[FM23] Apricots, beaches and a struggling football minnow.

[Marios1999]

Years after delving into the world of FMCU, back then as a middle-school teenager, I wanted to give it another go. Now that I'm working at a boring, yet easy, remote job, I have quite some time for FM, so I thought why not. Let's get into it then.

Where is Portaria?

I hail from a small village in the north of Greece, in the Chalkidiki region, called Portaria. The region is mostly a tourist hotspot, both for northerners as well as all kinds of Balkan people, with a lot of Bulgarians, Romanians, Macedonians and Serbians visiting every summer. On top of that, Portaria is one of the biggest apricot producing areas of the country, with agriculture being the main source of income for the village. 

One thing where we've not been good at is the great sport of football. Although the village has produced some decent players (the latest one is Theocharis Tsingaras who plays for PAOK and the NT), the local team, Thermaikos Portarias, has never played in a league higher than the First regional division, aka the 4th tier of the Greek football pyramid. This is also the league we are currently playing in.

 

We are not favored to win the league, however I plan on changing that, both by the transfer market, as well as my weird but somehow effective tactics. 

That's it for a first post, in general I'll update as I play, my plan is to do an update every 3 months, as I go past the seasons pretty quickly. I have no wonky transfer restrictions or policies, but I'm fond of signing young players in general, and follow some broad Moneyball principles. So I guess, welcome aboard, and see you at the next one.

 

 

 

Edited March 27 by Marios1999

[Marios1999]

In the meantime, if somebody wants a glimpse of the level of football, enjoy freely: 

 

 

[Rikulec]

This looks interesting! I love those saves that have a local aspect to it, I remember really enjoying playing as Unia Janikowo back when I coached one of their youth teams. Best of luck!

[Sizeman21]

Excited to see some Greek football on the forums! 

[Marios1999]

Tactics, staff and the club

Starting with the tactics, the style of play I am trying to emulate is based on the football that Matias Almeyda has produced during his time with AEK Athens (my club  ). It's kinda like Gegenpress, with more emphasis on aggressive, relentless pressing, immediate transition and tons of movement, while holding the lines close. One of the key attributes for such a tactic is Workrate, so my aim is to slowly build one of the most hard working squads in the country. No slackers allowed 

Of course, such a brand of football is difficult to emulate in the lower leagues, so I expect quite some growing pains, combined with a leaky defence. I also emphasize the set-pieces a lot, so hopefully we will have a good goalscoring record, especially from corners.

 

Staff updates

I made only one move, bringing in experienced HoYD and Manager, Stefanos Gaitanos. Although he is close to retirement, I guess at least, hopefully he'll help us produce some good young lads.

Some things about my set-up, the club and the rest

As it might be visible by the screenshots, I have the in-game editor. Now, we're all fully grown adults, I hope, so I wouldn't try to pull any rags to riches trick, with crazy CA bounces etc. However, I will make use of the editor throughout the save, to amend some things that are staples of Greek football, and that SI, understandably, cannot emulate. The biggest example of these is how repuatation works in the context of Greek football, where the division that you play in is king. It is way more common for newly promoted clubs without history to make good signings, that you never see in FM, than a fallen giant languishing in the lower leagues, continuing to feast upon their repuatation. Thus, whenever clubs are promoted, I will amend their repuatations, to make sure they are around the median value for the lowest rated teams in the division they will play next season (no such changes are needed with demotion, because from what I've seen, drops in Rep are better depicted when concerning relegated teams).

I have also fixed some facilities related minor stuff, such as lowering the capacity of our ground to 200 (it was 1.150 initially, when, well the stadium does not have a single seat ), and giving a small boost to the youth facilities of the clubs in our division that are known for having good academies (especially Digenis Lakommatos, that now has YC and YR of 6 instead of 1, which they started with). 

Lastly, regarding transfers, as said in the OP, I don't have any policies, besides adhering to basic Moneyball policies, mainly getting young players on a free that I can quickly flip for some profit. My only preference is that I tend to prefer players from Balkan countries, especially Bulgaria and N. Macedonia (that ties to my professional background, as I am a historian with specialty in Balkan History, and can speak Bulgarian and Serbian on top of my native Greek, English and German). 

I've only loaded the Greek leagues, to keep processing speed, loading all players of nationality and based in Bulgaria, as well as Players from top division clubs for Europe, Africa and S. America. 

Let's have a look at our stadium, the Municipal Stadium of Portaria, come match time:

Spoiler

That's it for a second post, hoping to offer more of an insight on how I tend to do things. Probably on the next one we'll see some key transfers and the first half of the season. Довиждане!

Edited March 28 by Marios1999

[TelcontarTargaryen]

1 hour ago, Marios1999 said:

especially Bulgaria and N. Macedonia (that ties to my professional background, as I am a historian with specialty in Balkan History, and can speak Bulgarian and Serbian on top of my native Greek, English and German). 

Being a person from the Balkan and studying Balkan history leaves permanent traumatic consequences  I mean I am not a historian by profession, but history is my great love, hobby and I considered studying it, but then (smartly?) decided it is better to focus on IT. 
Pozdrav iz Beograda.

[Marios1999]

10 minutes ago, TelcontarTargaryen said:

Being a person from the Balkan and studying Balkan history leaves permanent traumatic consequences  I mean I am not a historian by profession, but history is my great love, hobby and I considered studying it, but then (smartly?) decided it is better to focus on IT. 
Pozdrav iz Beograda.

Ej, pozdrav iz Halkidiki, which is so loved by Serbian youth, that they even wrote a song about it: 

 

[Rick87]

Good luck, nice to see a save in a league that doesn't get posted about alot on here.

[Marios1999]

The summer transfer market

 

Non-contracts are a blessing and a curse at the same time at this level. On one hand, they allow for more flexibility, since I can constantly sign and release players, if they are not deemed good enough, but on the other hand players are also open to being poached by other teams. Nonetheless, we had to work with what we had. We made a few signings, alongside with giving contracts to 2-3 young greyed out players, that would fill out the squad (for realism's sake, they're all village boys after all!).

GK

Spoiler

Classified as the best keeper in the league, e has been doing a fine job up to now. No complaints here, although I'd like a bit more natural of a sweeper keeper.

Defenders

Spoiler

Α solid, if unspectacular defense. I was aiming for speed at the WBs, which I got, and I also wanted to get my hands on a DC that would be somewhat decent with the ball. Found that guy in Klapis, so can't complain.

DM-MC

Spoiler

The first big signings were made here, and this was imperative due to the role that the midfield has in my wonky system. Gravas and Kopitsis come with experience from the youth setups of bigger teams (Kopitsis from AEK Athens), while Gioris provides some cover at both positions.

Wingers

Spoiler

Four guys came into to fill our wings, with the roles being pretty clear here. Bakalidis and Sakkopoulos are the undisputed starters, with the former being our set piece maestro, while the latter provides some solid cover on the SS position as well. The two youngsters are here to provide cover and nothing more. 

AMC-ST

Spoiler

The star of the team was signed here, and that is Daskalakis, who comes in as a former academy man of our parent club, Aris Thessalonikis, and is crucial because he is such a good fit for our SS role. The two youngsters up front have high finishing and work rate, slotting in nicely as our Pressing Forwards, splitting time a bit, with Angelidis being a step ahead at the time.

 

Squad

 

 

And that's it for the squad building part, after a summer that found us climbing to 2nd in the Season Preview, a testament to our transfers, but also to the strength of some of the teams in the league. In previous iterations or in weaker regional leagues, that squad would be enough to have a walk of a season. We'll see the first half of the season tomorrow, as I just got off work and feel too tired to do another round of write-ups.

Take care!  

 

Spoiler

 

Edited March 28 by Marios1999

[Marios1999]

Half season report:

The season started out with the local cup, containing all teams from the area, which are contesting the 3rd division or lower. We swept through the first round, then scraped a hard-earned ET victory in the second round, but we fell to Nea Kallikrateia in the third round. Although in the grand scheme of things winning the league and getting promoted is the only thing that matters, it's never pleasant to go out of a winnable competition. 

On the league front, we've solid, if unspectacular, but the biggest positive is that my fears about the team's defense did not materialize, as we actually even had some clean sheets. I can only hope we sustain this form, so come play-off time, we are still in the lead. Small note, after the regular season ends, we have a four-team playoff where we play 6 more matches to identify the league winner, with points carrying over in their entirety. Then the winner goes on to play a double-headed series with the champion of another local division around Greece, with the winner grabbing promotion to the third division. 

Youth intake previw:

 

To be honest, even though our HoYD is very good for our level, and the ratings seem to be pretty nice, I don't expect much. The ideal, while still realistic, scenario would be to get 2 or 3 players that could be very cheap backups next year, even in the third division, if we go up, so we can save some quid off of our wage bill.

Some other interesting news:

 

Maybe lady luck blesses us with a guy who is willing to spend? I don't hold out much hope, but let's see.

 

That's a wrap to the first half of our season. Not so bad, with my tactics seeming to pay off, despite the unlucky cup exit. Let's see where the end of the season will find us though.

Edited March 30 by Marios1999

[Tikka Mezzala]

Comandante Marios!

 

[Marios1999]

Second half of the regular season:

We breezed through the second half of the season, while actually improving our defense and losing only a single match until the end of our GAD-Chalkidiki campaign. Despite not having one of the top goalscorers, as it can also be seen in the Player Stats table, we had 4 players in double digits (we'll see more in the Season recap), something that gives hope for the Promotion Playoffs, as we aim to reach the National divisions for the first time in our history.

Youth intake:

Hm, seems like grandpa Stefanos was actually right, that is indeed a very good intake. From my view, we have at least 3 youngsters that are candidates for serious backup playing time next year, and for our level, that's a very good outcome.

The two standouts for me, Theofanis will be the new backup goalie, and Zisis will serve as the backup DL next year.

 

That's it for this quickly late night update, hopefully on our next update Thermaikos will be prepping for the inaugural season at the third division. Довиждане!

Edited March 31 by Marios1999

[Marios1999]

Promotion playoffs:

Ah, sweet sweet success! We're going up to the third division, after a 4 game winning run in the Playoffs powered us through. Although Kerkyra was a level above everybody else, we managed to clean up most of the rest, ensuring we will play at the next level for the first time in our history. 

I can taste the retsina flowing at the celebrations in the central square of the village, so let me give you a glimpse as well (IRL that's the annual feast for the patron sait of the village on the 15th of August):    

Best Eleven:

There were numerous standouts this season, but the two main mene were Daskalakis and Angelidis, our duo up front, that took care of bussiness for most of matches, aided by the old man in the midfield, Bakalidis, as well as Kopitsis, who ran countles kilometers every match. Although I expect a big change in our roster next season, without many players continuing, some of them will continue to be parts of the team. 

Miscellaneous news:

Next year we will be playing in the Municipal Ground of Nea Triglia, since our tiny ground was not up to National C Division standards.

It's only a small drive from our village, so our fan base has no excuses for not showing up next year!  That's it from Portaria, see you for the recap of the 2023 transfer market!

[Sizeman21]

Nice promotion!  Time to see how your Greek side fares against bigger opposition! 

[Marios1999]

Transfer Market:

An overhaul was indeed expected this year, but indeed I might have gone a bit overboard with the initial amount of players signed  But, thankfully, everybody that was deemed surplus after our round of signings was concluded was either on loan or on part-time contracts, so they were either released or recalled. Let's dive in our new players tho:

GKs

Spoiler

Signed a new pair of goalkeepers for the season, with Thodoros coming in to slot as our starting no 1, while Ippokratis will be a steady backup, and hopefully won't need to play at all.

Defenders:

Spoiler

 

An injection of quality was also needed in our defensive line. I'm very happy with the players we got, especially our DCs. Kastritseas and Tsiboukas are going to be our definite starters, while Kiourtsidis while be the third option. Ntamarlis will provide cover in both the DC and DM position, while providing some nice experience as well, being a former youth international, and with past tenure in the Greek Superleague. On the wings, while Tsagalidis and Dalianopoulos will man the left, being mainstays from last year, Karagounis is brought over to be the starting DR, while two young understudies are brought in to provide cover on the right.

Midfielders:

Spoiler

 

 

The first big signing from abroad was Aminou Traore, who comes in to be our lead player on the wing. I expect big things from him, as a lot are going to be asked from him, as well as Babouras on the right. All the others will be depth signings, since Gravas and Kopitsis, our holdovers from last year, will start in the DM and MC positions.

AMCs-Strikers:

Spoiler

Sanogo comes in as the second big signing from abroad, another youth international from a middling African country, that hopes to make the big leap to Europe. Meanwhile, Kaiafas comes in to back up Daskalakis, while Parastatidis will be a beafier alternative up front than Angelidis or Dimostheniadis, while also enabling two striker lineups, where he will act as a target man. 

If I have to sum up our transfer market, the main trends were two: I spent a lot of time searching in the youth teams of African countries for players that were free agents and wanted to make the jump to Europe, and I tried to raid all the good players that used to play in our regional league last year. That enabled us to sign Kiourtsidis, Kastritseas, Ntamarlis, amd Doulgeris, while also allowing to build a strong shortlist that is filled with experienced Greeks, alongside young and aspiring Africans and Balkans. Unfortunately, I tried to sign some young Bulgarians, but their wage demands were far more than what I could pay. But after all, I think we built a good team, that can at least ensure promotion. Let's see about that in the next update tho, I like to put my money where my mouth is.

Edited April 5 by Marios1999

[Marios1999]

Οn a quick note, I messed with FM Kit Creator yesterday, and was able to replicate the actual kits of the team. So, just to add a bit to the immersion, here are the 2023/2024 Thermaikos Portarias kits:

Home

Away

 

Edited April 6 by Marios1999

[Marios1999]

Season 2023/24, mid-season update:

If I said that I demanded, or expected, more from the team, I would be lying. We are hovering near the top, within striking distance, and at the very least, it looks like we won't face any issues avoiding relegation. That's a succesful first half in my eyes!

Youth intake:

Our first intake with a new HoYD, since Mr Stefanos retired last summer, at the tender age of 75, seems to be pretty succesful. Keeping in mind that our roster quality is way better than last year, it is possible that we found 2 or 3 pieces that could be of use to our roster construction. At least, they are going to bolster the ranks of the region's football team, first on loan and then, (possibly) as freebies.

The youngsters that stand out, according to my opinion:

If his speed improves a little bit, he could be a useful option at the MC-RPM role.

Another solid option that will fight with Koulouris from last year for the No.2 GK spot.

 

Daniel seems to be pretty well-rounded, and if he raises his physicals a bit, he can be a decent backup DR.

Although I don't like weak players with Strength that is less than 5-6, He seems to have a pretty good spread of technical attributes, although I'd like his Flair and Work Rate to be a tad better.

Regarding loaning out young'uns:

On that end, I have decided to keep things realistic and loan our 16 y/o's to teams that play in the local leagues, since I cannot fathom a 16 year old going on an unpaid loan on the other side of the Greek countryside.

That's it, stay tuned for the recap of the second part of the season, alongside some winter transfer period signings

[Tikka Mezzala]

Absolutely flying, mate!

 

[Sizeman21]

Enjoying your updates in Greece! Keep it up!

[Marios1999]

Winter transfer window:

The transfer window saw us nabbing three players. Charisis provided cover both at MC and ML, while Nakos was a rotational piece up front. Papakonstantinou was a need because Tsagalidis agreed to leave for free in the summer, and thus he was brought on loan until June 2025. Charisis also will be on the team next season, to become a solid depth piece.

Schedule:

Ah, promotion was just not meant to be this year. The 3 game losing streak in February killed our hopes of going up, but to be honest, I cannot blame the boys. The season can only be classified as succesful, and hopefully next year we are able to recapture lightning in a bottle.

Best eleven:

I have to say I was disappointed by our two big signings, Sanogo and Traore. I was expecting bigger things, and although they were not bad, they did not justify the hype built up in my mind. Maybe I should have stuck to my original thought of signing rough and burly Balkan boys. Who know what the summer will bring though?

[Marios1999]

Summer transfer windows, season 3:

Pretty busy summer again, something that will become the norm until we're up to the Super League 2 (the second division). Most of our good players leave on Bosman transfers or do not want to resign, so we'll see this big turnover every year, unfortunately.

Defenders:

While being relatively set at DC, we still saw a number of defenders joining our ranks. Chatziliadis and Maidanos will be the starters on the wings, while Sengiergis will stick at DC, due to this speed which is needed for our system. Argyris finally will be provide cover in the DC spot.

Midfielders:

Some more signings in the midfield area, with our two first Balkan boys joining the group. Arizankoski will be the starting DM, while also being able to flex out to DC if needed, with Bajrami providing cover. Giagtzidis will compete for the starting RPM role, while Panagidis will be the starting MR, with Makris providing cover on the left wing, behind Babouras.

AMCs-ST:

Another beefy Balkan guy in Rudovic, who will be our starting SS this year, playing just a bit behind Fournaris, who seems to be already our best player, and will be, besides our main ST, our set piece merchant, since we'll target him at every corner, to take advantage of his towering stature. Kostoglidis will be the main backup in both roles, while Fakkis will, hopefully, get minimal minutes as the third ST option.

 

All in all, a very busy summer that saw us revamping the squad a bit, but hopefully we will be able to make another promotion push.