The FM08 Career Thread

[pjtopor]

I've been appointed manager of Icasa in the Brazil National Third Division. I have never managed even one day in Brazil in 6 years of CM/FM. Should be fun.

[iacovone]

best of luck

Nice update ToMexico KUTGW!

and cookie it doesn't suprise me to hear that you're finding success wherever you manage! Good luck in Italy

[cookie15]

Originally posted by iacovone:

best of luck

Nice update ToMexico KUTGW!

and cookie it doesn't suprise me to hear that you're finding success wherever you manage! Good luck in Italy

Cheers mate. I'm using the same tactic as i've always used and it seems to be working.

Having never managed in Italy before it is an interesting experience. The co-ownership of players is a key aspect. I've managed to get a few players into Chievo and arranged a link with Roma, but not much to report.

I'm intending posting a screenie of my new squad just before the season starts and also a manager profile highlighting achievements etc

Iacovonve Hope your seasom goes well and you attain your promotion. All the best

Pjotpor You must have one hell of a computer

[Aario]

Hi all,

I think I may start one of these tonight. Now I know I am being lazy (and I should know the answer anyway!) but as I do not have the FM2008 game or manual in front of me at the moment can anyone tell me what options need to be selected in the game set up to be able to manage national sides at some point in my career?

Cheers

[Jonzii]

Originally posted by Aario:

Hi all,

I think I may start one of these tonight. Now I know I am being lazy (and I should know the answer anyway!) but as I do not have the FM2008 game or manual in front of me at the moment can anyone tell me what options need to be selected in the game set up to be able to manage national sides at some point in my career?

Cheers

You don't need to select any options, you can manage national teams in any game.

[ToMexico!!]

Have nearly finished my current season, depending on what time i get home tonight i will finish it and post an update, if not got plenty of time tomorrow after work.

Sitting 4th, can only finish between 4th and 6th now, which is good. I love my parent club.

[M0nk3yFac3]

first off, nice work guys on everything so fat, KUTGW

does running 28 leagues run ok? I thought my pc would be fine with running all the leagues b'cos i bought a new pc 3 or 4 weeks ago, for gaming purposes. i never tested until now whether it would. my pc runs just as smooth with every single league in the game running, but its still slower because of all the processing of all the matches etc... with large DB. feel that i should have put all the leagues on my career game, aw well.

Quick update on my new season with. end of season, 2010/11.

When i joined Avangard Kursk, they lied 17th after 35 games (7 games left) and only 1 point from being in the relegation zone. possible finishing places were 8th-22nd. They were predicted 7th.

I finished in 15th, equal points to 14th and 13th, just my goal difference was slightly less that theirs. lets see who i can get in the transfer window...

[Aario]

Originally posted by Jonzii:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Aario:

Hi all,

I think I may start one of these tonight. Now I know I am being lazy (and I should know the answer anyway!) but as I do not have the FM2008 game or manual in front of me at the moment can anyone tell me what options need to be selected in the game set up to be able to manage national sides at some point in my career?

Cheers

You don't need to select any options, you can manage national teams in any game. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

ok - just asked as in my current save (dafuge challenge rules - only english leagues) when one of my plays for his national side and I look at the game afterwards all the other players effective appear as grey players so I assumed I needed more detail somwhere

[iacovone]

Little Update

Gutted to say we missed out on the playoffs this year. Came 6th so a slight improvement on 7th last year. There was perhaps not enough depth to our squad which I'm going to address this year. 5th season in charge coming up. It's been a long and reasonably successful tenement but this is getting a little long in the tooth now. Promotion or I quit.

[ToMexico!!]

Season 2 - 08/09 - Falkirk

Media Predcition - 6th

Transfer Budget - 425k

Wage Budget - 1.45m per annum

So after a good first season, it was all about breaking into the top 4, job done; Just. A top four place finish was on the cards, in my opinion, from the start as the first quarter of the season we sat in the top 4 winning left, right, but not centre, Celtic and Hearts clearly my bogey team for the season. The 2nd and 3rd quarters were much quieter, we were settling down in a rhythm of win 1, draw 1, lose 1, well up until the last quarter where thankfully an accumulation of enough points helped me finish 4th. 4th spot has gained the added incentive of Europe to the frame, the UEFA cup, promising in the sense of finances and a higher reputation will be heading my way. All in all i am pleased at how the season went, i've not massively overachieved yet done enough to progress well. Although i'm in need of teaching my team to hold a lead and not draw, we amassed a total 14 draws this season. Not chuffed. League Table

Cups were not as good as last year, I forgot to mention i got to both finals of the cups, but lost both to Hibs. Anyway, this season was a more fairer reflection of teams ability in the cup, managing to lose in the Semi final to Celtic in the Scottish cup and yet again lost to Celtic in the quarters of the League Cup.

Transfers this season were a reflection on my ambition to take the club forward, not just season by season but in 2 to 3 seasons time. Not a large transfer budget was given but enough to secure the players i needed to make the team better, my first team signings of de Visscher from Aberdeen and Naysmith (before i sold him) from Sheffield Utd gave me some added quality on the wings and some much needed experience. As i said in my brief update parent clubs are such a help, mine Chelsea were just what i needed, sending me di Santo, Scott Sinclair and Michael Woods; my attacking options were superbly boosted. di Santo scoring 17 goals as a second striker Finniagan. Woods ended the season with a helpful 6 goals and 22 assists. Sinclair coming from the wing scored 8 in 18 appearances (he was out for 3 months injured). The rest of my signings were youth, taking up much of my budget. Those youth are highlighted. Transfers

Finances gained little this season, but this down to higher wage and transfer budget.

Next Season I'm looking to clear some of the deadwood from the reserves to gain some cash for my deals in the summer. Also bring one or two youth through to add some more depth to the first team. Obviously to beat Celtic and Hearts and possibly win a domestic cup. Progressing as far as i can in Europe is a good target, at least group stages would be suitable for the club at this stage of time.

[mocko666]

I have decided to have a go of this alongside Gundos challenge as a sort of break away from the game at times.

I have run the nations Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Geramny, Holland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, USA and i have begun in march 2008 as to make it a little different with new jobs etc...

I will have an Automatic reputation and will post my profile and club when i join one... here is my career

[ToMexico!!]

09/10 Falkirk Pre Season Update

What a transfer period for Falkirk, our increase in reputation has helped no end, on frees i've managed to bring in 2 premiership greats, Mark Viduka and Carlo Cudicini, both mid 30's, Carlo has at least 2 seasons in him, Viduka has that added class to help my attack, along with tutoring some of my youngsters along the way. I've also made some other good signings both on free's and for tidy sums. Pre Season Transfers

I only had 4 pre season friendlies but i feel it was the right amount. Scoring 19, conceding 2. It was a good test to get our goalscorers in form for the season ahead.

Beat Albion Rovers 5-1 (Finnigan 2, Cregg, Leonardelli, OG)

Drew 1-1 with Auchinleck (Higdon) (We played crap)

Beat Balkan Botevgrad 9-0 (Viduka 2, Aafjes 2, Lavie, Finnigan, McCarthy, OG, Crisci)

Beat Girvan 4-0 (Finnigan 2, McCarthy, Aafjes)

My Line Up looks like this now...

GK - Cudicini/ Corradini

DR - Barr/ Mazzina

DL - Scobbie/ Milne

DC - Gardner/ Leonardelli

DC - Aafjes/ Kiko

DMC - Lavie/ Schneider

MR - McCarthy/ de Visscher

ML - Vosseart/ Moutinho

AMC - Vrsic/ Ramsey

ST - Viduka/ Sigporsson

ST - Finnigan/ Crisci

[iacovone]

Is that Kiko from Malaga? If so I have him at Val di Sangro - he's been a bit of a revelation if I'm honest!

[ToMexico!!]

Originally posted by iacovone:

Is that Kiko from Malaga? If so I have him at Val di Sangro - he's been a bit of a revelation if I'm honest!

yeh, just to point out you would have known that if you had looked at my pre season transfer screenie. heh

a bit of a topsy-turvy start to the season, sitting 5th, but only on GD, 4 teams on 11 pts after 6 games. Celtic 1st with 12. and oh yes i beat celtic 3-1 and drew with hearts 3-3. 'mon progress

[birdy123]

Looks like you're doing very well at Falkirk

Cudicini and Viduka are great signings for you!

[ToMexico!!]

Originally posted by birdy123:

Looks like you're doing very well at Falkirk

Cudicini and Viduka are great signings for you!

Viduka merely a benchwarmer, my young gun Crisci signed from Parma has come into his own averaging a goal a game, alongside Finnigan who is scoring around 0.75 a game...

[ToMexico!!]

Also been drawn in a tough UEFA group; i have Ajax, Fenerbache, Dortmund and Monaco. Europe fun whilst it lasted.

[jacknewthoughts]

pjtopor...

i'm also in brazilian third div, started from auto rep.

completed 1 season, they have a state championship followed by the national one. it's a really good challenge...some great players about. got to the semifinals of state, and to the final stages of division 3 but didn't get promoted.

however my financial situation is dire...400k in debt, so my chairman just sold my best player for below his value! no transfer budget and many of my players are OLD. like 35plus.

still it's a good place to start, i hope to build a good career from here!

great thread btw

[OriginalCMmanager]

I have read this thread with great intrigue and have now just started my own career, something I have thought about for a while but reading these posts has made me do it.

Will keep you updated on my first step into management.

[M0nk3yFac3]

good to see lots of people doing this, it makes a good game by starting like this and working your way up.

currently 8 th in the table, about 15 games in to the new season 2011/12

[iacovone]

Update

Well I finished 2nd with Val di Sangro but we lost in the playoff semis in a very disappointing fashion. This means as I stated that I would resign and seek pastures new. Nothing came up for a month or so until Brechin in the Scottish 2nd Division came calling. I decided I wanted to get straight back into football and if I can achieve promotion it will all be worth while.

A nice touch - when I resigned from Val di Sangro, 4 of my coaches resigned too - I've now got 3 of them at Brechin

[Dom_Lloyd]

Im gonna give this a go today, never realy done a challenge or anything like this so should be fun

I selected most of leagues that have been posted in here and started with semi-pro as my past experience

So far ive been offered 2 jobs, Stranraer in northen ireland and Winters Park in South Africa, ive turned them both down though as i dont think there the right teams for me and i want to let the game run for abit longer, will let you know when i take on a job

[Aario]

Started a career game the other night. Used England, Scotland, Sweden and Norway down to the lowest possible leagues and a few others. Set my reputation as Sunday League and was offered jobs in Sweden and Norways lowest leagues within a couple of days of holidaying. Decided I should update to 8.0.2 (but not use the updated databse) and start again and no I am in September and still no job.

Would the patch have changed the frequency of job offers? Anyone else experienced this

[Aario]

Originally posted by Aario:

Started a career game the other night. Used England, Scotland, Sweden and Norway down to the lowest possible leagues and a few others. Set my reputation as Sunday League and was offered jobs in Sweden and Norways lowest leagues within a couple of days of holidaying. Decided I should update to 8.0.2 (but not use the updated databse) and start again and no I am in September and still no job.

Would the patch have changed the frequency of job offers? Anyone else experienced this

Ignore the above - I had not infact loaded the lowest leagues from Sweden and Norwary! Just restarted and offered jobs straight away again - will post profile etc in a bit

[OriginalCMmanager]

Well its now April and Fergie, Redknapp, are just a few of the managerial casualties.

However I still remain unemployed. I started with the automatic reputation on 8.02 with 32 leagues loaded :-0(

[iacovone]

Automatic rep does make it near-impossible to get a job. Unless you've loaded all the way down to the lowest divisions. Good luck tho

[OriginalCMmanager]

It helps when you select lowest leagues.

Started a new game and got offered a job straight away in the depths of Sweden at Varmbols with a squad whose average age is 16, no money and with 10 games to go they want me to stay up 7 points behind 3rd from bottom with 3 points from 12 games.

That's what I call a challenge. What do you think or shall I wait for another job?

[iacovone]

Erm, hard to say. I reckon just get stuck in...whats the worst that could happen?

[iacovone]

By the way, I swiftly ended my reign at Brechin - couldn't face being back in the depths of Scotland again! So I'm currently unemployed, I'll update you on my next job if/when I get offered one. (Its been 6 months )

[Dom_Lloyd]

Got to end of April and still didnt have a job so i took my experiance up to professional footballer. Didnt want to acept a biggish job though as i still wanted to work way up the ladder. Within a few days i got offered a job at italian side Prato whoe are in Serie 2C

There currently 2 pts of relegation zone with 4 games left so hopefully ill be able to steer them clear nd start buildin for next season.

Prato

[Dom_Lloyd]

Posted wrong link in previous post nd for some reason i cnt edit it so here it is

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii116/dom_lloyd/fm08.jpg

[iacovone]

Well after 9 months sabbattical, I've returned to Italy. I've dropped down to Serie C2 again BUT I've taken over at a fairly big club. Ancona have given me a chance to resurrect my career, and with 3million in the bank I should prosper! With 7 games to go we're 10th but only 8 points off top!

[iacovone]

Finished 4th but lost in the playoffs

This summer has seen me rebuild the squad and bring many of my Val di Sangro players down to C2A. Hopefully now the squad has my touch to it we'll have a good year. We're predicted to come 3rd, the board want promotion and I reckon we can win the whole thing.

[ToMexico!!]

09/10 Falkirk

So another season over and what a season, our previous league finish of fourth have us our first taste of European football and the higher reputation to bring in better players. I though that this season would be to disrupt the top 3, unsettle the likes of rangers or hearts, but oh how we unsettled them truly, Celtic were abysmal this season, i mentioned that after last season i would like to at least beat them once this season, we didn't just beat them once, nor twice, we managed to beat them a total 4 times this season. This gave us the impetus to go further than i thought. We managed to sustain a good run of results throughout the season, obviously the odd **** up here and there. We arrived at the league split with 6 games to go sitting 3rd, a draw against celtic and rangers; wins against dundee, hearts and hibs gave us the title. Yes i kid you not, we won the SPL, beyond my wildest of dreams. Would this be a step too far for Falkirk? League Table

As European football was beckoning this season for Falkirk, i needed to bring in a number of quality players to add depth and experience to my squad. From my previous pre season update i told you i had signed the likes of Viduka, Cudicini and Gardner, all released from those high profile premiership clubs. We also signed a number of younger but potentially great players. That combined experience with youth had paid off.

Finnigan had another top class season, alongside my new summer acquisition of Stefano Crisci from Parma for 275k. Combined they scored 65 goals between them. Viduka adding a crucial 7 from the bench. Gardner was a revelation in defence, both solid at the back and a menace in any set piece situation, taking advantage of the "corner bug" he scored 18 goals in 53 games. McCarthy came in at MR for 100k, his value soon shot to 1.8m by the end of the season, due to his consistent performances during the season. Vossearts at ML came in on a free and contributed 22 assists. Transfers

In my other small update i told you about my European forthcomings. We entered the UEFA cup in the 2nd Qualifying round and beating Modrica Maxima of Bosnia 7-1 on aggregate. The 1st round was a much tougher affair, FC Copenhagen awaited my challenge and challenge we did. A 3-2 home win set up a nervy away encounter where the away goal rule could be crucial. 1-1 what a result, we were through, exceeding my and the boards expectations. The group stage; and what a group we were drawn into: Fenerbahce, Ajax, Dortmund and Monaco. I expected nothing from them and thats just what i got. All bar a point, a 1-1 draw away to Dortmund. A good experience for the squad and new target for

next years competition; to win a group stage game.

So a vast improvement in the team was made and the break up of the old firm was complete. Fantastic. This is my current squad. There are a few additions on free, LuaLua, Troisi etc.

[birdy123]

Wow, well played on the SPL title

[iacovone]

Superb start to your career!

(Far better than mine anyway...)

[OriginalCMmanager]

A breif update..

Varmbols was a disaster the squad was way too young and inexperienced 3 draws including a 5 all draw with the top team being the highlight. Relegated with a game to go and promptly resigned..

Joined Melleruds again in Sweden, they were sitting 2nd from bottom with a game to go against the team in 2nd.

A 4-1 win and onto the relegation play-offs and after recording a 4-1 aggregate victory my league status was secured.

Building for the future..IFK Goteborg are now my parent club

Onwards and upwards.

[ToMexico!!]

Originally posted by birdy123:

Wow, well played on the SPL title

Cheers

Originally posted by iacovone:

Superb start to your career!

(Far better than mine anyway...)

Aye, it is a good start, but to be fair i have started at a high league club compared to the rest of you who are playing from the bottom leagues upwards

[CoachFlu]

I started a bit of a slow, relaxed career game - nothing hardcore, just to play a few matches here and there during a busy working period.

Running 6 nations:

Belgium, England, Holland, France, Germany and Italy. (not all the leagues in all those nations, but at least 2 in each).

Applied to all available jobs, and after about a week I was offered, to my slight surprise, the Moroccan national job, which I accepted. Perhaps not the most realistic start of a managerial career, but I was in the mood for it, so what the heck.

Two of the club jobs haven't been filled in yet since then, but it looks like I'll be limited to international management for now. I'll remain on the lookout for a club job as well though.

I don't have any big plans for my time at Morocco, just have some fun in a tournament or two. They're already practically certain of qualifying for the Cup of Nations, so that will be the first objective.

[M0nk3yFac3]

after the recovery from last years early seasons mistakes, i brought in a new GK, DC, ML and MC to spice things up a tad.

I have now finished the 2011/12 season. We were predicted a mid table pos, 10th. At the end of the pretty good season, we finished 2 places up from that, 8th. The plan for next year is to either get 1st or 2nd and go up. At the end of the 2011/12 season, i got offered a new contract, 3 years. the plan was to get in to the premier division and remain there. i plan on staying with them for these next 3 years, going up next season, avoiding relegation next, then coming in a respectable mid-table pos or higher. Then maybe move on to higher things

2012/13 here i come

[iacovone]

CoachFlu good to see you here! Good luck with Morocco, interesting place to start a career

My 1st proper season with Ancona is going well - we're top of the league and despite just losing our first game in 11 we are top by 4 points. 15 games left

[Jonzii]

Not updated in a while. Just finished the 2012/13 season with Peterborough and Cameroon.

Cruising through qualifying with Cameroon, played 8 won 7 drawn 1. Miles in front at the top with 2 games left.

Slightly different with Peterborough, we had an awful first half to the season, hovering just above relegation. Second half went a whole lot better, my two main strikers Fraser Campbell and Karl Hawley started banging them in, together with Kapo who came on a free from Birmingham we started winning most games by 3 and 4 and ended up finishing in 10th.

Not sure what happened halfway through but we suddenly turned into one of the best teams in the league.

Now about 8 games into the new season after signing some real quality in the summer. Somehow managed to land Jermaine Pennant from Liverpool who is still a quality Premiership player, also got Rowan Vine and Tom Taiwo on loan from Chelksi and a couple of other decent squad players, so far we are 2nd in the league so hopefully we can keep it going.

ToMexico!! Excellent work there mate

GL all!!

[rlipscombe]

seeing the progress, and growing numbers, here has mjotivated to open my career game again. might have a little dabble this evening!!

[glennuk]

Can i post in here as well?

I have been doing everton blokes challenge which is basically a career game with goals, so can i let you all know my progress here?

Well i will start anyway, so yeh i started unemployed, then got offered a job at QUB in the nortern irish league, i joined and quickly quit after realising that i couldnt get anyone in because the wage budget was too high.

So i joined Winners park in the south african first division (Second division in south africa) and have had an on and off season, was just getting sick of it when

http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=113no1.jpg <-----

[glennuk]

Oh and i was heavily betted against winning that game http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=oddsqw1.jpg

[ToMexico!!]

10/11 Falkirk

Media Prediction 3rd

Cup Competition Champions League - board want 3rd Qualifying phase

League

This season was all about making sure last season SPL win wasn't a fluke. It was not the case, hovering around the top 4all season without really troubling the league leaders, the only reason i can put my finger on as to why this was the case was our European adventures. Unlike last season we were unable to take control of any winning situation against the other top 4 teams. A crippling aspect of the season wasmylack of funds to buy more top players unlike Celtic who spent 10mil on Andy Johnson; 28.5mil overall on players, Rangers spending 13mil on Nicky Shorey and a few other players and finally Hearts buying another number of Eastern Europeans. Whilst we settled for our 1.5m budget. Our League did pick up in the end, well literally at the end of the season when it came to the relegation/championship split, we were sitting 3rd and Celtic had already won the league, myself, rangers and hearts were all playing for the 2nd Champions League place. It came to the last game of the season and we needed to win against Hibs to ensure 2nd place, Rangers had Celtic, we won, as did Rangers, so we came second on superior goal difference. League Table

P38 W21 D12 L4 F71 A37 GD+34 Pts75

So other than the poor transfer budget, the amount of draws we suffered was a disappointing factor of this season. I know Celtic were run-away league winners but if we had drawn 5 less games we would have been 10 points better off and only 3 points behind them.

Champions League

Champions League for this season, seemingly another step too far for Falkirk, drawn against Shaktar in the 3rd round qualifiers we had our work cut out.We battled for a 1-1 draw at home after taking the lead and amazingly drew 3-3 away from home, after taking the lead 3 times. Away goals enough, thankfully. The group stages would be too much for us surely, drawn against the giants of Manchester Utd and Ajax, with AEK completing the group, i could only hope for a 3rd place finish over AEK. With a win and a draw against AEK, we held 3rd comfortably. We would have to beat Ajax at home for any hint of contention to qualify for the next round. Amazingly yet again we produced a display fine enough to beat many other teams. 4-0 at half time, done and dusted. I knew we wouldn't get anything from Old Trafford so we needed a AEK win over Ajax to go through, we lost 3-1, Edison Cavani dominating lack of pace at the back. Luck was on our side though, a 1-0 win for AEK sent us through. I watched the draw for 1st knockout round, we came out of the hat first, a home draw.....to Barcelona. A fairy-tale result for the fans. At home we were 2-0 down, until a second half inspired by Finnigan, his 3 goals helped us to a surprisingly shock 3-2 win over the European Giants. The away game was a different affair, we lost only 3-0. Our European dreams for this season were over,but we got further than anyone would have dreamt of.

Cups

After forgetting to mention the domestic cup competitions in the last update i though i would make an effort this time round. Oh and by the way i actually won the Scottish cup 4-1 over Hearts last season. Unfortunately this season i was beaten by Kilmarnock in the 5th round. But this time round i got to the final of the League Cup, against Rangers, which we lost 5-3.

Transfers/Squad

Building on the squad for season would be trying to make the best of the free transfer market, i signed boa morte for some back up at ML, but wasn't needed due to other players like James Troisi another summer signing could filling there. Kazenga LuaLua was another signing mainly as back up on the right hand side. About a quarter of the way through the season, Sheffield Utd bid 4.4m for James McCarthy, a bid which in my eyes was not good enough but my chairman thought otherwise. After realising as part of the deal signing him i had to give 50% of the next transfer to Hamilton. So with only 2mil to to spend on sufficient replacements, i needed to spend wisely until a scout unearthed a gem, another Italian striker who was only 18, he was worth 3.8mil, so i stuck in a bid of2mil + 50% sell on. They surprisingly accepted and he was on his way. Transfers

So through the 4 seasons i have played as Falkirk i have accumulated this Squad

Other Screenies

Club Affiliates

Confidence Summary

Finances

Scouting Knowledge

Manager Profile

So next season we need to cut down on the amount of draws and bring some more success to Falkirk. Preferably winning a domestic competition and challenging more closely for the league. Champions League for me again next season, so anything like this season run would be quite awesome.

[CoachFlu]

December 20th 2007 (Currently managing: Morocco)

Quick update.

Still no club job, though managers are only starting to get sacked in the last few weeks or so. I've been rejected by a few English League Two and Italian Serie C teams though, which is pretty much as low as it gets in my game. I guess my best chance will be a Belgian Div.3 team, once one becomes available, since that's my nationality.

Meanwhile, I've had a few games under my belt in charge of the Moroccan national squad. The jury is still out, I'd say.

Two competitive matches played, African Nations qualifiers: an easy 0-2 win against Seychelles, and a poor 3-2 loss at Burkina Faso. Luckily Morocco was already nicely in the lead in their group, so that one win was enough to qualify. The tournament starts in a month or so.

Two friendlies played as well: an easy 1-3 win at Macau, and a proper trouncing by France, 7-1, which clearly highlighted the weaknesses in our squad.

The main weakness: goalkeeper.

There are only 5 Moroccan goalies in the dbase, three of which are total crap, and two are crap-with-potential. So my starting goalie is an 18 year old who plays for De Graafschap reserves. Two stars current ability, which makes him the best available, and he should be able to improve quite a bit.

There's a 15-year old with higher potential still, but I can't call him up yet, I'm guessing because of his age.

Good news for the future, but at the moment the goalkeeper situation is a bit painful, especially if the 18 year old is unavailable, as was the case against France.

Not uncommon for African teams, quality defenders are hard to come by as well. A few decent ones, but not a lot of depth in that area.

Surprisingly, the same goes for strikers. One great one (Chamakh, who plays for Bordeaux), but then it goes downhill fast.

The one area where we have plenty of options is attacking midfielders - left, right and center. Hardly any straight MCs or DMs though.

Results so far have not inspired great confidence in me for the African Nations next month, but we'll see. After that tournament I'd like to focus on a club job, so if I don't get the sack, I may resign from the Morocco job. (Especially if I keep getting turned down by clubs - I have a feeling it may be easier to land a club job when I'm completely unemployed.)

Career history:

National:

Morocco (July 2007 - present)

[jacknewthoughts]

Started auto reputation.

Leagues loaded...argentina/brazil to lowest.

england down to D2, italy to C1. most other european top divisions.

i started in january 2008, when the brazilian season starts, and after looking at prospective clubs, i settled on Atletico Goainiense, brazilian ND3.

a huge 54000 seater stadium suggested they were a sleeping giant, but the finances weren't in too good shape.

board expectations were to reach the final stage of ND3 within 2 years. the season starts with the state championship which i reached the semifinals of, to the happiness of board/fans.

the squad i inherited had talent, but was ageing in the extreme. 3 key players were over 35 years of age so i had to bring in some youth.

in my first season i did reach the finals of ND3, so the board are happy. but by this point i was roughly 400k in the red. despite not having spent a cent on transfers and being well under the wage bill. conveniently in the december (2008) two players came back from loans to D1 teams. the chairman sold them for a total of 700k, i could have got more but it balanced the books.

i set up a parent club (santos), who loaned me backup striker junior as well as young midfielder patrik. in the 2nd season of the state champ i got to second but knocked out in semis again by perpetual rivals Villa Nova!

Now in second go at ND3, been given a really tough draw to be honest. in 3rd place with 4 games to go, i'll update if i get/miss promotion!

<a href="team info" target="_blank"><img src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4/jacknewthoughts/clubinfo.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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<a href="squad" target="_blank"><img src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4/jacknewthoughts/squad.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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<a href="manager profile" target="_blank"><img src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4/jacknewthoughts/manprofile.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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<a href="manager personal" target="_blank"><img src="http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4/jacknewthoughts/untitled.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[jacknewthoughts]

argh and clearly i don't know how to link to images!

sorry for the mess! how do i do it properly in future?

[NepentheZ]

Ok. So I'm giving Gundo's Challenge a proper rest, (Not sure if I'll actually continue it) because I got bored with it, and the lack of talent, and the low league rep was killing me. I've decided to to start my own game before embarking on Dafuge's Challenge.

NepentheZ' Euro Road to Glory

Nation's Loaded (All loaded nations have all leagues within that nation loaded)

England

Germany

Holland

Italy

N. Ireland

Spain

Scotland

Players have be loaded from about another 30 nations, (Mainly major European nations, South American Nations and African Nations), just to keep the regen bias quite fair in years to come. (We don't want an average England team dominating world football now, do we.)

For the first time since FM06 - I will be taking over my beloved Arsenal - (I don't remember why I didn't play with them in FM07 ) but I miss being the manager of Arsenal.!

The reason I've loaded extra nations is because I may move clubs, (although very unlikely), but also because after a while, I may take on a second club in the lower leagues of the nations, and I like seeing actual league tables for certain leagues.!

Anyway, I'll give some small updates at the end of seasons, until there are pretty much no Original Players left, when I'll begin full season updates.

Its going to be fun managing a big team now, after Knockbreda.!