NormandyWept
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Posts posted by NormandyWept
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1 hour ago, santy001 said:
SI make an announcement that women's football will be coming to FM in the future, as part of a clear long-term roadmap for the series over a number of years.
This is however a clear indication that there is a lack of a clear long-term roadmap for the series.
Do you see the self-contradiction?
You're right, the women's football announcement is a sign of long-term plan being introduced. It's late as it should have been started a few years ago, but it is refreshing and there should be more shared about other things that are in longer-term plans for the series. (Such a plan shared a few years ago and making it clear that Classic/Touch would be discontinued but that more customisation features would follow in subsequent iterations and the game would eventually come to tablets, would for example mean there would be a lot fewer replies in this thread expressing surprise and concern.)
The core of my post was the lack of customisation options and the steady reduction in platforms where the game can be played. This is where the series is going wrong, and where the impact of the lack of a plan in this area 5, 10, and 15 years ago is currently being felt - it's clearly not feasible to introduce all of the customisation features in a single year, however if there had been a plan put in place when SI owned Out of the Park Baseball (i.e. fifteen years ago!), many of those customisation features would be in place by now.
Continuing in the current direction with a decision like canning Classic may "add up" for this year's financial accounts, however it is a missed opportunity to retain and recapture certain types of fan and also attract others.
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(Disclaimer: I am something of a former player. Like many Classic/Touch players, I don't have enough time in my life compared to previous years. I also don't own a Windows device, running Linux on my home computer, and so haven't had access to an officially-supported version of FM since 2018. I only dip into these forums 1-2 times a year nowadays and I don't play every sports - or even every football, or every Football Manager - game ever released. These are just my thoughts, and perhaps people will know better on certain points. The cancellation of Classic as I knew it simply hit me quite hard and reminded me of a lot of the other problems the series has, to the extent that I felt I needed to mention it all. My post is also probably too long - sorry!)
For me, the cancellation of the brilliant FM Classic (or "Touch" - a name almost designed to kill its popularity on PCs ) game is just the latest in a long run of decisions by Sports Interactive which have been driven by a lack of a clear vision for the Football Manager series or any roadmap to deliver the best sports game on the market. (If it was EA in charge, as with the Madden NFL series, I think people would call this 'complacency' about the exclusive licenses - I am more generous than that, however I feel that it appears there hasn't been a clear strategy for many years for Football Manager, really since it defeated the post-SI Championship Manager games and the other football management series that existed before that, e.g. LMA Manager etc.)
At the moment it feels like SI drift around from year to year without enough direction. There doesn't appear to be a clear 5+ year plan/roadmap for where the game is going. Commercial decisions are made which don't connect with the programming and game production decisions.
The biggest missed opportunity for me with Football Manager was when Sports Interactive owned the Out of the Park Baseball series. I don't know baseball as well as football, which has made it harder for me to get into Out of the Park, however the customisation options available in that game are truly brilliant and make it the best sports management game available. All of these options should have been brought over to Football Manager in their entirety. In Out of the Park you can play in real-world leagues but you can just as easily create your own league with whatever rules you like. You can also play whatever historical season you like - the equivalent of buying FM2021 but choosing to see if you can replicate Man Utd's 1999 treble, for example, or play out countless other "what if" scenarios. You can even play completely fantastical games where historical players appear as youth players in completely mixed up years - so in football for example you could see what would happen if Best and Ronaldo played for Manchester United in the same era, or Maradona and Messi for Argentina, etc etc. You can customise the game and turn off whole features - even turning off finances altogether! - in the same way that Classic/Touch players wish you could just turn off the media or the team talk modules in Football Manager. Of course this hasn't lost Out of the Park any sales at all, because most players also want to play with the most up-to-date squads, plus there are always new features added every year, and so fans keep buying the latest games. But without a clear vision or confidence in their strategy, SI have always felt a company too scared to introduce these sort of radical customisation features, which is a shame as they had a big opportunity when they owned both games to take them in a similar direction.
The same customisation features would have allowed fans to easily experiment with women's football by allowing a customisation of the game world to the extent that entire competitions/confederations could be changed. That would have laid the framework for FM to introduce women's football more easily. I recall that for many years women's football was mentioned on this forum and dismissed by SI, however it felt inevitable with the direction of the sports and media landscape - especially in the UK, where SI and a sizeable section of players are based - that women's football would one day need to be in FM. Suddenly we have a U-turn on the policy, but are years away from implementation. It's a consequence of exactly the lack of a clear long-term roadmap for the series over 5-10 years that I'm talking about.
At present it feels like SI are on autopilot from year to year, and driven by the latest 1-2 year commercial relationships. It's hard to separate the Classic/Touch discontinuation announced in this thread from the urging to sign up for Xbox Gamepass and pay a monthly fee to Microsoft. Before that, it was Google Stadia that was the fashion for a year or two, despite the seemingly significant disconnect from offering a Linux-based streaming service to customers who you'd told less than a year before that they could no longer play the game on their own Linux device because it was somehow considered "impossible to support". It doesn't give the impression of being one of the consistently most-played games on Steam, with a coherent plan and vision behind it and a long-term future, when the developer and publisher seem to lurch year to year from one "strategy" to another, telling fans to play the games in different ways every year.
We're less than a year at present from the release of the Steam Deck, which could potentially be a huge change for PC gaming. And yet Sports Interactive discontinued Linux support in Football Manager several years ago (at the point where they were one of Valve/Steam's real poster-children for cross-platform gaming along with Paradox Interactive) and in my (admittedly limited) experience on these forums seem at best "bullish" and often outright hostile about this decision. The latest Football Manager titles have spotty-at-best support for the Proton technology that will power the Steam Deck and much of Linux support for Windows-based games, with updates frequently ruining the game's compatibility with the latest version of Proton. It all looks more of a mistake every single day: people increasingly want to play Football Manager the way that they want to, on the device that they want to. In this thread we have specific iPad and Mac devices mentioned with concerns about whether FM will be playable on them. A decision was made a few years ago to focus on reducing the cross-platform capability of Football Manager at the exact point where the entire technology landscape was moving in the opposite direction.
I'm not sure what the answer is, but it's a real shame. I understand when people talk about the impact of Covid-19 and the rest of the economics behind the series. And yet Football Manager seems one of the most blessed digital gaming properties in the world economically, with a huge dedicated following, consistently high sales and usage statistics, and a volunteer research community that provides best-in-class data services for much less than market rate. Given those factors, it seems hard to believe that fans couldn't have a significantly better game and the game a significantly brighter future if it weren't for the glaring gaps in long-term strategic direction.
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Wow, that's rough vikeologist! I see the international side of the tournament remains a difficult one, with opportunities so few and far between...
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After being inspired by the World Cup, I just logged in after a long absence and was delighted to see a notification that my exploits (referred to just a page ago) still live long in the memory!
I'm a lot busier than I was a few years ago but I'm hopeful of catching up on your respective campaigns and maybe even joining again. Great to see this still going :-)0 -
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I'm sure that at least one person has won the asian cup with (or at least managed) saudi arabia, but I have no idea how it would be possible to make them managable in the game by adding leagues.
This was me, and although I never noticed whether their job was available late in the save, I certainly noticed that they still had some star players: I managed a world class Saudi striker at Barcelona much later, for example.
It does sound a very frustrating situation that you're in, not just having to fast-forward to the Asian Cup each time you get knocked out of it, but also only having one realistic job you can take to have a go at it. Let's hope you get it done this time!
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It's safe to say that Kaizer Chiefs (and bloody Bayern Munich, their German twins) are not something I miss about this challenge!
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That last Champions League must have been torture. What an epic quest!
Going 3-0 down to Bayern, you'd assume I'd have another season at least. Somehow we got those four goals in basically ten minutes. I really couldn't believe it. After that, Porto and Hamburg to be honest weren't on the same level (and I think playing Porto at home first was a big help - we got a big lead which made the away game much easier, whereas when we trailed the year before they were really able to limit us at Eastlands). A Final can go either way, but we'd had some fab domestic results (beating Chelsea 8-1 early in the season was insane and we won multiple games 5-0!) which I knew made us the favourite and so it proved. In the end it wasn't so much torture as a profound sense of relief that we got it done.
I didn't actually congratulate you using words. It's some achievement playing so many seasons. At the start you seemed to play a season a day. You've been a wonderful participant in the thread, so I hope that even if you don't start the challenge again, you'll still pop in and give us some words of advice.I believe when I started the challenge it was in the period when I wasn't working, and therefore pretty much full-time immersed in FM! I guess it was close to a season every day and a half at that point. It helped that some of those Asian leagues had much shorter seasons: certainly once I got to Brazil in particular, and to an extent England with all the cup competitions, it was a much longer undertaking.
Those circumstances were a bit unique and I'm not sure I'll be able to mount a long enough effort to win the challenge in FM16. It took me a long time (in game) because I wasn't very effective at league competitions compared to many of the other challengers that we've seen (I think I did pretty well at knockout competitions, particularly international - I guess I find it easier not to lose than I do to win the games to win a title, that Man City league title at the end for example felt unusually comfortable compared to the others). I'm really pleased I had the opportunity to complete the challenge, something of this length is quite remarkable and definitely my biggest ever FM achievement.
I'll definitely try and stick around and encourage everyone else!
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The vast financial resources that had lured me back to City continued to pay dividends: the squad I've built is the finest I've managed, and although I took a ridiculous £50m offered by Paris-SG for one of my top players, we retained the services of Brazilian striker and World Player of the Year Amoroso and continued to put a fine starring cast around him, the pick of this year's additions being German left winger Bülent Guser from Bayern for £38m, who notched an impressive 18 goals and 30 assists in a fine first campaign at Eastlands.
After an indifferent start to the season (where we weren't alone: everyone was beating everyone early in the season), we really put our pedal to the metal from December (where we won all 7 of our games) onwards, dominating proceedings domestically as we set a new Premier League goalscoring record, retained the title with four games to spare, and marched to the FA Cup Final where we unfortunately lost to Newcastle (although frankly if I have to lose, that'll do nicely!)
But what of Europe, the only battleground that mattered for finally finishing the challenge? We cantered through a meek Group Stage, unbeaten despite playing the youth team for the final two games with qualification already assured, and our seeding meant we'd surely get a nice and easy Knockout Round challenge against one of those terrible Group runner-ups?
No, we wouldn't: we had to face FC Bayern, my nemesis with a fantastic record against us which looked sure to continue when they followed up a 2-0 first leg win by taking the lead with an away goal at the City of Manchester Stadium. But then came a remarkable turn-around, a quick flurry of four goals in the minutes either side of half time turning the game on its head, before we added three more on the counter-attack as we put our opponents to the sword and secured a place in the Quarter Final. A special mention here for Guser, who grabbed 4 assists against his former employers to justify his transfer fee in that game alone.
Up next were my previous team Hamburg, and although they were worthy Quarter Finalists, they'd not been managed brilliantly since I left them and after a solid 1-1 draw away we blasted four past them at home to set up another reunion: this time with Porto, another former employer and actually the competition's reigning champions. The Portuguese were to meet a similar fate: we won 4-1 in the first leg to take complete control, and even a 2-0 defeat in Oporto wasn't enough to dampen our day.
The final hurdle saw us face our bitter city rivals Manchester United at the Stade de France. We were briefly worried when Darren Phillips equalised midfield wonderkid Jamie Holmes's first-half opener early in the second half, but the irrepressible Amoroso smashed home a goal shortly after the hour mark before strike partner Enrico Roggia, man of the match in the Final, put some gloss on the result with a late third.
We were Champions of Europe. I'd scooped every landmark needed to complete the Ultimate Football Manager Challenge. The turtle had finally run its race.
Challenge Progress
Club
10/10 top domestic leagues (ARG, DEU, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, POR, USA)
11/10 domestic cups (AUS, BRA, DEU, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, MEX, POR)
5/5 club continental championships (Africa, Asia, Europe, N.Am., S.Am.)
1/1 club world championship
International
5/5 continental tournaments (Africa, Asia, Europe, N.Am., S.Am.)
2/2 world tournaments (WC, Confed.)
Seasons
CLUB CAREER Leagues Cups Season Club 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Cont. CWC Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014/15 RSA Ajax CT 12th Took over with 3 games remaining, in 15th 2015/16 RSA Ajax CT R2 R1 Sacked after 16 games, in 16th 2016/17 AUS Wanderers 6th QF 2017/18 AUS Wanderers won Sacked after 22 games, in 10th 2018/19 IND Dempo GS Sacked after 19 games, in 11th 2019/20 IND Bengaluru 6th SF F 2020/21 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F 2021/22 IND Bengaluru 1st GS won CC R2 2022/23 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F CL Q3E 2023/24 IND Bengaluru CC QF Resigned after CC QF defeat/before league season 2024 KOR Jeju 5th SF 2025 KOR Jeju 8th SF 2026 KOR Jeju 8th QF 2027 KOR Jeju QF Left for Pohang after 32 games, in 7th 2027 KOR Pohang 5th won Took over with 6 games remaining, in 5th 2028 KOR Pohang CL GS Sacked after 16 games, in 5th 2028 KOR Jeonbuk 5th SF Took over with 20 games remaining, in 7th 2029 KOR Jeonbuk R4 Sacked after 35 games, in 7th 2030 KOR Jeju Left for Wellington after 16 games, in 4th 2030/31 AUS Wellington 10th 2031/32 AUS Wellington 10th 2032/33 AUS Wellington 7th 2033/34 AUS Wellington Left for Perth after 4 games, in 6th 2033/34 AUS Perth 9th Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2034/35 AUS Perth 7th 2035/36 AUS Perth 5th/SF 2036/37 AUS Perth Left for Seoul after 12 games, in 2nd 2037 KOR Seoul 1st SF CL won 3rd 2038/39 MEX Chivas 6th/SF 3rd/ F QF won 2039/40 MEX Chivas 11th 2nd/QF CL won 2041 USA New York 1st/won R4 2042 BRA Internacional 5th 1st/won won Reached 1,000 games in management 2043 BRA Internacional 1st/won SF CL QF Left for Lanus after 34 national games, in 7th 2044 ARG Lanus 6th R5 CS P2E 2045 ARG Lanus R5 Left for Velez after 15 games, in 11th 2045 ARG Velez 4th/1st CS QF F Took over with 14 games remaining, in 1st 2046 ARG Velez 5th/4th R7 CL won won 2047 ARG Velez 1st R7 CL QF 2049/50 FRA Monaco 4th F R4 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2050/51 ITA Inter 4th F EL R2 2051/52 ITA Inter Sacked after 16 games, in 14th 2051/52 ITA Lazio 8th Took over with 21 games remaining, in 12th 2052/53 ITA Lazio Sacked after 5 games, in 17th 2054/55 RSA Wits 10th R1 Took over with 12 games remaining, in 13th 2055/56 RSA Wits R1 R1 CL won 5th Left for Valencia after 29 games, in 8th 2056/57 ESP Valencia 7th R5 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2057/58 FRA Monaco 3rd SF F EL won 2058/59 FRA Monaco 2nd SF R4 EL F 2059/60 FRA Monaco 1st won QF CL R1 2060/61 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL QF 2061/62 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL GS 2062/63 ITA Roma 3rd F EL F Reached 2,000 games in management 2063/64 ITA Roma QF CL QF Resigned after 33 games, in 8th 2064/65 ITA Lazio 10th R1 2065/65 ITA Lazio 9th QF 2066/67 ITA Juventus 1st won CL R1 2067/68 ESP Valencia 2nd QF EL GS 2068/69 ESP Barcelona 1st won EL R1 2069/70 ENG Man City 7th R3 EL won Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2070/71 ENG Man City 3rd R4 R3 CL R1 2071/72 ENG Man City 1st won R4 EL SF 2072/73 POR FCP 1st won won EL QF Reached 2,500 games in management 2073/74 ENG Fulham 11th R4 Took over with 18 games remaining, in 17th 2074/75 DEU Hamburg 8th F 2075/76 DEU Hamburg 6th R3 2076/77 DEU Hamburg 4th R3 EL GS 2077/78 DEU Hamburg 7th R3 EL F 2078/79 DEU Hamburg 3rd won 2079/80 DEU Hamburg 2nd QF EL QF 2080/81 DEU Hamburg 2nd R2 CL SF 2081/82 DEU Hamburg 1st R2 CL QF 2082/83 ENG Man City 2nd R6 SF EL F 2083/84 ENG Man City 1st R4 R4 CL R1 Reached 3,000 games in management 2084/85 ENG Man City 1st F R3 CL won Retired after CL Final win INTERNATIONAL CAREER Rank Cups Year Nation FIFA NL World Cont. Conf. Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2032 Saudi Arabia 12 Joined 11th Jul, 29th in FIFA Rankings 2033 Saudi Arabia 25 2034 Saudi Arabia 49 GS 2035 Saudi Arabia won Resigned 4th Feb, 38th in FIFA Rankings 2036 Norway 61 C Joined 27th Jul, 54th in FIFA Rankings 2037 Norway 57 2038 Norway 44 B 2039 Norway 39 Resigned 14th Nov, 39th in FIFA Rankings 2042 Tunisia 36 Joined 20th Jul, 42nd in FIFA Rankings 2043 Tunisia GS Resigned 27th Jan, 37th in FIFA Rankings 2047 South Africa 22 Joined 17th Feb, 10th in FIFA Rankings 2048 South Africa 19 2049 South Africa won Resigned 7th Feb, 19th in FIFA Rankings 2049 USA 14 Joined 1st Aug, 9th in FIFA Rankings 2050 USA 19 GS 2051 USA won Resigned 30th Jul, 31st in FIFA Rankings 2052 Spain 9 Joined 21st Jul, 7th in FIFA Rankings 2053 Spain 10 won Reached 1,500 games in management 2054 Spain 1 won Left for Brazil 2nd Aug, 1st in FIFA Rankings 2054 Brazil 14 Joined 3rd Aug, 13th in FIFA Rankings 2055 Brazil 15 GS 2056 Brazil 2 2057 Brazil 6 2058 Brazil R1 Sacked 15th Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2058 Spain 8 A Joined 21st Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings 2059 Spain 18 2060 Spain 2 won 2061 Spain won won Resigned 9th Jul, 2nd in FIFA Rankings 2062 Brazil 6 Joined 23rd Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2063 Brazil won Resigned 7th Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings0 -
I've just been thinking about how many languages my alter ego in the game would speak by now. I'm playing in FM Classic and it seems like it isn't possible to find out, but I guess by now it must be English, Chinese, Korean, possibly Afrikaans or something else, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and at least basic knowledge in Dutch. Crazy.
How many languages do your managers speak? I would be interested in seeing a screenshot from someone who plays the full version and is some years into the challenge, for example vikeologist
I like to think my alter ego is more like the late great Sir Bobby Robson, and is fluent only in English. Some of these young up-and-coming managers in the game world must have started off as my interpreters
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NW- I suppose it must be some comfort to you that you're not getting too close. if you're anything like me, when you do actually reach the final you won't play FM for about 5 days so that your save is a schrodengers cat situation where the CL is simultaneously won and lost.
We weren't close in terms of the number of games we needed to win, but the FC Porto team that knocked out us out went on to thrash Bayern in the Quarter Final en route to registering a surprise Champions League win, so we went out to the eventual winners and some might say that's close. (Clutching at straws perhaps! Let's see how I can do this time...)
I'm never saying this challenge should ever be changed, I'm just curious for other peoples thoughts.....A) Is the International side of things a hindrance??
B) Do people embrace the difficulty of International management??
(I'm "A" for what it's worth!!!!)
I don't think you could have an "Ultimate" challenge without the World Cup especially, and it makes sense that with the challenge including the club-level Pentagon, it includes the international-level one too.
Another Successful Season With Newcastle, Won Premier League-Cap1Cup And Champions League.I love how nonchalantly you say this. Absolutely spectacular, especially some of your Champions League scorelines! Fantastic achievement.
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A summer of squad building delivered an improved Manchester City, and we duly hit over 100 goals on our way to my second Premier League title, but the Challenge significance of the season disappeared when we endured a nightmare away trip to my old club FC Porto in the First Knockout Round of the Champions League, undoing some good work in the group stage and extending things by at least another year.
Some very good signings are already lined up for the summer and the Instant Result button will be getting used on all manner of league games next year as I try to push on toward the conclusion of my epic adventure...
Challenge Progress
Club
10/10 top domestic leagues (ARG, DEU, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, POR, USA)
11/10 domestic cups (AUS, BRA, DEU, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, MEX, POR)
4/5 club continental championships (Africa, Asia, N.Am., S.Am.)
1/1 club world championship
International
5/5 continental tournaments (Africa, Asia, Europe, N.Am., S.Am.)
2/2 world tournaments (WC, Confed.)
Seasons
CLUB CAREER Leagues Cups Season Club 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Cont. CWC Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014/15 RSA Ajax CT 12th Took over with 3 games remaining, in 15th 2015/16 RSA Ajax CT R2 R1 Sacked after 16 games, in 16th 2016/17 AUS Wanderers 6th QF 2017/18 AUS Wanderers won Sacked after 22 games, in 10th 2018/19 IND Dempo GS Sacked after 19 games, in 11th 2019/20 IND Bengaluru 6th SF F 2020/21 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F 2021/22 IND Bengaluru 1st GS won CC R2 2022/23 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F CL Q3E 2023/24 IND Bengaluru CC QF Resigned after CC QF defeat/before league season 2024 KOR Jeju 5th SF 2025 KOR Jeju 8th SF 2026 KOR Jeju 8th QF 2027 KOR Jeju QF Left for Pohang after 32 games, in 7th 2027 KOR Pohang 5th won Took over with 6 games remaining, in 5th 2028 KOR Pohang CL GS Sacked after 16 games, in 5th 2028 KOR Jeonbuk 5th SF Took over with 20 games remaining, in 7th 2029 KOR Jeonbuk R4 Sacked after 35 games, in 7th 2030 KOR Jeju Left for Wellington after 16 games, in 4th 2030/31 AUS Wellington 10th 2031/32 AUS Wellington 10th 2032/33 AUS Wellington 7th 2033/34 AUS Wellington Left for Perth after 4 games, in 6th 2033/34 AUS Perth 9th Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2034/35 AUS Perth 7th 2035/36 AUS Perth 5th/SF 2036/37 AUS Perth Left for Seoul after 12 games, in 2nd 2037 KOR Seoul 1st SF CL won 3rd 2038/39 MEX Chivas 6th/SF 3rd/ F QF won 2039/40 MEX Chivas 11th 2nd/QF CL won 2041 USA New York 1st/won R4 2042 BRA Internacional 5th 1st/won won Reached 1,000 games in management 2043 BRA Internacional 1st/won SF CL QF Left for Lanus after 34 national games, in 7th 2044 ARG Lanus 6th R5 CS P2E 2045 ARG Lanus R5 Left for Velez after 15 games, in 11th 2045 ARG Velez 4th/1st CS QF F Took over with 14 games remaining, in 1st 2046 ARG Velez 5th/4th R7 CL won won 2047 ARG Velez 1st R7 CL QF 2049/50 FRA Monaco 4th F R4 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2050/51 ITA Inter 4th F EL R2 2051/52 ITA Inter Sacked after 16 games, in 14th 2051/52 ITA Lazio 8th Took over with 21 games remaining, in 12th 2052/53 ITA Lazio Sacked after 5 games, in 17th 2054/55 RSA Wits 10th R1 Took over with 12 games remaining, in 13th 2055/56 RSA Wits R1 R1 CL won 5th Left for Valencia after 29 games, in 8th 2056/57 ESP Valencia 7th R5 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2057/58 FRA Monaco 3rd SF F EL won 2058/59 FRA Monaco 2nd SF R4 EL F 2059/60 FRA Monaco 1st won QF CL R1 2060/61 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL QF 2061/62 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL GS 2062/63 ITA Roma 3rd F EL F Reached 2,000 games in management 2063/64 ITA Roma QF CL QF Resigned after 33 games, in 8th 2064/65 ITA Lazio 10th R1 2065/65 ITA Lazio 9th QF 2066/67 ITA Juventus 1st won CL R1 2067/68 ESP Valencia 2nd QF EL GS 2068/69 ESP Barcelona 1st won EL R1 2069/70 ENG Man City 7th R3 EL won Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2070/71 ENG Man City 3rd R4 R3 CL R1 2071/72 ENG Man City 1st won R4 EL SF 2072/73 POR FCP 1st won won EL QF Reached 2,500 games in management 2073/74 ENG Fulham 11th R4 Took over with 18 games remaining, in 17th 2074/75 DEU Hamburg 8th F 2075/76 DEU Hamburg 6th R3 2076/77 DEU Hamburg 4th R3 EL GS 2077/78 DEU Hamburg 7th R3 EL F 2078/79 DEU Hamburg 3rd won 2079/80 DEU Hamburg 2nd QF EL QF 2080/81 DEU Hamburg 2nd R2 CL SF 2081/82 DEU Hamburg 1st R2 CL QF 2082/83 ENG Man City 2nd R6 SF EL F 2083/84 ENG Man City 1st R4 R4 CL R1 Reached 3,000 games in management INTERNATIONAL CAREER Rank Cups Year Nation FIFA NL World Cont. Conf. Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2032 Saudi Arabia 12 Joined 11th Jul, 29th in FIFA Rankings 2033 Saudi Arabia 25 2034 Saudi Arabia 49 GS 2035 Saudi Arabia won Resigned 4th Feb, 38th in FIFA Rankings 2036 Norway 61 C Joined 27th Jul, 54th in FIFA Rankings 2037 Norway 57 2038 Norway 44 B 2039 Norway 39 Resigned 14th Nov, 39th in FIFA Rankings 2042 Tunisia 36 Joined 20th Jul, 42nd in FIFA Rankings 2043 Tunisia GS Resigned 27th Jan, 37th in FIFA Rankings 2047 South Africa 22 Joined 17th Feb, 10th in FIFA Rankings 2048 South Africa 19 2049 South Africa won Resigned 7th Feb, 19th in FIFA Rankings 2049 USA 14 Joined 1st Aug, 9th in FIFA Rankings 2050 USA 19 GS 2051 USA won Resigned 30th Jul, 31st in FIFA Rankings 2052 Spain 9 Joined 21st Jul, 7th in FIFA Rankings 2053 Spain 10 won Reached 1,500 games in management 2054 Spain 1 won Left for Brazil 2nd Aug, 1st in FIFA Rankings 2054 Brazil 14 Joined 3rd Aug, 13th in FIFA Rankings 2055 Brazil 15 GS 2056 Brazil 2 2057 Brazil 6 2058 Brazil R1 Sacked 15th Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2058 Spain 8 A Joined 21st Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings 2059 Spain 18 2060 Spain 2 won 2061 Spain won won Resigned 9th Jul, 2nd in FIFA Rankings 2062 Brazil 6 Joined 23rd Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2063 Brazil won Resigned 7th Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings0 -
NW- Hard luck on the season, but I think you made the right choice. Always a bit exciting to see that you've posted an update. I keep expecting this to be the one. I'm like a bride who keeps expecting to receive a proposal, only to find that you're on one knee to tie up your shoelaces.
So, out of 10, how much is your frustration with this CL quest?
Playing yesterday I just enjoyed being back on FM! I'm not too frustrated yet. Looking forward to spending some of City's money and hopefully going deep in the CL...
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From the moment I ran out of other leagues to add to keep the challenge landmarks ticking, I'd kept La Liga and especially the Premier League as active leagues: if I failed in winning a European Cup with Hamburg, a jump to a big club with bigger TV money was surely the perfect tonic. And when the Manchester City job came up in 2082, it proved too much of a temptation and I returned to the City of Manchester Stadium and the vast wealth backing it in a heartbeat.
A frustrating season ensued: we finished 2nd in the Premier League, one slip up in the run-in ultimately too much as even Liverpool's utter capitulation to us on the final day didn't help us past our mutual rivals Manchester United, and also not only crashed out of the Champions League but then ended up runners-up in the Europa League, losing my fourth Final of that competition (I've won two too, for a miraculous six appearances in that particular final!) - to Bayern, my long-term rivals.
With the vast wealth of English football at my disposal, I'm sure we will improve markedly for next year. Some of this year's signings were stop-gaps, and in the summer we'll be able to do more sustainable purchasing to try and claim the one elusive landmark that I've not yet collected.
Challenge Progress
Club
10/10 top domestic leagues (ARG, DEU, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, POR, USA)
11/10 domestic cups (AUS, BRA, DEU, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, MEX, POR)
4/5 club continental championships (Africa, Asia, N.Am., S.Am.)
1/1 club world championship
International
5/5 continental tournaments (Africa, Asia, Europe, N.Am., S.Am.)
2/2 world tournaments (WC, Confed.)
Seasons
CLUB CAREER Leagues Cups Season Club 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Cont. CWC Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014/15 RSA Ajax CT 12th Took over with 3 games remaining, in 15th 2015/16 RSA Ajax CT R2 R1 Sacked after 16 games, in 16th 2016/17 AUS Wanderers 6th QF 2017/18 AUS Wanderers won Sacked after 22 games, in 10th 2018/19 IND Dempo GS Sacked after 19 games, in 11th 2019/20 IND Bengaluru 6th SF F 2020/21 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F 2021/22 IND Bengaluru 1st GS won CC R2 2022/23 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F CL Q3E 2023/24 IND Bengaluru CC QF Resigned after CC QF defeat/before league season 2024 KOR Jeju 5th SF 2025 KOR Jeju 8th SF 2026 KOR Jeju 8th QF 2027 KOR Jeju QF Left for Pohang after 32 games, in 7th 2027 KOR Pohang 5th won Took over with 6 games remaining, in 5th 2028 KOR Pohang CL GS Sacked after 16 games, in 5th 2028 KOR Jeonbuk 5th SF Took over with 20 games remaining, in 7th 2029 KOR Jeonbuk R4 Sacked after 35 games, in 7th 2030 KOR Jeju Left for Wellington after 16 games, in 4th 2030/31 AUS Wellington 10th 2031/32 AUS Wellington 10th 2032/33 AUS Wellington 7th 2033/34 AUS Wellington Left for Perth after 4 games, in 6th 2033/34 AUS Perth 9th Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2034/35 AUS Perth 7th 2035/36 AUS Perth 5th/SF 2036/37 AUS Perth Left for Seoul after 12 games, in 2nd 2037 KOR Seoul 1st SF CL won 3rd 2038/39 MEX Chivas 6th/SF 3rd/ F QF won 2039/40 MEX Chivas 11th 2nd/QF CL won 2041 USA New York 1st/won R4 2042 BRA Internacional 5th 1st/won won Reached 1,000 games in management 2043 BRA Internacional 1st/won SF CL QF Left for Lanus after 34 national games, in 7th 2044 ARG Lanus 6th R5 CS P2E 2045 ARG Lanus R5 Left for Velez after 15 games, in 11th 2045 ARG Velez 4th/1st CS QF F Took over with 14 games remaining, in 1st 2046 ARG Velez 5th/4th R7 CL won won 2047 ARG Velez 1st R7 CL QF 2049/50 FRA Monaco 4th F R4 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2050/51 ITA Inter 4th F EL R2 2051/52 ITA Inter Sacked after 16 games, in 14th 2051/52 ITA Lazio 8th Took over with 21 games remaining, in 12th 2052/53 ITA Lazio Sacked after 5 games, in 17th 2054/55 RSA Wits 10th R1 Took over with 12 games remaining, in 13th 2055/56 RSA Wits R1 R1 CL won 5th Left for Valencia after 29 games, in 8th 2056/57 ESP Valencia 7th R5 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2057/58 FRA Monaco 3rd SF F EL won 2058/59 FRA Monaco 2nd SF R4 EL F 2059/60 FRA Monaco 1st won QF CL R1 2060/61 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL QF 2061/62 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL GS 2062/63 ITA Roma 3rd F EL F Reached 2,000 games in management 2063/64 ITA Roma QF CL QF Resigned after 33 games, in 8th 2064/65 ITA Lazio 10th R1 2065/65 ITA Lazio 9th QF 2066/67 ITA Juventus 1st won CL R1 2067/68 ESP Valencia 2nd QF EL GS 2068/69 ESP Barcelona 1st won EL R1 2069/70 ENG Man City 7th R3 EL won Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2070/71 ENG Man City 3rd R4 R3 CL R1 2071/72 ENG Man City 1st won R4 EL SF 2072/73 POR FCP 1st won won EL QF Reached 2,500 games in management 2073/74 ENG Fulham 11th R4 Took over with 18 games remaining, in 17th 2074/75 DEU Hamburg 8th F 2075/76 DEU Hamburg 6th R3 2076/77 DEU Hamburg 4th R3 EL GS 2077/78 DEU Hamburg 7th R3 EL F 2078/79 DEU Hamburg 3rd won 2079/80 DEU Hamburg 2nd QF EL QF 2080/81 DEU Hamburg 2nd R2 CL SF 2081/82 DEU Hamburg 1st R2 CL QF 2082/83 ENG Man City 2nd R6 SF EL F INTERNATIONAL CAREER Rank Cups Year Nation FIFA NL World Cont. Conf. Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2032 Saudi Arabia 12 Joined 11th Jul, 29th in FIFA Rankings 2033 Saudi Arabia 25 2034 Saudi Arabia 49 GS 2035 Saudi Arabia won Resigned 4th Feb, 38th in FIFA Rankings 2036 Norway 61 C Joined 27th Jul, 54th in FIFA Rankings 2037 Norway 57 2038 Norway 44 B 2039 Norway 39 Resigned 14th Nov, 39th in FIFA Rankings 2042 Tunisia 36 Joined 20th Jul, 42nd in FIFA Rankings 2043 Tunisia GS Resigned 27th Jan, 37th in FIFA Rankings 2047 South Africa 22 Joined 17th Feb, 10th in FIFA Rankings 2048 South Africa 19 2049 South Africa won Resigned 7th Feb, 19th in FIFA Rankings 2049 USA 14 Joined 1st Aug, 9th in FIFA Rankings 2050 USA 19 GS 2051 USA won Resigned 30th Jul, 31st in FIFA Rankings 2052 Spain 9 Joined 21st Jul, 7th in FIFA Rankings 2053 Spain 10 won Reached 1,500 games in management 2054 Spain 1 won Left for Brazil 2nd Aug, 1st in FIFA Rankings 2054 Brazil 14 Joined 3rd Aug, 13th in FIFA Rankings 2055 Brazil 15 GS 2056 Brazil 2 2057 Brazil 6 2058 Brazil R1 Sacked 15th Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2058 Spain 8 A Joined 21st Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings 2059 Spain 18 2060 Spain 2 won 2061 Spain won won Resigned 9th Jul, 2nd in FIFA Rankings 2062 Brazil 6 Joined 23rd Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2063 Brazil won Resigned 7th Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings0 -
I've still got festive visitors staying and it has killed my FM playing time, but next week I'm looking forward to getting stuck back into the challenge of winning my final trophy, the UEFA Champions League...
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Hey lads read through most of this in the past few days and you have all inspired me to give this a shot, first time doing one of these challenges so will see how I get on.
My question is whats the best league and database set up to put in the game? really have no idea
The below from vikeologist a few pages is pretty good on general approaches. Work out how you want to start your effort, and then set up leagues accordingly: I find it best not to have a massive database (as the save can be very long), and I've found I only need a few leagues active at a time now you're allowed to switch them around. But equally you can very specifically load all the leagues you'll be targeting, if that's what you'd like to do.
Yes. You can add and subtract as you go. FM16 certainly seems to be stable enough to handle that.Historically (as much as you can use that word for something with a history of 1 year and half a week) there are 2 key approaches.
The people who did this challenge at the start like me (old school) started in Asia or South African top division, and planned to finish in Europe.
Then some people (new school) started in European lower divisions. This enabled them to have a higher reputation earlier in the game, and get international jobs (and major trophies) much earlier. (but only because they were very good at the game and were promoted often and early).
There are other approaches, but I don't think they worked too well. OK, I'll tell you. Don't start in a tiny little place like Hong Kong or Indonesia, because you can win the league and still not be able to get a job worth a can of beans in nations such as China or South Korea.
However, the best thing about this challenge is that there are different ways of going about it, and maybe someone will find a new way. For instance I don't think anybody has ever started in South America. I don't even have any idea what level jobs one could attain there.
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TOOOON ARRRMY
Nice one Vikeologist!0 -
Incidentally, I don't think that we've ever discussed unlockables before. I hope I haven't upset anybody by just dictating that they are unacceptable (apart from the 2 mentioned above). If anyone has used any others already, just let us know, and then at least we'll know that you're doing the challenge without being able to be sacked or whatever. My bad for not covering it before, but i don't play Classic / Touch, (apart from when I'm checking out this kind of sissue for the challenge) so I'm sort of oblivious to this kind of thing.
I always assumed this was the case, so haven't used any in my save: including International Management which in FM15 I did not unlock until I won a Manager of the Year award during my current challenge attempt. The wording in FM15 for International Management is: "National teams will be available to manage from the start of a new game". Checking my Steam achievements I unlocked this unlockable on 1st May, after my 2nd Ultimate Challenge attempt began. I've not used it and I was already able to become an international manager within a game, consistent with the wording.
This of course doesn't mean that it hasn't been changed in FM16...
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I think I heard unlockables haven't changed since FMC15. The way the International Management one worked there, is that the unlockable allows you to start as an international team. It shouldn't affect whether you can get a job in your existing save with an international side, I don't think...
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We were the highest scoring team in the league. The problem, as it has been for a few years now, is defense.
Don't blame yourself: this is a problem which significantly predates your reign - the odd appearance from Jonathan Woodgate aside, Newcastle haven't looked defensively secure since the 1920s!
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Congratulations Normandy what an achievement! You'll get that Champions League next season!
Thanks buddy!
I am optimistic that we can have a very good crack at the CL next season. I am willing to finish 2nd or 3rd in the Bundesliga to achieve it, so not having split priorities will surely help. Then we just need the bit of luck you need in knockout competitions from time to time.
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Analysts had us pegged as the highest spenders going into the 81/82 season, and although we did splash a ludicrous £40m on a new young German winger, we only had a net spend of £21m and that was reduced to £6m when we picked up a mid-season payment from Manchester United for the striker they bought from us a few years back making his 50th outing, so really this campaign was built the way I'd done the last few: selling players for a good fees and replacing them with younger players, ideally homegrown. New backup striker Ugur Gurbuz was particularly key, as Herrmann was again injured, this time on international duty, and this time we had some explosive firepower in reserve.
And boy what a campaign it was: a superb run to the Quarter Finals of the Champions League was finally halted by Manchester United (although we did overcome our "English curse" somewhat by superbly getting revenge over Chelsea in the Group Stage, winning 6-1 in one of the games and knocking them into the Europa League by finishing above them) to ensure the challenge is not yet finished, but things went rather better on the domestic front.
I'd been scared that we may wait years for Bayern to have a "down" season, but it came much quicker than expected. They drew the opening game, and we raced out of the traps with a big run of consecutive wins. We slowed slightly, and by the Christmas break were only just clear of Bayern and other challenger Dortmund despite losing just one game, but in the second half of the campaign our consistency and Bayern's fixture congestion (I suspect brought on by the World Club Championship?) were sufficient to see us gradually outpace them. In the end, we won the league anti-climatically, stunned 6-3 away to a strong Schalke side in the penultimate game but crowned Bundesliga winners by results elsewhere. At least there was one game left to celebrate with our fans, and we duly beat Koln to do just that.
The tenth and final league title I've worked so hard for years (only in-game, although it does feel it's taken a while) to get is finally mine. Now we just need to win Europe's biggest prize. My first instinct is to do this with Hamburg: I've a great team and I'm sure I'll be allowed a good wedge of the £96m bank balance to further strengthen, but as vikeologist somewhat forecast in his latest comment on my progress, it'll be interesting to see if there is an opportunity to jump straight into a Paris Saint-Germain or a Bayern who may be more qualified to win it right away.
Challenge Progress
Club
10/10 top domestic leagues (ARG, DEU, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, POR, USA)
11/10 domestic cups (AUS, BRA, DEU, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, MEX, POR)
4/5 club continental championships (Africa, Asia, N.Am., S.Am.)
1/1 club world championship
International
5/5 continental tournaments (Africa, Asia, Europe, N.Am., S.Am.)
2/2 world tournaments (WC, Confed.)
Seasons
CLUB CAREER Leagues Cups Season Club 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Cont. CWC Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014/15 RSA Ajax CT 12th Took over with 3 games remaining, in 15th 2015/16 RSA Ajax CT R2 R1 Sacked after 16 games, in 16th 2016/17 AUS Wanderers 6th QF 2017/18 AUS Wanderers won Sacked after 22 games, in 10th 2018/19 IND Dempo GS Sacked after 19 games, in 11th 2019/20 IND Bengaluru 6th SF F 2020/21 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F 2021/22 IND Bengaluru 1st GS won CC R2 2022/23 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F CL Q3E 2023/24 IND Bengaluru CC QF Resigned after CC QF defeat/before league season 2024 KOR Jeju 5th SF 2025 KOR Jeju 8th SF 2026 KOR Jeju 8th QF 2027 KOR Jeju QF Left for Pohang after 32 games, in 7th 2027 KOR Pohang 5th won Took over with 6 games remaining, in 5th 2028 KOR Pohang CL GS Sacked after 16 games, in 5th 2028 KOR Jeonbuk 5th SF Took over with 20 games remaining, in 7th 2029 KOR Jeonbuk R4 Sacked after 35 games, in 7th 2030 KOR Jeju Left for Wellington after 16 games, in 4th 2030/31 AUS Wellington 10th 2031/32 AUS Wellington 10th 2032/33 AUS Wellington 7th 2033/34 AUS Wellington Left for Perth after 4 games, in 6th 2033/34 AUS Perth 9th Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2034/35 AUS Perth 7th 2035/36 AUS Perth 5th/SF 2036/37 AUS Perth Left for Seoul after 12 games, in 2nd 2037 KOR Seoul 1st SF CL won 3rd 2038/39 MEX Chivas 6th/SF 3rd/ F QF won 2039/40 MEX Chivas 11th 2nd/QF CL won 2041 USA New York 1st/won R4 2042 BRA Internacional 5th 1st/won won Reached 1,000 games in management 2043 BRA Internacional 1st/won SF CL QF Left for Lanus after 34 national games, in 7th 2044 ARG Lanus 6th R5 CS P2E 2045 ARG Lanus R5 Left for Velez after 15 games, in 11th 2045 ARG Velez 4th/1st CS QF F Took over with 14 games remaining, in 1st 2046 ARG Velez 5th/4th R7 CL won won 2047 ARG Velez 1st R7 CL QF 2049/50 FRA Monaco 4th F R4 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2050/51 ITA Inter 4th F EL R2 2051/52 ITA Inter Sacked after 16 games, in 14th 2051/52 ITA Lazio 8th Took over with 21 games remaining, in 12th 2052/53 ITA Lazio Sacked after 5 games, in 17th 2054/55 RSA Wits 10th R1 Took over with 12 games remaining, in 13th 2055/56 RSA Wits R1 R1 CL won 5th Left for Valencia after 29 games, in 8th 2056/57 ESP Valencia 7th R5 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2057/58 FRA Monaco 3rd SF F EL won 2058/59 FRA Monaco 2nd SF R4 EL F 2059/60 FRA Monaco 1st won QF CL R1 2060/61 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL QF 2061/62 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL GS 2062/63 ITA Roma 3rd F EL F Reached 2,000 games in management 2063/64 ITA Roma QF CL QF Resigned after 33 games, in 8th 2064/65 ITA Lazio 10th R1 2065/65 ITA Lazio 9th QF 2066/67 ITA Juventus 1st won CL R1 2067/68 ESP Valencia 2nd QF EL GS 2068/69 ESP Barcelona 1st won EL R1 2069/70 ENG Man City 7th R3 EL won Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2070/71 ENG Man City 3rd R4 R3 CL R1 2071/72 ENG Man City 1st won R4 EL SF 2072/73 POR FCP 1st won won EL QF Reached 2,500 games in management 2073/74 ENG Fulham 11th R4 Took over with 18 games remaining, in 17th 2074/75 DEU Hamburg 8th F 2075/76 DEU Hamburg 6th R3 2076/77 DEU Hamburg 4th R3 EL GS 2077/78 DEU Hamburg 7th R3 EL F 2078/79 DEU Hamburg 3rd won 2079/80 DEU Hamburg 2nd QF EL QF 2080/81 DEU Hamburg 2nd R2 CL SF 2081/82 DEU Hamburg 1st R2 CL QF INTERNATIONAL CAREER Rank Cups Year Nation FIFA NL World Cont. Conf. Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2032 Saudi Arabia 12 Joined 11th Jul, 29th in FIFA Rankings 2033 Saudi Arabia 25 2034 Saudi Arabia 49 GS 2035 Saudi Arabia won Resigned 4th Feb, 38th in FIFA Rankings 2036 Norway 61 C Joined 27th Jul, 54th in FIFA Rankings 2037 Norway 57 2038 Norway 44 B 2039 Norway 39 Resigned 14th Nov, 39th in FIFA Rankings 2042 Tunisia 36 Joined 20th Jul, 42nd in FIFA Rankings 2043 Tunisia GS Resigned 27th Jan, 37th in FIFA Rankings 2047 South Africa 22 Joined 17th Feb, 10th in FIFA Rankings 2048 South Africa 19 2049 South Africa won Resigned 7th Feb, 19th in FIFA Rankings 2049 USA 14 Joined 1st Aug, 9th in FIFA Rankings 2050 USA 19 GS 2051 USA won Resigned 30th Jul, 31st in FIFA Rankings 2052 Spain 9 Joined 21st Jul, 7th in FIFA Rankings 2053 Spain 10 won Reached 1,500 games in management 2054 Spain 1 won Left for Brazil 2nd Aug, 1st in FIFA Rankings 2054 Brazil 14 Joined 3rd Aug, 13th in FIFA Rankings 2055 Brazil 15 GS 2056 Brazil 2 2057 Brazil 6 2058 Brazil R1 Sacked 15th Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2058 Spain 8 A Joined 21st Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings 2059 Spain 18 2060 Spain 2 won 2061 Spain won won Resigned 9th Jul, 2nd in FIFA Rankings 2062 Brazil 6 Joined 23rd Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2063 Brazil won Resigned 7th Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings0 -
A brief addendum: I've just seen the Champions League Team of the Year for 2080/81. It contains two Juventus players, one Hamburg player, and a ludicrous eight FC Bayern players. Absolutely nuts and shows what a monster I'm up against.
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This was one of the most fun seasons I have managed. That it's not my last will tell you that it didn't quite live up to the potential, but we have a fantastic squad that played some scintillating football, and I am closer to glory than I have been with Hamburg thus far.
Another summer of astute transfer business done, we were this year without a shadow of a doubt the second-best team in Germany. The season when Dortmund won after I turned them down remains frustrating: that was a big opportunity for me not just because of Dortmund's success that year with a squad I could have led, but because FC Bayern was on a rare "down year": the sort of year we now eagerly await having clearly established ourselves as the best of the rest.
As it became increasingly clear that we wouldn't be able to outpace the imperious Bavarians, I shifted our focus to the Champions League (admittedly costing us a few more defeats, and making our second place a little less clear, but I'm certain the margins are small). A superb 3-0 upset of AC Milan on matchday six had seen us and Swansea as the unlikely survivors of our group, and with our first team stars now given a break ahead of the biggest European games, we brilliantly thrashed my former team AS Monaco in the round of 16 before dispatching reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Quarter Final. Chelsea finally ended our fairytale run: but had star striker Gino Herrmann not missed the second leg, I'm sure we'd have grabbed a second away goal to reach the Final of Europe's biggest competition.
We continue to strengthen: one of my squad players will retire and veteran winger Miljan Jeremic will move to Burnley on a free transfer, but we have replacements for both lined up already. There is interest in several of our players, but we've shown a great ability to replace them with better, not least at striker this year where Herrmann proved an incredible half-price replacement for Neil Lacey when the latter moved to Manchester United for a fee that will eventually reach £30m. Our UEFA coefficient should be much improved by the European run this year, and we hope for more luck in key moments in that competition and for a slight slump in Bayern's form which finally allow us to make the final step up domestically.
The only question is, with my manager due to turn eighty-eight next year, will I get this done before my 90th birthday?
Challenge Progress
Club
9/10 top domestic leagues (ARG, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, POR, USA)
11/10 domestic cups (AUS, BRA, DEU, ENG, ESP, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, MEX, POR)
4/5 club continental championships (Africa, Asia, N.Am., S.Am.)
1/1 club world championship
International
5/5 continental tournaments (Africa, Asia, Europe, N.Am., S.Am.)
2/2 world tournaments (WC, Confed.)
Seasons
CLUB CAREER Leagues Cups Season Club 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Cont. CWC Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014/15 RSA Ajax CT 12th Took over with 3 games remaining, in 15th 2015/16 RSA Ajax CT R2 R1 Sacked after 16 games, in 16th 2016/17 AUS Wanderers 6th QF 2017/18 AUS Wanderers won Sacked after 22 games, in 10th 2018/19 IND Dempo GS Sacked after 19 games, in 11th 2019/20 IND Bengaluru 6th SF F 2020/21 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F 2021/22 IND Bengaluru 1st GS won CC R2 2022/23 IND Bengaluru 2nd won F CL Q3E 2023/24 IND Bengaluru CC QF Resigned after CC QF defeat/before league season 2024 KOR Jeju 5th SF 2025 KOR Jeju 8th SF 2026 KOR Jeju 8th QF 2027 KOR Jeju QF Left for Pohang after 32 games, in 7th 2027 KOR Pohang 5th won Took over with 6 games remaining, in 5th 2028 KOR Pohang CL GS Sacked after 16 games, in 5th 2028 KOR Jeonbuk 5th SF Took over with 20 games remaining, in 7th 2029 KOR Jeonbuk R4 Sacked after 35 games, in 7th 2030 KOR Jeju Left for Wellington after 16 games, in 4th 2030/31 AUS Wellington 10th 2031/32 AUS Wellington 10th 2032/33 AUS Wellington 7th 2033/34 AUS Wellington Left for Perth after 4 games, in 6th 2033/34 AUS Perth 9th Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2034/35 AUS Perth 7th 2035/36 AUS Perth 5th/SF 2036/37 AUS Perth Left for Seoul after 12 games, in 2nd 2037 KOR Seoul 1st SF CL won 3rd 2038/39 MEX Chivas 6th/SF 3rd/ F QF won 2039/40 MEX Chivas 11th 2nd/QF CL won 2041 USA New York 1st/won R4 2042 BRA Internacional 5th 1st/won won Reached 1,000 games in management 2043 BRA Internacional 1st/won SF CL QF Left for Lanus after 34 national games, in 7th 2044 ARG Lanus 6th R5 CS P2E 2045 ARG Lanus R5 Left for Velez after 15 games, in 11th 2045 ARG Velez 4th/1st CS QF F Took over with 14 games remaining, in 1st 2046 ARG Velez 5th/4th R7 CL won won 2047 ARG Velez 1st R7 CL QF 2049/50 FRA Monaco 4th F R4 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2050/51 ITA Inter 4th F EL R2 2051/52 ITA Inter Sacked after 16 games, in 14th 2051/52 ITA Lazio 8th Took over with 21 games remaining, in 12th 2052/53 ITA Lazio Sacked after 5 games, in 17th 2054/55 RSA Wits 10th R1 Took over with 12 games remaining, in 13th 2055/56 RSA Wits R1 R1 CL won 5th Left for Valencia after 29 games, in 8th 2056/57 ESP Valencia 7th R5 EL GS Sacked after final game of season 2057/58 FRA Monaco 3rd SF F EL won 2058/59 FRA Monaco 2nd SF R4 EL F 2059/60 FRA Monaco 1st won QF CL R1 2060/61 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL QF 2061/62 ITA Roma 3rd R1 CL GS 2062/63 ITA Roma 3rd F EL F Reached 2,000 games in management 2063/64 ITA Roma QF CL QF Resigned after 33 games, in 8th 2064/65 ITA Lazio 10th R1 2065/65 ITA Lazio 9th QF 2066/67 ITA Juventus 1st won CL R1 2067/68 ESP Valencia 2nd QF EL GS 2068/69 ESP Barcelona 1st won EL R1 2069/70 ENG Man City 7th R3 EL won Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th 2070/71 ENG Man City 3rd R4 R3 CL R1 2071/72 ENG Man City 1st won R4 EL SF 2072/73 POR FCP 1st won won EL QF Reached 2,500 games in management 2073/74 ENG Fulham 11th R4 Took over with 18 games remaining, in 17th 2074/75 DEU Hamburg 8th F 2075/76 DEU Hamburg 6th R3 2076/77 DEU Hamburg 4th R3 EL GS 2077/78 DEU Hamburg 7th R3 EL F 2078/79 DEU Hamburg 3rd won 2079/80 DEU Hamburg 2nd QF EL QF 2080/81 DEU Hamburg 2nd R2 CL SF INTERNATIONAL CAREER Rank Cups Year Nation FIFA NL World Cont. Conf. Other & Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2032 Saudi Arabia 12 Joined 11th Jul, 29th in FIFA Rankings 2033 Saudi Arabia 25 2034 Saudi Arabia 49 GS 2035 Saudi Arabia won Resigned 4th Feb, 38th in FIFA Rankings 2036 Norway 61 C Joined 27th Jul, 54th in FIFA Rankings 2037 Norway 57 2038 Norway 44 B 2039 Norway 39 Resigned 14th Nov, 39th in FIFA Rankings 2042 Tunisia 36 Joined 20th Jul, 42nd in FIFA Rankings 2043 Tunisia GS Resigned 27th Jan, 37th in FIFA Rankings 2047 South Africa 22 Joined 17th Feb, 10th in FIFA Rankings 2048 South Africa 19 2049 South Africa won Resigned 7th Feb, 19th in FIFA Rankings 2049 USA 14 Joined 1st Aug, 9th in FIFA Rankings 2050 USA 19 GS 2051 USA won Resigned 30th Jul, 31st in FIFA Rankings 2052 Spain 9 Joined 21st Jul, 7th in FIFA Rankings 2053 Spain 10 won Reached 1,500 games in management 2054 Spain 1 won Left for Brazil 2nd Aug, 1st in FIFA Rankings 2054 Brazil 14 Joined 3rd Aug, 13th in FIFA Rankings 2055 Brazil 15 GS 2056 Brazil 2 2057 Brazil 6 2058 Brazil R1 Sacked 15th Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2058 Spain 8 A Joined 21st Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings 2059 Spain 18 2060 Spain 2 won 2061 Spain won won Resigned 9th Jul, 2nd in FIFA Rankings 2062 Brazil 6 Joined 23rd Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings 2063 Brazil won Resigned 7th Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings0
Obtaining 'Video Director' and 'Spread the News' achievements on old FM titles?
in Football Manager General Discussion
Posted
You could use Steam Achievement Manager to unlock these achievements. (Some would consider this cheating, but for these achievements which were just about clicking a button, I don’t personally think this is an issue.)