitulated afterwards. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 May 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK Squad Stats With 25 goals Muhammed Acikgoz ended us as top scorer in the division. 14 of them came in my time at the club, and included four hat-tricks. There is a distract shortness at centre-back, we'll need our recruitment team to do some work there over the summer. -------------------------------------------------------------- History We pulled ourselves into the play-off mix, but there was no quick promotion. Our lack of central defenders cost us against stronger opposition. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 September 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup Six new faces joined our first-team squad over the summer, and they were joined by four loanees. And with all the expectation, we then lost on the opening day to a newly relegated side. But we got on to winning ways in game two, and continued to smash in a bunch of goals over the next few matches. Muhammed Acikgoz picked up where he left off with a hat-trick against Kocaelispor, and Ertugrul Guney copied him with three of his own at 52 Orduspor FK. Early days of course, but we've shown that we're going to be in contention this year. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 November 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup A lot of wins this period, but we lost possibly the most important game. We didn't put up much of a fight in the defeat to Yeni Malatyaspor, and this allowed them to increase their lead at the top of the table. The opening match of October, a big win over Van Spor FK, was my 600th game in management. A slight drop off to the leading teams, but we do have a game in hand. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 December 2045 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup We had 33 shots against Zonguldak Komurspor, but only for a combined total of 2.38 xG. Scoring twice from that is fine, but allowing them to score twice at the other end from just 0.48 xG was the problem. Other than that though, we had a perfect month. Three wins and three clean sheets. My attacking quartet have had a great time of it so far this season, all of them having at least 14 goal contributions. Spoiler We're into the second half of the season, and we've now hit the top of the table. The two sides who were above me both lost twice this month. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 February 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup Our first game of the year was a poor one. We dominated and held a two goal lead, then managed to throw it away even once Amed SK had been reduced to ten men. The next two games were against playoff rivals, and taking four points was a good outcome. We then took on two sides in the relegation area and picked up a couple of comfortable victories. 10 games left. We're looking good for a play-off spot, too close to call for the one automatic place though. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 (edited) April 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup 17 points from a possible 21, very happy with this. The win over Yeni Malatyaspor was an important one, 1st v 2nd at the time, and it allowed us to open up a six point gap at the top. Since then they've lost twice more and fallen away. Our strike partnership has been on fire since the turn of the year. In these 12 games there have been six occasions when Tayfun Gurleyen scored a brace, and his partner Serhat Kara also added one. Seven points clear with three games to go. A play-off spot is guaranteed, but automatic promotion and the title should be ours. -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited April 14 by DaneBramage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 May 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK 2. Lig - Beyaz Grup One win would have been enough to wrap up the title, we finished up with all three to make it emphatic. The only time we nearly slipped up here was away at Zonguldak Komurspor, but we managed two late goals to clinch it. We ended the season with a 14 game unbeaten run. A ten point winning margin, very comfortable in the end. And a goal tally that blew everyone else away. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 14 Author Share Posted April 14 May 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK Squad Stats Pointing out the obvious here, but Tayfun Gurleyen was far and away the best player with 30 goals. He had a lot of support around him though, as pretty much everyone in an attacking role impressed and three others all reached double figures. Our defence was among the best in the division, but did include a couple of loanees and will need upgrading for next season. -------------------------------------------------------------- History Promotion number 14. Haven't yet decided if I'm staying for a crack at the second tier or moving on. Which probably means I'll stick with it for now, but will keep an eye out for opportunities to leave. Spoiler -------------------------------------------------------------- Languages New: Turkish (basic) Total: 20 -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 17 Author Share Posted April 17 September 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK 1. Lig We haven't made a bad start to life in the second tier, although we have struggled for wins and goals. Which does sound like a bad start actually, but four draws have made it respectable. The big win over Fatih Karagumruk was the obvious highlight, and Tayfun Gurleyen has proved to still be a goalscorer despite the step up in quality. Only managing a draw against Amed SK was annoying, they were promoted alongside us so taking just a point after leading 2-0 sucked. But we scraped a lucky point against Bucaspor 1928, keeping a clean sheet due to a MotM performance from our goalie. We're outside the relegation area at the moment, but could really do with some more wins (to point out the obvious). We've drawn more than half of our games, but Gaziantep FK are the specialists in that field. -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 17 Author Share Posted April 17 October 2046 - 1461 Trabzon FK 1. Lig My final game in Turkey. -------------------------------------------------------------- Job Search I'd been checking the available roles after every game, and speculative applications for the Scottish and Cypriot national jobs (both in Nations League C) were long shots that went nowhere. But these three coming available at the start of October were all more in the ballpark of what I should realistically be aiming for. Both are countries I've been in before, with success in South Korea but dismal failure in Argentina. I've been offered and accepted one of these, but which one? -------------------------------------------------------------- Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaneBramage Posted April 20 Author Share Posted April 20 (edited) October 2046 Job Search Back to Argentina! I have unfinished business after the last time here, let's hope it goes better second time around. Top 13 get into the play-offs, and with six games remaining we're in 9th place. So barring disaster should immediately have a shot at promotion. -------------------------------------------------------------- Edited April 20 by DaneBramage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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