FM24: The nearly nearly ok not so nearly men challenge

[noikeee]

Hi and welcome to something I’ve not done in a long time now, which is a thread.

Once upon a time a guy wandered around these forums with a series of threads based on the idea of reviving previous Champions League/European Cup finalist teams, that had never got to win the trophy. These were the “Nearly Men” series by @ManUtd1

Since we are very creative people with lots of very original ideas and totally never ever copy each other, I have seen this concept a multitude of times ever since. In fact I think this isn’t even the first time I’ve done this myself.

Looking for a spinoff that doesn’t just end up with the same old old list of teams as ever (Gladbach… Fiorentina… Malmo… Reims… uh Oostende?) I toyed with several different ideas:

• teams that reached European Cup semi-finals but never the final
• teams that won the Cup Winners Cup but never the European Cup
• same but for the Europa League/UEFA Cup
• teams that haven’t won their league in many years

etc

The one main issue is there were too many big or unlikable teams in each and any of these. I wasn’t super thrilled with the idea of managing PSG or Lazio.

Until I finally found the (almost) perfect list. What about.. it’s time to revive… the teams that reached any European final… but never won any European final.

Then exclude those that made the CL/European Cup finals just to make sure it’s some different clubs.. that throws out Reims, Partizan, Panathinaikos, Leeds, Saint-Etienne, Brugge, Malmo and Monaco. 1972 Cup Winners Cup finalists Dynamo Moscow are also excluded due to geopolitical reasons.

We will therefore be focusing on the following 30 clubs during this career:

 

AUSTRIA

 

A surprising 3 different teams from Austria came close and never got there - in a different era where Austrian sides were more competitive. Viennese rivals Rapid Wien and Austria Wien reached Cup Winners Cup finals (Rapid twice), whilst Austria Salzburg - now Red Bull Salzburg - were close to the 1994 UEFA Cup trophy.

 

BELGIUM

1982 and 1993 were the years when Standard Liege and Antwerp came close to lifting the Cup Winners Cup but came just short.

 

ENGLAND

  

Wolves are a relatively surprising inclusion in the list, after a presence in the rather distant 1972 UEFA Cup final. Middlesbrough and Clint Dempsey’s Fulham got there already in this century. An interesting feature is that Middlesbrough are in the Championship at the moment, of course.

 

FRANCE

 

Bastia, the biggest side in Corsica, reached the 1978 UEFA Cup final. Bordeaux did so more recently, in 1996. In modern times both teams are in the 2nd tier of French football, Ligue 2.

 

GERMANY

     

A whooping 6 different teams from Germany feature here, largely thanks to not just the power of German teams in the 1980s but also due to the fact Germany used to be 2 different countries and some now fallen East German teams went on long runs - namely Carl Zeiss Jena and Lokomotiv Leipzig, both now in the 4th tier of German football (which means editor files have to be added to the game). 1860 Münich (3.Liga) and Fortuna Dusseldorf (2.Bundesliga) are also below the main tier of German football, where we can find 1986 UEFA Cup finalists Köln, and also Stuttgart who reached and failed to win both the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup.

 

HUNGARY

  

Some of the trickiest teams to complete the challenge here come from the now much weaker Hungarian football league, a force prior to the mid-1980s. MTK Budapest (with whom I had a long career back in FM18), Ferencvaros and Fehervar are the eligible Hungarian sides.

 

ITALY

Somewhat surprisingly there is just one Italian side eligible: Torino, 1992 UEFA Cup finalists. Thank the success of all the other sides, including Roma who just about missed out on inclusion by winning the newly created Conference League last year.

 

NETHERLANDS

 

With the big three (Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord) all including European trophies in their cabinet, Twente and AZ just missed out on honors despite reaching the 1975 and 1981 UEFA Cup finals, respectively.

 

POLAND

Another particularly tricky challenge appears to be to take a Polish team to glory. Gornik Zabrze have been waiting ever since their 1970 Cup Winners Cup final presence for just that very moment.

 

PORTUGAL

Much like the Netherlands, in Portugal the big 3 (Porto, Benfica, Sporting) have all tasted European success. Braga came closest to matching them - not that I was sorry about it, as the 2010 Europa League trophy went to my club Porto instead.

 

SCOTLAND

Another team that I had a long career with, Dundee United, appears on the list, thanks to their 1987 almost-success in the UEFA Cup. Currently they start from the 2nd tier of Scottish football.

 

SPAIN

    

1977 and 2012 Europa League/UEFA Cup finalists Athletic Bilbao are possibly the most unique team in this whole challenge, with their restriction on Basque-only players transfer policy. Espanyol also featured in 2 finals of the same competition (1988, 2007) and have the handicap of starting in the 2nd tier in Spain. Mallorca and Alavés (of the 5-4 loss to Liverpool fame) complete the list of eligible Spanish sides.

 

UKRAINE

The final team in this list is a team that strictly does not exist anymore, Dnipro, weirdly disbanded shortly after featuring in the 2015 Europa League final. Dnipro-1, their spiritual successors, will be considered instead.

 

 

What will be considered “completing the challenge” with any of these teams?

To remove them from the criteria why they were included in the list, in the first place. This means either win an European competition (Europa League and Conference League are both good enough), or reach the Champions League final.

Do you expect to complete it with all 30 teams?

Ha ha ha. Have you guys ever seen my attention span. Hey look is that an elephant over there? Or how slow I play FM these days. Just… no. It’s just an excuse to have a thread.

How often are you planning to post?

Less than usual. I’m thinking like once or twice per season. I’d rather play than write.

Where are you starting?

It seems fitting to start from the bottom rather than the top. 4th tier of German football it is. A team that has been featured before here due to the rather obvious rivalry with a Red Bull team from the same city… it is time to revive Lokomotiv Leipzig.

[noikeee]

Day 1 in Leizpig.

This is the squad. Truly one of the squads of all time.

 

Prior to this I was doing (off the forums) a career with Gladbach where I had recently settled on this shape, which is like, 90% Pep Guardiola's City. I'll start with this and then let's see.

 

Some of our best players:

14 jumping at this level? I expect goals.

****ing nicely suited to libero.

Not great for RPM role but that's where he slots in for now.

 

The Regionaliga is brutal with just the winner going up. Could be worse - in some other divisions at this same level, winners have to go through a playoff, but weirdly not our division. Might be something off with the editor file I'm using, idk.

Finances are not quite on par with city rivals RB Leipzig.

 

Faciliites could take some work. Decently large stadium though - even if in poor condition.

[noikeee]

A signing. Likely the only one this first season.

 

An upset we pulled on the 1st round of the cup!

[noikeee]

Quick check on how we're doing.

 

Not too terrible but the problem is by losing 2 matches and drawing 1, we're already losing contact with Babelsberg who are shooting up the table and we really need that 1st spot if we're ever going to get out of here. I was not planning on sticking to this division for long but if they are uncatchable this first season, we might need a squad makeover next year.

Bizarrely we've already won 2 penalty shootouts, first was the fairly nuts cup upset over Hertha (although there doesn't seem to be that much of a gap between this 4th level and the 2.Bundesliga where they're at?), then in some regional cup that we're entering too.

 

 

We've also picked up a 2nd signing on deadline day. Nothing amazing but he can play either wing or even fill in as striker.