New Dawn in a New Land Challenge

[Fudger]

--» OLD CASTLE SWIFTS UNVEIL NEW... UNKNOWN MANAGER !

Today, Old Castle Swifts during a press conference, unveiled their new manager, Jake Kirby. The club stated that Kirby was to be signed on a one year deal on the aim of gaining promotion... will the unknown newbie manager be able to bring 'old' success back to the club? Or will he rise and fall as quick as a missle? STAY TUNED!

[Wegason]

Originally posted by Nubbin2K8:

Hey, thanks for creating such a great challenge

Profile

I'll give you an update at the end of the transfer window

Good luck there Nubbin!

Nice to see you trying again Fudger, I predict greater success for you with the Swifts!

[vanpersie11]

End of season update - 2007/08

After a promising start to the season October saw Rubacava knocked straight back to the ground. 4 defeats in our 4 games saw us sink to one place off the foot of the table.

Fixtures

November needed to be better, much better or we'd get stuck in a rut and end up playing a relegation play off. It started with a thrilling extra time 4-3 win over league leaders Atletico Angel in the Nirtanian Cup 1st Round. We were drawn in the 2nd round with Dynamo Stravchine. 2-0 down with 2 minutes to go, 88th and 90th minute goals took us to extra time with my team putting up a good fight and forcing penalties. Which came down to the last one, unfortunately we lost 3-2. Despite the defeat I felt that was our best game of the season.

November saw Rubacava's league form turned around with wins against Rayleigh (a fellow relegation candidate) and Wolverton along with a goalless draw with Newton Heath.

December started with a win in the 2nd round of the Emperor's Cup. Followed by a 4-2 win against unbeaten league leaders Atletico Angel. This was followed 3 sucessive draws and then a boxing day defeat to Dynamo.

The new year started off well with two league wins. Along with a 2-0 cup defeat at Prem side Newtonia. The January window saw 3 new faces, young central midfielder Rogers along with two forwards, Potato from league leaders Angel and Tom Clarke from Heitaria & Eureka. The last signing may have lead to H&E's decline in the latter part of the season. 3 players were sold, including one of my forwards who hadn't had a bad first half of the season but was someone who I felt wasn't going to do much to improve the team's fortunes in the long run.

Our good form continued and after a 1-0 win against Pontesi (one of our promotion rivals) we were 5 points off a promotion place with 3 games remaining. With a win against Wolverton we were only 2 points behind, but two draws in our remaining games, coupled with good results for Dynamo and Pontesi saw us finish 6 points away from promotion in 4th spot. A position I was very pleased with. We got the results when it mattered, unilke Heitaria & Eureka. League postions graph.

Rayleigh and Heitaria in the Relegation Play offs. Quite a come back by H&E!!

Trying to get some more players in so that I can push for a promotion spot, but it doesn't help my board decided to sell one of my main central midfielders. But having said that I was offered £10k so I choose to ask for £500k to scare them off. Next day, £500k offer accepted by the board. Made £499k on him though

[vanpersie11]

Oh and a I cheekly declared my interest in O'Leary's job at Whitefield United. Needless to say I am still at Ruba

[vanpersie11]

Well done on getting your new job btw Wegason, good luck

Good luck to the new commers/restarters

[Guest]

It's now nearly October in my second seasn at H&E and despite being a First Division outfit we've stumbled to 5th in the Kopparberg Cider Cup again, albeit in a much more difficult group and with one more point than last season. Three other First Division sides were in the group with us and Orestes from the Second, who look a decent punt for promotion this season [he says, as they lie 12th in the 2nd after the first game]. Guaranteed 3 points against Undarro mind, although San Angel gave them a token draw. We were unlucky in close defeats to Malastaire and Orestes too, especially after leading at half time away in Malastaire.

Nirtania has shot up to 37th in the coefficients table, on 6.665 points. We will almost certainly drop at the end of this season though since no Nirtanian clubs managed to negotiate the early rounds of the UEFA Cup or Champions League this time around.

[Wegason]

Terrific work there vanpersie

4th place is a good achievement and a solid foundation on which to build for next season.

Don't worry about the KCC Robot, my team were awful in that in their second year and had a decent league season with survival. It's interesting that Nirtania has a whole extra point in the co-efficient ranking and is just one place higher than in my game. KUTGW

[Nubbin2K8]

Okay, so here's the end of season review.

Media Prediction 8th

Actual League Position 6th

http://imageupload.com/~imageupl/show.php/125868_Nirtania.jpg.html

Nirtanian Trophy 3rd

Emperors Cup 6th

All in all....

a dissapointing season for me, I wanted to fish in the top 4.

There's allways next season...

[waz_nufc_awk]

Wegason,

Excellent work with the challenge database, I will be starting a game soon after I finish my own personal challenge with Fluminense.

Just a couple of things though i need to point out.

As I like to research challenges in detail before jumping in, I printed you first couple of posts in order to have a good read through and get a feel of Nirtania. The map helped a lot but I noticed a place called Parshaw Ridge on the North coast that was in your database but I could not find which team play there,help me out with this one please?

The other point was that in your database, (I was looking for the Parshaw Bridge team by the way), I noticed that Banbridge Thistle's stadium was missing and was selected instead as their reserve stadium.

I hope you don't mind but I had to change this in my database.

It is only a minor error and as they are unlikely to move up the divisions as the lowest ranked team (rep 150) it probably doesn't matter, but it didnt' seem right.

Anyway, will be starting a challenge soon, probably with the highly underrated (much like my team) Rubacava Rangers.

Will post profile once I have started.

By the way thanks to Kipfizh and his AI experiment for pointing me in your direction (to your original birth of a nation thread).

wazz

[waz_nufc_awk]

Right, I have started the challenge with Rubacava Rangers, lets see how we go

profile pic

[Damian_Garside]

Hey, Wegason,

I've just read through the thread, and I have a question. My FM08 is currently holidaying through the first season. I was wondering if it would be okay, if after the first season no other teams were promoted that I choose a team which placed in the bottom six of the Second Division instead? Would they have to be one of the six you pointed out in the first post?

[Wegason]

Nice season there Nubbin2K8/b], a solid position with decent cup runs as well. Next season you can really build on it.

waz_nufc_awk, Parshaw Ridge doesn't have a club, my error. Banbridge Thistle are actually a Northern Irish team I believe that I kept in the database, the stadium error is either built into 8.0.2 or due to my editing.

Damian, I'd have to say it would have to be one of the six clubs I mention above, or the promoted teams from the Conferences. If no unplayable team comes up, try redoing it (saving at April 27th) until one of the teams wins through. Beluzia, Kasmenai City, and Undarro Athletic seem to be teams that are capable of gaining a place in the Second Division, would be interesting if someone took on Beluzia, they've got a great nickname.

Fixing the error is not a problem.

Good luck with your challenge game! Best of luck with Rubacava as well!

[thezogsageordie]

Profile

Meet the new manager of Rubacava (Same colours as Newcastle!!)

I'll try and juggle this with my Toon save as that's good but I'm struggling atm.

[Meitheisman]

Good work Wegason, I can't wait for someone to win the WC!

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by matty_8:

Matthew Smith Update

League

Now as you can see from the league table, that was a hard season! We were close to the relegation zone from literally day one in the league campaign. I tried my hardest to bring a good to watch style of football for the fans in Nirtania but the results didnt meet their quite high standards. I reckon a more defensive (boring) approach may suit this league next season so Im going to sign a few veterens and defensive players. We got some decent results against bigger teams but lost vital points in the dying minutes of far too many games. But we made it to the end of the season by the skin of our teeth.

It was down to the final day of the season and we were 1 point out of the relegation zone after a good win the week before. We had to match the result of Heitaria & Eureka and we were safe. Simple? Well we had bottom of the league Wolverton at home so I thought so. But as we sat in the 80th minute 2-0 down, I was kindly made aware by a raging supporter that Heitaria were 3-2 up aswell. We were doomed . But big days call for heroes and up stepped player of the season Charlie Robinson. A 30 yard screamer and then a brilliant header in the next 5 minutes meant we were right back in, and a roar around Calavera Stadium made the day; it was 3-3 in the other game. We were safe

My Game

Rival Game

Highlight of the season: Being drawn against FC Jasque's bitter rivals Nodnol City at The Temple. Although we got a good thumping it was a great experience of where I want to be at the peak of my managerial career. I would have loved to beat the team my family support but it wasnt expected and easnt to be.

Players

Robinson - Key man. Scored vital goals at vital times, and some absolute screamers. Player of the Year by a mile and will be very important in my push up the league next season.

Rojas - Worth every penny. Played as a left wing back and ran up and down all season. Missed a fair few games through international duty but played so well that he earned the admiration of the Premier League teams. Has disappointingly left the club for 275k after a club took advantage of his non promotion release fee.

McMinn - Big strong centre half who was the only decent defensive player in the squad. Popped up with some headers and kept strong at the back. Carlos Cuellar-style player for this Rangers team.

Akbar - Young attacking player who was decent. I have mentioned him here as I think he has potential to be very good in near future.

Next Season? Im staying in Rubacava for the time being and next seasons going to be different. Im going to put my name on the map of Nirtania

I've got Ali Akbar in that screenshot that person you were on MSN too, is that Molly Chapman?

[Damian_Garside]

Originally posted by Wegason:

Damian, I'd have to say it would have to be one of the six clubs I mention above, or the promoted teams from the Conferences. If no unplayable team comes up, try redoing it (saving at April 27th) until one of the teams wins through. Beluzia, Kasmenai City, and Undarro Athletic seem to be teams that are capable of gaining a place in the Second Division, would be interesting if someone took on Beluzia, they've got a great nickname.

Thanks, Wegason. I did try to reload it many times, but I'm not the most patient person at that type of thing.

As it were, I went to Heitaria and Eureka. The club came 10th by one point last season. I wasn't sure exactly what date to join the club on, but this is my profile:

My Profile

[waz_nufc_awk]

Rojas - Worth every penny. Played as a left wing back and ran up and down all season. Missed a fair few games through international duty but played so well that he earned the admiration of the Premier League teams. Has disappointingly left the club for 275k after a club took advantage of his non promotion release fee.

I thought we couldn't sign players who we couldn't scout?

I pulled out of signing him as he is in Venezuela and can't be scouted (being outside of the region). I am still unsure why he shows up in the player search list, obviously this player is showing up on everyones lists.

Meet the new manager of Rubacava (Same colours as Newcastle!!)

same reason as me Zog...

[thezogsageordie]

Samuel Fuller – Rubacava Rangers – Nirtanian Second Division – End of Season Review 2007/08

I got off to a very shaky start to the League season but I was really putting Rubacava on the map in the Kopparberg Cider Cup! (Tastes great) Practically every game I was huge underdogs and I went out there to defend for our lifes and managed to nick quite a few goals! (Mostly from corners but a goal is a goal!)

Things ended up quite well, I brought in some quality players and the team seem to be molding well although I've only got 3 strikers that I would start, the others are awful!

Second Division Table

Second Division Graph

Transfers

Domestic Season

Premier Division

Faradafry won the NPD from Lantisia and United Commonwealth. Argyres were relegated. Diamond Heights won their play-off versus Grimme City

First Division

AFC Posul got promoted from the First Division into the Premiership. Malastaire and Estaag United got relegated.

Emperor’s Cup: Farada beat Whitefield

Isoeph Cup: Grimme Athletic beat United Commonwealth

Kopparberg Cider Cup: Spark Rovers beat Estaag United

Nirtanian Trophy: Quanzari beat Estaag United

Spotlight on Europe

Lantisia made it through to the Second Qualifying Round where they almost knocked out APOEL but went out on away goals.

FC Jasque lost in the First Qualifying Round to Vojvodina.

Stravchine Balanvinski got knocked out by Basel on away goals, having made the Second Qualifying Round of the UEFA Cup.

Argyres got knocked out in the Second Qualifying Round of the Uefa Cup to Dnipro.

Chelsea won the Champions League, beating Sevilla in the final.

Benfica won the UEFA Cup, beating AZ Alkmaar in the final.

European Co-Efficient: Can't find

Just to let you know, there were no "Big 4" team in the Sixth Round of the FA Cup!

Season Summary

Second Division: 7th

Emperor’s Cup: 3rd Round

Kopparberg Cider Cup: Quarter Final!!

Nirtanian Trophy: 1st Round

Nirtanian Richest Club: 38th

All Leagues: 115th

Worth: £1.3m

[Wegason]

Originally posted by Damian_Garside:

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

Damian, I'd have to say it would have to be one of the six clubs I mention above, or the promoted teams from the Conferences. If no unplayable team comes up, try redoing it (saving at April 27th) until one of the teams wins through. Beluzia, Kasmenai City, and Undarro Athletic seem to be teams that are capable of gaining a place in the Second Division, would be interesting if someone took on Beluzia, they've got a great nickname.

Thanks, Wegason. I did try to reload it many times, but I'm not the most patient person at that type of thing.

As it were, I went to Heitaria and Eureka. The club came 10th by one point last season. I wasn't sure exactly what date to join the club on, but this is my profile:

My Profile </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good luck with Heitaria & Eureka Damian!

Originally posted by waz_nufc_awk:

I thought we couldn't sign players who we couldn't scout?

I pulled out of signing him as he is in Venezuela and can't be scouted (being outside of the region). I am still unsure why he shows up in the player search list, obviously this player is showing up on everyones lists.

Sometimes the club will let you bring the player in on trial, you can then assess and decide whether or not to sign him.

With Wegason I've now got a lot of Brazilian and Mexican players in my player search list due to scouting knowledge of scouts I signed and my affiliates (which is odd as they're small than me) but I cannot sign them as I cannot scout them and seeing as the ones I'd like to look at are worth in the region of £1-5 million, the clubs won't let them come on trial.

[Wegason]

Originally posted by thezogsageordie:

Second Division Table

Second Division Graph

Wow! Look's tight down there in the bottom half of the table! 3 points separately 7th to 11th!

Nice work in the KCC thezogsageordie, as for your problem finding the European co-efficients...

European Co-Efficient: Can't find

In the Champions League screen, four down on the left hand (or right hand) side menu, there is a co-efficients tab, click that to open up a sub menu and change it from club to "nation", scroll down until you find Nirtania. They'll probably be 46th in the 07/08 season but should hopefully climb up when you go into the 08/09 season.

[thezogsageordie]

Thanks - 43rd

Second season syndrome is affecting me like an itch in the middle of the back.

[thezogsageordie]

Also forgot to ask/say: I hope you don't mind me using your template as my EOSR

[Wegason]

Originally posted by thezogsageordie:

Also forgot to ask/say: I hope you don't mind me using your template as my EOSR

Not a problem at all, if people wish to adopt my template, that's fine.

[thezogsageordie]

Samuel Fuller – Rubacava Rangers – Nirtanian Second Division – End of Season Review 2008/09

Yet another season of Mid Table Mediocrity! I'm beginning to get annoyed! This season I had one player with an AvR of over 7! How rubbish is that?! I'm seriously hoping a side from a higher division signs me although that's about as likely as findind Bin Laden at the moment!

Second Division Table

Second Division Graph

Transfers

Emperor’s Cup: Bozarburg

Isoeph Cup: Stravchine Balanvinski

Kopparberg Cider Cup: Midchestnut

Nirtanian Trophy: Adelphia

Spotlight on Europe

Faradafry: CL 2 Qual Round

Lantisia: UC 1 Round Proper

United Commonwealth: IT 3 Round

Inter won the Champions League, beating AC Milan in the final.

Schalke won the UEFA Cup, beating Lazio in the final.

European Co-Efficient: 43rd

Season Summary

Second Division: 8th

Emperor’s Cup: 5th Round

Kopparberg Cider Cup: 5th Group Stage

Nirtanian Trophy: 2nd Round

Nirtanian Richest Club: 38th

Worth: £625k

[argyle4ever]

This is an awesome challenge and I must say thanks for all the time and effort into the database and original experiment!

I have decided to take over Rayleigh Town and here is my Profile and Transfers

And well im here I may aswell update on how the Cider Cup has gone.

Going into the final game we travelled to Spark Rovers of Division 1 two points behind them in the hunt for the 2nd qualifying spot.

A dismal 1st half performance meant we were lucky to go into half time only one down. After some stern words the players jumped into life creating a chance right from the kick-off. Only a few minutes later we were level through Ben Jackson. We carried on dominating but our luck from the 1st half caught up with us as Tom Laird was sent off on 65 mins. However, we still dominated and scored a deserved winner on 81 mins through Jonathan Steele.

Spark Rovers Result

A game of two halves it was but Rayleigh Town are the only second division side past the group stages and it seems a good start to my career here

Final Cider Cup Table

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by argyle4ever:

This is an awesome challenge and I must say thanks for all the time and effort into the database and original experiment!

I have decided to take over Rayleigh Town and here is my Profile and Transfers

And well im here I may aswell update on how the Cider Cup has gone.

Going into the final game we travelled to Spark Rovers of Division 1 two points behind them in the hunt for the 2nd qualifying spot.

A dismal 1st half performance meant we were lucky to go into half time only one down. After some stern words the players jumped into life creating a chance right from the kick-off. Only a few minutes later we were level through Ben Jackson. We carried on dominating but our luck from the 1st half caught up with us as Tom Laird was sent off on 65 mins. However, we still dominated and scored a deserved winner on 81 mins through Jonathan Steele.

Spark Rovers Result

A game of two halves it was but Rayleigh Town are the only second division side past the group stages and it seems a good start to my career here

Final Cider Cup Table

Don't read into that too much I got QF first season then I finished 7th in league then 8th! LOL

[Wegason]

Originally posted by argyle4ever:

This is an awesome challenge and I must say thanks for all the time and effort into the database and original experiment!

I have decided to take over Rayleigh Town and here is my Profile and Transfers

And well im here I may aswell update on how the Cider Cup has gone.

Going into the final game we travelled to Spark Rovers of Division 1 two points behind them in the hunt for the 2nd qualifying spot.

A dismal 1st half performance meant we were lucky to go into half time only one down. After some stern words the players jumped into life creating a chance right from the kick-off. Only a few minutes later we were level through Ben Jackson. We carried on dominating but our luck from the 1st half caught up with us as Tom Laird was sent off on 65 mins. However, we still dominated and scored a deserved winner on 81 mins through Jonathan Steele.

Spark Rovers Result

A game of two halves it was but Rayleigh Town are the only second division side past the group stages and it seems a good start to my career here

Final Cider Cup Table

Congratulations and welcome to the Challenge argyle4ever!

[Fudger]

Ive had a bit of a delay as of late with work, so may not have an update up for th next few days. xD

[Wegason]

Well I've had one hell of a third season with the Dragons.

Update to come in the near future

[Wegason]

Originally posted by Wegason:

Well I've had one hell of a third season with the Dragons.

Update to come in the near future

And the Summer's made it even better!! I may have acquired a new job

[Wegason]

Edward Nelson – Wegason Dragons – Nirtanian Premier Division – Season 2009/2010

After accepting the Job Offer from the Wegason Dragons, I immediately began an assessment of a team that had blown a commanding championship lead to come 5th and out of the European places on the back of a the Wegason Dragons, I immediately began an assessment of a team that had blown a commanding championship lead to come 5th and out of the European places on the back of a five game winless streak. They’d also lost at the quarter final stage in both cup competitions to Nodnol City, a team that I expected them to beat.

I was still quite shocked I had got the job having been rejected my numerous Premier Division clubs up to this, I was even more shocked that Bryan Robson left 5th placed Wegason for 10th placed Whitefield but glad all the same.

The squad at my disposal was for all intents and purposes, a decent one. Roberto Holsen was the main man upfront but was aging, while they had a talent they’d loaned out to Leicester last year in the form of Norwegian Ragnar Danneskjold. I examined the rest of the squad and settled on some areas I wanted to add depth and improve the quality of while disposing of players I no longer needed. Talented keeper Paul Smith was shown the door to Nodnol for a cool million and was followed out by James Walker, Craig Fagan, and Pawel Pawlowski.

I raised just over £5 million in the summer and immediately set about reshaping my squad, firstly bringing in Tom Laird from my former club for just £40k, I’d of demanded at least £250k. George Boyd, an AMLC/FC from Adelphia, was brought in for a bargain £55k and a keeper went the other direction when Preston Edwards signed for £130k to back-up Delvin Countess, my American shot stopper. The bosman signings of Brian Howard, a talented attacking midfielder from Barnsley, and Sam Williams, a striker from Aston Villa were arranged. I managed to persuade rivals Lantisia to part with talented Scottish defender Mark Reynolds for £900k. The key signings of the season were at completely different ends of the spectrum.

Fabrizio Zappaterra, a player who had started life with Newtonia before moving to Kanjor and then leaving for his native Italy and Palermo was a player I had tracked while at Rayleigh and had desperately tried to sign, his sole season at Palermo had left him unhappy at the lack of first team football and Palermo wanted rid of the troublemaker. I managed to snap him up before other teams noticed for a princely £40,000, an absolute bargain. The best deal of the summer however was persuading Ryan Lamb, a player sold by Robson to West Ham, to come back to The Octagon for regular first team football, a key player role, and more money. After rejecting my advances initially for a month or so, after West Ham kept accepting my money, he agreed to join at the end of July and I had the key ingredient for the formation I wanted to play as Lamb is a fantastic attacking midfielder. £1.5 million and a 20% next sale clause was enough to grab him from West Ham.

Transfers

My season started very, very poorly. Friendly losses to Rayleigh and IFK Gothenburg were followed by humiliating, crushing defeats to Chelsea and Manchester United, 1-8 and 2-10 respectively. Thankfully two convincing wins against Dynamo Stravchine and Old Castle Swifts provided confidence for the Isoeph Cup Group Stage and after drawing with Shasarazade at Shangrila Gardens we then won our next three games, including a 5-1 demolition of the Slicing Hammers (Shasarazade). This was followed by one of the most bizaree matches in my short managerial career to date as we lost 6-5to Lantisia in a thrilling encounter that saw us fight back from deficits of 3-0 and 4-1 to square it in injury time before Chris Taylor, a player I almost signed before deciding against it, scored the winner with almost the last kick of the game. Despite this loss we won our last game to advance to the quarter finals where we would face San Angel. We crashed out 2-1 in a disappointing performance, which left us to concentrate on the league for a while.

Our league form was very, very pleasing; we lost just one game, to Argyres, in the 2009 portion of the season and only drew twice to leave us five points clear of United Commonwealth Club and six points clear of Argyres with a game in hand the turn of the year.

A crunch game against the only team to defeat us in the league just after the new year was lost as Argyres proved they had our number and were serious challengers for the title. In the meantime we started our Emperor’s Cup campaign with a victory over Newton Heath as we continued our good league form, until we lost 2-0 to fierce rivals Shasarazade. This was the start of a terrible run in a series of games against club rivals as we lost 1-0 to both FC Jasque and worst of all, to Port Nelson. This was not ideal preparation for a quarter final game in the Emperor’s Cup against Shasarazade.

My team performed this time however and won 3-1 at the Octagon to start us back on the right path and book a semi-final appearance against Lantisia. During my recap I’ve not really highlighted many players which is unfair on them. Danneskjold has been on fire, I’d trusted him to lead my line as the sole striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation and the three attacking midfielders behind him, Lamb, D’Anconia, and Zappaterra had been banging in goals and creating them for fun as well. We were the highest scoring team and had a decent defence to boot. Our goal difference was eight clear goals better than Argyres at this stage. The league table after 21 games looked like this.

We’d be facing Lantisia twice in succession, in a crucial league game, and then the semi-final. All I can say is, we lost both! 1-0 in the league at home, and 3-1 in the Emperor’s Cup at the Temple (home of Nodnol City). Fortunately, we beat Newtonia 4-1 to give us a strong shout for the title with three games to go.

I should mention that during this period, the other challengers had been losing games and dropping off as well. FC Jasque, who had had many games in hand due to their extended European run, looked like they could pick us off if they’d won most of their games in hand but they were struggling in the league. Other challengers, like United Commonwealth had kept pace even during their Champions League campaign, reaching the group stage, and after they got knocked out by Feyenoord in the UEFA Cup First Knockout Round I expected them to step up a gear and motor towards gaining a second successive league championship. Instead they’d gone on a seven game winless streak, although at this time they were contesting the Setanta Challenge Cup, which they eventually won, beating FC Jasque.

It seems that the Challenge Cup had dented the title ambitions of both FC Jasque and U.C.C. far more than their European campaigns had. With just three games to go the table was close! Argyres, who had done the double on us, and been strong all year were in with a shout, and if FC Jasque won both their games in hand, they’d be only two points behind, and with a game against us on the penultimate weekend, they could easily win the title, in fact, if they won all their remaining games, they were guaranteed it. The same applied to us though.

We started off badly, drawing against Faradafry 1-1, not ideal preparation for our title decider with FC Jasque. They took the lead within a minute, but my team responded, 6 straight goals from my players, including doubles for Danneskjold and Lamb, secured a famous 6-2 victory that meant a draw in our final game would secure the title. Only Argyres could win it as FC Jasque had not won their other games in hand.

The final match of the season pitted us against San Angel, the team that knocked us out of the Isoeph Cup. Argyres faced Newtonia, a match I expected them to win. Our result against San Angel was never in doubt as we triumphed 4-0, Argyres lost 2-1 to Newtonia and we were crowned League Champions!

FC Jasque continued their bad form and couldn’t get into the top four, United Commonwealth rebounded to fifth from dropping to eighth. The final of the Emperor’s Cup would see the winners qualify for the UEFA Cup, Lantisia triumphed over FC Jasque to grab their first Emperor’s Cup trophy.

Nirtanian Premier Division Table – Season 2009/2010

Position Graph

As you can see, I was a contender all season, and it was only where games in hand on other teams came into play that I dropped off first. Argyres were probably the strongest team in my opinion, they beat me twice and were consistent throughout the year. It was surprising to see United Commonwealth’s challenge drop off so dramatically.

The First Division saw the abysmal Grimme Athletic of last year rebound straight back up, coming in second place were recently promoted Orestes! Unfortunately for them, they lost to Malastaire in the relegation play-off. Rayleigh were relegated, they let Jack Rodwell go (to Orestes), Laird to my team, Parsons to Spark Rovers, and Shrimpton to Sheffield Wednesday.

Combined with not playing Flachi or Webb much, and then releasing Lee Feeney and Mo Harkin combined for a poor season, compounded by selling Oran Kearney and McAlorum just before the season started and selling Fito and Stoffell in the January transfer window. AFC Posul, rivals of Wegason, also got relegated to the Second Division.

Promoting from the Second Division were Dynamo Stravchine and Pontesi in a close battle that saw just twenty points between top and bottom, and just ten points from 1st to 7th. Rubacava and Newton Heath avoided relegation by beating Kasmenai City and Undarro Athletic respectively in the relegation playoffs.

Domestic Summary

Emperor’s Cup: Lantisia beat FC Jasque

Isoeph Cup: San Angel beat Faradafry City

Kopparberg Cider Cup: Grimme Athletic beat Estaag United

Nirtanian Trophy: Midchestnut United beat Spark Rovers

SPOTLIGHT ON EUROPE

United Commonwealthhad a great European season, first they made it through to the Third Qualifying Round by beating FK Neftci Baku of Azerbaijan and Maccabi Petach-Tikva of Isreal, they then defeated FC Basel of Switzerland in the third qualifying phase which meant they advanced to the group stages.

Their group consisted of Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar of Holland, and Besiktas from Turkey. Two victories over AZ secured third place after humiliating defeats to the other two teams. Feyenoord ended their European adventure in the 1st knockout round of the UEFA Cup.

FC Jasque beat Avenir Beggen of Luxembourg and advanced past PAOK of Greece on away goals to progress to the UEFA Cup 1st Round. They demolished Brondby 7-1 on aggregate to make the group stages where they drew Ajax, Aston Villa, Steaua Bucharest and Paris Saint-Germain. They could only beat Steaua and drew with Villa, failing to progress.

San Angel beat Llanelli before being crushed by Newcastle 7-2 on aggregate in the 2nd qualifying round.

Faradafry reached the second round of the Inter-Toto before Maccabi Haifa eliminated them.

The final of the Champions League Real Madrid triumph over fierce rivals FC Barcelona 2-1, the UEFA Cup meanwhile saw Juventus beat Newcastle by a solitary goal.

Inter Milan beat Lazio to win the European Super Cup.

Nirtanian European Co-Efficient

2007/08: 46th – 2.322 – 1 ECL, 2 UC, 1 ITC

2008/09: 38th – 5.499 – 1 ECL, 2 UC, 1 ITC

2009/10: 30th – 9.749 – 1 ECL, 2 UC, 1 ITC

2010/11: 20th – 17.416 – 1 ECL, 3 UC, 1 ITC

Season Summary

Premier Division: 1st (Champions!)

Emperor’s Cup: Semi-Final

Isoeph Cup: Quarter-Final

POST-SEASON NEWS

The post-season started fairly well as I looked for players to bolster my squad for the new campaign, but I kept getting frustrated by players I wanted, particularly Patrick Rossa and Antonio D’Toldo. The biggest news of the post-season was however the retirement of Guy Roux as the Nirtanian manager. I immediately applied.

After what seemed like ages, the NFA offered me the job, I accepted and found out their expectations. Achievable in my view, I can’t believe I got the job though! This really has been a dream game for me thus far, I’ve achieved everything I wanted and earlier than I had planned! I really didn’t expect it and thought it would be 3-4 years before I got a Premier Division job and another 2-3 years after that before I won a title, let alone become national team manager!

At the end of June, the Wegason board offered me a nice extension to my contract, at increased pay. Originally a two year deal was on the table, but I asked for a three year deal. Next year the board expects a title challenge, appearances in the finals of both cups, and to reach the Third Qualifying Round of the Champions League. We shall see if I achieve any of them!

[Wegason]

How is everyone else doing? Any updates on there way? Anyone still playing?

[Fudger]

Im still playing, but in minor bits. Been studying a lot recently. Just thought id let you know that I am sill following this. xD

[Meitheisman]

I read your update too Wegason but I'm not playing your challenge so can't post updates. I'm interesting to see how the League as a whole will improve over the years, hopefully you play enough seasons for it to be a top European League.

Do you know what are the different Leagues reputation? I know it doesn't change throughout the game and wanted to know if it could be at all possible for your League to reach the level of the German League for instance and get 3 CL spots.

[Wegason]

Originally posted by Meitheisman:

I read your update too Wegason but I'm not playing your challenge so can't post updates. I'm interesting to see how the League as a whole will improve over the years, hopefully you play enough seasons for it to be a top European League.

Do you know what are the different Leagues reputation? I know it doesn't change throughout the game and wanted to know if it could be at all possible for your League to reach the level of the German League for instance and get 3 CL spots.

Ah, it's good to know people read your updates, if noone posts you think noone's read it!

As for your question, I do know the different league's reputation and it is why I set the NPD's reputation and league standard at 15, to facilitate a competition amongst the European co-efficient rankings, which is why I keep a close eye on them and the Nirtanian teams in Europe.

Hopefully this table is what you're looking for. It's also got GDP per capita, economic factor, and the importance of football in there. Lists most of the top leagues by reputation, but not necessarily by their ranking per UEFA's European co-efficients.

Please note the co-efficients are those used to start in FM and for the 07/08 season, the co-efficients for the 08/09 season have England as the number 1 ranked league in Europe along with a few other movements.

[thezogsageordie]

Where did you get that table from Wegason? P.S. I am reading all your updates but not posting, from now on I will!

[Meitheisman]

Thanks for the table mate, that's exactly what I was looking for!

Based on the way you set it up the NPD should become the 6th best league in Europe over the years, slightly behind France and Germany. I wonder if it'll actually get there and how long it would take? How many clubs would need to perform consistently in Europe and whatnot.

[Wegason]

Originally posted by thezogsageordie:

Where did you get that table from Wegason? P.S. I am reading all your updates but not posting, from now on I will!

I made it myself from the information in the FM 08 database.

Meitheisman. I completely agree, the NPD should be challenging the top six over the years and should certainly get to the stage of challenging for a place in the top 8 leagues.

The 07/08 rankings have the leagues ranked:

1. Spain

2. England

3. Italy

4. France

5. Germany

6. Portugal

7. Romania

8. Holland

9. Russia

I expect Nirtania to break into the top 8, ranking above Romania and Holland. With a human manager in control of one of Nirtanian clubs, I expect the NPD will break into the top six. Whether it would from a pure AI Experiment view is another matter and it would probably nestle in the top 8 somewhere.

I'm definitely looking forward to helping get Nirtania into the top 8 leagues as that would give Nirtania 2 Champions League places and 4 UEFA Cup places, which will be interesting to follow in the European competitions.

It should also be very interesting to see what the effect of 7 European places would have on the NPD and whether we'll see a divide between the Champions League teams and the UEFA Cup teams. The fact that 4 UEFA Cup places would give rise to three UEFA Cup places for league position (4 if the two Emperor's Cup finalists qualify for Europe by league position) will I think make the league very competitive as teams compete for European places.

The top seven potentially getting European competition would make the league very competitive all season as their are only sixteen teams in the top division.

[Meitheisman]

You just listed some of the things that I find most interesting about your experiment, it's pretty much how this developpement occurs and how long it takes that I'd like to find out.

[William Hall]

Heitaria & Eureka have signed a new Manager.

Australian International William Hall has signed with Heitaria & Eureka with hopes to return it to their former glory.

[Wegason]

Heitaria & Eureka have signed a new Manager.

Australian International William Hall has signed with Heitaria & Eureka with hopes to return it to their former glory.

Welcome to the Challenge! I hope to see your updates and follow your progress over the coming weeks.

[Fudger]

Ok, I haven't been playing this at all recently, in fact, to be honest I haven't been playing FM at all. But I am going to get going again soon and of course this will be the challenge I go with. How are you getting on Wegason with your save?

[Wegason]

Ok, I haven't been playing this at all recently, in fact, to be honest I haven't been playing FM at all. But I am going to get going again soon and of course this will be the challenge I go with. How are you getting on Wegason with your save?

Quite well, I've done another season since my last update, I just need to write it up and post it. It was a great season and the new one looks very promising as well.

I must say, this is one of my most enjoyable games on FM I've ever had.

[mr susan]

I haven't been playing FM (at least not the 2008 version anyway) for a while so I haven't progressed much further with my challenge.

I can't login on my Robot account either for some reason, which is strange as I created it because I couldn't login on this account. In fact I thought this account had been deleted.

I'll be back on with Heitaria & Eureka soon though and we will survive in the First Division!

[Guest]

I haven't been playing FM (at least not the 2008 version anyway) for a while so I haven't progressed much further with my challenge.

I can't login on my Robot account either for some reason, which is strange as I created it because I couldn't login on this account. In fact I thought this account had been deleted.

I'll be back on with Heitaria & Eureka soon though and we will survive in the First Division!

That was odd, I'm sorted now though.

I will probably start playing again next week, I was about 1/3 of the way into my season when I stopped so I should be able to finish it off soon enough.

[cavo_900]

I know that you are supposed to do the challenge but I wanted to start at the top (sorry).

So I choose Lantisia as they are predicted to be one of the best teams in the League and in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League.

So as I start the first thing that I always do is look at my staff, here I notice its very small so I start the process of looking for staff first as I believe its important to have good coaches to maximise training and also have good scouts to look for potential new signings, I also look at the transfer list and make a couple of bids (one in particular pained me which was D, Murphy of Sunderland, I’m a Newcastle fan anyway the £350,000 asking price was to good to miss out on). So as I look through my squad I notice its very small and need scout asap I also look at players who I like to sign put a few enquiries in and then apply for a feeder club and look at my fixtures and notice I have drawn Dnipro (sorry if I spelt it wrong) I no the team name but could not remember why, all was to be revealed in the 1st leg though.

Before the 1st leg I had nearly completed my training regime and scouting trips as staff where joining me and they where quickly given there tasks.

1st game as boss I pick my team, set my tactics and I’ve my instructions, that’s when I notice there Star Player none other than Luka Modric, I tell my players they have nothing to lose, we start well taking a 1-0 lead away from home and go in level at the break, the second half starts and Modric sets a goal up 1-1 I think not to worry still got the away goal however things suddenly get worse when my star CB id shown a straight red down to 10 men and only players on the bench are from my Under 18’s so I go 4-3-2 not long later they score 2-1 getting beat I adjust my tactics to hold on the referee blows and the game finishes 2-1 but we have a vital away goal.

2nd leg comes and I have made a couple of singings but my CB has a 3 game ban so I set my tactics and pick players for the game but am thinking defeat and how to stop Modric when to my relief I notice just before kick off that Modric had signed for Chelsea this gives me hope especially with the away goal. The game starts well we take an early lead but they soon hit back with 87 minutes on the clock the game is poised at 2-1 its going to extra time when suddenly Rossa breaks free looking for his hatrick which would book our place in the next round when he fires wide, then again Rossa breaks free and puts it wide 93 minutes and again Rossa has broken free am begging for him to score when he shoots and scores I’m jumping round we are through to the second round thanks to a superb hatrick.

We have been drawn against B. Jerusalem for the second round. I have now signed a few players who can now play the second round and I am awaiting a work permit for a player, I have also signed a couple of Nitrian players so that my squad has players from the country who can also help when called up to international duty as well as European players. My scouting network is now getting better.

Will keep you posted on how things are going.

[Wegason]

Do keep us updated cavo_900, even though you're not starting from the same position it will be interesting to see how you get on.

[Guest]

At the halfway point of Heitaria & Eureka's First Division season I think we can finally say that survival has begun to look a likelihood rather than a possibility.

[Wegason]

At the halfway point of Heitaria & Eureka's First Division season I think we can finally say that survival has begun to look a likelihood rather than a possibility.

That's excellent news! I hope it remains that way! Good luck!

[daniel_bozner]

hi just started my season and loving it iv went athletico angels iv made 5 small signings all from lower scottish sides the main one bein chris teppleman who is my leading scorer i am sitting top by 5 points 8 games in2 the season thanks for creating this challenge absolutely brill m8 keep up the good work nxt time i will give u detailed reply.